1st Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectation that texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students knowledge and vocabulary which will over time support and help grow students’ ability to comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently. In the general Information tab on the Bookworms page, there is a Master K-5 list of the Shared Reading and Interactive Read-Aloud stories. On the last column in the grid, it lists the topic that goes along with the story in order to build knowledge. The topics for the Interactive Read-Aloud is 1-2 days, while the topic for the Shared Reading is 5 days.

Some examples of topics include:

• During the First Nine Weeks Interactive Read-Aloud unit using the topic of Growing up, students hear Alexander and the No Good, Very Bad Day, and students read Little Critter Sleeps Over during the shared reading. Students also cover the topic of family during the Interactive Read-Aloud with the text, Blueberries for Sal.
• During the First Nine Weeks Interactive Read-Aloud unit, students learn about the topic of life science by hear the following two texts: How Apples Grow and Why Do Leaves Change Color? In addition, students learn about pets during the Shared Reading of Biscuit Finds a Friend and Biscuit Goes to School.
• During the Third Nine Weeks of the Shared Reading, students are exposed to a variety of texts including four Little Bear stories, The Fire Cat and then 2 Cam Jansen stories.
• The interactive stories of the Fourth Nine Weeks focus on seeds, political people, and the weather.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for containing sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.

The lessons in Grade 1 give students the opportunity to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft and structure of individual texts. Examples include:

• In the Second Nine Weeks on Week 4, Day 16 of the Shared Reading, the teacher reviews the vocabulary words in the text that the students may not know.
• In the Third Nine Weeks on Week 3, Day 11, students analyze the vocabulary meanings for, “wh” questions in order to practice answering comprehension questions later on. When students read the story, Little Bear’s Visit, on the Third Nine Weeks of the Shared Reading, on Week 4, Day 16, students focus on the definition and what it means for someone to have and use their imagination.

The lessons in Grade 1 give students the opportunity to identify key ideas and details. Examples include:

• During the First Nine Weeks on Week 1, Day 1 of Shared Reading, students focus on the story, Hooray for Snail, during the shared reading lesson. They answer questions such as, “What is surprising about snails?” and "Why does snail tip his hat?”
• During the Interactive Read-Aloud lessons, students study and analyze the details of the text, Owl Moon. This story is read during the First Nine Weeks on Week 16. Students analyze why the character's dad made the sound of the owl and the following questions: “Why did the owl fly back into the woods?” “We see birds all the time. Why is finding an owl special?”
• When reading The Horse in Harry’s Room on Week 5, Day 23 of the Second Nine Weeks, during the Shared Reading students focus on the key ideas of the text by answering questions and thinking about the following questions:, “How does Harry’s feelings change after seeing the horse in the country?” and “Why does the teacher say thinking about the same things is the same as having it?”
• In Second Nine Weeks, on Week 4, Day 16 of the Shared Reading of Danny the Dinosaur, students analyze details from the story such as the following questions: Why are the animals were disappointed? Why did Danny takes the dinosaur to see his friends?
• During the Fourth Nine Weeks, in order to practice the skill of analyzing the details of a story, students read the book, Nate the Great & The Fishy Prize. After this text, students focus on why Nate went to the grocery store and how he chose the things he was going to buy.

On page 37 - 38 of the Teacher's Manual the Bookworms reading program discusses their approach to vocabulary, “They are the same as those we have championed for differentiated reading instruction (Walpole & McKenna, 2009; Walpole, McKenna, & Philippakos, 2011). We adhere to a few basic approaches of established effectiveness, and these approaches are different for fiction and information books. For fiction, we recommend neither pre-testing nor pre teaching words in advance. Pretesting wastes valuable time given the fact that students can be expected to benefit from attention to words even if they already possess a working knowledge of their meanings. For fiction, we have chosen Tier 2 words (Beck,McKeown, & Kucan, 2013), which are general in nature and which students will need to know as they move forward in school. For information books, on the contrary, it is important to preview key vocabulary either just prior to the read-aloud or at the point the words are encountered during the read-aloud. Previewing does not mean teaching the words to mastery. It amounts to an introduction, a method of exposing children to their meanings and how they are related.” The Teacher's Manual also states, “We rely on a small number of effective instructional strategies for introducing disciplinary words, including concept of definition, semantic feature analysis, and other graphic approaches. It will not take long for children to become accustomed to how these approaches work.” Furthermore, the Teacher's Manual states “As with vocabulary, our approach to text structure differs depending on whether the book is fiction or nonfiction. In the case of fiction, the format is almost invariably narrative so that previewing it in advance is unnecessary. In the case of an information book, however, an author may employ a number of organization patterns. We have included suggestions for previewing how the text of a particular information book is structured. Providing this knowledge in advance is likely to improve comprehension (e.g., Alvermann & Swafford, 1989). Just as important, continually exposing students to how nonfiction texts are structured will provide them with frameworks they can use in their own writing.”

Students practice understanding the craft and structure of a text. Some examples include:

• On Week 2, Day 6 of the Second Nine Weeks, students read Danny & the Dinosaur Go To Camp. They learn how to tell that the story is a fantasy.
• During the Third Nine Weeks on Week 7, Day 31 students read the story, Young Cam Jansen & the Library Mystery. They analyze what makes this story a realistic fiction.
• Students are given opportunities to focus on the structure of a story by writing about the beginning, middle and end of the story, on the Third Nine Weeks, Week 1, Day 2 of the shared reading, for the story Little Bear.
• During the interactive story, of the Third Nine Weeks, on Week 29 on Day 2, students analyze Ben Franklin and his inventions through a sequence of events.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meets expectations that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-based questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

First Nine Weeks examples include:

• Little Critter Sleeps Over
  • On Day 36, students address questions on who the lifeguard is on page and how do they know that is the lifeguard? They also look at and talk about who the other characters are in the story, (pg. 38).
  • On Day 37, students then focus on questions such as when Critter is afraid, why does it help him to focus on home, and why they think all of the characters have sad faces when Critter is calling home?
  • On Day 38, students read during the shared reading lesson another Critter book. The question that students answer on day 1 of this story is, “Why does little Critter think sleep overs are fun but being at home is best?” and “What are your reasons.”
• Students read Blueberries for Sal during the Interactive Read-Aloud. As the students listen to the text, they summarize as a whole group activity with the teacher what has happened in the text. During Week 19, students also read the text, Possum’s Harvest Moon. Students answer questions during this Interactive Read-Aloud such as, “Why is the moon so low when Possum goes to sleep?” During the Interactive Read-Aloud lesson, on Week 3, Day 12, students read the story, “What Was That, Said the Cat.” Students answer the question, “Why does everyone run?”

Second Nine Week examples include:

• During the Shared Reading lesson, students read the story, Fat Cat Sat On The Mat. Students answer questions about the conflict in the text and what causes the conflict in the text.
  • On Week 1, Day 2 of the text, students focus on questions such as, “Was I right about my prediction that the cat would jump off the mat to each the fish? Why? Why did the cat smile? And Why did the mat say thank goodness?”
  • Day 3 questions for this story ask students deeper level questions and require them to explain their thinking. Examples of these questions are, “What details did you notice today that you hadn’t noticed before? What does it mean to say that the cat went pit a pat? Can you figure it out?”

• During the Interactive Read-Aloud, students hear the text, The Dog Who Cried Wolf. Students answer the questions, “Why do you think Moka wants to be a wolf?” and “What is Moka going to do?”

Third Nine Week examples include:

• During the Shared Reading lessons while reading, Father Bear Comes Home, some text-based questions include, “Why was little bear happy?” and "Where did the shells come from?”
• During the Interactive Read-Aloud, students hear the story, Now and Ben. Students talk about which one of the chairs that Ben invented is still used today.
• During week 15, students listen to the text President’s Day. They answer questions on Day 2, such as, “Which President do you like the most?” and "Why do you think people use a box to vote?”

Fourth Nine Week examples include:

• On Week 3, Day 14, while reading The Paintbrush Kid, students answer text-based questions such as, "Why does Gregory look like the Bad New Kid? Why doesn’t he tell his Uncle what happened? What are Gregory’s dreams for the future? What do we learn about Mr. Hiller? Why does Gregory decide to go see Mr. Hiller? Why does Gregory feel better when he leaves Mr. Hiller?” Later students are asked ”Why did it take so long to do the pictures? Why does Gregory paint Uncle Pancho’s son? and Why do people think that the project is a waste of time?"
• During the Interactive Read-Aloud lessons, students listen to the story, Thunder Cake. On Day 2 of the story, students answer questions based on what the problem was in the text and answer, “Do you think the girl is brave,” Why?”
• During the Shared Reading of the story, Nate the Great Saves The King of Sweden, students answer specific questions such as, “Why does Nate need to know where Rosamond was going? Why does Nate think that Rosamond lost the troll in the palace? Why did Nate think that Rosamond would send a card to the king? and Why is Nate disappointed when he looks more closely at the picture?”

Bookworms also integrates ideas across both individual and multiple texts. For example:

• In the First Nine Weeks of the Shared Reading unit, in Week 2, Day 8, Soccer Game! students answer the questions, “How is this soccer game similar to the baseball game we read about last week? Similar means the same. How is soccer different from the baseball game we read about last week?”

• In the Fourth Nine Weeks of the Interactive Read-Aloud unit, in Week 14, Day 2 while reading Tops and Bottoms, the teacher states, “Remember that in our last book, The Relatives Came, a little girl was telling the story. Who has been telling this story? Is Bear telling the story? What about Hare? [Prompt that it is told by the author.]

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of including a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.

Students work with a core set of vocabulary words for each text.

• In the Interactive Read-Aloud, students learn Tier 2 words. For example, in the Second Nine Weeks, during the read aloud of Pepper's Journal, students learn wobble, frisky, reflect, cozy, toss. For the word frisky, the teacher states, "Another word from our story is frisky. What word? Frisky means playful and full of energy. When my dog was a puppy, he was frisky. In Lisa's journal, she writes, "The black-and-white kitten was the most frisky and friendly." Frisky means playful and full of energy. What word?"
• In the Shared Reading, students sometimes have the opportunity to learn meaning vocabulary prior to the reading of the text. For example, in the Third Nine Weeks, students read Little Bear's Visit and learn meaning vocabulary. "We have read a lot of stories about Little Bear. One of the characteristics of Little Bear is that he has a great imagination. If you have a great imagination, you can pretend things and they can seem real. Little Bear used his imagination to go fishing, and to meet a mermaid. We are going to see that Little Bear can also use his imagination when someone tells him a story."

Students are exposed to vocabulary words through a routine, and there is a year long vocabulary plan within Bookworms materials. The students are exposed to vocabulary words during a short time frame for the study of a text. If a teacher builds an anchor chart and examples of anchor charts are in the Classroom Powerpoint, students will be able to see academic vocabulary from the texts on the charts over multiple exposures.