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A primary goal of the Amplify CKLA program is to coherently build students' knowledge from Kindergarten through Grade 5 and to provide both exposure to and instruction in academic (Tier 2) and domain (Tier 3) vocabulary. The Vocabulary Guide explains the program's multifaceted approach to vocabulary instruction.

The Vocabulary Guide describes the program's vocabulary pedagogy, scope and sequence, and instructional routines. The guide also includes activities to help students engage with vocabulary words and gives suggestions for materials (such as the Amplify CKLA Vocab App) to aid in vocabulary acquisition.

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Amplify CKLA Vocabulary Guide | Amplify Help Center

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A primary goal of the Amplify CKLA program is to coherently build students' knowledge from Kindergarten through Grade 5 and to provide both exposure to and instruction in academic (Tier 2) and domain (Tier 3) vocabulary. The Vocabulary Guide explains the program's multifaceted approach to vocabulary instruction.

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Readworks.org Article of The Day Protocol

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Readworks.org Article of The Day Protocol

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America's reading comprehension crisis.

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Ohio's PreK-12 Digital Library. Optimized by the Management Council.

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Ohio's PreK-12 Digital Library. Optimized by the Management Council.

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Explore reading basics as well as the key role of background knowledge and motivation in becoming a lifelong reader and learner. Watch our PBS Launching Young Readers series and try our self-paced Reading 101 course to deepen your understanding.

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Our library provides effective, research-based classroom strategies to help strengthen your students' skills in phonological awareness, decoding, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.

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Readworks.org - Article of the Day and Decodables

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Readworks.org - Article of the Day and Decodables

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

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ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America's reading comprehension crisis.

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Visual Dictionary and Thesaurus and Word Trees.
https://visuwords.com/

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eBook and interactive activities

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Infohio.org - Directions for sharing permalinks to specific resources accessed through INFOhio.org.

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Closing The Million Word Gap - Wickliffe

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The SAG-AFTRA Foundation's Daytime Emmy-nominated, Storyline Online, features celebrated actors reading children's books to inspire a love of reading in millions of children worldwide.

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Qualitative Measures Rubric - Literature

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Qualitative Measures Rubric - Literature

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

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CommonLit | Free Online Reading Passages and Literacy Resources

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CommonLit is a comprehensive literacy program with thousands of reading lessons, full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and standards-based data for teachers.

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Teaching vocabulary is complex. What words are important for a child to know and in what context? In this excerpt from Bringing Words to Life: Robust Vocabulary Instruction, the authors consider what principles might be used for selecting which words to explicitly teach.

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With your Ohio public library card, you may have access to additional resources including genealogy and local history materials, online software training, legal forms, and more. Use this Ohio Public Library Information Network page to find a public library near you.

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With your Ohio public library card, you may have access to additional resources including genealogy and local history materials, online software training, legal forms, and more. Use this Ohio Public Library Information Network page to find a public library near you.

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ReadWorks | Award-Winning, EdTech Nonprofit Organization

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ReadWorks is an edtech nonprofit organization that is committed to helping to solve America’s reading comprehension crisis.

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Toolsuite for visualizing and exploring passages of text.

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Designing book baskets to boost motivation, enthusiasm and engagement

I teach first grade in Anacortes, Washington and my district recently adopted a popular balanced literacy curriculum. I have had wonderings and discussions with colleagues about students reading “at their level” and what this means for our struggling readers. I wondered how my struggling readers would ever access grade-level text if they were always reading “at their level.”  I also believe students have more than one level. If they have knowledge around a topic, they can read a higher level text and I wouldn’t want any books to be off-limits for a child to try and read.  I was recently invited to participate as a pilot classroom in a project to design “book baskets,” or collections of thematically similar books at varying complexity levels, out of the books in my classroom library. This work came along at a perfect time. I wanted to try something different to reach the needs of all of my readers, and ensure they were making progress tackling increasingly complex texts.  This project’s focus was on increasing student motivation, enthusiasm, and engagement when they were given choice in the books they read.

My classroom library is organized into topics and levels.  Each K-6 classroom in my district was given a leveled library. I created book sets with many of these new books. This campaign was about engagement so not only did I create sets based on topic for knowledge/vocabulary growth, I also chose books based on high-interest characters.

Here’s what I recommend doing:

1. Look through your books and see what topics stand out to you. Can you group your existing library into collections on the same theme, topic, or character?

2. After you’ve identified groups, look through your books to see if the texts are linked topically and present opportunities to build knowledge and vocabulary. Are there tier 3 words that are in common? Are there tier 2 words or concepts that will be reinforced through reading the linked texts? A guiding question for you can be “What content will my students learn by reading this set of books together?” or “How will students be able to access higher level texts if they read these topic-based sets?”

3. Put the books together in baskets, tubs, or Ziploc bags.  Ideally, the books in your sets will be at a variety of levels. Students can access the increasingly more difficult texts in the sets because they will have learned the vocabulary from the easier levels.

4. This can be done in stages.  You don’t need to create all of your sets before you get started.  As a first grade teacher, I started by creating sets of books from my leveled C-F books.

5. Introduce the book baskets to your class.  Tell your students they will be able to pick the sets they are interested in and become experts on a topic or character.

Book Baskets in My Classroom

This project created 3 positive changes to independent reading time in my classroom:

1. Students are accessing harder books in book baskets because of their knowledge and vocabulary learning in the text sets. By reading texts that are linked, they are building their knowledge of the topic and thus able to easily access more complex texts than they had been doing previously.

2. Students have choice. They choose the book basket they want to read and they choose the individual books they read during independent reading time.  My students have always had choice but in the past it was after they had spent time in “their level” of books.

3. Students don’t know their level.  This was a goal of mine when I began this project.  When asked why they chose a certain book or book basket, I did not want anyone to tell me it was because it was “their level.” Thanks to this project my students are now saying things like, “I chose this book basket because I love cats;” “Fly Guy makes me laugh;” or “My friend told me I would like it so I am trying it.”

Student Reaction to Book Baskets

Student motivation has never been higher. Students are eager to choose books and book baskets. One student suggested creating a sign-up list for the sets since students are anxious to get their hands on certain popular sets! They are excited when it is independent reading time and they get started right away sustaining their reading for 30 minutes. I remember one of my students being so excited about what he accomplished that he shouted to the whole room “Can you believe I read 21 pages?!” after reading about sea life – a topic of his choosing. Another of my students really loves books about Danny the Dog and asked if he could stay in at recess to search the classroom library to see if he could find any other books about Danny to add to our set.

When I look across my class during independent reading time, their eyes are on their books and they are silent or whisper reading. To really know if they are engaged, I have increased talking about books. The students get a chance to share what they read, what they learned from their book, what they enjoyed and why. I believe if they can talk about their reading, they are truly engaged with the work.  They want to share their learning and enjoyment with their friends. My students frequently want to recommend their favorites to their friends, and read aloud to me to show their skills. And they’re right to be proud – many of my students can read books above their level with ease now.

A student writing down new vocabulary she learns as she reads.

Final Thoughts

All of my students, including my reluctant readers, were motivated, enthusiastic, and became better readers because of this campaign. It is now part of the culture in my classroom for students to have choice in what they read during independent reading time. I plan to continue using book baskets. When students finish a set, they choose a new one.  I offer suggestions of topics they might be interested in reading and often they have a new set in mind based on peer recommendations. My students have read many of the sets already, so I will be putting more sets together (using the higher levels in my leveled library) as well as purchasing a few new books.  I have a student who is requesting a text set about sharks and a child who is really interested in wild cats. Their enthusiasm makes me excited to create sets on topics I know they want to read.

About the Author: MJ D’Amelio is a first grade teacher in Anacortes, Washington. MJ holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Child Development, a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction, and a Teacher Leadership certificate from the University of Washington. MJ is a Student Achievement Partner Washington State Core Advocate and is continuously seeking to better her classroom instruction and support teachers.

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How to Create Book Baskets - Peers and Pedagogy

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I teach first grade in Anacortes, Washington and my district recently adopted a popular balanced literacy curriculum. I have had wonderings and discussions with colleagues about students reading “at their level” and what this means for our struggling readers. I wondered how my struggling readers wou…

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More resources: Vocabulary: self-paced course Target the Problem: Vocabulary Vocabulary Apps Topics A-Z: Vocabulary Vocabulary refers to the words we must understand to communicate effectively. Educators often consider four types of vocabulary: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Listening vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we hear.

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Achievethecore.org Academic Word Finder Tool 

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Achievethecore.org Academic Word Finder Tool 

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Achievethecore.org :: Instructional Practice Guide: Academic Word Finder

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This guide is a practical tool that teachers, and teacher-trainers, can use (and re-use!) in order to build fluency with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

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More resources: Vocabulary: self-paced course Target the Problem: Vocabulary Vocabulary Apps Topics A-Z: Vocabulary Vocabulary refers to the words we must understand to communicate effectively. Educators often consider four types of vocabulary: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Listening vocabulary refers to the words we need to know to understand what we hear.