Digital Resources

• Help teachers weave technology into their literacy instruction with a variety of digital resources.
• Reproducible student activity sheets to support hands-on learning. Interactiv-eBooks Interactiv-eBooks present material in unique and exciting ways to increase student interest.
• Engage students, build 21st century skills, and extend the reading experience with the digital writing and comprehension activities.
• Professional audio recordings Professional audio recordings of books model fluency and reading with expression to support all readers, especially English language learners.

Full-color Management Guide 

• Integrate STEAM education into literacy instruction with support from the full-color Management Guide. 
• Aligns to state and national college and career readiness standards, including NGSS for reading, writing, and STEAM lessons. Features lesson plan components, balanced assessments, differentiation strategies, and standards correlations to reach all students' needs.
• Balanced assessment opportunities that require students to demonstrate analytical thinking, comprehend informational texts, and write evidence-based responses.
• STEAM Education and the Makers Movement highlights the engineering design process and connections to the 5E Model and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
• Lessons include objectives, timelines, materials lists, introductory activities, before-, during-, and after- reading activities, reflection questions and activities, engineering design process checklists, and teamwork rubrics for accessible teacher implementation.

Nonfiction Books and Text Cards

• Each reader and text card feature a high-interest topic based on Smithsonian content.
• The dynamic images and text features enhance the reading experience and build visual literacy.
• 15 titles (for K–5 kits), 8 titles (for 6–8 kits), 6 copies each in digital and print formats.
• 8 text cards (for 6–8 kits only), 6 copies each in digital and print formats, and includes glossaries and extension ideas.
• Created in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution.
• Connect to STEAM careers with advice from Smithsonian professionals.
• Learn how people use the engineering process to solve real-world problems.
• Each reader highlights all the components of STEAM and helps students draw real-world connections.

Culminating activity

• Help students apply what they have learned and provide them with an opportunity for teamwork and collaboration with the Culminating Activity. Challenges students to identify a problem and apply what they have learned about the engineering design process to find solutions.

Student Engagement

• Develop solutions for modern-day problems.
• Supports social and emotional learning through cooperative and collaborative activities in the Friendly Feedback Mini Lesson, which introduces students to effective, constructive feedback to encourage a more productive classroom.
• Culminating activity challenges students to identify a problem, apply what they have learned about the engineering design process to find solutions, and evaluate the process and outcome.
• Balanced assessment opportunities require students to demonstrate analytical thinking, comprehend informational texts, and write evidence-based responses.