EL Education
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What is EL Education?
EL Education is the provider of the new ELA curriculum that is has been adopted by OUSD for grades K-8, The curriculum is standards-based, and relies heavily on fiction and nonfiction trade books.
This curriculum is open access, and full materials are available to view and download at the EL Education website. OUSD's implementation and support materials are subject to EL Education's Terms of Use.
This OUSD EL Education website includes comprehensive resources to implement the EL Education curriculum. See below for general info about curriculum structure, or visit the webpages linked above for grade-specific resources.
How is the curriculum structured?
Each grade level includes 4 modules, which span a full school year. Within each module there are 3 units, and and within those units are 5-20 hour-long lessons.
In addition, curriculum for grades K-2 features labs that correspond to the module lessons. (See K-2 Curriculum info below.) Curriculum for grades 3-5 features ALL (Additional Language and Literacy) Blocks to complement module lessons.
What is the Designated ELD Program for EL Education in OUSD?
Designated ELD is a protected time for English Language Learner (ELL) students to interact in meaningful ways as they learn about how English Works (See CA ELA/ELD Framework). These lessons, created by OUSD teachers, are slide decks designed to be taught in a traditional classroom setting that emphasizes student talk. They build language knowledge in preparation for the Unit and Module written tasks and focus on skills required by the CA ELD Standards with an emphasis on the Part 2 Standards. See unit level for individual lessons per unit.
The curriculum was built using the principle of backward design. The last unit of each module, Unit 3, culminates with a performance task. What students learn in Units 1 and 2 helps them prepare for this performance task.
K-2 Curriculum
The K-2 curriculum includes 4 modules, which span a full school year. Within each module there are 3 units, and and within those units are 5-20 hour-long lessons.
There are two hours per day of content-based literacy (Module Lessons and Labs). In conjunction with foundational literacy instruction, this curriculum explicitly teaches and assesses all strands and standards of the Common Core English language arts (ELA) 2nd grade standards. Each unit includes one formal assessment.
Module Lessons (60 minutes of daily instruction): Explicitly teach and formally assess all reading comprehension, writing, speaking and listening, and language standards and strands of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts & Literacy.
Labs (60 minutes of daily instruction): Build students’ oral language, content knowledge, and habits of character through inquiry and hands-on exploration. The Labs reinforce literacy skills, content knowledge, and habits of character taught in the module lessons and provide teachers with additional time to document students’ progress toward particular standards.
Note: The K-2 Reading Foundations Skills Block is part of the official EL Education K-2 curriculum, but OUSD will be utilizing other programs to implement foundational literacy instruction.
3-5 Curriculum
The 3rd Grade EL Education curriculum comprises two hours of rich content-based literacy instruction per day.
Module lessons (one hour of daily instruction) explicitly teach and formally assess all reading comprehension, writing, speaking and listening, and language standards and strands of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English Language Arts & Literacy.
The ALL Block (Additional Language and Literacy Block) is one hour long and is complementary to module lessons.
The 3rd Grade EL Education curriculum includes 4 modules, which span a full school year. Within each module there are 3 units, and and within those units are 11-14 hour-long module lessons.
6-8 Curriculum
Each module in the grades 6-8 second edition curriculum consists of a 45-minute block of content-based literacy instruction. Built to the needs of middle school learners, our new block teaches and assesses all of the Language Arts standards for each grade level.