The Cornerstone School · grades K–5
Reading Comprehension
Once the words come easily, the real work starts: what a text says, how it says it, and why it was written.
The moving parts of every story — who, where, what happens, and what it quietly means.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — Who and Where
Characters: what they do tells you who they are · Setting: time and place shape the story · The narrator: who is telling this
Unit II — What Happens and Why
Plot: problem, attempts, resolution · Cause and effect inside a story · Retelling in order, in your own words
Unit III — What It Means
Theme: what the story argues quietly · Lessons characters learn versus lessons readers learn · Comparing two stories that share a theme
Headings, captions, diagrams, and the index — how factual books are built, and how to take what you need from them.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — The Shape of Nonfiction
Headings, captions, and bold words · Diagrams and what they add · Table of contents and index: finding without reading everything
Unit II — Main Idea and Details
What this page is mostly about · Details that support and details that decorate · Summarizing a section in one sentence
Unit III — Reading to Learn
Taking simple notes · Comparing two texts on the same topic · When two books disagree: checking a fact
What the author left unsaid, and the lines that prove your guess — reasoning about texts, started young.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~12 hours
Unit I — What the Text Does Not Say
Clues plus what you know equals an inference · Reading feelings from actions · When a guess goes too far
Unit II — Evidence
Pointing to the line that proves it · Strong evidence versus weak evidence · Changing your mind when the text surprises you
Unit III — Questions Worth Asking
Questions the text answers and questions it raises · Predicting, then checking · The author's purpose: why this was written
Why poems are shaped the way they are — sound, image, and feeling, read aloud until they open.
Syllabus · 3 units · ~8 hours
Unit I — Sound
Rhyme and where it lands · Rhythm: the beat under the words · Alliteration and why poets bother
Unit II — Picture and Feeling
Images: words that make you see · Comparisons: like, as, and braver ones · How a poem earns a feeling
Unit III — Reading and Making
Reading a poem aloud twice, differently · Line breaks: why the poem is shaped that way · Writing a small poem of your own