Kindergarten Core Knowledge Addendum

Sight Words

Dolch Sight Words are naturally embedded in the Core Knowledge Program. They are

taught throughout the program in a sequence of instruction, unlike previous practice

where sight words were taught in isolation. Traditionally, sight words have been taught in

whole word recognition with no sound-spelling instruction.

The charts attached to this addendum illustrate how each of the Dolch words are presented

within the prescribed program. In CLKA the Dolch Sight Words have taken on new

designations, Tricky Words or Decodable Words. The document outlines the scaffolding of

these words grades K-1.

We suggest sight word instruction occur in relation to the curriculum’s prescribed timeline.

However, if the teacher chooses to introduce sight words as a word study lesson they must

be taught through the lens of the sound-spelling correspondence. This should occur during

the “Introducing the Spelling” or “Tricky Words” sections of the Skills Lessons. If the

teacher chooses to teach a word(s) out of curriculum sequence the teacher should utilize

Tricky Word instructional strategies and/or Introducing Sound instruction strategies found

in the teacher’s guides.

Writing

The Core Knowledge Language Arts (CKLA) Program embeds writing throughout the Skills

and Listening and Learning Strand. In the Skills Strand, teachers are expected to follow the

programs sequenced handwriting, spelling and grammar requirements. In terms of the

writing aligned to the Common Core Standards for opinion (W.K.1), informative (W.K.2)

and narrative (W.K.3) genres, Kindergarten students engage in independent and shared

writing opportunities through the Listening and Learning Extensions (B section).

In order to extend Kindergarten writing, the findings of an analysis comparing standards

and extensions have been used to create the chart below. The chart and information

following the mandatory writing requirements for each domain. The additional writing

opportunity and how to implement it within the domain is described.

Domain #

Standards Lesson (s) Activities Additional Writing Opportunity

1 2 STD. W.K.2. Use a combination of drawing,

dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

Lesson 7B and 8B

Create and develop character timelines of Ray Charles

Have students complete a timeline of their own life

3 STD. W.K.1 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...).

Lesson 8 Creating a drawing to present an opinion on a favorite character as a class.

Students write an independent Opinion piece.

4 5 STD.W.K.3. Use a combination of drawing,

dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.

Lesson 7 Sequence four to seven pictures illustrating “The Little Red Hen” in proper sequence.

Using another store in this domain write draw and sequence four to seven illustrations with text explaining each illustration

6 STD. W.K.2. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

Lessons 3 Using a combination of drawing, dictation, and writing to present information about the Lakota Sioux culture.

Take it through the writing process

7 8 STD. W.K.2. Use a combination of drawing,

dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic. .

Lesson 3 Draw a picture of a Spring Scene showing the seasonally appropriate colors, plants, and animals described in the read aloud “Spring”.

Choose another season, draw a picture showing the seasonally appropriate colors, plants, and animals with a sentence describing that season.

9 STD. W.K.2. Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name

Lesson 5 Use a combination of drawing dictating and writing to present information from further

Use a combination of drawing dictating and writing to present information from

what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

adventure of Christopher Columbus about Columbus and provide detail about the topic.

further another story in the domain.

10 11 STD.W.K.3. Use a combination of drawing,

dictating, and writing to narrate a single event or several loosely linked events, tell about the events in the order in which they occurred, and provide a reaction to what happened.

Lesson 2 Dictate what happens to garbage in the proper sequence, using the temporal words “first”, “then”, “next”, and “finally”

Use the writing process to dictate what happens during composting using the temporal words.

12 STD. W.K.1 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book (e.g., My favorite book is...).

Lesson 8 An opinion writing piece on a president that they most admire.

The writing process

Assessment and Progress Monitoring

Dibels- Dibels mClass will be administered as a beginning of year benchmark (BOY), mid-

year benchmark (MOY), and end of the year benchmark (EOY) for students in

Kindergarten. The data extrapolated from these assessments will be used for small

group instruction during GRAIR time, pull-out instruction from Early Literacy Specialists,

push-in instruction from Early Literacy Specialists and/or other service providers. In

grade one Dibels assesses the following areas;

o Beginning of Year (BOY)- First Sound Fluency (FSF), Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)

o Middle of Year (MOY)- First Sound Fluency (FSF), Letter Naming Fluency (LNF)

Phoneme Segmentation Fluency (PSF), Nonsense Word Fluency(NWF)

o End of Year (EOY)- Letter Naming Fluency (LNF) Phoneme Segmentation Fluency

(PSF), Nonsense Word Fluency(NWF)

Listening and Learning Strand Domain Assessment-

o Administered at the end of each Domain

o Data recorded on the Tens Chart Excel Spreadsheet and sent to building

principal and central office on requested date (Data chart is attached for your

review)

Skills Strand Assessments Unit Assessment-

o Administered at the end of each Unit

o Data recorded on the Tens Chart Excel Spreadsheet and sent to building

principal and central office on requested date (Data chart is attached for your

review)

Kindergarten Unit 1 Performance Task Assessment

o Blending Pretest provided in Lesson 4

o End of Unit Assessment (Lesson 10) assess students’ ability to:

Draw a horizontal line, a vertical line, a diagonal line, and a circle;

Understand the position words right, left, top, middle, and bottom; and

discriminate words.

Scoring End of Domain and Skills Unit Assessments

o The Tens Conversion Chart should be used when scoring all Listening and

Learning End of Domain Assessments and Skills Strand End of Unit and

Performance Tasks (unit and other designated assessments).

o The Tens Conversion Chart and interpretation guidelines are provided.

Early Literacy Specialists Support

Utilize Dibels Beginning of Year data to create Tier II and Tier III groups. Administer

progress monitoring to restructure groups and target instruction

The Assessment and Remediation Guide should be used to create and utilize the attached

lesson plan examples as m a resource in planning for instruction. A Lesson Plan Template

is also included for use in planning lessons geared toward Tier II and Tier IIII students.

Furthermore, a monthly report template is provided to organize, track, and report work

with students.

At a Glance Purpose Warm-up Prepare students for instruction and focus students on

following directions

Explicit Instruction Teacher directed time to prepare students to engage in instruction.

Guided Practice Provides time to work with and apply the skill with teacher support

Independent Practice Independent practice of the skill or progress monitoring.

Lesson Plan Template

Learning Focus: Skills Strand Unit:

At A Glance Teaching Materials

Warm-up Objective: Warm-Up Lesson:

Explicit Instruction

Objective: Explicit Instruction Lesson:

Guided Practice Objective: Lesson to Work with Apply Skills:

Independent Practice

Objective: Independent Practice Lesson:

GRAIR- (Guided Reading/Accountable Independent Reading)

GRAIR allows additional literacy time to increase the volume of reading through a variety

of independent and developmentally appropriate small group activities. Guided Reading

and Accountable Independent Reading (GRAIR) can provide the opportunity and space for

all of this. Students can read texts of their choice and get the small group time with their

teacher and peers that will encourage them to stretch to higher levels. Learning is further

reinforced, differentiated and strengthened in this GRAIR block. Students get the practice

and materials they need to progress as readers moving at varied speeds. (Liben and Liben,

2012)

In this strand, which allows for additional literacy time within the school day, teachers can

touch base with their students in developmentally appropriate groupings. During this

period, teachers can have additional time to work with struggling readers to reinforce and

cement learning that many in the class may already have mastered. They can touch base

with accelerated readers to encourage continued progress. Whenever students are away

from their teacher, they can engage with texts of their choosing, whether those are old

favorites, materials from other parts of the day, or the classroom or school library

collections.

It is critical to notice that this GRAIR block functions within and adjacent to the learning

experiences provided by a foundational skills program as well as a rich read aloud

progression carefully crafted to build student background knowledge and academic

language.

Please do not forget to utilize Waterford during GRAIR time.

There are seven ways to implement GRAIR into the classroom

1. Small Group Instruction

a. Formative assessments

b. Additional support for any area of reading, particularly decoding and fluency

in grades K – 2

c. Reinforce and deepen comprehension instruction

d. Targeted instruction – vocabulary and syntax

e. Materials – Your Reading Libraries

2. Provide Opportunities for Interests

a. Students choose texts for independent reading based on interests,

regardless of reading level

b. Materials – leveled libraries, classroom libraries, etc.

c. Teacher conferences with students during small group time to check for

understanding – students are accountable for learning

d. Journal activities, presentation of information

e. Opportunity for Speaking & Listening and creative presentation tasks for

students

3. Build Background Knowledge

a. Think in “sets” – Multi-media, related materials

b. Examples:

c. Video booth, with questions about content

d. Related Readings – scavenger hunt for vocabulary words or information

e. Connected to CK Listening & Learning topics

4. Target Vocabulary and Syntax

a. Unlimited number of vocabulary activities related to words from complex

text

b. Examine and manipulate “juicy” sentences from the text

c. sentence strips and word games

d. Materials: words and phrases come from L&L Supplemental Guide, Skills

Assessment & Remediation Guide

5. Target Fluency

a. Listening Center (pre-record complex text for students to follow along)

b. CK Readers

c. Listening and Learning; Supplemental Guide

d. Poems or controlled texts (recording station)

e. CK Readers, independent reading, fluency packet

f. Work with teacher during small group time

6. Target Decoding

a. Flash cards – manipulate word families

b. Read and identify words in context of high interest controlled text

(highlight/underline)

c. Variety of other word work/games

d. Materials: variety of materials from CK Skills Assessment & Remediation

Guide

7. Literacy Centers and Activities that have been successful in the past

a. Use Waterford as a learning center

Daily Plan- 120 minute block

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday

60 minutes Skills Strand Unit work

60 minutes Skills Strand Unit work

60 minutes Skills Strand Unit work

60 minutes Skills Strand Unit work

60 minutes Skills Strand Unit work

60 minutes Listening and Learning Strand: 40 minutes

Section A of the Lesson (read aloud)

20 minutes

GRAIR)

20 minutes GRAIR 20 minutes Listening and Learning Strand:

60 minutes Listening and Learning Strand: 40 minutes

Section A of the Lesson (read aloud)

20 minutes GRAIR)

20 minutes GRAIR 20 minutes Listening and Learning Strand:

60 minutes Listening and Learning Strand: 40 minutes

Section A of the Lesson (read aloud)

20 minutes GRAIR)

20 minutes of explicit writing instruction

20 minutes of explicit writing instruction