What is Amplify CKLA?
Amplify CKLA is a core ELA program for grades PK–5 that delivers:
- A unique research-based approach truly built on the Science of Reading.
- A combination of explicit foundational skills with meaningful knowledge-building.
- Embedded support and differentiation that gets all students reading grade-level texts together.
- Opportunities for students to see the strengths and experiences that all people share while also celebrating each others’ unique identities and experiences.
How does Amplify CKLA work?
Daily instruction
Grade PreK: Developmentally appropriate foundational knowledge
Our PreK program delivers developmentally appropriate instruction and activities that do more than lay the groundwork for foundational skills—they offer content knowledge, incorporating research that shows true literacy requires background knowledge in history, science, art, and literature. Amplify CKLA PreK easily fits into any class routine, with 45 minutes of interactive instruction designed to accommodate full-day or half-day schedules.
Grades K–2: Dedicated knowledge-building and explicit skills instruction
Every day, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson that explicitly and systematically builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds robust background knowledge to access complex text in the Knowledge Strand. Through learning in each of these strands, students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers and build the context to understand what they’re reading.
Grades 3–5: Integrated instruction
In Grades 3–5, Knowledge and Skills are integrated in one set of instructional materials. Lessons begin to combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis. Students can then use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures.
Formative and summative assessments
Amplify CKLA features a progression of moment-by-moment assessments to benchmark assessments. Assessment and feedback give teachers the information they need to differentiate instruction effectively.
Checks for Understanding
Each lesson segment incorporates checks for understanding to increase engagement and to let teachers make real-time adjustments to their instruction.
Formative Assessment
Each lesson goal is tied to a formative assessment opportunity, allowing teachers to see which students need more support with a benchmark.
Mid- and End-of-Unit Assessments
Mid-Unit and End-of-Unit Assessments provide valuable information on the skills and content students have mastered. Digital end-of-unit assessments are available on a variety of platforms.
Benchmark and Placement Assessments
Benchmark and Placement Assessments help teachers set goals and monitor the growth of each student, providing a baseline at the beginning of the year and ensuring students are advancing toward grade-level objectives.
Download our CKLA Assessment Sampler
What makes Amplify CKLA different?
Integration with mCLASS DIBELS 8
Amplify CKLA is the only core ELA program that integrates with mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition.
The CKLA Connect feature matches your students with targeted CKLA lessons based on their mCLASS DIBELS 8th Edition assessment data. In other words, it aligns your assessments more closely with your core curriculum while recommending effective differentiated instruction.
Download this guide to connecting mCLASS DIBELS 8 with Amplify CKLA
Built on the Science of Reading
Built out of the latest research in the Science of Reading, Amplify CKLA delivers explicit instruction in foundational knowledge in PreK, both foundational literacy skills (systematic phonics, decoding, and fluency) and background knowledge in grades K–2, and an integrated approach to explicit instruction in grades 3–5.
Review this Science of Reading toolkit to learn more about the Science of Reading best practices integrated throughout CKLA.
Explicit systematic skills instruction
Great reading instruction starts with helping kids develop great decoding skills. By building a solid foundation of phonological awareness and phonics, reading the words on the page becomes automatic so that comprehension and critical thinking can happen. Our instruction is supported by:
- Step-by-step lessons with multisensory approaches, clear lesson objectives, and embedded formative assessments.
- Decodable books and student readers with ebook and audiobook versions that feature interesting plots and relatable characters.
- An engaging sound library with fun songs and videos that develop phonological awareness.
- An interactive Vocab App featuring engaging activities with immediate feedback and automated, customized instruction based on student performance.
Coherent knowledge instruction
Students build grade-appropriate subject-area knowledge and vocabulary in history, science, literature, and the arts while learning to read, write, and think creatively and for themselves. Our instruction is supported by:
- Knowledge builders that provide a quick overview of each domain with its key ideas.
- Interactive Read-Alouds designed to build knowledge and vocabulary.
- Content-rich anchor texts that support students as they tackle increasingly complex text and sharpen their analytical skills.
- Social and emotional learning paired with lessons in civic responsibility.
Commitment to equity and diversity
We now offer newly redesigned decodable Readers and six new Knowledge Research units.
Learn more about equity, diversity, and inclusion in Amplify CKLA
Our decodable stories now have improved inclusivity and authenticity, and feature individuals with a broad range of identity factors, including socioeconomic status, age, ability, race, ethnicity, country of origin, religion, and more.
Our new Knowledge Research units carry forward Amplify CKLA’s powerful and proven instructional approach while also:
- Adding more diversity. The rich topics and highly visual components featured in these units provide students with even more “windows and mirrors” and perspectives as they work to build knowledge.
- Adding more authentic literature. Each new research unit revolves around a collection of high-interest authentic trade books that will spark more curiosity and inspire more inquiry.
- Adding more flexibility. Units can be implemented for extended core instruction during flex periods, district-designated Pausing Points, or enrichment periods.
Units cover a variety of rich and relevant topics:
With these new units, students will soar to new heights with Dr. Ellen Ochoa, Amelia Earhart, and the Tuskegee Airmen. They’ll feel the rhythm as they learn about Jazz legends Miles Davis, Tito Puente, and Duke Ellington. And they’ll explore the far reaches of the world with Jacques Cousteau, Matthew Henson, and Eugenie Clark.
- Grade K: Art and the World Around Us
- Grade 1: Adventure Stories: Tales from the Edge of the World
- Grade 2: Up, Up, and Away: The Age of Aviation
- Grade 3: All That Jazz
- Grade 4: Energy: Past, Present, and Future
- Grade 5: Beyond Juneteenth: 1865 to present
Why we added this unit:
“Every child is an artist,” said Picasso, meaning that every child uses art to explore and understand the world around them. Art and the World Around Us honors that truth by introducing Kindergarten students to some of the ways in which artists have explored and understood the worlds around them, too.
This domain introduces students to artists from different time periods, countries, and cultures. Throughout the unit, students learn about different kinds of art and how artists use the world around them as they make art. They also connect this to what they have already learned about the earth, plants, and animals in other CKLA domains: Farms, Plants, and Taking Care of the Earth. In addition, students connect this to what they have learned about sculptors in the Presidents and American Symbols domain. As they explore different artists and artistic traditions, they develop their ideas about how humans are connected to each other and to the world around them.
As you read the texts in this unit, students may observe ways in which the characters or subjects are both similar to and different from students. This is a good opportunity to teach students awareness and sensitivity, building on the idea that all people share some things in common, even as they have other things that make them unique. This unit also offers an excellent opportunity to collaborate with your school’s art teacher, as many lessons have suggested activities to help students understand the kind of art they are studying.
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:
- Use details to describe art.
- Identify three ways to create art.
- Identify characteristics of cave art.
- Sequence the steps of making pottery.
- Describe how artists can create work connected to the world around them.
- Describe what makes Kehinde Wiley’s portraits unique.
- Explain how the texture of a surface can affect artwork created on it.
- Explain what a sculpture is.
- Describe what makes James Turrell’s artwork about the sky unique.
- Explain what a museum is and what kinds of things you can see or do there.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- The First Drawing by Mordicai Gerstein
- Van Gogh and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anholt
- My Name is Georgia by Jeanette Winter
- A Life Made by Hand by Andrea D’Aquino
- Rainbow Weaver by Linda Elovitz Marshall
- Luna Loves Art by Joseph Coelho
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
This domain introduces students to adventure stories set around the world and challenges students to dig into the adventures through research. By listening to the Read-Alouds and trade books, students increase their vocabulary and reading comprehension skills, learn valuable lessons about perseverance and teamwork, and become familiar with gathering information for research.
In this unit, students study the careers of real-world explorers Dr. Eugenie Clark and Sophia Danenberg, marvel at the inventions of Jacques Cousteau, think critically about how teamwork and collaboration can make greater adventures possible, learn about the science and technology that enable adventures, and research some of the ways humans have confronted challenges at the edges of the world, from the oceans below to space above.
Each lesson in the domain builds students’ research skills as they ask questions, gather information, and write a paragraph about their findings. Students share what they have learned about adventures in an Adventure Gallery Walkthrough. By taking on the persona of one of the adventurers they meet in the Read-Alouds and trade books, students deliver their final paragraphs as if they are a “speaking portrait” of that person. Students are invited to dress up as that adventurer if they desire.
In addition, teachers can set aside time outside of the instructional block to create the picture frames students will hold as they present to the Adventure Gallery Walk guests. Frames can be made from shirt boxes, cardboard, construction paper, or any art supplies that are on hand. This might be an opportunity to collaborate with the school’s art department if resources are available. Another option is to ask students to make their frames at home with their caregivers. On the day of the Adventure Gallery Walk, students will be the hosts and take on specific jobs, such as welcoming the guests, describing their work throughout the unit, and pointing out the areas of study on the domain bulletin board. You can find a complete list of student jobs in Lesson 13.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following CKLA units that students will have encountered in the previous grade.
- Nursery Rhymes and Fables (Kindergarten)
- Stories (Kindergarten)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Adventure Stories: Tales from the Edge of the World. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- My Name is Gabito/Me llamo Gabito by Monica Brown
- Tomas and the Galápagos Adventure by Carolyn Lunn
- The Astronaut with a Song for the Stars: The Story of Dr. Ellen Ochoa by Julia Finley Mosca
- Mae Among the Stars by Roda Ahmed
- Shark Lady: The True Story of How Eugenie Clark Became the Ocean’s Most Fearless Scientist by Jess Keating
- Manfish by Jennifer Berne
- Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson, Co-Discoverer of the North Pole by Deborah Hopkinson
- The Top of the World: Climbing Mount Everest by Steve Jenkins
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
With this domain, students head up, up, and away with an introduction to the soaring history of aviation. Students learn the stories of early aviators, such as the Montgolfier brothers, the Wright brothers, Aída de Acosta, and Amelia Earhart.
During the unit, students study the science of flight, including the physics concept of lift, and research the social impacts of the world of flight. Finally, students let their research skills take flight as they explore key figures from the world of aviation.
The lessons in this domain build on earlier Grade 2 CKLA domains about the westward expansion, early Greek civilizations, and Greek myths, and lay the foundation for learning about other periods of world history in future grades.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following CKLA units that students will have encountered earlier in the year.
- The Ancient Greek Civilization (Grade 2)
- Greek Myths (Grade 2)
- Westward Expansion (Grade 2)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Up, Up, and Away: The Age of Aviation. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Up and Away!: How Two Brothers Invented the Hot-Air Balloon by Jason Henry
- The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Blériot by Alice and Martin Provensen
- The Flying Girl: How Aída de Acosta Learned to Soar by Margarita Engle
- Wood, Wire, Wings: Emma Lilian Todd Invents an Airplane by Kirsten Larson
- Helicopter Man: Igor Sikorsky and His Amazing Invention by Edwin Brit Wyckoff
- The Tuskegee Airmen Story by Lynn Homan and Thomas Reilly
- Skyward: The Story of Female Pilots in WWII by Sally Deng
- Aim for the Skies: Jerrie Mock and Joan Merriam Smith’s Race to Complete Amelia Earhart’s Quest by Aimee Bissonette
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
This domain teaches students about the vibrant music, poetry, and culture of the Jazz Age in the United States. Students learn about famous writers and musicians like Langston Hughes, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Melba Liston, Tito Puente, and Miles Davis. They study how the jazz art form took root in the South, then spread to the North to become the sound of the Harlem Renaissance, eventually connecting people around the world in musical expression.
During this unit, students perform guided research to further explore both the history of jazz and what jazz is today. They develop research skills and then use those skills to find deeper connections between the stories and music of the Jazz Age and music today. As students learn about the world of jazz, they collaborate and share ideas with their classmates. They also practice sharing feedback focused on their written work, and, at the end of the unit, students present their research to the group.
The lessons give students opportunities to dive into the rhythms and stories of jazz, utilizing the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively generate research questions about jazz, jazz musicians, contemporary musicians from the state where they live or have lived, and the evolution of jazz music.
- Utilize Read-Alouds, independent reading, and partner reading to learn about the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, jazz music, and biographies of celebrated jazz musicians and writers.
- Research the answers to their generated questions, gather information, write a short research essay about a famous jazz musician, write a short essay about a contemporary musician from the state where they live or have lived, and give a presentation about their research.
How this unit builds knowledge:
Within this unit, students have opportunities to:
- Ask relevant questions and make pertinent comments
- Identify details in texts
- Determine key ideas of texts by evaluating details
- Make text-based inferences
- Generate questions based on prior knowledge and gathered information
- Synthesize details across texts to demonstrate comprehension
- Discuss and explain an author’s purpose
- Identify and cite reliable primary and secondary sources of information
- Compose a well-organized and focused informative essay
- Make connections between topics
- Present information using appropriate media
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Birth of the Cool: How Jazz Great Miles Davis Found His Sound by Kathleen Cornell Berman
- Little Melba and Her Big Trombone by Kathryn Russell-Brown
- Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson: Taking the Stage as the First Black and White Jazz Band in History by Lesa Cline-Ransome
- Tito Puente, Mambo King by Monica Brown
- Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl’s Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle
- Duke Ellington: The Piano Prince and His Orchestra by Andrea Pinkney
In this unit, students also read the poem “Harlem” by Langston Hughes. (Available for free through the Academy of American Poets website and the Poetry Foundation website, with recorded audio available through the website for John Hancock College Preparatory High School.)
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
With this domain, students become tomorrow’s problem solvers in this study of energy in the United States. Analytical reading skills are developed by examining the challenges of early energy innovators. Students then read about current energy practices and young energy change-makers across the world.
Throughout the unit, students conduct research into different sources of energy and present a proposal, putting them in the shoes of future energy innovators. They also use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively analyze texts to identify cause-effect and problem-solution relationships.
- Generate questions and conduct research about energy.
- Write an opinion essay making their case for a fuel of the future.
- Create energy proposals using primary and secondary resources.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following CKLA units that students will have encountered in previous grades as well as earlier in the year.
- Plants (Grade K)
- The History of the Earth (Grade 1)
- Eureka! Student Inventor (Grade 4)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Energy: Past, Present, and Future. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- Buried Sunlight: How Fossil Fuels Have Changed the Earth by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm
- Energy Island: How One Community Harnessed the Wind and Changed their World by Allan Drummond
- The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Picture Book Edition by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Why we added this unit:
Within this domain, Students learn about General Granger’s announcement in Galveston, Texas on June 19, 1865, a day marked in history as Juneteenth. Texts and multimedia sources will support foundational knowledge-building about the end of slavery in the United States. A review of the first freedom announcement, President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, provides students with background knowledge to further emphasize the significance of Juneteenth in American history.
This unit also takes students on a journey beyond Juneteenth, as they study specific contributions of African Americans from 1865 to the present day. Students participate in a virtual field trip to Emancipation Park in Houston, Texas and use the knowledge sequence in this unit to:
- Collaboratively generate research questions about Juneteenth, The Great Migration, innovators and inventors, education, the humanities, activists, and allies.
- Use Read-Alouds, independent, and partner reading to learn about African American contributions from 1865 to the present.
- Research to find answers to their generated questions, gather information, and write a four-chapter Beyond Juneteenth book.
How this unit builds knowledge:
This unit builds upon the following CKLA units that students will have encountered in previous grades.
- Native Americans (Grade K)
- A New Nation: American Independence (Grade 1)
- The U.S. Civil War (Grade 2)
- Immigration (Grade 2)
- Native Americans (Grade 5)
The specific core content targeted in these domains is particularly relevant to the Read-Alouds students will hear in Beyond Juneteenth: 1865 to present. The background knowledge students bring to this unit will greatly enhance their understanding of the trade books used in this unit.
Trade books in this unit:
Instruction in this unit revolves around the following collection of high-interest authentic trade books. One copy of each trade book is included with the unit materials.
- All Different Now: Juneteenth, the First Day of Freedom by Angela Johnson
- The Great Migration: An American Story by Jacob Lawrence
- Sing a Song: How “Lift Every Voice and Sing” Inspired Generations by Kelly Starling Lyons
- Side by Side/ Lado a lado: The Story of Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez/ La Historia de Dolores Huerta y Cesar Chavez by Monica Brown
- Of Thee I Sing: A Letter to My Daughters by Barack Obama
Sample materials:
Take a sneak peek at the rich instruction and engaging activities for this unit by viewing the PDFs below.
Embedded differentiation for all learners
Amplify CKLA provides built-in differentiation strategies in every lesson for all students, including supports for English language learners and Standard English learners.
- Access supports for ELLs: Integrated ELD supports in each lesson segment for English learners and Standard English learners are specific to students’ mastery of the lesson’s objectives.
- Support and Challenge for all learners: Lessons include Support and Challenge suggestions that provide assistance or opportunities for more advanced work toward the goal of the lesson. These supports are suitable for all learners, including ELLs.
- 30 minutes of Additional Support in every Skills lesson: In the Skills Strand, every lesson concludes with an Additional Support section of recommendations for 30 minutes of extended instruction and activities, directly aligned to the skills taught in the lesson to assist students who need more support in mastering the lesson’s objectives.
- Intervention Toolkit: The Intervention Toolkit provides easy-to-use resources to assist teachers in filling gaps in students’ foundational skills. Teachers will find of hundreds of activities to support phonics, fluency, comprehension, handwriting, and other key skills.
Designated ELD with Language Studio
Amplify CKLA’s designated English Language Development (ELD) component—Language Studio—helps English learners preview and revisit key content within core instruction, building a foundation of academic vocabulary and background knowledge. Core instruction lessons include point-of-use supports for English learners and Support and Challenge strategies for all learners.
This carefully developed program follows the CKLA Knowledge domains, previewing and reinforcing skills and content from core instruction using instruction specifically built for English learners. The program is also designed around frequent formative assessment, including assessment of language proficiency, giving you effective ways to guide and support your English learners.
Language Studio supports teachers and English learners through the following:
- 30 minutes of instruction with lesson segments are carefully designed around Content Knowledge, Meaning Making, Language Development, Effective Expression, and Foundational Skills.
- Every Language Studio lesson accompanies a core lesson, helping English learners deepen domain and academic vocabulary that will help them access core content.
- Culminating tasks support core projects and target the same skills as primary instruction.
Writing emphasis with Writing Studio
With Writing Studio, students in Grades K-5 focus deeply on the three key text types informative, narrative, and opinion–while applying both the skills and knowledge from the core program.
Writing Studio supports students through:
- Expanding on core writing instruction to develop analytical thinking through writing.
- Lessons that focus on writing standards, providing intensive focus and application to strengthen skills.
- Opportunities to apply knowledge in new contexts and deepen comprehension through writing.
- Scaffolded writing projects to help all students find success within the stages of the writing process.
Writing Studio lessons:
- Allow teachers to differentiate through Support and Challenge prompts for students at all levels, and Access Supports for ELLs.
- Spark creativity with authentic writing projects that call on students to engage deeply with rich topics and sources.
- Implement careful design and provide rubrics so that students’ writing skills can visibly grow throughout the year.
A culminating project in each grade asks students to apply their knowledge and understanding of text types and to select the appropriate text type for a final piece of writing.
Personalized practice with Boost Reading
Boost Reading is the student-driven skill practice program within CKLA, providing differentiated, digital instruction in both foundational skills and comprehension strategies. Because Boost Reading is built on the same approach to reading as CKLA, students are able to extend their learning from the core program further, at their own pace.
Amplify CKLA and Boost Reading reinforce each other through:
- An aligned scope and sequence and instructional approach: In both programs, students get instruction and practice in phonological awareness and phonics, with the most common, least ambiguous spellings first.
- Consistent vocabulary words: Many Amplify CKLA words are taught and practiced in Boost Reading vocabulary games.
- Complementary texts: Fiction and nonfiction books within Boost Reading reinforce Amplify CKLA knowledge domains.
- Seamless integrations between platforms: Students can easily access Boost Reading directly from the Amplify CKLA Student Hub.
Ready-to-go slides and all-in-one platform
The slides-based Amplify CKLA digital experience enhances instruction while saving you time. Everything you need is all in one place, making it easier than ever to plan lessons, present digital content, and review student work.
- Simplify planning and instruction: Teachers have access to ready-to-use and customizable lesson presentation slides, complete with all the prompts from the print Teacher Guide embedded in the teacher view. As teachers deliver each lesson, students can engage with the content in one cohesive
experience—through Activity Books, slides, digital components, videos, Student Readers, and more. - Interactive student activities: Through the Student Home, students can easily access digital lessons with slides, Activity Pages, ebooks, videos, and other interactive resources from one simple dashboard.
- Your teacher command center: You’re provided with the tools you need to ensure a productive digital experience that’s personalized to meet your students’ needs. This includes a teacher home from which to launch and track lessons, LMS integrations such as Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams, and other customizations based on classroom needs.
- Get real-time insights into your students’ work: The innovative live review tool enables you to keep an eye on students drawing, recording audio, uploading and capturing images, and typing or writing in pre-placed text boxes in their Activity Pages.
Navigating the program
Digital navigation walkthrough
Physical materials walkthrough
Sample materials
Integrated Strand
Demo access
Follow the instructions below to access your demo account.
- Click the CKLA Demo button below.
- Go to learning.amplify.com
- Select Log in with Amplify
- To explore as a student, enter this username:
- Enter the password: Amplify1-mcps2024
- Click the desired program on the left side of the page.
Additional resources
Amplify CKLA review resources:
- CKLA Program Guide for Grades K–5
- CKLA Program Guide for PreK
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion in CKLA
- CKLA Culturally Responsive Curriculum Scorecard
- CKLA Equity Guide for Grades K–5
- CKLA and Social Emotional Competencies
- Text complexity in CKLA
- CKLA Caregiver Hub
- CKLA Sample Caregiver Letters
- Assessments in CKLA for Grades K–5
- Assessments in CKLA PreK
- Remote and hybrid learning with CKLA
- Amplify CKLA Scopes and Sequences
- Grade K Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 1 Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 2 Skills and Knowledge
- Grade 3 Integrated
- Grade 4 Integrated
- Grade 5 Integrated