For teachers using a knowledge-building reading program
Companion Packs for Knowledge-Building Reading Programs
10–15 minute printables that fit inside your reading block. Print in the morning, teach all day — every page comes with an answer key.
Pick a grade:
What teachers tell us
The pacing is brutal.
There’s no time for extras. So every page is 10–15 minutes — morning work, centers, early finishers, homework. Never another lesson to plan.
Centers take forever to set up.
Skills Center packs come with phonics games, heart-word practice, dictation sheets, and ready-to-print “I can” cards. Open the pack, run the center.
The vocabulary flies over their heads.
Picture vocab cards, simple word maps, and graphic organizers that re-teach the words one more time — built with ELL and SpEd learners in mind.
Shop the pilot
Pilot packs — coming soon. One-time purchase, one classroom, yours to keep.
Insects Topic Pack
20 printables over 5 days — picture vocab cards, 3 original leveled passages, graphic organizers, life-cycle sequencing, writing prompts, a catch-up page, and a booklist card. Answer keys included.
Skills Center Pack #1
Phonics games, heart-word practice, dictation sheets, and a spelling test template — organized by skill so centers run themselves. Answer keys included.
Insects + Skills Bundle
Both pilot packs together — the full two weeks of companion printables for one insects unit.
What is a knowledge-building reading program?
It’s built on a simple idea from reading science: kids read better when they know more. Decoding skill times language knowledge equals reading comprehension. The best-known example is CKLA — Core Knowledge Language Arts, developed by Amplify with the Core Knowledge Foundation and now in its 3rd Edition.
K–2 runs two strands, about 60 minutes each. The Skills strand teaches phonics, spelling, grammar, handwriting, and decodable readers. The Knowledge strand builds vocabulary and background knowledge through teacher read-alouds on science, history, and literature. Small-group work happens inside the Skills block.
Grades 3–5 run one integrated strand, 90–120 minutes a day, with increasingly complex texts.
The year at a glance: K–2 work through 10 knowledge units; grades 3–5 through 9 integrated units. Some units are “choice units” — the district picks one of two options. Every grade ends with a research unit built around real books.
Topic map by grade
Topics follow the 3rd Edition (the Pre-K list is our own draft). Packs are labeled by topic, so choice-unit differences don’t matter.
Pre-K 10 topics
- nursery rhymes & songs
Vote for this topic → - colors & shapes
Vote for this topic → - the five senses
Vote for this topic → - families & friends
Vote for this topic → - animals & pets
Vote for this topic → - plants & growing things
Vote for this topic → - weather & seasons
Vote for this topic → - community helpers
Vote for this topic → - fairy tales & story time
Vote for this topic → - research: all about me
Vote for this topic →
Kindergarten 10 topics
- nursery rhymes & fables
Vote for this topic → - five senses
Vote for this topic → - classic stories
Vote for this topic → - plants
Vote for this topic → - farms
Vote for this topic → - intro to Native American cultures
Vote for this topic → - geography
Vote for this topic → - Choice: monarchs / presidents & American symbols
Vote for this topic → - Choice: caring for the Earth / seasons & weather
Vote for this topic → - research: art & nature
Vote for this topic →
Grade 1 10 topics
- fables & tales
Vote for this topic → - human body
Vote for this topic → - similar stories from different lands
Vote for this topic → - astronomy
Vote for this topic → - geography & maps
Vote for this topic → - animal habitats
Vote for this topic → - American independence
Vote for this topic → - Choice: fairy tales / Earth’s history
Vote for this topic → - Choice: early world civilizations / Maya, Aztec & Inca
Vote for this topic → - research: adventure stories
Vote for this topic →
Grade 2 10 topics
- fairy tales & tall tales
Vote for this topic → - ancient Greece
Vote for this topic → - Greek myths
Vote for this topic → - cycles in nature
Vote for this topic → - Insects Pilot pack coming soon
- American Civil War
Vote for this topic → - poetry
Vote for this topic → - Choice: immigration / creating change
Vote for this topic → - Choice: nutrition / early India & China
Vote for this topic → - research: aviation
Vote for this topic →
Grade 3 9 topics
- classic stories
Vote for this topic → - animal classification
Vote for this topic → - poetry
Vote for this topic → - ancient Rome
Vote for this topic → - astronomy
Vote for this topic → - Native American regions & cultures
Vote for this topic → - Choice novel study
Vote for this topic → - Choice: human body / light & sound
Vote for this topic → - research: jazz
Vote for this topic →
Grade 4 9 topics
- personal narratives
Vote for this topic → - Middle Ages
Vote for this topic → - poetry
Vote for this topic → - inventors
Vote for this topic → - geology
Vote for this topic → - American Revolution
Vote for this topic → - Choice novel study
Vote for this topic → - Choice: world tales / Treasure Island
Vote for this topic → - research: American innovation
Vote for this topic →
Grade 5 9 topics
- personal narratives
Vote for this topic → - Maya, Aztec & Inca
Vote for this topic → - poetry
Vote for this topic → - Don Quixote
Vote for this topic → - oceans
Vote for this topic → - Native American cultures
Vote for this topic → - Choice novel study
Vote for this topic → - Choice: Renaissance / A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Vote for this topic → - research: global architecture
Vote for this topic →
Aligned to your state
Every companion pack lists the exact standard codes it covers — Georgia, Florida B.E.S.T., Alabama, and Kentucky — verified against each state’s official documents. No Common Core codes, ever.
Questions
Are these official materials?
No. They’re original Worksheet Patch printables designed to sit alongside knowledge-building reading units. See the disclaimer below.
Which edition does the topic map follow?
The 3rd Edition. Many topics appear in earlier editions too.
Will it fit my schedule?
Every page is 10–15 minutes — built for centers, morning work, or homework.
My district chose different choice units.
The map shows both options, and packs are labeled by topic — so you always know what you’re getting.
Is it aligned to my state?
Packs carry GA, FL B.E.S.T., AL, and KY codes from our standards crosswalk.
Free: “What is my child’s reading program?”
A one-page explainer for parents — what the program is, why vocabulary matters, and how to help at home. Free, for your next back-to-school night.
These materials are based on Amplify CKLA but are not affiliated with, sponsored by, reviewed, approved, or endorsed by Amplify Education, Inc. or the Core Knowledge Foundation. ‘Amplify’, ‘CKLA’ and other marks are the property of Amplify Education, Inc. and its licensors.