The Complete Ladder (K-12)

690 core topics · approximately 215 hours of instruction including spaced review

How the course runs

An adaptive diagnostic (up to 40 questions) places the student on the course's knowledge graph - topics already known are credited, and instruction begins exactly at the learning frontier. Every topic is taught with a worked-example lesson and auto-graded practice; a topic is mastered at 75%+ and then maintained through spaced reviews on an expanding schedule. Mixed checks follow every 6 lessons; each unit ends with a 12-item quiz, and course-wide assessments appear at 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% mastery. Prerequisite gaps below the course are detected and taught rather than skipped, so completion certifies the whole tower, not just the top.

Core curriculum

Phonological & Phonemic Awareness · 11 topics

Hearing Rhymes [E]	Tell when two words end with the same sound.
Finding the Word That Does Not Rhyme [E]	Pick the odd word out of a rhyming set.
Counting Syllables [E]	Break a word into its beats.
Hearing the First Sound [E]	Tell which sound a word starts with.
Hearing the Last Sound [E]	Tell which sound a word ends with.
Hearing the Middle Vowel Sound [E]	Find the vowel sound in the middle of a short word.
Blending Sounds into Words [M]	Push separate sounds together to make a word.
Breaking Words into Sounds [M]	Split a word into every separate sound.
Taking a Sound Away [M]	Say a word again with one sound removed.
Changing One Sound [M]	Swap one sound for another to make a new word.
Words That Begin Alike [E]	Group words by their beginning sound.

Phonics: Letters, Sounds & Short Vowels · 6 topics

Capital and Lowercase Letters [E]	Match every capital letter to its lowercase partner.
Letter Sounds [E]	Say the sound each letter stands for.
Short Vowel Sounds [E]	Hear and write the five short vowel sounds.
Reading Short Words [M]	Sound out and read consonant-vowel-consonant words.
Spelling Short Words [M]	Write the letter for each sound you hear.
Word Families [E]	Read a whole set of words by learning one ending.

High-Frequency Words & Sight Vocabulary · 3 topics

Recognizing High-Frequency Words [E]	Know the most common words on sight, instantly.
High-Frequency Words in Sentences [E]	Use common words correctly inside a real sentence.
Heart Words [E]	Learn the tricky part of words phonics will not crack.

Print Concepts & Early Comprehension · 4 topics

How Books and Print Work [E]	Know the parts of a book and which way print goes.
Words in a Sentence [E]	Count the separate words in a written sentence.
Listening Comprehension [M]	Understand a story that is read out loud to you.
What Happened First, Next, Last [E]	Put the events of a story in the order they happened.

Sentence & Capitalization Basics · 5 topics

What Makes a Sentence [E]	Tell a complete sentence from a group of words.
Naming Part and Telling Part [E]	Split a sentence into who it is about and what happens.
Capital Letters and End Marks [E]	Start every sentence with a capital and end it with a mark.
Choosing the Right End Mark [E]	Use a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
Capitalizing Names [E]	Capitalize names, places, days, months, and the word I.

Phonics: Consonant Blends & Digraphs · 11 topics

Digraphs at the Start of a Word [E]	Read sh, ch, th, wh and ph at the beginning of a word.
Digraphs at the End of a Word [E]	Read sh, ch, th, ck and ng at the end of a word.
Counting Sounds, Not Letters [M]	Count the sounds in a word that contains a digraph.
ph Says /f/ [E]	Read ph as the f sound.
Blends at the Start of a Word [M]	Read two and three consonants blended together at the start of a word.
Blends at the End of a Word [M]	Read blends like -nd, -mp, -st and -nk at the end of a word.
Three-Letter Blends [M]	Read str, spr, scr, thr and spl.
Blend or Digraph? [M]	Tell a blend from a digraph by listening to the sounds.
Reading Blend and Digraph Words [M]	Sound out and read a word containing a blend or a digraph.
Spelling Blends and Digraphs [M]	Write the right letters for a blend or digraph you hear.
-ng and -nk [M]	Hear the difference between the endings in ring and rink.

Phonics: Silent-e & Long Vowels · 8 topics

Long Vowel Sounds [E]	Hear a vowel saying its own name.
One Letter Changes the Word [M]	Add or remove a silent e and read the new word.
Short Vowel or Long Vowel? [M]	Decide from the spelling whether a vowel is short or long.
Reading Silent-e Words [M]	Read a silent-e word accurately, without dropping the e.
Spelling with Silent e [M]	Decide whether a word needs a silent e at the end.
Open Syllables: go, he, my [M]	Read a long vowel that got that way by ending the word.
The Silent e Makes No Sound [M]	Count the sounds in a silent-e word without counting the e.
When Silent e Breaks the Rule [M]	Know the common words where a final e does not make the vowel long.

Phonics: Vowel Teams & Diphthongs · 9 topics

What a Vowel Team Is [M]	Find the letters that team up to spell one vowel sound in a word.
Long a: ai and ay [M]	Read long a spelled with the vowel teams ai and ay.
Long e: ee and ea [M]	Read long e spelled with the vowel teams ee and ea.
Long o: oa and ow [M]	Read long o spelled with the vowel teams oa and ow.
Long i and Long u: igh, ie, ew, ue [M]	Read long i spelled igh or ie, and long u spelled ew or ue.
Which Spelling Goes Where [H]	Choose the right vowel team for a word from the way the word is built.
The Two Sounds of oo [M]	Decide which of its two sounds the vowel team oo is making.
Sounds That Are Neither Long Nor Short [H]	Read the vowel sounds in coin, cloud and saw.
One Team, Two Jobs [H]	Try a team's other sound when the first one does not make a real word.

Phonics: R-Controlled Vowels & Soft C, G · 9 topics

When the r Takes Over the Vowel [M]	Find the vowel that an r has changed, and tell it from an r that only starts a blend.
ar Says /ar/ [M]	Read the /ar/ sound, and know the words where a w changes it.
or Says /or/ [M]	Read the /or/ sound, and know the words where a w changes it.
er, ir, ur: One Sound, Three Spellings [M]	Hear that er, ir and ur all make the same sound.
Choosing Between er, ir, and ur [H]	Pick the right spelling of the /er/ sound for a particular word.
Sorting the Five R-Controlled Spellings [M]	Group ar, or, er, ir and ur by the sound each one makes.
Soft c: When c Says /s/ [M]	Decide whether a c says /k/ or /s/ by looking at the letter after it.
Soft g: When g Says /j/ [M]	Read soft g, and know the common words that break the rule.
The Letter After Decides [H]	Use the following letter to predict what a c or g will say, even in a new word.

Syllable Types & Syllable Division · 9 topics

Counting Syllables by Vowel Sounds [M]	Count the syllables in a written word by counting its vowel sounds.
Closed Syllables: The Vowel Is Short [M]	Recognize a syllable that ends in a consonant and know its vowel is short.
Open Syllables: The Vowel Is Long [M]	Recognize a syllable that ends in a vowel and know that vowel is long.
Open or Closed? Deciding the Vowel Sound [M]	Use the last letter of a syllable to predict whether its vowel is long or short.
The Six Kinds of Syllable [M]	Name which of the six syllable types a chunk of a word is.
Two Consonants in the Middle [M]	Divide a word between two middle consonants and read the closed first syllable.
One Consonant in the Middle: Try Long First [H]	Divide a word with one middle consonant by trying the long vowel first, then flexing.
The -le Ending Takes One Consonant With It [M]	Split off a consonant-le ending and use what is left to set the first vowel.
Reading a Long Word You Have Never Seen [H]	Chunk an unfamiliar multisyllable word and read it one syllable at a time.

Endings, Plurals & Contractions · 9 topics

More Than One: Adding -s [M]	Make a naming word mean more than one by adding -s.
When a Word Hisses: Adding -es [M]	Add -es to words that end in s, x, z, ch, or sh.
Words That End in y [M]	Decide whether a y changes to i by looking at the letter before it.
Words That End in f or fe [M]	Change f to v before the plural ending on the words that take it.
Plurals That Do Not Take an Ending [M]	Use the plural of words that change instead of adding -s.
The -s That Means One, Not Many [H]	Tell a plural -s on a naming word from a verb -s that marks one doer.
Adding -ed and -ing [H]	Apply the doubling, drop-e and y-to-i rules when an ending goes on.
Two Words Made Into One [H]	Match a contraction to the two words it stands for, both ways.
Where the Apostrophe Goes [H]	Place the apostrophe exactly where the missing letters used to be.

Prefixes & Suffixes · 10 topics

Finding the Base Word [M]	Strip the extra parts off a word to find the word underneath.
What a Prefix Means [M]	Know what the common prefixes do to a word.
Using a Prefix to Read a Word [M]	Work out what a prefixed word means without being told.
What a Suffix Means [M]	Know what the common suffixes add to a word.
Using a Suffix to Read a Word [M]	Work out what a word with a suffix means.
Building Words from Parts [M]	Put a prefix, base word, and suffix together into one word.
Reading a Word You Have Never Seen [H]	Work out an unfamiliar word from its prefix, base, and suffix.
Spelling Changes When You Add an Ending [H]	Apply the three rules for adding a suffix to a base word.
Endings Change a Word's Job [M]	See how a suffix turns one kind of word into another.
Choosing the Right Form [H]	Pick the form of a word that a sentence actually needs.

Greek & Latin Roots · 8 topics

What a Root Is [M]	Find the root inside a long word and tell it from a base word.
What the Common Roots Mean [M]	Know what the roots that build academic English actually mean.
Words That Share a Root [H]	Sort words into families by the root they are built on.
Words Built from Two Roots [H]	Read a word built out of two roots by putting both part meanings together, in order.
One Root, Many Prefixes [H]	Use the prefix to tell apart words built on the same root.
Reading a Word You Have Never Met [H]	Work out an unfamiliar word from its root and the sentence together.
When the Letters Lie [H]	Test a root by meaning, not by letters, and catch the look-alikes.
Greek Spelling Clues [H]	Spell the Greek words in science and math, and know why they look odd.

Homophones, Homographs & Word Traps · 8 topics

Words That Sound the Same [M]	Recognize two words that share one sound and nothing else.
Choosing the Right Spelling [M]	Use the meaning of a sentence to choose between two spellings.
its and it's, your and you're [M]	Tell a contraction from a possessive using the long-form test.
One Spelling, Two Meanings [H]	Use the sentence to choose between two unrelated meanings of one word.
One Word, Many Meanings [H]	Pick which of a word's several related meanings a sentence is using.
Words That Are Nearly Twins [H]	Separate two words that look almost alike and mean nothing alike.
The Mistake a Spell Checker Misses [H]	Find a word that is spelled correctly and is still the wrong word.
Same Spelling, Different Sound [H]	Decide how a word is pronounced from the job it does in the sentence.

Word Relationships: Synonyms, Antonyms & Categories · 8 topics

Words That Go Together [M]	Spot the word that belongs with a group, and the word that does not.
Naming the Group [M]	Give a group of words the name that covers all of them.
Parts and Wholes [M]	Tell a piece of something from one kind of something.
Words That Mean Almost the Same [M]	Find a word that means nearly the same as another word.
Words That Mean the Opposite [M]	Find the word that means the opposite of another word.
How Two Words Go Together [H]	Name the relationship between a pair of words.
Some Words Are Stronger [M]	Put words with the same meaning in order of how strong they are.
Choosing the Word That Fits [H]	Choose the word whose strength matches what the sentence says.

Context Clues (Grades 2-3) · 8 topics

When the Sentence Just Tells You [M]	Find a word's meaning written into the sentence itself.
A Nearby Word That Means the Same [M]	Use a synonym elsewhere in the passage to unlock a word.
When a Contrast Points the Other Way [M]	Use a contrast word to work out the opposite meaning.
Working Back From Examples [M]	Use a list of examples to work out the category.
When There Is No Clue Word [H]	Work out a meaning from the whole situation.
Naming the Clue [M]	Say which kind of context clue a sentence is using.
Putting Your Guess Back In [H]	Check a guessed meaning by reading the sentence again with it.
Words With More Than One Meaning [M]	Choose the meaning a sentence needs, not the one you thought of first.

Context Clues & Word Nuance (Grades 4-6) · 8 topics

When the Clue Is Somewhere Else [H]	Find the meaning of a word when the clue sits in a different sentence.
Shades of Meaning [H]	Choose the word whose size matches what actually happened.
Words That Carry a Feeling [H]	Hear the approval or disapproval hidden inside a word choice.
Reporting or Arguing? [H]	Tell a sentence that reports from one that argues, and name the word doing it.
Word Parts Plus Context [H]	Take an unfamiliar word apart and check the pieces against the sentence.
Everyday Words With a School Meaning [H]	Catch a familiar word being used in its science, math, or history sense.
The Words the Directions Use [H]	Know the words that every subject and every test direction line uses.
Can You Swap That Word? [H]	Test a replacement word against meaning, size, and feeling all at once.

Figurative Language & Idioms · 9 topics

Noticing When Words Are Not Literal [M]	Tell when a sentence is not meant exactly as written.
Working Out What It Really Means [M]	Say in plain words what a figure of speech is telling you.
Similes [M]	Read a comparison made with like or as.
Metaphors [M]	Read a comparison that says one thing IS another.
Simile or Metaphor? [M]	Tell the two kinds of comparison apart.
Personification [M]	Spot something not human doing something only people do.
Hyperbole [M]	Read an exaggeration that nobody is meant to believe.
Idioms [H]	Learn set phrases whose meaning the words do not give you.
Naming the Device [H]	Say which kind of figurative language a sentence uses.

Academic Vocabulary · 8 topics

Three Kinds of School Word [M]	Sort a word into everyday, used in every subject, or belonging to one subject.
The Words Every Subject Uses [H]	Give the exact meaning of the words that show up in every subject.
The Everyday Word and the School Word [H]	Match a school word to the everyday wording that means the same thing.
One Word, Many Forms [H]	Choose the right form of an academic word for the slot it has to fill.
The Same Word in a Different Class [H]	Work out which meaning a familiar word carries in a school subject.
Command Words: What the Task Asks For [H]	Name what a direction word is telling you to do before you start writing.
Reading the Question Before You Answer It [H]	Say what a test question requires before looking at the choices.
How Sure Does the Writer Sound? [H]	Tell what a writer is claiming from the verb that carries the claim.

Story Basics: Character, Setting & Events · 8 topics

Who the Story Is About [E]	Name the characters in a story and say what one of them is like.
Where the Story Happens [M]	Name the place a story happens, and say why that place matters.
When the Story Happens [M]	Say what time of day, day of the week, or season a story happens in.
How a Character Feels [M]	Name a feeling a story shows through what a character does.
What a Character Wants [M]	Say what a character is trying to get or trying to do.
What Happens in the Story [M]	Pick out the things that happen, and which one matters most.
Why It Happened [M]	Explain why something in a story happened, using the story.
Character, Setting, or Event? [M]	Sort a piece of a story into character, setting, or event.

Retelling, Sequence & Summary · 7 topics

Who the Story Is About [E]	Name the character a story follows.
First, Next, and Last [M]	Say what happened first, what came in between, and what came last.
Putting the Whole Story in Order [M]	Arrange all the events of a story from beginning to end.
Finding the Problem [M]	Name what goes wrong in a story.
Finding the Solution [M]	Say how a story's problem gets resolved.
Summarizing a Story [H]	Retell a story keeping only what matters.
Knowing What to Leave Out [H]	Spot the detail a summary does not need.

Story Structure: Problem, Plot & Solution · 7 topics

Beginning, Middle, End [M]	Say which part of a story an event belongs to, and what that part is for.
What a Character Wants, and What Is in the Way [M]	Name both halves of a story problem: the want and the thing blocking it.
What Kind of Trouble Is It? [M]	Tell trouble with a person from trouble with the world or with yourself.
The Tries That Do Not Work [M]	Follow the middle of a story as a run of attempts, and say why each fails.
The Moment It Turns [H]	Find the one moment after which a story cannot go back.
How It Ends, and What Is Different [H]	Say how a story settles - fixed, gone around, or accepted - and what changed.
Because of That, Not And Then [H]	Follow a plot as a chain of causes instead of a list of events.

Theme, Lesson & Central Message · 8 topics

Topic or Theme? [M]	Tell the subject of a story apart from what the story says about it.
What a Character Learns [M]	Find the theme by watching what a character understands at the end that they did not understand at the start.
The Moral a Story States [H]	Read a stated moral or saying and check what the story actually backs up.
Saying a Theme in One Sentence [H]	Word a theme so it is neither about one character nor true of every story.
The Evidence for a Theme [M]	Point to the detail that actually supports a theme, not just a true detail.
Themes Nobody Writes Down [H]	Work out a theme from an ending, a silence, or a word the writer chose.
Objects That Carry the Message [H]	Read the object or image a story keeps returning to.
What a Story Does Not Say [H]	Refuse a lesson the text will not support, including the tidy one.

Point of View, Narrator & Perspective · 8 topics

Who Is Telling This [M]	Find the teller of a text before deciding what the text means.
How Much the Teller Knows [H]	Work out how far a teller can see, and what is therefore missing.
What the Teller Cannot See [H]	Assemble what a text shows but its teller has not noticed.
What a Person Makes of It [H]	Separate what happened from what a person in the text made of it.
Words That Give a View Away [H]	Notice the single words that carry a teller's attitude.
One Event, Two Views [H]	Explain why two honest accounts of one event can disagree.
Telling It From Somewhere Else [H]	Predict what changes when the same events get a different teller.
Why the Author Chose This Teller [H]	Explain what a writer gains and loses by choosing a particular teller.

Poetry & Drama · 9 topics

Lines, Stanzas and Where a Poem Breaks [M]	Read a poem's shape on the page as part of what it means.
Rhyme, Rhyme Scheme and Poems Without Either [M]	Hear rhyme, name the pattern it makes, and read a poem that has none.
Repetition, Alliteration and the Sound of a Line [M]	Notice what a poem's sounds are doing besides rhyming.
The Picture a Poem Puts in Your Head [M]	Read the sensory pictures a poem or a stage sets, and say what they do.
Figures of Speech Inside a Poem [H]	Read similes, metaphors and personification where poems pack them tightest.
Who Is Talking in a Poem [M]	Identify the voice speaking a poem, and what that voice reveals.
What the Poem or the Scene Is Saying [H]	State what a poem or a scene is finally about, in a sentence.
How a Play Is Written Down [M]	Read a script: cast list, scene heading, dialogue and stage directions.
Reading What a Scene Is Really Doing [H]	Work out what characters want, what blocks them, and what they will not say.

Comparing & Contrasting Texts · 8 topics

Comparing on the Same Point [H]	Name one point that both texts speak to before you say anything about either of them.
Two Characters, Side by Side [H]	Compare two characters by what each one decides, not by what each one is called.
What the Setting Changes [H]	Ask what a setting makes possible or impossible, not just what it looks like.
Patterns of Events Across Stories [H]	Recognize the shape two stories share, and find the exact place where they stop sharing it.
Same Idea, Different Story [H]	State what each text says about a shared subject, then compare the two statements.
Two Tellers of One Event [H]	Compare who is telling each text and what that teller was in a position to know.
The Same Story in Another Form [H]	Compare what a poem, a play, a story or an explanation can and cannot carry.
Making a Comparison That Says Something [H]	Write a comparison that names the shared point, the difference, and why the difference matters.

Nonfiction Basics: Topic & Key Details · 7 topics

What the Whole Text Is About [M]	Say in a few words what a whole true text is about.
Key Details You Can Point To [M]	Find a fact the text really states, and point to where it says so.
Questions a Text Can Answer [M]	Tell which questions a text answers and which ones it never touches.
New Words in a True Text [M]	Work out what a new word means from the sentences around it.
Titles, Labels, and Captions [M]	Use the title, labels, captions, and contents page to find what you need.
Two Facts That Go Together [M]	Say how one fact in a text leads to another.
Which Fact Matters Most [M]	Choose the facts worth telling back and leave the rest out.

Main Idea & Supporting Details · 7 topics

Topic or Main Idea? [M]	Tell what a text is about from what it says about it.
Finding the Main Idea [M]	Say in one sentence what a whole text is telling you.
Main Ideas That Are Not Written Down [H]	Work out the main idea when no sentence states it.
Details That Back It Up [M]	Find the fact in a text that supports a particular idea.
Choosing the Best Title [M]	Pick a title that names the main idea rather than one detail.
Writing a Summary [H]	Retell a text keeping only what matters.
Telling a Detail from the Main Idea [M]	Spot the sentence that is only a detail.

Text Features & Graphics · 8 topics

What a Heading Promises [M]	Use a title or a heading to say what a part of a page will be about.
Finding the Page You Need [M]	Use a contents page, an index, and headings to find a fact fast.
Bold Words and the Glossary [M]	Notice a word printed in bold and look it up where the book keeps meanings.
The Words Under a Picture [M]	Read a caption for what it adds to the picture and to the text.
Reading a Labeled Diagram [M]	Follow labels and arrows to read a drawing that names its own parts.
Reading a Chart [M]	Read across a row and up a column, and name what the numbers leave out.
Reading a Map and Its Key [M]	Use a key, a compass rose, and a scale to read what a map is showing.
Why the Author Put It There [M]	Say what a text feature does that the sentences alone could not do.

Text Structure in Nonfiction · 8 topics

Words That Give the Shape Away [M]	Spot the words and sentences that tell you how a nonfiction text is organized.
Description: Groups, Parts and Kinds [M]	Recognize a text that describes one thing closely or sorts things into kinds.
Sequence: Time Order and Steps [M]	Follow a text built on the order things happen or the order they are done.
Compare and Contrast [M]	Read a text that sets two things side by side and says how they are alike and different.
Cause and Effect [M]	Trace a text where each thing described makes the next thing happen.
Problem and Solution [M]	Read a text that states a difficulty and then what was done about it.
Naming the Structure of a Whole Text [H]	Decide which structure a whole passage is built on, and notice when it uses more than one.
Why the Writer Chose That Shape [H]	Explain what a text's structure does for the reader, and what would be lost in another shape.

Author's Purpose & Point of View · 8 topics

Why the Author Wrote It [H]	Name what a text was built to do, not just what it is about.
The Evidence for a Purpose [H]	Point to the move in the text that proves what the writer wanted.
Why This Part Is Here [H]	Explain the job a single paragraph, sentence or phrase is doing.
Who It Was Written For [H]	Work out the reader a text was aimed at, and how you can tell.
The Author's Point of View [H]	Say what the writer thinks about the subject, even when no opinion is stated.
Words That Take a Side [H]	Notice how a writer's wording steers what a reader concludes.
Facts, Judgments, and Honest Uncertainty [H]	Sort what can be checked from what is argued, and spot a writer naming their own limits.
Two Writers, One Subject [H]	Compare two texts on one subject and find the exact point where they part.

Inference, Evidence & Summarizing · 8 topics

Stated or Implied? [H]	Tell what a text says outright from what it only lets you conclude.
What One Detail Tells You [H]	Draw the conclusion a single detail supports, and stop there.
The Line That Proves It [H]	Given a claim, find the sentence in the text that actually supports it.
Putting Two Details Together [H]	Reach a conclusion that no single sentence in the text states.
An Objective Summary [H]	Say what a text argued, in its own terms, without taking a side.
Deciding What to Leave Out [H]	Cut the details a summary can lose, and keep the ones it cannot.
Which Evidence Is Strongest [H]	Choose between two relevant details by asking which one settles it.
Inference or Guess? [H]	Spot the step that goes past what the text can carry.

Integrating Multiple Sources · 8 topics

What Your Sources Are Really About [H]	State the one question a set of sources is answering, precisely enough to compare them.
Where Sources Agree [H]	Find the ground two sources share before you look at where they split.
Where Sources Disagree [H]	Locate the exact sentence where two sources stop agreeing.
A Fact Fight or a Meaning Fight [H]	Tell whether two sources disagree about what happened or about what it means.
What Each Source Chose to Include [H]	Notice what one source puts first, and what another leaves out entirely.
Choosing the Source That Can Answer It [H]	Match a question to the source that is actually able to answer it.
Building One Answer from Several Sources [H]	Write one sentence that holds everything the sources support and nothing more.
What None of the Sources Tells You [H]	Name the question your sources leave open, and what would answer it.

Reading in Science: Life Science (Grades 2-4) · 7 topics

The Main Idea of a Science Text [M]	Find what a science passage is really explaining.
Science Words Defined in Place [M]	Work out a technical word from the sentence that introduces it.
Following a Process in Order [M]	Track the steps of a life cycle or a process.
Cause and Effect in Science [M]	Say why something happens, using the text.
Comparing Two Living Things [M]	Say how two organisms or processes differ, and why.
Finding the Evidence [M]	Point to the sentence that proves a claim.
What the Science Actually Says [H]	Use what the passage taught you to answer a real science question.

Reading in Science: Life Science (Grades 5-6) · 8 topics

Technical Words: Parts and Context [M]	Work out a science word from its parts and from the sentence around it.
How a Science Text Is Built [M]	Name the shape a science passage is built in, and use it to find the point.
Reading the Numbers in a Science Text [M]	Read a figure in prose for its unit, its size and how sure it is.
Models and Where They Break [H]	Judge a scientific model by what it predicts and by what it leaves out.
Claim, Evidence, and Reasoning [H]	Separate what a science text asserts from what it shows, and the link between.
Reading an Investigation [H]	Read a described experiment for what it changed, held steady and can show.
Cause, Correlation, and Coincidence [H]	Tell a cause from two things that merely happen together.
What the Science Actually Says [H]	Use what a passage taught you to answer a real life-science question.

Reading in Science: Earth & Space (Grades 2-4) · 8 topics

The Main Idea of an Earth Science Text [M]	Find what an Earth or space passage is really explaining.
Science Words Defined Right There [M]	Work out an Earth or space term from the sentence that introduces it.
Following a Cycle in Order [M]	Track the steps of an Earth or space process in the right order.
Cause and Effect in Earth Science [M]	Say why something on Earth or in space happens, using the text.
Comparing Two Things in Space and on Earth [M]	Say how two places, bodies, or processes differ, and why it matters.
Numbers in a Science Text [M]	Read the measurements in a science passage and reason with them.
Finding the Evidence [M]	Point to the detail that actually proves a claim about Earth or space.
What the Science Actually Says [H]	Use what a passage taught you to answer a real Earth or space question.

Reading in Science: Earth & Space (Grades 5-6) · 8 topics

Words Earth Science Redefines [M]	Read an earth science term for its exact meaning, not its everyday one.
Numbers Too Big to Picture [H]	Handle the huge distances, slow rates and long times an earth science text reports.
Diagrams That Cannot Be to Scale [H]	Judge an earth science model or diagram by what it is built to show.
Loops, Not Lines [H]	Follow a cause around a loop instead of straight down a list.
What Can and Cannot Be Predicted [H]	Tell a real prediction from a question no method can answer.
How We Know What Nobody Watched [H]	Name the measurement that supports a claim about something nobody saw happen.
What the Science Actually Says [H]	Use what a passage taught you to answer a real earth or space science question.
When Science Changes Its Mind [H]	Trace how new evidence overturned an idea scientists had accepted.

Reading in Science: Physical Science & Engineering · 8 topics

Physical Science Words, Defined in Place [M]	Work out a physical science term from the sentence that introduces it.
The Point of a Physical Science Text [M]	Find the mechanism a physical science passage is really explaining.
Running the Mechanism Forward [M]	Say why something physical happens, and follow the chain past one step.
Reading the Measurements [M]	Read numbers in a science passage for size, unit and what they compare.
Which Sentence Actually Proves It [H]	Point to the detail in a science text that settles a particular claim.
Reading a Fair Test [H]	Find what an investigation changed and what it deliberately held still.
What the Better Design Costs [H]	Name what an engineering choice gives up in exchange for what it gains.
Using the Physics on a New Case [H]	Apply a mechanism from the passage to a situation the passage never named.

Reading in Social Studies: American History (2-4) · 7 topics

The Main Idea of a History Text [M]	Find what a history passage is really about.
Putting Events in Time Order [M]	Work out what happened first, and how much time passed.
History Words in Context [M]	Work out what a historical term means from the text around it.
Causes and Consequences [M]	Explain why something happened, and what it led to.
Evidence in a History Text [M]	Point to the detail that actually proves a claim.
Whose Story Is Being Told [H]	Notice whose point of view a history text takes, and who is missing.
What the History Actually Says [H]	Use what the passage taught you to answer a real history question.

Reading in Social Studies: American History (5-6) · 9 topics

Reading a Source Like a Historian [H]	Ask who made a source, when, and what they wanted it to do.
Claims and the Evidence Under Them [H]	Separate what a history text asserts from what it shows.
When Sources Disagree [H]	Compare accounts of the same event instead of trusting one.
What the Wording Gives Away [H]	Notice how a writer's word choices shape what you conclude.
Putting a Source Back in Its Moment [H]	Read a source against what its writer could and could not know.
Summarizing Without Losing the Argument [H]	Write a summary that keeps the point, not just the facts.
Chains of Cause in History [H]	Follow why one thing led to another, and where the chain stops.
Whose Account Is This [H]	Work out whose view a history text carries, and who is missing.
What the History Actually Says [H]	Answer questions about the events themselves, from the text.

Reading in Social Studies: Civics & Government · 7 topics

Civics Words With Exact Jobs [H]	Work out what a government word means from the sentence around it.
Who Holds Which Power [H]	Sort any government action by which job it is and at which level.
Steps, and Where They Stop [H]	Follow a civic process in order and find the points where it can end.
The Claim and the Support Under It [H]	Separate what a civics text asserts from what actually backs it up.
What a Rule Does After It Is Made [H]	Trace the effects a rule produces, including the ones nobody wrote down.
Who a Rule Lands On [H]	Ask whose interest a rule or an account serves, and who it leaves out.
What This Text Wants From You [H]	Identify what a civic text was written to make its reader do or think.

Reading in Social Studies: Geography & Maps · 8 topics

What the Key Tells You [M]	Read a map's key first, so its marks turn into meaning.
Which Way Is That? [M]	Say where one place is in relation to another, using the compass rose.
How Far Is That Really? [M]	Use a map's scale to turn a distance on paper into a distance on the ground.
Finding a Place Exactly [H]	Use grid squares, latitude and longitude to pin down where a place is.
Choosing the Right Map [H]	Match the kind of map to the question you are trying to answer.
The Shape Words [M]	Turn a geography text's shape words into a picture you can reason with.
People and the Land [H]	Explain how land shapes what people do, and how people change the land.
What a Map Cannot Tell You [H]	Name what a map left out, and judge what it can honestly be asked.

Reading in Social Studies: Economics & Culture · 8 topics

Economics Words in Context [H]	Pin down an economics term from the sentences around it.
The Cost of What You Did Not Choose [H]	Name what was given up when somebody in the text made a choice.
Why a Price Moved [H]	Explain a change in price by what happened to supply or to demand.
Reading the Numbers in the Text [H]	Work out what a figure in a social studies text does and does not measure.
Claims About Money, and What Backs Them [H]	Separate what an economics text asserts from what it actually shows.
Who Gains and Who Loses [H]	Trace a decision to the people it helped and the people it cost.
How Culture Moves and Changes [H]	Follow a practice as it travels between peoples and is changed by them.
What the Social Studies Actually Says [H]	Answer questions about the economics and the cultures themselves.

Nouns & Verbs · 8 topics

What a Noun Is [E]	Name the words that stand for a person, place, or thing.
Common Nouns and Proper Nouns [M]	Tell a general noun from the name of one particular thing.
What a Verb Is [E]	Name the words that tell what someone does.
Finding the Verb in a Sentence [M]	Pick out the verb inside a whole sentence.
Verbs That Do Not Show Action [M]	Find is, are, was and were doing a verb's job.
One Word, Two Jobs [M]	Decide whether a word is a noun or a verb from the sentence it is in.
Making the Verb Match [M]	Choose a verb form that matches one thing or many things.
Finding Both Parts [M]	Pick out the noun and the verb in the same sentence.

Adjectives, Adverbs & Pronouns · 9 topics

What an Adjective Is [M]	Name the words that tell what a noun is like.
Which Noun the Adjective Describes [M]	Match an adjective to the one noun it is telling you about.
Comparing: -er and -est [M]	Use the right form of an adjective to compare two things or many.
What an Adverb Is [M]	Name the words that tell more about what happened.
How, When, Where, How Often [M]	Say which question an adverb is answering.
Adjective or Adverb? [H]	Choose between a describing word and its -ly form.
What a Pronoun Is [M]	Replace a noun with the pronoun that fits its job.
The Noun a Pronoun Stands For [H]	Track a pronoun back to the noun it replaced.
I or Me, He or Him [H]	Pick the right pronoun form even when another person is named too.

Sentence Types, Fragments & Run-Ons · 7 topics

The Four Kinds of Sentence [M]	Tell a statement, question, command, and exclamation apart.
Spotting a Fragment [M]	Tell when a group of words stops before it is a sentence.
Fixing a Fragment [M]	Add what is missing so a fragment becomes a sentence.
Spotting a Run-On [M]	Notice when two sentences have been jammed into one.
Three Ways to Fix a Run-On [H]	Repair a run-on, and choose the repair that fits the meaning.
Joining Two Sentences [H]	Combine short sentences with the joining word the meaning needs.
Sentence, Fragment, or Run-On? [H]	Sort any group of words into complete, too short, or too long.

Verb Tenses & Subject-Verb Agreement · 8 topics

Past, Present, or Future? [M]	Tell from the verb whether a sentence is about the past, the present, or the future.
Building the Past Tense with -ed [H]	Add -ed to a verb and make the spelling changes the ending forces.
Verbs That Do Not Take -ed [H]	Use the past tense of the irregular verbs, and keep it apart from the participle.
Actions Caught in the Middle [H]	Use am, is, are, was, were and will be with an -ing verb to show an action in progress.
Have, Has and Had [H]	Use have, has and had with a past participle, and say what had adds.
Keeping the Tense Steady [H]	Notice a sentence that slips into a different tense and put it back.
Making the Verb Match Its Subject [H]	Match a present-tense verb, including am, is and are, to its subject.
Subjects That Trick You [H]	Find the real subject when a phrase, a group word or a There sentence hides it.

Commas, Quotation Marks & Apostrophes · 9 topics

Commas in a List [M]	Separate three or more items in a sentence with commas.
The Comma After an Opener [M]	Close off a word or phrase that comes before the main sentence.
The Comma Before and, but, or, so [H]	Use a comma when a joining word connects two whole sentences.
Commas Around the Person You Are Talking To [H]	Set off the name of the person being spoken to.
Commas in Dates, Places, and Letters [H]	Punctuate a full date, a city and state, and the lines of a letter.
Quotation Marks Around What Someone Says [H]	Punctuate a spoken line and the words that tell who said it.
Apostrophes in Contractions [M]	Put the apostrophe exactly where the missing letters were.
Apostrophes That Show Ownership [H]	Show who owns something with 's or s'.
its, it's, and the Plural That Needs No Apostrophe [H]	Choose between look-alike words that an apostrophe tells apart.

Conjunctions, Prepositions & Complex Sentences · 9 topics

Clause, or Just a Phrase? [H]	Tell an independent clause, a dependent clause, and a phrase apart.
Prepositions and the Phrases They Start [H]	Find a prepositional phrase and say where it starts and stops.
The Subject Is Never Inside the Phrase [H]	Ignore the prepositional phrase and match the verb to the real subject.
All Seven Coordinating Conjunctions [H]	Choose among the seven - and, but, or, so, for, nor, and yet - by what each one claims.
The Comma Before a Joining Word [H]	When a joining word holds two halves together, the comma goes in only if a whole sentence follows it.
Subordinating Conjunctions [H]	Use because, although, unless, until, and their kin to say how two ideas relate.
Where the Comma Goes in a Complex Sentence [H]	Comma after a leading dependent clause, none after a trailing one.
Conjunctions That Come in Pairs [H]	Use both...and, either...or, neither...nor, and not only...but also, with matching halves.
Simple, Compound, Complex [H]	Name the structure of any sentence by counting its clauses.

Capitalization & Titles · 9 topics

Naming Words and Names [M]	Tell a word that names one particular thing from a word that names a whole group.
Titles That Go With a Name [M]	Capitalize a title or family word when it is part of somebody's name.
Place Names and Directions [M]	Capitalize the name of a particular place, but not a kind of place or a direction.
Days, Months, and Holidays [M]	Capitalize days, months, and holidays - and leave the seasons alone.
Languages, Peoples, and School Subjects [H]	Capitalize languages, countries, and the people from them, but not school subjects.
Capitals Inside Quotation Marks [H]	Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence, and know when the second half does not get one.
Which Words in a Title Get a Capital [H]	Capitalize the first word, the last word, and every important word in a title.
Quotation Marks or Italics [H]	Choose quotation marks for a piece of a work and italics for a whole work.
Every Capital Rule at Once [H]	Check a whole sentence and name the rule behind each capital letter.

Spelling Patterns & Rules · 9 topics

Doubling at the End of a Short Word [M]	Double a final f, l, s or z after one short vowel.
Spelling /k/ at the End: ck, k or ke [M]	Choose ck, k or ke for the /k/ sound at the end of a word.
The Extra Letter a Short Vowel Asks For [M]	Write tch and dge after a short vowel, ch and ge everywhere else.
Same Sound, Different Place in the Word [M]	Use ai and oi inside a word, and ay, oy and y at the end.
Letters You Cannot Hear [H]	Spell words that keep a letter nobody says.
ie or ei [H]	Choose between ie and ei using the sound and the letter before it.
The /shun/ Ending: -tion, -sion or -cian [H]	Choose between -tion, -sion and -cian at the end of a word.
The Vowel You Cannot Hear [H]	Find an unstressed vowel by saying a related word out loud.
Catching It and Naming the Rule [H]	Find the misspelled word in a sentence and say which rule fixes it.

Writing Strong Sentences · 7 topics

Knowing When You Have a Sentence [M]	Tell a finished sentence from a piece of one.
Saying More Than the Bare Fact [M]	Add detail that answers a question a reader would ask.
Verbs That Do the Work [M]	Choose a verb precise enough to replace a description.
Naming the Thing Exactly [M]	Replace a category word with the actual thing.
Joining Two Sentences [M]	Put two related sentences together without making a run-on.
Choosing the Right Joining Word [M]	Pick the joining word that states the real relationship.
Not Starting Every Sentence the Same Way [H]	Notice a repeated opening and rewrite one to break it.

Paragraphs & Topic Sentences · 7 topics

The Sentence the Others Are About [H]	Find or choose the sentence a paragraph is built on.
The Sentence That Does Not Belong [H]	Spot a sentence that wanders off the paragraph's point.
Naming Why It Does Not Fit [H]	Say what is wrong with an off-point sentence, not just which it is.
Details That Actually Support [H]	Choose detail that backs the claim you made.
Ending Without Adding [H]	Close a paragraph by landing the point, not opening a new one.
Linking Words Between Sentences [H]	Use a transition that states the real relationship.
Where One Paragraph Ends [H]	Find the point where a new idea starts and split there.

Opinion & Argument Writing · 7 topics

A Claim or a Fact? [H]	Tell a position someone could argue with from a fact they could check.
The Reason Under a Claim [H]	Find the sentence that says why a position holds.
A Reason That Just Says It Again [H]	Spot a reason that goes in a circle instead of forward.
Evidence That Actually Proves It [H]	Tell measured evidence from a stronger way of repeating an opinion.
Claims You Cannot Defend [H]	Recognize a claim pushed past what any evidence could support.
Answering the Other Side [H]	Answer the strongest objection instead of talking past it.
The Shape of an Argument [H]	Name the job each sentence in an argument is doing.

Informative & Explanatory Writing · 8 topics

Explaining or Arguing? [H]	Tell a sentence that explains from one that argues, tells a story, or gives orders.
Saying What You Will Explain [H]	Open a report with a sentence that says what about the subject will be explained.
Putting Facts Where They Belong [H]	Group related facts under the heading that answers the same question.
Sentences That Add Something [H]	Develop a point with real information instead of repeating it louder.
Defining a Word for Your Reader [H]	Write a definition that names the kind of thing and what sets it apart.
The Exact Word [H]	Use the subject's own word instead of describing your way around it.
Sounding Like a Report [H]	Keep the writer, the reader, and casual talk out of an explanation.
Your Own Words, the Same Facts [H]	Restate a source's fact in your own wording without changing it.

Narrative Writing · 9 topics

Starting Where the Story Starts [M]	Begin a story inside the moment instead of outside it.
Telling It in an Order a Reader Can Follow [H]	Keep events in order and mark the jumps with real time signposts.
Showing a Feeling Instead of Naming It [H]	Replace a named feeling with something a reader can watch.
The Detail That Earns Its Place [H]	Choose details that do a job instead of filling space.
Dialogue That Does a Job [H]	Keep the lines that change something and cut the ones that do not.
Slowing Down the Part That Matters [H]	Spend sentences in proportion to what a moment is worth.
One Narrator, One Time [H]	Hold a story in the same tense and the same person all the way through.
An Ending That Lands [H]	End by showing what is different now.
The Shape of a Story [H]	Name the job each sentence in a story is doing.

Revising & Editing · 9 topics

Revising and Editing Are Different Jobs [M]	Tell a change that fixes what a piece says from one that fixes how it is written.
Cutting Words That Do No Work [H]	Cut the words that repeat something the sentence has already said.
Pronouns That Point at Nothing [H]	Find a pronoun a reader cannot trace back and rewrite it so they can.
The Sentence in the Wrong Place [H]	Find the sentence a reader meets before they can understand it.
Where the Describing Words Landed [H]	Put a describing phrase next to the thing it is supposed to describe.
Lists That Match [H]	Build every item in a list out of the same kind of phrase.
Tense That Slips [H]	Keep a whole piece in one tense, and put a slipped sentence back.
What a Spellchecker Cannot Catch [H]	Catch a correctly spelled word that is the wrong word.
Finding the Error and Naming It [H]	Find the one error in a sentence, name what kind it is, and fix just that.

Research & Reference Skills · 9 topics

A Question Worth Researching [M]	Turn a subject into a question that sources can actually settle.
The Words Worth Searching [H]	Pull the searchable words out of a research question.
Choosing the Right Reference Work [H]	Match a research need to the reference work built to answer it.
Finding It Inside the Book [H]	Use contents, index, glossary and title page for what each is for.
Guide Words and Alphabetical Order [H]	Use guide words to decide whether a word is on a page.
Does This Source Answer My Question? [H]	Tell a source that answers your question from one that merely shares it.
Who Wrote It, and Why [H]	Weigh a source by its author, its date and its purpose.
Notes in Your Own Words [H]	Take a note that carries the idea without carrying the sentence.
Naming Where It Came From [H]	Record a source completely enough that a reader could find it.

Reading Fluency & Prosody · 8 topics

What the End Mark Tells Your Voice [M]	Read a line the way its end mark says to read it.
Reading in Groups, Not One Word at a Time [M]	Group the words in a line the way they belong before you read it aloud.
Where the Marks Say Pause [M]	Pause where a comma is and stop where an end mark is, and nowhere else.
The Word You Lean On [H]	Choose which word to stress, and know what stressing it tells a listener.
Reading a Character's Voice [H]	Say only the quoted words in the character's voice, the way the tag says.
A Line Is Not a Sentence [H]	Read a poem by its punctuation instead of stopping at every line break.
Catching Yourself and Going Back [H]	Notice when what you read stopped making sense, and find the word to fix.
What Smooth Reading Is Made Of [H]	Name the five parts of fluent reading and tell which one a reader missed.

Kindergarten Reading Workshop · 8 topics

The Answer Is Right There [M]	Find the words in the text that answer the question.
What the Whole Thing Is About [M]	Say what a whole text is about, not just what one part of it says.
Which Question Does It Answer? [M]	Tell which questions a text can answer and which ones it cannot.
First, Next, Last [M]	Put the events or the steps of a text in the order they happen.
Who, Where, and How They Feel [M]	Name who a story is about, where it happens, and how the people feel.
Saying Why It Happened [M]	Give the reason something happened, using what the text says.
A Word You Can Work Out [M]	Work out what a new word means from the sentences around it.
Alike and Different [H]	Tell how two things in a text are alike and how they are different.

Grade 1 Reading Workshop · 8 topics

Who It Is About, Where, and When [M]	Name the person a text follows, the place it happens, and the time - even when the text never says them out loud.
What Happened First, Next, and Last [M]	Keep events in the order they happened, even when the text mentions them in a different order.
The Problem and How It Gets Fixed [M]	Name what is standing in a character's way, and name what finally moves it.
How Someone Feels, and How You Know [M]	Name a character's feeling from what the text shows, and notice when the feeling changes.
What the Whole Text Is About [M]	Say what a whole text is about instead of naming one detail from inside it.
Key Details, and the One That Proves It [M]	Go back and find the small fact a question asks for, then learn to pick the part of a text that proves a claim.
Why It Happened, and Why the Writer Said It [H]	Give the reason something happened, say why the writer put a part in, and use a reason the text gave you on a case it never mentioned.
A New Word or Phrase You Can Work Out [H]	Work out an unknown word - or a whole phrase - from the sentences around it instead of stopping.

Grade 2 Reading Workshop · 8 topics

Who, What, Where, When, Why, and How [M]	Answer a question about any text by going back and finding what the text actually says - even when it never says it in so many words.
Order, Steps, and What Made It Happen [M]	Keep events, steps and reasons hooked together in the right order, even when the text mentions them out of order.
What a Character Does About It [M]	Name how a character feels, and then name what the character actually does about it.
The Lesson a Story Teaches [M]	Say the lesson a story, folktale, poem or play is teaching, instead of retelling what happened in it.
The Main Topic, and What Each Part Adds [M]	Say what a whole true text is about, and say what one part of it is doing inside that whole.
Working Out a New Word or Phrase [H]	Use the sentences around an unknown word - or a whole phrase - to work out what it means, instead of stopping.
Why the Author Wrote It [H]	Name the job an author gave a text - to explain, to show how, to tell what really happened, or to talk you into something - and find the reasons an author gives.
Whose Voice Is This? [H]	Say who is telling a text, and see how two people can watch the same thing and describe it two different ways.

Grade 3 Reading Workshop · 8 topics

What the Whole Text Is About [M]	Say what a whole text is about, in any genre, instead of naming one striking detail from inside it.
The Detail That Proves It [M]	Go back and find the exact detail a question asks for, and pick the one piece of a text that actually proves a given claim.
Order, and Why It Happened [M]	Keep events in the order they really happened, and give the reason something happened using the text.
People on the Page [M]	Name what a character or speaker is like, how they feel, and how they change, using what the text shows rather than what it says outright.
The Lesson a Text Leaves You With [H]	State the message or lesson of a story, folktale, poem, play or life as a sentence about people, not as a one-word topic.
Words and Phrases You Can Work Out [H]	Work out an unfamiliar word from the sentences around it, and tell when a phrase does not mean what its words say.
Reading Between the Lines [H]	Answer a question the text never answers outright, using a clue from the page plus what you already know.
Why the Writer Wrote It That Way [H]	Name why a writer made a text, and why a particular part of it is there at all.

Grade 4 Reading Workshop · 8 topics

What the Whole Text Says [H]	State what a whole text says about its topic, in any genre, and tell a main idea apart from a striking detail.
The Detail, and the Line That Proves It [H]	Go back and find the exact detail a question asks for, and choose the one line in a text that actually proves a given claim.
How the Text Is Put Together [H]	Name the shape a text is built in, and say what a paragraph, a stanza or a stage direction is doing where it sits.
Working Out a Word, Plain or Not [H]	Work out what a word or phrase means from the text around it, including words that are not meant literally and words with a second meaning.
What the Text Does Not Say Outright [H]	Draw a conclusion the text supports but never states, and know where the text stops supporting you.
People, and What Changes Them [H]	Describe a character in depth from what they do, say and choose, and say what the setting or an event does to them.
The Message Under the Story [H]	State the message of a story, folktale, poem or scene as a sentence about life that the whole text supports.
Whose Account, and Why It Was Written [H]	Work out who is telling a text, whether the account is firsthand or secondhand, and what the writer wanted from you.

Grade 5 Reading Workshop · 8 topics

The Point, and How to Say It Short [H]	State what a whole text is saying about its topic, and summarize it without losing the point or adding your opinion.
The Line You Would Point At [H]	Pick the exact detail that settles a claim, rather than a detail that is merely true.
What the Text Made True Without Saying It [H]	Answer a question the text never answers outright, using a clue on the page plus what you already know - and stop where the clue stops.
The Shape of the Thing [H]	Name how a text is put together, and explain why a writer chose that shape and that order.
What the Whole Thing Says About People [H]	State the theme or message of a text as a sentence about people, and check it against the ending.
Who Is Telling You This [H]	Work out whose account you are reading, what that lets them know, and whose view is missing from the page.
Working Out a Word on the Page [H]	Use the sentences around a word to settle its meaning, including figurative phrases and ordinary words used in a special way.
Claims, Reasons, and Whether the Evidence Reaches [H]	Separate a writer's claim from the reasons under it, judge whether the evidence reaches that far, and name what the writer wanted the reader to do.

Grade 6 Reading Workshop · 8 topics

The Idea the Whole Text Is Serving [H]	Name what a whole text is saying about its topic, and write a summary that keeps the point instead of the most memorable facts.
The Line That Settles It [H]	Choose the exact detail that settles a particular claim, rather than a detail that is merely true or merely nearby.
What the Text Made True Without Saying It [H]	Answer a question the text never answers outright, using a line on the page plus what you already know - and stop where the line stops.
What the Whole Thing Says About People [H]	State the theme or message of a text as a sentence about people, and check it against the ending the writer actually chose.
Why That Part Is in That Place [H]	Name how a text is put together, and explain what a particular paragraph or stanza is doing where the writer put it.
Whose Account Is This [H]	Work out whose account you are reading, what it lets them know, what it makes them want you to think, and whose view is missing.
A Word Inside Its Sentence [H]	Settle what a word or phrase means from the sentences around it, including figures of speech and ordinary words doing a special job.
Claim, Reason, and How Far the Evidence Reaches [H]	Trace a writer's claim to the reasons and evidence under it, and judge whether the evidence reaches as far as the claim does.

Grade 7 Reading & Language · 9 topics

The Idea the Whole Thing Is Built Around [H]	State what a whole text is about when it never says so, and write a summary that keeps its point instead of its most memorable fact.
The Line You Would Put Your Finger On [H]	Pick the one detail that settles a particular claim, and say why the other true details do not reach it.
What the Text Made True Without Printing It [H]	Build an answer the writer never wrote, from a clue on the page plus what you know - and stop exactly where the clue stops.
The Shape, and the Job of Each Part [H]	Name how a text is built, and explain what one paragraph is doing where it sits.
What the Whole Thing Says About People [H]	State a text's theme as a sentence about people, and check it against the ending the writer actually chose.
Who Is Telling You This, and Who Is Not [H]	Work out whose account you are reading, what it lets them know, what it keeps them from admitting, and whose view never appears.
Word Choice, and What It Is Doing to You [H]	Settle a word's meaning from the sentences around it, and name what a writer's particular choice of word is doing to the reader.
Claims, Reasons, and How Far the Evidence Reaches [H]	Separate a claim from its reasons and its evidence, and judge whether the evidence actually reaches as far as the claim goes.
Two Accounts of the Same Thing [H]	Compare what two texts on one subject emphasize, where they genuinely conflict, and what each kind of source can and cannot tell you.

Grade 8 Reading & Language · 9 topics

The One Thing It Is All Serving [H]	State the idea a whole text is built to serve when it is never printed, and write a summary that carries the point instead of the best detail.
The Line You Would Put Your Finger On [H]	Pick the one detail that settles a particular claim, and say why the other true details do not reach it.
What the Text Made True Without Printing It [H]	Build an answer the writer never wrote, from clues on the page plus what you know, and stop exactly where the clues stop.
The Shape, and the Job of One Part [H]	Name how a text is built, and explain what one paragraph, line or stage direction is doing in the place where it sits.
What the Whole Thing Says About People [H]	State a text's theme as a sentence about people, and check it against the ending the writer actually chose.
What You Know That They Do Not [H]	Track the gap between what you have been told and what a person inside the text knows, in stories and in true accounts alike.
Word Choice, and What It Is Doing to You [H]	Settle a word's meaning from the sentences around it, and name what the writer's particular choice of word is doing to the reader.
How Far the Evidence Actually Reaches [H]	Separate a claim from its reasons and evidence, judge whether the evidence reaches as far as the claim goes, and spot a piece that does not belong at all.
When Two Accounts Do Not Agree [H]	Work out whether two texts on one subject disagree about a fact, about an interpretation, or about nothing at all.

Close Reading & Annotation · 9 topics

Say It Straight First [H]	Restate a difficult passage accurately before you interpret it.
The Weight of One Word [H]	Ask why the writer chose this word and not the nearest alternative.
What the Sentence Shape Does [H]	Read the structure of a sentence as part of what it means.
The Image That Carries It [H]	Read a concrete detail or comparison for the abstract work it is doing.
Where the Tone Turns [H]	Name a text's attitude toward its subject, and find where it changes.
What the Text Will Not Say [H]	Draw a conclusion the words on the page require but never state.
The Line That Actually Proves It [H]	Choose the quotation that supports your claim, not the one nearest it.
Reading With a Pencil [H]	Mark a text so the second pass starts where the first one ended.
Where the Reading Stops [H]	Tell a reading the text supports from one you have supplied yourself.

Characterization & Complexity · 8 topics

What a Character Does Instead of Saying [H]	Read a character from conduct, from how other people behave around them, and from what nobody says out loud.
The Reason a Character Will Not Give [H]	Work out what a character actually wants when the reason they offer is not the reason they have.
The Distance Between the Telling and the Told [H]	Measure the distance between what a narrator claims and what the same text shows.
The Object That Does the Work [H]	Read the object, gesture or image that carries what the sentence refuses to state.
Voice as Evidence [H]	Use word choice, sentence shape and sentence length as evidence about the person speaking.
Set Against Each Other [H]	Use one character to see another, without letting the contrast turn into a verdict.
Characters Who Do Not Add Up [H]	Hold two true and incompatible things about one character at the same time instead of choosing between them.
What Changes, and What It Costs [H]	Locate the turn in a character, and say what the change leaves untouched and what it costs.

Theme, Motif & Central Argument · 8 topics

Stating a Theme as a Claim [H]	Write a theme as a sentence somebody could argue with, not a noun.
The Evidence a Theme Rests On [H]	Support a claim about theme with the detail that would break it if removed.
Motif: What Keeps Coming Back [H]	Track a repeating image or word, then say what changes between its first appearance and its last.
When an Object Starts Carrying the Meaning [H]	Read a symbol by the gap between what an object does and what the text keeps it for.
The Central Argument of a Nonfiction Text [H]	Name the one thing a writer wants conceded, as distinct from the subject.
Concession, Rebuttal, and What They Cost [H]	Tell a granted point from a denied one, and say what the writer bought with it.
Two Readings, One Text [H]	Say what a text settles, what it declines to settle, and which reading the evidence rules out.
How a Theme Gets Built [H]	Follow an idea from its first appearance through the place it is complicated to its last.

Narrative Structure, Pacing & Frame · 8 topics

The Shape of the Whole [H]	Name how a narrative is arranged, separately from what happens in it.
Story Time and Telling Time [H]	Separate the order events happened in from the order the text reveals them.
Where the Story Turns [H]	Find the hinge - the point after which the same events mean something else.
Scene, Summary, and the Skipped Year [H]	Read the ratio between page time and story time as a statement of emphasis.
What the Structure Withholds [H]	Treat a missing piece as a shaped choice rather than an accident.
The Story Inside the Story [H]	Read the outer situation that contains a telling, not only the telling.
Strands Set Against Each Other [H]	Read the seam between two strands, where the writer has left the connection out.
How an Ending Works [H]	Judge an ending by what it does to the text behind it, not by what it settles.

Poetry: Form, Meter & Sound · 8 topics

Where the Line Stops [H]	Read a line break as a decision, and say what the break is doing.
The Shape the Poem Agreed To [H]	Identify a poem's form and say what obeying it costs and buys.
Counting the Beat, and What Breaks It [H]	Hear a poem's metrical pattern and read the places where it departs.
Rhyme, Near Rhyme and What They Yoke [H]	Read a rhyme scheme, hear a near rhyme, and say what the pairing does.
What the Sound Is Doing [H]	Name a sound pattern in a line and say what it does to the reading.
The Line That Comes Back [H]	Read a repeated line for what has changed around it.
The Image That Carries the Argument [H]	Read a concrete detail for the claim it is making without stating it.
The Voice and What It Will Not Say [H]	Identify a poem's speaker and read the gap between what is said and known.

Shakespeare & Dramatic Language · 8 topics

Verse, Prose, and the Moment of the Switch [H]	Read the register a character is speaking in, and read what a change of register means.
Soliloquy and Aside [H]	Read a character thinking alone, and treat that thinking as an argument rather than a confession.
The Stage Directions Inside the Dialogue [H]	Reconstruct what happens physically on stage from the lines themselves.
Quibbles: One Word Doing Two Jobs [H]	Read a pun as an argument being made, not as a joke interrupting one.
Image Patterns and What They Argue [H]	Follow an image across a scene and say what claim it is quietly making.
What the Line Does Not Say [H]	Read the meaning a character conveys by refusing to state it.
What the Audience Knows [H]	Track the gap between what the audience knows and what a character knows, and say what the gap does to a line.
Persuasion in Front of an Audience [H]	Analyze a stage speech as a set of moves aimed at the people standing there.

Literary Movements & Historical Context · 8 topics

Reading the Period Off the Page [H]	Name the period habits a text is using from the writing itself, without being told the label.
Evidence for a Claim About a Text [H]	Test a claim about a text against the detail that would actually settle it.
Form Carries the History [H]	Explain what a technical choice about narration asserts about what can be known.
The Moment That Made the Text [H]	Connect what a text worries about to the conditions it was written in - and say how far the connection reaches.
Movements Answer Other Movements [H]	Identify what a text is refusing, and read the refusal as part of its argument.
One Subject, Two Periods [H]	Compare two treatments of the same material and locate exactly where the periods part.
Reading a Text Forward, Not Backward [H]	Keep a later fact, a later word, or a later verdict from being smuggled into a reading.
Who Gets Counted In [H]	Ask how a movement's roster was assembled, and what a roster can and cannot measure.

Irony, Satire & Ambiguity · 8 topics

Verbal Irony: Words Against Meaning [H]	Detect a speaker who means something other than what the words say, and name what the gap is doing.
Situational Irony: Aim Against Outcome [H]	Tell an ironic outcome from a merely unfortunate one by testing it against the aim that produced it.
Dramatic Irony: What the Audience Carries [H]	Track what a reader knows that a character does not, and say what the gap does to the lines that follow.
The Gap Between a Speaker and the Text [H]	Measure the distance between what a speaker claims about himself and what the text puts on the page - including when the distance is zero.
Satire: Finding the Target [H]	Separate what a satire pretends to be from what it wants you to think worse of.
How Satire Works on a Reader [H]	Name the technique a satire is using and say what it buys that a plain complaint could not.
Is It Irony at All? [H]	Decide whether a text is ironic by naming the gap, rather than by how the text makes you feel.
Ambiguity: What a Text Refuses to Settle [H]	Say what a text settles, what it deliberately leaves open, and which readings its evidence rules out.

The Rhetorical Situation · 8 topics

Exigence: What Made This Necessary [H]	Identify the pressure that called a text into being, and separate it from the occasion.
The Audience Under the Audience [H]	Tell apart who a text is addressed to, who it is written for, and who is meant to overhear it.
The Speaker Is a Construction [H]	Describe the version of a writer that a text builds, and why that version fits the situation.
Stated Purpose and Working Purpose [H]	Separate what a text says it is doing from the job it is actually built to do.
What the Writer Was Not Free to Say [H]	Find the limits a situation places on a text, and read what those limits shaped.
Kairos: Why Now [H]	Judge how a text's timing changes what it can accomplish.
The Shape the Medium Demands [H]	Explain how the form a text is delivered in changes what it can and cannot do.
When a Text Changes Situations [H]	Track what happens to a text's meaning when it is carried out of the situation it was written for.

British Literature: Romantic to Modern · 8 topics

The Voice on the Page Is a Made Thing [H]	Work out who is speaking, to whom, and what they want from being believed.
What the Text Will Not Say [H]	Read the meaning a text carries in its evasions, pauses and unasked-for denials.
The Image That Does the Arguing [H]	Read a figure as a move in an argument rather than as an ornament on one.
Tone, and the Distance a Writer Keeps [H]	Hear the attitude a text takes toward its material and toward you.
Form as an Argument [H]	Explain what a form promises a reader, and what a writer's departure from it means.
A Theme Held Open [H]	State what a text argues about how things are, and then test it on the part that resists.
Movements in Argument With Each Other [H]	Read a text against what it was written to oppose, and ask who wrote the label you are using.
The Line That Settles It [H]	Choose the quotation that separates your reading from the nearest rival reading.

World Literature: Epic & Classical Traditions · 8 topics

The Machinery in Plain Sight [H]	Read a repeated phrase, a fixed opening or a stock scene as equipment a performer needs, and then ask where this writer chose to put it.
The Comparison Brings Its Own World [H]	Read an extended comparison as an argument, asking what world it imports and whose side that world turns out to be on.
What the Culture Is Paying For [H]	Work out what a heroic story treats as the reward, and read the hero as an argument a culture is having with itself.
Two Full Explanations, Both Kept [H]	Hold a divine cause and a human cause in the same event without letting one of them cancel the other.
Where the Poem Puts the Cut [H]	Follow how an epic is arranged - the digression, the ring, the delayed return - and say what the arrangement is for.
The Audience Knows First [H]	Track the gap between what an audience has worked out and what a character still believes, and say what the gap is doing.
Who Is Given a Line [H]	Notice who a victory story lets speak, who it keeps offstage, and what the arrangement is doing.
How the Words Got Here [H]	Ask by what route a text reached you, and what the route did to it, before arguing about what it means.

World Literature in Translation · 8 topics

Every Line Is a Decision [H]	Read a translated sentence as one option that somebody selected, and name what the selection ruled out.
Two Versions, One Original [H]	Compare two renderings of the same text and say precisely what each one bought and what it paid.
The Word That Takes a Paragraph [H]	Name the four things a translator can do with a term that has no English equivalent, and what each one costs.
What Happens to the Shape [H]	Track what a poem's meter, rhyme and repetition do when they meet a language that cannot supply them.
The Voice the Translator Picks [H]	Hear the level of a translated voice - formal or plain, warm or official - and ask what the choice does to the speaker.
What the First Readers Already Knew [H]	Spot the knowledge an original audience brought to a text, and judge how a translation handles a reader who does not have it.
The Apparatus Around the Text [H]	Read the title, cover, introduction and notes as arguments about how the book inside should be taken.
Judging a Translation You Cannot Check [H]	Build an argument about a translation using evidence a reader without the source language actually has.

Mythology, Folklore & Archetype · 8 topics

The Shape You Brought With You [H]	Name the pattern you think you are seeing, then test whether it is in the text or in you.
There Is No Original [H]	Treat the text in front of you as one version among others, and say what that version does differently.
The Room the Story Was Told In [H]	Reconstruct the teller, the listener and the occasion before deciding what a traditional story means.
Motif, Symbol, Archetype [H]	Name the level of the thing you noticed, and say what evidence a claim at that level would need.
What the Story Authorizes [H]	Identify what a myth or tale accounts for in the listener's own world, and what would be unsettled without it.
The Lesson That Arrives from Outside [H]	Separate the lesson printed at the end of a tale from what the tale itself shows, and say who attached it.
What a Change of Body Costs [H]	Read a transformation as an event with consequences, and say what the new form is afterward used for.
Who Is Described and Who Speaks [H]	Count who speaks in their own voice, who is only reported, and who appears in a story without appearing in the record of it.

Creative Writing: Fiction · 8 topics

Scene and Summary [H]	Tell a single dramatized moment from a stretch of time compressed, and find the sentence where one becomes the other.
Showing a State, and Only That State [H]	Write behavior a reader can name one particular feeling from, instead of naming it for them or labeling the gesture you just wrote.
Filter Verbs, and the One That Has to Stay [H]	Cut saw, heard, felt and noticed where they only add distance, and keep them where they are the only thing holding a belief apart from a fact.
What This Narrator Can Know [H]	Hold a story to what its narrator can see, hear or think, and tell a character's inference from the narration's own claim.
Tags, Beats and What Goes Between Them [H]	Punctuate a dialogue tag, an action beat, and a quotation interrupted in the middle by its tag.
Information a Character Would Not Say [H]	Spot the line that exists to inform the reader, and tell it from a line that raises the same history for a reason of its own.
The Detail That Does Two Jobs [H]	Choose the concrete detail a reader can reach the withheld conclusion from, instead of a detail that is merely vivid.
What the Scene Changes [H]	Find the sentence where a scene changes what a character knows, what they can still take back, or what the next scene is able to do.

Creative Writing: Poetry · 9 topics

The Image Instead of the Statement [H]	Put a thing in front of the reader's senses instead of naming the feeling you want them to have.
Naming the Figure Exactly [H]	Tell seven figures of speech apart by what each one actually does to the sentence.
What the Sounds Are Doing [H]	Name the sound device a line is built on, and say where in the words the repetition sits.
True, Slant, and Eye Rhyme [H]	Judge a rhyme with your ear instead of your eye, and name the four kinds a poet can use.
Reading a Rhyme Scheme [H]	Label the pattern of line endings in a stanza with letters, including when the rhymes are slant.
Scanning a Line [H]	Count a line's syllables, hear where the stresses fall, and name the meter that results.
Where the Line Breaks [H]	Tell an end-stopped line from an enjambed one, and see what a break does to the words on either side of it.
Fixed Forms and Free Verse [H]	Identify the fixed forms by the promises each one makes about length, repetition, rhyme, and meter.
Revising a Poem [H]	Find the three cuts - the worn comparison, the mixed picture, and the line that explains the poem - that improve a draft more than any addition would.

Journalism & News Writing · 8 topics

The Lede and What It Promises [H]	Read a news lede for the fact it selects and the story it obligates the rest of the piece to deliver.
How a News Story Is Stacked [H]	Explain why a news story is ordered by a reader's need rather than by time, and predict what disappears when it is cut.
Who Says So [H]	Trace every sentence in a report to what the reporter saw, what a document says, or what a person claimed - and notice when a verb adds a judgment.
On the Record, and What Anonymity Costs [H]	Weigh a source by the condition they spoke under, the reason they are unnamed, and what the paper did besides take their word.
What a Quotation Is For [H]	Decide when a speaker's exact words earn their space and when a paraphrase serves the reader better.
News, Analysis, Editorial, Column [H]	Tell the four kinds of newspaper writing apart from the sentences themselves rather than from the label above them.
Balance, Weight and the Manufactured Middle [H]	Separate how much space each side of a story receives from what stands behind each side's claims, and name what the reporting has not settled.
Names, Harm and What a Paper Owes Afterward [H]	Judge a newsroom decision by what it costs the person it lands on, what it gives the reader, and whether the paper disclosed that it made a choice.

Speech, Debate & Oral Argument · 8 topics

Meeting the Argument [H]	Decide whether a reply actually answered the argument in front of it, or landed somewhere beside it.
If It Ends Even [H]	Say which side has to prove what, and what follows when nobody has proved it.
The Sentence That Decides [H]	Find the term whose meaning settles the dispute, and see what each proposed meaning would decide.
What the Question Is Doing [H]	Read a question in a cross-examination or from a bench as a move, and name what it is trying to get.
When Both Sides Are Right [H]	Compare two proved harms out loud, using likelihood, size, timing and whether the thing can be undone.
Giving Ground on Purpose [H]	Recognize a concession as a move, and say what it costs and what it buys.
Evidence, and Labels on Evidence [H]	Separate what a source says from what a speaker says it says, and name the move when the two differ.
Built for the Ear [H]	Explain what a spoken argument does differently because a listener cannot go back.

Film & Visual Rhetoric · 8 topics

What the Frame Left Out [H]	Read an image for the decision at its edges - what was excluded, and what the exclusion does to a viewer.
Everything Inside the Frame [H]	Say what the arrangement inside a shot - light, staging, color, selection - is doing to the viewer's reading of it.
The Argument in the Join [H]	Name the claim a cut makes by placing one shot next to another, and test whether the material supports it.
Speed, Duration, and the Unbroken Take [H]	Work out what a shot's length or speed is asserting, and which questions duration can and cannot settle.
The Track You Are Not Listening To [H]	Separate sound the characters can hear from sound only the audience can, and say what each one is telling the viewer to do.
Whose Account You Are Standing Inside [H]	Identify whose knowledge and whose interests an image places a viewer inside, and how that placement was built.
What an Image Can Prove [H]	State precisely what a photograph or a recording establishes, and where its authority stops.
What the Display Was Built to Answer [H]	Read a chart, poster or graphic as a made argument, without treating every design decision as a trick.

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