What’s included in our Grades 3–5 language arts curriculum
Grounded in the science of reading, Amplify CKLA for grades 3–5 integrates foundational skills students have learned in grades K–2 while continuing to build rich content knowledge. With Amplify CKLA, you’ll have the instruction and guidance of proven, evidence-based practices to help all of your students become strong readers, writers, and thinkers.
Year at a glance
The Amplify CKLA curriculum is modeled after proven research in early literacy that supports a two-strand approach to literacy instruction in the early years. With this approach, students in Grades K–2 complete one full lesson per day that builds foundational reading skills in the Skills Strand, as well as one full lesson that builds background knowledge in the Knowledge Strand. The deep content knowledge is sequenced together with research-based foundational skills in Grades K–2 so that students develop the early literacy skills necessary to help them become confident readers, as well as build the context to understand what they’re reading.
In Grades 3–5, lessons combine skills and knowledge with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater emphasis on writing. Students start to use their skills to go on their own independent reading adventures, further opening up their worlds.
Units at a glance
Students move fluidly between reading, writing, speaking and listening, and language activities, with increasingly complex texts, close reading, and a greater writing emphasis.
Unit 1
Classic Tales: The Wind in the Willows
Students explore international classic tales, including The Wind in the Willows, Alice in Wonderland, and “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.”
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 2
Animal Classification
Students learn how scientists use animals’ characteristics to classify and study them; students apply knowledge through text-based discussions and writing exercises.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 3
The Human Body: Systems and Senses
This unit involves the study of the human body, building students’ understanding of its senses and skeletal, muscular, and nervous systems.
Number of Lessons: 14
Unit 4
The Ancient Roman Civilization
Students dive into ancient Rome, studying its history, culture, and myths about Roman gods and goddesses.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 5
Light and Sound
Students learn the science behind light and sound, read biographies of Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, and write newspaper articles.
Number of Lessons: 17
Unit 6
The Viking Age (with Core Quest)
This unit’s informational and literary texts convey information about the Vikings, their culture, and their exploration.
Number of Lessons: 11
Unit 7
Astronomy: Our Solar System and Beyond
Students learn about astronomy, the universe, and important figures in the history of space exploration, including Nicolaus Copernicus and Mae Jemison.
Number of Lessons: 20
Unit 8
Native Americans: Regions and Cultures
Students compare, contrast, assemble information, and reflect on what they have learned about Native Americans and their ways of life.
Number of Lessons: 13
Unit 9
Early Explorations of North America
Students explore reasons for European exploration, what exploration was like, and who went exploring; then students write opinion pieces using this information.
Number of Lessons: 14
Unit 10
Colonial America
Students learn about colonies in early America, including how colonies were started and the progress colonists made after settling.
Number of Lessons: 16
Unit 11
Ecology
Students learn about different aspects of ecology, including food chains, the balance of nature, changes to the environment, and protecting the environment.
Number of Lessons: 12
Unit 1
Personal Narratives
This unit examines the genre of personal narratives, including nonfiction works written by a first-person narrator involved in the events being described.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 2
Empires in the Middle Ages
This unit covers the history of various empires and geographical regions throughout the Middle Ages.
Number of Lessons: 25
Unit 3
Poetry
Students explore poetry, training in methods and devices poets use and learning to read, write, and interpret formal and free verse poems.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 4
Eureka! Student Inventor
This Core Quest, a narrative-driven unit, immerses students in close-reading adventures and scientific and historical content about inventions. Students write and read opinion, informational, and narrative texts.
Number of Lessons: 10
Unit 5
Geology
This unit focuses on the composition of Earth and the forces that change its surface.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 6
Contemporary Fiction with excerpts from The House on Mango Street
This unit explores narrative literature and writing, using excerpts from The House on Mango Street as its anchor text.
Number of Lessons: 13
Unit 7
American Revolution
Students learn that disagreements about principles of government led colonists in North America to seek independence from Great Britain.
Number of Lessons: 17
Unit 8
Treasure Island
Students focus on character development, setting, plot, and literary devices while reading an abridged version of a classic novel, Treasure Island.
Number of Lessons: 19
Unit 5
Writing Quest (supplemental): The Contraption
In this supplemental Quest, students interact with a mysterious machine fueled by their writing and solve the machine’s puzzles. This Quest features a digital environment controlled by the teacher.
Unit 1
Personal Narratives
This unit examines the genre of personal narratives, including nonfiction works written by a first-person narrator involved in the events being described.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 2
Early American Civilizations
Students study the geography, climate, flora, and fauna of the Americas and the rise and fall of the Maya, Aztec, and Inca civilizations.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 3
Poetry
Students explore poetry, training in methods and devices poets use and learning to read, write, and interpret formal and free verse poems.
Number of Lessons: 13
Unit 4
Adventures of Don Quixote
In this unit students trace the development of plot, characters, and literary elements while reading a full-length, adapted version of Don Quixote.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 5
The Renaissance
This unit provides students with a broad exposure to the art and literature of the Renaissance through the works of renowned masters.
Number of Lessons: 19
Unit 6
The Reformation
This unit teaches students about the Reformation, a movement involving religious and political upheaval that shifted the political power in Europe.
Number of Lessons: 10
Unit 7
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Core Quest)
This unit is an immersive Quest that treats Shakespeare’s comedy as both literature and a living text for interpretation and performance.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 8
Native Americans
Students learn how settlers, explorers, and the American government in the 1800s affected Native American cultures and their relationship with the land.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 9
Chemical Matter
Students learn about chemistry and close-reading through a literary and informational work, The Badlands Sleuth, in which the protagonist uses chemistry to solve mysteries.
Number of Lessons: 15
Unit 10
Writing Quest (supplemental): The Robot
Students interact with a classroom pet that learns and grows with their writing. This Quest features a digital environment controlled by the teacher.
Program components
The program includes instructional guidance and student materials for a year of instruction, with lessons and activities that keep students engaged every day.
Component
FORMAT
Teacher Guides
Teacher Guides for each unit provide engaging lessons with standards-based objectives and formative assessments that empower teachers with proven strategies and research-based tools.
Print or digital
Differentiation resources
The online Assessment and Remediation Guide (Grade 3) and the Decoding and Encoding Supplement (Grades 4–5) provide thousands of pages of targeted activities in decoding, spelling, and other core literacy skills. Supplemental Guides provide opportunities for enrichment.
Digital
Writing Studio
A riveting connected writing program for more time, practice, and challenge in writing, with a focus on informative, narrative, and opinion modes of writing.
Print or digital
Digital experience
The Amplify CKLA digital experience delivers ready-made, customizable, slides-based lesson presentations to enhance instruction and save time. Everything needed to plan and present high-quality, engaging early literacy instruction is in one convenient place.
Digital
Component
FORMAT
Student Readers
Amplify CKLA’s Student Readers anchor each of the content-based units, providing a close-reading experience fueled by rich background knowledge that inspires students to dig deeper.
Activity Books
In addition to providing daily opportunities for students to respond to text and apply skills and knowledge, Activity Books feature formative assessments for each day’s objectives.
Digital experience
The Amplify CKLA digital experience delivers ready-made, customizable, slides-based lesson presentations to enhance instruction and save time. Everything needed to plan and present high-quality, engaging early literacy instruction is in one convenient place.
Digital
Explore more programs
Our programs are designed to support and complement one another. Learn more about our related programs.
