Core Knowledge? I bet your initial thought was Common Core.
Let me stop you right there and say I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT COMMON CORE! They have nothing to do with each other. Well, actually they do now, but that is another opinion for another day.
What I am talking about is called Core Knowledge. This is strictly my opinion based on my experience but I have such a strong opinion that I thought I would share it to both homeschooling moms as well as teachers, educators or everyday citizens that may know nothing of it.
What is Core Knowledge?
Let me first begin by saying that the Core Knowledge curriculum is not a method of teaching. It does not tell you HOW to teach a child to add. It does not tell you exactly what activity to do on Lesson 12 of an Ancient Asia unit.
Well, that’s not how it began anyway. More about that later, though.
Core Knowledge is a spiraling curriculum for students pre-k through eighth grade.
What is a spiraling curriculum?
What do I mean by spiraling curriculum? I mean that each year students learn something that is built upon what they have already learned. As an example, when a student in fifth grade begins a unit on the lymphatic and immune systems (yes, that’s part of the curriculum), on Day 1 they already have a great deal of knowledge.
How? Well, they have knowledge of their body which they have learned from family, friends, books or television. Someone has probably said something to them about their “immune system” or their “lymph nodes”. So, they have a bit of knowledge just from their life coming into the unit.
But, if they have been immersed in Core Knowledge since preschool, they already have a great deal of knowledge about their body and it’s systems. They learned about body parts and the five senses in preschool and kindergarten. In first grade they touched on all the systems of the body (on a first grade level). And beginning in second grade, they began focusing on different body systems each year building on the knowledge from the past years. By the time they are ready to learn about the Lymphatic and Immune Systems in fifth grade, they have already learned about the digestive, excretory, muscular, skeletal, nervous, circulatory, respiratory, endocrine, and reproductive systems.
Yes, most students will not remember one-hundred percent of everything they learned. When the teacher begins the unit by saying, “The immune system is made up of different organs, cells, and tissues that work together to ward off diseases from the different systems in our bodies.”, students without background knowledge (ie stuff they already know) may stare at her wide-eyed as unfamiliar vocabulary is flooded over them. But other students are going to have a flood of memories.
One student may suddenly remember playing a game with their second grade class where they all were cells that turned into tissues that turned into muscles that turned into systems. Another student may remember creating his own set of lungs when studying the respiratory system in fourth grade.
They may not remember every definition and fact they learned over the years but they have the building blocks. They have a solid foundation to put new information on. When their teacher gives them new information about the lymaphtic system, that student will simply continue building his knowledge instead of feeling overwhelmed because he didn’t have the prior knowledge needed to learn this new topic.
We are familiar with this concept in math. It is obvious to most people that we should teach first graders to add before we would ever teach a third grader to multiply. This isn’t because that’s what the curriculum says but because those are the bricks needed to set the foundation for something harder.
Rich in Content
If you look at many state standards or the Common Core, standards are so vague and confusing.
“Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.” That’s a first grade standard.
Using Core Knowledge, you will still meet this standard (and it still states that) but it takes it a step further and gives a list of stories and poems to read and discuss. Who doesn’t love a checklist?
The Core Knowledge Sequence lists exactly what should be taught. It lists names of poems, stories, people, specific facts.
My History With Core Knowledge
In 2009 I was a first year teacher. Brand new to teaching. At a brand new school in its first year. So new that we didn’t even have a building.
I can remember sitting in our original staff meeting with so much new information thrown at me I felt like I would drown. What had I gotten myself into?
The words Core Knowledge were being thrown around but I had no idea what it was. Just another something new to me.
Two years later I got married and moved to my husband’s home town, leaving the school I was helping build. But I left with a LOVE for Core Knowledge.
So much so that when applying for jobs I searched for schools that taught Core Knowledge. There was only one anywhere close to me and it would take another year before I landed a job there.
This school became my home for the next seven years and my love for Core Knowledge only grew.
It grew to the point that I am using it to teach my son. And I often dream of opening a Core Knowledge school here in Montana where there are zero.
Students and Core Knowledge
As I’ve said before, Core Knowledge is a spiraling guide to many subject areas: math, language arts, science, social studies, music and art.
In my ten years of classroom teaching, when my students and I reflected on the year, I never once had a student say their favorite part of the year was learning to add three digit numbers or learning to spell new words. Guaranteed, it was one of our history or science units (which often incorporated math and reading and writing). You wouldn’t think that teaching a student about Mesopotamia in first grade or the Emancipation Proclamation in second grade would be memorable but done with the passion (and academic freedom) of a dedicated Core Knowledge teacher, the students build their history knowledge without being bored or even realizing they are doing so.
When I taught second grade, the number one unit students always enjoyed was our Civil War unit. Not because they loved all the terms they learned or even the list of people and events. But because they were transported back in time with engaging stories and activities.
I can almost guarantee that when my students reached fifth grade and were learning about the Civil War again (yes, again, because this is a spiraling curriculum), they could probably tell their teacher vaguely about the Emancipation Proclamation and exactly who Harriet Tubman was. They will then take the knowledge they already have and expand upon it learning a bit more about the Civil War that their second grade brains weren’t ready to handle. And then in middle school, they will do it again.
What they won’t feel is an overwhelming sense of drowning in dates and facts and names being thrown at them.
Yes, this can be done with any curriculum and teacher, but topics covered in Core Knowledge lower grades are not covered in most lower grades. It’s all about building those blocks.
Core Knowledge is Branching Out
How It Was
When I first started teaching the only materials Core Knowledge offered was the Core Knowledge Sequence, the Core Knowledge Teacher Handbook, the What Your __ Grader Needs to Know, and a handful of art posters and music CDs. My school had adopted a history curriculum that went hand in hand with the Sequence for each grade which helped this first year teacher with planning. But other than that, my main resource for teaching ideas was a host of free lesson/unit plans made by other Core Knowledge teachers on the Core Knowledge website.
It was both a great freedom to teach however I wanted yet also completely overwhelming.
How It Is
Core Knowledge has since created their own curriculums that go hand in hand with their Sequence. Schools and teachers have differing opinions of them.
One amazing thing, though, is that you can find every bit of it for FREE online. Yes, FREE. Every teacher handbook, worksheet, picture slides. Everything. And that is how I get a lot of the materials for homeschooling my son.
Core Knowledge Listening and Learning
This is a program for teaching writing, speaking and listening within the Sequence.
My Opinion: I loved this when I taught in the classroom and I love it now teaching at home. These units do not need to be differentiated. I love the read aloud, the questions it suggests asking, the vocabulary that broadens a child’s language. In class, once the read alouds were finished, I often had prepared my own activities but the curriculum offered some as well. I do the same read-alouds with my son at home. He loves them and enjoys showing me all the knowledge he remembers from previous lessons (showing that prior knowledge!)
Core Knowledge Skills
This is a program for teaching the basic reading, phonics and handwriting and writing skills within the Sequence.
My opinion: I will say that as a classroom teacher, I saw great strength in the Skills program. But more than anything, and speaking only of the second grade curriculum I taught, I saw the obvious weakness: no differentiation. As a veteran teacher, I found my ways to challenge and remediate the students who needed it and worked it into my classroom schedule. But the curriculum itself did not allow for it.
As a homeschooling mom, I enjoy using the Skills program with my child. I use it as a guide and work my own games and activities into our lessons. But the outline itself I feel is very thought out. It takes the Sequence a step further.
Core Knowledge History and Geography
This is a program that teaching both American and world history and geography while integrating civics and the arts.
My Opinion: This was not available when I taught. I only discovered it as I began making plans to teach my preschooler. Again, I have enjoyed using it as a guide. We have only worked through the Exploring Our World unit. I, again, have taken the information given and used it as a guide to create my own activities for my son. I can see myself doing the same thing as a classroom teacher.
Fun fact: By the end of fifth grade, students in a Core Knowledge program have learned enough information to pass the question part of the United States Immigration test.
Core Knowledge Arts and Music
The Sequence also specifies artists, artworks, and elements and techniques to be covered in art as well as musicians, songs, elements, styles and history to be covered within music.. As a former public school teacher, these items have long been forgotten and it is wonderful not to just see them listed but to see them incorporated into the history/science/math/language arts already being covered in the main classroom.
The Number One Resource
I strongly feel the What Your__ Grader Needs To Know is the best resource for any parent to have. Read from cover to cover, your child will have heard everything that Core Knowledge wants that particular age to know.
Reading does not mean that a child learned something or will remember it, but it’s a great start. And it offers ideas of activities you could do with your child as well.
The Main Take Aways
- Core Knowledge is a spiraling curriculum for PreK to grade 8. This is so powerful not just in language arts and math but in science, social studies, music and art.
- Its content is very rich. There are so many topics that are not normally covered in most main stream schools and it is approached at age-level.
- It can be implemented anyway a teacher/parent sees fit simply by knowing what is in the Sequence. A school can go “all-in” with every resource or a parent can read the What Your __ Grader Needs to Know and lead a discussion and a few activities.
- FREE materials (everything from teacher handbooks and worksheets to projectable pictures) are available to be downloaded.
- Building great background knowledge is very important.
- “Big subjects” like the Civil War and Ancient Egypt don’t have to be just for older students.
- If you teach or have a kindergarten student, my store has lots of grade level activities (and will continue to grow all this year). Or follow this blog for lots of ideas!
If you have grown curious about Core Knowledge or would like to know more about how to begin doing some activities at home, please contact me! I would love to help you out!
