Amplify CKLA Novel Guides
Updated over a week ago

Amplify CKLA Novel Guides are online resources that help teachers in Grades 3–5 incorporate contemporary novels and embark on novel studies with your students.

Novel Guides offer engaging and flexible materials designed around authentic texts students love. They introduce students to award-winning and acclaimed novels that present relatable characters, share exciting plots, offer many opportunities to develop a love for reading, and build ELA skills. They also offer activities to help students read closely, deepen their understanding of the text, and build on that understanding through exploration and inquiry.

Novel Guides provide daily text-based writing and discussion. Each Novel Guide features a Teacher Edition and a Student Edition. Novel guides offer five activity types:

  • Ask questions cover information about the text.

  • Explore prompts offer brief research opportunities centered around items mentioned in the text.

  • Imagine activities promote creativity and further reflection.

  • Observe items ask students to take notes or make other kinds of observations about what they have read.

  • Understand questions push students to explore connections to the text.

Icons identify items that are particularly suited for writing and discussion, and each item includes suggestions for in-the-moment support. Novel Guides are designed for flexible grouping and implementation. They may be used for an entire class, or they may be assigned to individuals or groups of students.

Possible implementation scenarios:

  • Dedicated classroom reading time

  • Enrichment or extension

  • After-school or summer programs

Currently, there are two Novel Guides per grade for Grades 3–5:

  • Grade 3: Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo and Stella Díaz Has Something to Say by Angela Dominguez

  • Grade 4: The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon and Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly

  • Grade 5: The Science of Breakable Things by Tae Keller and You Don’t Know Everything, Jilly P! by Alex Gino

For more information about Amplify CKLA materials, visit ckla.amplify.com.

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