Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria of Indicator 2a.

In both the Shared Reading and ELA modules, some units are organized around topics to build knowledge, while others are organized around a theme; however, some units are not cohesively organized to build knowledge or do not build knowledge on the intended topics. In ELA, units often build knowledge around text structures. Text sets within each unit typically include three texts, with some units including one or two texts. The limited volume of texts and varying number of lessons for each text could impede students’ ability to build knowledge.

Some texts are connected by a grade-appropriate cohesive topic. Some texts build knowledge and the ability to read and comprehend complex texts across a school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Unit 1, texts are connected by the topic, insects. Students read one informative text and two fantasy texts including A Bee’s Life by Donna Herwek and Super Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold. 

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Unit 3, students read books about life cycles, including Caterpillar to Butterfly by Laura Marsh and From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer. 

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Unit 1, students read a variety of narrative stories that are connected because they all have “narrative story structure.” Texts in this module include Caps for Sale by Esphyr Siobodkina, Frederick by Leo Lionni, and The Full Belly Bowl by Jim Aylesworth. 

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Unit 1, students listen to a variety of informational texts that describe different aspects of our world such as Clouds by Anne Rockwell and Follow the Water from Book to Ocean by Arthur Dorris. 

Some texts are connected by a theme. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Unit 1, students read several biographies about women who make a difference. Texts in this unit include Dancing Hands by Margarita Engle, which is a biography about Teresa Carreno and Daring Amelia by Barbara Lowell, which is about Ameila Earhart. 

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Unit 4, students read texts about bravery, such as Sheila Rae, the Brave by Kevin Henkes and Happy Birthday Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo. 

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Unit 2, students listen to various stories focused on the theme of “Wonderful You.” Texts in this unit include Career Day by Anne Rockwell, A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon, and Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus. 

Some texts are not connected to a grade-appropriate cohesive topic or a theme. Examples include, but are not limited, to:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Unit 3, the unit overview indicates that students will learn about how “authors use onomatopoeia to describe sounds in a story” by chorally reading Roadwork by Sally Sutton and Rap a Tap Tap by Leo and Diane Dillon. The lessons miss opportunities to focus on this skill to build knowledge, as the materials do not explicitly address onomatopeia until the written assessment for each text.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria of Indicator 2b.

Although students have many opportunities to analyze key ideas and details through questions and retell opportunities, students have limited opportunities to analyze craft and structure within texts and across texts. No evidence was found of students recognizing common types of texts, naming the author and illustrator of a story, or identifying the cover, back cover, and title of a page.

For most texts, students analyze key ideas and details (according to grade-level standards). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lessons 26–30, students listen to the literary text, Paddington Sets Sail by Michael Bond. Students answer several questions about details while listening to the text including, “Why did the kids and Paddington cheer? Why do you think he put his hat on top? How do you think Paddington felt when he woke up? Why was there a crowd at the pier?”

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 6–10, students listen to the literary text Hi! Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold. After each page, the teacher asks students what is happening to support their retelling. Then after listening to the text, students respond to questions such as, “Did Fly Guy really know Buzz’s name? How would you feel if you were Buzz? Why did the judges finally let Fly Guy in the show?”

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 31–35, students listen to the text From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer. After each page, the teacher asks students what is happening. Then students engage in an oral language retell. The teacher provides sentence prompts to support students in this activity. Then after completing the retelling frame with students, students reread/recite the full retelling.

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 26–30, students listen to the literary text Have you Seen my Dinosaur? by Job Surgal. Afterwards, the teacher asks students what happens first, next, then, and finally. Students discuss their responses with a partner. Then the teacher generates 1–2 sentences for students to repeat orally after the teacher.

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lessons 23–25, after students listen to Forest Bright, Forest Night by Jennifer Ward, the teacher and students make an anchor chart that lists the animals that are awake during the day and those that are awake during the night.

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 11–13, during the interactive read-aloud of Can we Ring the Liberty Bell? by Martha E.H. Rustad, students respond to questions such as, “Where can you see the actual Liberty Bell? Why does every state keep a copy of the Liberty Bell hanging in the capital?”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 36–37, students listen to How a Seed Grows by Helene Jordan. After the read-aloud, during the Respond Together section, the teacher and students draw and write about the seed growing process based on information from the text. The prompt states, “Draw a series of pictures showing the steps of planting a seed and growing it into a plant.” During the interactive read aloud, students answer questions such as, “What will our first step be? What about our second step? What would happen if we didn’t follow the steps in order?”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 6–8, students listen to Follow the Water from Brook to Ocean by Arthur Dorris. While listening to the text, students respond to questions such as, “What can a river move bsides water and canoes? What else can people do in a river besides boating and swimming?” Then during the discussion, students respond to the following questions: “What is water important to us? What do we use water for? Is it important for plants and animals? Why?”

For most texts, students rarely analyze craft and structure (according to grade-level standards). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 36–40, students learn about onomatopoeia after reading Roadwork by Sally Sutton. Students look back in the book to see if they can find examples of onomatopoeia. Then, students choose one of the words and draw a picture of something that makes that sound.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria of Indicator 2d.

Students complete culminating tasks in ELA, though some require students to use texts and/or knowledge from Shared Reading. All four culminating tasks are limited to writing tasks. The Module 1 culminating task includes one text from Shared Reading. The Module 2 and 3 culminating tasks integrate texts from both ELA and Shared Reading.  In Module 4, students reflect on themselves as a leader through a narrative writing piece but do not integrate what they learned in the module; students can successfully complete the culminating task without demonstrating knowledge of the Module 4 topic and texts. Culminating tasks rarely integrate speaking and listening and heavily focus on language standards.

Culminating tasks are evident, but are not varied across the year and are sometimes multifaceted, requiring students to demonstrate mastery of several different standards (reading, writing, speaking, listening) at the appropriate grade level, and comprehension and knowledge of a topic or topics through integrated skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lessons 44–45, students spend two days on the culminating task. With teacher support, students link subjects with predicates to create sentences that retell My Trip to the Hospital by Mercer Mayer and then draw a picture that aligns to the sentence. The next day, students match different subjects and predicates about the same text and illustrate their sentence. This culminating task focuses on the knowledge students learned about retelling and composing sentences. While the culminating task assesses story comprehension and understanding complete sentences, it does not integrate speaking and listening standards. 

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 44–45, students spend two days on the culminating task. On the first day, students work with the teacher and a partner to create an opinion sentence with an illustration using the text Happy Birthday, Martin Luther King by Jean Marzollo. On the second day, students independently write an opinion sentence with an illustration using the Shared Reading text Rap a Tap Tap by Leo and Diane Dillon. Students must demonstrate their knowledge of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bill Bojangles Robinson, as well as their comprehension of two different texts and the opinion writing genre. The culminating task does not integrate speaking and listening standards.

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 44–45, during the culminating task, students write an informative piece based on information they learned about the plant cycle from the texts How a Seed Grows by Helene Jordan, In a Nutshell by Joseph Anthony, and How Plants Grow by Dona Herweck Rice. On the first day, students write a topic sentence. On the second day, students write an additional sentence with a fact about the plant life cycle. This culminating task assesses students’ knowledge of the plant life cycle, comprehension of three texts from Shared Reading and ELA, and the informative writing genre. Students have the opportunity to share their writing with a partner.

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 26–30 and Lessons 42–45, students complete two culminating tasks. In the first culminating task, students select a book from any time in the year and plan, write, and revise a Book of the Year commercial. Students present their commercials and respond to other students’ commercials. In the second culminating task, students write about how they have changed and grown as readers and writers over the course of the year. Students use the text Leo the Late Bloomer by Robert Kraus as an exemplar but do not integrate knowledge or comprehension of Module 4 texts during the culminating task. Students brainstorm, write, and revise their narrative piece and share their progress with a partner daily. The knowledge assessed in this culminating task includes narrative text structure, sentence composition, and self-reflection; however, the task does not require students to demonstrate their knowledge of the topics covered throughout the module.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria of Indicator 2f.

There are minimal lessons throughout both ELA and Shared Reading that support students in growing their research skills throughout the Kindergarten materials. While some lessons address research skills such as gathering information to answer a question, these lessons are limited across the entire year. Some of the lessons that focus on helping students engage in shared research or writing to develop research skills address the standards, but the standards are not the focus of the lesson; instead, the focus is more on the skill of writing complete sentences. Students do not conduct research to answer a question; rather, the research task focuses on ensuring students can identify, evaluate, and apply traits of informative writing. Some of the research projects are culminating tasks and do not help build students’ research skills.

Some research projects are sequenced across a school year to include a progression of research skills that build to mastery of the grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 44–45, the teacher works with students to generate a list of predicates to match the subject of one of an interactive read-aloud text, Martin Luther King, Jr. The teacher may add a visual clue to each predicate, if it will help students. The teacher and students practice putting a subject and different predicates together to make complete sentences. Then, the teacher models counting the number of words in a sentence, drawing a line for each word, leaving a space in between each line, and putting a period after the third line. The teacher models using the text and the co-constructed list of predicates to write the sentence, Martin was smart. The teacher and students repeat this process using Bojangles as the subject.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 44–45, students work with the teacher to generate a list of abbreviated facts, using the information they learned from listening to How a Seed Grows by Helene Jordan, In a Nutshell by Joseph Anthony, and How Plants Grow by Dona Herweck Rice. The teacher draws visual clues next to the facts on the anchor chart. The teacher models how to choose a question to ask the reader to give the reader a clue that their informative writing will be about the life cycle of a plant. The teacher models how to count the number of words in the sentence, where to start writing the sentence, and how to use the text and letter-sound knowledge to write the words in the sentence. The teacher repeats this process when modeling how to write two facts about plants.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 3–5, the teacher writes a list of student-generated facts about animal sizes, after reading aloud Actual Size by Steve Jenkins. The teacher models how to turn a list of facts into complete sentences, specifically a topic sentence and supporting detail sentences.

Materials minimally support teachers in employing projects that develop students’ knowledge on a topic. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 18–19, additional information is provided about each American included in the appendices of the book. In the Teaching Tips section, materials include additional information to help students develop knowledge on a topic, such as suggesting teachers share some of Georgia O’Keeffe’s artwork with students, explain to students that Maya Lin is an artist and architect who designed the Vietnam memorial in Washington D.C., and show students pictures of the memorial.

Materials include some shared research projects to help develop students’ research skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 26–30, after listening to Pete’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats, students complete a shared writing activity. Students share their opinion about the three Ezra Jack Keats books they read so far, including information about the main characters. Then students pick their favorite book and independently write about why it was their favorite book.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 44–45, during the culminating task, students create an informational text that teaches readers about plants. Students generate a list of facts together using the books In a Nutshell by Joseph Anthony, How a Seed Grows by Helene Jordan, and How Plants Grow by Dona Herweck Rice. Then, students independently write their sentences using the facts.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 3–5, students discuss the size of animals after reading Actual Size by Steve Jenkins. The teacher manual indicates that teachers and students could research a few additional animals and measure how big they are with masking tape.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria of Indicator 2g.

Instruction throughout the materials focuses on content that falls within grade-level aligned standards; however, materials do not address all of the grade-level standards. Most writing standards encompass explicit instruction, tasks, and assessed skills; however, speaking and listening opportunities are limited. Reading standards are addressed through instruction and questions and tasks but are not always addressed through assessments. Some standards are explicitly taught, while others have questions and tasks but no explicit instruction. Each lesson in Shared Reading and ELA has multiple standards tagged, making it difficult for schools and teachers to know what the priority or focus standard might be and leaving it up to educators to determine which standard is aligned to which instruction, question, task, and assessment item. In addition, outside of the writing rubrics that accompany the culminating tasks in ELA and smaller writing assignments in Shared Reading, there is no mechanism for teachers to determine whether a student has mastered a standard. However, the materials do include a standards coverage document in the Appendix of the Teacher Manual, which allows the teacher to see how standards repeat across lessons, units, and modules.

Over the course of each unit, some instruction is aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In the Appendix of the Bookworms K-1 Teacher Manual, the materials provide the standards by lesson for both the Shared Reading and ELA lessons, but it is unclear which standards listed are the priority and to which part of the instruction they align.

• Shared Reading materials primarily address instruction aligned to RL.K.3 in Module 1. For example, in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 30, after listening to Paddington Sets Sail by Michael Bond, the teacher models the retelling process for students. The teacher models using the words first, next, then, and finally. Instruction on this standard also occurs in ELA. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lesson 26, the teacher models making an anchor chart after reading aloud Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cornin. The teacher writes down the main characters and setting. The teacher also explains that most stories have characters that have a problem to solve and then asks what the problem was in this text. 

• Shared Reading materials lack evidence of explicit instruction aligned to RI.K.3; however, ELA materials include explicit instruction aligned to this standard. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 1–2, while listening to A Log’s Life by Wendy Pfeffer, the teacher pauses when they come across a plant or animal in the text to decide if it is a plant or animal. The teacher then writes it on a chart to keep track. 

• Shared Reading materials lack evidence of explicit instruction aligned to RL.K.6 and RI.K.6. ELA materials include minimal explicit instruction aligned to RL.K.6; ELA materials lack evidence of explicit instruction aligned to RI.K.6 is not taught in ELA. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 6, the teacher reads aloud Frederick by Leo Lionni. Prior to reading, the teacher explains that it was written and illustrated by Leo Lionni and that the writers write the words and the illustrator draws the pictures.  

• ELA materials include explicit instruction aligned to W.K.1 across all four modules. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 23–25, 29–30, and 34–35, the teacher models writing about their favorite book by first soliciting the reasons students like the books in the Module. Then the teacher models writing using one of the reasons. Afterwards, the teacher provides a sentence frame for students to do the same thing on their own. 

• ELA materials include explicit instruction aligned to W.K.2. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lesson 9, the teacher explains that when students write a how-to book, they explain how to do something in the order that the task should be completed. 

• ELA materials include explicit instruction aligned to W.K.5 at the beginning of Module 4. In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 5, the teacher introduces the terms revising and editing and models how to use a checklist to revise and edit work. 

• Module 2 and Module 4 of the ELA materials provide explicit instruction aligned to W.K.7. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 44–45, the culminating task is to convey a fact about the plant life cycle based on information that they learned from three Shared Reading texts. The teacher models writing a sentence about plants. 

• Shared Reading and ELA materials lack evidence of explicit instruction aligned to SL.K.4  and SL.K.5. 

Over the course of each unit, some questions and tasks are aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Shared Reading and ELA Lesson Plans provide opportunities for students to answer questions and complete tasks aligned to RL.K.3. For example in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 45, after listening to My Trip to the Hospital by Mercer Mayer, students “read the book by telling what is happening on each page.”

• Students have some opportunities throughout ELA to answer questions and complete tasks that align to RI.K.1. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lessons 21–22, students listen to A Tree for All Seasons by Robin Bernard. Students compare and contrast the seasons while listening to the text. Guiding questions include, “How is spring different from winter?” and “How is summer similar to, or the same as, spring?” 

• Shared Reading and ELA materials provide opportunities for students to complete writing tasks that align to W.K.1. For example, in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lesson 15, after listening to Super Fly Guy by Tedd Arnold, students draw a picture of their favorite book from the Insects Unit. The illustration must show why they liked that book. 

• Students have opportunities throughout ELA to write informative writing pieces  that align to W.K.2. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 15, students write a Cloud Observation Report using information from the book Clouds by Anne Rockwell. 

• Students have minimal opportunities to complete tasks that align to W.K.5. Students begin engaging with this standard in Module 4 of Shared Reading. For example, in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 25, students work with a partner to make sure their own sentences have subjects and predicates. Then students make sure their sentences have capital letters and correct punctuation. 

• Students have some opportunities to engage in tasks related to shared research projects that align to W.K.7. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 44–45, students and the teacher engage in writing text-based opinion sentences about Martin Luther King Jr., and Bojangles. 

• Shared Reading Lesson Plans provide opportunities throughout all four modules for students to answer questions that align to SL.K.4, but ELA materials do not include questions and tasks aligned to the standard. For example, in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lesson 34, after listening to Are you my Mother? by P.D. Eastman students respond to questions such as, “How would you ever feel if you didn’t know where your mother was? Have you ever fallen? Have you ever been scared by  loud noises?” Students share answers orally. 

• Shared Reading and ELA materials lack evidence of questions and tasks aligned to SL.K.5, RL.K.6, and RI.K.6. 

Over the course of each unit, some assessment questions are aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Shared Reading Lesson Plans include assessment opportunities aligned to RL.K.3 at the end of every five days of instruction. For example, in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 10, after listening to Good Night, Wind by Linda Elovitz Marshall, students draw a picture of one way that the wind acts like a person in the story and then write about it. The teacher assesses students’ work using the written response rubric, which measures accuracy and text evidence. 

• Materials provide assessment opportunities aligned to W.K.1. For example, in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 26–30, students complete the Book of the Year writing task, where they write about the best book that they read throughout the year, demonstrating their own ability to share opinions in writing. 

• Materials provide a rubric aligned to W.K.2 for teacher use to assess students’ informative writing.  

• For each writing task in ELA, the teacher uses the editing and revision rubric to evaluate student writing; however, the rubric measures capitalization and spelling only and the teacher uses the rubric prior to providing students with explicit instruction on editing and revising. 

• Materials do not provide formal assessment opportunities aligned to W.K.7, though the shared research projects are assessed based on students’ content knowledge, literacy knowledge, and integration of knowledge and ideas. The teacher uses a rubric which measures these three areas. For example, the ELA  Module 3 culminating task, which is also a shared research project, assesses whether students have a topic sentence and directly relates to information learned in books about the life cycle of plants. 

• The K–1 Teacher Manual includes Listening and Speaking rubrics for Kindergarten for assessing SL.1 through SL.6. 

• Shared Reading and ELA materials lack evidence of assessment opportunities aligned to RI.K.3, RL.K.6, and RI.K.6.

By the end of the academic year, some standards are repeatedly addressed within and across units to ensure students master the full intent of the standard. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Shared Reading and ELA Lesson Plans address RL.K.3 within and across all four units. 

• Shared Reading Lesson Plans  lack evidence of opportunities to address RI.K.3; however, ELA materials address the standards within and across all four Modules. 

• Materials provide explicit instruction, questions and tasks, and assessment opportunities aligned to W.K.1 and W.K.2. in all four modules of ELA.  

• Materials do not provide explicit instruction aligned to W.K.5 until Module 4 of ELA, which does not give students the opportunity to ensure mastery of the standard by the end of the year. 

• ELA Lesson Plans address W.K.7 twice, once in Module 2 and once in Module 3. 

• Throughout the entire program, the fourth day of Shared Reading materials addresses SL.K.4 through questions; however, materials lack evidence of explicit instruction or assessment of the standard to ensure mastery. In addition, ELA materials lack evidence of opportunities to address SL.K.4. 

• Shared Reading and ELA Lesson Plans  lack evidence of opportunities to address SL.K.5, RL.K.6, and RI.K.6. 

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria of Indicator 2h.

The Program Guide includes a suggested implementation schedule, which includes 2 hours and 15 minutes of instruction daily. In order to complete the lessons, one must spend 45 minutes per instructional block, Shared Reading, ELA, and Differentiated Instruction, each day. Materials include 180 lessons in ELA and 180 lessons in Shared Reading. While this could conceivably be completed in a school year, there is no time allotted for interruptions to the school year or reteaching. Core learning takes place during the Shared Reading and ELA blocks, for a total of 90 minutes a day, but some tasks from those blocks must be finished during the Differentiated Instruction block. The materials also provide flexible schedule documentation, though it is unclear whether students would master all standards if lessons were omitted. 

Suggested implementation schedules and alternative implementation schedules align to core learning and objectives. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The program allots 45 minutes for Shared Reading, 45 minutes for ELA, and 45 minutes for Differentiated Instruction. The Bookworms K–1 Teacher Manual states that the blocks have to be 45 minutes each in order to get the entire lesson in.

• Materials provide a sample schedule for a 9–3 school day. The schedule includes time for Shared Reading, ELA, and Differentiated Instruction as well as math, a daily special, and either social studies or science.

• In the Bookworms K-1 Teacher Manual, Planning for Success, the materials provide various flexible schedules for schools with fewer days or planned interruptions. These schedules can reduce the curriculum by either 10 or 20 days, though the impact on students’ mastery of the standards is not addressed.

Suggested implementation schedules cannot be reasonably completed in the time allotted. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Shared Reading and ELA instructional blocks include 180 days of lessons. This cannot be reasonably completed in a school year, as the implementation schedule does not factor in interruptions to instruction, such as early release days, special events, field trips, testing, and celebrations, or time for reteaching and reassessing learning.  

• The Bookworms K–1 Teacher Manual states, “Each of the 3 blocks of time that we planned for in Bookworms must be 45 minutes long. It will not be possible for teachers to shorten any of them. Leaders who schedule the day without keeping those minutes protected are likely to frustrate teachers working on something very new and scuttle the potential effects of the design on student achievement.”

• The Shared Reading Lesson Plans include seven components and the ELA Lesson Plans include nine components; however, materials do not provide a recommended time frame for each part of the lesson to help the teacher stay within the 45 minute lesson structure.

Optional materials and tasks do not distract from core learning. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• No evidence of optional materials found. 

Optional materials and tasks are meaningful and enhance core instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• No evidence of optional materials found.