S P.

My school chose to use another program from an acclaimed English program, and I tried to utilize it for a while. Unfortunately, it was extremely unfriendly to teacher and students, and my kids learned nothing after a few units. When I heard that CommonLit was a potential, free curriculum, I figured I had nothing to lose.

I AM SO HAPPY I FOUND IT!

The lessons are easy to follow, engaging, and accessible for kids. There are a lot of worksheets (I chose to complete everything by hand, but there IS an online option available... maybe that's what the negative reviews are referring to?) BUT my kids have appreciated the concrete instructions and the routine of reading a text (sometimes multiple times for different purposes,) analyzing it for specific traits, and writing responses. The variety of texts is awesome, as the kids will read nonfiction texts, stories, poems, reviews, etc. all in the same units. Each unit is built around a theme, so the kids are learning skills but also connecting the theme to their lives. Their writing and reading skills have already improved exponentially! I cannot recommend it enough.