Session 2: CKLA Overview and Design
Principles
Goals and Outcomes
Overarching Objectives of the July 2014 Network Team Institute
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Participants will be able to name the two strands of CKLA and connect these strands to the Three Pillar Model.
Participants will be able to connect aspects of the Skills lessons to various design principles
Participants will be able to identify ways the Listening and Learning strand supports children’s comprehension and
background knowledge.
Participants will be able to identify and describe the parts of the Listening and Learning lesson.
Participants will be able to identify the instructional and support materials (e.g., cards, posters) required for Skills strand
implementation.
Participants will be able to articulate the assessment procedures and tools available in the CKLA Skills strand and will apply
this knowledge to case studies, demonstrating initial placements consistent with the guidance given in CKLA and use of
CKLA ongoing-assessments to support a flexible grouping approach.
Participants will be able to demonstrate how CKLA Skills strand materials can be used to support a differentiated approach to
tier -1 instruction and will be able to describe how CKLA Skills materials could be incorporated into a multi-tiered approach to
K-2 ELA instruction
Participants will be able to identify the student learning goals that will be covered grade-by-grade (K-2) in the first 60 days of
instruction and the lesson types that will support this learning.
High-Level Purpose of this Session
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This session is designed to give participants a deeper understanding of the guiding instructional design principles around
which the Listening and Learning domains and Skills units were created. The three key Listening and Learning strand
principles include: 1. The connection between oral and written language parallel reading and writing development and is
supported in CKLA through read alouds. 2. CKLA systematically builds background knowledge essential to strong
comprehension. 3. Vocabulary learning is most efficient when it is content-based, contextualized, and constant.
Instructional features of the Skills strand are highlighted to illustrate six specific design principles: 1. CKLA teaches children
the distinction between sounds and spellings using the most frequent or least ambiguous sounds first. 2. CKLA gives children
intensive practice to build reliability and automaticity. 3. CKLA directly instructs in the oral language skills (blending and
segmenting) that underlie and parallel reading and writing skills.
Related Learning Experiences
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This two day training is designed as a curricular kick-off to support teachers who plan on implementing Core Knowledge
Language Arts (CKLA) in the coming school year. While this training module is a new launch, individuals who have participated in
previous CKLA sessions can use this as a regrounding opportunity. This module will not extend beyond the content of previous
trainings.
Session Outcomes
What do we want participants to be able to do as a result of
this session?
In this session participants will be able to:
 explain the significance of starting instruction with
the most frequent or least ambiguous sounds.
 describe how the Skills strand provides students
with intensive practice that enables them to build
reliability and automaticity.
 describe how the domain structure of the Listening
How will we know that they are able to do this?
Participants will demonstrate their understandings
through activities, discussions, and questioning.
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and Learning strand supports children’s
comprehension and background knowledge.
identify at least two ways the Listening and Learning
materials support vocabulary learning
Session Overview
Section
Time
Overview
Section 1: The Two
Keys to Reading
10 min.
Participants will learn about the
two keys to reading: students
must be able to read or decode
the written symbols (letters)
AND they must understand
and make sense of what they
decode. This idea will be
connected back to the first two
pillars of the Three Pillar Model
(examined in session 1).
Participants will also review the
materials used in both strands
on a high level.
Prepared Resources
Facilitator’s Preparation
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Chaining cards with
letters:n,e,t,b,b,j,o,s,I,p,a
at each table
Section 2: The
Design Principles of
the Skills Strand
25 min.
Participants will examine the
 July2014_Teachers_Sessi
design principles of the Skills
on2_DesignPrinciples_R
Strand. These include: 1.
eadersPassage
CKLA teaches children the
 July2014_Teachers_Sessi
distinction between sounds
on2_DesignPrinciples_R
and spellings using the most
eadersPassageHandout
frequent or least ambiguous
 July2014_Teachers_Sessi
sounds first. 2. CKLA gives
on2_DesignPrinciples_C
intensive practice to build
haining
reliability and automaticity. 3.
CKLA directly instructs in those
oral language skills (blending &
segmenting) that underlie and
parallel reading and writing
skills.
Section 3: The
Design Principles of
the Listening and
Learning strand
25 min.
Participants will examine the
 July2014_Teachers_Sessi
design principles of the
on2_DesignPrinciples_B
Listening and Learning Strand.
estyRossPassage
These include: 1. CKLA uses  July2014_Teachers_Sessi
read-alouds to support oral
on2__DesignPrinciples_
language skills that underlie
WordWeb
and parallel reading and writing  July2014_Teachers_Sessi
skills. 2. CKLA Systematically
on2_DesignPrinciples_R
Builds Knowledge. 3. CKLA
eflection
stays on topic to foster the
most efficient word learning.
Session Roadmap
Section 1: The Two Keys to Reading
Time
min.
min.
Slide #/Pic of Slide
Slide 1
Time: 10 minutes
Script/Activity directions
Grouping
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Slide 2
Key Point:
Review session objectives
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Slide 3
Key Points:
 Three components in
NY’s comprehensive
literacy model
 The two strands of
CKLA align to the first 2
pillars
 These two strands were
designed based on the
essential Keys to
Literacy: One without
the other is ineffective:
students must be able
to read or decode the
written symbols (letters)
AND they must
understand and make
sense of what they
decode.
WG
Slide 4
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The CKLA program
addresses both keys in
two separate
instructional strands,
each of which represent
1 hour of instruction
daily.
The Skills Strand
teaches the mechanics
of reading – students
are taught systematic
and explicit phonics
instruction as their
primary tool for
decoding written
English. By the end of
grade 2, students have
learned all of the lettersound correspondences
in the English language
and are able to decode
just about any written
material they encounter.
In addition to phonics,
students also are taught
spelling, grammar, and
writing during the Skills
Strand.
Remember that full
literacy requires not just
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decoding skills but also
knowledge of words,
concepts, persons,
places, and ideas that
writers tend to take for
granted and not explain.
To achieve reading
comprehension, a
person needs to be able
to decode the words on
the page and then make
sense of those words.
The first task is made
possible by decoding
skills and the second by
language
comprehension ability.
Thus, the Listening and
Learning Strand
consists of a series of
read-alouds organized
by topics/domains,
many of which are
informational in nature.
The goal in L & L is for
students to acquire
language competence
through listening,
specifically building a
rich vocabulary, as well
as acquire specific
knowledge in history
and science by being
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exposed to carefully
selected, sequenced
and coherent readalouds.
Reading
comprehension
depends crucially on
both decoding skills and
language
comprehension ability;
Again each strand of
the program represents
about one hour of
instructional time.
Thus, the program is
designed to be
implemented in a two
hour language arts
block common to the
early grades of school.
Slide 5
Key Points:
Overview of the
components of the Skills
strand, which includes the
teacher guide, the student
workbook and readers, a
chaining folder and cards,
and an Assessment and
Remediation Guide
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Slide 6
min.
Overview of Skills
implementation
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Slide7
Key Points:
Overview of the
components of the
Listening and Learning
strand, which include the
teacher anthology, flip
book, image cards and
supplemental guide for
kindergarten.
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Slide 8
Overview of Listening and
Learning implementation
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Section 2: The Design Principles of the Skills Strand
Time
min.
Slide #/Pic of Slide
Slide 9
Time: 25
Script/Activity directions Grouping
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Slide 10
Key Points:
• There are 270+
pieces of “code” that
make up written
English language.
• These include various
letters, sounds,
spellings, and rules of
directionality and
grammar.
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Slide 11
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Slide 12
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Slide 13
Key Point:
Demonstration of how the
sound spellings of the /ae/
sound are taught (starting
with the least ambiguous)
in K through grade 1.
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Slide 14
Key Points:
The basic code teaches a
single spelling pattern for
each of the 18 distinct
vowel sounds in English.
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Slide 15
Key Points:
• Every relationship
(between a sound and
spelling) is made to be
explicit and is
introduced gradually to
help children achieve
mastery in some
spelling patterns before
others are introduced
explicitly.
• The sound becomes
the anchor of
instruction and this is
what is meant by a
‘sound-first’ approach.
• The instructional
language when
discussing sounds and
spellings is very precise
and helps children keep
the idea of sounds and
spellings as distinct but
related things.
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Slide 16
Key Points:
Participants consider the
way that the least
ambiguous, most frequent
spelling pattern creates
many words children can
read and minimizes
confusion by examining
the readers.
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Slide 17
Slide 18
Key Point:
Visualization of the
multiple and various
means in which students
have opportunities to
practice a specific skill.
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Slide 19
Key Points:
 Practice is especially
helpful in distinguishing
sounds and spellings
whose characteristics
may make them
confusing.
• Place, manner, and
voicing define sounds.
• Sounds that only differ
in voicing are called
cognates. These are
the trickiest often for
young children.
• CKLA helps children
distinguish these
sounds, as well as
make other fine
distinctions, through
direct instruction and
practice through
reading and writing
activities.
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Slide 20
Key Points:
Consider how the readers
support children in making
distinctions between
similar sounds and
spelling patterns.
Activity:
 We have pulled two
stories from the Unit 7
reader.
 examine how these
readers support
children in making the
distinctions between
minimal pairs.
 For this exercise focus
on the sounds /sh/ and
/ch/. Choose one of
the stories and list that
in the first column.
Each time you
encounter the spelling
pattern ‘sh’ or ‘ch,’
write down the word in
which it appeared.
 Do a new row for each
new word. If a word
you recorded appears
multiple times in the
reader, you can put a
S, I
tally mark in the fourth
column.
Slide 21
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Slide 22
Activity:
Participants practice
blending and segmenting
using the chaining cards.
1. The procedure that
I will use includes:
a) Say the word to the
students
b) Students spell the
word on their chaining
folder using the cards.
c) Teacher checks work
(an opportunity to
note who is having
trouble).
d) Student is chosen to
spell the word on the
pocket chart.
e) Students given
opportunity to correct
the position of their
cards for spelling
accuracy.
2. Let's begin as if
you were the
students:
a) Let’s review the
sounds that we have
here.
b) Now, spell net in the
S
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
middle of your chaining
folder. Remember to
start on the left side
near the green dot.
(Inspect as many
folders as you can.)
Who can come to the
pocket chart to show
me which sounds were
used to spell net?
If you need to correct
it, please do that now.
If that is net, show me
bet.
Repeat for the
remaining words in the
list.
The result for chain 1
should be: net > bet >
yet > jet > jets > jots >
jobs > bobs > bibs >
bins (Once students
have spelled the last
word in the chain, have
students return their
Small Cards to their
slots. Begin the next
chain by saying the
first word in the chain.)
The results for chain 2
are: pat > spat > spot
> pot > pop > top >
stop > sop > sap >
snap
Slide 23
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Key Point:
Learning to drive involves
multiple skills and practice
refining those skills before
one is ready to safely
drive on one’s own.
Slide 24
Section 3: The Design Principles of the Listening and Learning
Strand
Key Point:
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 Through systemic
instruction and
opportunities for
practice, students
develop automaticity
with reading and writing
skills.
 This serves as strong,
solid foundation from
which students can
apply to tackle complex
texts and compose
writing pieces to
various genres.
Time: 25 minutes
Time
min.
Slide #/Pic of Slide
Script/Activity directions
Slide 25
Key Points:
This section is designed to
give participants a deeper
understanding of the
guiding instructional design
principles around which the
Listening and Learning
domains and lessons were
created. The three key
principles include:
1. Background
knowledge is
essential to strong
comprehension.
2. Vocabulary learning
is most efficient
when it is contentbased,
contextualized, and
constant.
3. The connection
between oral and
written language
development must
be supported.
Grouping
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Slide 26
Slide 27
Key Points:
 Researchers who study
the development of
language in young
children point out that
oral language
development precedes
and is the foundation for
written language
development.
 Receptive language
precedes expressive
language, so children
typically understand
before they speak,
speak before they read,
and read before they
express themselves in
writing.
 Children’s oral language
competence is strongly
predictive of their facility
in learning to read and
write. A child’s listening
and speaking
vocabulary, and even
mastery of syntax, set
boundaries as to what
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they can read and
understand no matter
how well they can
decode.
It is helpful to
understand that the
brain is hard wired for
oral language
development – it
happens naturally so
long as a child is
exposed to/hears
language being spoken:
it is a natural learning
process that takes place
implicitly, as long as the
necessary exposure and
modeling occurs.
The brain is not hard
wired for reading and
writing – it has to be
explicitly taught – it
comes after oral
language and builds
upon the oral language
foundation.
Slide 28
Key Point:
Written language uses
richer vocabulary than
conversational language
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Slide 29
Key Points:
 Meta-analysis by
Thomas Sticht shows
that listening
comprehension
outpaces reading
comprehension on most
measures until the
middle school years
(Grade 6, 7, 8).
 The takeaway message
is clear and obvious: we
must devote at least as
much time during the
language arts block to
reading aloud to young
children as we currently
devote to providing
children with the skills
they will need to decode
and encode language.
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Slide 30
Slide 31
I, WG
Activity:
Read passage on Betsy
Ross and answer
questions.
Key Points:
• Simple texts, like those
on reading tests are
filled with gaps—
presumed domain
knowledge—just like
the gaps in the Betsy
Ross passages.
• The author assumes the
reader knows
something.
Slide 32
Key Points:
Knowledge helps resolve
ambiguity—as in the case
of multi-meaning words.
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Key Points:
Even simple or common
words can be ambiguous in
a text.
Slide 33
Slide 34
Key Points:
• The Listening and
Learning Strand is
comprised of contentrich, knowledge
building read-alouds.
• This content knowledge
will help students “fill in
gaps” and “resolve
ambiguity.”
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Slide 35
Key Points:
• The CCLS call for
systematic building of
knowledge within and
across grades.
• In this section, we will
investigate what it
means to build
knowledge
systematically and the
concept of domain
immersion.
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Slide 36
Slide 37
Key Point:
Knowing things allows us to
expend the smallest
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amount of cognitive
capacity on processing
lower-order aspects of a
problem so that more
cognitive capacity is
available for higher levels
Slide 38
Key Points:
• The example in the
CCLS demonstrates
what it means to build
knowledge
systematically across
grades.
• Being systematic and,
more importantly,
coherent within a grade
provides support for
student learning that
doesn’t rely on past
experiences.
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Slide 39
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Slide 40
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Slide 41
Key Points:
•
•
Vocabulary learning
takes place primarily
through implicit
exposure rather than
explicit instruction.
This example serves
as an expedited model
of how word learning
occurs.
Slide 42
Key Points:
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Repetition is key to
vocabulary learning
Learning words in
context makes word
learning more efficient.
Staying on topic, as the
Listening and Learning
strand does, facilitates
word learning.
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Slide 43
Key Points:
• Words about a topic
are connected in a
network.
•
Slide 44
Connections among
words are facilitated by
materials, like the
Listening and Learning
strand that are written
explicitly to tell a story
for the purpose of
knowledge and
vocabulary building.
Key Points:
In this activity we will
S
investigate the text of a
read-aloud to see how the
language and vocabulary
are connected.
Slide 45
Key Points:
• The value of non-fiction
read alouds is very
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•
explicitly the knowledge
and vocabulary building
that we see visualized
here.
That the value of nonfiction is these sorts of
webs are impressive
within a single story
Slide 46
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Slide 47
Key Points:
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•
•
Slide 48
Equity is an
additional value to
staying on topic.
Jumping from topic
to topic privileges
those kids who
already know
something about the
topic.
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Key Point:
Participants have time to
ask questions regarding the
design principles of CKLA
or other burning questions.
Turnkey Materials Provided
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CKLA Design Principles Power Point
Handouts: