From phonemic awareness to knowledge-rich comprehension β the complete teacher preparation for GES's transition to Core Knowledge Language Arts, grounded in research that works.
This series prepares every GES teacher to understand why CKLA works, what it requires, and how to make the transition from Benchmark Advance with confidence.
The DoWEA director cited the Mississippi Miracle and warned against learning the wrong lesson from it. Mississippi didn't just adopt phonics β they built a system-wide, sustained investment in educator capacity across the full literacy pipeline. That is exactly what this series is designed to build at GES.
Reading is NOT a natural process. The brain has no reading circuit β it must be explicitly built through systematic instruction. This is the foundational insight of 40 years of cognitive neuroscience.
Simple View: Reading = Decoding Γ Language Comprehension. Both legs must be strong. CKLA builds both simultaneously β phonics in the Skills Strand, knowledge in the Knowledge Strand.
Core Knowledge Language Arts is the most research-aligned Kβ5 ELA program available. It is built on E.D. Hirsch's knowledge-gap research and integrates systematic phonics with coherent, cumulative domain knowledge.
CKLA is not a phonics-only program. It is not a rejection of rich literature or student identity. It is not a scripted program teachers follow robotically. It is a coherent, cumulative knowledge-building system β the instructional equivalent of building a cathedral, one stone at a time.
Teachers leave understanding the cognitive science case for explicit literacy instruction β and able to explain it to parents and colleagues.
| Time | Activity | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00β0:15 | LaunchThe Reading Brain | Show Dehaene's "Reading in the Brain" adapted clip. Ask: "What surprises you?" Surface the core insight β reading is a technology overlaid on a brain built for language, not print. No child is born able to read. | Whole group |
| 0:15β0:35 | TeachSimple View of Reading | Present the SVR equation: RC = D Γ LC. Walk through what happens when Decoding is strong but Language Comprehension is weak (and vice versa). Use the "word caller" vs. "poor decoder" case studies. Teachers identify students they know who fit each profile. | Whole group + pairs |
| 0:35β0:55 | AnalyzeGES Data Through the SVR Lens | Principal shares anonymized GES literacy data. Teachers sort students into SVR quadrants: strong decoder + strong LC (on track), weak decoder (phonics-first need), weak LC (knowledge/vocabulary need), both weak (intensive). What does this tell us about our instruction? | Grade-band groups |
| 0:55β1:15 | CompareBenchmark Advance β CKLA | Side-by-side comparison. What does BA do well? Where are the gaps? How does CKLA address those gaps? Specifically: knowledge strands, phonics scope, decodable text, oral language development. Not a criticism of BA β a transition conversation. | Whole group |
| 1:15β1:40 | ExploreGrade-Band: What Changes for Us? | K: Focus on sound walls, decodables, phonemic awareness depth. Primary: How read-alouds become knowledge-building. Intermediate: Academic vocabulary as a comprehension driver. Each group maps their greatest instructional shift. | Band groups |
| 1:40β2:00 | CommitOne Change, Starting Monday | Each teacher identifies one SoR-aligned practice to add immediately β even before CKLA arrives. Exit ticket: "I will ___ in my ___ class this week." Principal collects β these become coaching focus areas. | Individual |
Systematic, explicit phonics is the most researched intervention in literacy education. This session makes every GES teacher fluent in phonics scope and sequence β regardless of grade or subject.
| Time | Activity | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00β0:15 | LaunchCan YOU Hear the Sounds? | Phoneme segmentation challenge for teachers: segment "strength" (/s/-/t/-/r/-/Ι/-/Ε/-/k/-/ΞΈ/ = 7 phonemes). Most adults struggle. Discussion: if WE struggle, what does this tell us about how to teach it? Surface the complexity students face. | Whole group |
| 0:15β0:35 | TeachPhonics Scope & Sequence | Walk the full CKLA Kβ5 phonics progression. Teachers annotate: "We currently teach this" / "This is new" / "This is deeper than we go." Key milestones: CVC words, blends, digraphs, long vowel patterns, multisyllabic decoding strategies. | Whole group + annotation |
| 0:35β0:55 | PracticeSound Walls: Build One Together | Each grade-band group receives phoneme cards. Working together: sort phonemes, mount on vowel/consonant articulation chart. Discuss: why organized by mouth position, not alphabet? How does this change how students learn letter-sound relationships? | Band groups |
| 0:55β1:15 | ApplyTeach a PA Lesson | Each teacher scripts and delivers a 3-minute phonemic awareness micro-lesson (blending, segmenting, or manipulation). Partners provide feedback using the EI framework: was the I Do explicit? Did the teacher model the mouth position? Was CFU high-participation? | Pairs |
| 1:15β1:40 | AnalyzeDecodable vs. Leveled Texts | Side-by-side comparison of a decodable reader and a leveled reader at the same approximate reading level. What words can a K student decode with explicit phonics training? What requires guessing? Discussion: what does leveled reading teach children to do? | Trios β whole |
| 1:40β2:00 | PlanSound Wall Commitment | K and primary teachers plan their sound wall installation. Intermediate teachers plan vocabulary wall redesign using academic language principles. All teachers identify one phonics misconception they've been unintentionally teaching. | Individual |
| Grade | Major Phonics Skills | Special Focus in CKLA |
|---|---|---|
| Kindergarten | Letter-sound correspondence (26 basic sounds), CVC words, blending 3-phoneme words, digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh) | Extensive phonemic awareness BEFORE print; articulatory feedback; sound wall from day one |
| Grade 1 | Long vowel patterns (CVCe, vowel teams), blends (bl, cr, str), r-controlled vowels (-ar, -er, -ir, -or, -ur) | Decodable texts aligned exactly to taught patterns; no sight words before decoding |
| Grade 2 | Vowel diphthongs (oi, oy, ou, ow), advanced vowel teams (igh, -tion, -ture), multisyllabic decoding strategies | Spelling explicitly tied to phonics; encoding reinforces decoding |
| Grades 3β5 | Morphology (prefixes, suffixes, Latin/Greek roots), syllable types, multisyllabic word analysis | Vocabulary instruction through morphology; knowledge-building texts provide context for advanced decoding |
The single biggest insight from SoR research: comprehension is not a skill β it is a function of knowledge. CKLA is designed specifically to close the knowledge gap that drives reading failure.
| Time | Activity | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00β0:15 | LaunchThe Baseball Study | Present Recht & Leslie (1988): poor readers with baseball knowledge outperformed strong readers without it on baseball-related comprehension. Discussion: what does this tell us about comprehension "strategies"? Is visualizing really a skill β or is it a product of knowledge? | Whole group |
| 0:15β0:30 | TeachThe Knowledge Gap Thesis | Present E.D. Hirsch's core argument (Natalie Wexler's "The Knowledge Gap"): American elementary schools spent 30 years teaching comprehension strategies in isolation β and it didn't work. Knowledge is what drives comprehension. CKLA was designed to fix this. | Whole group |
| 0:30β0:55 | ExamineCKLA Knowledge Strand Deep Dive | Grade-band groups examine their grade's CKLA Knowledge Strand materials: read-alouds, domain introductions, vocabulary development. Identify: (1) what prior knowledge does each domain assume? (2) what knowledge does it build? (3) how does it connect to the next grade? | Band groups |
| 0:55β1:20 | PracticeKnowledge-Building Read-Aloud Design | Each group designs a 15-minute knowledge-building read-aloud sequence for one CKLA unit. Must include: pre-reading knowledge activation, read-aloud with vocabulary stops, knowledge check, and connection to future units. Share across bands β see the Kβ5 arc. | Band groups β gallery |
| 1:20β1:40 | ExploreVocabulary: Tier 1, 2, 3 in CKLA | Examine CKLA's vocabulary instruction approach. What makes Tier 2 words (sophisticated general vocabulary) different from Tier 3 (domain-specific)? How does CKLA teach both? Practice: identify and sort vocabulary from one unit. Design one Tier 2 vocabulary explicit lesson. | Subject groups |
| 1:40β2:00 | ConnectKnowledge β Equity | Discussion: who benefits MOST from knowledge-rich curriculum? Why is CKLA an equity move, not just an academic one? Connection to our military families: students who move frequently need curriculum that doesn't assume local cultural knowledge. GES's demographic is CKLA's best argument. | Whole group |
Military-connected children are among the most mobile students in the nation β averaging 6β9 school moves by age 18. A knowledge-rich, coherent curriculum like CKLA is the great equalizer: it doesn't depend on what happened at the last school. Every student gets the full knowledge sequence, every year.
The final session integrates all four components β decoding, fluency, knowledge, and comprehension β into a coherent daily lesson rhythm that teachers can sustain.
| Time | Activity | Description | Format |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00β0:20 | WalkCKLA Implementation Showcase | Teachers share one artifact from their SoR implementation since Session 1: a sound wall photo, a phonics lesson plan, a vocabulary lesson, student work. Gallery walk with "warm" and "wonder" sticky notes. | Gallery |
| 0:20β0:40 | TeachThe Daily CKLA Lesson Structure | Walk through a complete Skills Strand lesson (Kβ2) and a Knowledge Strand lesson (all grades). Identify: warm-up, explicit teaching, guided practice, reading, comprehension questions, writing. Show video of a model CKLA lesson. Teachers annotate with EI labels. | Whole group |
| 0:40β1:05 | PlanWeek-Long Unit Planning | Grade-band groups plan one full week of CKLA instruction: Skills Strand + Knowledge Strand daily blocks, vocabulary targets, writing tasks, and CFU moments. Use provided CKLA scope and pacing guide. Principal circulates as a planning partner. | Band groups |
| 1:05β1:25 | ExploreWriting as Reading Reinforcement | How does CKLA use writing? It is not "creative writing" β it is encoding and evidence. Students write about what they've read in the Knowledge Strand. Students encode words from the Skills Strand. Examine sample CKLA writing tasks and student exemplars. Design one writing-from-reading task. | Pairs β whole |
| 1:25β1:45 | Self-AssessCKLA Readiness Self-Assessment | Teachers complete the 4-domain CKLA readiness rubric: phonics knowledge, knowledge strand fluency, vocabulary instruction, writing integration. Set one 90-day goal. Identify the resource or support most needed. | Individual |
| 1:45β2:00 | CloseThe CKLA Promise | Principal closes: "In 2027, every student at GES will receive a curriculum built on decades of research. Our job between now and then is to make sure we're ready. You are already further ahead than you know." Share the coaching plan for ongoing CKLA support. | Whole group |