The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of Indicator 1g.

Text-based questions, tasks, and assignments support students’ literacy growth over the course of the school year. Questions are text-based for mentor read alouds. Teacher materials provide support for planning and implementation of text-dependent writing, speaking, and activities. Questions include both explicit questions and inferences. Text-based questions support daily practice for writing, speaking, and activities. Where activities are text-based, teachers are given support for planning and implementation of the activities. The “Integrated ELD” section for the teacher provides two to five tasks/questions/sentence frames to give light, moderate, or substantial support to students who are struggling with the task. The Teacher Edition provides text-based questions to ask students. The questions correspond with specific pages in the text. The Teacher Edition also provides examples for the teacher on how to think aloud when modeling how to answer the questions, as well as sample responses for questions that students answer during Guide Practice. Culminating Research and Inquiry projects also include using the unit texts and text evidence. Examples of text-based questions, tasks, and assignments include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 3, Week 2, Day 2, students use text evidence multiple times to “use photographs to describe key details.” One example question is: “Which details in the photographs on pages 8-9 show what the author means in the text with the word ‘respect’? ‘Do any of the photos show something else?”
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 2, the students use text evidence to identify the narrator of the Mentor Read-Aloud, “The City Mouse and the Country Mouse.” The students look for signal words in the text and analyze what the character is saying about his or her experiences. The teacher also asks the students text-based questions, including “Who was the narrator in the first part of the story? How do you know? How does the phrase, ‘I headed home, where it’s peaceful,’ differ from ‘Country life was so boring’? How do the two phrases help explain the reactions of each narrator?”
• In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 4, the mentor read task is “summarize and synthesize.” Students are explicitly taught that summarize means to “tell what the text is mostly about” while synthesize means to “think about details from the text along with your own knowledge to create a new understanding or idea.” The task for students is to read a familiar fictional text and summarize it, then synthesize a new idea.
• In Unit 6, the Culminating Research and Inquiry Project is for students to “compare the messages of two fables from the unit texts, and look for other fables that have similar messages.” Students answer text-dependent questions in their projects: “What mistakes do the characters make in the fables you studied? What do they learn from these mistakes? What similarities did you find between the messages in the unit text and the message in the other fable you researched? How were the messages presented differently?”
• In Unit 10, Week 2, Day 5, students engage in a mentor read cross-text of I Hear With My Ears and Sounds I Love. Students are asked to contrast texts to see how they’re different. Questions to support this task include, “How can you compare and contrast the experiences of the narrator on pages 5–6 and 10–11 of I Hear with My Ears with the experiences of the narrator on page 44 of 'Sounds I Love!'? How can you compare and contrast the experiences of the narrator on pages 10–15 of I Hear with My Ears with the experiences of the narrator on page 45 of 'Sounds I Love!'?"

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of Indicator 1h.

Culminating tasks are rich and of quality, provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do in speaking and writing, and are varied and evident across a year’s worth of material. Text-dependent questions and smaller daily tasks lead up to the culminating tasks. Inquiry and Research projects are only slightly varied every unit, but offer choices for presentations. Both the Inquiry and Research projects as well as the weekly and unit assessments provide opportunities for students to demonstrate understanding of unit content. During the Inquiry and Research project and Unit Reflection, teachers use a “Constructive Conversation” approach that is centered around the Essential Question and Unit Topic. Process writing tasks are ample in the curriculum as culminating writing tasks. Each week contains texts, writing tasks, and discussions leading to the culminating tasks for the unit. Assessments contain related texts that are “cold reads” for the students, but use unit vocabulary and assess skills taught throughout the unit. It should be noted that although students have choice in the product they create for a culminating task, the structure and routines of each culminating task are not varied, including the three questions that frame each culminating task.

Culminating tasks are supported with coherent sequences of text-based questions and tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, the Essential Question is “How do we learn about characters?” and the Unit Topic is “Many Kinds of Characters.” Students write a narrative over three days. On Day 1, students read “The Ant and the Grasshopper” and write an ending to the story. On Day 2, students review the story and add details to their writing. On Day 3, students add a conclusion to their writing.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 2, students respond to the following sequence of text-based questions: “We asked ourselves, ‘Why was the plot a problem?’ Now, let’s answer another question, ‘Why might a vacant lot in a neighborhood become a problem? How are the products of the community garden different than the products of the vacant lot?’ This community garden is inside a city. How might the community garden be different if it was outside of a city?”
• In Unit 4, the Essential Question is “How do People Create Stories?” and the Unit Topic is “Stories have a narrator.” During Week 1, Day 2, students find signal words and key details to identify the narrator of “The City Mouse and the Country Mouse.” Students work on opinion writing about their favorite characters during Weeks 2 and 3. On the Unit 4 Assessment, students listen to “Ali learns a lesson” and answer “Who is telling this story?” Students listen to “Tomorrow” and answer “Who is telling this story?” Students then compare and contrast the narrators while responding to the question, “Think about the two passages you have listened to. How is Sid the chipmunk like Ali?”
• In Unit 5, the Essential Question is “How can technology make a difference in our lives?” and the Unit Topic is “Technology at work.” On Week 3, Day 5, students reflect on the Unit Topic in a Constructive Conversation. Students discuss the Essential Question and build upon their peers’ responses in small groups. Then each group shares with the class. Each group makes a digital newscast about a new kind of robot. Students also demonstrate their topic knowledge through writing by answering questions about the Essential Question and unit topic.
• In Unit 6, students read Tall and Small Play Ball during Week 3, Day 2. The following sequence of text-based questions is used: “How are Aren and Carrie able to use their sizes to win the last game? How do Carrie and Aren feel after the last game? How do Zach and Emma feel about Carrie and Aren at first? What does Zach say after the game after he and Emma lose? Is it true?”
• In Unit 7, Week 3, students complete a Demonstrate Knowledge through Drawing and Writing culminating task where they share what they have learned throughout the unit by answering these text-dependent questions: “Why is it important to understand, honor, and remember special people, places, and events from the past? (Essential Question)” and “How does studying the past help us understand our traditions today? (Enduring Understanding)”
• In Unit 8, the Essential Question is “Why do the sun and moon capture our imagination?” and the Unit Topic is “Observing the sky.” On Week 3, Day 5, students reflect on the Unit Topic in a Constructive Conversation. Students discuss the Essential Question and build upon their peers’ responses in small groups. Then each group shares with the class. Each group makes a digital slideshow about the sun, moon, and sky. Students also demonstrate their topic knowledge through writing by answering questions about the Essential question and unit topic.
• In Unit 9, the Essential Question is “Why do people trade with each other?” and the Unit Topic is “We use goods and services.” One culminating writing task for the unit is a research report about a good or a service. Students write the research report over the entire unit. During Week 1, students read “Sea Turtle Hatchlings” and discuss the key features of a research report. In Week 2, students read In My Opinion, Goods and Services are Important and discuss the different kinds of goods and services in the text. Students also complete guided lessons to draft and revise their reports. In Week 3, students finish their reports and share them with the class.
• In Unit 10, throughout the three-week unit, students engage in a culminating Research and Inquiry project where they deepen their understanding of the unit topic, Exploring Sound, Light, and Heat. Students combine information from the unit texts with information from their research to create and deliver a presentation that shows what they have learned, using the following questions as a guide: “If the thing you studied did not make sound, light, or heat, how would that change the way people experience it? (Essential Question)” and “What did you learn from your investigation that helped you better understand how the thing you studied makes sound or light?” (text evidence, cross-text analysis).

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of Indicator 1i.

Teacher materials support the implementation of Speaking and Listening, as well as vocabulary standards, to grow students’ skills. The Foundations and Routines book and the Instructional Routines and Strategies for Vocabulary include Turn and Talk, Constructive Conversations, and Being a Good Listener routines. The materials provide opportunities for teacher modeling and review of discussion protocols. Most lessons include opportunities for students to engage in text-based discussions with the class or partners. Writing lessons include an Oral Rehearsal, which gives students opportunities to practice saying the sentences that they will write before writing them. In some lessons, the students participate in Constructive Conversation protocols. Many lessons provide the teacher with sentence frames in order to support student discussion. Lessons provide opportunities for students to discuss texts in response to text-based questions and Close Reading prompts. Academic vocabulary is used in both questions and teacher modeling and sentence stems for discussions. Students also have opportunities to practice speaking and listening during the presentation phase of the Unit Inquiry projects. The Teacher Resource System has additional resources for Instructional Routines and Strategies as well as Constructive Conversation. The Instructional Routines resource briefly outlines routines for daily read-alouds, activities to extend read-alouds, and routines for modeling and teaching skills, such as retelling, phonological awareness, and blending. The Constructive Conversation resource has information that the teacher can use to support students’ conversations.

Materials provide multiple opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions across the whole year’s scope of instructional materials. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• As described in the Foundations and Routines lessons Day 1, there is an anchor chart for what a strong listener does: "A listener takes a listening position. A listener remains seated. A listener keeps hands and feet to himself/herself. A listener raises his/her hand to speak. A listener looks at the person who is talking. A listener is ready to ask and answer questions. A listener can repeat what someone else has said. A listener waits to hear what someone is thinking and may add on. A listener does not interrupt.”
• As described in the Foundations and Routines lessons Day 2, the teacher introduces and models Constructive Conversations. “When strong readers talk about what they’ve read, they take turns. We can’t hear everyone at once, so one person talks at a time. Everyone listens to that person. Then another person can talk.”
• As described in the Instructional Routines and Strategies document, the Vocabulary Routine: Define/Example/Ask (page AR10) was “Developed by Isabel Beck and is ideal for introducing new words to students. It provides a student-friendly definition, connecting the word to students’ experiences, and asks students to use the word in speaking to check understanding.”
• As described in the Instructional Routines and Strategies document, the Vocabulary Routine: Academic Vocabulary section (page AR12) states: “This routine, developed by Kate Kinsella, is an alternate routine for working with new words. It is especially strong for English learners and can be used to extend vocabulary work after the initial Define/Example/Ask introduction.” The teacher tips box gives grade-level appropriate activities for this. For example, “[H]ave students create nonlinguistic representations of the word (e.g., pictures).”
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1, students participate in a Constructive Conversation during the unit introduction. The teacher reminds students of Constructive Conversation protocols: participants take turns, listen carefully to each other, and build on each other’s ideas. The teacher states, “The narrator said that when we read stories, we think about what the characters think, say, and do. To me, that sounds a lot like what I do when I learn about people in real life. The narrator also said characters can be people or animals. Now I’ve got a question. ‘How do animals act like people in a story?’ I’m going to jot down my question. Let’s make a list of ideas and questions we have after watching this video.” Next, partners take turns sharing a question or idea they have about characters. Then, the teacher invites them to share the questions and ideas they had. The teacher writes these questions and ideas on a chart.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 5, students work with a partner to compare and contrast the experiences of characters in the Mentor Read-Aloud, “Little Red Riding Hood” and the Extended Read, Wolfie the Bunny. The Teacher Edition includes the following guidance: “Have partners compare and contrast Dot’s experiences and Little Red’s experiences. Display and read aloud sentence frames one at a time. Have partners discuss their answers then share with the class. Add students’ findings to the Venn diagram before continuing to the next sentence.” Examples of sentence frames include, “Both Little Red Riding Hood and Dot meet a _____,” and “Little Red meets a wolf who is _____, but Dot’s brother is _____.”
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 1, the students work in partners to summarize all of the events in the Shared Reading text, “We’re Going to the Moon.” The teacher instructs students to use the “Turn, Talk, and Listen” protocol to summarize the events of the poem in sequential order. Invite one or two students to paraphrase what their partners told them.
• In Unit 7, Week 3, Day 5, students engage in the Constructive Conversations protocol for evidence-based discussion regarding the content from the unit. The materials provide specifics for speaking and listening expectations, as well as specific guidelines for teachers with students to support them with answering the Essential Question, build on each other’s ideas, synthesize their group’s thoughts into one answer, and share the answer with others.
• In Unit 9, Week 3, Day 5, students present their research reports. They also learn how to give feedback to each other. The teacher models how to present a written text to the class by speaking clearly and looking students in the eye. The teacher also models sharing feedback about the work. The teacher instructs students to use strong voices and to read clearly with good pacing when they are presenting. The teacher provides students with sentence frames for students who need support expressing what they like about a piece of writing. Sentence frames include, “I like how you ____. The most interesting part is ____.” The students present their writing to each other in small groups. Group members can also ask the speaker questions after their presentation.
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 5, students engage in the Constructive Conversations protocol for evidence-based discussion regarding the content from the unit. The materials provide specifics for speaking and listening expectations, as well as specific guidelines for teachers with students to support them with answering the Essential Question, build on each other’s ideas, synthesize their group’s thoughts into one answer, and share the answer with others.

Support for evidence-based discussions encourages modeling and a focus on academic vocabulary and syntax. Some examples are as follows:

• In Unit 2, Week 3, Day 2, the students engage in a shared reading of the poem, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.” After fluently modelling how to read the text, the teacher asks the students to “Read the second paragraph. When you get to the shepherd boy’s words, make your voice express exaggerated fear and distress. What did you notice about how I read that part? Ask students to read the lines with you, putting a frightened expression into their voices.”
• In Unit 9, Week 3, Day 2, the students participate in a Constructive Conversation with partners. Students practice retelling story details and identifying the central message using the Extended Read text, The Shoemaker and the Elves. The teacher reminds students to think about how the elves help the shoemaker. The teacher asks, “What do the shoemaker and his wife do in return for the elves’ help?” For students who need support to retell story details and identify the central message, the Teacher Edition provides additional modeling. In this situation, teacher guidance is as follows: “As I read, I thought about how the elves helped the shoemaker by making beautiful shoes each night. The elves’ kindness helped the shoemaker sell shoes and make money. The shoemaker appreciates that the elves did something nice for him. Then he decides to do something nice for them. He makes new clothes for them. These events help me figure out the central message of the story. I think the author wants us to understand that it is nice to do something for someone who has been kind to you and helped you, the way the elves helped the shoemaker.”
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 5, students participate in a Constructive Conversation in small groups about the unit’s Essential Question: “How would our lives be different without sound, light, and heat?” The teacher reminds students of the Constructive Conversation routine: “First, students in the group take turns stating and answering the Essential Question in their own words. Next, students take turns building on each other’s ideas.” The teacher models the routine.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of Indicator 1j.

Speaking and listening instruction is applied frequently over the course of the school year and includes facilitation, monitoring, and instructional supports for teachers. The teacher’s guide also includes directions to monitor Constructive Conversations. Materials include practice of speaking and listening skills that support students’ increase in ability over the course of the school year. Speaking and listening is included daily in lessons. There are Research and Inquiry projects for each unit which provide opportunities for students to present on a topic familiar to that unit and answer the Essential Question. Speaking and listening work requires students to gather evidence from texts and sources. Constructive Conversations involve text-based questions and discussions. Students use texts to do unit Research and Inquiry projects but there is no specific guidance for speaking and listening for the projects except for the presentation component.

Students have multiple opportunities over the school year to demonstrate what they are reading (or read aloud) and researching through varied speaking and listening opportunities. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, the unit Inquiry Project focuses on the unit theme, Many Kinds of Characters. Students pick one of the animal characters from a story in this unit, and then research to find other stories that also have that animal as a character. Students use their research project to answer questions including, “What were you able to learn about the characters from the way they look, feel, act, and talk? Why do you think each author chose this type of animal for a character? Do the animal characters in these stories act the way people would expect this type of animal to behave?” After students present their research projects, the class engages in a discussion about how the project helps them understand the Essential Question. Students take turns asking the speaker questions, using question stems from the Think-Speak-Listen Bookmarks.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Day 4, students engage in an extended reading of the text, Technology Breakdown by Brenda Parkes. In Guided Practice, the teacher reads aloud pages 8–13: “Have students turn and talk with a partner to answer the question by describing events from the text. Call on a few students to share their descriptions with the class, pointing out evidence in the text and illustrations as they give their descriptions.” Afterward in a Share and Reflect session, partners discuss how using key details to describe major events can help readers remember and better understand a story. Teachers invite one or two students to share their ideas with the class.
• In Unit 9, Week 3, Day 5, students engage in a reflection of the unit in various activities. During Engage, Thinking, teachers encourage a brief whole-group discussion: “Have students recall and retell particularly interesting information and ideas from the texts they read and listened to during the unit.” In View and Discuss Multimedia, the teacher reminds students that they watched a short video at the beginning of the unit before they read the text selections. Students view the video again and discuss how the video helps them think about goods and services as well as the Essential Question. Students share how their ideas about the video have changed since the first viewing. In Constructive Conversations with Peer Groups, students collaborate to develop a group answer to the Essential Question. First, students in the group take turns stating and answering the Essential Question in their own words. Next, students take turns clarifying and building on each other’s ideas. The teacher models how to do this. Lastly, group members use the conversation to develop one answer to share with the class.
• In Unit 10, during the Inquiry and Research Project, students write about ”one thing from our Unit texts that makes sound or light.” The teacher models the project’s guiding questions and students work in partners or small groups to complete the project. However, there is no specific guidance on speaking and listening associated with the weekly tasks for the project. Students present their projects and other students write questions to ask the presenters. Then students discuss how the projects help deepen their understanding of the topic.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for Indicator 1k.

Materials include an even mix of short and longer writing tasks. Every unit also has an Inquiry and Research project which lasts three weeks. Writing tasks and projects are aligned to the grade-level standards being reviewed. There is more emphasis on process writing in Grade 1 than Kindergarten. Students learn and practice both on-demand and process writing throughout the school year. In Writing lessons, students learn and practice process writing. Units include opportunities for students to revise and edit their work under teacher guidance. Units include skill introduction, modeling, guided practice with Shared Writing, and independent practice. Each daily writing lesson includes a mini-lesson in which the teacher models and guides students in practicing their writing skills.

On-demand writing examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, each day of the week students complete a Personal Response writing task based on the text, “The Amazing Life Cycle of a Frog,” in which they write a different connection to the text. Each day, the TRS gives a very clear Shared Writing example so the teacher knows and presents the expectation of the Grade 1 writing standards. The TRS includes Oral Rehearsal for Independent Writing and Share and Reflect sections, during which students speak to partners about their writing.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Day 3, students complete the Phonics and Word Study session on page 22 of the My Reading and Writing workbook. To deepen comprehension, students draw and write about one of Tim’s problems in response to their reading of “Tim Can Clean.”
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 3, students write about the text, "Make a Robot," by drawing and writing ways a robot can help. In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 3, students write about the text, “You Can Find It,” by drawing and writing how tools can help solve problems. In Unit 5, Week 3, Day 3, students write about the text, “Dear Family,” by drawing a picture and writing an email to a family member.
• In Unit 7, students write about texts in their My Reading and Writing workbooks. On Week 2, Day 3, students read “My Fun and Games” and draw and write directions to play a game.
• In Unit 9, Week 1, Day 3, students write about the text, “Trading Then and Now.” Students discuss and draw and/or write about why people trade. In Unit 9, Week 2, Day 3, students write about the text “Good Boy, Scruffs!” Students discuss and draw and/or write about what Scruffs does next. In Unit 9, Week 3, Day 3, students write about the text, “Jack’s Jobs.” Students discuss and draw and/or write about chores they do around the house.
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 2, students review their completed informational/explanatory writing from the year and evaluate their own writing with a rubric. They pick the piece they think is the best and write reflections on their writing.

Examples of process writing include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 3, students complete an informative writing task where they focus on the craft of writing by spending three weeks brainstorming, drafting, revising and expanding, and sharing. While referencing the Mentor Text, Hello, Community Garden! (author not cited), students write an informative text about places in their community.
• In Unit 5, students practice writing explanatory texts. On Week 1, Day 1, the teacher and students analyze the Mentor Text, “Technology in Flight,” to learn about the features of a strong explanatory text. In Weeks 1-3, students follow the steps of the writing process as they craft an explanatory text about technology that is helpful in the home. The teacher uses “Technology in Flight” to model the characteristics of explanatory texts and to provide models for the writing and revision process. The teacher guides the informative writing process using the Shared Writing process to create brainstorming lists, plans, and drafts. The students participate in all phases of the writing process by discussing and writing their ideas.
• In Unit 6, students revisit process writing opinion pieces of work throughout the three-week unit. In Week 1, students read and analyze the mentor text, Mother Bruce by Ryan Higgins, and discuss features of a strong opinion text. They also brainstorm opinions about the text, its characters, the illustrations, and any other features. They choose a topic, identify reasons and evidence, and begin drafting their writing. In Week 2, students continue drafting as well as revising and expanding on their pieces of work. In Week 3, students edit, publish, and share their work.
• In Unit 7, the students spend three weeks writing how-to procedural writings about their morning routines. The teacher uses the Mentor Text, “How to Send a Letter,” to explain the parts of procedural writing. Students discuss their routine with a partner but do individual writing. In Week 1, students brainstorm ideas and draft their writing. In Week 2, students complete the final draft and revise. In Week 3, students edit, add visuals, publish, and share.
• In Unit 9, students learn about and practice writing informative research texts. In Week 1, the teacher and students analyze the Mentor Text,“Sea Turtle Hatchlings,” to learn about the features of a research report. In Week 1, the students plan and begin to write a research report about goods and services. In Weeks 1-3, the students follow the steps of the informative writing process to write a research report about a chosen good or service. The teacher models the research and report writing process using model brainstorming lists, note-taking charts, planning charts, and drafts. The teacher uses a Shared Writing text to guide students in writing, revising, and editing. The students participate in all phases of the writing process by discussing and writing their ideas.
• In Unit 10, Week 2, students read and write acrostic poems. The teacher uses the Mentor Text, “Sounds,” to explain an acrostic poem. Students then analyze another Mentor text, the acrostic poem “Light.” Students come up with a topic for an acrostic poem, discuss their ideas with a partner but do individual writing. On Day 2, students brainstorm ideas. On Day 3, they draft. On Day 4, students revise their work. On Day 5, they publish and share.

Opportunities for students to revise and/or edit include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, students write a personal response to the texts, “The Amazing Life Cycle of a Frog” and “The Fox and the Robin.” There is no guidance in the TRS about revising or editing, except notes to the teacher in the Conferring Prompts section of the margin. During Writing, teachers “observe students and look for ways to support their writing development. Confer with a few students about their writing...Use these first writing experiences to help you understand students’ current stage of writing development and determine ways to support them.”
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 3, students continue drafting their informative writing pieces, using the mentor text, Hello, Community Garden! (author not cited). They continue the drafting process by adding some new details to their text, then restating the topic sentence to bring closure to their writing.
• In Unit 4, Weeks 2–3, students write an opinion text about a character using details from a text from Units 1–4. Week 2 includes one day for brainstorming, two days for drafting, and two days for revising and expanding. Week 3 includes two days for Focus on Writer’s Craft lessons, one day to edit, one day to publish, and one day to share.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 4, students revise their explanatory drafts again by adding words and phrases to make their ideas stronger and clearer. The teacher shows examples of transition words and phrases such as, for example, finally, and, but, using the Mentor Text, “Technology in Flight.” Then, the teacher guides students in adding transition words and phrases to the Shared Writing draft. The teacher also guides students in combining sentences. Students discuss their ideas with partners, and then practice revising and extending their drafts during Independent Writing. The teacher challenges the students to add linking words and phrases to connect ideas.
• In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 3, students revise their writing to make it stronger. Teacher guidance states: “During writer’s workshop time or at a station during small-group reading time, have students consider their partners’ suggestions and make at least one revision to their text that makes it stronger.”
• In Unit 8, students complete an opinion writing task spanning three weeks. During Week 2, Day 4, students revise and expand. During Week 3, Days 2 and 3, students edit.
• In Unit 9, Week 2, Day 4, students practice revising their research reports about a chosen good or service. The teacher uses a Shared Writing text to show students how to expand and revise ideas and make sentences more clear or interesting. The teacher asks the students to think about the writing in their own drafts: “What ideas need more explanation? What would you like to add? Are there any sentences you could change so that they sound more interesting? If you were reading this, what else would you like to know? Tell your partner about your thoughts for changes.” Students work with partners to discuss their ideas for changes and then make at least one revision during Independent Writing.

Examples of the use of digital tools include, but are not limited to:

• Teachers are encouraged to allow students to publish finished writing digitally if resources are available.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 1, students watch the Unit Opener video, “Technology at Work,” to engage in the unit topic, activate background knowledge, and introduce vocabulary. Students discuss questions about the content of the video. The teacher observes students’ conversations to gauge their knowledge about unit content and to build interest.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of Indicator 1l.

Materials provide opportunities for students and teachers to monitor progress in writing skills. Lessons contain sample Conferring Prompts for teachers to use when giving students feedback to support them with improving their writing. The materials provide writing exemplars along with explanations and rubrics for each type of writing. The materials also include rubrics for the Inquiry and Research projects. Where appropriate, writing opportunities are connected to texts and/or text sets (either as prompts, models, anchors, or supports). Short and longer writing tasks use the texts from the unit. The Teacher Edition includes sample models for teachers to use when modeling and guiding each part of the writing process. Writing lessons also use previously read Extended Reads as model texts to introduce and review skills needed in the writing process. Materials include sufficient writing opportunities for a whole year’s use.

Materials provide multiple opportunities across the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply different genres/modes/types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Students have opportunities to engage in opinion writing:
• In Unit 4, Weeks 2–3, students choose a character from a text in Units 1–4 and write an opinion piece about the character using details from the text during shared writing. For example, in Week 2, Day 2, the teacher works with the group to narrow their choices down to one character who is their favorite from the story practicing a think-aloud to talk through how to encode their thoughts. Then, students work in partners to repeat the process of narrowing down to a single character, talking through their reasons. Finally, they write or draw their opinion statements.
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 3, students review their completed opinion writing from the year and evaluate their own writing with a rubric. They pick the piece they think is the best and write reflections on their writing.
• Students have opportunities to engage in informative/explanatory writing.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, students learn about the informative writing process and practice writing informational texts. The teacher uses the Mentor Read-Aloud, "Hello, Community Garden!”, as inspiration for the students as they brainstorm, plan, write, revise, publish, and present their own informational texts about special places in the community. The teacher models the informative writing process using model brainstorming lists, plans, and drafts. Students participate in all phases of the writing process by first discussing and then writing their ideas.
• In Unit 5, students practice writing explanatory texts. On Week 1, Day 1, the teacher and students analyze the Mentor Text, “Technology in Flight,” to learn about the features of a strong explanatory text. In Weeks 1–3, the students follow the steps in the writing process to write an explanatory text about technology that is helpful in the home. The teacher models the informative writing process using model brainstorming lists, plans, and drafts. Students participate in all phases of the writing process by discussing and writing their ideas.
• In Unit 7, over the course of three weeks, students write how-to procedural writings about their morning routines. The teacher uses the Mentor Text, “How to Send a Letter,” to explain the parts of procedural writing. Students discuss their routine with a partner but do individual writing.
• In Unit 9, students learn about and practice writing informative research texts. In Week 1, the teacher and students analyze the Mentor Text, “Sea Turtle Hatchlings,” to learn about the features of a research report. During Week 1, students plan and begin to write a research report about goods and services. In Weeks 1–3, students follow the steps of the informative writing process to write a research report about a chosen good or service. The teacher models the research and report writing process using model brainstorming lists, note-taking charts, planning charts, and drafts. The teacher uses a Shared Writing text to guide students in writing, revising, and editing. Students participate in all phases of the writing process by discussing and writing their ideas.
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 2, students review their completed informational/explanatory writing from the year and evaluate their own writing with a rubric. They pick the piece they think is the best and write reflections on their writing.
• Students have opportunities to engage in narrative writing.
• In Unit 1, students write Personal Responses to different texts each week. In Unit 1, Week 2, students write a personal response to The Life Cycle of an Oak Tree. The teacher models the steps of the process for writing the personal response with students engaging in their own writing, first in pairs, and then on their own, writing or drawing as they are able.
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 1, students review their completed narrative writing from the year and evaluate their writing with a rubric. They pick the narrative piece they think is the best and write a reflection on their writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of Indicator 1m.

Materials provide frequent opportunities across the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply writing using evidence. Throughout the various writing tasks both in the writing lessons and in other mini-lessons, students have many opportunities to write in response to text. Students write daily about texts they are reading, by either drawing a picture, completing a sentence frame, dictating a response, or writing an answer. Materials provide opportunities that build students’ writing skills over the course of the school year. Beginning of the year writing consists of more daily writing and end of the year writing is more multi-week, process writing. In the beginning of the year, students learn and practice writing and drawing about their personal responses to texts. Writing lessons at the beginning of the year include Guided Shared Writing as well as familiar writing protocols, such as the Three-Step Writing Strategy, which the students practiced in Kindergarten. In the middle of the year, students learn about and practice writing how-to texts. At the end of the year, students learn about and practice the poetry writing process. Lessons at the middle and end of the year continue to use Guided Shared Writing, detailed anchor charts, and Oral Rehearsal for Independent Writing, as students practice saying what they will write before they write.

Writing opportunities are focused on students’ recall of information to develop opinions from reading closely and working with evidence from texts and sources. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In the Unit 1 Assessment, students complete a writing task. The teacher reads “The Sunflower” and “The Dragonfly” as the students follow along. The writing task states: “What does a sunflower grow from? What does a dragonfly grow from? Use pictures and words to show your answers.”
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 1, students write a diary entry about the text Wolfie the Bunny. Students discuss their idea for the diary entry with a partner and “return to the text and look at the illustrations” to help them get ideas for their diary entry.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 3, students refer to the Mentor Read Aloud, Hello, Community Garden (author not cited), and draft an informative writing essay about a special place in their community.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, students write opinions about their favorite characters from the stories they have read so far.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 1, students begin a three-week informational writing task. The teacher refers “Technology in Flight” to explain the structure of the informational text. During the Independent and Small Group time, the teacher reminds students that they can “get their ideas from their own ideas by drawing on their own experiences in addition to the information they gather from books and other sources of information.”
• In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 2, students complete a shared reading of the poem, "When I Hurry," and write descriptive sentences in their My Reading and Writing workbook about what happened when the boy hurried.
• In Unit 10, Week 1, Day 1, students learn about writing poetry. The teacher introduces poetry by modeling how to analyze the Mentor Text, “At the Beach," a sensory poem. The teacher displays and reads the poem aloud, pointing out the key sensory phrases, “I see” and “I smell”. Next, the teacher guides the students in using the Mentor Text to identify the features of a sensory poem. During Independent Writing, students describe and discuss other things they might see, hear, smell, taste, and touch at the beach. They use strong, vivid words and phrases in their descriptions. The teacher reminds students to use strong, vivid words and phrases in their descriptions, interesting adjectives, and exciting action verbs to help their partner visualize what they experience. Then, students write a new ending for the Mentor Text.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials, questions, and tasks directly teach foundational skills to build reading acquisition by providing systematic and explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, letter-sound relationships, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness (K-1), and phonics (K-2) that demonstrate a transparent and research-based progression for application both in and out of context.

Materials provide systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in phonological awareness and phonics. In the Phonics and Word Study section, daily instruction is dedicated to modeling and practicing phonological awareness skills. In all 10 units, there are a variety of student opportunities to practice phonological awareness skills. Phonological awareness lessons offer limited multi-sensory and multi-modal activities. Materials have an explanation of phonological awareness instruction, explaining when phonological awareness skills are taught within the instructional day. A grade-level phonological awareness scope and sequence shows an implicit hierarchy for teaching phonological awareness skills. In the Phonics and Word Study and Shared Reading programs, there is a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness skills based on the hierarchy. Within the Phonics and Word Study program support document, materials clearly delineate a phonics scope and sequence for the year. Within the Teacher’s Resource System for each unit, a document called Strategies and Skills outlines the scope and sequence for each unit of instruction. The phonics patterns taught throughout the year are based on high utility patterns, mainly focusing on short and long vowel word families, r-controlled word families, and other vowel word families taught over the course of the year. A manageable number of phonics patterns and common generalizations are introduced each week, with new word families introduced at the rate of one new sound per week. Consonant digraphs are presented at the rate of three to four new digraphs per week. Previously taught letters and patterns are reviewed in subsequent weeks during spiral review opportunities. Materials include a scope and sequence and a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence.

Students have frequent opportunities to learn and understand phonemes (e.g. distinguish long and short vowels, blend sounds, pronounce vowels in single-syllable words, and segment single-syllable words). For example:

• Students have opportunities to distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models deleting and substituting medial sounds with words bot, boat and oat. The teacher says, “Listen as I say a word with three sounds /b/ /o/ /t/ bot.” Students change the short /ŏ/ to the long /ō/, and the teacher asks the students for the new word boat.
• In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models phoneme categorization with short and long /i/. The teacher directions state, “Listen carefully as I say three words: like, nice, fit. The words like and nice have long i /ī/ in the middle. The word fit has the short i /ĭ/ in the middle. It does not belong.” The teacher models with the words prize, ship, and white.
• In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models phoneme substitution using short and long /u/ words. For example, “Listen as I say a word with three sounds /k/ /u/ /t/, cut. Now I’m going to change the /u/ in the middle to /u-e/. What is the new word? The new word is /k/ /u-e/ /t/, cute.”
• Students have opportunities to orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models phoneme blending with the word run. Teacher directions state, “Listen as I say the sounds in a word /r/ /u/ /n/. I will blend the sounds together and say the word: /rrruuunnn/, run.” The teacher has the students say the word together.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, students practice blending sp- words. Teacher directions state, “Listen as I say three words: spot, seeds, spin. The words spot and spin begin with /s//p/. The word seed starts with /s/ but does not have /p/. It does not belong.” Students then practice as the teacher says words in a set to identify which word does not belong.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, students practice phoneme blending with words think, shark, wish, bath, and wrong. The students are to say the words sound by sound and blend the sounds together again to say the words.
• Students have opportunities to isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
• In Foundations and Routines, Day 2, students work on phoneme isolation. The teacher models isolating the initial sound by comparing three words: map, moon, and apple. Students practice isolating the initial sound with other groups of words.
• In Foundations and Routines, Day 4, the teacher models phoneme isolation of ending sounds. The teacher directions state, “Say the words tap, top, and sun. Have students repeat the words. Ask students if they hear the same sound at the end of the words.” Students practice identifying ending sounds in sets of words read by the teacher.
• In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 2, Shared Reading, the teacher points to the word legs in the reading and says, “The word legs has /z/ at the end. Listen: /llleeegzzz/.” The teacher asks students what words they hear that end with /z/.
• In Unit 7, Week 1, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models phoneme isolation for the medial sound in words. The teacher says, “Listen carefully as I say the words soap, road, foam.” The teacher tells students that they all have the long /ō/ sound in the middle. The teacher models again with words goat, sold, soak, asking students what vowel sound they hear in all three words.
• Students have opportunities to segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
• In Foundations and Routines, Day 9, students work on phoneme segmentation. The teacher models segmenting by saying a word out loud, then segmenting the word into the complete sequence of individual sounds: mat /mmmm/ /aaa/ /t/. The teacher identifies that the word mat has three sounds. The students segment the word with the teacher. Students practice segmenting other words into their complete sequence of individual phonemes.
• In Unit 1, Week 1 Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models segmenting the word man into individual sounds, “I’m going to say the sounds in the word man: /m/ /a/ /n/. The word man has three sounds.”
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models segmenting the words legs and set into individual sounds. The teacher is provided with the script, “Listen carefully as I say the sounds in the word legs: /l/ /e/ /g/ /z/. The word legs has four sounds.” The teacher then has the students blend the sounds together again and say legs. The teacher models again with set.
• In Unit 7, Week 3, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, students practice phoneme segmentation with words containing long i spelling patterns.

Lessons and activities provide students opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills while decoding words (e.g. spelling-sound correspondences of digraphs, decode one-syllable words, know final-e and long vowels, syllable and vowel relationship). For example:

Students have opportunities to know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.

• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, students learn the spelling-sound correspondences for the common consonant digraphs th, sh, and -ng. The teacher models identifying the placement of each digraph within words. For example, the teacher shows picture cards and says, “This picture shows a swing. The ending sound in swing is /ng/. The /ng/ sound is spelled with the letter ng. Say the sound with me: /ng/.” The teacher repeats this with sh and th.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Day 2, teacher models building and blending words with consonant digraphs ch and sh using ePocket Chart.

Students have opportunities to decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.

• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models building and blending CVC words using ePocket Chart.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, using the ePocket Chart, the teacher builds words with r-blends such as drip, grip, and trip. The teacher has students blend the sounds together and read the word.
• In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models building and blending short and long e words using the ePocket Chart. Students then practice building short and long e and u words.

Students have opportunities to know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.

• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, teachers are provided modeling and scripting for a final -e lesson. The teacher is to display letters for cake, wake, and wade with the ePocket chart.The script is provided, “Remember that the vowels a and final -e work together to make the a say its name.”
• In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models building and blending long /ē/ words by displaying letter cards c, u, t. The teacher models blending cut. The teacher adds -e to the end saying, “Now I can add an e to the word cut. The u and e work together to stand for the long /u/ sound. Listen as I blend the new word: /kuuut/. Say the word with me, cute.”
• In Unit 7, Week 2, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher displays Spelling-Sound Correspondence card ee, “These are feet. The middle sound in the word feet is /ee/. One way to spell /ē/ is with two e’s together.
• In Unit 9, Week 2, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, in a blending words lesson with /oi/, students learn that /oi/ can be spelled with oi or oy diphthongs. Students alphabetize letter cards and use the letter cards to sound out and create practice words. As the teacher tells them words, students choose the correct letters and manipulate them with guidance from the teacher to spell all their practice words. Once students finish building their list of practice words, the teacher dictates the words and has students write them.

Students have opportunities to use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.

• In Unit 4, Week 2, Day 3, Shared Reading activity Focus on Foundational Skills: Analyze Structure, students review that every syllable has one vowel sound and closed syllables have short vowel sounds and end with single consonants or consonant digraphs. Students divide the words between the syllables to determine which syllables are closed, and they work on identifying the vowel and consonant or digraph.
• In Unit 8, Week 1, Day 2, Shared Reading, students practice decoding two syllable words. The teacher displays the words birdhouse and seashell and is instructed,“As students decode the words, they should follow syllabication rules, noting that each syllable has only one vowel sound.”
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher says, “We know that a syllable is a word or word part with one vowel sound.” The teacher introduces the sound spelling -le and open/closed syllables. Students practice dividing words into syllables and deciding if the syllable is open or closed.

Students have opportunities to decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.

• In Unit 7, Week 3, Day 2, Shared Reading, students are introduced to open syllables with the two syllable word baby. The teacher models, “Display the word baby. Separate the words into two syllables: ba and by. Explain that both syllables in this word are open syllables.”
• In Unit 8, Week 3, Day 2, Shared Reading, the teacher is provided with modeling to display words and draw a line to divide the words into syllables. The words to be displayed are: tar/get, bor/ing, per/son, hair/y, se/vere.
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 3, Shared Reading, the teacher displays purple and battle and guides students to read the words using syllables (pur/ple, batt/le).

Students have opportunities to read words with inflectional endings.

• In Unit 3, Week 3, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher displays letter cards b, e, n, d and says, “Let’s blend all the sounds together and read the word: /beeend/, bend.” The teacher and students practice building and blending more words that end with -nd. The teacher adds -ed to the end of the word land and tells students to say both words and listen for the difference. The teacher explains that -ed at the end of a verb means the action took place in the past. “Let’s blend the sounds and read the word: /laaanded/, landed.”
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, students learn to read words with the inflectional ending -ing. The teacher displays the sentence: “The girl reads.” The teacher thinks aloud and says “We don’t know exactly when the girl reads. In order to show that an action is happening right now, we add -ing to the end of the verb and put a helping verb before it.” The teacher shows the following sentence: “The girl is reading.” The teacher circles -ing at the end of reading. The teacher mentions that if girl was plural (girls) then the helping verb would be are. “The girls are reading.”
• In Unit 6, Week 3, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher models inflectional ending -ing. “Remember, endings are added to verbs to help us understand when things happen. We have discussed that when adding -ed or -ing to a short vowel word ending in one consonant like hop, you double the final consonant before adding the ending.” Students practice adding endings to the verbs stop, bid, hug, rap, beg.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction to build toward application. For example:

• K-6 Phonics Word Study provides a Phonics Scope and Sequence which includes the Kindergarten scope and sequence of phonological awareness lessons, which are stated to be built around a strong scope and sequence that introduces and allows for spiral review of phonics over time. The sequence of phonological awareness skills taught per unit is provided:
• Unit 1: recognize and produce rhyme, phoneme blending, segmentation, categorization
• Unit 2: recognize and produce rhyme, phoneme blending, segmentation, substitution, categorization
• Unit 3: phoneme categorization, substitution, recognize and produce rhyme
• Unit 4: phoneme identification, blending, substitution, categorization, addition
• Unit 5: phoneme categorization, blending, substitution
• Unit 6: phoneme categorization, blending, substitution
• Unit 7: phoneme isolation, blending, categorization, segmentation
• Unit 8: phoneme identification, blending, substitution, categorization
• Unit 9: phoneme categorization, blending, segmentation, isolation
• Unit 10: phoneme categorization, blending, segmentation, isolation

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonics instruction to build toward application. For example:

• In K-6 Phonics Word Study, the Phonics Scope and Sequence includes Primary Skill, Secondary Skill and Word Families, and Spiral Skills. The Primary Skills Scope and Sequence is listed as follows:
• Unit 1: short /ă/; short /ĭ/, short /ŏ/
• Unit 2: short /ĕ/; short /ŭ/; l blends
• Unit 3: r blends; s blends; final consonant blends
• Unit 4: consonant digraphs th, sh, ng; consonant digraphs ch, tch, wh; three letter blends spl, spr, squ, str
• Unit 5: long /ā/ (final e); long /ō/ (final e); soft c, g
• Unit 6: long /ī/ (final e); long /ē/ (final e) long /ū/ (final e); long /ā/ spellings (a, ai, ay)
• Unit 7: long /ō/ spellings (o, oa, ow, oe); long /ē/ spellings (e, ee, ea, ie); long /ī/ spellings (i, iy, igh)
• Unit 8: long /ar/ (farm); /or/ (for, ore, oar); /ur/ (girl, herb, spur)
• Unit 9: /ou/ (house, clown); /oi/ (join, boy); /ü/ /oo/ (broom, book)
• Unit 10: silent letters (wr, kn,gn); /ȯ/ (aw, au, al, augh); long /ē/ (y, ey)

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

The materials include sufficient and explicit instruction for all students about print concepts, with frequent and adequate tasks found within the Teacher’s Resource System in most daily lessons. Materials include opportunities to engage in authentic shared reading text, including poems and digital big books. Spiral review affords students the opportunity to practice previously learned grade level print concepts. Students have frequent opportunities to learn and identify text features and structures over the course of the year. The teacher models the use of the text structure or feature and often creates an anchor chart that students help to fill-in as the teacher reads the text aloud. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Materials include frequent, adequate lessons and tasks/questions about the organization of print concepts (e.g. recognize features of a sentence).

• Students have opportunities to recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation).
• In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 1, the teacher models writing and thinks aloud, “I know that I write the word I with an uppercase letter."
• In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 5, the teacher shows writing with quotation marks and exclamation marks.
• In Unit 1, Week 2, Day 1, students learn how to recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence within the Shared Reading text, “Baby Animals.” Students use their My Reading and Writing book to discuss end punctuation. The teacher guides them: “Look at the word animals at the end of the first line. What do you see right after the word? That mark is a type of punctuation called period. Most sentences end in periods.”
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1, the teacher discusses ending punctuation in context with explicit instruction: “That dot is a period. It shows the end of a sentence. This is a special mark called a question mark.”
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 1, the teacher discusses end marks in context. The teacher asks students what they see at the end of the fourth line and tells the students there are often end marks such as periods and question marks at the end of a sentence. The teacher goes on to provide an explanation for the purpose of end marks.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 1, Shared Reading, the teacher discusses end punctuation with the students. The teacher asks students to look at the end of a sentence and tell what they see. The teacher reviews the concepts of the exclamation points and question marks. The teacher tells students all sentences must end with an end mark.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Day 3, Shared Reading, the teacher discusses uppercase letters in context. The teacher has students look at the first words of sentences in the text and asks what students notice. The teacher tells the students the first word of each sentence is an uppercase letter.
• In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 3, Shared Reading, the teacher tells the students there are five sentences in the first paragraph of the fable and points out they are all uppercase letters. The teacher tells students they know these are the first words because they start with uppercase letters.

Students have frequent and adequate opportunities to identify text structures (e.g. main idea and details, sequence of events, problem & solution, compare and contrast, cause and effect).

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 3, students learn about a sequence of events using the text, “The Amazing Lifecycle of a Frog”. The teacher creates a Sequence of Events chart using first, next, last. Students listen for the events and help to fill out the chart as the teacher reads the text aloud.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 3, students identify the main idea and events in the text, “The Ant and the Grasshopper”. The teacher creates a Story Map anchor chart and students help to fill it out as the teacher reads aloud.
• In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 5, students compare and contrast characters in the stories, “The Boy Who Cried Wolf” and “The Ant and the Pigeon”.

Materials include frequent and adequate lessons and activities about text features (e.g. title, byline, headings, table of contents, glossary, pictures, illustrations).

• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 3, students learn how to use illustrations to determine relevant information. The teacher creates an anchor chart, Finding Information in Texts and Pictures, and creates two columns, one column for text and the other for pictures. Students help the teacher fill out the chart as the teacher reads the text aloud.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Day 4, students learn how to use the Table of Contents to locate chapters to help find information to answer questions.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 2, students use illustrations to identify key details in the text, “Robots at Work.”
• In Unit 7, Week 1, Day 3, students learn how to use captions to learn more information about the photographs in the text, “School Days.”
• In Unit 7, Week 2, Lesson 3, students learn how to use the glossary to find the meaning of important words in the text, “Using Time Lines.”
• In Unit 7, Week 2, Lesson 4, students use the timeline in the text, “Using Time Lines,” to answer text-dependent questions.
• In Unit 7, Week 3, Day 2, students learn how to locate text evidence in captions to answer text-dependent questions.
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 2, students use the illustrations from the text, “The Light Around Us,” to locate details to describe key ideas.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are frequently built into the materials for students to practice and gain decoding automaticity and sight-based recognition of high-frequency words. This includes reading fluency in oral reading beginning in mid Grade 1 and through Grade 2.

Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words primarily through High-Frequency Words lessons, which provide teacher modeling and directions for the Say, Spell, Read, and Write routine, which includes applying high-frequency word knowledge to tasks. The Grade 1 Phonics Scope and Sequence include 124 high-frequency words for the school year. Most units introduce four new high-frequency words weekly throughout all ten units. There are multiple opportunities over the course of the year for students to read emergent-reader texts during activities with text in the Big Book of Shared Reading and Poetry, the My Reading and Writing Books, the Small Group texts, the Reader’s Theater Handbook texts, the Fluency Intervention materials, and the Decodable Readers. Students have opportunities to use the strategy to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding through the fix-up strategy of reading more slowly and thinking about the words. There are frequent opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements, such as pausing, expression, rate, accuracy, and mood, using grade-level text during the Shared Reading portion of the lessons using Fluency Routines. Materials provide opportunities for students to hear fluent reading by the teacher as the teacher reads selected text out loud, and students chorally read the same text to focus on fluency skills. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to purposefully read on-level text.

• Students have opportunities to read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
• In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 3, in Phonics and Word Study, students reread “Let’s Plant Seeds.” Students are told they will find the high-frequency words for, no, jump, one, have, and the in the text, and they should be able to read them fluently. The teacher reminds students to use what they know about decoding short /o/ when they come across a word that contains it.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 3, in Shared Reading, teacher modeling and scripting is provided for the reading of the poem, “The Secret." The teacher tells students that the speaker doesn’t tell what the secret is directly, but does provide clues. Teacher scripting is provided, “As I read, listen for clues and try to figure out the secret.”
• In Unit 9, Week 1, Day 3, in Shared Reading, teaching modeling and scripting is provided for the reading of “Cushy Cow Bonny.” The teacher tells students they will hear about a cow and how it turns milk into different foods. Teacher scripting is provided, “Listen and follow along as I read. As you listen, identify key details in the poem.”

Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate sufficient accuracy, rate, and expression in oral reading with on-level text and decodable words.

• Students have opportunities to read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
• In Unit 4 of the Teacher’s Resource System, Additional Resources: Instructional Routines outline the Fluency Routines, there is a Fluency Routine for Letter-Sound Fluency; Word Fluency; Sentence Fluency; and Model Fluent Reading. For example, Word Fluency says, “As a warm-up or transition activity, display a set of word cards with words containing the letter-sounds taught up to that point in the year. Write 2-3 words for each letter-sound taught. Display the cards one at a time as students chorally read the words. Repeat at varying speeds. Periodically mix the cards so students don’t become overly familiar with the sequence.”
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 2, the teacher discusses the fluency skill of pausing by modeling reading the first stanza, emphasizing punctuation. Students echo-read, then read chorally while the teacher reminds students to pause at punctuation and end of lines in “Fairy Tale Song.”
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 2, Shared Reading, the teacher models pausing: “When we talk or read, we take pauses or short breaths.” The teacher demonstrates by reading the poem, “Go Robot, Go.” Students re-read the poem with the teacher.
• In Unit 8, Week 1, Day 1, the teacher models fluency skill of rate, explaining that rate is the speed, or how fast or slowly a person reads. “When I read, I read at a rate that is not too fast or too slow. I read at the same rate throughout the poem. This makes it easier to understand the poem.”

Materials support reading of texts with attention to reading strategies such as rereading, self-correction, and the use of context clues.

• Students have opportunities to use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 4, Shared Reading, students engage in a Fix-Up Strategy during Shared Reading. The teacher models how to fix-up reading to confirm and self-correct errors in fluency. The teacher explains to students that readers think about the words they are reading. Reading slowly is a useful strategy that readers can use to help them think more deeply about words. The teacher says, “I want to make sure that I understand what I’m reading. I don’t want to miss words that might help me understand the meaning of this text. If I read too fast, I might miss important words.” The teacher models reading a stanza and then thinking aloud wondering what they read, so the teacher stops, goes back, and rereads the stanza. After modeling, the teacher reminds students to use this strategy when they read independently.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 2, Shared Reading, the teacher models how to blend decodable words that students struggle with then prompts students to re-read from the beginning of the sentence. “With words that are not high-frequency or decodable, model how to use sounds, picture clues, and the context of the sentence to confirm both pronunciation and meaning.”
• In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 5, Shared Reading, students reread the poem again, pausing to self-correct words they think they may have pronounced incorrectly, and asks them to share their strategies for self-correcting their words.

Students have opportunities to practice and read irregularly spelled words.

• In Unit 1, Additional Resources: Instructional Routines and Strategies, a systematic and explicit high-frequency word routine is presented. The routine includes four steps:
• Step 1: Read - Display the high-frequency word card. Point to the word and read it aloud. Ask students to repeat after you.
• Step 2: Spell - Spell each letter in the word as you point to it. Then ask students to chorally read and spell aloud the word.
• Step 3: Write - Write the word as you spell it aloud. Then have students write the word several times as they say each letter.
• Step 4: Apply - Have students use the word in an oral sentence.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher introduces the high-frequency words come, here, to, of using the “Say, Spell, Read, Write” routine. The teacher displays word cards one at a time, points to the word, and says it aloud. Students repeat the word and spell it as the teacher points to each letter. Students write the word and take turns using the word in a sentence orally.
• In Unit 3, Week 5, Day 5, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher says each word without covering them up and has students write the words in a sentence. The words provided are: jump, mist, west, send, bland, clamp, who and good.
• In Unit 8, Week 1, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, students review previously learned high-frequency words boy, city, four, great in isolation before building high-frequency words with letter cards.
• In Unit 8, Week 1, Day 3, Shared Reading, the teacher asks students to use a pointer to point to and read decodable words and high-frequency words they have previously learned (they, are, far, that, where, live, the, you, little, large) in the text provided. The teacher is provided modeling, “Add known words to your class word wall and remind students that they are accountable for writing these words in their reading and writing.”
• In Unit 9, Week 2, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher displays high-frequency words, and students are to read each word then spell each word in a group.
• In Unit 10, Week 1, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, students reread the story, Do You Know Me?, which also includes high-frequency words better and very.

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

Materials include one decodable text each week to address securing phonics and high-frequency words. The decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills and high-frequency words that are aligned to the weekly phonics and targeted high-frequency words focus and the program’s scope and sequence for phonics instruction. There are frequent opportunities to read grade-level high-frequency words during the I Read routine. Students use their My Reading and Writing books to read high-frequency words in context. Lessons provide frequent opportunities to write grade level high-frequency words in tasks within the explicit Say, Spell, Read, and Write high-frequency word routine. Word cards and letter cards are used as student-friendly reference materials to teach high-frequency words. Frequent explicit instruction and opportunities to practice word solving strategies are seen within the Phonics and Word Study parts of the lessons called Blend and Build Words. The materials contain opportunities provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies.

Materials support students’ development to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills (e.g. spelling-sound correspondences of digraphs, decode one-syllable words, syllable and vowel relationship, decode two-syllable words, read words with inflectional endings) in connected text and tasks.

• In Unit 1, Additional Resources: Strategies and Routines, the “Blending Routine” contains explicit instruction of word analysis strategies. The blending routine has three steps.
• Step 1: Model - select a word with the target phonics skill and display letter cards for the word you want to model blending. Point to each letter card as you say the sound. Then blend the sounds together to make the word.
• Step 2: Practice - distribute letter cards to students to have them place the letter card set for the day’s blending on their desks. The teacher makes a word using the letter cards but does not say the word, then students repeat. Students then blend the sound to read the word. They will repeat with other words.
• Step 3: Apply - the teacher guides the students through a reading of the Decodable Text focusing on the lesson’s target phonics skill. Students chorally read the story the first time through. The teacher stops to model sounding out words students misread.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Day 2, students practice spelling words dictated by the teacher using Elkonin boxes on page 17 of “My Reading and Writing.”
• In Unit 6, Week 3, Day 2, Shared Reading, students review using inflectional endings -ed and -ing when they discuss doubling the final consonant before adding the final ending. Students practice creating and reading words adding inflectional endings to words hop and skip.
• In Unit 7, Week 3, Day 5, students practice reading long /e/ and long /o/ words built by the teacher using the ePocket Chart.
• In Unit 10, Week 3, Day 2, Shared Reading, the teacher discusses syllables with final -le spelling. The teacher reviews that syllables are words or a word part with a vowel sound and that sound-spelling -le is pronounced /ul/. The teacher divides the words table and apple into syllables and discusses open and closed syllables. Students divide the word little into syllables to tell if they are open or closed syllables.

Materials provide frequent opportunities to read irregularly spelled words in connected text and tasks.

• Students read grade-level high-frequency words within sentences during the I Read and Reread routine within the Phonics and Word Study portion of the Grade Lessons. In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 3, students apply and review high-frequency word knowledge by rereading the story “Let’s Plant Seeds” in their My Reading and Writing books on pages 28-31. This text has students reviewing and applying knowledge for the high-frequency words: for, no, jump, one, have, the. Students whisper read, choral read, and independently read the text.
• In Phonics and High-Frequency Word Activity Book, Unit 4, Week 2, students complete sentences using the appropriate high-frequency words from the word bank: hurt, once, that, upon. Students write their own sentence using a high-frequency word. One High-Frequency Word practice sheet is provided for each week.
• In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 1, Shared Reading, the teacher invites students to point and read aloud high-frequency words they have previously learned (the, to, with, here, for, want, good, and, out) along with words they are able to decode from pages 4-5 in their My Reading and Writing.
• In Unit 10, Week 1, Day 3, Phonics and Word Study, students reread the story Do You Know Me? which includes high-frequency words better and very.

Lessons and activities provide students many opportunities to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills while encoding (writing) in context and decoding words (reading) in connected text and tasks.

• In Unit 1, Week 1, the decodable reader, “Pals Help,” includes the high-frequency words and, she, the. Targeted high-frequency words are outlined at the beginning of each decodable reader. For Unit 1, the following high-frequency words are targeted within the decodable readers: and, she, the, little, you, for, one.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, the phonics focus skill of the week is short /e/. During Day 4, while students reread from the decodable reader, “When Red Hen Fell”, in Small-Group, they work with the short /e/ with the teacher and partners. On Day 5, students reread the text which contains the high-frequency words look, my, said, two.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 3, students respond to reading “Bag and Grab It” by applying phonics knowledge to write sentences.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 4, Phonics and Word Study, students read Around the Globe, which contains high-frequency words find, how, under.
• In Unit 7, Week 2, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, students write on page 17 of their Reading and Writing book the sentence dictated by the teacher: We feed meat and seed to the goats. The teacher models sounding out and spelling the words seed and cheat in this lesson.
• In Unit 9, Week 1, Day 2, Phonics and Word Study, students write on page 7 of their Reading and Writing book the sentence dictated by the teacher: The clown put down the mouse and shouted. The teacher models sounding out and spelling the words down and shout in the lesson.
• In Unit 10, Skills and Strategies contains information that in Week 1 the phonics skills taught are oo, vowel diphthongs and silent letters wr, kn ,gn are practiced or introduced. In Week 1, Day 5, in Phonics and Word Study, students can read three texts: Do You Know Me? in their My Reading and Writing books and/or All About Storms and Food Grows in their decodable readers.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials supporting 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.

Materials provide regular and systematic assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate print concepts or letter formation. Materials also include regular and systematic assessment opportunities for phonological awareness as part of the core assessment materials. The Phonological Awareness Quick Checks provide consistent assessment opportunities to evaluate student progress. Materials provide word recognition and analysis assessment opportunities primarily through Weekly Assessments and Phonics Cumulative Assessments. Fluency assessments are provided through Oral Reading Records found in Informal Assessments and Fluency Quick Checks. The materials contain information about students’ current skill level of understanding of phonics. Materials include next steps to aid the teacher in making instructional adjustments. Materials also include a Year-Long Assessment plan.

Assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of foundational skills.

• Within the Intervention: Teacher Guides, materials contain 15 Phonological Awareness Quick Checks. The Phonological Awareness Quick Check says that skills may be assessed at any time and in any sequence based on what is happening in classroom instruction, and there is no need to follow the sequence of the skills as they are ordered in the book.
• In K-6 Foundational Skills Screeners, page v, there is information about the contents of the Foundational Skills Screeners. There are three levels of exams. In the Level A exam there are five of each type of item in the screener: letter recognition, phonological awareness, letter sounds, word recognition, and print concepts. In the Level A exam, phonological question 4, the teacher gives students the word of the pictures provided bat, dog, rug two times and asks which picture rhymes with rug. The assessment may be administered one skill at a time and any level of screener can be chosen to be given.
• In Informal Assessments, on the Level Screener, there is a passage and a comprehension question to give a quick view of a student’s reading level and help the teacher determine where to begin with the more detailed assessment of the Oral Reading Records. The Oral Reading Records include teacher observations, the recording of reading behaviors and an analysis of miscues. Oral Reading Records are to be administered to students individually to evaluate reading behaviors, guide teacher instruction, check text difficulty, and document and monitor student progress. A recording system is provided for recording errors and miscues, which include reading behaviors such as: accurate reading, substitutions, omissions, insertions, repetitions, self corrections, and use of visual cues. Oral Reading Records forms are provided for reading levels A through N. A Rating Scale sheet is provided to assess reading phrasing, fluency, intonation, pace, and accuracy. In Section 1, Scheduling Assessments, it is suggested to assess at the beginning and end of the year and to schedule an individual literacy conference with each student every month.
• In Intervention: Teacher Guides, 15 Fluency Quick Checks are provided. The Fluency Quick Check Introduction says that the “book is intended to help teachers assess students’ oral reading fluency on a regular basis. The ongoing assessment of oral reading fluency allows the teacher to establish a benchmark for each student and monitor progress over time. Ongoing fluency assessments also enable educators to determine whether instructional goals have been met.”
• In Units 1-10, Additional Resources, Phonics Cumulative Assessments are provided and referenced in each unit and the assessments include reading and writing of weekly phonics skills. The assessments include a Sound Recognition and Spelling assessment to be given at the end of the unit. The assessment includes a Word Fluency portion to be given to five to six students at the end of the week. All students are tested once per month.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with some information of students’ current skills/level of understanding.

• In the Informal Assessments, Section 4, Small Group Reading Observation Records by Level, the teacher is able to observe student knowledge of print concepts in a small group setting. If the reading behavior is observed during a lesson, the teacher marks a check under the specific concept for each student that demonstrates this knowledge. Print concepts assessed include: one-to-one matching; directionality; and return sweep.
• The Intervention: Teacher Guides include 15 Phonological Awareness Quick Checks which provide information concerning students’ current skill/level of understanding within phonological awareness skills.
• In K-6 Foundational Skills Screeners, page vii, there is information on how to use Foundational Skills Screeners for instruction. There is a chart that provides overall percentages, proficiency descriptions and recommended action. For example, 100-81% is on or above grade level and advises that no intervention is necessary; 85-65% is meeting grade level expectations and advises that more focused instruction may be needed in specific areas; 64% and below is at below grade level expectations and advises that extra instruction and interventions are needed.
• The Intervention: Teacher Guides include 10 High-Frequency Word Quick Checks within the Phonics and Word Recognition Quick Check document. Additionally, there are 80 Quick Checks for other word analysis skills. These Quick Checks help to provide information concerning students’ current skill/level of understanding with word recognition and word analysis skills.
• In Informal Assessments, Overview of Oral Reading Records provides scoring information on the reading Error rate, percentage of accuracy and self correction rate, along with a table to determine the student’s reading proficiency level of a text: Independent, Instructional, and Frustrational. For example, an Error rate between 1:100 to 1:20 and an Accuracy percentage between 99-95 indicates an Independent proficiency, whereas an Error rate between 1:9-1:2 and an Accuracy percentage between 89-50 indicates a Frustrational proficiency.
• In K-6 Fluency Quick Checks, in Directions for Administering Oral Reading Fluency Assessments, a Reading Rate Goal (words per minute) table is provided which lists beginning-, middle-, and end-of-year goals per grade level. For example, in Grade 1 the goal for the beginning of the year is 20 words per minute and the end of the year goal is 60 words per minute. There is an oral fluency rubric provided which includes elements of phrasing, intonation, and expression. It provides the information that if a student’s scores 1 or 2 in the rubric, they have not achieved an appropriate level of fluency for the passage. If a student scores 4 in the rubric, they have achieved reading fluency for the level of the passage.

Materials support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in foundational skills.

• In the Informal Assessment book, the Assessment Introduction provides guidance for assessment-based steps to help students progress toward mastery in print concepts. On Page 4, the book mentions “use the information you gain to differentiate instruction by developmental reading behaviors and characteristics, metacognitive and comprehension strategy needs, instructional reading levels, fluency, and vocabulary understandings.” On page 4, the Assessment, Teaching, and Learning Cycle is introduced which shows the following steps: 1) Use pre- and post-assessments to inform instruction; 2) Plan for instruction; 3) Model the targeted strategy; 4) Practice the targeted strategy; 5) Transfer and extend the strategy; 6) Monitor student progress using ongoing assessment; 7) Provide additional support for the strategy; 8) Provide intervention, if necessary.
• In the Grade 1 Assessment tab in the Weekly & Unit Assessment document, page 9 titled “Using the Unit Assessment Results” supports the teacher with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis. This document encourages the teacher to use the weekly assessment to identify which items the student answered incorrectly to help determine whether more focused instruction on particular standards or skills is needed. Instruction for areas of need can take place in the upcoming weeks. The materials suggest reviewing a student's assessment with the student to provide an opportunity for the student to see which questions they answered incorrectly and why their answers are incorrect. Although this information can help guide the teacher to think about student assessment results, there is no systematic guidance for the teacher to use formative information in future instruction.
• The K-6 Foundational Skills Screeners provides information on how to use Foundational Skills Screeners for instruction. There is a chart that provides overall percentages, proficiency descriptions, and recommended action. For example, 100-81% is on or above grade level and advises that no intervention is necessary; 85-65% is meeting grade level expectations and advises that more focused instruction may be needed in specific areas; 64% and below is at below grade level expectations and advises that extra instruction and interventions are needed.
• The K-6 Phonological Awareness Quick Checks, Introduction, provides information on using scores to offer intervention. There is a chart that provides overall percentages, proficiency descriptions and recommended action. For example, 80-100% move on to the next Quick Check or skill; 66-80% consider administering Quick Check again; below 66% use additional resources shown in Resource Map to provide students with opportunities to remediate.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks providing high-quality lessons and activities that allow for differentiation of foundational skills, so all students achieve mastery of foundational skills.

Materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching during the daily Phonics and Word Study portion of the lessons, as well as during any additional intervention lessons. In the Additional Resources Access and Equity document, there is guidance to the teacher for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students reading, writing, speaking, or listening below grade level. Some lessons provide Check to See text boxes, which advise the teacher that if students have difficulty with lessons, use strategies found in the small-group lessons to provide additional support. Support for ELL students is found in general guidance in the Access and Equity document, comparative analysis of languages in the Contrastive Analysis of English and Nine World Language document, and specific lesson supports labeled Integrated ELD supports within each lesson. Lessons in the Teacher Resource System contain activities that have an iELD indicator reflecting they provide an opportunity for focusing on ELD support. Language transfer support is provided in Small Group lessons, which provides information on the transferability of phonemes and graphemes from other languages.

Materials provide high-quality learning lessons and activities for every student to reach mastery of foundational skills.

• In Foundations and Routines, Day 6, students practice counting and segmenting words into syllables by clapping to count syllables in the words teacher, pen, cut, continue, parade, globe, open and repeating.
• In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 1, Spelling-Sound Correspondences, the teacher models the short vowel sound for the letter o. Students practice reading short /o/ words: off, on, odd, job, pop, rock, hot, cob. Afterward, during the Blend Words portion of the lesson, the teacher models reading short /o/ words using the ePocket Chart. Students practice reading short /o/ words: ox, lot, box, fog, log, sock, hot, top, fox.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, students practice blending letter sounds using letter cards to build and read words with words provided that contain consonant digraphs ch, wh, th, sh, and final consonant blends.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, students practice distinguishing long from short vowel sounds in a phoneme categorization lesson. Students practice identifying words that do not have a long /a/ in the middle of the words ram, tape, date, whale, hat, wave, gate, man, and game.
• In Unit 9, Week 2, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, the teacher uses Picture Word card for coin, Sound Spelling card and Frieze card for /oi/ diphthong. The teacher reads the action rhyme and students are invited to chime in. Students say the names of the objects on the Frieze card. The teacher says the practice words with the /oi/ sound one at a time. Students determine if the word is spelled with an /oi/ or /oy/ diphthong. Students listen for the /oi/ sound in each word, then students identify the correct /oi/ spelling on a paper or a work mat.

Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support each student’s needs.

• The Accommodating Students with Special Needs Throughout the Literacy Block resource is found within the same Access and Equity document. This document outlines the literacy block component, lesson activities to support through accommodations, disabilities that affect oral language, disabilities that affect decoding, disabilities that affect reading comprehension, disabilities that affect written expression, and accommodations for advanced learners. One example of how to support students below grade level during the Interactive Read-Aloud is to “have students express ideas by developing drawings or selecting from premade photos or visuals.”
• In Unit 1, Additional Resources tab, a document called Access and Equity outlines how teachers can scaffold and adapt lessons and activities to support below grade level students. The Access and Equity document says that Benchmark Advanced is designed to support teachers in meeting the needs of all learners through systematic, evidence-based methods that offer opportunities to individualize and/or customize learning through ongoing assessment and progress monitoring, flexible grouping, and scaffolding. This document says that you should do four things to plan, deliver, and assess instruction for the students with disabilities in your class:
• 1. Get to know your students with disabilities as individuals.
• 2. Utilize the Individual Education Program (IEP) or 504 Plan.
• 3. Build collaboration between the general education and special education teachers.
• 4. See Accommodating Students with Special Needs Throughout the Literacy Block to learn more about how to differentiate instruction using the specially designed features in Benchmark Advance.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, in Small Group and Independent Practice, support is provided for checking the transferability of phonemes and graphemes with r-blends from other languages.
• In Unit 6, Week 3, Day 5, in Phonics and Word Study, an Integrated ELD box is provided with three levels of support suggestions: Light, Moderate, and Substantial. The Reread for Fluency lesson taught on Day 5 also has an iELD indicator, reflecting it provides an opportunity for focusing on ELD support.
• In Unit 8, Week 2, Day 5, Phonics and Word Study, the Integrated ELD box provides the following Substantial Support: the teacher is to write high-frequency words on cards and play a game with the student. The students read the word, and the teacher models creating sentences for the words, and the students echos the sentences.
• In Unit 9, Week 2, Day 1, Phonics and Word Study, in the Blend Words lesson there is a Check to See notation, which advises teachers if students have difficulties blending words to use the strategies provided in small-group instruction. The Small-Group lesson includes a Blend Words activity which provides additional practice blending words with /oi/.

Students have multiple practice opportunities with each grade level foundational skill component in order to reach mastery.

• During Grade 1, students have the opportunity for small group reteaching during the Phonics and Word Study portion of the lesson and within the Intervention materials.
• In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 1, in Phonics and Word Study, small group activities are provided to reteach and reinforce whole group lessons that teach the focus skill, short /o/. For example, in a small group activity, the teacher blends words with short /o/ using an Elkonin box or a work mat for additional practice with short /o/.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 2, the teacher uses the “Small Group and Independent Practice” section to reteach and reaffirm the whole group mini-lesson by building and blending short /e/ words and doing a word sort.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 4, the teacher uses the “Small Group and Independent Practice” section to reteach and reaffirm the whole group mini-lesson by practicing decoding consonant digraphs, rereading the book I Wish, and doing a speed spelling sort.
• In Unit 7, Week 1, Day 4, Phonics and Word Study, the Small Group and Independent Practice contains an activity where students do a speed sort where students work in pairs to sort words with long /o/ spelling patterns. Students mix up the cards and challenge themselves to sort the words differently, or faster a second time. Students practice long /o/ spelling pattern words on Days 2 and 3.