Chicken Scratch: Books Novels and Novel Studies

The curriculum provides structured guidance through instructional videos and graphic organizers. The teacher presents videos walking students through assignments and shares observations for comparison.

Jorgensen 'presents a number of videos that walk students through each assignment, and she shares many of her own observations for students to compare with those they have noted'

This curriculum is entirely built around reading complete novels rather than excerpts or passages. Students read four full-length original novels with accompanying study courses.

The review states that students read complete novels like 'Best Friends Playbook,' 'Maddie McDowell and the Rodeo Robbery,' 'Sophie Murphy Does Not Exist,' and 'Dread Watch' with courses designed around each whole book

The curriculum focuses on literary analysis skills rather than systematically building domain knowledge across subjects. While students engage with varied story content, there's no evidence of deliberate knowledge-building across history, science, or the arts.

The review describes courses as 'primarily focused on helping students learn how to do a deep analysis of literature' with activities like character analysis and theme identification, but no mention of building content knowledge

The curriculum uses age-appropriate novels for middle-grade students, with the reviewer noting the quality and engaging nature of the writing. However, specific complexity levels or progression aren't detailed.

The reviewer 'was very impressed by the quality of the writing' and 'found the stories engaging enough that I finished each book in one day,' suggesting appropriate complexity for the target grades

The curriculum provides instructional videos and guidance for implementation but lacks comprehensive teacher training materials. Support appears focused on assignment explanation rather than pedagogical development.

The program includes 'videos that walk students through each assignment' and explains processes like bookmarks and focus skills, but no mention of extensive teacher professional development

The curriculum includes some retrieval elements through quizzes and review activities, but there's no evidence of systematic spaced review or extensive retrieval practice. Quizzes appear to be one-time assessments per section.

Each section includes 'an online, multiple-choice quiz' but the review notes 'results are not tracked by the website' and mentions no spaced review or cumulative practice

Phonics instruction is not applicable for this middle-grade curriculum targeting grades 5-8. Students at this level are expected to have foundational decoding skills already established.

The curriculum is designed for grades 5-8, well beyond the typical phonics instruction years, and the review mentions no foundational reading skills instruction

The curriculum includes structured vocabulary work where students identify words from their reading and work with synonyms. However, the approach appears limited to basic word identification rather than comprehensive vocabulary instruction.

Each section includes 'vocabulary work has students choose five vocabulary words within the assigned chapters and complete a vocabulary form online' where they 'identify two synonyms for the word'

The curriculum includes writing components through final analysis assignments and project options. Students complete literary analysis essays and have multiple writing project choices, though the structure of writing instruction isn't detailed.

The review mentions students complete 'a writing assignment based on the focus skill worksheet, writing about a theme in the book, analyzing the main character's arc, writing a compare-and-contrast essay' and additional writing projects