Core Knowledge Foundation

07/27/2026

Dr. Hirsch wrote this for the CK Core Classics edition of The Iliad and the Odyssey, years before Christopher Nolan turned it into the biggest movie of the summer.

The story is 3,000 years old and still landing.

Hospitality as a moral code. The cost of getting home. What it means to live a life worth remembering. These aren't just plot points. They're ideas young readers carry with them.

Use this moment to explore the everlasting themes of the Odyssey with your kid

👉 Download the Core Classics edition, written for young readers: https://www.coreknowledge.org/free-resource/ckla-unit-4-the-iliad-and-the-odyssey-and-other-greek-stories/

07/20/2026

Ever notice how a kid can sound out every word perfectly and still have no idea what they just read?

Cognitive scientist Dr. Daniel Willingham (also a Core Knowledge board member!) digs into why on a new podcast episode: comprehension depends heavily on what a reader already knows about the world, not just their phonics skills.

The classic example: give two readers the same passage about a baseball game. The one who knows the sport understands it. The one who doesn't can pronounce every word and still couldn’t tell you what happened on the field.

That's the difference background knowledge makes. That’s why we do what we do at Core Knowledge.

How much of reading comprehension depends on what students already ...

07/01/2026

History isn’t a stack of dates. It’s a story told through specific people doing specific things at specific moments.

Take Elizabeth Freeman. In 1781, she sued for her freedom in a Massachusetts courtroom and won.

Her case helped end slavery in the state decades before the Civil War.

Or the War of 1812, a conflict most adults vaguely remember, but one that shaped American sovereignty, the national anthem, and the country that emerged from it.

When kids study these specific stories, through the Voices in History biographies and the CKHG curriculum, they don’t just memorize.

They understand.

That’s what knowledge-building actually looks like.

Explore the CKHG history curriculum and Voices in History biographies: https://www.coreknowledge.org/download-free-curriculum/

06/30/2026

What if every child, every single one, were taught real, substantive knowledge from kindergarten on?

That’s the question at the heart of a new piece from the Core Knowledge Foundation.

And the answer is more powerful than most people realize.

When kids build broad, coherent background knowledge early, they don’t just become better readers. They become more confident thinkers.

More curious learners. More capable participants in the world.

This isn’t a luxury for kids in well-funded schools. This is what every child deserves, in every classroom, regardless of zip code.

Read the full piece (and share it with someone who needs to read it).

Beth Anderson  5 min read · Apr 23, 2026 In March, I walked into a classroom in Lake Havasu Unified School District knowing this wasn’t a typical school system.  It’s one of the only districts in the country to fully adopt the Core Knowledge curriculum, district-wide.  But even so, I wasn....

06/28/2026

One artist. One painting. One story your kids will remember forever. 🎨

Meet Henry Ossawa Tanner, the first African American painter to gain international acclaim.

Born in 1859, the son of a minister, Tanner used his brush to tell deeply human stories that broke barriers and reshaped what American art could look like.

His paintings are featured in the Core Knowledge Visual Arts (CKVA) curriculum, alongside artists from across cultures and centuries.

CKVA brings these stories, and the works themselves, into K–8 classrooms with ready-made discussion prompts and creative activities.

No art degree required. Just one painting and one good question.

Explore CKVA and meet the artists who shaped art history: coreknowledge.org/visual-arts/

06/27/2026

She couldn’t see, hear, or speak, and she still changed the world. Today is Helen Keller Day.

Helen Keller’s story has been told a thousand ways, but the new Voices in History biography “A New Doorway for the Human Spirit” tells it the way kids deserve to hear it.

As a real, full life of curiosity, courage, and remarkable accomplishment, not just a single dramatic moment at a water pump.

Through it, kids meet Helen as a thinker, a writer, an activist, and a global advocate.

They walk away believing that obstacles can be met and that words can open any door.

It’s free on the Core Knowledge Free Library.

Read Helen Keller’s story this weekend: https://www.coreknowledgefreelibrary.org/

Save this for tonight’s reading hour! 📌

06/26/2026

Summer break: the perfect time to grow as a teacher, without the pressure of a full classroom on top of it.

The Core Knowledge Foundation’s free online professional learning courses are designed to fit your summer schedule and prepare you for an even better fall.

A few of our most popular options:

🔹 Foundational Principles of the Core Knowledge Approach

🔹 CKHG Implementation for Grades K–8

🔹 CKSci with the NGSS

🔹 CKLA Overview for Grades 6–8

These are self-paced and completely free. Designed by educators who get it.

Pour a coffee and pick a course: coreknowledge.org/online-courses/

Tag a teacher friend who’s already mentally planning fall!

06/24/2026

WANTED: More Sir Gus Stories. ⚔️

Micah, this is for you.

While there aren't new Sir Gus stories (yet), this is the perfect excuse to make sure every second grader who hasn't met him gets the chance.

New to Sir Gus? Micah highly recommends it. Download for free: https://www.coreknowledge.org/free-resource/ckla-unit-5-second-grade-skills-sir-gus/

06/21/2026

School Spotlight 🌟 Liberty Common School, Fort Collins, CO

For more than 25 years, Liberty Common has been showing what’s possible when a school commits, really commits, to a coherent, knowledge-rich curriculum from kindergarten on up.

As a Core Knowledge School of Distinction, Liberty Common builds its K–12 instruction around the Core Knowledge Sequence. The result?

One of Colorado’s top-performing charter schools, year after year, with graduates heading off to college genuinely prepared.

Their secret isn’t a secret at all: students at every grade level share content, vocabulary, and expectations. Knowledge compounds.

Confidence grows. Curiosity follows.

Read more about Liberty Common and what knowledge-building looks like in practice: https://www.coreknowledge.org/liberty-common-school/

06/19/2026

Juneteenth is a chance to teach freedom not as a date, but as a story full of remarkable people.

Three Voices in History biographies your kids can read this week:

🔹 Harriet Tubman: The woman who returned to slavery, again and again, to lead others to freedom

🔹 Booker T. Washington: He was born enslaved but left a legacy by building the Tuskegee Institute

🔹 Elizabeth Freeman: Her 1781 lawsuit helped end slavery in Massachusetts decades before the Civil War

These are story-driven, beautifully written biographies that build the kind of empathy and understanding that lasts long after June 19.

All three are free on the CK Free Library. Grab the link in the comments below.