EL Education K-8 Language Arts

1 Where it came from

Peabody is not connected to EL Education, and nothing here is written or checked by the organization. EL Education calls itself a nonprofit, and says it is the author of its K-8 English language arts curriculum, a Skills Block, Unlock Phonics and a Crew curriculum. Its pages say the curriculum was created by teachers for teachers. The materials themselves are sold through distributors: one offers print materials for a K-5 2025 edition and a K-8 2017 edition, plus the required trade books and digital lessons, and another offers digital and print access.

2 The big ideas

• Reading rests on the science of reading. The curriculum page says it is based on the science of reading, including structured phonics.
• Knowledge builds literacy. Students acquire knowledge of science and social studies as a means of building deeper literacy skills, using real-world topics and authentic texts.
• Students read hard texts. The design page promises grade-level texts that stretch children, from a range of authors.
• Learning includes character and community. EL Education says it was founded on the belief that schools can help students become effective learners and ethical people, so the curriculum includes social-emotional learning.
• Students do real investigation. The design page lists original research and interdisciplinary investigations as a design principle.

3 What a lesson looks like

The pages read name the parts of a lesson but do not lay out a day minute by minute, so this page does not invent one. The curriculum's linked articles are titled around a Read-Think-Talk-Write cycle, Language Dives, anchor charts, classroom protocols, a Rule of Three for writing, and models, critique and descriptive feedback. The organization also lists separate K-2 and 3-5 overviews of how the parts fit together. Before you adopt it, read those overviews and a sample pack for your grade, so you can see what a real day asks of you and of the children.

4 The adult's job

The pages read do not describe the adult's role in detail. The organization offers companion books for teachers in kindergarten to grade 5 and in grades 6 to 8, and professional learning for implementing the curriculum. Expect to spend time learning its routines, such as the protocols and Language Dives named on its design page, before they run smoothly.

5 How progress is checked

The pages read do not describe how the curriculum checks progress. One distributor's page lists digital assessments with reporting. Ask for a sample pack and look at what each assessment measures before you rely on the data.

6 Strengths and criticisms

7 What the research says

This page makes no claim about how well the curriculum works. The organization's own page links a curriculum study and an EdReports search, but neither was read here, so no result or rating is repeated. If you need evidence, read the study the organization links, check the EdReports site yourself, and ask your own district what its results have been.

8 How to try it

1. Request a sample pack for the grade you teach and read one unit's lessons end to end.
2. Read the organization's overview for your grade band: K-2 and 3-5 each have one.
3. Ask which phonics materials come with your edition, since the Skills Block and Unlock Phonics are named as separate products.
4. Try one anchor chart and one protocol with children before you decide how much of the routine you can keep up.
5. Add short daily reading of text a child can already read, so fluency grows beside the topic work.

9 Using Peabody with it

• DecodablesGive a child who needs more practice with a sound pattern a short decodable text beside the program's own phonics lessons.
• Elkonin boxesUse sound boxes to let a beginner push counters for each sound in a word when a phonics lesson needs another try.
• Anchor chartsPrint or copy a chart for a reading or writing skill and keep it where children can see it during the lesson.
• Book standardsCheck what a trade book asks of a reader when you add books to a topic unit.

Peabody is free and has no ads. Pages on peabody.kids are for children; pages here are for the adults teaching them.

10 Programs that follow it

Programs and materials often named with this approach: Read-Think-Talk-Write cycle, Language Dives, Skills Block, Unlock Phonics.