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Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: Amplify CKLA Skills | ELA
Product Notes
Amplify CKLA K-2 Skills Readers have been redesigned to increase student engagement and a sense of connection with the decodable stories and their characters. Stories with human characters have improved diversity, inclusivity, and authenticity, while others have fantastical creatures to bring more excitement and whimsy to the tales. For all units, Student Reader thumbnail images in the © 2022 Teacher Guides and illustrations in the © 2022 Activity Books have changed. Please note these revisions have been reviewed and verified by EdReports. No additional changes have been made to the curriculum.
ELA K-2
The instructional materials reviewed for Core Knowledge Language Arts Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 meet the criteria for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. The instructional materials use a synthetic approach to phonics. Materials include a scope and sequence that clearly delineates an intentional sequence in which phonological and phonics skills are to be taught. Instructional materials include explicit instruction in letter identification and formation and provide instruction in general concepts of print. Materials provide systematic and explicit instructions for phonological awareness and frequent student practice opportunities (K-1). Instructional materials include consistent systematic and explicit instruction in phonics skills with repeated teacher modeling across all Skills in the Teacher Guide. The materials provide frequent opportunities for students to decode phonetically spelled words using phonemes and/or syllables. The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction and modeling to demonstrate the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks through dictation work. Instructional materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words through Tricky Word instruction. Materials include frequent and explicit instruction of word analysis strategies as well as explicit instruction for decoding familiar words. Materials include limited opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency using grade-level text in the form of decodable readers. Materials include decodable readers that align to the phonics and high-frequency word scope and sequence. Materials also regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate student progress toward mastery of all foundational skills.
Kindergarten
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
1st Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
2nd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
Report for 2nd Grade
Alignment Summary
Instructional materials include consistent systematic and explicit instruction in phonics skills with repeated teacher modeling across all Skills in the Teacher Guide. The materials provide frequent opportunities for students to decode phonetically spelled words using phonemes and/or syllables. The materials provide explicit practice for decoding phonetically regular words in sentences through decodable readers and activity pages that align with the phonics skills in the lesson. The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction and modeling to demonstrate the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks through dictation work. Instructional materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words through Tricky Word instruction. Materials include frequent and explicit instruction of word analysis strategies as well as explicit instruction for decoding familiar words. Materials include limited opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency using grade-level text in the form of decodable readers. The Grade 2 materials provide opportunities over the course of the year for students to gain oral reading fluency.
Usability (Gateway 2)
Overview of Gateway 1
Alignment to Standards and Research-Based Practices for Foundational Skills Instruction
Instructional materials include consistent systematic and explicit instruction in phonics skills with repeated teacher modeling across all Skills in the Teacher Guide. The materials provide frequent opportunities for students to decode phonetically spelled words using phonemes and/or syllables. The materials provide explicit practice for decoding phonetically regular words in sentences through decodable readers and activity pages that align with the phonics skills in the lesson. The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction and modeling to demonstrate the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks through dictation work. Instructional materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words through Tricky Word instruction. Materials include frequent and explicit instruction of word analysis strategies as well as explicit instruction for decoding familiar words. Materials include limited opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency using grade-level text in the form of decodable readers. The Grade 2 materials provide opportunities over the course of the year for students to gain oral reading fluency.
Criterion 1.1: Phonics
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonics.
Instructional materials include consistent systematic and explicit instruction in phonics skills with repeated teacher modeling across all Skills in the Teacher Guide. The materials provide frequent opportunities for students to decode phonetically spelled words using phonemes and/or syllables. The materials provide explicit practice for decoding phonetically regular words in sentences through decodable readers and activity pages that align with the phonics skills in the lesson. The Grade 2 materials have daily student practice beginning for building, manipulating, and spelling grade-level appropriate words. The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction and modeling to demonstrate the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks through dictation work.
Indicator 1F
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials to emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling.
Materials include consistent systematic and explicit instruction in phonics skills with repeated teacher modeling across all Skills in the Teacher Guide. The program includes scripted information and examples for the teacher and additional supports for students throughout phonics instruction. Phonics instruction includes oral and written practice with both encoding and decoding opportunities. While materials include the majority of Grade 2 standard, opportunities are missed for students to learn to decode words with common prefixes.
Materials contain explicit instruction for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of most grade-level standards. Examples include:
- Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 2, the teacher introduces the vowel o_e. The teacher begins by writing the word stone on the board and reads it aloud. The teacher points out that the spelling in stone is similar to the /ae/ and /ie/ spelling reviewed in the previous lesson with the letters for the o_e being separated. The teacher explains that even though the sounds are separated, they work together to make the /oe/ sound.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 1, after reviewing /a/ and /ae/ in words, the teacher tells students that they will learn additional spellings for the /ae/ sound, which are a, ai, and ay. The teacher asks students for words with the /ae/ sound, and the teacher writes the words and circles the /ae/ spelling for students to see.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 3, the teacher introduces the spelling e for the sound /ea/. The teacher begins by reminding students that they learned that ea can say /ee/, but that today they will learn that ea says /e/. The teacher reminds students that they have already learned many words with the e spelling for /e/ like pet. The teacher holds up various words with ea spellings and has students read the words and identify the spelling for e.
- Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 2, the teacher introduces the /oe/ and /ue/ sound using the Vowel Code Flip Book. The teacher writes the word stone on the board and explains “the vowel sound in stone is /oe/. The teacher points out, “the spelling for the vowel sound in stone is similar to the spelling for /ae/ and /ie/ reviewed in the last lesson, the two letters for the spelling are separated.” The teacher explains that “even though the ‘o’ and the ‘e’ are separated, they work together to stand for the /oe/ sound. The spelling ‘o_e’ is a separated digraph.” The teacher circles the spelling in stone, saying the sound, then points to each spelling sound in stone while saying each sound.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 8, the teacher explains that students will learn a new spelling for the sound /oa/, which is the spelling o. The teacher writes the word open on the board and points out that the o is at the end of a syllable. The teacher is told to explain that “when the letter ‘o’ comes at the end of a syllable, it represents the /oe/ sound.”
- In Skills 6, Lesson 3, the teacher uses the Vowel Code Flip Book to introduce the spelling ea. The teacher points out the /ee/ branch on the Spelling Tree and reminds students they know the ea spelling can stand for /ee/, as in eagle, beast, mean,easy, scream, and Easter. Students read existing ea words on the /ee/ Spelling Tree. The teacher explains that today "students will learn a new sound that ‘ea’ can represent: the ‘ea’ spelling for /e/. Remind students that they have already learned many words in which the spelling ‘e’ is /e/, as in pet, get, and set."
- Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 2, students read two-syllable words. The teacher writes the word bakeshop on the board and models covering the second part of the word with a finger and reads the first word. The teacher covers the first word and reads the second word before reading the whole word.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 3, students learn that a can make the /ae/ sound. The teacher explains that /ae/ occurs when the words are two-syllables and the a is at the end of the first syllable or stands alone in the syllable. The teacher helps the students see the space between the syllables to know how to read the word. Some of the words students read include caper, taking, wager, and baker.
- Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes. While there are opportunities for students to read and encode words with suffixes, there are no opportunities for students to read and encode words with prefixes. The program identifies that prefixes, suffixes, and root words are studied in greater depth in Grade 3. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, the teacher explains how to add the suffix -ing to one syllable words with a short vowel sound and ends in a consonant and that the consonant doubled before adding -ing.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 15, students learn to decode words with the common suffix -tion. The teacher writes tion on the board and gives the pronunciation and tells students it is often added to the end of words. The teacher writes the words action, section, portion, function, fiction, and emotion on the board. The teacher has students help circle the /shen/ sound, and the teacher points out that the -tion is a separate syllable. The teacher helps students out if they are having trouble sounding out these words by chunking the words into syllables. The teacher tells students that adding -tion to a word usually signals a noun.
- Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences. Examples include:
- In Skills 4, Lesson 3, the teacher introduces the sound /i/ spelled with a y. The teacher reminds students that they learned that y says /y/ but that today they will learn a new sound. The teacher asks students for any words they can think of where y says /i/.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 9, teacher modeling is provided for the tricky spelling ow including that the spelling occurs at the end of the word.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 1, the teacher introduces the spelling ph for the sound /f/. The teacher writes the word phone on the board and has students read it and discusses that the ph says /f/. The teacher writes words on the board and circles the spellings that stand for /f/. The class reads each word together, and the teacher points out that the ph spelling for /f/ can occur at the beginning, middle, or end of a word.
Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade- level phonics pattern. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Activity 10.2, students find the er spelling in each sentence, circle the word, and then write the word on the line.
- In Skills 4, Activity 2.2, students read r-controlled vowel words to determine the best fit for the sentence, and write the word to complete the sentence.
Indicator 1G
Materials include daily practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.
The materials provide frequent opportunities for students to decode phonetically spelled words using phonemes and/or syllables. Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills, while also providing review opportunities to connect with previously learned grade level phonics skills. The materials utilize a variety of methods for students to practice their phonics skills. Decodable readers give students the ability to apply phonics in continuous texts, while other areas of the lesson break decoding down into isolated words. Student activity pages give students the opportunity to practice both in isolation and in continuous text.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode (phonemes and/or syllables) phonetically spelled words.
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, students are reminded that words can be broken into chunks called syllables. Students read two-syllable words by reading each syllable separately and then blending the word together. Words include basket, catfish, himself, suntan, dustpan, bandit, picnic, and invent.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 4, students choose the correct decoding of words divided into syllables two ways such as choosing lab/el or la/bel.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 4, students decode adjectives that have suffix -ous. Words for practice include monstrous, disastrous, nervous, chivalrous, enormous, generous, boisterous, hideous, and jealous.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 17, students play the baseball game. The class is divided into two teams, and each team takes a “turn at bat.” A student picks up a card from the pile and reads it. If they read it correctly, their “bat” is recorded on a baseball diamond. Play continues and the team proceeds through the “inning” as long as no words are misread.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 12, students get additional support reading r-controlled words in the game “Race Against the Clock.” Students are given a set of word cards and have a specific number of time to read the word cards. The teacher can select the words based on each individual student.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 2, students read the text, “The Spelling Bee.” Prior to reading, students review words with the spellings ay and ai. Words include Gail, chair, airplane, and Sunday.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 4, students read “All’s Well that Ends Well.” The story includes practice with words with the spellings ou and o_e. Words for practice include country, nervously, young, touched, generous, glove, and come.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 13, students read words aloud as a class that have the schwa + l sound. Words include model, tunnel, middle, and simple.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 1, students read words with the /f/ sound spelled ph in Activity Page 1.1. The class reads the words aloud, circles the /f/ spelling in each word, and then reads the word again.
Materials contain opportunities for students to review previously learned grade-level phonics. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 12, students read “The Chicken Nugget,” which contains words with double letter spellings, which is a phonics skill reviewed in the lesson. Words included in the text with double letter spellings are nugget and sniff.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 9, students decode words with previously taught sound patterns of ‘oi’, ‘oy’, and ‘ow’. Words include: join, enjoy, frowned, house, coins, how, and south.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 2, students review the spellings for the /er/ sound. Students circle the spelling for the /er/ before reading the word aloud. Words include servant, sunburn, stirrup, murder, blackbird, modern, and interest.
Materials contain a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught phonics. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 2, students review magic e in a pop out chaining activity. The teacher writes a CVC word on the board such as cut and then the teacher adds the e. The students read the new word cute.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 18, students read and act out Wiggle Cards. Phrases on the Wiggle Cards include: pretend to be a donkey, act like you’re playing hockey, and point at your kidneys.
Indicator 1H
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials that promote frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
The materials provide explicit practice for decoding phonetically regular words in sentences through decodable readers and activity pages that align with the phonics skills in the lesson.
Materials provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 4, prior to reading, the teacher reviews with students how to break unknown words into syllables. The teacher reminds the students to cover the second syllable of a word, while they read the first syllable, and then cover the first syllable while reading the second syllable before blending the word together.
- In Skills 5, in the Introduction, it states, “In the Reader lessons for this unit, you will notice a decrease in the number of individual words and spellings reviewed in isolation for decoding purposes immediately before students read the story. This decrease is intentional and represents a very gradual process in which students will assume increasing responsibility and independence in reading texts.”
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words in a sentence. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 1, students read the decodable text “Kate Visits Nan” and sentences include, “But in the end, I had a lot of fun.”
- In Skills 1, Activity Page 1.2, students read the decodable questions and answer choices, written in sentences. Sentences include,“What will Kate do on the trip? Kate will swing, slide, and run. Kate will hike, cook outside, and sleep in a tent. Kate will fly a kite.”
- In Skills 4, Lesson 1, students read questions on Activity Page 1.2 to be able to answer yes or no. For example, students read, “Can a dog chirp with joy?”
- In Skills 5, Activity Page 5.4, students read the decodable questions and answer choices, written in sentences. Sentences include, “Where does Sir Gus go when the rest of the knights ride off to find the troll? Sir Gus goes to the shed to find a weapon. Sir Gus goes to the barn to find a horse. Sir Gus goes to the kitchen to get a snack.”
Indicator 1I
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials include daily practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics, including common and newly-taught sound and sound patterns.
The Grade 2 materials have daily student practice beginning for building, manipulating, and spelling grade-level appropriate words. Materials include explicit instruction, as well as background information for the teacher to use. Students are provided with opportunities to build, manipulate, spell, and encode common and newly-taught grade level phonics through chaining activities, dictation activities, and Student Activity pages.
The materials contain teacher-level instruction/modeling for building, manipulating, spelling, and encoding words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns of phonics. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Less 1, the teacher models a think-aloud strategy for a spelling chaining activity. The word is at and the teacher says, “First I have to say and listen to the sounds: /a/.../t/. There are two sounds in the word at. I’ll need to write a spelling for each of these sounds. So first I will write the spelling or letter for /a/ because it is the first sound. Then I will write the spelling or letter for /t/ because it is the next sound.”
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, the teacher tells students that “today you are going to focus on some spellings for consonant sounds found mostly at the beginning of words.” The teacher writes kn on the board and reminds students that kn says /n/. The teacher says, “When we see the letters ‘k’ and ‘n’ side by side like this, we recognize they make up a single spelling and we say /n/.”
- In Skills 2, Lesson 8, in a Teacher Chaining activity the teacher writes oil on the board and reads the word aloud. The teacher asks, “If this is oil, how would I write boil?” The teacher can add the b to create the word boil or have a student go to the board and change the spelling to create boil. The teacher reminds students that although vowel digraphs include multiple letters they represent one sound and only count as one change in the chaining activity. Words in the activity include: coin, join, joint, and pout, bout, boot.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 18, in a Language activity, the teacher reminds students they have learned three ways to change singular nouns into plural nouns. The teacher writes dog on chart paper and asks students how they would turn dog into a plural word and writes dogs by dog and underlines the -s. The teacher writes box, asking students how they would change it into a plural word and writes boxes next to box, underling -es. The teacher models using the word butterfly ending in y to write the plural butterflies going through all of the steps aloud. The teacher models changing supply into the plural word supplies, asking students for the spelling rule to change supply to the plural word form. The teacher models changing play into the plural form plays and tells students that whenever y is preceded by a vowel they only need to add -s to create the plural word. The teacher writes the words provided on the board and asks students if the y needs to be changed to make the plural word.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build, manipulate, spell, and encode words in isolation based in common and newly-taught phonics patterns. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 1, students use a magic e card to change short vowel words that are written on the board into long vowel words. Words for encoding practice include mad-made, tap-tape, and cap-cape.
- In Skills 1, Lesson 3, students write words that the teacher says in their dictation journals. The teacher says the word, uses it in a sentence, and then says the word one more time. Words include: jog, hop, top.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 1, in a Teacher Chaining activity students practice reading words created by the teacher by changing, taking away, or adding a letter or sound to create new words. Students segment and blend the word at, then read ad as the teacher takes the t away and changes it to d. Words included in the activity are: pit, pat, bat and tad, bad, bat.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 3, students read and sort words by spelling and place the correct words in the proper column for words with the /a/ spelled with a and the /ae/ sound spelled a, a_e, ai, ay. Students write each word in the appropriate sound spelling column on Activity Page 3.1. Twenty words are provided on the sheet to be sorted and written by the students.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 14, the teacher reminds students of the new sound they learned /ee/ spelled i. Students are guided through a Spelling Tree activity where they sort sound i as /ee/, /ie/, /i/. Students complete Activity page 14.2 where they write the correct spelling in the sentences provided. Words include: igloo, media, item, impossible, chilly, chili, medium, violin, piano, curious, spaghetti, India.
Indicator 1J
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials that promote application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks. (mid K-Grade 2)
The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction and modeling to demonstrate the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks through dictation work. The program provides students with frequent activities and tasks to promote application of phonics to encode words in phrases or sentences based on common and previously taught phonics patterns.
Materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of teacher modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, the Introduction states that simple dictation exercises are in each lesson. It tells teachers to encourage students to actively and openly refer to their Individual Code Charts if needed. It states that after the dictation, the teacher should go over and model the correct spelling for each word while students write the correct spelling next to it.
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, the teacher models how to add suffix -ing to the word rub. The scripting provided says, “Rub has one syllable. Let’s look to see if it has a short vowel in it. Yes, the ‘u’ in rub is a short vowel. Does rub end in a single consonant? Yes ‘b’ is a single consonant.” The teacher explains that because rub has only one syllable, a short vowel, and ends in a consonant, the consonant b is doubled before adding - ing. The teacher writes the word on the board, circles the root word and underlines the suffix before students practice this skill.
Lessons provide students with frequent activities and tasks to promote application of phonics as they encode words in sentences or in phrases based on common and newly taught phonics patterns. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 1, students complete a dictation activity in their dictation journal. The teacher says a word, uses it in a sentence and says it one more time before students write the word. Words include bat, pad, and tap.
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, students answer questions about the decodable story “The Chicken Nugget” in writing.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 10, students complete Activity Page 10.3 by creating sentences with words that contain the er spelling such as flower and later.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 13, students answer the question in writing, “Who do you expect to win the race?” after reading “The Big Race.”
- In Skills 5, Lesson 2, students complete Activity Page 2.2 by filling in the blank by completing sentences with words that contain alternative spelling of o and u for /u/.
Criterion 1.2: Word Recognition and Word Analysis
Instructional materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words through the Tricky Word instruction. The materials include the opportunity to read grade-level high-frequency words in sentences and to write words in tasks to promote automaticity. Materials include frequent and explicit instruction of word analysis strategies as well as explicit instruction for decoding familiar words.
Indicator 1K
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and practice opportunities of high-frequency words to develop automaticity.
Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words through the Tricky Word instruction. Tricky words are explicitly taught, modeled, and practiced in isolation and in context. The materials provide opportunity to review previously taught Tricky Words as well.
Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of irregularly spelled words. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 22, the teacher goes over the words there, said, and says. For each word, the teacher reads the word and discusses what part of the word is read as expected and which part is tricky and then provides the students with a sentence that has the word.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 6, the teacher reviews the Tricky Words are, were, and, some. The teacher discusses the expected pronunciation of the word and the tricky part of the word.
Materials include frequent opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of irregularly spelled words in isolation. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 12, the teacher models reading previously taught tricky words of was, of, and a.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 2, before reading the chapter, the teacher models how to read the words before and always. For example, the teacher explains the /or/ sound in before spelled ore.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 11, the teacher pre-teaches the Tricky Words ghost and again before reading a story. The Teacher’s Guide says, “Students might think the ‘gh’ in ghost would be pronounced /g/ /h/, but these letters stand for the /g/ sound. Students might think the ‘ai’ in again would be pronounced /ae/, but in this word, these letters stand for the /e/ sound.”
- In Skills 6, Lesson 5, the teacher models and reviews sound spelling patterns for Tricky Words and identifies common errors. The teacher begins with the words Great Britain. The teacher begins with the word great and explains that students might think to pronounce it the ea as /ee/ but the ea actually says /ae/. Other words in this lesson include Europe, native, American, and war. For each of these, the teacher explains how students might pronounce it and what the correct pronunciation is.
Students practice identifying and reading irregularly spelled words in isolation. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 11, students complete a review of Tricky Words on flash cards by reading the words in isolation.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 1, students practice reading and identifying 20 words from a list of 53 high-frequency words in a game of Word Baseball.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 19, in a baseball game with words, students practice identifying and reading words with the schwa sound, which was studied in Skills 5. High-frequency words in the list include about, around, along, animal, and little.
Materials include a sufficient quantity of new grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words for students to make reading progress. According to Appendix B, students review and learn the following words:
- In Skills 1, in Appendix B, a Grade 2 Scope and Sequence is provided, which lists the 44 Tricky Words taught in Skills Units as follows:
- Skills 1: he, she, we, be, me, the, was, of, a, do, down, how, to, what, where, why, from, once, one, two, could, would, should, there, said, says, word
- Skills 2: you, your, street, my, by, have, all, who, no, go, so, are, were, some, they, their
- Skills 3-5: students review all previously taught Tricky Words.
Indicator 1L
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to provide frequent practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences).
The materials include the opportunity to read grade-level high frequency words in sentences and to write words in tasks to promote automaticity. A Word Wall is built collaboratively by the students using the Tricky Words, and students use this tool throughout the year to support their reading and writing of high-frequency words.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read grade-level irregularly spelled words in a sentence. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, on Take-Home Activity Page 12.3, students read the Tricky Words in the box at the top of the page. The students put those words into sentences with blanks, and the students read the completed sentence. The Tricky Words are the, a, he, she and be.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 1, the Tricky Words I, you, your, and street are pre-taught prior to reading the decodable “Mike’s Bedtime.” These words are found throughout the text in sentences such as, “Not if the sun is down and the street lamp is on.” and “What if I tell you a bedtime tale?”
- In Skills 3, the Introduction notes the Tricky word, minute, is introduced in the Reader and should be pre-taught before students read the decodable “The Math Contest.” This word is found throughout the text in sentences such as “Runner 1 runs a mile in six minutes. Runner 2 runs a mile in seven minutes.”
- In Skills 4, Lesson 3, the Tricky Words people, walk, and grown-up are pre-taught prior to reading the decodable “Brooklyn.” These words are found throughout the text in sentences such as “There were people walking here and there.”
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to write grade-level irregularly spelled words in tasks (such as sentences) in order to promote automaticity in writing grade-level irregularly spelled words. Examples include:
- In Skills 4, Activity Page 21.1, students read the Tricky Words in the box and write the best word from the box to complete a sentence. Words to use for sentence completion include, salty, false, caught, always, dawn, almanac, wallpaper, and walrus.
- In Skills 5, Activity Page 12.1, students choose the best word from the box to complete each sentence. Words to use for sentence completion include, about, China, around, Africa, appetite, Tennessee, love cousin, something and touch.
- In Skills 6, Activity 3.1, students fill in the blank with irregularly spelled words such as “Would you _________ butter on the toast?”
Materials provide repeated, explicit instruction in how to use student-friendly reference materials and resources of reading irregularly spelled words. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 11, the teacher writes the Tricky Words the, he, she, we, be, me on yellow index cards. The Teacher Guide states, “If space allows, allocate wall space somewhere in your classroom to start a Tricky Word Wall where you will display these Tricky Word cards.” In Lesson 20, the teacher uses the Tricky Word Wall to review the Tricky Words with the class. The directions say, “Have all students say the word, or call on individual students. Make a note of any students who appear to struggle or make errors.”
- In Skills 2, the teacher creates another word wall. One is for Tricky Words, and one is for decodable words. According to the Teacher Guide, “There will be times when you will move a word from the Tricky Word Wall over to the Decodable Word Wall or Spelling Tree. This will happen as spellings are reviewed.” It goes on to say that words in the Tricky Word Wall should be yellow and words in the Decodable Word Wall will be green.
Indicator 1M
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to explicitly teach word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis) based on the requirements of the standards and providing frequent practice opportunities for students to apply word analysis strategies.
Materials include frequent and explicit instruction of word analysis strategies as well as explicit instruction for decoding familiar words. Students have opportunities to apply word analysis strategies in isolated word-level activities in lessons and when completing activity pages.
Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g. phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis). Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, the teacher reviews two-syllable words. The teacher reminds students that words can be broken apart into chunks called syllables, and that a word has as many syllables as vowel sounds in it. The teacher models with words such as picnic, contest, upset, and himself.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 1, students learn the vowel sound /ae/. The teacher points out that the vowel sound in bake is a different kind of spelling. The teacher explains that even though the a and the e in bake are separated, they work together to stand for the /ae/ sound. This kind of spelling is called a separate digraph.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 10, students learn rules for changing words from singular nouns to plural nouns. Students learn that they add the suffix -es to words ending in ch, sh, ss, x, and z and that they change y to i and then add -es.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 13, students are given two or three syllable words, broken apart. The teacher points out that each syllable in each of the words ends in a consonant, so the syllables follow the CVC pattern and that the vowel is short because the syllable ends in a consonant. The teacher writes another set of words with an open syllable and points out that the first syllable in each word ends with a vowel so in the first syllable the vowel is long. The teacher tells students they are learning a new syllable pattern that ends in le. The teacher tells students that in these words the ending syllable has a consonant and then an le. Then students practice reading words such as single, handle, and gamble.
Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 5, students are asked to identify the vowel sound in the word book. They are asked, “if this is the same sound they hear in moon.” The teacher points out that the letters oo work together, as a digraph, or letter team, to stand for one sound in book. The teacher explains that oo can say /oo/ as in soon or /oo/ as in book.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 15, the teacher introduces the suffix -tion and tells students that it is pronounced /shen/ and is often added to the end of words. The teacher writes words on the board such as action, section and function, and the students circle the spelling for tion and read the word.
Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies. Examples include:
- In Skills 3, Lesson 2, students learn word spelling spellings ai and ay for the sound /ae/. Students participate in a Warm-up to review the /a/ sound and /ae/ sound. They practice with a word sort with words containing the spellings a_e, ai and ay. Students read “The Spelling Bee” and apply strategies to decode words with ai and ay.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 23, students learn tricky o spellings that say /oe/, /o/, and /u/. Students review a tricky o word chart with word sounds they have already learned. They read a story with tricky o words and point and count words with underlined tricky o spellings. Students sort words with a tricky o spelling.
Criterion 1.3: Decoding Accuracy, Decoding Automaticity and Fluency
Materials include limited opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency using grade-level text in the form of the decodable readers. The Grade 2 materials provide opportunities over the course of the year for students to gain oral reading fluency. Throughout the program, students have some opportunities to confirm or self-correct errors; however, limited instruction is provided.
Indicator 1O
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria that instructional opportunities are built into the materials and include systematic, evidence-based, explicit instruction in fluency (Grades 1-2).
Materials include limited opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency using grade-level text in the form of the decodable readers. While materials provide explicit instruction in expression, materials do not include explicit instruction in rate or accuracy. The materials provide opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of grade-level text by the teacher modeling reading and rereading the decodable texts.
Materials include limited opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements using grade-level text. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 15, the teacher tells students that they will be rereading a story, which is a time to work on fluency and that a fluent reader reads with expression and observes all punctuation marks.
- In Skills 1, Lesson 19, the teacher explains that rereading a story gives students an opportunity to increase their fluency and a fluent reader is not someone who races and speeds when reading. Instead, a fluent reader can read with expression and does not have to frequently stop to sound out words. The teacher asks if students remember the types of punctuation that can help them read with expression.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 5, the teacher writes an exclamation point on the board and asks students what the punctuation mark asks readers to do. The teacher explains that when they read today “Dwight’s Lights,” there will be exclamation marks and paragraphs with bold letters, which indicate that it should be read with emphasis.
Materials provide opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of grade-level text by a model reader. Examples include:
- There is a fluency packet that provides opportunities for students to hear fluent reading by a model reader. The teacher models reading aloud selections to students. The students can take home the selection to practice reading aloud throughout the week.
- In Skills 1, Lesson 11, the teacher writes the sentence, “Get up” on the board and reads it aloud. The teacher adds an exclamation point and reads the sentence with excitement to model for the students how the tone of the sentence changes with an exclamation point.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 5, students meet with a teacher in a small group, and the teacher models how to read the dialogue in quotations with a different voice for each character and encourages students to do the same.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 4, the teacher reads aloud the text, “America in 1812 , Part 1.” This is designed to support comprehension in the Knowledge section of the program.
Materials include a variety of resources for explicit instruction in fluency. Examples include:
- There is a fluency packet, which consists of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as Reader’s Theater selections. The selections are grouped by unit to relate to the topics of each Grade 2 Skills Unit reader.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 6, students review sounds with their related spelling alternatives in a chart and read the words. The teacher points out that, “accuracy is important, but so is speed when reading words quickly.”
Indicator 1P
Varied and frequent opportunities are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2 (once accuracy is secure).
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for varied and frequent opportunities that are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2 (once accuracy is secure).
The Grade 2 materials provide opportunities over the course of the year for students to gain oral reading fluency. Students engage in partner reading and repeated readings of grade-level text to practice oral reading fluency using the decodable readers. The materials include guidance and feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting student gains in oral reading fluency.
Varied, frequent opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to gain oral reading fluency. Examples include:
- The Grade 2 Materials include a Fluency Packet, containing poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and Reader’s Theater selections.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 2, students read “The Milk” with a partner.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 2, students read “The Spelling Bee” by taking turns reading aloud with a partner.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 4, there is an additional Activity Page, TR 4.1, to help students with oral reading. Students work in small groups and read the poem to one another orally.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 13, students read “The Letter” by taking turns reading aloud as a group. The teacher encourages students to read with expression.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 26, students read “The End of the War” with a partner.
Materials contain opportunities for students to participate in repeated readings of a grade-level text to practice oral reading fluency. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, students in Group 1 reread “The Chicken Nugget” aloud to the teacher, while Group 2 rereads the story with a partner by taking turns reading the story.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 9, students reread “The Hare and the Hedgehog” with a partner.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 9, students reread the text “The Subway.” The teacher asks students to demonstrate a loud sigh and encourages students to reread the text with expression.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 30, students reread “Francis Scott Key and the National Anthem.” Students reread the chapter with a partner, taking turns to read each page.
Materials include guidance and feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency. Examples include:
- The Program Guide encourages teachers to select relevant passages in the Fluency packet and model reading them aloud and then having students take home the texts to practice reading them aloud throughout the week. By the end of the week, students individually read the passages or perform a choral reading to demonstrate fluency.
- In Skills 1, Lesson 14, the teacher is advised to use the Anecdotal Reading Records to monitor the reading progress of the students. The teacher can track students needing additional support.
- In Skills 3, in the Assessment and Remediation Guide, it states “while is it beyond the scope of this Guide to provide detailed suggestions for improving fluency, the following best practices are highly recommended...such as modeling fluency reading aloud with expression and using punctuation for pauses, as well as providing opportunities for students to reread passages after corrective feedback."
Indicator 1Q
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for providing teacher guidance to support students as they confirm or self-correct errors (K-1) and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding (K-2).
Throughout the program, students have some opportunities to confirm or self-correct errors; however, limited instruction is provided. The majority of instruction is about individual sounds in words. Students have opportunities throughout the year to read for purpose and understanding.
Materials provide limited explicit lessons for the teacher in confirming and self-correcting errors in fluency. These lessons help students use context clues when a phoneme has multiple sounds. Examples include:
- In Skills 3, Lesson 13, the teacher tells students that “when they see an unfamiliar word with the ‘i’ spelling they should try pronouncing the ‘i’ as /i/ because /i/ is the most frequent pronunciation of ‘i’, and if it does not sound right or does not make sense in context, they should try /ie/.” However, students are not taught how to do this in context.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 23, the teacher has students read the story on Activity Page 23.1, one sentence at a time, sounding out words with tricky spelling and having them use context clues to help them determine the correct pronunciation of each word. However, no explicit instruction is provided in how to do this.
Materials provide some opportunities for students to practice using confirmation or self-correction of errors. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 15, students complete Activity Page 15.1 after reviewing the tricky spelling c for /s/ and /k/ sounds. Students read sentences and determine which way is the correct way to read the word.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 23, students read a story and use context clues to determine the correct pronunciation of words with the letter o that say /o/, /oe/, and /u/.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 23, students read the story on Activity Page 23.1, one sentence at a time, sounding out words with a tricky spelling and using context clues to help them determine the correct pronunciation of each word.
Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to read on-level texts for purpose and understanding. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 1, students read “Mike’s Bedtime” in order to name the main characters.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 2, students read “Morning” and are told to read the story to find out why Kim wants to get a summer job.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 2, students read “The Beginning” to find out if Sir Gus deserves the name Sir Gus the Fearless.
Overview of Gateway 2
Implementation, Support Materials & Assessment
Instructional materials include a Teacher Guide that facilitates foundational skill instruction through consistent written step-by-step directions and visuals. The materials also include an overview of the foundational skills taught at the grade level, with complete, detailed adult-level explanations. While the materials include well-designed, research-based lesson plans, the program cannot be completed in a typical school year. The materials include a coherent scope and sequence of phonics instruction that builds toward application of skills. The materials include decodable texts that align to the scope and sequence of phonics and high-frequency word instruction. Materials also regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate student progress toward mastery of all foundational skills. The materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching through Additional Support activities, which are included in every Skills lesson. Throughout the Teacher’s Guide, there is support for English Language Learners, which is found in sidebars throughout lessons. The Grade 2 digital materials, which include Teaching Guides, Activity Books, Readers, Big Books, Picture Readers, Sound Library, and the Assessment and Remediation Guides are compatible with multiple internet browsers, including FireFox, Safari, Explorer, and Google Chrome.
Criterion 2.1: Guidance for Implementation, Including Scope and Sequence
Instructional materials include a Teacher Guide that facilitates foundational skill instruction through consistent written step-by-step directions and visuals. The materials also include an overview of the foundational skills taught at the grade level, with complete, detailed adult-level explanations. While the materials include well-designed, research-based lesson plans, the program cannot be completed in a typical school year. The materials include a coherent scope and sequence of phonics instruction that builds toward application of skills.
Indicator 2A
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials contain a teacher edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The Teacher Guide helps facilitate foundational skills instruction via written step-by-step directions and visuals. Each lesson provides the teacher with explicit routines, timelines, materials, and assessments. There is a consistent lesson structure that starts with a warm-up, then moves into phonological awareness (environmental sounds), phonics, and then writing.
The materials provide a well-defined Teacher Guide for content presentation. Materials include a Table of Contents, Common Core Alignment, Primary Focus Objectives for each lesson, Formative Assessments, and a Lesson at a Glance. Grouping strategies and suggested times are provided. There is an Advance Preparation Chart to help the teacher prepare prior to the lesson. The Lesson at a Glance addresses word analysis and the tricky words that will be taught in the lesson.
The Teacher Guide also contains instructional routines that help the teacher effectively implement all foundational skills content. The teacher is regularly prompted to use picture readers, blending picture cards, a chaining folder, large letter cards, sound cards, small letter cards, and sounds posters. All lessons follow a similar routine as well. Lessons start with a Warm-Up. For example, in Skills 1, Lesson 13, students review the double-letter spellings using the Consonant Code Flip Book. Grade 2 materials include a fluency packet. Directions on how to utilize the fluency packet is addressed in the Unit 2 Teacher Guide.
Technology is provided to support and guide the teacher. For example, there is a sound library that is a resource that models the correct pronunciation of each sound. The teacher can sort the sounds by grade level or use the search feature.
Indicator 2B
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
The materials include an overview of the foundational skills taught at the grade level, with complete, detailed adult-level explanations. In the introduction to each unit there are explanations and rationales behind the instructional practices presented to students. Examples of each concept are provided along with additional information to help support the teacher in delivering the foundational skills lessons. Appendix A includes a detailed explanation of the Simple View of Reading, and it informs the program design. It has detailed explanations for the difference between sight words and tricky words.
Throughout the program there are complete, adult-level explanations for each foundational skill taught at the grade level. Each lesson includes a primary focus objective and the corresponding Common Core State Standard(s) are listed. The Teacher Guide introduction provides an overview of the lessons and skills taught throughout the unit. Some specific examples include:
- In Skills 1, the Teacher Guide introduces the skills taught throughout the unit. There is a list provided of spellings for consonant sounds that are reviewed rapidly. It explains that, “The list includes the basic code spelling for each consonant sound as well as some common spelling alternatives. When a sound can be spelled more than one way, we say it has spelling alternatives.” It goes on to explain the different ways to spell the /k/ sound.
- In Skills 4, the Teacher Guide introduction provides an overview of the lessons throughout the unit. The introduction states, “Unit 4 is devoted to introducing more spelling alternatives for vowel sounds and three tricky spellings. Remember vowel sounds and their spellings are the most challenging part of the English writing system. Only two vowel sounds are almost always spelled one way /a/ and /ar/. The other seventeen vowel sounds have at least one significant spelling alternative. Several of them have many spelling alternatives.”
- In Skills 5, the Teacher Guide explains that students will learn the different sounds y can make in a word. It is introduced as an /i/ sound as well as a /ie/ sound.
There are also detailed examples of the grade-level foundational skill concepts for the teachers. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 1, information is provided to the teacher about the activity Code Flip Book that reviews long and short vowels in one-syllable words. It states to, “Remind students that /a/ is a vowel sound. Explain that vowel sounds will always be written in green on the Spelling Cards because when we say a vowel, we open our mouths, letting the air go.”
- In Skills 4, Lesson 3, information about y as /y/ is provided in a note to the teacher. It says, “Today you will quickly review the basic code spelling of y as /y/ and will then introduce the letter /y/ as an alternative spelling for /i/.” It explains that, “the sound /i/ does not occur at the end of words. It is always followed by a consonant” and “the ‘i’ spelling is used at the beginning of a word (inch, interest) and in the middle of a word (swim, dish).”
Indicator 2C
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meets the criteria for foundational skills lessons to be well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Content can reasonably be completed within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
The materials include well-designed, research-based lesson plans, and the program can reasonably be completed in a typical school year. It is suggested that it will take 180-186 school days to complete the entire program. While the program should take 39 weeks to complete, there is an alternative calendar provided that gives the teacher details on how to complete the program in 37 weeks.
Lesson plans utilize an effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction. According to the National K-2 Program Guide, CKLA teaches the most frequent sound spellings first in order to maximize the words students can read and move them into engaging, well-written, decodable text. Lessons are multi-sensory, and each lesson starts with phonological awareness. The lesson moves from the auditory to the visual production of a sound with the teacher modeling before students form the sound.
The lessons include both whole group and small group instruction. According to the Program Guide, the teacher will “engage in direct instruction, particularly when new concepts, foundational skills, and content are introduced.” In addition, “small group and partner activities and discussions are used in short and longer sessions.”
The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans is clear and appropriate. The Program Guide suggested 60 minutes of instruction daily, with 2 - 3 pausing point days build in. CKLA provides the teacher with a calendar tool to assist in planning. Within each individual lesson, the time needed for each component is listed.
Indicator 2D
Indicator 2D.ii
Scope and sequence clearly delineate an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for scope and sequence to clearly delineate an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence.
The materials include a coherent scope and sequence of phonics that build toward application of skills. Through the research base and sequence of instruction, the program teaches the 150 spellings for the 44 sounds of the English language throughout the first three years of school. The scope and sequence can be found in the table of contents, the appendix, the Scope and Sequence document, and the Alignment Chart. Research is found in the Research Guide which explains the underlying reason for the order of instruction.
Materials clearly delineate a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction and practice to build toward application of skills. In the Resources, a Scope and Sequence of the Skills strand is identified for each grade level. The materials provide the scope and sequence, broken apart by the focus of each lesson, for each Unit in the Skills Strand. In addition, the Table of Contents for each Skills Teacher Guide provides a reference sequence of phonics instruction and activities in the lesson that build toward application of the skill. The following is the Grade 2 Scope & Sequence (note: in the Appendix B, which lists the Scope & Sequence, it is labeled as Unit instead of Skills):
- Unit 1: read and spell two syllable words with short vowels and spelling alternatives for /j/, /w/, /r/, and /n/.
- Unit 2: read one and two-syllable words with long vowels, r-controlled vowels, and vowel digraphs /oo/, /ou, and /oi/.
- Unit 3: read multisyllabic words with spelling alternatives for ai, ay, a, for /ae/, oa and o for /oe/, ie, and i for /ie/, ue and u for /ue/, and au for /aw/.
- Unit 4: read multisyllabic words with spelling alternatives for ir and ur for /er/, y for /i/, igh and y for /ie/, o, ow for /oe/, e, y, and ey for /ee/, and ai for /aw/.
- Unit 5: read multisyllabic words with schwa.
- Unit 6: read multisyllabic words with spelling alternatives for ph for /f/, ar and er for /er/, and ch for /k/.
Materials have a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence. Evidence of a clear research-based explanation include:
- “Research consistently demonstrates that explicit phonics instruction has important, lasting benefits to children’s reading accuracy, and this is one of the most emphasized aspects of phonics instruction for English language learners, as well as children struggling to learn reading (August et al., 2005, Brady, 2011; DeGraaff et al., 2009; Ehri et al., 2001; Torgesen, 2006; Torgesen et al., 2001; Vaughn, 2007).”
- It is important to include “a variety of features designed to minimize confusion and maximize practice and application of each sound spelling, consistent with research that such an approach leads to significant benefits in efficiency and in accuracy with children’s learning (Share, 1995; Torgesen, 2006; Torgesen et al., 2001; Ziegler and Goswami, 2005).”
- “Emphasizing the use of systematic, mastery-oriented practice that distinguishes the program from many other explicit phonics instructional programs...CKLA’s approach balances both the motivation and mastery aspects of practice (Carpenter et al., 2012., 2012; Cepeda et al., 2006; Gerbier and Toppino, 2015).”
- CKLA teaches “phonics and reading/writing fundamentals through an integrated system of assessment, general curriculum, and supplementary curricular materials designed for added differentiation and support. Research finds that one of the challenges in providing differentiated instruction to students is a lack of specifically designed activities or ideas that relate to the skills or targets taught within the general curriculum (e.g., Al Otailba et al., 2011).”
- In Skills 1, the introduction states, “CKLA includes explicit, systematic phonics instruction, but the instruction differs from the type of phonics usually taught in the United States in that it begins with a focus on sounds and then links those sounds to spellings.” It states, “CKLA uses a synthetic phonics approach which teaches students to read by blending through the word; it does not teach multiple cueing strategies, use of pictures as a primary resource in decoding, or part-word guessing.”
- In Skills 1, Appendix A, the Teacher Guide references Philip Gough and William Tunmer’s research on the Simple View of Reading and its focus on word recognition skills and language comprehension
Phonics instruction is based in high utility patterns and/or common phonics generalizations. CKLA explicitly teaches the 150 spellings of the 44 sounds throughout Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2. The scope and sequence of grade 2 builds upon the learning of Kindergarten and grade 1.
Patterns and generalizations are carefully selected to provide a meaningful and manageable number of patterns and common generalizations for students to learn deeply. According to the program, the sequence of instruction “progresses from the most common, least ambiguous spellings in Kindergarten to the least frequent, most confusing sound spellings in Grade 2. For the majority of lessons, one phonics pattern or common generation is taught per lesson.
Indicator 2E
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the ELA/literacy program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
The program materials contain information for all stakeholders on how to support students with the material covered during the day. The materials contain a take-home component for each lesson as well as reproducible take-home activities. In addition, there is a family letter that gets sent home explaining what the students will be learning.
Materials contain jargon-free resources to inform all stakeholders and foundational skills taught at school. In every Skills unit, there are take-home activity pages used to maximize reinforcement of skills taught during the day. These pages are optional, but highly recommended. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Letter 1.3, it explains what Grade 1 skills will be reviewed at the start of Grade 2 and how the review time will allow for individual strengths and weaknesses to be determined.
- In Skills 2, Activity 1.3, the take-home letter provides information to families about the importance of engaging in literary activities at home. It says, “Telling and reading stories at bedtime are valuable ways to improve your child’s vocabulary and future school success.”
- In Skills 6, Activity 1.3, the take-home letter has the spelling words. It explains that students are learning how to alphabetize by looking at the first and second letter as this is a practical application when they learn how to use a glossary in this unit.
Materials provide stakeholders with strategies and activities for practicing phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition that will support students in progress towards and achievement of grade level foundational skills. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, the take-home letter 13.4 provides a story read by the student at school. Instructions direct families to have the student read the story at home and discuss.
- In Skills, 2, Lesson 3, the take-home activity asks families to have the student read words aloud. “Then ask your child to horseshoe-circle the letters that make the /oe/ and /ue/ sounds. Next, ask your child to use the words in the box to complete the sentences.”
- In Skills 2, Activity 1.3, the spelling words for the week are in a chart. The chart includes the root word, suffix, spelling word, and the tricky word. It says, “As always, please practice these words with your child each night. Read the words and ask your child to write them down. Alternatively, you could ask your child to copy each word three times.”
- In Skills 5, Activity 1.1, the take-home letter has all of the spelling words for the week and explains that students are learning how to put words in alphabetical order. The directions state that the student should write the alphabet down the side of the paper. Then the student reads all of the words aloud and circles the first letter in each word. Finally, the student writes each word in alphabetical order.
Criterion 2.2: Decodable Texts
Materials include decodable texts for each unit, aligned to the phonics and high-frequency word scope and sequence for Grade 2.
Indicator 2F
Indicator 2F.i
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to include decodable texts with phonics aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.
Materials include decodable texts for each unit, aligned to the scope and sequence. Students have multiple opportunities to read the same text, giving them practice of grade-level phonics skills.
Materials include decodable texts to address securing phonics. For example:
- In the K-2 Program Guide, it states that the “readers contain decodable text aligned to the sequence of phonics instruction.” It states that the “CKLA Readers are built according to the program and the code students have been introduced to.”
- The Unit 1 the decodable reader ensures students have ample practice with vowel sounds and spellings, as well as consonant sounds and spellings.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 5, the decodable text “The Frog Race” includes words for practice with the oo spelling. Words included in the decodable text are drool, whoop, looked, took, and goodness.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 18, the decodable text “Keeping it Up” includes words for practice with phonics skill /ee/ for y, /ie/ for y, i, and i_e, and /oe/ for o.
Decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 18, the decodable text “The Milk” includes phonics skill practice with the sound /n/. The scope and sequence for Skills Unit 1 says that students will be able to read one and two syllable words with short vowels, all consonants, spelling alternatives for /s/, /j/, /w/, /r/, and /n/.
- In Skills 2, students read the text “Mike’s Bedtime” which contains the skill /ae/ as in cake and /ie/ as in bite as well as “The Frog Race,” which contains the skills /oo/ as in soon and /oo/ as in look.
- In Skills 4, the decodable reader gradually adds new phonics skills. In the beginning of the reader, students read “Morning,” which contains /er/ and by the end of the unit, students read “Inventory” with the sound /ee/ spelled ey.
- In Skills 5, the decodable readers include previously taught phonics skills as well as the schwa sound in the text “Fire” and consonant -le in the text “The King’s Ghost.” In Lesson 2, students preview the sounds /n/ spelled kn and /ee/ spelled ea prior to reading the story “The Beginning,” which includes these phonics patterns. In Lesson 3, students read “The Thief,” which includes practice for spellings o and o_e for /u/.
Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing phonics skills. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 13, students reread “The Chicken Nugget” in small groups.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 3, students reread “The Milk,” after first reading it in Lesson 2.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 9, students take turns rereading “The Hare and the Hedgehog” in small groups.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 13, students reread the decodable text “The Big Race” during small group instruction. Half of the class reads to the teacher and the other half partner read.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 4, students reread the text “Drummers Grove” in pairs.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 9, students reread the decodable text “The War Hawks” which includes practice for phonics skill /er/.
Indicator 2F.ii
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to include decodable texts with high-frequency words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.
The materials include decodable texts for each unit, that contain opportunities for students to practice reading high-frequency/irregularly spelled words in context. The decodable texts are reread throughout the unit during small group instruction and partner reading.
Materials include decodable texts that utilize high-frequency/irregularly spelled words. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, students read “The Chips” which includes the Tricky Words there and said as well as “The Snack Mix,” which includes down and how.
- In Skills 2, the Reader includes Tricky Words such as street, have, their, were, and some.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 6, students read the decodable text “Miss Baker,” which includes Tricky Words such as the, she, and you.
- In Skills 5, the Reader includes Tricky Words such as father, water, ghost, death, wizard and against.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 21, students preview the Tricky Words whose, broad, and bomb before reading the Reader.
Decodable texts contain grade level high-frequency/irregularly spelled words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 14, students read the decodable text “The Snack Mix," which includes Tricky Words such as he, how, and down. Throughout the Skills 1 Unit, students learn these words.
- In Skills 2, Tricky Words such as you, street, are, were, some, and they are introduced and these are the same words that are introduced throughout the Skills 2 Reader.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 3, students read the decodable text “Brooklyn” which includes the Tricky Words people, walk, and grownup. According to the Scope and Sequence, students review these Tricky Words throughout the unit.
Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing reading of high-frequency words/irregularly spelled words in contexts. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 9, students reread the text, “The Hare and the Hedgehog” which includes irregularly spelled words such as join, coins, enjoy, and frowned.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 7, students reread the decodable text, “The Hungry Troll,” which includes irregularly spelled words such as monstrous, thunderous, and famous.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 9, students reread “The War Hawks” in small groups.
Criterion 2.3: Assessment and Differentiation
Instructional materials provide phonics assessment materials and tools that include scoring and recording sheets to collect ongoing data about student progress in phonics. Materials include assessments to monitor progress of word recognition and analysis. The materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching through Additional Support activities, which are included in every Skills lesson. Throughout the Teacher’s Guide, there is support for English Language Learners, which is found in sidebars throughout lessons. Materials provide multiple opportunities through the Challenge sidebars and the Pausing Point sections to provide extensions for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
Indicator 2G
Indicator 2G.iii
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics in- and out-of-context (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress in phonics (as indicated by the program scope and sequence).
The materials provide phonics assessment materials and tools that include scoring and recording sheets to collect ongoing data about student progress in phonics. The materials offer opportunities to help teachers determine student progress through the systematic use of the Student Performance Assessments in the Skills Unit, spelling assessments, and the Phonics Progress Monitoring Assessment within the Assessment and Remediation Guide. The materials include instructional adjustments to help students make progress towards mastery in phonics with scoring information, item analysis charts, and remediation lessons in the Assessment and Remediation Guide.
Materials provide resources and tools to collect outgoing data about students’ progress in phonics. Examples include:
- The Assessment and Remediation Guide provides a start of the year Word Reading in Isolate Assessment that consists of 120 words containing particular spellings sequenced to reflect the order of instruction in the CKLA program beginning with the Kindergarten level.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 25, students do a Dictation Identification Assessment where students listen to dictated words and select words from a list of words with similar spellings.
- In Skills 4, Lesson 23, students take a Dictation Identification Assessment where students hear dictated words and select the correct word from a list of similarly spelled words and circle words that share the same vowel sound as the dictated word.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 35, students take an End-of-Year Assessment, including a Word Reading in Isolation Assessment, which assesses skills such as long vowels, r-controlled vowels and tricky spellings.
Materials offer assessment opportunities to determine students’ progress in phonics that are implemented systematically. There are progress monitoring opportunities as well as an Anecdotal Reading Record. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 16, students take a Unit Assessment, which includes a Dictation Identification Assessment. For each word that the teacher says, students are to circle the word on their activity page.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 27, students take a Unit Assessment, which includes a Decoding Assessment, where the teacher says a word, and students circle the correct one on their activity page.
Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence with phonics. Examples include:
- In Skills 4, spelling assessments are provided in Lessons 5, 10, 15, and 20. The Spelling Assessment in Lesson 10 contains words with one-syllable r-controlled vowel patterns. Students write a dictation sentence.
- In Skills 6, spelling assessments are provided in Lessons 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30, which contains words with two-syllable r-controlled patterns.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information about current skills/level of understanding of phonics. Examples include:
- In the beginning of the year, students take a Word Reading in Isolation Assessment. Students who read 65 words of the 120 words correctly have adequate preparation for Grade 2, and students who score a 100 have an outstanding or strong preparation for Grade 2.
- In Skills 2, Lesson 16, there is a Unit Assessment, which includes a Dictation Identification Assessment, which includes various vowel sound spelling patterns. Teachers use a Dictation Identification Assessment Analysis chart to help determine if students have mastered the new sound/spellings.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 15, students do a progress monitoring assessment. Scores of 14 or 15 are considered excellent, 11-13 good, 8 -11 fair, and less than 8 poor.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 27, students take a Decoding Assessment and according to the Teacher Guide, “Student performance on this assessment is a good indicator of whether students have mastered the new sound/spellings.”
- In Skills 6, Lesson 35 students take an end of year assessment. Students who score 48 or fewer out of 70 will have minimal preparation for Grade 3, students scoring 49-59 words correct out of 70 have adequate preparation and students scoring 60 out of 70 words correct have an understanding preparing for Grade 3.
Materials genuinely measure students progress to support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in phonics. Examples include:
- In The Assessment and Remediation Guide there are flow charts to help the teacher determine next steps for students based on assessments.
- At the beginning of the year, students take a Word Reading in Isolation Assessment, which is broken down by phonics skill. There is a Word Reading in Isolation Analysis Chart, and it provides guidelines for evaluating results. For instance it says that students who score 11 or fewer out of 15 in the first three lines will need “intensive remediation” using either the Grade 2 Assessment and Remediation Guide, Unit 1 or Kindergarten Unit 3.
- In Skills Unit 1, Teacher Guide, there is a placement assessment and Interpreting Assessment Scores chart to help teachers group students to close any learning gaps.
- In Skills 1, Teacher Guide, there is a data collection sheet to help teachers determine next steps based on errors. For example, in column 3, words have consonant digraphs. It states that if students make mistakes in this column, the teacher should refer to Section 1 of the Assessment and Remediation Guide for additional activities such as word sorts.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 25, students take a Dictation Identification Assessment, and it tells teachers to use the record sheet to record errors and identify targeted explicit remediation using Pausing Points.
Indicator 2G.iv
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence).
Materials for assessment to monitor student progress of word recognition and analysis are provided. Assessments provide information to the teacher concerning student levels and understanding as well as next steps for helping students reach mastery.
Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the school year to demonstrate student progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition and analysis. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 22, the End-of-Unit Assessment notes, “You may also use Pausing Point days to administer the optional Tricky Word Assessment included in Teacher Resources to specific students that you suspect may not have thoroughly mastered the Tricky Words reviewed in this unit.”
- In Skills 2, Lesson 5, a Spelling Assessment is given to students, which includes 10 words with the -ed inflectional ending and the Tricky Word you. Words included in the assessment are liked, yelled, and smiled.
- In Skills 10, Lesson 10, a spelling assessment is provided, which includes 20 r-controlled words and the Tricky Word war.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning current skills/levels of understanding of word recognition and word analysis. Examples include:
- In the Skills 1-6 Assessment and Remediation Guide, a Tricky Words Assessment provides a tool to assess 35 high frequency words. Mastery is indicated at 28/35 correct words.
- In the Skills 1-6 Assessment and Remediation Guide, there is a Word Reading in Isolation Assessment, which includes 20 Tricky Words. The materials state that if students struggle with any of those words, remediation will be needed.
Materials support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis. Examples include:
- In the Skills 1-6 Assessment and Remediation Guide, there is a section called Teaching Tricky Words as a Remediation Intervention in Grade 2. It states, “You may find, however, students who have a specific problem recognizing Tricky Words. These students will benefit from targeted instruction using the materials in this section.”
Indicator 2G.v
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress in fluency (as indicated by the program scope and sequence).
Fluency assessments are provided in the Assessment and Remediation Guide. The materials include Anecdotal Reading Records for teachers to monitor student reading progress based on observations while students read aloud. The assessments provide teachers and students with information about student progress and understanding of fluency.
Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly and systematically over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of fluency. Examples include:
- In the Assessment and Remediation Guide, there is a Grade 2 Placement Assessment, which includes an assessment for reading fluency. The students read aloud an unseen text, and the teacher notes the time it takes the student to read the passage as well as errors.
- In the Assessment and Remediation Guide, there is a fluency assessment in Units 2-6. There are fluency passages and procedures for each Unit.
- In Skills 1, Lesson 14, the teacher uses the Anecdotal Reading Record to monitor students’ reading progress. It is suggested that teachers listen to students read at least one or twice a week and take notes using the form.
- In Skills 2, students take a fluency assessment by reading a story aloud to the teacher within three minutes.
- In Skills 3, in the Assessment and Remediation Guide, there is a Fluency Assessment. Students read the story “The Slug Trainer,” which contains 297 words. Scoring instructions are provided as well as a Words Correct Per Minute Calculation Sheet.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information about current skills/levels of understanding of fluency. Examples include:
- The introduction to the Assessment and Remediation Guide contains the 2006 Hasbrouck & Tindal Oral Reading Fluency Data, which provides the percentile and word per minute markers for fall, winter, and spring. For example, students in Grade 2 in the fall should read 79 correct words per minute to be in the 75th percentile. Fluency assessments to help understand students’ current skills are found in Skills Units 2-6.
- In the Assessment and Remediation Guide, information on analysis of assessment results is provided. Teachers use a table provided to find students’ fluency percentage. A score below the 50th percentile may be cause for concern. A score below the 25th percentile is definite cause for concern.
- In Skills 2, students read aloud to the teacher and have three minutes to read. Students who need more than three minutes need to work on fluency.
- In Skills 3, fluency assessments are given during Pausing Points and guidance is provided comparing student performance to the national norms for Winter of Grade 2 according to the Hasbrouck and Tindal Oral Reading Fluency Data. The 90th percentile is 125 C.W.P.M, the 75th percentile is 100 C.W.P.M, the 50th percentile is 72 C.W.P.M, the 25th percentile is 42 C.W.P.M, and the 10th percentile is 18 C.W.P.M.
Materials support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in fluency. Examples include:
- The Assessment and Remediation Guide states, “While it is beyond the scope of this Guide to provide detailed suggestions for improving fluency, the following best practices are highly recommended: Model fluent reading for students by reading passages aloud with expression, demonstrating how to use punctuation as a guide for pauses. Provide opportunities for students to reread passages, after corrective feedback on any decoding errors has been provided. Pairing students for partner reading and using Reader’s Theater are both strategies that can be used to encourage reading. Occasional choral reading may also be effective.”
Indicator 2H
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for assessment materials to include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
The Grade 2 materials have formative and/or summative assessments in each Unit, which are listed with the corresponding standards. The materials provide a Standard Alignment document for K-5, which lists the Common Core State Standards for each Unit. The materials provide an Alignment Chart for each Unit, which lists the primary and secondary standards of the lesson. However, the Alignment Chart does not include specific standards for individual tasks, questions, or assessment items.
Materials include denotations of the standards being assessed in the formative assessments. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 2, students read two-syllable words, which is considered a formative assessment and attached to the standard RF.2.3.c.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 21, the teacher collects data on oral reading fluency and an Anecdotal Reading Record is provided, which is attached to the standard RF.2.4a.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 2, students complete Activity Page 2.1, which is considered a formative assessment and is attached to RF.2.3d.f.
Materials include denotations of standards being assessed in the summative assessments. Examples include:
- In Skills 2, Lesson 16, the teacher administers part of the end-of-unit assessment, which includes a dictation identification assessment, which is attached to the standards RF.2.3.a.d.e.
- In Skills 4, Lessons 23 - 25, students take the Unit Assessment, including a dictation portion, which is attached to the standard RF.2.3.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 35, students take the End-of-Year Assessment and part of this assessment requires students to read one-two- and three syllable words in isolation, which is attached to the standards RF.2.3.a,c,e,f.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 36, students take the End-of-Year Assessment and part of this assessment includes students reading the text, “The Young Mouse,” which is attached to the standards RF.2.4.c.
Alignment documentation is provided for all tasks, questions, and assessment items.
- No evidence is present.
Alignment documentation contains specific standards correlated to specific lessons. Examples include:
- The Skills 3 Alignment Chart lists the standard RF.2.3b for Lesson 10, where students learn spelling alternatives for /oe/.
- The Skills 5 Alignment Chart lists the standard RF.2.3e and in Lesson 3 students review the spellings of ou and o-e.
Indicator 2I
Differentiation for Instruction: Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding grade-level standards.
Indicator 2I.i
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials regularly providing all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The materials provide support for English Language Learner students through the Language and Foundational Skills sidebars in the Teacher Guide for individual lessons. There is specific information about Spanish and English correlations, as well as other languages. The materials contain suggestions with the Universal Access to assist students with letter sounds such as the use of pictures or photographs.
Materials provide support for English Language Learner (ELL) students. Examples include:
- In Skills 1, Lesson 3, the teacher is provided with information in the Foundational Skills sidebar. It states, “Spanish speakers may need guidance in producing the /h/ sound for the letter h because in Spanish, h does not represent a sound.”
- In Skills 2, Lesson 8, in the ELD Access Sidebar, it suggests, “Before reading oi/oy words, show students the images you prepare in advance. As you show each image, say the word in a segmented fashion and ask students to repeat after you. You may also want to further explain and define the word ointment.”
- In Skills 5, Lesson 1, in Universal Access, it suggests that teachers bring in images to support spelling words such as duck, bug, mother, brother, touch, and love. It suggests bringing in pictures of antonym pairs such as slowly-quickly and ugly-pretty.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 1, the Universal Access suggests that the teacher gathers pictures or objects of the words phone, graph, elephant, trophy, dolphin, pharmacy, autograph, and sphere to help ELL students when they learn that ph says /f/.
General statements about ELL students or strategies are noted at the beginning of the unit or at one place in the Teacher Guide are then implemented by the materials throughout the lessons. Examples include:
- In the K-2 Program Guide, it notes that a hand raised icon provides an Alert for Access Support to help ELL learners access grade-level content.
- In the K-2 Program Guide, it explains a variety of tools to help students, including ELL students, access the curriculum. Some of the tools include digital component field that allows for a range of images and text to support learning and clarification on language throughout the program.
- In the K-2 Program Guide, it lists a variety of methods for students, including ELL students to demonstrate their learning. This includes the Wiggle Cards that allow students to demonstrate their decoding and a variety of ways to respond to prompts such as oral responses, written responses, and shared class response.
- In Skills 1, the Teacher Guide Introduction states that Universal Access preparation prompts are included to ensure that specific activities are adapted for English language Learners.
- In Skills 1, the Teacher Guide Introduction states that “throughout the lesson, support and challenge sidebars provide further guidance to assist teachers in differentiating instruction. Access sidebars provide specific tips for working with English Language Learners.
- In Skills 1, the Teacher Guide Introduction states that additional support activities are suggested at the end of each lesson, which can help English Language Learners.
Indicator 2I.ii
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade-level with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The Grade 2 materials regularly provide opportunities for reteaching for students below grade level through the use of grouping when rereading the decodable reading, support ideas on the sidebar of lessons, Additional Support activities found in each Pausing Points at the end of each Skills Teacher Guide, and through activities found in the Assessment and Remediation Guide. The teacher meets in small groups with those students that need support in reading/rereading the decodable reading and the activities at hand.
Materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching. Examples include:
- In Skills 3, Lesson 4, students engage in small group work with the story, “The Jumping Frog.” Students who need more support read the story with the teacher. The teacher models how to read the dialogue in quotations with different voices for each character and encourages students to do the same.
- In Skills 4, the Assessment and Remediation Guide suggests that students working in small groups are shown previous spelling cards. The teacher shows the sound and the students repeat it.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 1, students work with alternative spellings for /u/. In the Additional Support section, which provides small group remediation lessons, students read and sort word cards for the /u/ spelling alternatives.
Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level in extensive opportunities to learn foundational skills at the grade-level standards. Examples include:
- In Skills, 2 Lesson 1, students learn the spelling a_e for the /ae/ sound. The Teacher Guide explains that for students who struggle with this concept, “help students practice the sound spellings ‘a_e; and ‘i_e’, say the following word pairs: plan-plane, mad-made, Tim-time; rip-ripe. Have students repeat the words to you. Have students hold the magic ‘e’ when they say the word with the long vowel sound.”
- In Skills 4, Lesson 20, an extensive listing of additional activities to teach and practice the Unit 4 skills can be found in the Pausing Point section. It is recommended that the teacher pause for 4 or 5 days and provide targeted remediation for individuals or groups of students in any areas in which they performed poorly on the end-of-unit assessment.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 2, students read the decodable text and in the sidebar it suggests that the teacher pairs students who need additional support reading with more proficient readers.
Indicator 2I.iii
Materials regularly provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade-level.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials regularly provide extensions and/or advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
Materials provide multiple opportunities through the Challenge Sidebar and the Pausing Points to provide extension opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. Additional readers are included during the Pausing Points for extension opportunities.
Materials provide multiple opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth. Examples include:
- In the K-2 Program Guide, Differentiation, it notes, “Pausing Point days include several days worth of enrichment and remediation instruction.”
- In the K-2 Program Guide, Student Enrichment, it states that there are Challenge Sidebars that provide stretching questions and activities throughout the lesson. In Skills 2, Lesson 2, the teacher reviews the spellings in the text, “The Milk” and as a challenge, students hunt for additional words containing i_e and a_e.
- In Skills 3, Lesson 19, the Challenge Sidebar states, “After you read all the words, repeat the words that include a different vowel sound. Ask students to identify what vowel sound they hear in these words.” The rest of the class is raising a certain number of fingers to denote the sound heard in the word.
- In Skills 5, Lesson 1, for a challenge, the students sort words into alternate spellings for the short u sound, specifically o-e. When students are ready, they work in pairs to write one or two sentences that include a word that contains the spelling o_e.
- In Skills 6, Lesson 1, the Challenge sidebar provides the following extension guidance, “Ask students to identify other spellings for the /f/ sound. (‘gh’>/f/). Write the words enough, laugh, cough, and tough on the board. Have students write these words on the bottom of Activity Page 1.1 and circle the letter(s) that make the /f/ sound.”
There are no instances of advanced students simply doing more assignments than their classmates. Opportunities for advanced students were noted during whole group and small group time. Students were not assigned to do more work than their classmates, but rather, a variance of activity. Students who were advanced either work on their own or with a partner, whereas students showing the need for additional support worked with a teacher.
Criterion 2.4: Effective Technology Use and Visual Design
The Grade 2 digital materials, which include Teaching Guides, Activity Books, Readers, Big Books, Picture Readers, Sound Library, and the Assessment and Remediation Guides are compatible with multiple internet browsers, including FireFox, Safari, Explorer, and Google Chrome. Online materials are available for both the teacher and the student. The Grade 1 digital materials allow the teacher to differentiate instruction by selecting additional lessons for students in Pausing Point lessons and in the Assessment and Remediation Guide. The materials include decodable readers and e-books with simple color illustrations, which include spelling patterns with bold type to support students in engaging with the text.
Indicator 2J
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for digital materials (either included as a supplement to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) to be web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.), “platform neutral” (i.e., are compatible with multiple operating systems such as Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform), follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
The Grade 2 digital materials, which include Teaching Guides, Activity Books, Readers, Sound Library, and the Assessment and Remediation Guides are compatible with multiple internet browsers, including FireFox, Safari, Explorer, and Google Chrome. The materials are compatible on Apple Products as well as the Windows operating system. Materials are compatible on Amazon tablets and Apple devices, including iPads and iPhones, as well as Chromebooks and Microsoft Surface Pro.
Indicator 2K
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to support effective use of technology and visual design that enhances student learning. Digital materials are accessible and available in multiple platforms.
Online materials are available for both the teacher and the student. Digital materials for the teacher that enhance student learning include projectable and printable activity pages, letter cards, and reading materials. The digital components also enable the teacher to enlarge Activity Pages for students. Materials to support student learning include the sound library in Skills Units 1-3, which provides audio sounds of letters, animation off the letter, and songs to support and enhance student learning. Audio and e-books of the student readers are provided to help make the text more accessible. The student decodable readers (Skills Units 1-6) can be projected and downloaded in a PDF format.
Indicator 2L
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations.
The Grade 2 digital materials allow the teacher to pick additional lessons for students in Pausing Point lessons and in the Assessment and Remediation Guide to differentiate instruction. However, the materials do not include adaptive materials that allow for teachers to personalize learning for individual students. Teachers are not able to manipulate or construct individual learning experiences for students. There is not a student learning technology component within or in addition to the digital platform to personalize learning for students.
Indicator 2M
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials to be easily customized for local use.
The Grade 2 materials can be customized for local use. Customization may occur in scaffolding and opting for digital or print materials use. Differentiation and extension opportunities are available throughout the instructional materials, which allows for customization for local use. In the Pausing Points, teachers and/or districts can determine how many additional days to spend in the Unit. The Assessment and Remediation Guide can be utilized based on student need for reteaching and local use.
Indicator 2N
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that the visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
The Grade 2 materials include decodable readers and e-books with simple color illustrations, which include spelling patterns with bold type to support students in engaging with the text. When presenting the Big Book or the decodable reader in the digital format, two pages are shown at a time, similar to a book. The Activity Pages include simple graphics, which are not distracting or chaotic and also emphasize focus on the spelling pattern with bold letters. The size of the font can be adjusted. The Sound Library includes audio phoneme pronunciation, an animated video, and a song for the sounds, which support students in engaging thoughtfully with the sounds. The teacher materials have clear headings and a consistent layout.