2nd 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 2 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 2 partially meet the expectations for Criteria 2a to 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 2 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 says 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, Week 5, students listen to texts about animal survival. In Week 5, students listen to, Where in the Wild? by David Schwartz and Yael Schy and Camouflage: Changing to Hide by Bobbie Kalman.
- In ELA, Week 19, students listen to biographies. They read Helen Keller: Break Down the Walls! by Margaret Fetty and Amelia and Eleanor Go for a Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan. Students also listen to Dad, Jackie, and Me by Myron Uhlberg about Jackie Robinson and then The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles. Finally, students read My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris.
- In ELA, Weeks 33, students listen to texts about symbolism in American. In Week 33, they listen to the book The Flag We Love by Pam Munoz Ryan, which is about the American Flag. They also listen to The Wall by Eve Bunting, which is about the Vietnam Wall.
- In ELA, Week 34, students listen to texts about plants. They begin by listening to How a Plant Grows by Bobbie Kalman and then they read How do you Raise a Raisin? by Pam Munoz Ryan, which is about how to grow raisins.
Materials include limited examples of texts organized around a topic in Shared Reading. For example:
- In Weeks 6-9, students read non-fiction books about life cycles. In Week 6, they read Tale of a Tadpole by Karen Wallace. In Week 7, they read From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer. Then in Week 8, students read From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Hellingman and The Journey of a Butterfly by David Salariya.
- In Week 20 and 21, students read the biographies Jackie Robinson by Sally M. Walker and History’s All Stars: Abraham Lincoln. This correlates with the biographies read in ELA during Week 3.
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 2 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 the Grade 2 materials, there are coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze language, key ideas and details, and craft and structure in both the ELA and Shared Reading components of the program.
Students are asked a series of questions about key ideas and details throughout both the ELA and Shared Reading portion of the component. The level of analysis increases throughout the year. Examples include:
- In ELA, Week 12, after reading The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, students are asked to analyze the key ideas and details when asked if they thought it was a good idea to jump on a horse or would it have been better to stay on the blanket, and do they think that calling these people Horse People like the author is a good name for them.
- In Shared Reading, Week 12, students read Cam Jansen and the Mystery Writer Mystery by David A. Adler. Students are asked to describe if Mr. Winter is persistent and if Cam is persistent. Students are asked to support their responses with evidence from the text.
- In Week 32, students compare and contrast the stories Cinderella and Rough-Face Girl and are asked how the stories are different. To support comprehension, students are asked to discuss the setting, the characters, and then the big events, in order, with a partner. Students are also asked how the sisters feel about Cinderella and why Cinderella loses track of time during the second ball. Students are also asked to determine the theme of the story.
Some language questions come prior to the student reading the text to help aid their comprehension, while other questions help students analyze specific phrases from the texts. Questions and tasks that require students to analyze language include:
- In ELA, Week 5, students read Where in the Wild by David Schwartz and Yael Schy. Prior to reading the text, the teacher explains the terms camouflage and predator and then students are asked if the same animal can be both a predator and prey.
- In Shared Reading, Week 6, students are asked what it means to say that the stickleback is a predator after reading Tale of a Tadpole by Karen Wallace.
Narrative text structure is discussed after reading while informational text structure is introduced prior to reading and revisited after reading. In most cases, the teacher introduces and discusses the text structure. There are also questions that ask students to analyze the craft and structure of the text. For example:
- In Shared Reading, Week 15, students read If you Lived with the Cherokee. The teacher discusses the structure and then asks the students questions after reading. The teacher explains that the author has a creative way of organizing the information and asks the students to use the table of contents to figure it out. After reading the text, students are asked why the author wrote the book with this type of text structure.
- In ELA, Week 25, students write a letter to Ragweed telling him what has happened to them as if they are Poppy from the book Poppy by Avi. This addresses point of view.
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 2 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 6, after reading Tale of a Tadpole by Karen Wallace, students write a paragraph about the lifecycle of a frog. Similarly in Week 9, after reading The Journey of a Butterfly by David Salariya, students write a paragraph about the migration of a butterfly.
- In Week 19, students listen to Helen Keller: Break Down the Walls by Margaret Fetty and write what the author does to demonstrate that Helen Keller is determined and brave.
- In Week 20, students read Jackie Robinson by Sally M. Walker and write a newspaper article summarizing his life after reading and discussing the text over the course of the week.
- In Week 25, students listen to Mummies by Joyce Milton. Students are asked questions such as, "Why did the pharaoh want his body to be turned into a mummy? Where was the Land of the Dead? and Why did the pharaoh's body have to be taken across the Nile River."
- In Week 33, after reading The Flag We Love by Pam Munoz Ryan which describes the first American flag, students design a new original flag with the right number of stars and describe why they designed it the way they did. This is related to the text, but does not assure they will anchor their work in new knowledge gained from the reading.
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 14, students listen to The Very First Americans by Cara Ashrose and If You Lived with the Cherokee by Peter Roop. After working with each text for an entire week, students are put into three groups and are asked to synthesize what they have learned about Native Americans and write about one of the three tribes of Native Americans they have read about. The final writing piece must describe the Native American tribe, include two big ideas with supporting facts from the text, and include a closing.
- In Week 32, students listen to several versions of Cinderella including Cinderella by Marcia Brown and The Rough-Faced Girl by Rafe Martin. Students are guided through creating a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting Cinderella and The Rough-Faced Girl. Students write about ways the stories are similar and different.
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 2 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 rather depend on students’ ability to form an onion and/or write about themselves. There are some 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 2, 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 require students to integrate skills, students are not asked to demonstrate their knowledge of the topics learned throughout the year. The culminating tasks focus more on demonstrating integration of reading and writing skills, rather than demonstrating knowledge of topics or being text focused. These include:
- In Week 35, students complete a final book review, in which they demonstrate their knowledge of one book and their knowledge of the skill of writing a book review. Prior to this culminating task, students are taught to write book reviews. In Week 3 of ELA, students write a book review on Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst or A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert, and students write three reasons why they like one of the books. The teacher guides the students through the process for the one day they work on it. For the culminating task, students write an advertisement about their favorite book from the year with the goal of having future Grade 2 students excited to read that book.
- In Week 36, students reflect on their growth as readers and writers throughout the year. The program calls this writing a memoir. This culminating writing task requires students to demonstrate their knowledge of the skills learned in the year, but not the topics learned in the year. In addition, there are minimal opportunities throughout the year that require students to reflect on their growth or read or write memories, which would lead to the successful completion of this culminating task.
Students are given writing assignments throughout the year, that require them to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills; however, these are not considered culminating tasks by the publisher and unlike the labeled culminating tasks, these support students’ growth as readers and writers, and do not serve as a year-end project to see how much students have learned. At the end of each Shared Reading text, students complete a retelling. The bi-weekly, on-demand writing tasks assess reading comprehension in ELA. Examples include:
- In ELA, Weeks 6-7, students write facts after reading the books Camouflage: Changing to Hide by Bobbie Kalman and What is it Made? Nothing Types of Materials by Martha E.H. Rustad. While students are asked to demonstrate their knowledge of the topics presented in these texts, the teacher guides the students throughout the process. To assure students are demonstrating their own learning, the teacher may have to amend the lessons.
- In Shared Reading, Week 6, after reading Tale of Tadpole by Karen Wallace, students draw a diagram of a tadpole and label its parents and then write a paragraph about the life cycle of a frog.
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 2 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 2 materials in both Shared Reading and ELA. In Shared Reading, words are useful for comprehension of the text or for understanding the theme. The words are introduced before reading and it also addresses multiple meanings of words and how context clues help determine which meaning. ELA has routines with both fiction and non-fiction texts. Tier II words are introduced after reading fiction texts. Only two words are introduced per book using the procedure recommended by Isabel Beck. For informational books, the words are previewed prior to reading. The approach is 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 3, before reading Pinky and Rex by James Howe, the teacher defines the word jealous and impress. Students then chorally repeat the words and turn to a partner to discuss the words. Throughout the week irritate, selfish, distracted and cooperate are introduced. The same procedure is done for each word.
- In Week 18, prior to reading Judy Moody Saves the World by Megan McDonald, the teacher defines the word competition. The teacher provides the word in context before requiring students to repeat the word and then discussing it with a partner. Additional words are created, complicated, inspiration, and endangered. After reading the book, comprehension questions are asked that include the vocabulary words such as, “Why is it complicated for Judy Moody to save the word? and Why did Frank’s stamp give Judy Inspiration?”
- In Week 25, students read the book Mummies by Joyce Milton and learn that a mummy is a dead body that has been carefully prepared to last a very long time. This will help students better understand the book.
In ELA fiction texts, vocabulary is taught after reading. Most of the words are Tier II words. Examples include:
- In Week 1, after listening toArthur's Back to School Day by Lilian Houben, the teacher introduces the word prepare. The students chorally repeat the word and then the teacher provides a definition and examples of the word in context. Students then turn to their partner to discuss how they might prepare for school in the morning.
- In Week 3, students listen to Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst and learn the word positively. The teacher explains that positively means without a doubt and then explains that in the book, Alexander says that he was positively saving the rest of the money.
- In Week 18, students listen to My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa Mollel and learn the word gape and determined. Students are told the definitions of each word and are given examples from the text.
- In Week 30, students listen to the book The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo and learn that the word dainty means small, ilight, and delicate. Students are given sentence frames with the word such as I have a dainty....
In ELA non-fiction texts, vocabulary is taught before the text is read. These words are more Tier III words so teaching the words ahead of time helps students comprehend the text. After learning the words, the teacher models how to incorporate the words in their discussions and writing. Examples include:
- In U Week 4, prior to reading Cracking Up: A Story about Erosion by Jacqui Bailey, the students learn the word erosion. Students are asked questions such as why do plants slow down erosion and does erosion help make pebbles bigger.
- In Weeks 16-17, students read the text Tornado by Betsy Byars and learn the word twister and tornado. Students are asked why a tornado is sometimes called a twister.
- In Week 29, students read D is for Dancing Drago: A China Alphabet by Carol Crane and learn the word pagoda. After learning about the word, students turn to a partner to discuss what Carol Crane means when she says that the acrobats form a human pagoda.
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 2 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. school year.
The Grade 2 curriculum includes a cohesive writing plan in both Shared Reading and English Language Arts. In Shared Reading, students write daily. At the beginning of the year, the teacher models writing for students to establish norms for length and quality and sentence frames are provided. Each interactive read-aloud concludes with a brief writing prompt. At the beginning of the year, the teacher models how to complete the prompts, but over time, the teacher releases responsibility to the students. Process writing also involves a cohesive plan with extensive teacher support in the beginning of the year. Graphic organizers are provided in the beginning of the year but are used less towards the end of the year to help build independence. Over the course of the year, the writing demands build to increase student ability to express knowledge of text through writing.
In the beginning of the year, the students are given support with the daily written responses in ELA. Examples include:
- In Week 4, after listening to Magnets Push, Magnets Pull, students are given a sentence starter to explain what they learned about magnets to a first grader.
- In Week 13, after reading Arrow to the Sun by Gerald McDermott, students choose one of the kivas and tell what they think happened. Instead of just writing with nouns and verbs, they are to include adjectives.
- In Week 16, students explain why they think Peter should have told Tornado he was a good dog. A sentence frame is not provided.
- In Week 30, students write from another point of view. They write a diary entry from the point of view of Cinderella.
Students also write during the Shared Reading block, which also follows a cohesive plan for writing instruction throughout the year. Examples include:
- In Week 6, students draw a diagram of a tadpole after reading Tale of a Tadpole by Karen Wallace.
- In Weeks 10-12, students write about The Kidnapped King by Ron Roy. Students are expected to pull evidence from the text to support their answers.
- In Weeks 26-27, students write about The Mystery of the Mummy's Curse by Chandler Warner and after writing with evidence, they share with a peer to get feedback.
Process writing also include a cohesive plan that leads students towards independence. For example:
- In Week 1, students collaborate to write a personal narrative as a class. They use a graphic organizer and a checklist as a guide. The teacher writes the introduction and the first event and then students work in groups or with a partner to write the subsequent paragraphs. The teacher then models how to write the conclusion.
- In Weeks 10-11, students work in groups to complete a narrative graphic organizer. The teacher creates an introduction and the first event and then students work in groups to write about the next events. During the second week of this instruction, students write their own personal narrative.
- In Weeks 20-21, students independently complete the narrative graphic organizer.
- In Week 34, students write sentences to tell information about the text How a Plant Grows by Bobbie Kalman. They then share it with peers for feedback.
Students write many book reviews throughout the program. The progression for teaching these include:
- For the first book review, students only complete a graphic organizer, taking time to plan their book reviews.
- For the second book review, students quickly fill in a graphic organizer, and then spend the majority of the time drafting.
- For the third book review, students quickly fill out a graphic organizer and draft, and spend the majority of their time revising and drafting.
- For the final book review, the teacher does no modeling, and instead, the students work independently.
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 2 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 2, 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, research skills involve informative writing based on the texts read during read-aloud.
Students have minimal opportunities to participate in a research project in Grade 2. Some of these opportunities are optional. Some of the opportunities include:
- In Week 2, ELA, students read The Very First Americans by Cara Ashrose and If you Lived with the Cherokee by Connie Roop, and work with a partner to write about a specific group of Native Americans. In this example, students work together to identify information to pull into writing, which supports their research development.
- In Week 25, students read Mummies by Joyce Milton. Students then participate in a research project in which they watch two videos “How Were Mummies Made In Ancient Egypt” and “How to Make a Mummy”. Students then begin the creation of a timeline of mummification.
- In Week 34, after reading How a Plant Grows by Bobbie Kalman and viewing a recommended short time-lapse YouTube video on a bean developing over 18 days, students draw a diagram showing the roots of the plant, the stem, and the leaves, and then write about the diagram.
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 2 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 2 materials include time for independent reading during the day. 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 to Shared Reading. This can impact how much time each student spends on independent reading daily. It is expected that students also spend 7-10 minutes each day with a partner to practice fluency. Appendix B provides a sample classroom library book list to help teachers pick books for independent reading.
For independent reading at home, the Teacher Manual recommends that grade level teachers collaborate to develop a consistent grade level homework procedure.