Helping Children Become More Knowledgeable Through Text

With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards, curriculum resources are shifting from an emphasis on literary texts to a greater focus on informational texts. Although we need to understand the intention of these new Common Core State Standards, and the important drive toward greater content knowledge for all students, we must be wary of the pendulum shifting too far in one direction. Content-rich instruction is important at all grade levels, and there are many different types of texts that can support it. Text sets that include challenging and informational content using multiple genre on a common topic can support students' developing knowledge networks, reading skills and content-area learning.