Our school district is using a reading/language arts program, called Benchmark Advance. It’s built specifically to meet the demands of the California Common Core   Standards plus the new California ELA/ELD Framework. These standards require students to engage with more rigorous, complex text as well as dive deeper into the interpretation of the text. This has led us to look for and implement a more engaging, interactive, and modern program. 

Benchmark Advance reading textbooks are light and manageable, magazine-like texts (same as previous years). These books are designed for students to interact with the readings by writing on the page and annotating the text. but they should be written in!   Annotation encourages students to take ownership of the text and dive deeper into the content, which improves comprehension. Each book is meant to be used for just three weeks. After three weeks of reading and working with the texts in class, students will bring the annotated book home. Your student’s annotations will allow you to see exactly how they are interpreting and engaging with the readings. As your student is working through each unit, you’ll notice that all of the readings are centered on one topic. These topics include social studies, science content, and literary subjects such as point of view, theme, and character. 

Every three weeks, you’ll receive a school-to-home letter that will provide additional activities you can do at home with your student. These activities connect to the unit topic and the vocabulary, comprehension, and phonics/word study skills being taught during the unit.