English Language Arts

August Newsletter

Welcome Back!

I hope your summer was filled with moments of rest, joy, and perhaps even a dent in that ever-growing “to-be-read” stack. Now, as the new school year begins, I hope you’re feeling that familiar mix of excitement and renewed purpose—decorating classrooms, preparing lessons, and looking forward to greeting new students.

This Back-to-School issue of the ELA Newsletter comes with a few fresh updates designed to make your work a little easier. You’ll notice new tabs at the top menu bar for quick access to the ELA Toolkit, KSDE resources, reading and writing supports, and even archived newsletters from last year. Our goal is to make this newsletter a one-stop hub for inspiration, resources, and updates to help you thrive throughout the school year.

Here’s to a fantastic start to the 2025-26 school year! Let’s make it a year of growth, connection, and meaningful learning for every student in Kansas!

HELP SPREAD THE NEWS! Make sure you and your colleagues are signed up to receive the ELA newsletter with updated information, professional development opportunities, and guidance documents each month.

Click the link HERE to join our KSDE ELA Listserve.

ELA Assessment Update

August 12-13 :

KSDE State BOE will vote on Cut Scores for Performance Levels for the new assessment taken last spring.

After September 1:

Scores will be released to teachers, buildings, and districts. Scores will be released in the Parent Portal the following week.
Updated Performance Level Descriptors will also be released to teachers and districts at the same time.

The 2025–26 Assessment Calendar will be officially released in early August. In the meantime, districts can plan for a similar schedule to 2024–25, with testing occurring during roughly the same weeks. For example, the KAP summative assessment window is expected to open the week after Spring Break and remain open for five weeks. Please note at the bottom of this webpage the professional development opportunity over KAP scores and PLD's for schools and districts in conjunction with the Service Centers across the State of Kansas

Spotlight on Literature:

Diverse Book Guides

Each month we will share out new, diverse book guides developed by fellow educators to use and share in your elementary classrooms. Each guide will have a brief summary, target vocabulary, and age appropriate questions to adapt and use as needed within elementary classrooms.

Alma.pdf

Alma and How She Got Her Name

(490 Lexile)

If you ask her, Alma Sofia Esperanza José Pura Candela has way too many names: six! How did such a small person wind up with such a large name? As she hears the story of her name, Alma starts to think it might be a perfect fit after all—and realizes that she will one day have her own story to tell.

Jingle Dancer.pdf

Jingle Dancer

(650 Lexile)

The cone-shaped jingles sewn to Grandma Wolfe's dress sing tink, tink, tink, tink…

Jenna loves the tradition of jingle dancing that has been shared over generations in her family and intertribal community. She hopes to dance at the next powwow. But with the day quickly approaching, she has a problem—how will her dress sing if it has no jingles?

Code Talker.pdf

Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers

(690 Lexile)

Based on the true stories of the Native American Code Talkers, this incredible graphic novel features nine original stories by Native American artists and writers documenting the heroic tales of Code Talkers from World War I through Korea.

New Professional Development Opportunities

SIGN UP TODAY!

KSDE and the Service Centers across the State of Kansas are launching new professional development opportunities for reading and writing. Make sure you get signed up for one or all sessions and take the information back to your schools and classrooms!

Click on the links below to sign up! Dates and links will be added throughout the month of August!

Words Words Words: Vocabulary, Morphology, and Syntax - In this full-day session, we’ll dive into one of the most impactful strands of Scarborough’s Rope: vocabulary and morphology. As students move into middle and high school, the complexity of the texts they read and the ideas they express in writing increase dramatically. Vocabulary knowledge becomes critical.

The KSDE Writing Tenets - This session will introduce the KSDE Writing Tenets—designed to guide educators in delivering purposeful, high-quality writing instruction that meets the needs of all Kansas learners. Discover how these tenets can help students write with clarity, intention, and audience awareness. You’ll leave with evidence-based strategies and practical tools you can use right away in your classroom.

Text Complexity 2.0 - This session explores what text complexity is, why complex text is vital to assist in raising the rigor for our students, and - most importantly - evidence-based strategies for building the skills students need to comprehend rigorous texts with confidence. Participants will learn how to scaffold instruction without oversimplifying content, support productive struggle, and guide students through close reading and text-dependent questioning.

Making Data Work: Using KAP Assessment Results to Strengthen ELA Instruction - The scores are in—now what? In this interactive session, we’ll move beyond the numbers and into action. Participants will explore how to unpack score reports, review the new grade-level Performance Level Descriptors (PLD’s), connect results to specific grade-level standards, and identify targeted areas for growth. We’ll also dive into how to strategically use interim assessments and mini-tests throughout the year to monitor progress, check for understanding, and respond to student needs in real time.

Oh No! The G Word: Strong Strategies For Teaching Grammar and Syntax - In this session, participants will unpack the ongoing debate around grammar instruction and discover a practical, research-informed approach to teaching grammar and syntax that works across grade levels. Regardless of your own grammar instruction style or comfort level, you’ll leave with ready-to-use strategies, engaging routines, and a clearer sense of how to teach grammar in a way that resonates with both teachers and students.

ELA Standards Alignment Mini tests/Interims - Participants in this all-day presentation will first review changes in ELA standards as well as changes for KAP assessments. Be prepared for robust conversations about the components for the ELA standards for each grade level, with respect to attending to the difference above and below one’s specified grade level and how to plan instructional activities that help students progress through the grade level standards.

Smoky Hill: December 10 registration link

SIGN UP TODAY:

Where: ESSDACK Service Center

When: October 17, 2025 | January 13, 2026

College Credit Available!

In addition, you will receive your free copy of Rachel's book: Making Time for Social Studies: A Four-Step Process for Unit Planning in the Elementary Classroom..

ELA and Social Studies

Working Smarter Together

We know how hard it can be to effectively integrate social studies into the K-5 classroom, so we're super excited to offer a PLC just for elementary teachers!

Facilitated by Glenn Wiebe, ESSDACK curriculum consultant, and Rachel Swearengin, 5th grade teacher and 2023 Gilder Lehrman Kansas History Teacher of the Year, our PLC is designed for elementary teachers and will meet two times a year from 9:00 - 3:00. These PLCs focus on the KSDE Four Fundamentals—structured literacy, standards-alignment, balanced assessment, and a particular focus on high-quality instruction—using your adopted curriculum, and aligned to the Kansas HGSS standards.

Through collaboration with K-5 peers, educators will design engaging, student-centered learning experiences. Participants will walk away with tools to create inquiry-based, standards-aligned instruction, ask complex questions, and use data-driven supports to meet the needs of every learner—don't miss this opportunity to elevate educational practices and inspire students.