Reading in Science (Grades 2-6)

62 core topics + 38 prerequisite topics taught as needed · approximately 27 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

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 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.

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.

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.

Prerequisite material - taught automatically when the diagnostic finds gaps

Phonological & Phonemic Awareness · 5 topics

Counting Syllables	Break a word into its beats.
Hearing the First Sound	Tell which sound a word starts with.
Hearing the Last Sound	Tell which sound a word ends with.
Hearing the Middle Vowel Sound	Find the vowel sound in the middle of a short word.
Blending Sounds into Words	Push separate sounds together to make a word.

Phonics: Letters, Sounds & Short Vowels · 5 topics

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

High-Frequency Words & Sight Vocabulary · 2 topics

Recognizing High-Frequency Words	Know the most common words on sight, instantly.
High-Frequency Words in Sentences	Use common words correctly inside a real sentence.

Print Concepts & Early Comprehension · 2 topics

Listening Comprehension	Understand a story that is read out loud to you.
What Happened First, Next, Last	Put the events of a story in the order they happened.

Prefixes & Suffixes · 6 topics

Finding the Base Word	Strip the extra parts off a word to find the word underneath.
What a Prefix Means	Know what the common prefixes do to a word.
Using a Prefix to Read a Word	Work out what a prefixed word means without being told.
What a Suffix Means	Know what the common suffixes add to a word.
Using a Suffix to Read a Word	Work out what a word with a suffix means.
Reading a Word You Have Never Seen	Work out an unfamiliar word from its prefix, base, and suffix.

Context Clues (Grades 2-3) · 5 topics

When the Sentence Just Tells You	Find a word's meaning written into the sentence itself.
A Nearby Word That Means the Same	Use a synonym elsewhere in the passage to unlock a word.
When a Contrast Points the Other Way	Use a contrast word to work out the opposite meaning.
Working Back From Examples	Use a list of examples to work out the category.
When There Is No Clue Word	Work out a meaning from the whole situation.

Retelling, Sequence & Summary · 7 topics

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

Reading in Social Studies: American History (2-4) · 3 topics

The Main Idea of a History Text	Find what a history passage is really about.
Evidence in a History Text	Point to the detail that actually proves a claim.
Whose Story Is Being Told	Notice whose point of view a history text takes, and who is missing.

Reading in Social Studies: American History (5-6) · 3 topics

Reading a Source Like a Historian	Ask who made a source, when, and what they wanted it to do.
Claims and the Evidence Under Them	Separate what a history text asserts from what it shows.
When Sources Disagree	Compare accounts of the same event instead of trusting one.

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