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K-5 RLA Literacy Program

(COVID Emergency Release)

Full-Subject Materials: Pilot Texas OER

The K-5 OER RLA COVID Emergency Release V3 is currently called the Amplify Texas Elementary Literacy Program and has been built on state standards and the Science of Reading, in tight alignment with structured literacy concepts taught in the Texas Reading Academies. The program is designed to meet 100% of Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) in English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) in K–5 and is available to cover Spanish Language Arts Reading (SLAR) and English as a Second Language standards. The digital materials are free for use, reuse, or modification by any Texan.

With these materials, students can complete a full skills lesson focused on building strong foundational reading skills, as well as a full separate knowledge-focused lesson that builds background around key topics or themes while focusing on comprehension in grades K–2. In grades 3–5, students begin building on foundational reading skills, so skills and knowledge units are integrated as unified lessons. The current version of materials offer lessons for 180 days of instruction and include teacher guides, student activity books, image supports, student readers, exit tickets, and other resources. 

TEA developed these materials as a contingency option during COVID for school systems that choose to use it. Prior to publication, materials go through a rigorous third-party review based on an approved rubric, including feedback from Texas educators. The programs were acquired as Open Education Resources (OER). OER is freely available to Texans in perpetuity; however, because of the program’s COVID-19 contingency release status and ongoing pilot execution and refinement, we acknowledge it may contain some errors.

The full content of the materials is available online for transparent review. Help guide continuous improvement by taking our online survey.  If you have questions or concerns about the instructional materials, please email us.

More information on the development history of this pilot OER material can be found here.

Components

The materials are designed to strongly reinforce phonics and foundational literacy skills while also building background knowledge, covering the entirety of the ELAR (and SLAR) TEKS. Multiple components of the OER can be used individually or together:

  • K-2 Skills (Phonics) units that cover the Developing and Sustaining Foundational Literacy strand in the ELAR TEKS. Daily lessons are designed to take 60 minutes each day.
  • K-2 Spanish Skills (Phonics) units that cover the Developing and Sustaining Foundational Literacy strand in the SLAR TEKS. Daily lessons are designed to take 40 minutes each day.
  • K-5 Knowledge units that cover ELAR TEKS with an emphasis on building vocabulary and background knowledge. In grades K-2, these are structured as units separate from skills, are designed to take 60 minutes each day, and would be used alongside the K-2 Skills units. In grades 3-5, these are structured to cover all of the ELAR TEKS, designed to take 120 minutes for grade 3 and 90 minutes for grades 4 and 5. 
  • K-5 Knowledge Spanish version units are available to support dual language instruction. 

K–5 Knowledge

Through daily exercises that feature text with growing complexity, an emphasis on classroom interactivity, oral comprehension, contextual vocabulary, and with speaking and writing in response to the reading, students develop mastery of ELAR TEKS while building background knowledge and rich vocabulary that is a key to literacy. The product is designed around research that shows new vocabulary is more likely to be remembered when offered in a knowledge-coherent context. This serves to dual function of full TEKS coverage and creates a coherently sequenced set of knowledge units within each grade level, and across all K–5 units. The unit outlines are as follows:

Image of all Amplify content listed

All units are available in English and are also available translated into Spanish to support dual-language instruction.

K–2 Skills (Phonics)

Starting with sounds, students practice phonemic awareness, handwriting, vocabulary, spelling, and grammar. Through daily practice, students become aware of the connection between reading and writing, building confidence as they go. The K–2 skills units may be used as a standalone, supplemental curriculum. The units are designed to cover all of the Developing and Sustaining Foundational Literacy strands in the ELAR TEKS.

Graphic of skills section

A K–2 Spanish Skills (Phonics), Habilidades y Destrezas, is also available. The first version launched for the 2022–23 school year and is designed to cover all of the Developing and Sustaining Foundational Literacy strands in the SLAR TEKS. All content is available online for review. 

Getting Started 

In addition to digital access, all products allow educators, campuses, or individuals to self-print the materials. For more information on printing instructions or options for purchase please contact us. 

 

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COVID-19 Notice 

In the early stages of the COVID-19 impact on schools, TEA went through a rapid review process to support schools with instructional material resources that could be used both in person and remotely as a contingency option. As a result, certain instructional materials were made available on a rapid timeline in 2020 and have been subject to multiple rounds of revisions. Given the timeline for development, errors are to be expected, but the agency remains committed to fixing issues as they are identified. To ensure robust review, feedback is being gathered from parents, caregivers, educators, and organizations across the state. This feedback will inform the continuous improvement of subsequent units and editions.

Help guide continuous improvement by taking our online survey. If you have questions or concerns about the instructional materials, please email us.