1st Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that anchor texts (including read aloud texts in K-2 and shared reading texts in Grade 2 used to build knowledge and vocabulary) are of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading/listening and consider a range of student interests. An array of topics and themes divided into four nine week units are covered and lend themselves to opportunities for integration across content areas. The materials are of high quality that is rich in language, engaging, grade level appropriate and relevant. The curriculum encompasses universal and multiple multicultural themes that are timeless and integrate other content areas. They also reflect a variety of engaging genres such as folktales, fairy tales, fantasies, poetry, science, mysteries, biographies, and historical texts.

Quality literature texts in the materials are used to build academic vocabulary and facilitate access to future texts. Examples of texts reviewed include:

• In the First Nine Weeks, students interact with the ALA notable children’s book Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible...Day by Judith Voirst. This perennially popular tale of Alexander’s worst day is a relatable storybook for young readers.
• In the Second Nine Weeks, students interact with the Caldecott Award winning book A Chair for my Mother by Vera B. Williams. This superbly conceived picture book expressing the joyful spirit of a loving family containing energetic watercolor illustrations.
• In the Third Nine Weeks, students participate in a shared read of the text Young Cam Jansen and the Library Mystery by David A. Adler, winner of the 2016 Geisel Award. This text is interesting to children and contains a good mix of easy and challenging words.
• In the Fourth Nine Weeks, students participate in a shared read of the text Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco. This text contains illustrations that expose students to another culture and life.

Quality informational texts in the materials are engaging and provide students with opportunities to gain and broaden their knowledge base and personal perspective on a variety of topics at various levels of depth/meaning and some reviewed texts include:

• In the First Nine Weeks, students interact with the text The Bald Eagle by Lloyd G. Douglas. This attractively illustrated book introduces the history and significance of two of America’s national symbols.
• In the Second Nine Weeks, students interact with the text Do I need it? Or Do I Want It? By Jennifer S. Larson. This book offers easy to read introductions to the world of economics.
• In the Third Nine Weeks, students interact with the text The Washington Monument by Kristin L. Nelson. Great book for new/newer readers. The information is concise, informative and easily understood by young readers.
• In the Fourth Nine Weeks, students interact with the text From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons. The text offers an introduction to plant growth and reproduction and offers clear yet basic information about the entire plant cycle from seed pollination to mature growth.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for materials reflecting the distribution of texts types and genres required by the standards. Text selections partially reflect an appropriate balance of literary and informational texts in both the Shared Reading texts and the Interactive Read Aloud Texts. The Teacher Manual states, "After Grade 1, texts include approximately half fiction and half nonfiction design, more literary texts are included in Kindergarten materials."

Literary texts include texts such as:

• Biscuit by Alyssa Capucilli
• Max’s Words by Kate Banks
• The Dog Who Cried Wolf by Keiko Kasza
• Morris Goes to School by B. Wiesman
• Nate the Great and the Fishy Prize by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat
• The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

Informational texts include text such as:

• The Bald Eagle by Lloyd Douglas
• Do I Need It? Or Do I want It? by Jennifer S. Larson
• In November by Cynthia Rylant
• How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro
• Under One Rock by Anthony D.Fredricks
• From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

The materials reflect a variety of genres such as folktales, fairy tales, fantasies, poetry, science, mysteries, biographies, and historical texts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for texts (including read-aloud texts and some shared reading texts used to build knowledge and vocabulary) have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade level according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and a relationship to their associated student tasks. Read-aloud texts at K-2 are above the complexity levels of what students can read independently.

The complexity of the Interactive Read Alouds is above the reading level of the students and the rigor requires teachers to discuss the text and the key vocabulary in depth. The Lexile Levels range from 440 to 970. Grade 1 students benefit from the Develop or Activate Background Knowledge portion of the read-alouds to help with Reader and Task. All texts for Grade 1 are at a complexity level above what most students can read independently. Quality Interactive Read-Alouds in the materials include:

In the First Nine Weeks, the teacher reads aloud Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No Good Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

• Quantitative: Lexile 890
• Qualitative: This complex text has a sequential organization. The illustrations are moderately complex as they support the text. The conventionality is moderately complex because the story is explicit with some occasions for more complex meaning. The meaning is moderately complex with the theme being revealed as the book is read. The life experiences are slightly complex as students can relate to having a bad day.
• Reader and Task: To help students access the text, the teacher asks the students: Have you ever had a day when everything goes wrong and nothing goes right? The teacher teaches two Tier 2 Words (cold and scold) to help students access the text. The students have a task to write about a bad day they have experienced.

In the Second Nine Weeks, the teacher reads aloud A Chair for My Mother by Vera Williams.

• Quantitative: Lexile 640
• Qualitative: The organization of this text is clear and easy to predict. The illustrations are very complex and extend the meaning of the text. The sentence structure is moderately complex with a variety of short and long sentences. The knowledge demands are moderately complex since some students may not know what urban life is like.
• Reader and Task:This text is read over two days. The teacher shows students the page with the family looking through the window of a the burned down house and explains that text is a wonderful story even though the text contains a bad situation for the family. The teacher asks students questions about the text to help them with comprehension. The teacher teaches the Tier 2 words (bargain, charcoal, exchanged, delivered).

In the Third Nine Weeks, the teacher reads aloud Strega Nona by Tomie de Paola.

• Quantitative: Lexile AD690
• Qualitative: This complex text has moderately complex organization because it is difficult to predict at times. The illustrations support the text. The sentence structure is very complex with several subordinate phrases or clauses. The theme is very complex because in order to understand the theme, students need to learn about village life.
• Reader and Task:The lesson plan contains a YouTube video link about the author of the text. To help students access the text, the teacher informs the students that Strega Nona means Grandma Witch in Italian. To scaffold understand the teacher asks the students comprehension questions.

The organization of the informational texts is moderate to very complex. There are some text features and pictures to help the students decipher the text. The subject matter in the read-out-loud text varies including texts such as Max’s Words by Kate Banks, which discusses a hobby, and The Art Lesson, which discusses a common student interest, drawing. While books such as Presidents’ Day by Anne Rockwell may be easier for students to who have some background knowledge due to celebrating the holiday, books such as Washington’s Monument by Kristin L. Nelson may create difficulty for students to truly understand what it is without them seeing it or reading more about the topic. The lessons that go along with the interactive reading books include think alouds, writing activities, developing background knowledge and vocabulary word activities. Throughout the read-alouds, students share their ideas through writing. Students work with the vocabulary in a variety of ways, which helps students understand complex text, such as the From Seed to Plant task that has students to create a diagram.

The instructional materials for Grade 1 meet the expectations that materials support students’ literacy skills (comprehension) over the course of the school year through increasingly complex text to develop independence of grade level skills (leveled readers and series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels). All texts in the Interactive Read-Aloud are above grade level in complexity, which requires teacher scaffolding in order for students to understand and comprehend the Interactive Read-Aloud texts. Texts that require more scaffolding and attention in order for students to understand the content are provided more instructional time.

Some examples that demonstrate supporting students’ increasing literacy skills include, but are not limited to, the following:

• First Nine Weeks: Lexiles range from 400L-890L. Nine texts are read aloud in this section with 1-2 days of instruction with one day for rereading. With the first text, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst, there are two days of instruction where students answer questions as the teacher reads-aloud. Since the students are not able to summarize on their own, they help the teacher summarize during the discussion. Students practice sequencing their own bad day in a written paragraph. At the end of the First Nine Weeks, the teacher reads-aloud How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro and this text is analyzed over 2 days. Because this text contains technical vocabulary, the teacher supports students by sharing a chart with students about parts of the apple flower and types of apples. For this text, students practice summarizing with teacher support on the first day of the lesson and on the second day.
• Second Nine Weeks: Lexiles range from AD440-660L. Eleven texts are read aloud in this section with 1-3 days per text. There is one day for rereading. With the text, Map It! By Elspeth Leacock, two days of instruction are dedicated to this informational text. To help students access the content of the this text, the teacher shows a semantic map about components of maps. During the read-aloud, the students are led through comparing a map to an aerial photograph. Based on what students learn about maps in the first day they create a map of the classroom. On the second day, to re-engage students in the content the teacher reviews the semantic map from the first day and provides students time to share their classroom maps. To further help students understand aspects of maps, the teacher provides opportunities for students to read the names of the oceans together. At the end of the two days, students create a map of a make-believe place.
• Third Nine Weeks: Lexiles range from 550L-930L. Ten texts are read-aloud in this section with 1-3 days per text. There is 1 day for rereading. The teacher has one day of instruction for the text, Around One Log by Anthony Fredericks. To help students understand this text, the students help the teacher make a list of the animals and something they learn about each animal. Since this text is provides information in a poetic format, the lesson plans contain stopping points for the teacher to stop and ask specific questions that help students process the text such as: “Decay means to rot and fall apart. What is making this happen? Does it happen slowly or quickly?
• Fourth Nine Weeks: Lexiles range from 580L-AD940. This section has nine Interactive Read-Aloud texts with mainly 2 days per text. One day is allotted for rereading. For example, Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens is read aloud over 2 days. The lesson plan suggests bringing in a vegetable that has a top and a bottom to help students understand “top” vs. “bottom.” The lesson plans contain frequent stopping points for the teacher to ask text-based questions and model think-alouds. To help students demonstrate their learning of the Hare’s burrow, students draw his burrow and draw things that would be helpful to Hare in solving his problem.

The texts in the Interactive Read-Aloud are appropriately placed across the units in order to increase in complexity for Grade 1 students.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that anchor and supporting texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to achieve grade level reading proficiency.

Instructional materials provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading as they grow toward independence through the use of read-alouds. The year is divided into four nine week units containing both fiction and nonfiction texts. Each day the literacy block is divided into three 45 minute blocks. The first is the Interactive Read-Aloud block where high quality above grade level text is read aloud. The second block is the Shared Reading block where students read orally with a partner, silently or chorally as a group. The third block is the differentiation block. During this time, the teacher works with small groups while the rest of the class participates in self-selected reading.

Students in Grade 1 are provided a variety of texts that engage students in a range and volume of reading. The texts students read are split into Nine Week units giving students the opportunity to participate in choral, echo, partner and opportunities for independent reading.

During the First Nine Weeks of Shared Reading, students are provided opportunities to read independently. Some texts include: Hooray for Snail, Soccer Game, and What is That Said The Cat. During small group reading, students are prompted to re-read previously practiced books such as the Biscuit books and to select two of their favorite stories from the nine week unit to re-read.

In the First Nine Weeks of Interactive Reading, the teacher reads stories such as Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Day, Blueberries for Sal, Max’s words, Owl Moon, Possum’s Harvest Moon, Stone Soup, How Do Apples Grow, The Bald Eagle, and Why Do Leaves Change Color. These stories are above grade level and range in Lexile ranges from 420 to 890. The teacher provides vocabulary instruction and support during the interactive reading as outlined in the Interactive Reading Lesson Plan in First Nine Weeks.

During the Second Nine Weeks of the Shared Reading unit include titles such as, Fat Cat Sat on the Mat, Danny and the Dinosaur, The Horse in Harry’s Room, Oliver, and Morris goes to School. These stories are in the first and second grade reading levels and have an identified Lexile range from 180 with Oliver to 470 with The Horse in Harry’s Room.

During the Third Nine Weeks of the shared reading unit, students read Little Bear, Little Bear’s Friend, Father Bear Comes Home, Little Bear’s Visit, The Fire Cat, The Meanest Things to Say, Young Cam Jansen and the Library Mystery, and Young Cam Jansen and The Pizza Shop Mystery.

In the Fourth Nine Weeks of the interactive reading unit, the teacher reads the stories, When I grow up, The Relatives Game, Thunder Cake, Tops and Bottoms, Apple Pie Fourth of July, Newton and Me, Eleanor, Picture Book of George Washington Carver, and From Seed to Plant.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-based, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text).

During Week 4 of the First Nine Weeks in the Shared Reading, students participate with the text by thinking about how Biscuit communicates what he needs and wants while they are reading the text. After students read the text, they follow up with a comprehension discussion where students are expected to infer information from the text by answering questions such as:

• Describe how Biscuit shares what he needs and wants without verbally answering?
• Why do you think the girl read Biscuit a story?
• Why do you think the girl thinks that Biscuit wants the light on?

Day 3 of the text, students are encouraged during the comprehension question time to analyze what genre of story it is by reflecting on whether the story could occur in real life. They also discuss the beginning, middle and end of the story in order to explain it to a friend that did not read the book.

During small group time each day, students engage with the text in a different way. Day One students work on looking for pictures in the text that start with the sounds h, d, c and o which are the letters for the week. On the second day of reading the story, the focus is on Biscuit’s bedtime routine. They then write and draw about what the best part of his bedtime routine was, providing evidence for their answers. On the third day, students analyze what is happening in the final illustration, then they draw and write what they think Biscuit wants. On the final day, students spend time labeling pictures from the story.

Other examples of text-based questions and tasks include but are not limited to:

First Nine Weeks of Shared Reading of Fat Cat Sat on the Mat

• What is the conflict in this story so far? What causes it?
• Why did the cat smile?
• Which of the characters has more friends? How do you know?
• Let's look at the illustration of the rat, bat, and hat. What can we tell about how they feel?

Second Nine Weeks of Interactive Reading of Metal Man

• Why doesn't the metal man tell Devon what he's making?
• Does metal man want everyone to see the same thing when they look at his art?
• Why does metal man decide to let Devon use the torch today?

Second Nine Weeks of Interactive Reading of Danny and The Dinosaur Goes To Camp

• How did the camp director treated Danny and the Dinosaur?
• What the misunderstanding was and why they think it happened?
• Why did Danny row the Dinosaur in the boat?
• Students write about whether they think the Dinosaur had a good time at camp and evidence supporting their thinking, what the Dinosaur does to fit in at camp, and reflect by writing and drawing a picture of their favorite part of the book.

Third Nine Weeks of Shared Reading of Oliver

• Why did the elephants have to come across the ocean on a ship?
• Why wouldn't the taxi driver stop for Oliver?
• Why is Oliver wearing a collar on his trunk?

Third Nine Weeks Shared Reading of Little Bear

• Who the two characters are in the book
• What information can they tell about what type of relationship they have
• Why they think little bear wants clothing
• Students write about the beginning, middle and end of the story.
• Students write about the game that Little Bear played and why he played it, analyze what new wish Bear may want and what his mom might say about it, and finally choose the Little Bear story they liked the most in the text and write about what happened in the story.

Fourth Nine Weeks of Interactive Reading of Tops and Bottoms

• What do we know about the setting of this story?
• Does Bear know what Hare will plant? Why does he choose tops?
• Why doesn't Bear help with the planting and harvesting of the crops?

Fourth Nine Weeks reading of Nate The Great Saves The King of Sweden.

• Why she would be sending him postcards?
• Why they think she is lost and if the students think he can take the case?
• Why is the case so difficult?
• Why does Nate think Rosamond lost something she bought instead of something she packed?
• Write a card from Rosamond to the King and predict what they think the troll is and why?

During the interactive reading lessons students listen to a read aloud and analyze questions by summarizing what the main point of the text was about, what decision a character is doing to solve a problem, who the main character is and the setting of the story. The small group lessons throughout the four nine weeks have students write about their favorite parts of the stories, the characters that stood out to them and facts they learned about the characters, as well as summaries of the text such as President’s Day.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectation that materials provide frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small group, peer-to-peer, whole class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

Throughout the Shared Reading lessons, students engage in discussions about text. At the end of each lesson plan, there is a planned small group time where students complete writing activities, engage in discussions about the text and answer questions.

• For example, in the Second Nine Weeks of the Shared Reading lesson plans, students make a prediction about the text and share with a partner. Throughout the year, during the Shared Reading block, students choral read and then partner read the text. When students are partner reading, the plan outlines the protocol for teachers to set the purpose for partner reading.

• For example, it states that “students will change reading partners after every two pages, that students should be looking at the text in order to help their partner if they are unsure of a word.” On page 31 of the Teacher's Manual, there is a protocol on how to pair up students in the class when they are completing paired reading activities. It discusses the importance of pairing up a top student with the reader, “in the bottom half of the class.”

During the Interactive Read-Aloud lessons for Tier 2 vocabulary words, teachers model what a word is. They follow a structured protocol that demonstrates how to say the word, tell students the meanings of the word and then has the students say the word as a whole group. This activity demonstrates all-class modeling and academic vocabulary.

• In Week 6 of the Second Nine Weeks of the Interactive Read-Aloud block, students are working with the words, involve and admire from the text, City Dog, Country Frog.
• In Week 4 of Fourth Nine Weeks of the Interactive Read-Aloud block, students engage in a whole group discussion where they are prompted to hold up 2 fingers if the job is make-believe and 1 finger if it is real.

The Shared Reading activities during whole group instruction follow a pattern where Tuesday through Friday students engage in a pair-share activity. On Thursday and Friday students pair-read and participate in discussions about vocabulary and answering comprehension questions about the text.

Throughout the interactive reading lessons students engage in sentence composition activities. Page 40 of the Teacher's Manual, provides protocols for the writing activities. The writing activities happen everyday at the end of the Interactive Read-Aloud lesson.

• During the Second Nine Weeks of the Interactive Read-Aloud, students engage in a protocol called expanding. This activity is explained on page 42 of the teacher’s manual. During this activity students are provided with a simple sentence from the text. In the story, A Chair for My Mother, students are given the sentence, “then mother looks worried,” students are then required to add on additional words to make the syntax more complex.
• During the Fourth Nine Weeks in the Interactive Read-Aloud of Tops and Bottoms, students combine sentences using the words but and although using sentences from the text.

Throughout the year during the Shared Reading and Interactive Read-Aloud, students are provided frequent opportunities to participate in a variety of evidence-based discussions. Protocols for each activity are outlined in the Teacher’s Manual.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectation that materials support students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading (or read-aloud) and researching (shared projects) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

The Shared Reading lesson plans provide opportunities for students to engage in discussion about the text during reading. Students are also expected to follow the pair-share protocol in sharing and discussing their written responses with a partner. The teacher then leads a group discussion about students’ written responses. Examples include but are not limited to:

• In Second Nine Weeks during the text, Oliver, in shared reading, the teacher prompts students to pay attention and look for new details about the story that students may have missed the first time. When the lesson is over students and the teacher discuss, “How the circus people may have felt when no one was watching them, how Oliver felt when he was dancing and how they think Oliver felt when he was invited in.”
• In the Third Nine Weeks, during the shared reading, students are reading a text, The Meanest Thing to Say, and students are prompted to share their written responses from the day before which discussed why they thought Kiku looked sick.

In the Interactive Read-Aloud lesson plans support students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching with relevant follow-up questions and supports. Examples include but are not limited to:

• In the Third Nine Weeks when students are reading the text, Strega Nona, students are prompted to listen to what a potion is because they are going to write about it later. During the text the students stop and answer questions about how they feel Big Anthony feels while making pasta.
• In the Third Nine Weeks, students read Young Cam Jansen and the Library Mystery.” Students are asked to infer information and determine why Cam has his nickname.

During the Interactive Read-Aloud lessons for all texts, teachers select from a variety of comprehension strategies that have the protocols mapped out in the Teacher's Manual on page 29. Teachers model the comprehension strategies after the choral reading. The strategies listed help students to answer the comprehension questions that are asked during the lesson. Teachers model inferring, synthesizing and self-monitoring.

The instructional materials for Grade 1 meet expectations that materials provide opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards. A variety of prompts include a distribution of opinion, informative/explanatory, and narrative writings as required by the Grade 1 standards.

In the Common Core Standard (1.W.1) students are expected to be able to write opinion pieces about text they have read.

• During the Shared Reading in the First Nine Weeks, Week 5, Day 22, students read the story, Biscuit Finds a Friend. When they are finished reading the story, they write an opinion of how they think that Biscuit feels after he finds the duck and why he may feel this way.
• In the Second Nine Weeks, Week 8, Day 36, after reading Morris Goes to School, students write about what they would do if a Moose came to their class.
• In the Third Nine Weeks, Week 4, Day 16, students write their predictions about what might happen in the story and why they think this may happen after reading the text, Little Bear’s Visit.

CCSS Standard (1.W.2) requires students to write informative text where they name a topic, and supply some facts about the topic.

• After reading Danny and the Dinosaur in the Second Nine Weeks, Week 3, Day 12, of the Shared Reading lessons, students participate in writing a list of ways that Danny helps the dinosaur. Students are prompted to incorporate proper comma usage in their list.
• During the Third Nine Weeks, Week 2, Day 10, students look back at the text Little Bear’s Friend and write about the setting and events in the story and then why they liked those events.

CCSS Standard (1.W.3) requires students to write narratives in which they are expected to recount two more sequenced events.

• In the Third Nine Weeks, Week 2, Day 1 of Shared Reading lesson plans, students write about what has happened in the beginning, middle and end of the story for a friend who missed the story, Little Bear.
• In the Fourth Nine Weeks, Week 2, Day 10, students write a separate paragraph about the beginning, middle and end of the story, December Secrets.

Students are provided opportunities throughout the curriculum to write for longer periods of time and requires them to focus on a specific topic (1.W.5).

• In the Second Nine Weeks, Week 7, Day 34 of the shared reading lessons students are reading the story, Oliver. This writing prompt requires them to write about what Oliver means when he says, “Even a rhinoceros would remember the fun we had.”
• Students on Week 8, Day 40, write a summary of what the story, Morris Goes to School, is about.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectation that materials include regular opportunities for evidence-based writing to support recall of information, opinions with reasons, and relevant information appropriate for the grade level.

Students participate in shared research exploring individual books and expressing an opinion through pictures and writing. Materials provide multiple opportunities over the course of a school year for students to address different text types of writing. Examples include but are not limited to:

First Nine Weeks

• Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Day Writing Prompt: Students are to write about a bad day they once had and what they did about their bad day.
• Max' Words Writing Prompt: Students draw three pictures. Draw a picture of what each boy collected. Write about each picture.

Second Nine Weeks

• Pepper’s Journal Writing Prompt: Students write about facts they have learned about Pepper from the story,
• The Horse in Harry’s Room Writing Prompt: Students write about their opinion from the text. "How do you think Harry’s parents will feel when Harry tells them that the horse wants to stay in his room? I think they will feel ______________ because ______________."

Third Nine Weeks

• Strega Nona Writing Prompt: Students write about the potion. Once they have written about the potion, they must tell what the potion can do.
• Presidents’ Day Writing Prompt: Write about their opinion of which president they like best and why they like that president.
• The Art Lesson Writing Prompt: Students draw a picture of a present from Tommy and analyze why they chose to draw that present.

Fourth Nine Weeks

• Thunder Cake Writing Prompt: Students write a message to the girl giving her another strategy of what she can do to not be afraid during a thunderstorm.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet expectations for explicit instruction of the grammar and conventions/language standards as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application both in and out of context.

Grade 1 Bookworms utilizes four strategies (sentence combining, unscrambling, imitating and expanding) to teach students grammar and word study routines and assist students to read and spell words they are unfamiliar with. The procedures for the word study routines are outlined in the Teacher Manual on page 8. This routine occurs for one month in order to help students become more automatic in first grade with their sounds. Word study is all year long.

Grammar instruction in Bookworms is based on the daily study of sentences that come from the read-aloud. This approach is called sentence composing, and it is a well established alternative to descriptive grammar instruction (Killgallon & Killgallon, 2000). (Grade 1 Manual, page 38). “Drawing sentences from the text of the day’s read-aloud has two advantages: They are crafted by professional authors and they are fresh in mind. These sentences (sometimes in slightly modified form) are used in two brief activities each day, selected from a set of four basic possibilities. They include:

• Combining. The teacher presents two or three short sentences and leads the students in combining them into a single sentence with a more complex syntax (Lawlor, 1983; Saddler, 2005). The sentences typically begin with the same subject.
  • For example, in the Second 9 weeks, on week 11 of the interactive reading activities, students practice this lesson by combining the two sentences:
    • The kittens looked like bits of fluff.
    • The kittens had bright pink noses.

• Unscrambling. In advance of the lesson, the teacher breaks a relatively long sentence from the text into words and short phrases. The teacher then presents these scrambled components without punctuation or initial capitalization to the students and guides them in piecing them back together. The students must think through logical and syntactic connections, asking one another, “What goes with what?”
  • For example when students hear Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day(1st 9 Weeks) they are given the following:
    • Original Sentence:
      • At school Mrs. Dickens liked Paul’s picture of the sailboat better than my picture.
    • Scrambled Sentence:
      • better than / my picture / at school / Mrs. Dickens / liked Paul’s/ picture of the / sailboat

• Imitating. The teacher presents a single, well-crafted sentence from the text, and then replaces one or more content words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs) with blanks. The teacher then prompts the students to substitute other content words. Doing so changes the meaning of the sentences but not the syntax. This strategy is utilized in the Third 9 weeks, on week 9, page 9, of the interactive reading activities students use the sentences:
  • He pulled his pillow tightly around his head.
  • He pulled his ______ tightly around his head.
  • He pulled his ______ tightly around his ______.

• Expanding. The teacher presents a simple sentence from the text and guides the students in adding to it by attaching words, phrases, and clauses, making the syntax more complex. In sentence expanding, it is a good idea to insist that the suggestions offered by students reflect the original meaning of the text.
  • For example,after reading Tops and Bottoms during the Fourth 9 weeks of the interactive reading lessons during week 17, on page 17, students expand on the sentence, “Hare, you cheated me again.”

“Sentence composing offers many opportunities to reinforce grammar and usage standards. Because this is a teacher-directed, whole-class activity, you are in a position to cue the knowledge you wish your students to attain. You can do this incidentally, by pointing out features of sentences with which the class is working. Of course, the principal goal will always be a richer understanding of sentence structure, but pointing out key features can add a second dimension to your instruction.” (First Grade Manual, page 42). The following information from the manual identifies the standards found referenced in the materials.

Grade 1 Grammar/Sentence Construction

• Skill: Use common, proper and possessive nouns Sample Cue: Imitating, choose nouns to substitute “Think what we could write instead of cat?”
• Skill: Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs Sample Cue: Imitating, discuss need to change verb “If we change dog to dogs, what about bark?”
• Skill: Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns Sample Cue: Imitating, prompt changes in pronouns “What if the cat belonged to me and not you?”
• Skill: Use verbs to convey a sense of a past, present, and future Sample Cue: Imitating, prompt different times for verbs “Now let’s say this has already happened..”
• Skill: Use frequently occurring adjectives Sample Cue: Imitating, replace an adjective with a blank “What can we write here instead blue?”
• Skill: Use frequently occurring conjunctions (and, but, or, so, because) Sample Cue: During combining, prompt these words whenever appropriate
• Skill: Use determiners (articles and demonstratives) Sample Cue: Imitating, prompt changes “What if we change that boy to this boy? Would it make sense to change a to the?”
• Skill: Use frequently occurring prepositions Sample Cue: Imitating, replace preposition with blank “Instead of in the house we can say____the house.”
• Skill: Expand simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences Sample Cue: Expanding, alternate sentence types; Combining, prompt construction of compound sentences for each type
• Skill: Apply capitalization conventions Sample Cue: Imitating, expanding, and unscrambling, prompt use of capitalization rules
• Skill: Apply punctuation conventions Sample Cue: Combining and unscrambling, prompt use of punctuation, “What punctuation mark goes here?”
• Skill: Apply spelling conventions Sample Cue: In any sentence composing activity, discuss spelling related to recently studied pattern
• Skill: Capitalize dates and names of people Sample Cue: Imitating and expanding, prompt capitalization where appropriate “What does April start with?”
• Skill: Use end punctuation for sentences Sample Cue: Unscrambling, prompt end punctuation after sentence is unscrambled
• Skill: Use commas to separate words in a series Sample Cue: Expanding, prompt inclusion of a series imitating, point out commas in as series

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet 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 in and out of context.

The Bookworms instructional materials provide a systematic research-based progression that begins in Kindergarten and continues through Grade 1 with phonological awareness and word recognition. Instruction begins with basic alphabetic knowledge, then moves to using letter sounds which progresses to letter patterns. Word recognition and fluency is the next step in the process where students learn blends, digraphs, and r-controlled vowels. The next step is learning the vowel-consonant-e pattern and using vowel pair analogies.

Word study instruction is described in the Teacher’s Manual on page 8 and states, “Word study that enables children to read and spell words that they have not studied may be the most important aspect of the first-grade program. To plan, we thought about word study first, and used a scope and sequence that includes four weeks of review of letter sounds, and then moves to short vowel patterns. We chose to review for one month so that all children would be more automatic with their sounds before beginning work with patterns. We also integrate handwriting instruction and practice with word study.”

The following is a summary of the activities taken from page 8 of the teacher’s manual. These explain the reader and task activities used to teach letter-sound relationships and phonemic awareness.

Instruction for whole Class:

• Monday - Sing, Picture Sort, Letter Formation, Handwriting
• Tuesday - Sing, Picture Sort, Sort Student Pics, Letter Formation, Handwriting
• Wednesday - Sing, Picture Sort, Sort Student Pics, Letter Formation, Handwriting, Letter Formation
• Thursday - Sing, Picture Sort, Sort Student Pics, Letter Formation, Handwriting, Letter Formation
• Friday - Test labeling pictures (with only initial sounds or with all sounds)

Shared Writing Sentence

Practice During DRI:

• Monday - Find pictures for target sound
• Tuesday - Find pictures for target sound, Handwriting practice
• Wednesday - Handwriting practice
• Thursday - Handwriting practice
• Friday - Practice labeling pictures

Letter-Sound Relationships

Singing Alphabet Song. “Please choose a song that allows students to practice all of their letter names and sounds while you point to a letter strip or chart,” which is not part of the Bookworms materials.

Letter Formation and Handwriting. “It is essential that kindergarten and first-grade teachers ensure that children can form letters consistently and effortlessly. We ask teachers to reorganize the scope and sequence of any existing handwriting materials to conform to the scope and sequence of letter introductions in the lesson plans. When you introduce letter formation, demonstrate with skywriting while you say the strokes necessary for the letter. Then have students sky write, and then write on whiteboards or paper. Save practice pages for seat work during small-group time.”

• During the shared reading lessons for the first 9 weeks, during week 1-4 the teacher has students practice letter formation using the words they are practicing reading.

Phonemic Awareness

Picture Sort. “Always begin with a set of headers with pictures and letters. First, name all of the pictures, drawing attention to the first sound. Then, compare each picture to all four headers. Then, repeat the comparison, using every pupil response. Children can give a thumbs up or thumbs down. Physically sort the pictures.”

Students Finding Pictures. “Rather than having student repeatedly sort the same pictures for the target sounds, we want them to be able to generalize. Let them look at pictures, think about words and sounds, and cut or draw those that they think match the week’s sounds. After you demonstrate the sort on Tuesday and Wednesday, sort the pictures that the children have found. Make an oddball category for those that aren’t the target sounds.”

Label Pictures. “For the first month of school, word study tests (practiced on Thursday and given on Friday) are picture labeling. Your goal should be for all students to be writing the first sound, but also encourage them to write more sounds if they can.”

Shared Writing. “For the first month of first grade, teachers have a shared writing sentence. The purpose of this sentence is to model transcription (matching letters and sounds to write words). First, the teacher will say the sentence aloud, perhaps several times. Then, the teacher will write a space for each word, emphasizing spaces between words. Finally, the teacher will engage children in contributing sounds they know for each word. Children can also participate by coming to the front and writing some of the letters. This is a teacher-directed activity.”

Systematic and explicit instruction occurs after the first month of school. The following are activity descriptions, which can be found on page 9 of the Teacher’s Manual. Students will have reviewed enough sounds in initial position and will move to short vowel patterns. For this portion of word study, word lists with word and picture cards are in the materials.

Instruction for Whole Class:

Monday - Word Sort by Sound, Pattern Intro HF Words

Tuesday - Review Word Hunt, Word Sort by Sound, Pattern Intro HF Words

Wednesday - Say It and Move It, Sound and Blend, HF Words

Thursday - Say It and Move It, Sounds and Blend, HF Words

Friday - Text for word studies and two transfer words

Phonological Awareness

Word Sort by Sound. “Display headers with pictures that represent the patterns that you are targeting. Pronounce each word, without allowing the students to see it, and compare it to each of the headers. Use an every-pupil- response technique to have the class identify the word’s placement. Then show the word and sort it”.

Pattern Introduction. “After all words are sorted, provide an explicit link between the sound and pattern (the same as you do in DRI Using Letter Patterns). “When we hear the ____ sound we see the pattern ______.”

High-Frequency Word Protocol. “First, count the sounds (segmenting the word fully). Then spell the word. Then link each sound you hear to the letter or letters you see. You can use an Elkonin box to do this.”

Say It and Move It. “Using a set of Elkonin boxes and markers, stretch the sounds in words, moving a marker to represent each sound. Teachers can model on the board while students use their own manipulatives or just count on their fingers. Students should do this orally, listening to the word pronounced rather than reading it.”

Sound and Blend.. “In your large teacher copy of the words, point to each letter and each word, making the sounds out loud and then blend the sounds to make the word. After you have modeled, point and let the students sound and blend.”

Word Hunt. “Ask students to reread the text, making a list of words with the target sounds or patterns. Be prepared for the fact that they will make errors. When you review the word hunt, create an oddball category so that you can explain that some words look the same but have a different sound or pattern.”

Writing Sort. “Mix up the words after your sort. Ask students to copy the headers and then to copy the words into their word study notebooks under the appropriate header.”

Dictated Sentence. “Dictated sentences will allow you to engage students in practice with handwriting and spelling for words and patterns that have been previously taught. Make sure that the students know the sentence first, by repeating it orally several times. Then draw a line on the board to represent each word. Encourage spacing between words. Finally, have students write the sentence on their own in their word study notebook. All students should be writing at the same time. When they are through, you can write the sentence for them and have them check their work.”

Some examples of foundational skill instruction can be found on page 12-13,

• In the Shared Reading lessons during weeks 1-4 students focus on the initial sounds, b, m, r, s, a, t, n, g, i, p, n, l, h, d, c, and o. Week 5-9 moves into family pairs, week 5 is at/an, week 6 is at/ap/ag, week 7 is it, in, and week 8 is it/ig/ip.
• During the Second 9 weeks, students work on vowel pairs including o and e short vowel families. Week 6 of the of the Second 9 weeks has more short vowel families including ick, ack and ock.
• During the 4th week of the Third 9 weeks students work on the following affricate sounds: ch, j, tr and dr. These sections are outlined in the lesson plan book between pages 13 - 24.
• During the Fourth 9 weeks, during week 1 students work on short a and a consonant e words, including words such as stamp, hate and made, which is outlined in the shared reading lessons on page 25.

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

Through sentence composing, students learn to recognize features of a sentence. To practice and understand end punctuation, students unscramble sentences and then identify appropriate end punctuation. To learn to apply capitalization during sentence composition, the teacher prompts the use of capitalization rules.

Teaching about text features primarily happens in the interactive portion of the instructional materials for Grade 1 because this is where the informational text and chapter books are read. For example:

• During the First Nine Weeks, Week 25, while reading How an Apple Grows, students learn about diagrams within text and how they help make sense of the text [Middle of page 14, point out pistil in diagram before reading on] It looks like there is more than one, doesn’t it? But see how the tubes come together to make one big tube. Look at the line that shows the pistil from the top to the bottom. Why does it go way down here? [Point to base of ovary] See if your partner can guess.
• In the Second Nine Weeks, Week 34, while reading Map It! students learn about a table of contents when the teacher states,” This book has several parts. Here is the table of contents. It tells me the name of each part and the page where I can find it. [Review of the sections and page numbers.]”

In the end-of-year Grade 1 shared reading lessons, according to the Teacher 'sManual, bring closure to the lesson with a teacher-directed graphic organizer to highlight important text content. For narratives, it can be a story map or a list of chapter with important events. For information texts, specific graphic organizers are recommended.

• For example, in the Fourth 9 weeks, Week 8, Day 36, students focus on text structures while reading another Nate the Great story. The teacher is prompted to discuss what the students know about the characters, setting, problems and important events in the story.
• During the Second 9 weeks, Week 28 of the interactive reading unit while reading Do I Need It? Or Do I Want It?, the teacher discusses how Jennifer Larson, the author, writes about each one of these topics. [Refer to semantic map created while reading to organize thoughts] She writes about goods and services and then she writes about wants and needs. The second half of the book is about budgeting our money. So this book is nonfiction. It tells us information. It’s not a story and it’s organized in a different way.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that 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.

The Common Core standards for Grade 1 require Grade 1 students to distinguish between short and long vowels in single-syllable words, blending sounds, including consonant blends, isolating and pronouncing initial, medial vowel, and final sounds and segmenting single syllable words. They are also required to be able to read and decode digraphs, final -e, and decode 2 syllable words. In order to support these standards, students begin the year during the shared reading lessons practicing all of the letters and sounds through singing the alphabet, completing word sorts, and writing activities.

Examples include:

• In the First Nine Weeks, Week 1, Day 1, students practice letters using pictures that start with the letters, b, m, r and s. Page 12 - 28 has the scope and sequence of words to allow teachers to see the sounds, high frequency words and challenge words that will be targeted each week. This practice continues throughout the materials and students continue to read stories that contain those letter sounds in order to practice automaticity. Students work on word sorts in order to help build the automaticity they need in phonics.
• There is explicit instruction on letters and sounds that have already been practiced. The materials does imbed some of the previous studied sounds in challenge words in other lessons.
• Say It and Move It protocol is outlined on page 10 of the Teacher's Manual. (This is the same procedure that we use for DRI). Using a set of Elkonin boxes and markers, stretch the sounds in words, moving a marker to represent each sound. Teachers can model on the board while students use their own manipulatives or just count on their fingers. Students should do this orally, listening to the word pronounced rather than reading it. Evidence of this is embedded in Third 9 weeks, Week 8, in Day 39 when students are reading the story, Morris Goes to School, they say it and move it and then blend using the sounds, sh/ch/th, shin, ship, shack, shop, chin, chip, chop, chat, thin, thick, them. These words are first introduced on Day 1 of the lesson.
• Sound and Blend is outlined on page 10 of the Teacher's Manual. In your large teacher copy of the words, point to each letter and each word, making the sounds out loud and then blend the sounds to make the word. After you have modeled, point and let the students sound and blend. There is evidence to support this practice on Fourth Nine Weeks, Week 6, Day 28 of the shared reading lessons. Students begin the week practicing the short sounds U and uCe. Then 3 days later, they complete the sound and blend protocol using words with those sounds.

In order to practice and work with high-frequency words, Bookworms provides a list of high-frequency words. Teachers complete activities during the whole class portion of the reading program. A High-Frequency Word Protocol is outlined in the Teacher's Manual on page 10. “First, count the sounds (segmenting the word fully). Then spell the word. Then link each sound you hear to the letter or letters you see. You can use an Elkonin box to do this.”

• There is evidence of this protocol during the First Nine Weeks, Week 7, Day 31. Students are introduced to the high frequency words my and look using the High-Frequency word protocol. They are also provided with 4 challenge words with other vowel sounds, such as finch, slip, grip and shin.
• During the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Nine weeks, in weeks 5-9, there are list of high frequency words the students use. For example, the, I, go, good, me and this. The activities and opportunities students are given would help a student develop high word frequency automaticity.
• During the Third Nine Weeks, in Week 5, Day 22, students practice not only words with a pattern, but high frequency words such as went and want.
• The Second Nine Weeks, in Week 9, Day 42, students review words from the word hunt, and practice with the high frequency words. Page 8 of the Teacher's Manual outlines the protocol for the Picture Sort. “Always begin with a set of headers with pictures and letters. First name all of the pictures, drawing attention to the first sound. Then compare each picture to all four headers. Then repeat the comparison, using every pupil response. Children can give a thumbs up or thumbs down. Physically sort the pictures.” This protocol is essential in building the automaticity required for reading in first grade.”

Bookworms recommends purchasing the book How To Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction by Sharon Walpole and Michael C. McKenna for additional resources. On page 96, there is information on fluency and how to establish and help students build fluency. The plan suggests a quick introduction to the text and then students are to spend the time they need to read the book. The differentiation text outlines a protocol for building fluency on page 98 which states students should read the text twice. Students also practice building oral fluency during the shared interactive reading. For example,

• During First Nine Weeks, Week 1, Shared Reading unit, students read Hooray for Snail and the teacher utilizes the following progression to teach fluency:
  • Day 1: [Read the entire book, two pages at a time, in echo reading format, then chorally.]I am going to show you just how to read this book. I will read the words first. While I read, touch the words that I am saying. Then you can read the words with me.
  • Day 2: Remember that when we read, we say the words that the author has put in the text. We also look at the pictures for information. I will show you how to read this book again. Touch the words that I am saying. Then you will touch them and say them.
  • Day 3: You are doing a great job reading this book. When I am reading today, make sure that you are pointing to a word that starts with the sound that I am saying.
  • Day 4, Today we are going to read in a different way. First we will read together. You can match your voice and your finger with mine. Then I want you to read with your partner. You will take turns. One friend will read a page, and then the other friend will read a page. Touch the words that you are saying. If you need help, ask your friend for the word.
  • Day 5, This is our last day with snail. First we will read together. You can match your voice and your finger with mine. Then I want you to read with your partner. You will take turns. One friend will read a page, and then the other friend will read a page. Touch the words that you are saying. If you need help, ask your friend for the word.

Students practice choral read, partner read and echo read throughout Shared Reading lessons.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that materials, questions, and tasks provide systematic and explicit instruction in and practice of word recognition and analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected text and tasks. Opportunities to practice word recognition and analysis are in the following segments: Word Study, Shared Reading and differentiated groups.

Word Study occurs at the beginning of Shared Reading. Through Word Study, students read and spell words. Strategies to practice patterns include: singing alphabet song, picture sort, letter formation and handwriting, students finding pictures, label pictures, shared writing, word sort by sound, pattern introduction, high-frequency word protocol, say it and move it, sound and blend, word hunt, writing sort, and dictated sentence. For example, in First Nine Weeks, Week 7, Day 34, the word study portion is: “Say it and move it, then sound and blend. High-frequency word review.” The weekly sequence of activities is the same each week with progressively more challenging content.

In the Shared Reading lessons, students practice blending, decoding, identifying sounds through a variety of contexts and procedures, which are outlined in the Teacher's Manual on page 10. In the Second Nine Weeks, Week 4, Day 17, students work with two high frequency words ask and day. Some of the Shared Reading texts are decodable readers from the “And I Can Read Book,” series and “Step into Reading,” series. These books have repeated vowels and words to help build students word recognition skills. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In the Second Nine Weeks, Week 5, Day 22, students are read the story, The Horse in Harry’s Room,” and students are working on sounds, an, in, en and un. The story has the words fun and can.
• In the Fourth Nine Weeks, Week 2, Day 8, students are reading the story, December Secrets. The focus is on short a and words such as chant, grand, tame, and stake. The story contains some words with that vowel combination such as, glad, exactly and blackboard. While the story does contain some of these words, it also focuses on ck words, silent e words and at words.

Tasks for practicing high-frequency words are provided during differentiated reading instruction. For example, for students in Blends and Digraphs, the generic lesson plan: “We will work with some words. The first word is ___. What word? Watch me count the sounds in ___. There are ___ sounds. Now watch me write the letters: ____. There are ___ sounds and ___ letters in ___.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectation that materials support ongoing and frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills, including a clear and specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments will be supported. Bookworms assessment in based in The Cognitive Model. Assessments are included through DIBELS Next and in How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction.

Assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year within the core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of foundational skills. For example, in Word Study, during the First Nine weeks, students are assessed on the sounds they know every 5 days using a sound - picture assessment. The assessment has students write the first sound they hear when the teacher says a picture name. Students are encouraged to write the other sounds of the picture if they hear them also. This assessment occurs on the fifth day of every week.

Through the use of DIBELS Next and How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction, teachers are provided foundational skill assessments. With DIBELS Next, a teacher can assess phonological awareness and phonics. Specific tests include Letter Naming Fluency, Phoneme Segmentation Fluency, Nonsense Word Fluency and Oral Reading Fluency. The Benchmark Assessments are administered three times a year, while progress monitoring can be administered weekly. Oral Reading Fluency assessments are administered in January for Grade 1 students. If a Grade 1 student is not a fluent reader, the teacher will use the Informal Decoding Inventory (from the Differentiated Reading Instruction in Grades 4 and 5: Strategies and Resources) to diagnose the student’s skills and place the student in a differentiated group for targeted instruction. The Informal Decoding Inventory (IDI) provides educators with instructions on assessing students in decoding single syllable words with specific focal sounds like; short vowels, consonant blends and digraphs, r-controlled vowel patterns, vowel consonant-e, and vowel teams. Based on data from the IDI, the teacher makes differentiated small groups, which target students' learning needs for particular foundational skills. The small group instruction is designed in three-week cycles with a progress-monitoring assessment that is used to help teachers know when to reteach the lessons, move to the next set of lessons, or regroup their students. “We recommend that teachers try a 3-week cycle twice themselves, and then once with a different teacher. If students are still not mastering the target content, they should move to a tier 3 intervention” (p. 52).

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that materials, questions, and tasks provide high-quality lessons and activities that allow for differentiation of foundational skills. All students receive high-quality instruction of foundational skills through various segments of a complete reading lesson daily. The literacy block is composed of the following components:

• Read-Alouds
• Grammar and Writing Instruction
• Word Study
• Shared Reading
• Differentiated Instruction

The Teacher Manual provides guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support student needs. Within the Differentiated Instruction component of the Teacher Manual, a Walkthrough Observation Tool Designed to Enhance Implementation is available with strategies teachers can access to address basic alphabetic knowledge, using letter sounds, and using letter patterns. During build foundational skills in small groups segment of the ELA lessons, students have opportunities to practice with each grade level foundational skill component in order to reach mastery.

Examples of small group differentiated lessons (found in How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction) are:

• Blends and Digraphs, Sounding and Blending:
  • First we will work with words. All of these words are real words, but you may not know them all. I want you to sound and blend these words. The way that you do that is you look at each letter, make each sound, and then say them fast to make a word. I’ll sound and blend each one, and then you’ll do it.
• R-Controlled Vowels, Sounding and Blending:
  • First we work with words. I want you to sound and blend these words. They way that you do that is you look at each letter, make each sound, and then say them fast to make a word. Sometimes two letters work together to make one sound.
• Vowel-Consonant-e, Teaching Letter Patterns:
  • First we will work with ord patterns. We are going to start by listening for long- and short-vowel sounds. Remember that a long vowel says its name. We ar going to review word that have the vowel sounds in ____. Stretch those words with me so that we can find the vowel sounds.

In How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction, after assessing students of learning in their differentiated group, there are basic suggestions for how to plan next steps. For example, for students in the R-Controlled-e, “you will have to decide whether students need additional work with r-controlled words and whether they need work with VCe or can move directly to vowel teams. Use the assessment that we have provided to test whether students can sound and blend r-controlled words that they have not yet studied. Also consider whether they need to work on VCe words.” There are basic directions to the teacher as to how to proceed with students in each group. These directions provide students who need more opportunities to practice particular foundational skills, more opportunities, while students who are ready to move forward in their learning, can be moved to the next step in foundational skill learning.