A K-12 Curriculum — 2026 Edition

Raising a generation that's literate — about technology, and with it.

Seventy-eight inquiry-based lessons spanning thirteen grade levels and six interconnected strands. Built on the Common Sense Media Digital Citizenship framework, extended with the AI4K12 Five Big Ideas, and aligned to California, CSTA, and ISTE standards.

78

Lessons

13

Grade Levels

6

Strands

K—12

Vertical

The Framework

Six strands, spanning across thirteen years.

Each strand appears at every grade level, with a signature driving question that deepens as students mature. AI literacy is woven throughout — never siloed, always contextualized in the strand that matters most for that skill.

STRAND / 01

◐

Media Balance & Wellbeing

Wellbeing, screen-time, attention, and a balanced life in a connected world.

STRAND / 02

◆

Privacy, Safety & Data

Personal information, passwords, tracking, phishing, and AI training data.

STRAND / 03

●

Identity & Digital Footprint

Digital footprint, self-presentation, reputation, and AI-augmented identity.

STRAND / 04

◈

Communication & Relationships

Respectful communication, online friendships, and AI-mediated relationships.

STRAND / 05

◇

Information Literacy & AI Evaluation

Evaluating sources, fact-checking, and navigating AI-generated content.

STRAND / 06

◉

AI Foundations & Ethical Creation

The Five Big Ideas of AI: Perception, Representation, Learning, Interaction, and Impact.

Curriculum Architecture

The Six Strands in depth.

Each strand is a vertical thread — an enduring question students revisit year after year, with increasing sophistication. The AI strand is new to most districts; the other five have been taught for decades. Here, AI shows up in all six.

STRAND / 01

◐

Media Balance & Wellbeing

Focus: Healthy device use, attention, focus, sleep, and relationships with screens.

AI angle: Algorithmic feeds, engagement design, and AI-amplified hooks.

STRAND / 02

◆

Privacy, Safety & Data

Focus: Private vs personal info, password security, tracking, and consent.

AI angle: Data used to train AI models; AI-powered phishing; AI surveillance.

STRAND / 03

●

Identity & Digital Footprint

Focus: Reputation, footprint, self-presentation across contexts.

AI angle: Deepfakes, AI-generated content about others, AI summarizing your footprint.

STRAND / 04

◈

Communication & Relationships

Focus: Tone, empathy, refusal, and kind online communication.

AI angle: AI companions, chatbots, AI-mediated relationships, AI ghostwriting.

STRAND / 05

◇

Information Literacy & AI Evaluation

Focus: Source evaluation, lateral reading, SIFT, and forensic verification.

AI angle: AI-generated misinformation, hallucinations, content farms, filter bubbles.

STRAND / 06

◉

AI Foundations & Ethical Creation

Focus: The Five Big Ideas of AI4K12: Perception, Representation & Reasoning, Learning, Natural Interaction, Societal Impact.

AI angle: The entire strand is AI — building students' mental models of how it works and doesn't.

The Scope & Sequence

Every lesson, every grade, at a glance.

Click any cell to open the full lesson plan. Rows are grade levels; columns are strands. The matrix is horizontally scrollable on smaller screens.

Grade	Media Balance & Wellbeing	Privacy, Safety & Data	Identity & Digital Footprint	Communication & Relationships	Information Literacy & AI Evaluation	AI Foundations & Ethical Creation
K	Screens On, Screens Off How do I know when to stop using a screen?	My Name Is Mine What about me do I keep to myself online?	My Picture, My Pride What do I like to share with people who care about me?	Kind Voices, Kind Screens How do I talk nicely to someone I can't see?	Real or Make-Believe? Is everything I see on a screen true?	Robots That Listen How does a smart speaker hear me?
1	My Body Tells Me What does my body say when I've been on a screen too long?	Safe Websites, Safe Me How do I know a website is okay for me?	What My Friends See Who sees the pictures my family shares?	Feelings in Emojis How do I show how I feel without my face?	Cartoons Aren't Cameras How is a drawing different from a photo?	Teaching the Computer How does a computer learn to tell a cat from a dog?
2	Finding My Happy Mix What makes a 'just right' day with and without screens?	Passwords Are Secret Keys Why do I need a password, and why is it secret?	My Digital Trail What does my footprint look like so far?	Our Class Online Community What rules help us all feel welcome online?	Who Made This? Where did this picture, song, or story come from?	What Can AI Do? What Can't It? What is AI good at, and what do people do better?
3	Rings of Tech Responsibility Whose feelings do my screen choices affect?	Password Power-Up What makes a strong password strong?	This Is Me — Real and Online How is the 'me' in a profile the same or different from the real me?	Words on a Screen Hit Different Why can a message feel mean even when the person didn't mean it?	Is Seeing Believing? Why do people alter digital photos and videos?	AI Learns from Examples How does an AI get smarter the more you show it?
4	My Media Choices What makes a media choice healthy for me?	Private, Personal, Public What's the difference between private info, personal info, and public info?	Our Online Tracks How does our online activity affect the digital footprints of ourselves and others?	Keeping Games Fun and Friendly How can I be positive and have fun while playing online games?	How Do I Know It's True? What's one quick way to check a fact online?	AI Has Jobs Everywhere Where is AI hiding in my day?
5	Finding My Media Balance What does balance look like just for me?	You Won't Believe This! Why do some links try so hard to make me click?	Beyond Gender Stereotypes How do stereotypes shape our experiences online — and how do algorithms reinforce them?	Digital Friendships How do I build and keep a safe online friendship?	Reading News Online What are the parts of a trustworthy news story?	Generative AI: Magic or Math? How does a chatbot come up with its answers?
6	Balance in a Connected Life How do I balance connection, focus, and rest in a world that's always on?	Don't Feed the Phish How can I spot and stop a phishing attempt?	Who Are You Online? What are the benefits and drawbacks of presenting yourself in different ways online?	Chatting Safely in Shared Spaces How do I chat safely with people I don't know — including AI chatbots?	Finding Credible News & Sources How do I evaluate a source when AI might have written it?	How AI 'Sees' the World How does an AI perceive images, speech, and text?
7	Attention Is the Product Who profits when I scroll?	Big, Big Data — Including AI Training How do companies (and AI systems) collect and use data about me?	The Power of Digital Footprints How might our digital footprints — now searchable by AI — shape our future?	My Social Media Life How does social media shape my friendships — for better and worse?	Fair Use & AI Remix When I use AI to remix someone else's work, whose work is it?	Machine Learning: Pattern Spotters How does an AI get trained?
8	Your Brain on Apps How does digital media hook you — and what can you do about it?	Being Aware of What You Share How can I protect my privacy when apps are designed to erode it?	Deepfakes & Digital Self-Defense What happens when someone makes fake content that looks like me?	Sexting, Pressure & the Law What are the real consequences of sharing intimate images?	This Just In (And It Might Be AI) How should I react to breaking news in an AI era?	Algorithmic Bias How can AI be biased — even when no one meant it to be?
9	My Digital Life Is Like... What is the role of digital media in my life?	The Big Data Dilemma What are the benefits and drawbacks of online tracking?	Protecting Others' Reputations — Including with AI What's my responsibility when AI can generate content about others?	Red Flags in AI-Mediated Relationships How can I tell when a chat — human or bot — is getting risky?	Hoaxes, Fakes & Synthetic Media How can I avoid being fooled — or fooling others?	Representation & Reasoning in AI How do AI systems represent knowledge, and when do they fail?
10	Social Media and Mental Health How does my social media use affect how I feel — really?	Risk Check for New Tech Should I use this new AI tool? How do I decide?	Curated Lives & AI-Augmented Personas How can I create a social presence that represents the real me — even with AI filters?	Rewarding Relationships — Human and Otherwise What makes a healthy relationship, and where do AI 'relationships' fit?	Challenging Confirmation Bias — in Me and in AI How can I challenge my own biases when AI just confirms them?	How AI Learns — Supervised, Unsupervised, Reinforcement How does an AI actually 'learn'?
11	Addiction by Design Are we addicted to our devices, and who is responsible?	Data Dignity & AI Training Should my data — my words, face, voice — be used to train AI without my consent?	Who's Looking at Your Footprint? How can my footprint — now scannable by AI — shape my future opportunities?	Code-Switching & AI Coaching How do I adapt my voice for different audiences — and should AI help?	Clicks, Cash & AI Content Farms How does internet advertising — supercharged by AI — spread disinformation?	Natural Interaction — The LLM Era What made conversational AI seem to 'understand' us — and where is the illusion?
12	The Health Effects of Screens — The Evidence Now What does the research actually say about screens and wellbeing in 2026?	The Privacy Line Where should the line be between public safety and personal privacy?	The Footprint You Want How can I create a digital footprint that matches my purpose?	We Are Civil Communicators How can we communicate with civility when platforms reward outrage?	Filter Bubbles & Epistemic Responsibility How can I take responsibility for knowing what's real in an AI-saturated world?	Societal Impact — The Work Ahead What kind of AI future do I want to help build?

Lessons Library

All 78 lesson plans.

Filter by grade and strand. Click a card to open the full lesson plan, including objectives, standards, procedures, differentiation, assessment, and an AI-powered adaptation tool.

Grade

Strand

California Department of Education Alignment

Aligned to California's AI in Education guidance.

This curriculum is built to align with the California Department of Education's Learning With AI, Learning About AI guidance, the CSTA/AI4K12 Prioritized K-12 AI Learning Outcomes, and relevant California legislation. The alignment is explicit at the lesson level — every AI-strand lesson cites the specific Prioritized Outcome it supports.

EDUCATION CODE §33548

What AI literacy means in California

AI literacy refers to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to how AI works — its principles, concepts, and applications — as well as its limitations, implications, and ethical considerations. As students, educators, parents, and school community members demystify AI and learn its safe use, they build understanding that supports skill development, responsible use, and the ability to identify inaccuracies.

CSTA / AI4K12 — Appendix F

Prioritized K-12 AI Learning Outcomes.

The six foundational subtopics that every K-12 student should encounter. This curriculum addresses all six across the grade bands, primarily through the AI Foundations strand but woven into the other strands as well.

Subtopic	Grades K-2	Grades 3-5	Grades 6-8	Grades 9-12
The Human Role in Creating AI	Understand that AI is a tool created by humans to make decisions or to generate something.	Describe the roles of humans in the creation of AI.	Describe the roles that humans play (including in data curation and labeling) in creating and refining AI models.	Evaluate and analyze the roles of humans and human decision-making in the creation of AI.
Reasoning	Explain how binary choices (up/down, on/off) can be used to make decisions that lead to a specific goal by either a human or a machine.	Train a model that can make decisions based on defined criteria (e.g., a dichotomous key).	Identify the kinds of AI models (classifier, predictor, recommender) people interact with in their daily lives.	Describe different types of AI algorithms and models, and compare and contrast the strengths and limitations of their reasoning.
Data (in Machine Learning)	Explore how AI models learn from data.	Explore the relationship between the properties of training data (size, features, biases) and an AI model's output.	Describe the ways that bias can be introduced and mitigated in an AI model.	Evaluate the data used to solve a problem, including source(s), privacy, processing, data quality, what the data represents, and biases.
Building and Using AI Models	Use data to construct a model for making decisions.	Using a dataset, develop an AI model to classify inputs.	Using a dataset and a machine learning pipeline, develop an AI model, and consider the impact of the model on various users.	Using a dataset and a systematic process, develop an AI model for classification or prediction — articulating assumptions at each step (develop question, collect data, evaluate data, train, evaluate, iterate).
Ethical Evaluation of AI Systems	Explore how an AI system can help and harm different groups at the same time.	Investigate examples of AI, considering differences in experience by different people in different contexts.	Describe the properties, biases, and assumptions of various kinds of AI models.	Evaluate the design, motivation, outcomes, and potential impacts of AI systems using ethical design criteria and/or ethical frameworks.
Societal Impacts	Explore how some people use AI in their jobs and in their communities.	Explore ways in which some jobs involve the creation and/or use of AI.	Identify the intended and unintended impacts of AI on society — including government, education, entertainment, culture, careers, and national security.	Evaluate the intended and unintended impacts of AI on society (deepfakes, job loss) — considering how impacts differ among diverse communities.

Source: CSTA & AI4K12, AI Learning Priorities for All K-12 Students, Appendix F (2025).

Classroom Resource · Printable

Rubric 1 · Evaluating AI outputs.

A 4-point rubric for training students to critically evaluate anything an AI produces. Use with any AI-generated text, image, or answer. Adapted from the CDE AI guidance.

Accuracy

"Is this true?"

4

Very accurate

Facts are correct and match reliable sources. No mistakes I can find.

3

Mostly accurate

Mostly correct, but I found a few small errors or unclear parts.

2

Questionable

Some facts don't sound right or need checking.

1

Unreliable

A lot seems wrong, made up, or outdated.

Consider: Did I verify key facts with a trusted source (books, websites, teachers)? Does the AI explain where its info came from?

Relevance

"Does it actually answer what I asked?"

4

Totally relevant

It clearly answers my question or solves my problem.

3

Mostly relevant

It's helpful but slightly off topic or too general.

2

Somewhat relevant

It kind of connects, but misses big parts of my question.

1

Off topic

Doesn't address what I asked at all.

Consider: Does this help me meet my assignment goals? Did I ask a clear question or do I need to reword my prompt?

Clarity

"Is it easy to understand?"

4

Very clear

Ideas are easy to follow and make sense.

3

Mostly clear

Understandable, but a few parts are confusing.

2

Hard to follow

Some sentences or ideas don't connect well.

1

Confusing

I can't tell what it's saying.

Consider: Could I explain this to someone else in my own words? Are any words or phrases too advanced or vague?

Fairness

"Does it show bias or leave things out?"

4

Fair and balanced

Shows multiple perspectives and feels respectful.

3

Mostly fair

Generally balanced, but I notice some bias.

2

Some bias

Seems one-sided or leaves out important views.

1

Unfair

Clearly biased, offensive, or inaccurate about a group or idea.

Consider: What might be missing? Whose perspective am I hearing — and whose am I not?

Classroom Resource · Printable

Rubric 2 · Levels of AI assistance.

A 5-level scale for teachers to communicate which uses of AI are permitted on any given assignment. Move beyond "AI or no AI" to clear, graduated expectations. Adapted from the CDE AI guidance.

1

No AI Assistance

Students complete their work entirely on their own, without using any AI tools. They rely solely on their own knowledge and abilities.

2

AI for Idea Organization

Students may use AI tools to help sort, organize, or clarify their early thinking. AI may provide prompts, examples, or ways of grouping ideas or initial responses. Students must produce the final work themselves and cite any AI support used.

3

AI-Supported Drafting

Students use AI to draft initial content, then significantly revise and refine that content themselves. There must be clear separation between what the AI contributed and what the student added.

4

AI-Infused Creation

Students may include AI-generated elements in their work, but they must critically review and edit those contributions. Use of AI must be transparent, and proper attribution given.

5

AI as Co-creator

Students work in partnership with AI, using it intensively as a collaborator. Students provide a rationale for AI use, ensure their own original thinking remains central, and maintain academic integrity through clearly citing AI involvement.

Compliance

California law this curriculum supports.

Every lesson in this curriculum is compatible with California's existing legal framework for student AI use, data privacy, and digital citizenship. This is not a legal review — consult your district's legal counsel for compliance determinations.

Ed Code §33548

AI Literacy Definition

Establishes AI literacy as knowledge, skills, and attitudes about how AI works, its limitations, and its ethical considerations. This curriculum's six strands directly address each dimension.

AB 2876

AI Literacy in Frameworks

Requires consideration of AI literacy in math, science, and history-social science frameworks. This curriculum's cross-disciplinary integration (especially Grades 8-12) directly supports implementation.

SB 243

Companion Chatbot Safeguards

Establishes guardrails for AI companion chatbots interacting with minors. Grade 6 "Chatting Safely" and Grade 9 "Red Flags in AI-Mediated Relationships" prepare students to recognize required disclosures and safety protocols.

AB 1584 / Ed Code §49073.1

Student Data in Contracts

Protects student data in vendor contracts. Grade 7 "Big, Big Data" and Grade 8 "Being Aware of What You Share" build student awareness of their own data rights.

FERPA / COPPA / PPRA

Federal Privacy Laws

Covered throughout the Privacy, Safety & Data strand. Grade 4 "Private, Personal, Public" and Grade 10 "Risk Check for New Tech" emphasize student rights to inspect, correct, and opt out.

CIPA / CA AB 873

Online Safety Education

Mandates online safety instruction. Every K-8 Privacy, Safety & Data lesson is explicitly designed to satisfy these instructional requirements.

How the strands map to CDE focus areas — The CDE guidance emphasizes five pillars: AI literacy for students, AI literacy for educators, academic integrity and responsible use, data privacy and procurement, and curriculum standards alignment. This curriculum directly addresses pillars 1, 3, 4 (student-facing dimensions), and 5; pillar 2 is supported through the Teacher Resources and facilitator notes in each lesson. Districts adopting this curriculum should pair it with local PD addressing the educator-literacy and procurement dimensions.

Common Sense Media Alignment

Built on the foundation of Common Sense.

This curriculum is deeply aligned with the Common Sense Media Digital Literacy & Well-Being Curriculum, the gold standard for K-8 digital citizenship. Every K-8 lesson in this curriculum pairs with specific Common Sense lessons, and our Grades 9-12 extend the arc where Common Sense stops.

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH COMMON SENSE

Complementary, not competitive.

Common Sense Media provides 157 free, research-backed, classroom-tested K-8 lessons organized across 6 topic areas. Their lessons are often shorter (15-20 min), game- and video-driven, and produced with exceptional polish. Our curriculum builds on their foundation in three ways:

K-8 lesson-level tie-ins. Every K-8 lesson in our curriculum lists specific Common Sense lessons that pair with it — so teachers can swap, combine, or reinforce.
The AI Foundations strand. Common Sense's AI Literacy lessons are woven into their other topic areas; our sixth strand makes AI foundations their own deliberate learning thread with CSTA/AI4K12 alignment.
Grades 9-12 extension. Common Sense's K-8 progression stops at Grade 8. Our 9-12 lessons pick up where they leave off, extending every topic area into high-school-appropriate depth.

The Crosswalk

How Common Sense's 6 topics map to our 6 strands.

Common Sense organizes lessons by topic area. We organize by strand. The two taxonomies line up almost perfectly — with one deliberate addition.

Common Sense Topic	Our Strand	Relationship
Healthy Habits	Digital & Media Balance	Direct 1:1 mapping. Both cover wellbeing, screen time, focus, sleep, and healthy relationships with devices.
Privacy & Safety	Privacy, Safety & Data	Direct 1:1 mapping. Our strand adds explicit coverage of AI training data and California-specific legal framing (SB 243, AB 1584).
Digital Footprint & Identity	Identity & Digital Footprint	Direct 1:1 mapping. Our strand adds explicit AI-augmented identity (deepfakes, AI-generated content about others) in Grades 8+.
Relationships & Communication	Communication & Relationships	Direct 1:1 mapping. Our strand adds AI chatbots, AI companions, and AI-mediated relationships from Grade 6 on.
Cyberbullying & Online Harms	Woven across strands (primarily Communication & Identity)	We treat cyberbullying as a dimension of communication and identity rather than a separate strand. Upstander skills, deepfake response, and harm repair appear in both our Communication and Identity strands.
Information & Media Literacy	Information Literacy & AI Evaluation	Direct mapping, with heavy AI integration. Our strand extends Common Sense's media literacy foundation with SIFT, C2PA provenance standards, and AI-content detection.
— (not in Common Sense)	AI Foundations & Ethical Creation	New. Our sixth strand makes AI foundations a deliberate learning thread using AI4K12's Five Big Ideas (Perception, Representation & Reasoning, Learning, Natural Interaction, Societal Impact). Common Sense weaves AI literacy into their other topics; we also give it its own strand.

Lesson-Level Alignment

The K-8 tie-ins at a glance.

Every K-8 lesson in our curriculum lists specific Common Sense Media lessons teachers can use to reinforce, swap, or combine with our lesson. Click any lesson in the Lessons section to see its tie-ins.

54

K-8 Lessons With Tie-Ins

140+

Common Sense Lessons Referenced

6

Topic Areas Mapped

24

9-12 Lessons Extending K-8 Arc

Where Common Sense Stops, We Continue

Extending the arc through Grades 9-12.

Common Sense Media's Digital Literacy & Well-Being curriculum covers Grades K-8. Their separate Digital Citizenship curriculum offers some 9-12 content, but the new K-8 framework doesn't extend. Our 9-12 lessons pick up each thread with age-appropriate depth — from the Attention Economy at Grade 7 to mock Senate hearings on tech addiction at Grade 11.

HEALTHY HABITS → DIGITAL & MEDIA BALANCE

K-8 foundation: self-awareness, device-free moments, design tricks

Our 9-12 extension: personal media metaphors (G9), hypothesis-driven mood/use studies with real research (G10), mock Senate hearings on addiction-by-design (G11), evidence synthesis posters for younger students (G12).

PRIVACY & SAFETY → PRIVACY, SAFETY & DATA

K-8 foundation: PII, phishing, social engineering, facial recognition

Our 9-12 extension: structured privacy debates (G9), risk frameworks for new AI tools (G10), Data Bill of Rights drafting (G11), Supreme Court simulations on privacy vs. security (G12).

DIGITAL FOOTPRINT & IDENTITY → IDENTITY & DIGITAL FOOTPRINT

K-8 foundation: digital trails, curated self, viral posts, deepfakes

Our 9-12 extension: ethics continua for AI-generated content about others (G9), AI-augmented personas and filter standards (G10), professional footprint audits with 90-day plans (G11), purpose-aligned public bio design (G12).

RELATIONSHIPS & COMMUNICATION → COMMUNICATION & RELATIONSHIPS

K-8 foundation: parasocial relationships, AI chatbots & friendship, boundaries

Our 9-12 extension: red-flag analysis for AI-mediated relationships (G9), rubrics for healthy relationship types including AI (G10), code-switching ethics and AI ghostwriting (G11), civil communication projects in contentious spaces (G12).

CYBERBULLYING & ONLINE HARMS → WOVEN THROUGHOUT

K-8 foundation: upstander skills, MEND-ing, de-escalation, deepfakes & consent

Our 9-12 extension: integrated throughout Identity (G9 ethics of AI-generated content), Communication (G9 AI relationship red flags), and Information (G8+ disinformation, content farms). Not a separate strand but addressed with equal rigor.

INFORMATION & MEDIA LITERACY → INFORMATION LITERACY & AI EVALUATION

K-8 foundation: SIFT, lateral reading, filter bubbles, AI algorithms, deepfakes

Our 9-12 extension: provenance forensics with C2PA (G9), risk evaluation of emerging AI tools (G10), follow-the-money economics of AI content farms (G11), personal epistemic diet design as a lifelong framework (G12).

Important note — This curriculum is not officially endorsed by, affiliated with, or a product of Common Sense Media. Common Sense Media is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose framework and research inform our work. If you use this curriculum, we strongly encourage you to also visit commonsense.org/education directly — their lessons, videos, and materials are unmatched and free to educators.

Wayground · Optional Subscription Resource

Interactive AI Literacy activities on Wayground.

Wayground hosts a curated catalog of 60+ AI Literacy activities for K-12 teachers — interactive presentations, videos, passages, and assessments. Where they pair naturally with our lessons, we've added them as optional tie-ins. Many Wayground activities are co-developed with Common Sense Media (marked with ⭐️).

PLEASE NOTE

Wayground requires a paid subscription.

This curriculum is open and free under CC BY 4.0. Wayground tie-ins are an optional supplement for teachers and districts that already have a Wayground subscription. Every lesson in this curriculum stands on its own without Wayground access — these are bonus pairings, not requirements. The free Common Sense Media tie-ins are the primary external resource recommendation.

Wayground's Framework

Five AI Literacy focus areas.

Wayground organizes its AI Literacy activities around five foundational content areas. These map closely to our six strands and to AI4K12's Five Big Ideas.

01

Understand AI Principles

How AI works under the hood — training data, pattern recognition, machine learning. Our AI Foundations strand directly addresses this through every grade band.

02

Direct AI Effectively

Prompt engineering — how to talk to AI systems to get useful, accurate output. Featured in our Information Literacy strand at Grade 5+ ("Generative AI: Magic or Math?") and Grades 10-11 prompt design.

03

Evaluate AI Outputs

Critical evaluation of AI-generated content — accuracy, relevance, clarity, fairness. Our CA Alignment page includes the CDE's 4-point AI Output Evaluation Rubric for exactly this purpose.

04

Explore AI Uses

Where and how AI shows up in everyday life and across domains. Our Grade 4 "AI Has Jobs Everywhere" lesson and Grade 11 "Natural Interaction" lesson directly address this.

05

Use AI Responsibly

Ethics, integrity, and judgment in personal AI use. Our CA Alignment page includes the CDE's 5-Level AI Assistance Rubric for setting clear classroom expectations.

Lesson-Level Pairings

By the numbers.

34

Lessons With Wayground Tie-Ins

60+

Wayground Activities Referenced

5

AI Literacy Focus Areas

⭐

Common Sense Co-Developed

Activity Types

Four Wayground activity formats.

Each Wayground activity is one of four formats. Lesson tie-ins note which format each pairing is, so teachers can quickly find what fits their class flow.

▶

Presentation

Slide-based lessons students walk through, often with embedded reflection prompts and click-to-reveal explanations.

🎬

Video

Short-form video lessons, often paired with reflection or comprehension questions students answer as they watch.

📖

Passage

Reading-based activities where students engage with a text and answer evidence-based questions to demonstrate understanding.

✓

Assessment

Quiz-style or sorting-style activities students complete to demonstrate mastery of an AI literacy concept.

Important note — This curriculum is not officially endorsed by, affiliated with, or a product of Wayground. Where Wayground activities pair naturally with our lessons, we list them as optional resources for districts with subscriptions. Visit wayground.com directly to learn more about their full catalog and subscription model.

Implementation Guide

Putting it into practice.

This curriculum is designed to be flexible and teachable within existing schedules. Below are recommendations for cadence, assessment, professional development, and family engagement.

Cadence

One 15-30 minute lesson per strand, per year. Six lessons per year per grade. Lessons can be bundled into a 2-week October focus, monthly rotations, or integrated into ELA and advisory periods.

Professional Development

Two annual PD sessions: (1) August kickoff introducing the year's lessons, (2) Mid-year AI-literacy deep dive. Each lesson plan is designed to be self-contained — teachers can pick up any plan and run it with minimal prep.

Family Engagement

Each lesson includes a family connection activity. Quarterly parent nights cover key topics (screen-time, privacy, AI, deepfakes). Multilingual handouts for every lesson.

Assessment

Every lesson includes formative checks. Grade-level portfolio pieces (K, 5, 8, 12) serve as summative benchmarks. No high-stakes testing — this is a dispositions and skills curriculum, not a content-memorization one.

Standards Alignment

ISTE Standards for Students (2.0), CSTA K-12 CS Standards, AI4K12 Five Big Ideas, California Health Education Framework, CCSS ELA & Math, CASEL SEL Competencies. CIPA and AB 873 compliant.

Review Cycle

AI and technology change fast. This curriculum is reviewed annually for the AI strand, biennially for all strands. Teacher feedback drives revisions. A living curriculum, not a frozen one.

Built with AI, for the AI era. The "Adapt This Lesson" feature on every lesson uses Claude AI to help teachers quickly generate differentiated versions — shorter, longer, more ELL support, more challenge, or any custom request. This isn't just a curriculum about AI; it's one that models responsible, teacher-led AI use.