Amplify CKLA

Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) is a language arts program for grades PreK–5 that combines a multi-sensory approach to phonics with rich texts carefully sequenced to build content knowledge all in support of students simultaneously learning to read and reading to learn.

Each day students complete one full lesson that builds foundational literacy skills, as well as one full lesson that builds background knowledge.  In grades 3–5, students start to master the skills of reading.Review the ELA section of the class website for the unit titles, summaries, and learning outcomes for each unit.    

Students will be assigned reading or vocabulary practice  on Boost, the digital platform used with Amplify CKLA.

Unit Summary

This unit examines the genre of personal narratives. Students read five personal narratives and identify the elements of the genre, which include a logical sequence of events, dialogue, vivid descriptive language, sensory details, figurative language, and images that accompany a written text. Students are given frequent writing opportunities to employ these elements. They also share their writing with their classmates throughout the unit, offering concrete and positive feedback. Finally, students complete Student Performance Assessment 1 to evaluate their preparation for Grade 5 work.

Overall Learning Outcomes

• Identify and begin to correctly use personification in writing

• Identify and begin to correctly use point of view in writing

• Identify and begin to correctly use similes and metaphors in writing

• Use the “Think as You Read” strategy to deepen understanding of a text

• Write a personal narrative

• Unit Assessment

• Student Performance Assessment

Unit Summary

This unit orients students to the geography, climate, flora, and fauna of the Americas, while also presenting a general history and timeline of the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca empires. The unit features myths from these ancient civilizations and describes Mayan, Aztec, and Incan innovations and discoveries.

Students study the root word tract and the prefixes ir–, inter–, and il–. They also practice properly using subjects and predicates, distinguishing between action verbs and linking verbs, and correcting run-on sentences. Finally, they learn about words and phrases used to compare and contrast.

Overall Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate understanding of key vocabulary

• Compare and contrast the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations

• Paraphrase information from a text

• Create an informative or explanatory writing piece using evidence from a text

• Develop understanding of grammar, including action verbs, linking verbs, words that compare and contrast, run-on sentences, subjects, and predicates

• Unit Assessment

Unit Summary

This unit teaches students tools and strategies for approaching poetry, trains them in the methods and devices that poets use, and equips them to read and interpret both formal and free verse poems. It also enables them to practice what they have learned by giving them regular opportunities to create their own poems.

Students read poems that are drawn from various literary traditions over the last several centuries, ranging from William Blake’s eighteenth-century verse to the work of contemporary writers like Virgil Suárez and Marie Howe. The poets in this unit come from a diverse range of cultural heritages within the US, including Black, Hispanic, and Native American. The poems are also diverse in structure, employing a mix of precise meter and rhyme schemes as well as free verse and experimentation.

Overall Learning Outcomes

• Identify and use poetic devices, including tone, anaphora, figurative language, rhyme, and metaphor

• Identify and write in various poetic forms, such as villanelle and lists

• Compare and contrast poems using graphic organizers

• Apply new poetry knowledge to grow in the craft of writing poetry

• Unit Assessment

Unit Summary

In this unit, students read an adapted version of the classic novel Don Quixote. They focus on characters, plot, and other literary elements—such as characterization. Students trace the development of the plot, characters, and literary elements over the course of the novel. This exposes them to culturally relevant aspects of the timeless tale, including the quixotic nature of the primary character; the relationship between Don Quixote and his sidekick, Sancho Panza; and memorable scenes—like the one involving windmills. Regarding grammar, students learn how to use commas in a series, and they continue developing their understanding of subject-verb agreement. They also learn how to effectively use compare and contrast words, the suffix –ness, and the root word vac.

Overall Learning Outcomes

• Distinguish between fact and opinion

• Demonstrate understanding of pronoun-verb agreement and commas in a series

• Demonstrate understanding of key vocabulary

• Craft and share a four-paragraph opinion essay

• Support claims with textual evidence

• Unit Assessment

Unit Summary

Deep Blue World: Oceans is an informational unit that explores the diversity of animal and plant life within six ocean ecosystems. Students read rigorous informational texts and consider big questions regarding the characteristics of ocean environments that support thriving ecosystems. Informational texts and paired texts about marine biologists, oceanic phenomena, and marine life are used to develop students’ reading and writing skills. Student Performance Assessment 2 can also be administered at the end of this unit to evaluate students’ progress at this point in the year.

Overall Learning Outcomes

• Discuss characteristics of ocean ecosystems through images and whole group discussions

• Use quotations and paraphrased text details to identify characteristics of ocean ecosystems in informational texts

• Analyze information in paired informational texts using a graphic organizer

• Find and record key information, including main ideas and details, about marine animals and ecosystems

• Write single- and multiple-paragraph descriptions of marine animals and ecosystems

• Use evidence from an outline to develop introduction, body, and conclusion paragraphs with relevant vocabulary

• Plan for revisions to students’ drafts using peer feedback

• Edit several developed paragraphs using peer and teacher feedback as well as students’ knowledge of English language conventions

• Student Performance Assessment

• Unit Assessment

Unit Summary

This unit explores Native Americans' deep connections to the lands where they have lived and the impacts of 1800s U.S. government policies and settlers on their cultures. The Reader's complex texts prepare Grade 5 students for future advanced vocabulary and syntax. Students read stories from specific tribes to better understand how these stories communicate values and a shared history across generations of tribal members. In "We're Still Here," students learn about modern Native American efforts to preserve languages,

lands, and traditions.

Overall Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate understanding of key vocabulary

• Read, analyze, and explain ideas in text to deepen comprehension

• Make inferences and cite evidence from informative text

• Compare and contrast themes in narrative texts

• Analyze how illustrations contribute to the meaning and tone of a story

• Explain the function of coordinating conjunctions

• Identify past, present, and future perfect verb tenses

• Distinguish between root words and words with prefixes or suffixes in sentences

• Use a graphic organizer to analyze the structure of an opinion essay

• Focus on collecting relevant information to write an opinion essay

• Unit Assessment

Unit Summary

In the Building Up the World: Global Architecture unit, students explore connections between art and science; learn about architectural design elements such as form and function; and examine the influence of purpose, history, and culture on architectural design. Students read about notable architects, like Antoni Gaudí, Maya Lin, and Zaha Hadid; and innovative structures, such as the Empire State Building, Fallingwater, and the Rajkumari Ratnavati Girls’ School.

Students enhance their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills throughout the unit. Specifically, they identify the elements of and annotate nonfiction texts, and they draw information from these texts to create infographics. This unit concludes with Student Performance Assessment 3 to help determine whether students are adequately prepared for Grade 6 ELA instruction.

Overall Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate understanding of key vocabulary

• Compare and contrast works of architecture

• Make text-based inferences and determine key ideas by evaluating text details

• Review the importance of root words when deciphering the meaning of words

• Identify, explain the function of, and properly use prepositions in sentences

• Generate a research question, conduct research, and develop an informational text with the information collected

• Explain the importance of gathering information and properly citing sources

• Provide rubric-centered feedback to peers on their writing, visual component, and oral presentation

• Learn to become producers of informative texts rather than just consumers of information