The Scoop on the NYS K-2 Modules from Core Knowledge

Many primary level librarians are trying to make sense of the K-2 modules and I thought I would post this basic overview:

• These modules were developed around the philosophy of fundamental "core knowledge" that every good citizen should know, by E.D. Hirsch. Thus...the company's name "Core Knowledge."  See this appendix note explaining this and read the brief bio in one of the module books.  Please see page 191-199 of this PDF link: http://www.engageny.org/sites/default/files/resource/attachments/ckla_g2_u1_tg.pdf 
• That helps to explain the unusual content for second graders within these modules (e.g. War of 1812, Mesopotamia). This is part of Hirsch's philosophical view for building culturally literate citizens. 
• Within the modules, and their content topics, teachers teach literacy skills.  
• Teachers are conveying social studies and science material as they teach literacy skills. 
• The k--> 2 grades are heavy on "skills"  for literacy, while the upper grades build fluency, understanding, grammar, and the scaffolded ELA elements shown in the standards.  
• Each of the Core Knowledge grade levels have books and workbooks, but in addition, recommend the use of trade books, which are listed below. 
• The Modules are centered around "domains"  or topics which as covered for a few weeks.  (Listed below are the domains  from EngageNY.org)  

Recommended Sequence for Teaching Core Knowledge Language Arts Listening and Learning Domains

Note: A * following the title of a domain means that trade books in addition to the online CKLA materials are needed to teach the domain. See the separate listing of trade books by domains. Only 1 copy of each trade book title is needed per classroom.

      Kindergarten

•       Nursery Rhymes and Fables (18 instructional days)
•       Five Senses (16 instructional days)
•       Stories (15 instructional days)
•       Plants (16 instructional days)
•       Farms (14 instructional days)
•       Kings and Queens (14 instructional days)
•       Seasons and Weather (14 instructional days)
•       Colonial Towns (17 instructional days)
•       Taking Care of the Earth (15 instructional days)
• 
  

Grade 1

•       Different Lands, Similar Stories* (11 instructional days)
•       Fables and Stories* (16 instructional days)
•       The Human Body (14 instructional days)
•       Early World Civilizations (21 days)
•       Early American Civilizations (19 instructional days)
•       Astronomy (14 instructional days)
•       Animals and Habitats (20 instructional days)
•       Fairy Tales (16 instructional days)
•       History of the Earth (16 instructional days) (History of the earth in 16 days?)  
• 
  

Grade 2

•       Fighting for a Cause* (18 instructional days)
•       Fairy Tales and Tall Tales* (12 instructional days)
•       Cycles of Nature* (17 instructional days)
•       Insects* (14 instructional days)
•       Ancient Greek Civilizations (16 instructional days)
•       Greek Myths (15 instructional days)
•       Charlotte’s Web, Part 1 *(15 instructional days)
•       Charlottes’ Web, Part II* (15 instructional days)
•       Immigration (15 instructional days)  

_____________________________________________________________________________

     Within each of the domains, there are lists of recommended 'texts" to be used
(1 per class, most often).  These texts are listed below and come from EngageNY.org 

    We have placed copies on Overdrive for classroom use in multiple copies.  These also are likely to be easy candidates for "adapting" the modules with alternate titles able to convey the same message.  See the note below from NYSED.   

_______________________________________________________________________

   Verbatim from NYSED:   

CKLA List of Trade Book Titles by Grade and Domain

      NOTE: Some lessons in the sample Core Knowledge Language Arts materials have been designed using commercially available trade books. Unfortunately, these books may go out of print. The Core Knowledge Language Arts materials are being revised to eliminate reliance on specific trade books. These revisions will be made available in June of 2013. 
As you use the currently available sample materials, please be aware that some of these books may go out of print. In such cases, we’d like to suggest that you review the “core content objectives” for the associated lesson, and:
·         Search for used copies of the books,
·         Create an alternate activity to address these objectives,
·         Locate excerpts from alternate book(s)  that cover these objectives, or
·         Skip the lesson entirely, knowing that some additional building of background knowledge – based on the missing core content objectives – may be required for subsequent lessons.


Kindergarten

            Five Senses*
·         Seven Blind Mice, by Ed Young (Puffin Books, 2002) ISBN 0698118952 (Lesson 10)
Stories*
·         The Story of Jumping Mouse, by John Steptoe (HarperTrohpy, 1989) ISBN 068808740X (Lessons 7 and 8)

Grade 1

Different Lands, Similar Stories*
·         The Irish Cinderlad, by Shirley Climo (HarperCollins, 1996) ISBN 0060243961 (Lessons 8 and 9)
·         Little Red Riding Hood, by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown Young Readers, 2007) ISBN 0316013550 (Lesson 1)
·         Lon Po Po, by Ed Young (Putnam Juvenile, 1996) ISBN 0698113824 (Lesson 2)
·         Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, by John Steptoe (Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Books, 1987) ISBN 0688040454 (Lesson 7)
·         Pretty Salma: A Little Red Riding Hood Story from Africa, by Niki Daly (Clarion Books, 2007) ISBN 0618723454 (Lesson 3)
·         Tom Thumb, by Claudia Venturini (Child’s Play International, 2007) ISBN 1846431166 (Lesson 4)


Fables and Stories*
·         Señor Cat's Romance and Other Favorite Stories from Latin America, by Lucia M. Gonzalez (Scholastic, 2001) ISBN 0439278638 (Lesson 7) – OUT OF PRINT
·         It Could Always Be Worse: A Yiddish Folk Tale, by Margot Zemach (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1990) ISBN 0374436360 (Lesson 8)
·         Anansi and the Moss-Covered Rock, retold by Eric A. Kimmel (Holiday House, 1990) ISBN 0823407989 (Lesson 10)
·         The Classic Tales of Brer Rabbit, by Joel Chandler Harris (Running Press Kids, 2008) ISBN 0762432196 (Lessons 11 and12)

Grade 2
   Fighting for a Cause*
·         Susan B. Anthony: Fighter for Freedom and Equality, by Suzanne Slade (Picture Window Books, 2007) ISBN 1404831045 (Lesson 1)
·         The Ballot Box Battle, by Emily Arnold McCully (Alfred A.Knopf, 1996) ISBN 0679893121 (Lesson 2)
·         A Picture Book of Eleanor Roosevelt, by David A. Adler (Holiday House, 1991) ISBN 0823411575 (Lesson 3)
·         When Marian Sang, by Pam Muñoz Ryan (Scholastic Press, 2002) ISBN 9780439269674 (Lessons 4 and 5)
·         Mary McLeod Bethune, by Eloise Greenfield (HarperCollins, 1977) ISBN 9780064461689 (Lessons 6 and 7)
·         The Story of Ruby Bridges, by Robert Coles (Scholastic Inc.,1995) ISBN 9780439598446 (Lesson 8)
·         Teammates, by Peter Golenbock (Voyager Books, 1990) ISBN 9780152842864 (Lesson 9)
·         A Picture Book of Rosa Parks, by David A. Adler (Holiday House, 1995) ISBN 082341177X (Lesson 10)
·         Freedom on the Menu: The Greensboro Sit-Ins, by Carole Boston Weatherford (Puffi n Books, 2005) ISBN 9780142408940 (Lesson 11)
·         A Picture Book of Martin Luther King, Jr., by David A. Adler (Holiday House, 1990) ISBN 9780823408474 (Lesson 12)
·         Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez, by Kathleen Krull (Harcourt, Inc., 2003) ISBN 9780152014377 (Lessons 13 and 14)
Fairy Tales and Tall Tales*
Fairy Tales
·         The Fisherman and His Wife, retold and illustrated by Rachel Isadora (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2008) ISBN 9780399247712 (Lesson 1)
·         The Emperor’s New Clothes: A Tale Set in China, retold by Demi (Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2000) ISBN 0689830688 (Lesson 2)
·         Beauty and the Beast, retold and illustrated by Jan Brett (Clarion Books, 1989) ISBN 039555702X (Lessons 3 and 4)
Tall Tales
·         Paul Bunyan, retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg (HarperCollins, 1985) ISBN 0688058000 (Lesson 5)
·         Sally Ann Thunder Ann Whirlwind Crockett, retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg (William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1995) ISBN 0688140424 (Lesson 6)
·         Pecos Bill, retold and illustrated by Steven Kellogg (William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1986) ISBN 0688099246 (Lesson 7)
·         John Henry: An American Legend, by Ezra Jack Keats (Dragonfly Books, 1987) ISBN 0394890523 (Lesson 8)
 Cycles of Nature*
·         Sunshine Makes the Seasons, by Franklyn Branley (HarperCollins, 1985) ISBN 0060592052 (Lesson 1)
·         The Reasons for Seasons, by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House, 1995) ISBN 0823412385 (Lesson 2)
·         How Do Birds Find Their Way?, by Roma Gans (HarperCollins, 1996) ISBN 006445150X (Lesson 3)
·          Bean, by Barrie Watts (Smart Apple Media, an imprint of Black Rabbit Books, 2005) ISBN 1583405038 (Lesson 4) – OUT OF PRINT
·          From Seed to Maple Tree, by Laura Purdie Salas (Picture Window Books, 2009) ISBN 1404849319 (Lesson 5)
·         Monarch Butterfly, by Gail Gibbons (Holiday House, 1989) ISBN 0823409090 (Lesson 6)
·         From Tadpole to Frog, by Wendy Pfeffer (HarperCollins, 1994) ISBN 0064451232 (Lesson 7)
·         Where Do Chicks Come From?, by Amy E. Sklansky (HarperCollins, 2005) ISBN 0060288930 (Lesson 8)
·         What Happens to a Hamburger?, by Paul Showers (HarperCollins Publishers, 2001) ISBN 0064451836 (Lesson 9)
·         Good Enough to Eat: A Kid’s Guide to Food and Nutrition, by Lizzy Rockwell (HarperCollins Publishers, 1999) ISBN 0064451747 (Lesson 10) – OUT OF PRINT
·         The Water Cycle, by Rebecca Olien (Capstone Press, 2005) ISBN 0736851828 (Lesson 11)
·         The Water Cycle, by Bobbie Kalman and Rebecca Sjonger (Crabtree Publishing Company, 2006) ISBN 0778723100 (Lesson 12)
·         Clouds, by Anne Rockwell (HarperCollins, 2008) ISBN 0064452204 (Lesson 13)

 Insects*
·         About Insects, by Cathryn Sill (Peachtree Publishers Ltd., 2000) ISBN 1561452327 (Lesson 1)
·         Bugs Are Insects, by Anne Rockwell (HarperCollins Publishers, 2001) ISBN 0064452034 (Lesson 2)
·         Are You a Grasshopper?, by Judy Allen (Kingfisher, 2002)ISBN 9780753458063 (Lesson 3)
·         Chirping Crickets, by Melvin Berger (HarperCollins Publishers, 1998) ISBN 0064451801 (Lesson 4)
·         Are You a Dragonfly?, by Judy Allen (Kingfisher, 2001) ISBN 0753458055 (Lesson 5)
·         From Caterpillar to Butterfly, by Deborah Heiligman (HarperCollins Publishers, 1996) ISBN 0064451291 (Lesson 6)
·         Clara Caterpillar, by Pamela Duncan Edwards (Harper Trophy, 2001) ISBN 0064436918 (Lesson 7)
·         The Honey Makers, by Gail Gibbons (Mulberry Books, 1997) ISBN 0688175317 (Lesson 8)
·         Ant Cities, by Arthur Dorros (HarperCollins Publishers, 1987) ISBN 0064450791 (Lesson 9)
Charlotte’s Web, Part 1 & II *
·         (If using multiple student copies) Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White (Scholastic Inc., 1974) ISBN 059030271X
·         (If using single teacher copy) Charlotte’s Web, by E. B. White (HarperCollins, 2006) ISBN 0060882611