1st Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for anchor texts being of publishable quality and worthy of careful reading. The texts address a range of interests, and the reading selections would be interesting and engaging for Grade 1 students. Many of the central texts are written by celebrated and or award winning authors. Central texts include a variety of genres and consider a range of students’ interests, including animals, family stories, plants, real-world topics, historical fiction, fantasy, poetry, and biographies. Academic, rich vocabulary can also be found within selected texts.

The following are texts that represent how these materials meet the expectations for this indicator:

• Tar Beach, by Faith Ringgold is a Caldecott Honor book about Harlem, New York in 1939. This book contains historical references, and the text has colorful illustrations of quilts.

• The Teacher from the Black Lagoon, by Mike Thaler and illustrated by Jared Lee is an amusing text about a scary teacher. Students will identify with the characters since meeting the teacher can be frightening for some students.

• The Adventures of Taxi Dog, by Debra and Sal Barracca and illustrated by Mark Buehner is a rhyming text with interesting vocabulary such as gritty and fare. Some illustrations are full page spreads.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for materials reflecting the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards. Each unit in Grade 1 provides students the opportunity to engage in above-level, complex read alouds as well as leveled readers, independent reading, and supplemental texts. The materials contain eight baskets of leveled readers and four baskets of read-aloud immersion texts that are intended to engage all types of readers. Materials also provide thematic text sets centered around science and social studies themes as well as literary text sets aligned to material topics. These text sets, organized as baskets, are designed to accompany units in the form of research labs.

Anchor texts and supplemental texts include a mix of informational and literary texts reflecting the distribution of text types required by the standards (50% informational and 50% fiction). Texts include diverse topics and genres such as realistic fiction, science and social studies informational text, traditional tales, personal narratives, classics, and a poetry anthology.

The following are examples of informational texts found within the instructional materials:

Unit 1

• The Planets, by Gail Gibbons
• Fly High! The Story of Bessie Coleman, by Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger

Unit 2

• Birds, by Jayson Fleischer
• How Animal Babies Stay Safe, by Mary Ann Fraser

Unit 4

• Trees, by Trace Taylor and Gina Cline
• Seeds, Bees, and Pollen, by Julie K. Lundgren

The following are examples of literary texts found within the instructional materials:

Unit 1

• Library Lion, by Michelle Knudsen
• The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton

Unit 2

• Time To Sleep, by Denise Fleming
• Tigers at Twilight, by Mary Pope Osborne

Unit 3

• My Brother, Ant, by Betsy Byars
• My Family History, by Jane O’Connor

Unit 4

• Our Tree Named STEVE, by Alan Zweibel
• The Dandelion Seed, by Joseph Anthony

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.

The materials are designed with flexibility so that consumers can choose and interchange multiple text sets based on the topics and levels desired. Some accompanying task and resource materials are not text-specific so that they apply across multiple text sets and grade bands. The instructional year begins with a literacy lab that is intended to capture readers' attention with engaging text, though some of these texts fall qualitatively at the grade band as measured by Lexile, the materials include text complexity analyses and IRLA levels for these texts that show that in a more holistic assessment of qualitative and reader/task features, the texts meet the demand of the standards that all read alouds be above grade level. Students have access to numerous texts at multiple reading levels that are read in small- and whole-group settings as well as independently. The philosophy of the publishers is self-directed learning and reading through literacy and research labs.

Quantitative and qualitative information for anchor texts is provided in the Teacher’s Edition or online in SchoolPace, and the numerous text sets that accompany each unit are leveled according to the publishers framework--IRLA. The publishers state: “The Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA) is a unified standards-based framework for student assessment, text leveling, and curriculum and instruction. The IRLA includes every Common Core Standard for Reading, both in literature and informational text, as well as those Language standards key to reading success for students in grades PreK through 12.”

Some examples of text complexity measures indicated by the materials include the following:

• In the book Junie B. Jones: First Grader at Last, by Barbara Park with a quantitative measure of 250L with qualitatively moderately complex knowledge demands with more than one storyline and moderately complex language demands with figurative and academic language and complex dialogue.

• The book, Fly High! The Story of Betsy Coleman, by Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger has a quantitative measure of 710L and a qualitative measure with moderately complex structure that is supported by illustrations. The language demands are also moderately complex with academic language and domain-specific terms. The knowledge demands are moderately to very complex in that they explore multiple themes and possibly unfamiliar cultural elements.

• The book, Dinosaurs, by Gail Gibbons is measured at an NC750 Lexile and quantitatively has slightly to moderately complex knowledge demands with domain specific terms supported by the text and illustrations. There are multiple sources of information and text features that place its structure at moderately complex.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectation for supporting students' ability to access texts with increasing text complexity across the year. The supplemental text baskets are leveled according to the publisher’s system called the Independent Reading Level Assessment (IRLA). There are core texts and complex read alouds for teachers to select from for anchor read alouds, all leveled 2-3 years above the reading level of most students in Grade 1.

Text options are at differing levels of material. The materials provide text sets (baskets) that are leveled and expose students to a myriad of levels and complexity. Students are provided access to the texts that are both of interest and are at the appropriately challenging level, according to the IRLA.

Materials provide students with access to leveled texts which address a range of science, social studies, history, and literary topics across all grade bands. Scaffolding of the texts to ensure that students are supported to access and comprehend grade-level texts from the beginning to the end of the year require careful monitoring using the IRLA and suggested instruction based upon the IRLA results. The rigor of text is appropriate in aggregate over the course of the school year. Students will engage with texts at varying levels unit to unit, according to their skill levels.

Students have access to multiple texts that measure below, at, or above grade level. The teacher companion to the research lab contains general instruction outlines, speaking and listening strategies, and general comprehension questions. Scaffolding is not text-specific, but focuses on the skills needed to access texts in that genre (informational text, fantasy novels, argument essays, etc.).

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectation that anchor (core) texts and series of connected texts are accompanied by a text complexity analysis and rationale for educational purpose and placement in the grade level. The American Reading Company (ARC) utilizes their own IRLA (Independent Reading Level Assessment) Framework, drawing on the three measures of text complexity, to level texts. “To determine reading level, every book is double-blind and hand-leveled using the three legs of text complexity and located on our developmental taxonomy of reading acquisition.” Any book found in the text boxes or thematic text sets has an identifying sticker on the cover to provide its IRLA placement.

Title: Elizabeti’s School, by Stephanie Stuve Bodeen

Text Complexity Level: 2R (end of 2nd Grade)

Quantitative: AD 590L (3rd-4th)

Qualitative: Lexile slightly overestimates the difficulty of the text because:

Purpose/Structure: Slightly Complex. The text follows a simple, explicit narrative structure in which the order of events in entirely chronological.

Language: Slightly to Moderately Complex. The language is largely contemporary and familiar, though occasional use of academic vocabulary, as well as a smattering of Swahili, add to the complexity. Knowledge Demands: Slightly to Moderately Complex There is a single level/layer of meaning. Because the setting of this story is rural Tanzania, some experiences and cultural references may be unfamiliar to some readers; however, the experience of starting school is a common experience with which Grade 1 readers can easily identify.

Reader and Task: Although set in Tanzania, the experience of going to school is common for most readers, and although occasional use of Swahili in the text may be unfamiliar, it is accompanied by support within the text. In addition, the text is written in familiar, conversational language, making it an excellent above-level Grade 1 read aloud for exploring both another culture and the commonality of the school experience.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for supporting materials providing opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading. The instructional materials include opportunities for students to read daily across a volume of texts during various instructional segments including: Interactive Read Aloud, Shared Reading, and Readers' Workshop/Research Reading.

During the Shared Reading segment of the class, the teacher models the reading/thinking strategies expected from a proficient, grade-level reader (i.e., reading Power Words, chunking- finding Power Words inside words, etc.) through a read aloud.

Students then practice the modeled skills during independent reading from self-selected texts while also gathering additional evidence to support their research.

Students then reflect on how they used the modeled strategies and what evidence they found that supports their research in an Accountable Talk segment of Research Reading.

Reader’s Workshop includes a daily independent reading time for self-selected texts. In addition to Literacy Labs and Research Labs for core content, materials provide thematic text sets that can be chosen across content areas and grade levels. Text sets cover literary and informational topics in science, social studies, and culture. These text sets are organized by color-coded buckets and the IRLA levels indicated by the publishers. Students also have access to independent reading box sets in the 100 Book Challenge. The publisher describes the challenge as: “Students read 30 minutes in school and 30 minutes at home. Quantity practice targets are set, monitored, and rewarded, ensuring every student adopts the independent reading routines of academically successful students.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet expectations that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-dependent/specific, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text). Materials for the literacy and research labs provide graphic organizers and instructional support tasks for students to engage with text as well as collect textual evidence that builds toward a research topic or literary theme. The general format reading questions (Research Questions), graphic organizers and instructional tasks are designed to be used across multiple thematic units and across grade levels.

The evidence from Units 1-4 listed below demonstrates tasks and questions that require direct engagement with texts but do not call out or connect to specific texts. Most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-dependent and require students to engage with the text directly and draw on textual evidence to support what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text.For example:

Unit 1:

• “What happened in the story, based on the words and the pictures? What did you learn about ___ from the words and the pictures?"

Unit 2:

• “What is the author saying? How does this relate to ___? How does this compare to what you already know/thought about?"

Unit 3:

• “Who is a supporting character in this story? What role does s/he play? How do you know? Which event(s) cause the problem in this story?" and "What part of the text and/or the pictures supports your answer?"

Unit 4:

• “What in the text/pictures helped you learn it? How does this compare to what you already knew/thought about ___?"

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that materials contain sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent questions and activities that build to a culminating task that integrates skills to demonstrate understanding. Questions and tasks are organized for students to gather details or practice skills needed for the culminating task which integrates skills to demonstrate understanding. Across Units 2-4, the culminating tasks require students to gather details or information using research questions and graphic organizers to write a story or report instead of utilizing specific texts.

• Unit 1, Week 2: Students will express an opinion about a favorite author/illustrator: "I like ____because...” Week 3: "Today, you will write your opinion on which book about _(e.g., character/topic)_ was your favorite and why.”

• In Unit 2, students complete a set of seven text-dependent research questions and graphic organizers. Students use both verbal and written responses to demonstrate learning throughout the unit. The culminating task is publishing an informational piece focused on an animal and presenting the findings.

• Unit 3, Week 1, Day 1, Welcome to our Research Lab. We are going to read lots of great stories in __(genre)__ together and on our own. We will read, analyze, and write _(genre)_ stories every day. You will learn to compare two __(genre)__ stories. You will write and publish your very own short story collection.

• In Unit 4, students write and respond to seven text-dependent research questions. The culminating task is to form opinions and craft well-reasoned and supported arguments on the topic of plants to be published and presented at the end of the unit.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for evidence-based discussions that encourage the modeling of academic vocabulary and syntax.

There are many opportunities and protocols throughout modules and within lessons that support academic vocabulary and syntax. Units include practices that encourage the building and application of academic vocabulary and syntax including accountable talk routines and think pair share. Teacher materials support implementation of these standards to grow students’ skills.

Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Literacy Lab, after the first read of the connected text, the teacher tells students to tell the person beside them what their favorite part of the story was and why.

• In Unit 3, Accountable Talk, Partner Share: Each partner takes one minute to share. Pick one of the books you read today. Describe one of the supporting characters using details from the text and/or the pictures. Tell what role s/he plays in the story.

• In Unit 3, Accountable Talk, Partner Share: Each partner takes one minute to share. "Pick one of the books you read today. Use our Retelling a Story rubric to do a 3-point retelling. Identify the MOST important detail about the setting, and explain why it is the most important. Retell this story, including the key story elements. Partners, did your partner earn the first three points? Why or why not?"

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching (including presentation opportunities) with relevant follow-up questions and evidence.

Speaking and listening tasks require students to gather evidence from texts and sources. Opportunities to ask and answer questions of peers and teachers about research, strategies, and ideas are present throughout the year. The curriculum includes protocols and graphic organizers to promote and scaffold academic discussions.

The following are examples of materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what is read:

• In Unit 1, students share with the person next to them her/his favorite part of the book and why. The teacher guide states, “What do you love to read about? Tell the person beside you what you love to read about.”

• In Unit 2, students analyze what authors did to make their text organized, interesting, and entertaining. The question in the teacher’s guide is, “What is the author saying?”

• In Unit 3, each partner takes one minute to describe the differences between the settings and lessons in two stories the teacher read. “Pick one of the books you read today. Use our 'Retelling a Story' rubric to do a 3-point retelling. Identify the MOST important detail about the setting and explain why it is the most important. Retell this story, including the key story elements. Partners, did your partner earn the first three points? Why or why not?”

• In Unit 4, students share a different WOW! fact from the text with a partner. Partners check, and the teacher listens to make sure that students are sharing facts (not opinions) and using evidence from the text to prove their answers are accurate.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that materials include a mix of on-demand and process writing and short, focused tasks. Students write both on demand and over extended periods throughout every unit. The focus, the research, and literacy labs are to collect textual evidence or information to compose an essay or extended composition piece.

Examples of on-demand writing are as follows:

• In Unit 1 Literacy Lab, Week 2, the teacher sets the writing focus: “We are going to continue drawing and writing every day. Today, we will write about the books we are reading. Today, each of you will: Draw and write for 15 minutes, use everything you know to help you write, and write at least one question about something you’ve read/listened to.”

• In Unit 2, Week 1, during Interactive Writing, both students and the teacher share the pen to compose a Morning Message related to what students did yesterday or will do today.

• In Unit 3, Week 6, students are working on writing stories that teach lessons: “Today, we examined how professional authors use major events to teach a lesson. Now, it is your turn. You will create a story whose problem and solution teach a lesson. Let me show you how I might get started…”

• In Unit 4, Week 8, students work on “adding as much information as you can to their organizer for today’s Research Question.”

Examples of extended writing are as follows:

• In Unit 2, we are going to spend the next 9 weeks reading, writing, and talking about the big ideas in the unit. Each of you will pick one topic on which to become an expert. You will research this topic and write an informational book about it. By the end of this Unit, you will: 1. Be an expert on the unit. Be an expert on your research topic. Write and publish an informational book on your topic (or other piece of informational writing as decided by the teacher).

• In Unit 3, Week 5, students select a piece of writing from the week to revise, edit, and add to their short story collections as the fifth story.

• In Unit 4, Week 7, students will publish the opinion piece they wrote yesterday. Students will work through revising and editing their pieces to make them “the best things they have ever written.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for materials providing opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards. Materials provide frequent opportunities across the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply writing using evidence.

The following are examples of the different text types of writing across the units:

• In Unit 1, students engage in writing by asking and answering questions, examining fiction and nonfiction, story elements, retell, and compare and contrast elements. On Week 2, the daily framework is to write about books being read in class. The teacher will model and monitor progress by observing, underwriting, and collecting student writing.

• In Unit 2, there is a rubric and a thinking map on pages 146 and 147 for students to use throughout the unit to guide their writing. On Week 5, day 4, students continue using research question #4 to convert graphic organizer notes into paragraphs. After teacher modeling and student-guided practice, students share their work with a partner to ask for and provide constructive feedback.

• In Unit 3, there is a retelling rubric, a narrative writing rubric, and a retelling map on pages 26-28 to guide students. Weeks 1-3 focus on story elements, weeks 4-6 focus on retelling, and weeks 7-9 focus on compare and contrast. Students complete one writing piece each week. Writers Workshop occurs at the end of the literacy block.

• In Unit 4, pages 26-29, students are shown the “Wow” rubric, the opinion and drafting opinion organizer and rubric, and the proficient answer rubric. On Week 3, day 3, during the write to text block students use a text and the opinion organizer/rubric to generate an opinion. The teacher models the process before students begin guided practice.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that the materials include frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information. Materials provide frequent opportunities across the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply writing using evidence. Writing opportunities are focused around students’ analyses and claims developed from reading closely and working with sources. Materials provide opportunities that build students' writing skills over the course of the school year.

Students are required to write daily for 15 to 20 minutes using suggested writing prompts. Most writing prompts relate to text, but some do not require evidence-based writing.

• Unit 1, Week 1, Days 2-5: “In order to get to know each other, we’ll write about our favorite things this week. These are our opinions about different things we like.”

• Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1: “You will write and publish your very own short story collection.” Then, on Day 5: “Today, you will pick your favorite piece of writing from the week to turn into a beautiful, polished piece. This will be the first piece for your short story collection. We will work through revising and editing your pieces to make them the best things you have ever written."

• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 1, students write to retell a favorite story they heard in a read aloud or one they read on their own.

• In Unit 4, Week 2, Day 4, students select an aspect from their research that they really care about to write an opinion piece using the Drafting an Opinion Piece organizer/rubric.

The instructional materials for Grade 1 meet the expectations that materials, questions, and tasks provide explicit instruction for and regular practice to address the acquisition of print concepts, including alphabetic knowledge, directionality, and function (K-1), and structures and features of text (1-2).

Students have opportunities to learn print concepts:

• In Unit 1, Day 1, during Morning Meeting, the teacher is directed to post a Morning Message. The teacher is to state: “Every sentence in this Morning Message ends with a period or a question mark. I will put two lines under each period. Let’s count how many sentences there are” (p. 71). During Morning Meeting in Days 2-5, the teacher is to reinforce Foundational Skills by having students find and mark capitalization and punctuation of the Morning Message. For example, the teacher can state: “How many sentences does our message have? How do you know? Who can come and circle the periods?” In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1, during Editing, the students are responsible making sure each sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with an end mark (period, question mark, or exclamation point).

The materials contain opportunities for students to learn text structures:

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 3, the lesson has a focus on main ideas and key details. The lesson includes the teacher modeling identification of main ideas and key details, followed by students using their IRLA assigned leveled text for application. Learning to identify and find main idea and details is also in Unit 3 and Unit 4.

• In Unit 1, Week 6, Days 3-4, the lesson focus is sequence of events. In the Mini-Lesson, the teacher introduces the concept of sequence of events by mapping the beginning, middle, and end of the Core Novel. The teacher maps the sequence of events in the Plot-Sequence of Events graphic organizer. The teacher asks questions such as: “What is the beginning? What happens in the beginning and why is that important to the sequence of events? What about the middle? The end?” Students use the graphic organizer to map the sequence of events for a second story from the Core Novel. Then students write, using sequence of events. “Pick an event from your life that you’d like to retell. Write the story of that event, with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Does yours have a problem? Why or why not?”

• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 2, students learn about story structure. In Week 2, Day 1, the teacher introduces the Describing Plot Anchor Chart to teach about problem. The teacher guides the students through identifying problem with questions such as: “Why is this a problem? Do all the characters think this is a problem?”

The materials contain opportunities for students to learn about text features:

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 4, the teacher uses mentor texts to help students understand how authors use text features to organize their books. The lesson includes modeling, guided practice, and group share. Students apply their learning of text features to drafting a book which includes text features such as cover, page numbers, and table of contents. In Week 5, Day 3, students learn more text features such as glossaries, captions, and labels. The instructional materials contain information for teachers: “Print Features: help readers locate information that SURROUNDS the text.”

• In Unit 3, Week 5, Day 1, the lesson reviews informational text basics such as table of contents, headings/subheadings, glossaries/index. In Week 9, Day 5, students are taught about short story collection text features. Students put together their short story collections and use additional text features to pull the stories together into a cohesive collection.

• Through Units 2-4, during Formative Assessment One-on-One Conferences, the teacher is to assess students’ understanding of text features. “Do they know how to use text features (table of contents, index) to efficiently locate information?"

The instructional materials for Grade 1 meet the expectations that instructional opportunities are frequently built into the materials for students to practice and gain decoding automaticity, sight-based recognition of high-frequency words, and reading fluency in oral reading once phonics instruction begins.

In Foundational Skills 2G, students learn 120+ high-frequency Power Words at Flash Speed. According to the teacher materials, “They will be able to read these words in books they have never seen before and out of context (lists, flash cards, etc.) at Flash Speed” (p. 9). Starting in Lesson 9, students are told they will be learning 60 more words. In Lesson 9, students learn to read and spell six new words: as, some, many, these, eat, and too. The students practice these words in the following ways: see/hear it, say it orally, trace it, skywrite it, write it, and practice it by playing games. As students learn the high-frequency words, students use a variety of strategies to figure out the words in the guided reader text. The teacher directions state: “Remember the students shouldn’t be asked to try to 'sound out' any word in a 2G text. If students can’t use syntax, meaning, and the initial consonant sounds to figure out a word, tell students the word” (p. 87).

In Foundational Skills 1B, students have fluency practice of decodable words such as -all words. Students participate in a scavenger hunt. They find a page that has 3 -all words and identify the words. Students also read a guided reading text, short passages such as Humpty Dumpty and Itsy Bitsy Spider.

In Foundation Skills 1B, students learn to recognize and read grade-level irregularly spelled words. During Zone 3, students learn new key words with high leverage phonograms and Tricky Words which are often in 1B books.

To practice reading text fluently, the Foundational Skills Toolkit 2G directs the teacher to have students read one-page passages and guided reader texts. The directions state: “Students choral read, partner read, and practice until they can read the text without effort” (p. 27). In Foundational Skills 1B and 2B, the directions are identical for the guided reader texts. As students read guided reader texts, the purpose is for students to use their new learning of Power Words in text. For example in Lesson 20 of 2G, students read Mondays and are told this goal: “Now, you will use the Power Words you know to read this book” (p. 131).

The instructional materials for Grade 1 meet the expectations that the materials, questions, and tasks provide systematic and explicit instruction in and practice of word recognition and analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected text and tasks.

In Foundational Skills Toolkit 2G, when students learn initial blends and digraphs, students practice reading the blend type in a sentence. For example, in Lesson 2, students read “Glamorous gladiators gladly glue glitter to their gloves” (p. 30). Students also practice reading a passage called Clean Up, which the teacher models. Students learn 60 Power Words at Flash Speed and also have the opportunity to practice those words in context with guided reader texts and with cloze passages. Students learn category words such as colors, the days of week, and contractions and then students practice reading those words in a guided reader text or cloze passage.

In Foundational Skills Toolkit 1B, students learn word attack strategies to help them figure out words. Word attack strategies include, but are not limited to: Stop if something doesn’t look right, sound right or make sense; Blend: Say the first two letters; Cover part of the word; Think of a word that looks the same and rhymes. In 1B Lesson 1, students fill in a cloze activity of sentences using -all words from a word box. Students also read a 1B book where all the hard words use -all.

The directions for the teacher to help students figure out all words they don’t know include:

• Can you find a word you know inside?
• Use your finger(s) to cover up the beginning/end of the word.
• Add the first letter sound.

In the Foundational Skills Toolkit 2B, students learn to decode 2-syllable words and practice those decoding skills in Guided Reader texts and single page passages such as Forest Trails and Berries for Baby Birds.

The instructional materials for Grade 1 meet the expectations that materials support ongoing and frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills, including a clear and specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments will be supported.

Through the Independent Reading Level Assessment Framework (IRLA), a teacher can assess students’ learning of foundational skills. These are the following steps to using IRLA:

• Identify IRLA Reading Level.
• Use the IRLA to diagnose specific instructional needs.
• Use corresponding Foundational Skills Toolkit Lessons to teach and model specific skills.
• Provide guided and independent practice differentiated to support students who learn at different paces.

IRLA helps provide the teacher with baseline data about each Grade 1 student’s reading proficiency. This gives teachers information about which foundational skills each student needs to learn, and the teacher can use the data to sort students into similar groupings. A teacher will assess a Grade 1 student for different stages of acquisition. In Grade 1, a teacher can assess students for different levels of foundational skills. According to IRLA, Grade 1 students are in 2G, 1B, and 2B, which include the following stages of acquisition: sight words, word families, vowel patterns, and syllabication. For 2G entry, a student can recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words, can make the initial sound for a minimum of 13 blends/digraphs, and can use a combination of initial sounds/blends, sight words, and context clues to read a 2G text with purpose and understanding. The teacher also documents a student’s reading during a running record. IRLA contains many assessment opportunities for the teacher to assess each student.

With IRLA, a teacher can assess students’ progress toward learning grade level standards. In IRLA, there are Coaching Records for teachers to document students’ learning. For example, in Coaching Record 1B (for a student in 1B) the teacher documents a student’s ability to chunk words, to read 1-syllable word families, to read tricky words, to use reading strategies, to demonstrate reading comprehension.

Coaching Tips and Warning Signs are included in the Foundational Skills Toolkit lessons. For example in 1B, a teacher can assess students’ ability to know sight words. “Warning Signs: All students should be able to read these 10 sight words at Flash Speed (no sounding out). If they can’t, they need additional sight word work in 1G or 2G.”

Foundational Skills lessons include opportunities for students to progress quicker if students know the skills based on the Passing Lane: Assessment. This helps a teacher make instructional adjustments, so students can make progress in learning foundational skills. In 2G, Lesson 9, there is a Passing Lane: Assessment: “Any student who can read most of these words should be re-tested to see if s/he may need to move IRLA levels and/or strategy groups.”

The instructional materials for Grade 1 meet the expectations that materials, questions, and tasks provide high-quality lessons and activities that allow for differentiation of foundational skills. Lessons include modeling, guided practice, games, and hands-on activities.

Instructional materials provide high-quality lessons for foundational skills for every student to reach mastery through the Foundational Skill Toolkit lessons and within the four Units (Literacy Lab, Wild and Endangered Animals, Family Stories and Families, and Plants). After placing students into skill-based groupings based on assessment results from IRLA (Independent Reading Level Assessment), students are provided learning opportunities at their individual levels. Students placed in the 2G are ready to learn another 60 “know on sight” words, and students learn to self-prompt 2-letter consonant blends and digraphs. Students have access to 1G and 2G Guided Reading Books. If a student is not ready for 2G small group, the IRLA materials help place students in a small group teaching prerequisite skills for 2G. For students who place higher in foundational skills, they can start in Blue or Red small group. These students learn onset + sight word, 1-syllable word families, 2-syllable words, and multisyllabic words.

During Literacy Lab Grade 1 lessons, students participate in games that develop students’ ability to hear different sounds in words. “At the beginning of 1st grade, provide plenty of practice with consonant sound review (3Y/1G), blends & digraphs (2G), and rhyming (getting ready for 1B).”

Opportunities for differentiated learning within a skill group are provided. In 1B, there are multiple ways for a student to practice learning onsets/rimes. “Students who struggle with any of the Zone 2 lessons will need additional practice (or are working in the wrong level). Use the ideas below in any order based on student interest and need.” Examples of ideas for student practice are: use chunks (rimes) you know to make new words, flashcards, spelling champs, independent reading from self-select 1B books, rhyme boggle, letter/sound switch, nursery rhymes/silly stories.

In the Independent Reading Level Assessment, there are Action Plans for a teacher to provide additional practice. For example, for students in 1B, the Action Plan contains: “Have an older student come down at the same time every day to read with his 1B book buddy. Consider using an older student who is seriously behind in reading, but is at least a 1R. Both students can afford to miss everything else for this activity.”

Foundational Skill Toolkit lessons provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons. Within the lessons, there are recommendations to the coaches (teachers). In 2G, Lesson 2, the Coaching Tip is: “Resist teaching the vowel sounds at this time. This will slow down the process. Keep the focus on blends, pictures, and sensemaking.” Another example of how the materials provide guidance to teachers is found in the Lesson 15 Coaching Tip:

• Kidwatching: Who is having trouble and what is it they don’t know or aren’t remembering to do? What is the one thing in their way?

• Buddy Reader: Is there another student who is particularly good at this who could spend some time as this student’s Buddy Reader?

In Lesson 9 of Foundational Skills Toolkit 2G, if students can read most of the 2G Power Words, the teacher is directed to retest the student with IRLA for a different level of instruction. In Foundational Skills Toolkit 1B, in Lesson 19, teachers are directed in the Passing Lane to differentiate for a student who can reliably use rhyming with a sight word to read a new word to Zone 3.