Language Arts
CKLA Preschool
Core Knowledge Language Arts is a comprehensive language arts curriculum program for students in Preschool.
While teaching skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) also builds students’ knowledge and vocabulary in literature, history, geography, and science. The curriculum covers concepts specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence.
This comprehensive Teacher Guide specifies learning objectives and provides background information, daily lesson plans, read-alouds, assessments, and other resources for teaching the domain.
The Activity Pages reinforce the content and skills taught in each domain. Practice opportunities are provided both in and out of the classroom.
Each Flip Book contains a sequenced collection of images that accompany the Listening & Learning read-alouds. The engaging visuals reinforce students’ understanding of concepts and promote engagement with the text.
Image Cards are used to reinforce and deepen students’ understanding of the information covered in the domain. They are primarily used during Extension Activities. Common exercises include sorting, retelling, and sequencing.
Transition Cards reinforce content and skills as students move between activities. Some of these cards may be used across multiple domains.
Learning Center Cards provide teachers with suggested questions and prompts in order to facilitate language and promote student-to-student interaction.
Nursery Rhymes and Song Posters: Nursery Rhymes and Song Posters display text and images from traditional rhymes and songs. These posters are used during circle time and small-group activities as a means of familiarizing students with the structure and sounds of oral language.
General Overview: The General Overview of Core Knowledge Language Arts Preschool (CKLA Preschool) describes the design of the program and its various components. In addition, the resource offers suggestions around facilitating language as well as supporting the needs of diverse learners during CKLA instruction.
Interspersed Domains: The lessons in the interspersed domains are taught throughout the school year, interspersed among the lessons of the other domains.
Social Skills Posters: Attractive full-color posters that illustrate important social skills to be taught and reinforced in preschool classrooms. The front of each poster features photographs of preschool children modeling the specific social skill.
This comprehensive Teacher Guide specifies learning objectives and provides background information, daily lesson plans, read-alouds, assessments, and other resources for teaching the domain.
The Activity Pages reinforce the content and skills taught in each domain. Practice opportunities are provided both in and out of the classroom.
Each Flip Book contains a sequenced collection of images that accompany the Listening & Learning read-alouds. The engaging visuals reinforce students’ understanding of concepts and promote engagement with the text.
Image Cards are used to reinforce and deepen students’ understanding of the information covered in the domain. They are primarily used during Extension Activities. Common exercises include sorting, retelling, and sequencing.
Transition Cards reinforce content and skills as students move between activities. Some of these cards may be used across multiple domains.
Learning Center Cards provide teachers with suggested questions and prompts in order to facilitate language and promote student-to-student interaction.
Nursery Rhymes and Song Posters: Nursery Rhymes and Song Posters display text and images from traditional rhymes and songs. These posters are used during circle time and small-group activities as a means of familiarizing students with the structure and sounds of oral language.
General Overview: The General Overview of Core Knowledge Language Arts Preschool (CKLA Preschool) describes the design of the program and its various components. In addition, the resource offers suggestions around facilitating language as well as supporting the needs of diverse learners during CKLA instruction.
Interspersed Domains: The lessons in the interspersed domains are taught throughout the school year, interspersed among the lessons of the other domains.
Social Skills Posters: Attractive full-color posters that illustrate important social skills to be taught and reinforced in preschool classrooms. The front of each poster features photographs of preschool children modeling the specific social skill.
CKLA Grades K–3
Core Knowledge Language Arts is a comprehensive language arts curriculum program for students in Grade K–3.
While teaching skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) also builds students’ knowledge and vocabulary in literature, history, geography, and science. The curriculum covers concepts specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence.
Read-Aloud Anthology: This comprehensive Teacher Guide specifies learning objectives and provides background information, daily lesson plans, read-alouds, assessments, and other resources for teaching the domain.
Read-Aloud Supplemental Guide: Designed primarily to provide instructional scaffolding resources for reading specialists, special education teachers, and ESL teachers, the online-only Supplemental Guide offers activities that the general classroom teacher may use as needed. Resources include adapted read-alouds, engagement supports, Vocabulary Charts, Multiple Meaning Word Activities, Syntactic Awareness Activities, and Vocabulary Instructional Activities.
Image Cards: Image Cards are used to reinforce and deepen students’ understanding of the information covered in the domain. They are primarily used during Extension Activities. Common exercises include sorting, retelling, and sequencing.
Flip Book: Each Flip Book contains a sequenced collection of images that accompany the Listening & Learning read-alouds. The engaging visuals reinforce students’ understanding of concepts and promote engagement with the text.
Student Workbook: Student Workbooks contain activity pages that provide practice or reinforcement of skills taught in the unit. Graphic organizers, assessment tasks, and take home activities are also included in the workbooks.
Student Reader: These 100% decodable texts provide children an authentic reading experience and reinforce their sense of success by eliminating the distraction of encountering untaught spelling patterns. The texts are written in the style of chapter books to inspire children to want to read more.
Teacher Guide: This comprehensive Teacher Guide specifies learning objectives and provides background information, daily lesson plans, assessments, and other resources for teaching the Skills unit.
Assessment and Remediation Guide: The Assessment and Remediation Guide provides for re-teaching and reinforcement of grade-level objectives that were not mastered in Skill Strand lessons. This online-only resource assists teachers with determining students’ needs, selecting activities and materials that target those needs, adjusting instructional difficulty, and monitoring progress. Use of this resource creates continuity between core classroom and support instruction.
Teacher components:
Large Card Sets: Large Cards are used in chaining exercises to help students practice phonemic spelling while also offering them an opportunity for movement
Sound Poster Sets: The Sound Posters provide a visual reminder of the code knowledge students have been taught, and are a useful reference for spelling and writing. They are used in conjunction with the Sound Cards in Units 3–5, 7–8, and 10 of the Kindergarten Skills strand.
Sound Cards: The Sound Cards include a spelling and a visual representation of a sound. They are used in conjunction with the Sound Posters in Units 3–5, 7–8, and 10 of the Kindergarten Skills strand.
Student components (Kindergarten):
Student Chaining Folders: Student Chaining Folders provide spelling practice. Students arrange Small Letter Cards on these folders in order to spell words comprised of sound spellings that they have been taught.
Small Letter Card Sets: Small Letter Cards provide spelling practice. Students arrange the cards on their Chaining Folders in order to spell words with the sound spellings that they have been taught.
Blending Picture Cards: The Blending Picture Cards are used as part of early blending practice. They are designed to provide a visual cue, which supports students with blending the names of various objects.
Student components (Grades 1-3):
Consonant Code Flip Book: The Consonant Code Flip Book is used to introduce or review consonant sound-spelling correspondences. It can also be utilized at any time to support individuals or groups in need of targeted remediation and practice.
Vowel Code Flip Book: The Vowel Code Flip Book is used to introduce or review vowel sound-spelling correspondences. It can also be utilized at any time to support individuals or groups in need of targeted remediation and practice
Spelling Cards: Spelling Cards are used in conjunction with the Consonant and Vowel Flip Books to record student progress. Teachers affix the spelling to the corresponding chart when a new sound-spelling is introduced.
Individual Code Charts: Students use the Individual Code Chart to record the sound-spelling correspondences they have learned. They are encouraged to refer to the Individual Code Chart when reading and writing independently.
Wiggle Cards: Each Wiggle Card contains a sentence or phrase comprised of letter-sound correspondences taught in earlier grades. The card directs students to move or act in a certain way. Along with providing decoding practice, Wiggle Cards afford opportunities for kinetic activity.
Assessment and Remediation Guide: The Assessment and Remediation Guide provides re-teaching and reinforcement of grade-level objectives that were not mastered in Skill Strand lessons. This online-only resource assists teachers with determining students’ needs, selecting activities and materials that target those needs, adjusting instructional difficulty, and monitoring progress. Use of this resource creates continuity between core classroom and support instruction
Fluency Packet: The Fluency Packet provides opportunities for students to practice reading with fluency and expression. This online-only resource contains poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as Reader’s Theater selections.
Vocabulary Cards: Vocabulary Cards reinforce vocabulary listed in the glossary of the unit’s Student Reader.
Vocabulary Image Cards: Image Cards are used to reinforce and deepen students’ understanding of the vocabulary listed in the Student Reader glossary.
Timeline Cards: The 20 Timeline Cards are displayed in order to support students with contextualizing the time period of the War of 1812.
Big Book: Big Books are used to engage students in the reading process. For example, during story demonstration lessons, teachers use Big Books to model important concepts of print, including text directionality, reading from left to right, attentiveness to punctuation, and highlighting the different parts of a book.
Supplemental Reader: A Supplemental Reader is used at the teacher’s discretion throughout the school year. Corresponding activity pages are designed for students to complete independently.
Supplemental Workbook: This Supplemental Skills Workbook contains activity pages that accompany the stories in More Classic Tales, the Supplemental Reader for this unit. Each activity is identified by its chapter number. There are two pages for each chapter; the first consists of comprehension questions and the second is a copy of the chapter for students to take home.
Workbook Answer Key: This Workbook Answer Key for More Classic Tales contains samples of correctly completed worksheets that accompany More Classic Tales for Unit 1.
Read-Aloud Anthology: This comprehensive Teacher Guide specifies learning objectives and provides background information, daily lesson plans, read-alouds, assessments, and other resources for teaching the domain.
Read-Aloud Supplemental Guide: Designed primarily to provide instructional scaffolding resources for reading specialists, special education teachers, and ESL teachers, the online-only Supplemental Guide offers activities that the general classroom teacher may use as needed. Resources include adapted read-alouds, engagement supports, Vocabulary Charts, Multiple Meaning Word Activities, Syntactic Awareness Activities, and Vocabulary Instructional Activities.
Image Cards: Image Cards are used to reinforce and deepen students’ understanding of the information covered in the domain. They are primarily used during Extension Activities. Common exercises include sorting, retelling, and sequencing.
Flip Book: Each Flip Book contains a sequenced collection of images that accompany the Listening & Learning read-alouds. The engaging visuals reinforce students’ understanding of concepts and promote engagement with the text.
Student Workbook: Student Workbooks contain activity pages that provide practice or reinforcement of skills taught in the unit. Graphic organizers, assessment tasks, and take home activities are also included in the workbooks.
Student Reader: These 100% decodable texts provide children an authentic reading experience and reinforce their sense of success by eliminating the distraction of encountering untaught spelling patterns. The texts are written in the style of chapter books to inspire children to want to read more.
Teacher Guide: This comprehensive Teacher Guide specifies learning objectives and provides background information, daily lesson plans, assessments, and other resources for teaching the Skills unit.
Assessment and Remediation Guide: The Assessment and Remediation Guide provides for re-teaching and reinforcement of grade-level objectives that were not mastered in Skill Strand lessons. This online-only resource assists teachers with determining students’ needs, selecting activities and materials that target those needs, adjusting instructional difficulty, and monitoring progress. Use of this resource creates continuity between core classroom and support instruction.
Teacher components:
Large Card Sets: Large Cards are used in chaining exercises to help students practice phonemic spelling while also offering them an opportunity for movement
Sound Poster Sets: The Sound Posters provide a visual reminder of the code knowledge students have been taught, and are a useful reference for spelling and writing. They are used in conjunction with the Sound Cards in Units 3–5, 7–8, and 10 of the Kindergarten Skills strand.
Sound Cards: The Sound Cards include a spelling and a visual representation of a sound. They are used in conjunction with the Sound Posters in Units 3–5, 7–8, and 10 of the Kindergarten Skills strand.
Student components (Kindergarten):
Student Chaining Folders: Student Chaining Folders provide spelling practice. Students arrange Small Letter Cards on these folders in order to spell words comprised of sound spellings that they have been taught.
Small Letter Card Sets: Small Letter Cards provide spelling practice. Students arrange the cards on their Chaining Folders in order to spell words with the sound spellings that they have been taught.
Blending Picture Cards: The Blending Picture Cards are used as part of early blending practice. They are designed to provide a visual cue, which supports students with blending the names of various objects.
Student components (Grades 1-3):
Consonant Code Flip Book: The Consonant Code Flip Book is used to introduce or review consonant sound-spelling correspondences. It can also be utilized at any time to support individuals or groups in need of targeted remediation and practice.
Vowel Code Flip Book: The Vowel Code Flip Book is used to introduce or review vowel sound-spelling correspondences. It can also be utilized at any time to support individuals or groups in need of targeted remediation and practice
Spelling Cards: Spelling Cards are used in conjunction with the Consonant and Vowel Flip Books to record student progress. Teachers affix the spelling to the corresponding chart when a new sound-spelling is introduced.
Individual Code Charts: Students use the Individual Code Chart to record the sound-spelling correspondences they have learned. They are encouraged to refer to the Individual Code Chart when reading and writing independently.
Wiggle Cards: Each Wiggle Card contains a sentence or phrase comprised of letter-sound correspondences taught in earlier grades. The card directs students to move or act in a certain way. Along with providing decoding practice, Wiggle Cards afford opportunities for kinetic activity.
Assessment and Remediation Guide: The Assessment and Remediation Guide provides re-teaching and reinforcement of grade-level objectives that were not mastered in Skill Strand lessons. This online-only resource assists teachers with determining students’ needs, selecting activities and materials that target those needs, adjusting instructional difficulty, and monitoring progress. Use of this resource creates continuity between core classroom and support instruction
Fluency Packet: The Fluency Packet provides opportunities for students to practice reading with fluency and expression. This online-only resource contains poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as Reader’s Theater selections.
Vocabulary Cards: Vocabulary Cards reinforce vocabulary listed in the glossary of the unit’s Student Reader.
Vocabulary Image Cards: Image Cards are used to reinforce and deepen students’ understanding of the vocabulary listed in the Student Reader glossary.
Timeline Cards: The 20 Timeline Cards are displayed in order to support students with contextualizing the time period of the War of 1812.
Big Book: Big Books are used to engage students in the reading process. For example, during story demonstration lessons, teachers use Big Books to model important concepts of print, including text directionality, reading from left to right, attentiveness to punctuation, and highlighting the different parts of a book.
Supplemental Reader: A Supplemental Reader is used at the teacher’s discretion throughout the school year. Corresponding activity pages are designed for students to complete independently.
Supplemental Workbook: This Supplemental Skills Workbook contains activity pages that accompany the stories in More Classic Tales, the Supplemental Reader for this unit. Each activity is identified by its chapter number. There are two pages for each chapter; the first consists of comprehension questions and the second is a copy of the chapter for students to take home.
Workbook Answer Key: This Workbook Answer Key for More Classic Tales contains samples of correctly completed worksheets that accompany More Classic Tales for Unit 1.
CKLA Grades 4-5
Core Knowledge Language Arts is a comprehensive language arts curriculum program for students in Grades 4–5.
While teaching skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) also builds students’ knowledge and vocabulary in literature, history, geography, and science. The curriculum covers concepts specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence.
The Student Readers include complex text and prepare students for increased vocabulary and syntax demands in later grades.
The Activity Book contains Activity Pages to accompany the lessons from the Teacher Guide.
The Teacher Guide specifies learning objectives and provides background information, daily lesson plans, assessments, and other resources for teaching the units.
The Digital Components contain various posters, charts, and graphic organizers for use during lessons.
The Alignment Chart indicates which lessons address content from the Common Core State Standards.
The Student Readers include complex text and prepare students for increased vocabulary and syntax demands in later grades.
The Activity Book contains Activity Pages to accompany the lessons from the Teacher Guide.
The Teacher Guide specifies learning objectives and provides background information, daily lesson plans, assessments, and other resources for teaching the units.
The Digital Components contain various posters, charts, and graphic organizers for use during lessons.
The Alignment Chart indicates which lessons address content from the Common Core State Standards.
CKLA Grades 6-8
Core Knowledge Language Arts is a comprehensive language arts curriculum program for students in Grade 6–8.
While teaching skills in reading, writing, listening, and speaking, Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) also builds students’ knowledge and vocabulary in literature, history, geography, and science. The curriculum covers concepts specified in the Core Knowledge Sequence.
The Student Reader includes complex text and prepares students for increased vocabulary and syntax demands in later grades.
The Activity Book contains Activity Pages to accompany the lessons from the Teacher Guide.
Teacher Guides include detailed guidance and activities for reading, discussion, and writing.
The Teacher Guides for CKLA reference various online resources to support the teaching materials. Links to these websites may be found in the Online Resources document.
The Student Reader includes complex text and prepares students for increased vocabulary and syntax demands in later grades.
The Activity Book contains Activity Pages to accompany the lessons from the Teacher Guide.
Teacher Guides include detailed guidance and activities for reading, discussion, and writing.
The Teacher Guides for CKLA reference various online resources to support the teaching materials. Links to these websites may be found in the Online Resources document.
CKLA Online Resources (Grades 6–8)
The Teacher Guides for Core Knowledge History and Geography titles reference various online resources that support the teaching materials.
Unit 1: Us, in Progress: Short Stories About Young Latinos
Unit 3: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
Unit 4: The Genius of the Harlem Renaissance, Volume 2
Unit 5: A More Perfect Union: Voices for Civil Rights in America
Unit 6: The Squatter and the Don
Core Classics® Series
Timeless Stories for Young Readers
The Core Classics® Series brings beloved literary works to life for young readers, offering abridged versions that remain true to the original style, plot, and themes. Carefully adapted to maintain the integrity of classic storytelling, these books provide an accessible way for students to engage with literature that has been cherished for generations.
Each title in the Core Classics® Series is designed to support and reinforce knowledge from the Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) curriculum, helping students build strong reading comprehension skills while immersing themselves in foundational literary works. The language and structure are thoughtfully simplified to suit younger readers without diminishing the richness of the stories, ensuring an engaging and age-appropriate literary experience.
These books are ideal for read-aloud sessions in upper elementary classrooms, allowing teachers and parents to introduce classic literature in a way that sparks discussion and deepens understanding. As students grow in confidence, the Core Classics® texts also serve as excellent independent reading materials for middle schoolers and older students, providing a bridge to more advanced, unabridged literature.
Whether used in the classroom or as a homeschooler, the Core Classics® Series helps nurture a lifelong appreciation for great storytelling, giving students access to some of the most important works in literary history in a format they can enjoy and understand.
Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) and the Science of Reading
The Science of Reading is a body of research spanning decades, disciplines, and methodologies that explains how children learn to read and what instructional practices best support literacy development. It emphasizes that reading is not a natural process—it must be explicitly taught. The research consistently highlights the importance of systematic instruction in phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency, morphology, and comprehension.
The Core Knowledge Language Arts® (CKLA) program is built directly on these findings. CKLA provides a coherent, evidence-based approach that helps all students develop into skilled readers and writers regardless of background.
The Core Knowledge Foundation began the creation of CKLA in 2010. Over the next several years, the program underwent multiple pilot phases and rounds of feedback from teachers and schools nationwide. This iterative process ensured the program was both research-based and classroom-ready. In 2014, the first complete edition of CKLA was released, marking the culmination of years of collaboration, refinement, and dedication to delivering high-quality literacy instruction.
Systematic and Explicit Phonics Instruction
The Science of Reading emphasizes the importance of systematic phonics instruction for developing accurate word recognition. CKLA’s Skills Strand provides daily, sequenced phonics lessons beginning in kindergarten. Students learn to connect sounds to spellings through direct instruction, practice, and application.
This explicit, cumulative instruction aligns perfectly with the Science of Reading, which shows that children need structured phonics to become fluent decoders.
Focus on Morphology
In addition to phonics, morphology (the study of meaningful word parts such as roots, prefixes, and suffixes) plays a critical role in vocabulary growth and reading comprehension. CKLA explicitly integrates morphology instruction in later grades to help students decode multisyllabic words, understand academic vocabulary, and deepen comprehension. This emphasis ensures students develop the tools to unlock meaning across content areas.
Building Background Knowledge and Vocabulary
While phonics and morphology are essential, the Science of Reading also highlights that language comprehension—knowledge of the world, vocabulary, and syntax—is equally important. Students cannot understand what they read without background knowledge.
CKLA’s Knowledge Strand addresses this by introducing children to rich, content-based topics starting in Kindergarten and continuing through Grade 8.
Research confirms that broad knowledge is critical for reading comprehension. CKLA is unique in weaving this into daily instruction from the earliest grades.
Oral Language Development
The Science of Reading emphasizes that strong oral language skills support later literacy. CKLA provides abundant opportunities for students to listen, speak, and discuss high-quality texts—even before they can read them independently. This oral foundation prepares students to access increasingly complex written texts.
Writing and Language Conventions
The Science of Reading also underscores the reciprocal relationship between reading and writing. CKLA integrates daily writing practice tied to content knowledge, grammar, and conventions. By embedding writing into every unit, CKLA reinforces the deep connection between reading and written expression.
Why CKLA Works
The Science of Reading shows that skilled reading requires both word recognition and language comprehension, which researchers call the Simple View of Reading. CKLA uniquely and intentionally addresses both sides of this equation:
- Skills Strand → systematic phonics, decoding, morphology, spelling, and fluency instruction.
- Knowledge Strand → systematic vocabulary-building, content knowledge, and oral comprehension.
Together, these strands provide the balanced, research-driven literacy instruction students need to become proficient readers.
In short: CKLA isn’t just aligned with the Science of Reading—it embodies it. By combining systematic phonics, morphology, and knowledge-building, CKLA equips students with the tools and understanding to read, write, and thrive.
Related Curriculum
CKLA follows our approach to knowledge-based schooling, outlined in the Core Knowledge Sequence. It allows students to build and deepen their knowledge grade by grade and to make cross-curricular connections across subjects.
Implementation Resources
The Core Knowledge Language Arts program provides the tools and resources you’ll need to implement Core Knowledge in your school, including an implementation guide with professional development opportunities, presentations and other useful resources.
Through your implementation process, you may also find it helpful to explore the research on teaching and learning that informed the development of CKLA, along with a range of articles and presentations on the program.
Enriching CKLA with History & Geography Curriculum
Enrich your CKLA lessons with resources from our Core Knowledge History and Geography (CKHG) program. The objectives correlate with the Common Core English Language Arts standards, which call for an increase in nonfiction informational texts. With CKHG in addition to CKLA, you can take an interdisciplinary approach to reading that provides informational texts in a coherent sequence.
Core Classics
In our Core Classics® Series, we present stories loved for generations in abridged versions for young readers, faithful to the style, plot, and themes of the originals. The texts support and reinforce knowledge from the CKLA curriculum.
Core Classics are suitable for reading aloud in the upper elementary grades. For middle school students and older, the texts are appropriate for independent reading.