To help students build confidence while mastering critical reading skills, Curriculum Associates has launched the supplemental Magnetic Reading program for Grades 3–5. By providing actionable data and insights, knowledge-rich learning, culturally responsive pedagogy, and scaffolds to support learner variability, the blended research-based program helps teachers facilitate lively classroom discourse and engage all students with grade-level content using culturally relevant texts.
“Providing a combination of both print and digital resources to support students’ acquisition of reading skills and comprehension is a top priority for us—we understand this is what teachers want and what they need to help their students succeed,” said Rob Waldron, CEO of Curriculum Associates. “Magnetic Reading, from its built-in scaffolds to diverse and authentic content, helps teachers truly engage students in the learning process as they practice the skills necessary to become confident and validated readers.”
Magnetic Reading works seamlessly with i-Ready® Assessment, which provides data-driven insights about each student’s skill level. Using the data from i-Ready Diagnostic, as well as Magnetic Reading’s Grade-Level Scaffolding report, teachers are able to craft a success plan for each student, student group, or strategic pairing by assigning specific Magnetic Reading units and lessons.
Each unit within Magnetic Reading focuses on engaging, interrelated texts and Focus Questions to guide learning. As students continue to read in Magnetic Reading, they develop their store of knowledge, connect knowledge to new culturally responsive texts, and develop their metacognitive reading skills, all while exploring a wide range of topics and ideas. To do this work, we partnered with the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education to ensure that each Magnetic Reading unit comprises texts that effectively build knowledge in critical areas.
The content of Magnetic Reading was selected to validate and affirm students of all backgrounds and help them see themselves as part of a thriving community of cultures and ideas. Magnetic Reading was created using “culturally responsive teaching protocols,” developed by our advisor, Dr. Sharroky Hollie, executive director of The Center for Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning.
Built using the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Guidelines, Magnetic Reading also notably helps all students engage with high-quality, grade-level texts. As part of this, the program features three types of scaffolds: resources for pre-teaching, embedded supports for students, and formative assessment opportunities. Strategic supports for English Learners are additionally embedded throughout the reading.
The program comes with a Teacher Resource Book that includes the standards-aligned curriculum, content roadmap, scaffolded activities, and assessments; Student Books with the scaffolded supports and grade-level lessons and content; and access to the online Teacher Toolbox with a digital collection of lessons, activities, and instructional supports.
To learn more about Magnetic Reading and view a sample lesson, visit https://www.curriculumassociates.com/magnetic-reading.
The American Consortium for Equity in Education, publisher of the "Equity & Access" journal, celebrates and connects the educators, associations, community partners and industry leaders who are working to solve problems and create a more equitable environment for historically underserved pre K-12 students throughout the United States.
