Provided as a framework for use in curriculum development are Arkansas' course content guides for the intermediate elementary grades four, five, and six. At each grade level, language arts, mathematics, reading, social studies, and science skills have been identified at three instructional levels: basic, developmental, and extensional. Basic skills are those which all students must master. They also include the skills on which Arkansas' Minimum Performance Test items are based. Developmental skills are those beyond basic which should be introduced and taught by teachers, but not necessarily mastered by all learners. Often developmental skills at one grade level are basic skills at a later grade or in an advanced course. Extensions, which stress higher order thinking, processing, and problem solving skills, suggest ways teachers can broaden student learning at a given grade level without introducing additional basic skills from subsequent grade levels. When required by the nature of the subject, skills are sequenced by grade. (RH)