How Louisiana ELA Guidebooks designs for:

Deep knowledge building

Each lesson targets specific knowledge-building goals. The ELA Guidebooks emphasize reading a volume of literary and informational texts on conceptually related topics to quickly build student knowledge and vocabulary. After reading and annotating each text, students complete a learning log to gather new insights about the topic, capture connections to their existing knowledge base, and highlight the vocabulary they have learned. Students build understanding through compelling questions and integrated reading and writing activities. A collection of evidence from daily monitoring and section diagnostics helps teachers determine students’ progress and identify any specific instructional needs. Writing is another hallmark of the ELA Guidebooks; assignments are frequent and varied in purpose, audience, genre, and length. Baked into every unit, writing assignments prepare students to address the culminating tasks.

Foundational skills and fluency for beginning and older readers

Though the ELA Guidebooks begin in third grade and do not contain an early reading program, they do include selected, vital foundational skills supports. Every lesson focuses on improving fluency with grade-level complex texts as students follow along. 

The Fluency Utilized to Engage Learners Materials (FUEL) provides additional opportunities to practice fluency while keeping students engaged in the specific materials from each unit in grades 3-5. These resources supply targeted, individualized support to diverse readers during small-group reading instruction. Plans are in place to develop FUEL Resources for grades 6-8 that match this research-based approach. The Guidebooks also offer links to both a partner reading and a teacher read-aloud protocol.

All students receive instruction in how to read multisyllabic words. Guidebooks offer a variety of supplementary resources that are explicitly included to support older students who need foundational skills practice. For example, a Literacy Interventions and Foundational Toolkit (LIFT) includes a diagnostic assessment for identifying gaps in foundational skills knowledge for students in grades three and up. Once teachers know what students need, they can access resources in the LIFT Kit Library to provide targeted support during small-group learning.

Equitable access to challenging texts

Each unit is packed full of close reading routines and scaffolded templates to support students’ text annotations, vocabulary development, writing skills, and peer interactions. Every lesson features class discussions with established norms to ensure active participation. Students are asked to formally reflect on the quality of their contributions to discussions. Throughout each unit, students engage in a variety of oral and written activities to support them in expressing their understanding of the texts. Daily lesson “look fors” and regular diagnostics allow teachers to monitor each student’s progress and provide extra support as needed. Each unit ends with a curriculum-embedded culminating task that requires students to apply the knowledge, skills, and habits they have developed.

Learning and exhibiting deep knowledge

• Exhibit 1
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Access Louisiana ELA Guidebooks

Louisiana ELA Guidebooks (Grades 3-5 2022; Grades 6-8 2024) is available exclusively on Louisiana’s open-source digital platform, Louisiana Curriculum Hub.