Reading Program Samples
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This page includes some samples from the Core Knowledge Reading Program (CKR) for kindergarten. The samples are in PDF format and can be viewed with Adobe Reader, a free software utility. These materials are currently being field tested in 40+ classrooms all around the U.S. We hope that a revised version of the kindergarten materials (and possibly also the grade 1 materials) will be available for general use in the fall of 2008.
Instruction in CKR is divided into two strands: the Skills Strand and the Listening and Learning Strand.
The Skills Strand
The Skills Strand teaches the mechanics of reading using a phonics approach. The kind of phonics instruction used is a synthetic, or linguistic, phonics approach of the sort recommended by reading researcher Diane McGuinness. This kind of phonics instruction is widely used in the U.K. and has produced impressive results in several published studies, but it is still little used in the U.S. The major difference between synthetic phonics and phonics as it is usually taught in the U.S. is that synthetic phonics lessons begin with a sound like /m/, instead of a letter like ‘m’. The students hear and speak the sound, both in isolation and in words. Then the teacher shows them how to make a “picture” of the sound. Students practice writing the sound picture (which may be a letter like ‘m’ or letter team like ‘sh’).
In the CKR Skills Strand, reading and writing are taught in tandem, so as to reinforce each other. The students practice blending (reading) and segmenting (spelling) using the sound pictures they have learned. They are not asked to read words that go beyond their code knowledge. Decodable stories are introduced in the fifth of the twelve units for kindergarten. There is generally a new story for each new lesson, and the stories are 100% decodable — that is to say, they are made up entirely of sound pictures the students have been taught and, later, tricky words which have also been explicitly taught. The Skills Strand includes extensive phonemic awareness activities and features repeated oral reading to build fluency. The strand has been designed so as to be fully in accord with the findings of the National Reading Panel Report. For a longer discussion of the philosophy behind the skills strand, see the introduction in the Code Breakers! Teacher Guide, Units 1–4.
The links below allow you to inspect several of the central components in the Skills Strand.
Code Breakers! Teacher Guides
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These contain detailed instructions for teaching the Skills Strand lessons. Unit 1 (Lessons 1–10) covers reading readiness, penmanship, phonological awareness, and phonemic awareness. Unit 2 (Lessons 11–23) introduces eight sounds, each with its most common spelling. The sounds include a mix of consonants and “short” vowels. Unit 3 (Lessons 24–36) and Unit 4 (Lessons 37–50) introduce additional consonants and short vowels and their most common spellings. Unit 5 (Lessons 51–57) introduces consonant clusters and single-syllable words up to five letters long. Unit 6 (Lessons 58–68) introduces consonant sounds written with digraphs, such as /sh/ spelled ‘sh’, and extends word length to eight letters within one syllable. For more details about the kindergarten sequence, see the front matter in the Code Breakers! Teacher Guide, Units 1–4.
Code Breakers! Teacher Guide, Units 1–4
- Sample I (cover, front matter, lessons 1–4) PDF 1.4 Mb
- Sample II (cover, front matter, lessons 11–18) PDF 1.3 Mb
Code Breakers! Teacher Guide, Units 5–8
- Sample I (cover, front matter, lessons 51–55) PDF 1.2 Mb
- Sample II (cover, lessons 58–60) PDF 1.0 Mb
- Sample III (cover, lessons 70–72) PDF 962 Kb
Code Breakers! Workbooks
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These consumable student books contain worksheets that accompany the lessons.
Code Breakers! Workbook, Units 1–4
- Sample (cover, front matter, and worksheets for lessons 1–4, 11–18 ) PDF 1.2 Mb
Code Breakers! Workbook, Units 5–8
- Sample (cover, front matter, and worksheets for lessons 51–55, 58–60, 70–72) PDF 1.1 Mb
Code Breakers! Readers
These contain 100% decodable text to be read in conjunction with the Skills lessons. The reader for Unit 5 uses only the “short” vowel sounds spelled ‘a’, ‘e’, ‘i’, ‘o’, and ‘u’ and the consonant sounds written with single alphabet letters (‘b’, ‘c’, ‘d’, ‘f’, ‘g’, ‘h’, etc.). All of the words in the stories can be read via blending. (There are no tricky words.) The Unit 6 reader adds the consonant digraphs taught in that unit, including ‘sh’, ‘ch, ‘th’ and ‘ng.’
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Code Breakers! Reader, Unit 5: Kit
- Sample (cover, front matter, and stories 51–55) PDF 853 Kb
Code Breakers! Reader, Unit 6: Seth
- Sample (cover, front matter, and stories 64–68) PDF 475 Kb
The Listening and Learning Strand
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The Listening and Learning strand draws upon twenty years of research conducted by E. D. Hirsch, Jr., into the foundations of reading and comprehension. Dr. Hirsch’s central insight — detailed in his books Cultural Literacy and The Knowledge Deficit — is that reading comprehension requires not just decoding skills (taught in the Skills Strand) but also adequate background knowledge, domain-specific vocabulary, and cultural literacy. These things are essential if students are to understand the words and sentences they are decoding — and this strand is designed to teach them. For a longer discussion of the philosophy behind the Listening and Learning Strand, see the Introduction to the Listening and Learning Strand reprinted in each of the Read-Aloud Anthologies below.
The Listening and Learning Strand is a program comprised of reading aloud and oral language activities that capitalizes on the fact that students’ listening comprehension abilities outpace their reading comprehension abilities throughout elementary school. The strand consists of 300 read-alouds intended to be read during 150 days of instruction. The read-alouds are divided into 12 domains. Each domain is dedicated to a particular subject and consists of 20–30 read-alouds that the teacher is expected to share with students over the course of 10–20 days of instruction. The topics covered in these domains go well beyond standard kindergarten language arts fare and include important historical and scientific content. There are introductory strategies before each read-aloud and detailed discussion guidelines after each one.
The links below allow you to inspect several of the central components in the Listening and Learning Strand.
Tell It Again! Read-Aloud Anthologies
These anthologies contain the read-alouds that make up each domain, as well as guidelines and suggestions for introducing and discussing the read-alouds.
Tell It Again! Read-Aloud Anthology 1: Nursery Rhymes and Fables
- Sample (cover, front matter, and lessons 1–4) PDF 833 Kb
Tell It Again! Read-Aloud Anthology 2: Seasons and Weather
- Sample (cover, front matter, and lessons 13–16) PDF 774 Kb
Tell It Again! Flip Books
These oversized picture books are used to display images that accompany the read-alouds in the Tell It Again! Read-Aloud Anthologies. The pictures are also available in digital format, on media disks, using a Flash presentation on a computer and projector or large monitor.
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Tell It Again! Flip Book 1: Nursery Rhymes and Fables
- Sample (cover, front matter, and the images that go with lessons 1–4) PDF 993 Kb
Tell It Again! Flip Book 2: Seasons and Weather
- Sample (cover, front matter, and the images that go with lessons 13–16) PDF 1.1 Mb
Tell It Again! Workbooks
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These contain worksheets that accompany the Listening and Learning lessons.
Tell It Again! Workbook
- Sample (cover and worksheets for lessons 1–4 and 13–16) PDF 425 Kb
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Last updated: Fri, March 14 2008
