1st Grade - Gateway 2
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Building Knowledge
Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks| Score | |
|---|---|
Gateway 2 - Partially Meets Expectations | 75% |
Criterion 2.1: Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks | 24 / 32 |
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the expectations for Gateway 2. Materials do provide organized and cohesive year-long academic vocabulary support, as well as comprehensive writing instruction that supports students in building their writing skills. Students have some practice to analyze different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials. The materials partially meet the expectations of building students’ knowledge of topics, with some texts and text sets supporting a topic. Texts are accompanied by questions, tasks, and activities that partially support attention to the topics within and building knowledge.
Criterion 2.1: Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks
Materials build knowledge through integrated reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the expectations for Criteria 2a-2h. Materials do provide organized and cohesive year-long academic vocabulary support, as well as comprehensive writing instruction that supports students in building their writing skills. Students have some practice to analyze different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials. The materials partially meet the expectations of building students’ knowledge of topics, with some texts and text sets supporting a topic. Texts are accompanied by questions, tasks, and activities that partially support attention to the topics within and building knowledge.
Indicator 2a
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.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria 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 Shared Reading and ELA, there are some texts that are organized around a text topic. In Shared Reading, the students listen to the same text for five days and the text changes each week. ELA units include several topics; however texts are inconsistently organized around a topic/topics to build knowledge. The publisher states, "Before grade 1, there are both narrative and information texts, but nearly all of the information texts are used for read alouds during English Language Arts rather than for Shared Reading. Our Shared Reading curriculum is deliberately unbalanced – it devotes little time to basic skills after grade 1 and instead targets spelling, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension, and text structure knowledge." In some sections, the materials provide limited teaching notes that give guidance on how teachers can support students building knowledge of a topic, and a single text set rarely includes more than two books, thus limiting the students' opportunities to apply knowledge and vocabulary in a new context.
Materials include limited examples of texts organized around a topic in ELA. For example:
- In ELA, Weeks 8-10, students listen to texts about the fall season. In Week 5, they read A Tree for All Seasons by Robin Bernard. In Week 8, they listen to the stories How Do Apples Grow by Betsy Maestro, the fictional story Possum’s Harvest Moon by Anne Hunter, and Why do Leaves Change Color? by Betsy Maestro. Then in Week 10, students listen to the books In November by Cynthia Rylant, which is a non-fiction book that introduces Tier II words about fall. Finally, students listen to The Pilgrims’ First Thanksgiving by Ann McGovern.
- In ELA, Weeks 12-13, students listen to many books that are biographies. They begin by listening to Eleanor by Barbara Cooney in Week 12. They then listen to A. Lincoln and Me by Louise Borden. In Week 13, they are read Now and Ben by Gene Barretta and A Picture Book of George Washington Carver by David A.Adler.
- In ELA, Week 21, students read books about America. In Week 21, they hear Presidents’ Day by Anne Rockwell and The Washington Monument by Kristin L. Nelson. Students finish the week by listening to The Bald Eagle by Lloyd G. Douglas.
Indicator 2b
Materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.
Throughout Grade 1 materials, students are asked to analyze key ideas and details, moving into more analysis throughout the year. Students are also asked to analyze language, craft, and structure, but less frequently than key ideas and details. Many of the text structure lessons are discussed prior to reading and thens students are asked questions and given tasks to analyze the craft and structure.
The majority of the questions throughout Grade 1 ask students to analyze details and key ideas in ELA and Shared Reading both during reading and after reading. Examples include:
- In ELA, Week 8, after hearing How do Apples Grow by Betsy Maestro, students are asked analysis of detail and key idea questions such as: When are apples ready to eat and how can we buy apples in a store all year? Students are also asked what happens if a flower is not fertilized and what happens if no pollen goes down the pistil to the ovary.
- In Shared Reading, Week 20, after reading Father Bear Comes Home, students are asked: Why was Little Bear happy? and How does Father Bear feel about all of the noise the friends are making?
- In Shared Reading, Week 29, after reading Nate the Great and the Fishy Prize by Marjorie W. Sharmat, students are asked: Why does each animal does a different trick in the contest? and Why does Esmeralda pick Sludge?
Students are asked questions to analyze language in the Grade 1 materials. Examples include:
- In ELA Week 12, while reading Eleanor by Barbara Cooney, students are asked what her friend means when he said she would rather light candles than curse the darkness.
- In Shared Reading, Week 21, after reading Little Bear’s Visit by Elise Holmelund Minarik, students are asked what they think scamp means and how they can figure it out.
- In Shared Reading, Week 22, after reading The Fire Cat by Esther Averill students are asked why THE TREE is capitalized.
Craft and structure lessons are found throughout the program, with follow-up questions following the reading of the text. The teacher often introduces the craft and structure prior to reading, and then after reading, students refer to the text structure anchor chart and add to it if necessary. Examples include:
- In ELA Week 3, students are asked why the author, Grace Maccarone, wrote the book What is That? said the Cat. Students are asked a series of questions including, "Did the author want to teach us something? and Did the author want to make us laugh?"
- In ELA, Week 8, students are introduced to the concept of sequence of events. While reading the non-fiction book How do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro, students are asked a series of questions such as: "Why do the buds wait for the spring to open?" and "Why does the pistol go way down?" Then students help the teacher update the text structure anchor chart, paying attention to the sequence of events in the story.
- In Shared Reading, Week 15, after reading Oliver by Syd Hoff, students are asked both structure and craft questions. Students are asked to describe the character, tell what his problem was, and how it was solved. Students are also asked what kind of characters the author, Syd Hoff writes about and how he helps us use our imagination.
- In ELA Week 16, the teacher introduces the book Do I Need it or Do I Want It? by Jennifer Larson and discusses the structure of the text by telling the students that it is an informational book and has a table of contents.
Indicator 2c
Materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.
Throughout the program, students analyze knowledge and ideas within individual texts; however, opportunities are limited for students to analyze and integrate knowledge across multiple texts. Students answer a series of discussion questions and then answer a written response. Some of the writing tasks require students to build upon knowledge in more than one text.
Examples of questions and texts that require students to integrate knowledge in Shared Reading and ELA include:
- In Week 12, students listen to Eleanor by Barbara Cooney, a biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. Students are asked questions such as: Why did Eleanor’s mother want a boy? and Why does Eleanor’s mother want her to be beautiful?
- In Week 13, students listen to Now and Ben by Gene Barretta and discuss some of the inventions they read about in the story during a whole class discussion.
- In Week 26, students listen to From Seed to Plant. After listening to the text, students demonstrate their knowledge by writing one sentence in which they explain how pollen is scattered and a second sentence that explains how seeds are scattered. Finally, as a class, they write a few sentences summarizing how a seed becomes a plant.
Materials provide limited opportunities for students to answer a series of questions and tasks that require them to integrate knowledge and ideas across multiple texts include. For example:
- In Week 8, students listen to How do Apples Grow and Why do Leaves Change Color by Betsy Maestro and they are asked questions to demonstrate the integration of knowledge about fall. Questions include: When are apples ready to eat and what is chlorophyll? At the end of the week, students are asked how the two books are similar. The writing assignment requires students to write about a season they have read about during the week.
Indicator 2d
The questions and tasks support students' ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).
Within the program, there are two final culminating tasks at the end of the year that are intended to integrate skills and have students demonstrate their knowledge. However, students demonstrate their knowledge of a text and their knowledge of themselves as readers and writers, but do not demonstrate their knowledge of the topics learned throughout the program. These tasks do not always require synthesizing knowledge of actual content, but they depend on students’ ability to form an opinion and/or write about themselves. There are a few writing tasks throughout the year that could serve as culminating tasks that require students to integrate knowledge of a topic through integrated skills.
At the end of Grade 1, students are given two weeks to complete two culminating tasks. These tasks, according to the publisher, are similar in every grade, though the rigor increases due to the standards. These tasks have students integrate skills, but students are not asked to demonstrate their knowledge of the topics learned throughout the year. The culminating tasks focus more on reading and writing skills, instead of knowledge. These include:
- In Week 34, students write a book review of their favorite book from the year. Mini book reviews are written throughout the year as a way to help lead students up to this culminating task. For example, in Week 11, students write a book review of Danny the Dinosaur by Syd Hoff. The teacher provides a graphic organizer to help them write the book review. For the final book review, students make a commercial, which is similar to the culminating task in Kindergarten. They make a flier for the commercial to explain why it is their favorite book. This culminating task requires students to demonstrate knowledge of the skill of writing a book review and knowledge of a single text, but do not require students to demonstrate their knowledge of the topics learned throughout the year.
- In Week 35, students reflect on themselves as readers and writers from the beginning of the year to the end of the year. This culminating task does not require students to demonstrate knowledge of topics, but rather of reading and writing skills. In addition, there are no questions or tasks throughout the year, that will lead students to successfully complete this assignment.
Students are given writing assignments throughout the year, some of which require them to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills, although these are not considered culminating tasks per the materials guidance and definitions. Students are given biweekly on - demand written responses to assess comprehension. In Shared Reading, students retell the story both with teacher support and with partners at the end of each week. An example of a writing task in ELA includes:
- In Week 26, students are given a blank storyboard and are asked to write a how-to telling readers how to grow a garden after listening to From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons. Students complete this task with a partner.
Indicator 2e
Materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.
Vocabulary is embedded throughout the Grade 1 materials in both Shared Reading and ELA. In Shared Reading, words are selected from the day’s dialogic reading and are useful for comprehension. The routine is done before, during, and after reading and it also addresses multiple meanings of words and how context helps with meaning. In ELA, two words are introduced per book using the procedure recommended by Isabel Beck. Words are introduced in a cluster approach so students can see how words are connected. In both ELA and Shared reading, Tier II and Tier III words are taught.
Some examples of vocabulary instruction in Shared Reading include:
- In Week 7, students read The Fat Cat Sat on a Mat by Nurit Karlin and they learn the word conflict. Students repeat the word and then the teacher explains that the story is filled with conflict, which is a type of problem. Students then turn to a partner to discuss a conflict they have had.
- In Week 13, before reading The Horse in Harry’s Room by Syd Hoff, the teacher defines the word imagination using the word in context and then ties the vocabulary to the introduction of the text. Throughout the week, additional words are introduced including country, sometimes, and nibbling. For these words, the teacher pronounces the words, provides the definitions and uses the words in context. After chorally repeating the words, the students turn and talk with their partners to further discuss the words.
- In Week 18, students learn the word penny prior to reading Morris Goes to School by Bernard Wiseman. Students are asked to turn to a partner to discuss how many pennies would a piece of bubble gum cost.
- In Week 30, before reading The Chalk Box Kid by Clyde Robert Bulla, the students learn the word tablet by being given the word in context and then the definition. Students then discuss the word with a partner where they would like to take a tablet to draw on. Additional words are introduced throughout the week including concrete, bragging, and wonderful.
In ELA, vocabulary is taught after reading the text. Most of the words are Tier II words. Examples include:
- In Week 6, students hear the book Pepper’s Journal by Stuart J. Murphy and learn the word frisky. Students learn the definition and are then given examples such as when a dog is a puppy, it is frisky.
- In Week 10, after listening to Stone Soup by Ann McGovern, the students learn the word barely. Students chorally repeat the word and then the teacher provides the definition and examples of the word used in context, including one from the text. The teacher then illustrates how students can use the word using sentence frames.
- In Week 18, students hear the book The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant and learn the word particular. Students learn the definition and hear examples such as if you are particular, you want things a specific way.
Indicator 2f
Materials include a cohesive, year-long plan to support students' increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students' writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials contain a year long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts.
The Grade 1 curriculum has a cohesive plan for writing instruction across both ELA and Shared Reading. Shared Reading includes daily written responses. The teacher models completion of these responses for students at the beginning of the year to establish norms for length and quality. Sentence frames are also provided for additional support. The interactive read aloud concludes with a brief prompt for writing. During shared writing, the teacher uses these prompts to model the thinking and composition process required for on-demand writing. Gradually, the teacher stops modeling and students complete the responses independently. In the beginning of the year, the students draw their responses, then move to labeling, and eventually writing sentences. In the beginning of the year, instruction is focused on writing sentences with a subject and predicate, with emphasis on oral language production before written language production. The program includes graphic organizers to help gradually release responsibility to students, so they can plan without the use of specific organizers in later grades. Over the course of the year, the writing demands build to increase students’ ability to express knowledge of texts through writing.
In ELA, the written response following the read-aloud is heavily teacher supported in the beginning of the year, and moves towards independence at the end of the year. Examples include:
- In Week 6, after hearing Pepper’s Journal, students are given the sentence frame: A newborn kitten _____ and they fill in the facts that the character Pepper told them in the story. They use a sentence checklist after they finish wiring to check their sentences. The following week, students write a sentence about the book The Art Lesson and use the sentence checklist to check the sentence.
- In Week 13, after hearing Now and Ben by Gene Barretta, students are given question stems to help them generate questions they would like to ask Benjamin Franklin.
- In Week 23, students read Newton and Me and then write a prediction. The teacher gives them a sentence frame to do this. Then, in Week 26, students draw a picture of Hare’s burrow and write about their picture. No sentence frames are provided for this writing task.
- In Week 26, students write sentence. The first sentence tells the ways that pollen is scattered and the second sentence tells how seeds are scattered. This is done independently.
There is also writing in Shared Reading that progresses from drawing pictures in the beginning of the year to sentence writing towards the end of the year. Examples include:
- In Week 3, after reading What is That, Said the Cat? by Grace Maccarone, students draw a picture of one of the animals, and tell what one animal is doing using a sentence frame.
- In Week 19, after reading Little Bear’s Friend by Else Holmelund Minarik, students write about the most important events in the story. While they are not drawing, a sentence frame is provided.
Similar to on - demand writing, there is also a cohesive plan for process writing. Examples include:
- In Week 11, the teacher models how to use the book review checklist to evaluate, plan, and write a book review. Students are grouped together according to what book they are reviewing. Sentence frames are also provided.
- In Week 20, students revise and then use the narrative editing checklist to check their work. Later in the week, the teacher gradually releases writing responsibility to the students and sentence frames are removed. During this personal narrative lesson, the students learn how to ask peers for assistance with writing.
Over the course of the year, students also learn how to use the checklists provided in the program. For example:
- In Week 9, the sentence checklist and descriptive writing checklist are introduced.
- In Week 14, students write an autobiography and the teacher introduces the First Grade Editing Checklist and models how to use it evaluate and revise writing.
- In Week 32, students draft and edit and revise their opinion pieces independently before participating in peer revising and editing.
- In Week 35, students complete a writing culminating task. The teacher models how to plan a conclusion before students are told to use their graphic organizers to draft. There is minimal teacher support, with the goal of students using their graphic organizers and checklists to help them.
Indicator 2g
Materials include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to develop knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials.
In Grade 1, students are engaged in exploring books and giving their opinions about the texts with guidance, modeling, and support of the teacher. Students have opportunities to learn, practice, and apply developing writing skills in varying contexts typically with teacher modeling and peer partnering. While students build upon these skills throughout the year, there are limited opportunities for students to engage in projects designed to build their research skills. In the program, some research skills involve informative writing based on the texts read during read-aloud.
In the program, there are some writing tasks that could support future research skills and projects. Examples include:
- In Week 24, students conduct a research project on how to eat an Oreo. They begin doing a shared research project by identifying the steps on how to eat an Oreo and then writing it down. Then students independently write about how to make popcorn using visual evidence when the teacher models how to do it. The teacher makes popcorn and the students take notes on the steps.
- Week 27, students write a how-to paragraph for growing a garden. They use information from the book From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons and add details to each step and use time order words.
- In Week 9, students identify and write facts about their favorite breakfast. They give three facts about their favorite breakfast. While this is not a research project, it teaches students how to gather ideas and organize them.
- Week 27 of Shared Reading, students read Nate the Great Saves the King of Sweden, and after the teacher shows students how to use the internet to search for information about the King of Sweden. This provides some opportunity to start learning how to identify sources.
Indicator 2h
Materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
The Grade 1 materials include time for independent reading during the day, and it is suggested that students read at home. The program includes a proposed schedule that includes time for differentiation each day, which does include daily opportunities for self-selected, independent reading. There are suggestions for a shared reading homework procedure and a home reading log.
During the differentiated block of instruction each day, students engage in three 15-minute blocks of instruction that allow the teacher to meet with small groups of students. During this time, students engage in daily self-selected independent reading from the classroom library after finishing their written response from Shared Reading and a word study task. Because students have to finish two tasks before beginning independent reading, the amount of time of reading each day is not consistent. It is suggested that students spend 7-10 minutes doing partner reading as well to practice fluency. Appendix B provides a sample classroom library book list to help teachers pick books for independent reading.