CSDE Model Curricula Quick Start GuideEquitable and Inclusive Curriculum  The CSDE believes in providing a set of conditions where learners are repositioned at the center of curricula planning and design. Curricula, from a culturally responsive perspective, require intentional planning for diversity, equity, and inclusion in the development of units and implementation of lessons. It is critical to develop a learning environment that is relevant to and reflective of students’ social, cultural, and linguistic experiences to effectively connect their culturally and community-based knowledge to the class. Begin by connecting what is known about students’ cognitive and interdisciplinary diversity to the learning of the unit. Opposed to starting instructional planning with gaps in students’ knowledge, plan from an asset-based perspective by starting from students’ strengths. In doing so, curricula’s implementation will be grounded in instruction that engages, motivates, and supports the intellectual capacity of all students.Course Description:  In the English Language Arts Model Curriculum, there is a balance of informational and literary reading and writing types across the grade levels. In addition to developing students’ abilities to read and comprehend a variety of texts, it is equally important to devote adequate time to engage students in producing clear and coherent writing. Included in each of the units are the Speaking and Listening Standards and the Language Standards, which are essential for supporting the development of reading and writing skills and abilities. Through purposeful interactions, students will actively engage in rigorous conversations, refine speaking and listening skills, and build their knowledge of language structures. This course requires students to analyze language to make meaning of figurative language and determine points of view and themes in literature. Additionally, students will explain how the author's choice of figurative language enhances poetry, and then begin to incorporate these more complex aspects of author’s craft in their own writing. Grades 4 and 5 require students to synthesize information from multiple informational texts. Building upon the understanding of craft and structure, this course introduces the difference between first and secondhand sources and how the author's point of view affects how events are described and interpreted. The level of text complexity is increased in Grade 5, asking students to read critically, which will support the production of opinion writing. The foundational reading skills work for Grade 5 includes syllabication patterns, morphology, and reading with accuracy and fluency. Aligned Core Programs: The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) in partnership with the State Education Resource Center has engaged with providers of high-quality instructional resources to develop alignment guidance for the CSDE English Language Arts (ELA) Model Curriculum. The guidance documents provide information about how instructional content aligns with and supports the implementation of the ELA Model Curriculum. The instructional materials referenced in the alignment guidance documents meet the expectations as a core comprehensive resource as determined and reported by EdReports. Use of the instructional materials from these publishers is not required, as the selection of materials is a local decision. If your resources are not listed below, you are encouraged to review EdReports to ensure the alignment of your instructional materials to the Connecticut Core Standards. Strong alignment of instructional materials has the potential to support student engagement with meaningful grade-appropriate content.   Great Minds-Wit and Wisdom-Grade 5Imagine Learning EL Education Grade 5Additional Course Information:  Incorporated in each of the English Language Arts Model Curriculum units are the Writing Standards, with the expectation that adequate instructional time will be devoted to engaging students in producing and publishing various types of writing. Students need time to perform the intellectual work required for composing, which includes talking about their ideas, analyzing information, and organizing and presenting thoughts precisely and accurately. Developing the ability to analyze author’s craft requires multiple opportunities to engage with texts, so that students can apply literary devices and techniques in writing and make decisions around text structure and language use. When considering writing instruction, it is essential to give attention to the language skills (e.g., spelling, vocabulary, background knowledge, syntax) that directly contribute to writing production. Although writing needs dedicated instructional time, each unit supports an integrated approach to writing instruction by including complementary Speaking and Listening Standards, and Language Standards in service to the writing demands called for in each unit.Students will benefit from additional guidance during writing instruction, especially when spelling, word choice retrieval, fluently generating ideas, and executive functions are challenging. For example, working at the sentence level can help students develop the skills to compose complete compound and complex sentences, and use coordinating, correlative, and subordinating conjunctions in their writing. Sentence expansion activities can support students in writing with greater precision and accuracy. To produce lengthier pieces of writing, students may need support working through the planning and prewriting stages of the writing process and applying specific writing strategies. We must also be mindful of how executive function influences a writer’s capacity to work through the multiple steps and tasks of composing text, and the ability to sustain tasks and efforts to produce the many forms of writing. Navigating linguistically complex texts when conducting research projects and understanding and managing selective attention demands, including in working memory, may require additional scaffolds.Habits of Mind/SEIH/Transferable Skills Addressed in the Course: The integration of social, emotional, and intellectual habits is an important component in a K-12 education and contributes to students’ academic and personal success, and success in college, careers, and civic life. Social, emotional, and intellectual habits set the stage for all future learning, promoting intrapersonal, interpersonal, and cognitive competence. Adult beliefs and mindsets, as well as school experiences, all influence the development of social, emotional, and intellectual competencies (The Education Trust). Since adults are responsible for establishing and sustaining student-centered, inclusive learning environments, they must first take stock of their strengths for establishing and maintaining healthy relationships with adults and students, including individuals across different perspectives and backgrounds (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning [CASEL], n.d.). By understanding and applying social, emotional, and intellectual habits, students effectively negotiate daily tasks and challenges. Social, emotional, and intellectual habits assist students in setting and achieving positive goals, establishing and maintaining healthy relationships, and making responsible decisions. In addition, they support students’ ability to maintain focus and manage their learning irrespective of obstacles. Students must have the capacity to integrate social, emotional, and intellectual skills, attitudes, and behaviors throughout the course of the day.Embedded within each of the English Language Arts Model Curriculum units are the interrelated social, emotional, and intellectual habits, as provided in the Components of Social, Emotional and Intellectual Habits: Kindergarten through Grade 12 document. These habits, over time, will contribute to students’ academic and personal success and are exemplified as areas of development (e.g., identify and understand emotions of self and others; develop logic and reasoning), further organized by learning continua (e.g., empathy; critical and analytical thinking), and clarified by categories of indicators of evidence or developmental milestones (e.g., acknowledge needs of others and act accordingly; agree or disagree with others and give reasons why). By understanding how respect, empathy, responsible behavior, and other social, emotional, and intellectual habits support rapport building, educators can foster trusting relationships with and among students so that each student feels connected and cared for as a member of the classroom community. This sets the stage for all future learning by minimizing the types of social interactions that can activate threats in the brain and impede students’ sense of agency. Students are then empowered to practice self-management and other skills and competencies within their social context (Hammond, 2015).Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). (n.d.). How Does SEL Support Educational Equity And Excellence?: Imagine A School Community That Fully Supports Students’ Learning And Development So That All Children Can Thrive. Fundamentals of SEL how-does-sel-support-educational-equity-and-excellence/#equity-excellence.Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching and the Brain: Promoting Authentic Engagement and Rigor among Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.The Education Trust. (August 2020).  Social, Emotional, and Academic Development through an Equity Lens. 

What are human rights, and how do real people and fictional characters respond when those rights are challenged? Students will develop their ability to read and understand complex text as they consider this question. Students will begin to build knowledge about human rights through a close read of the introduction and selected articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), paired with short firsthand accounts of people around the world who currently face human rights challenges. In Unit 2, students will do an extended study of Esperanza Rising (740L) by Pam Muñoz Ryan, applying their new learning about human rights as one lens through which to interpret the character and theme in this rich novel—a complex coming-of-age story set in Mexico and rural California during the early 1930s. Through close reading, interpretation, and analysis of fiction and nonfiction texts, students will synthesize their understanding of human rights. The specific literacy focus is on supporting understanding through quoting directly from text, inferring theme, and comparing and contrasting how different texts address the topics and themes of human rights. Students will write an analytical essay in which they describe how a character in the novel responds to challenges. In Unit 3, students will continue to revisit the text and themes of the UDHR and Esperanza Rising as they read, write, and ultimately perform Readers Theater. Students will compare novels and Readers Theater as two forms of narrative writing. They will then select specific articles of the UDHR that relate thematically to the novel and reread key passages of the novel with that theme in mind. They will write individual and small group scripts based on these key passages and on phrases from the UDHR. Students will revise, rehearse, and ultimately perform their group Readers Theater scripts for their class and/or school or community members.

**NOTE: The New York State Education Department shut down the EngageNY website in 2022. In order to maintain educators' access, nearly all resources have been uploaded to archive.org and the resource links above have been updated to reflect their new locations.**

This module—intended to be used in conjunction with a Social Studies unit about Latin America—features a close read of The Most Beautiful Roof in the World (1160L)* by Kathryn Lasky. This beautifully illustrated informational text describes the work of scientists documenting the biodiversity of rainforests. The specific literacy focus is on reading scientific and technical text as well as writing to inform and explain. In the first unit, students build basic background knowledge about the rainforest (particularly those of the Western Hemisphere), and begin to examine how scientists closely observe the natural world to then help them communicate their research through carefully organized and worded scientific text. Unit 2 focuses on a case study of Meg Lowman, the researcher featured in The Most Beautiful Roof in the World. Students then analyze the structure and function of scientific field guides and filed journals determining what quality field guides and journals look and sound like. Students research about a living thing that scientist Meg Lowman may encounter in the rainforest in her research and write with clear and effective word choice about their chosen insect of the rainforest. As the final performance task, students produce an informational report and then field journal–style pages intended for younger readers.

**NOTE: The New York State Education Department shut down the EngageNY website in 2022. In order to maintain educators' access, nearly all resources have been uploaded to archive.org and the resource links above have been updated to reflect their new locations.**