Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Benchmark Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.

Mentor Read-Alouds, Shared Reading, and Extended Reads provide opportunities for students to analyze words/phrases and or author’s word choice according to grade level standards. Tables and charts are created to help students determine word meaning in various ways. Texts are used for comprehension strategies like key ideas and details, structure, and craft according to grade level standards. By the end of the year, components like language, word choice, key ideas, details,structure, and craft are embedded in students’ work rather than taught directly. Each three week unit focuses on an Essential Question that combines direct instruction with independent practice of skills.

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Day 2, students learn to analyze the author’s reasons. The teacher models analyzing chapter titles and the author’s reasons. “The title of this chapter is the author’s statement. She wants readers to know that rules keep you safe. The first sentence in the chapter gives an example, or reason.” During Guided Practice, students help identify the author’s statement and her reasons supporting the statement. For Show Your Knowledge, students tell a partner one reason that supports the statement: “Rules Help You Learn.”
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 3, Shared Reading of the “Sad Ladybug, Bad Ladybug,” the teacher helps students to visualize another way that Pam could have gotten home and to talk with their peers about this. Later in the lesson, students discuss how Pam helped the ladybug get home. With the Mentor Read 2 text, “The Little Helper,” students make inferences based on the information read in the story. Students answer questions such as: “‘The author says the ‘mouse trembled and shook.’ How does this help you understand about how the mouse feels? Why does the lion laugh after the mouse says he can help the lion one day?”
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 4, Mentor Read 2, with “The Spider And The Deer,” the teacher utilizes a 4-column table for identifying a new meaning of a familiar word such as right, well, and spun. On the same day, the mentor read-aloud is used for students to write about the setting of the story. The strategy supports students’ understanding of the text by recalling the details of where events in the text occur. Student work for this day includes an independent writing task.
• In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 2, students analyze The Three Little Pigs to determine central theme based on text evidence. The teacher asks a Text Evidence Question: “What happens to the first little pig’s house of straw? Why?” The teacher models using text evidence to identify a key detail that can lead to the central message. During Guided Practice, students help contribute text evidence to answer: “What happens to the second little pig’s house of sticks? Why?” During Share Your Knowledge, students are called on to share the central message using what they learned from the key details. The teacher can prompt with the following question: “What lesson did the three little pigs learn?”
• In Unit 7, Week 3, Day 2, students analyze In My Opinions...These Are the Best Ways to Celebrate Holidays to identify Author’s Purpose. The teacher models using a Text Based Question to practice looking for reasons an author gives her opinion: “What reason does the author give as the best way to celebrate Earth Day?” During Guided Practice, students help answer the following Text Evidence Question to determine the author’s purpose: “What reason does the author give for the best way to celebrate Independence Day?”
• In Unit 10, Week 1, Day 2, in the mentor-read aloud, “Balto The Sled Dog”, students analyze illustrations in the text to give meaning to words read in the text. The reading comprehension strategy for the text includes creating a chart to help make meaning from illustrations and words in the reading. Students also write a letter pointing out how looking at the illustrations help them to make meaning from the reading. Conferring and monitoring prompts are provided to help teachers in gauging student progress with the tasks assigned.

The instructional materials reviewed for Benchmark Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.

The vocabulary instruction for Kindergarten provides opportunities for students to learn academic vocabulary in Shared, Mentor, and Extended Texts. Additionally, vocabulary is reinforced through activities completed in the Grammar, Spelling and Vocabulary Workbook. Throughout each unit, students read, write, illustrate, manipulate, and complete fill-in the blank prompts for practice and to gain competency with learned vocabulary words. Materials provide teacher guidance on the unit opener page for each unit. Routines, procedures, and lessons guide the appropriate use of vocabulary used in each unit. Vocabulary is repeated in contexts and across multiple texts. Attention is given to essential vocabulary supporting students comprehension of texts. Students are supported to accelerate vocabulary learning with vocabulary in their reading, speaking, and writing tasks.

Vocabulary lessons highlight the most relevant vocabulary words aimed at building knowledge of the unit topic and support comprehension. To support students’ understanding of complex texts, the following vocabulary words and mini-lessons are targeted. Opportunities to interact and build vocabulary include:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 5, the vocabulary word sea is introduced as it is repeated throughout the poem, “Making Bridges.” The teacher provides the definition of the word and shows the different seas on a globe. The teacher discusses informational texts, and comparing and contrasting, providing the elements of each with a brief definition.
• In Unit 2, students hear the story, “The Tortoise and the Hare” and work with the following words: laughed and shouted. In the text “The Little Helper,” the key vocabulary words are crawled, raced, roared, cried, and laughed. There are three related vocabulary words across multiple texts including, whispered, walked and skipped.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Day 2, students hear “Come Out and Play” and Who’s in the Shed? The vocabulary words focused on during this story are words with -ed endings including neighed and grunted. Students work with the -ed ending in order to understand the past tense version of a word and build on this activity later by writing about the ending of the story using -ed words.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 3, students learn to identify new meanings for familiar words. The words touched on in this lesson are fall, watch, light, well, and running. During Guided Practice, the students help identify the meaning of the target word from Technology at Home & School: Past and Present. In Show Your Knowledge, students identify the meaning of tag based on the sentence it is read aloud in.
• In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 3, students hear the story, “A House for Max.” During this story students are exposed to the key vocabulary: small, indoors, and sunny. In Week 2, Day 3, students hear, The Three Little Pigs, and interact with 14 different vocabulary words across multiple pages including, huffed, slammed, little, inside and quiet.
• In Unit 9, Week 1, Day 2, students learn to use context clues to figure out the meaning of needs, wants, shelter, and afford. In Week 1, Day 3, students learn to use antonyms. In Week 3, Day 2, students sort words (uniforms, helmets, lights, sirens, jackets, hoses, ladders) from the text “Firefighters at Work” into categories of either Firefighter’s Gear or Truck Parts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Benchmark Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials contain a year long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts.

The Benchmark Universe materials include support for Kindergarten students’ writing instruction for a whole year’s worth of instruction engaging students with the grade level writing standards. Writing lessons, tasks, and projects authentically integrate with reading, speaking, listening, and language. Writing tasks and projects are varied and include learning, practice, and application of writing skills. The teacher materials provide models, protocols, and plans to support implementation of the writing tasks, projects, and supports as well as guidance or support for pacing of writing over shorter and extended periods of time appropriate to the grade level. Examples of materials containing a year long, cohesive plan of writing include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 3, students focus on writing a new ending to the classic story, Goldilocks and the Three Bears. The teacher informs students that they will write a new ending and models how a new ending might look like. To support students writing, students orally rehearse ideas of the story ending with a partner. Students are provided time to write a new ending independently. During that time, the teacher is to confer and monitor prompts to help gauge whether students understand the task. Additionally, a Build Language: Understand and Use Question Words section is included for support to teachers as they confer and monitor.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 2, students use the story Ungalala to plan a narrative writing piece. The teacher prompts students to imagine what is happening in the beginning of the writing and what is happening now.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 3, students write a connection made between the photographs and the text Technology at Home and School: Past and Present. Before doing any independent writing, the teacher models how to do this through a shared writing activity. The teacher conducts a think-aloud to demonstrate what the expectation is before students share ideas with a partner and independently write. After the think-aloud, students will select a picture from the text and tell a partner “how it helps to understand and connect to text.” Students draw or write to the prompt and share writing with a partner.
• In Unit 8, Week 3, Day 1, students work on an informative writing piece by revising the informative text written the day before. Students are utilizing details from the story, One Snowy Day, and revise writing by adding one more fact from the story.
• In Unit 9, Week 3, Day 2, students work on finding text evidence related to identifying a problem-solution text structure in the story Munching Millie. Using the text evidence question, “What is the problem in the story that the children have to solve?” the teacher will model how to answer the question using text evidence. Once done with this, the teacher then takes the students through guided practice to answer the text evidence question, “What solution does Dad have to the problem?”
• In Unit 10, Week 2, Day 3 students write an informational text about the stories, “Force,” and Motion.” Students use the text evidence in order to write known facts from the stories.

The instructional materials reviewed for Benchmark Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research, and writing projects to encourage students to develop knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials.

Benchmark Universe Materials includes shared research and writing projects to encourage students to develop knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials. In the core materials, students have opportunities to participate in shared writing tasks. Shared research is found in the Connect Across Disciplines Inquiry Projects section. The teacher will have to provided the resources for research in Connect Across Disciplines Inquiry Projects. Research skills require students to focus on a routine of investigation, creating, presentation, reflection, and responding. Each unit includes three Connect Across Disciplines inquiry projects. Most require a week to complete, and some extend beyond a week’s time. Over the course of a year, tasks within the inquiry project routines increase in the depth and difficulty of assigned tasks. Teachers do have to use and provide supplemental resources, such as websites, books, and pictures. A recommended trade books tab gives teachers additional books to potentially use and incorporate throughout the specific unit of study. Materials also provide opportunities for students to apply reading, writing, speaking and listening in addition to language skills for students to synthesize and analyze grade level readings.

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 2, students write an opinion about why the author Brenda Parkes wrote the book Rules Are Cool. The teacher does a modeled writing activity. Students share an opinion about why Brenda Parkes wrote the book before writing. Students independently write an opinion using either writing or drawing. After the teacher models how to share writing, students share writing with the class.
• In Unit 2, Connect Across the Disciplines Inquiry Projects, students make a puppet representing a worker in the project called “Make a ‘Worker’ Puppet.” As a short project, students may create multiple puppets over the span of a week. Students complete the project by using the puppets to provide a description to peers of the worker’s job. Teachers provide picture books or websites about jobs people do. The website kids.gov is given as a suggestion for online materials to utilize. Materials to create puppets are provided by teachers and include paper bags, craft supplies, paper, scissors, tape/glue. There is the opportunity for the teacher to refer to reading materials used through weeks within the units and support the synthesis and analysis of learning acquired through the units’ reading lessons. Students discuss other types of jobs held at school aside from a teacher and books from the week’s reading help to provide descriptions of jobs people do.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Day 1 Shared Writing Mini-Lesson, students engage in shared writing and then select a photo from the book “What do Plants Need?” and write how the photo helps to understand and connect to the text. Students share ideas about how the picture helps to understand and connect to the text before writing. Students write on this piece during this time.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 2, students write to compare and contrast two pictures in the story, Technology at Home & School: Past and Present. The teacher conducts a think-aloud and shared writing before students are asked to write. Students share writing with the class and offer suggestions to others about word choice.
• In Unit 8, Connect Across the Disciplines Inquiry Projects, students can begin a month long inquiry project called “Make a Weather Calendar” to make a weather calendar to show the month’s weather and to learn to predict how weather changes over a period of a month. Students look at weather forecasts and newsprint to make predictions over a period of a month and record findings in whole group discussion using weather symbols to add to a class chart. Teachers provide printed newspapers and televised new reports from which students obtain information. Additional materials are blank paper, markers and crayons. Students notice patterns in weather, follow rules for discussions, and respond to a variety of questions.
• In Unit 10, Connect Across the Disciplines Inquiry Projects, students can participate in “Make an Alphabet Book about Motion.” Student are to look at picture books and websites showing objects moving and describe the pictures. Then students create an alphabet book that shows how things move. Directions are provided to the teacher as to how to make the books.

The instructional materials reviewed for Benchmark Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

Benchmark Universe materials provide the opportunity for students to read independently throughout the school year. The materials include a resource in Program Support titled, “Managing Your Independent Reading Program,” which details the expectations for teachers and students to be reading both in class and independently at home. The “Managing Your Independent Reading Program” includes: resources for organizing independent reading, the classroom library, room arrangement, anchor charts, mini-lessons for promoting independent reading, reading response journals and logs, discussion groups and book recommendations, guidance for conferring with students, and information on growing your classroom library. According to Benchmark Universe materials, “Students should also be encouraged to develop a routine of reading daily at home for a minimum of 20 minutes, either independently or with a parent.” In the independent reading stage, students are required to self-select and to read materials at their own ‘just-right’ levels.” The Three-Finger Method is recommended for Emergent and Early Readers, which includes:

1. Choose a book that you would like to read.
2. Turn to any page and begin reading.
3. If there are three words that you can’t pronounce or that you don’t understand, the book is too difficult for you.
4. Repeat the process until you find a “just-right” book.

A tracking system is recommended in the “Managing Your Independent Reading Program” to track students’ independent reading in the form of a reading log and reading response journal. Reading response journals are kept by students and used to record personal responses to texts they have read or will read. It is suggested that young students can draw pictures as a means of reflecting their reading. Teachers demonstrate proper techniques, provide mini-lessons on how to respond to literature and model several prompts by listing them on chart paper, and hang the paper on the wall. The reading log is also suggested as an independent reading tracking tool. In reading logs, students keep a record of what they have read by writing the book title, author, illustrator, genre, and date read.

There is sufficient teacher guidance to foster independence for all readers and procedures are organized for independent reading included in the lessons, for example, as stated in the text, “Within Benchmark Advance, students may participate in daily independent reading during the Independent and Collaborative Activity block, while the teacher meets with small groups of students to conduct differentiated small-group reading instruction, model fluency skills through reader’s theater, or reteach skills and strategies.” Students complete a variety of reading activities in the reading block. Students have shared reading and mentor read-alouds each week. There are also a set of small group texts that will be used in small group time. Each set of texts is leveled according to Guided Reading levels. Student independent reading materials span a wide volume of texts at grade levels. These texts titles are included as a teacher resource, Recommended Trade Books.