The Integrated Instructional Block
K-2 core ELA and social studies in one program
Want to know how we fit reading, writing, grammar, vocabulary, and social studies inside one 70 minute block? This guide shows how ELA and social studies work together from texts to assessments. Using a first-grade unit on building stronger communities to trace one task from the standards it meets to the student work it produces.
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What's inside
- How standards and objectives align to both ELA and social studies in every lesson, and uphold the rigor of both.
- How complex texts (including primary and secondary sources) create a network effect for knowledge building as each new text deepens comprehension.
- How writing progresses from sentences to paragraphs through strategies like CAPS and TIDE, and gives students something to say because they write about what they've studied.
- How a single task yields evidence across comprehension, vocabulary, writing, language, and social studies, so teachers get a read on both subjects in one pass.
- How a cold read at the end of each module, the Checkpoint Magazine, shows comprehension developing on a text students have never seen.
About Inkwell
K-2 core ELA and social studies in one, 70-minute instructional block.
Inkwell is an inquiry-based HQIM for both ELA and social studies, designed so each subject strengthens the other. Students develop their literacy by reading, writing, and discussing within sustained social studies investigations.
- Supports mastery of ELA and social studies standards in one block
- Grounded in the Science of Reading
- Embeds explicit writing instruction in daily lessons
- Builds knowledge through content-rich social studies investigations
- Connects and deepens learning through inquiry
Save time
Inkwell’s 70-minute block replaces two separate ELA and social studies blocks. Teachers no longer have to choose between ELA and social studies, and the time they get back goes to foundational skills, math, and intervention.
Deepen comprehension
Inkwell’s integrated design develops the background knowledge and academic vocabulary comprehension depends on. And, each unit students apply that knowledge to a new text, task or idea to deepen comprehension and extend their learning.
Give writing purpose
Inkwell writing starts with explicit daily instruction and asks students to use writing to make meaning of texts. Then, it asks students to go one step further and use the knowledge they’ve built as evidence for a broader disciplinary idea.
