Kindergarten - Gateway 1

The assessment opportunities in Bridge to Reading for letter recognition and letter formation partially meet the expectations for Indicator 1b. The materials include regular and systematic assessment opportunities aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Assessments address letter-name and letter-sound recognition and include tools to monitor accuracy and automaticity. The materials provide guidance for administering assessments and recording results. However, assessment information and instructional guidance specific to letter formation are limited, and support for using assessment data to inform next steps in letter formation is not clearly defined.

• Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of letter recognition, and letter formation. 

  • According to Assessments, Letter Name and Sounds Assessments, the Letter Sounds Assessment measures students’ ability to identify the sounds associated with letters taught in Units 1–2, Weeks 1–17. The assessment is administered multiple times across the year to establish a baseline and monitor progress. Recommended assessment windows include Weeks 1–4 and Weeks 9–17, as needed.

    • During the Letter Sounds Assessment, the teacher points to letters and asks students to identify the sound or sounds each letter represents. The teacher records responses using the Teacher Recording Sheet. For example, students may be asked to identify the sounds associated with letters such as s and m, producing responses such as /s/ or /z/ for s and /m/ for m.

    • The program also includes a Letter Names Assessment to measure students’ ability to identify letter names. This assessment is administered three times during the year to determine a baseline and measure progress. Recommended assessment windows include Weeks 1–4, Weeks 10–12, and Weeks 20–23. During the Letter Names Assessment, students identify the names of letters presented on the Student Assessment Page. The assessment includes both lowercase and uppercase letter recognition tasks. The teacher records student responses on the Teacher Recording Sheet as students identify letters such as m, s, p, a, and t in both lowercase and uppercase forms. 

  • In Unit 1, Week 2, Day 5, students complete the Week 2 Check-In in the student materials as part of a weekly progress monitoring routine. Students listen to a prompt and then record a corresponding letter. The task requires students to write the letter that represents the identified sound, offering evidence of their ability to produce letter forms in response to instruction. Students complete a weekly check-in on Day 5 of each week. 

  • In Unit 1, Week 2, Day 2, Exit Ticket 2,the teacher assesses understanding of the consonant m and short vowel a. Students are asked to circle the picture that begins with the sound /ă/ (apple or banana) and the picture that begins with the sound /m/ (pig or monkey), requiring them to identify initial sounds and connect them to known letter-sound correspondences. Students then write the uppercase and lowercase letters that represent the sounds /ă/ and /m/, demonstrating their ability to form letters accurately. Exit tickets for letter-recognition and letter formation occur weekly throughout Unit 1. 

• Assessment materials provide teachers and students with limited information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of letter recognition, and letter formation. 

  • According to Assessments, Letter Names Assessment, the teacher records correct responses using a Teacher Recording Sheet while students identify letters displayed on the Student Assessment Page. The teacher may administer the lowercase assessment only or both the lowercase and uppercase assessments. The recording sheets document the number of correct responses, for lowercase the total correct 28 letters which includes options letters a and g, and Uppercase letter recognition total out of 26 letters, providing the teacher with information about students’ current understanding of letter names and letter sounds.

  • Assessment materials provide information on students’ letter recognition, however, evidence of assessment information specific to students’ letter formation is limited.

• Materials support teachers with limited instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress towards mastery in letter recognition, and letter formation. 

  • According to Assessments, Letter Names and Sounds Assessments, optional teacher prompts guide how the teacher responds when students provide incorrect or partial responses. 

    • For example, if a student provides a letter name instead of the sound, the teacher prompts the student to identify the sound the letter represents.

    • If a student provides a word beginning with the sound, the teacher prompts the student to state the sound itself. 

    • Additional guidance supports instructional decisions during assessment administration. The teacher is instructed to note when students take longer than three seconds to respond to demonstrate developing automaticity. The materials state, “If a child scores 0/5 in the first row, you may choose to discontinue the assessment.”

    Materials include prompts and directions within assessment tasks to guide student responses in letter recognition; however, evidence of assessment-based guidance to support progression in letter formation is limited.

The phonemic awareness scope and sequence in Bridge to Reading partially meets the expectations for Indicator 1c. The materials provide a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction that progresses from phonological sensitivity tasks to phoneme-level isolation, blending, segmenting, and manipulation. Phonological sensitivity activities decrease over time as phoneme-level skills become more prominent, and phonemic awareness instruction aligns to the phonics scope and sequence to support application of skills. The materials also identify a progression of phonemic awareness skills and reference research-based frameworks that establish the importance of phonemic awareness within word recognition. However, the materials provide limited explanation of the research-based rationale for the sequence in which phonemic awareness skills are introduced, strengthened, and reviewed.

• Materials contain a limited, evidence-based explanation for the expected sequence for teaching phonemic awareness skills. 

  • According to the Guided by Principles, Grounded in Research, the materials reference the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), explaining that reading comprehension is the product of decoding and language comprehension, with phonemic awareness identified as a component of decoding. The materials also reference Scarborough’s Reading Rope (Scarborough, 2001), describing how word recognition skills develop over time through explicit practice and increasing automaticity. In this representation, phonological awareness is identified within the word recognition strand and includes skills such as syllables and phonemes. The materials also state that foundational skills are introduced, strengthened, and reviewed across grade levels as part of a developmentally appropriate progression. 

    • According to the  Foundational Learning Progression, the materials state that “the progression that follows shows how these skills are introduced, strengthened, and reviewed from kindergarten through third grade”: 

      • Rhyme

      • Phoneme Isolation: Initial, Final, Medial

      • Syllable Blending

      • Segmenting into Syllables

      • Add, Delete, Substitute Syllables

      • Instrasyllable Blending

      • Segmenting Onset-Rime

      • Blend Phonemes

      • Segment into Phonemes

      • Add, Delete, Substitute Phonemes

    The materials identify a progression of phonemic awareness skills and reference research-based frameworks that establish the importance of phonemic awareness within word recognition. However, the materials provide limited explanation of the research-based rationale for the sequence in which phonemic awareness skills are introduced, strengthened, and reviewed.

• Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction based on the expected hierarchy to build toward students’ immediate application of the skills. 

  • According to the Scope and Sequence, materials follow a consistent phoneme-level hierarchy.

    • Unit 1: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

      • Skills taught: Rhyme recognition, initial phoneme isolation, blending syllables, segmenting syllables, alphabet knowledge, language awareness, segmenting onset-rime

    • Unit 2: Phonological and Phonemic Awareness

      • Skills taught: Rhyme production, final phoneme isolation, blending phonemes, segmenting phonemes, alphabet knowledge, language awareness

    • Unit 3: Phonemic Awareness

      • Skills taught: Final phoneme isolation, blending phonemes, segmenting phonemes, adding initial phonemes, deleting initial phonemes, medial phoneme isolation

    • Unit 4: Phonemic Awareness

      • Skills taught: Medial phoneme isolation, blending phonemes, segmenting phonemes, adding initial blend, deleting initial blend, substituting initial phonemes 

    • Unit 5: Phonemic Awareness

      • Skills taught: Medial phoneme isolation, blending phonemes, segmenting phonemes, adding final phonemes, deleting final phonemes, substituting final phonemes 

• Materials attend to developing phonemic awareness skills and avoid spending excess time on phonological sensitivity tasks. 

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 2, Phonemic Awareness, 3 out of 4 of the target activities are focused on phonological sensitivity tasks. 

    • In the Initial Phoneme Isolation task, the teacher says a word and the students repeat the word back to the teacher and tell the teacher the first sound they hear. For example, the teacher says the word pink. The students then repeat the word pink and isolate the initial phoneme, /p/. This repeats for other color words red, teal, gold, and violet. 

    • In the Segmenting into Syllables task, the teacher says a word and the students repeat the word back to the teacher. Then, the students segment the word into syllables and tell the teacher how many syllables they hear. For example, the teacher says the word insect. The students repeat the word insect and segment that word into two syllables (in - sect). 

  • In Unit 2, Week 9, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, 3 out of 4 of the target activities are focused on building phonemic awareness skills.

    • In the Rhyme Production task, the teacher says a “silly or nonsense word” and students produce a real word that rhymes with it. For example, the teacher says the word zun. The students could then produce the real word one. 

    • In the Blending Phonemes with Elkonin Boxes task, the teacher models using Elkonin Boxes by saying, “I have two squares to represent two sounds.” The teacher touches the box for each sound and then blends the sounds into aword. The students then repeat. This begins with the word see (/s/ /ē/), and continues for the words am, up, fee, and at. 

  • In Unit 3, Week 19, Day 2, Phonemic Awareness, all of the target activities are focused on building phonemic awareness skills.

    • In the Blending Phonemes task, the teacher says three sounds. The students then blend the sounds to say the whole letter. The teacher uses the Blending Hand Motion to support the blending task. The teacher begins by saying the sounds /ch/ /ā/ /s/ and students say the word chase. This continues for the following phonemes and words:

      • /t/ /ǐ/ /p/; tip

      • /l/ /ā/ /s/; lace

      • /ch/ /ě/ /s/; chess

      • /n/ /ī/ /t/; night 

      • /ch/ ŏ/ /p/; chop

    Although daily phonemic awareness activities at the beginning of the year include phonological sensitivity tasks, these decrease over time and are not present by Unit 3.

• Materials contain a phonemic awareness sequence of instruction and practice aligned to the phonics scope and sequence. 

  • In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, the materials contain a phonemic awareness activity aligned to the phonics scope and sequence. In one of the tasks, the teacher says two words. The students then say the words back to the teacher and tell the teacher the first sound they hear in both of the words. The teacher begins with nice and need, which both begin with the sound /n/. Two of the word pairs the teacher says–is and in, as well as it and if–begin with the initial sound /ǐ/. This phonemic awareness practice aligns with the phonics scope and sequence which states that should “articulate the short vowel sound /ǐ/.”

  • In Unit 3, Week 20, Day 3, Phonemic Awareness, the materials contain a phonemic awareness activity aligned to the phonics scope and sequence. In one of the tasks, the teacher says a word and has the students repeat the word back while “chopping” the word into the three sounds they hear in the word using the Segmenting Hand Motion routine. For example, the teacher says the word then. The students then repeat the word back to the teacher and “chop” the word into /th/ /ě/ /n/. One other word used in this activity, that, aligns a phonemic awareness activity with the phonics focus for the day that students “[r]ead and spell words with initial and final consonant digraph th.”

The phonemic awareness instruction in Bridge to Reading partially meets the expectations for Indicator 1d. The materials include systematic, explicit instruction in phonemic awareness through consistent teacher-led routines that focus on isolating, blending, segmenting, and manipulating phonemes. Lessons include repeated teacher modeling, structured examples, and opportunities for guided student practice that reinforce phoneme-level skills across the year. Materials also provide some teacher guidance for corrective feedback, including a framework for identifying student errors and instructional guidance for specific phonemic awareness skills. However, lesson-specific corrective feedback and scaffolded responses to student errors are limited across daily phonemic awareness instruction.

Note: This indicator is analyzed at the lesson level to examine the instructional progression within and across lessons. Repeated references to a single week or lesson reflect the structured sequence of explicit instruction and guided practice, which is representative of how the materials support this skill throughout the year. 

• Materials include systematic, explicit instruction in sounds (phonemes). 

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, Target: Initial Phoneme Isolation, the teacher states, “The first sound comes at the beginning of a word,” and provides directions for the task: “I will say a word. Say the word back to me and tell me the first sound you hear.” The teacher models the expected response using a structured example: when the teacher says the word two, students repeat the word and identify the initial sound /t/. The routine continues with guided practice, as the teacher directs students to “listen for the first sound in number words,” followed by student-led practice in which students identify shared initial sounds across words. 

  • In Unit 2, Week 9, Day 2, Phonemic Awareness, Target: Blending Phonemes with Elkonin Boxes, the teacher states, “I will touch each box and say a sound. You will say the sounds back to me and blend them into one word.” The teacher then models blending by saying individual sounds while touching each box and guiding students to blend the sounds into a whole word. Students practice blending phonemes to form words using examples such as /ŭ/ and /v/ to form of and /ă/ and /t/ to form at. The routine continues as the teacher states, “I touch each letter, we will say the sounds and blend them together to read the whole word.”

• Materials provide the teacher with examples for instruction in sounds (phonemes). 

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, Target: Initial Phoneme Isolation, the lesson includes teacher-provided examples of words used to model initial phoneme isolation. For example, the teacher uses the word two and demonstrates how students repeat the word and identify the initial sound /t/. The materials also include additional examples for practice, such as listening for the first sound in number words. 

  • In Unit 2, Week 9, Day 2, Phonemic Awareness, Target: Blending Phonemes with Elkonin Boxes, the lesson includes multiple word examples for blending practice using two phonemes. Examples include blending /ŭ/ and /v/ to form of, /s/ and /āy/ to form say. Additional examples are provided for continued practice, such as blending /ă/ and /s/ to form as. 

• Materials include some teacher guidance for corrective feedback when needed for students. 

  • According to the Phonemic Awareness Corrective Feedback guide, the materials provide teacher guidance for corrective feedback when students need additional support with phonemic awareness skills. Teachers identify the skill requiring support and the type of error and use the corresponding instructional guidance to provide corrective feedback. The guide includes corrective feedback for the following skills: rhyme, phoneme isolation, blending, segmenting, and phoneme manipulation.

    • For phoneme isolation, when a student needs support identifying an initial phoneme, the teacher says the word, points to the first Elkonin box or places a counter in the box, and models isolating the initial sound. For example, with the word vet, the teacher models vet, /v/, and students repeat the word and initial sound. The teacher can also model the articulatory features of the sound.

    • For segmenting, when a student omits a phoneme, the teacher identifies the number of phonemes and models separating each sound before students repeat. For example, with the word clap, the teacher explains that the word contains four sounds, models /c/ /l/ /ă/ /p/, and emphasizes that each consonant sound in the blend is segmented separately. The teacher can also use manipulatives to represent each phoneme.

  • According to the Unit 1, Week 3 Planner and Support Guide, Reinforce, Differentiated Support. 

    • For students at the Early/Intermediate level, the teacher provides additional articulation practice, uses a mirror to support sound production, and isolates the sound in words. 

    • For students at the Intermediate/Advanced level, the teacher confirms correct articulation, provides additional practice isolating /ĭ/, and progresses to having students distinguish between vowel sounds such as /ĭ/ and /ă/. The materials provide similar support for /v/, directing the teacher to provide additional articulation and isolation practice and use the hand motion for isolating final sounds.

    The materials provide some teacher guidance for corrective feedback through the Phonemic Awareness Corrective Feedback guide and select prompts within lessons. The guide provides a framework for identifying student errors and instructional guidance for specific phonemic awareness skills. However, lesson-specific corrective feedback and scaffolded responses to student errors are limited across daily phonemic awareness instruction.

The assessment opportunities for phonemic awareness in Bridge to Reading partially meet the expectations for Indicator 1f. Materials provide a variety of assessment opportunities across the year, including teacher observations, required Weekly Check-Ins, unit assessments, and optional individual phonemic awareness assessments. Assessment materials provide the teacher with information about students’ current phonemic awareness skill levels through proficiency ranges, individual response records, and progress-monitoring tools. Materials also provide some guidance for instructional next steps, including intervention planning and error-specific corrective feedback. However, guidance for connecting specific assessment results to targeted instructional responses remains broad and largely dependent on teacher interpretation. The materials do not consistently connect specific assessment outcomes to corresponding reteach routines or intervention pathways.

• Materials provide a variety of assessment opportunities throughout the year (e.g., at least three times per year or aligned to key instructional benchmarks) to monitor student progress in phonemic awareness. Assessment types may include oral tasks, encoding assessments, decoding activities requiring phoneme manipulation, and teacher observations. 

  • In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 5, Week 3 Check-In, an assessment is administered as a whole-class activity. The teacher begins by saying the names of the pictures that students see on a page of their READ Books. After saying the names of the picture, the teacher asks students to circle the picture that begins with a particular sound that they say. For example, on the first item, students have a picture of a net and a map in front of them. After saying the name of the pictures, the teacher instructs the students to “circle the picture whose name begins with the sound /n/.” This continues with three more picture pairs and phonemes:

    • The next item has illustrations of a bug and a fox. The student is instructed to circle the picture whose name begins with the sound /f/.

    • The next item has illustrations of a van and a cat. The student is instructed to circle the picture whose name begins with the sound /v/.

    • The final item has illustrations of an inchworm and a dog. The student is instructed to circle the picture whose name begins with the sound /ĭ/.

  • In the Assessing Phonemic Awareness & Phonics Guide, the materials state that, in Kindergarten, “assessment of phonemic awareness tasks can take place through teacher observation during whole group lessons, and using individual assessments to monitor student progress.” Assessments of phonemic awareness measure a student’s ability to “blend and segment two, three, and four or more phonemes in spoken words.” The materials provide three optional individual phonemic awareness assessments: Form A, Form B, and Form C. Form A can be used to gather baseline data, while Forms B and C can be used for ongoing data collection throughout the year.

    • For example, in Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness Assessment Form A, Blending Phonemes into spoken words subtests, the teacher is directed to say the sounds in a word. After the teacher says the sounds, the student should blend the word together and state what the word is. The teacher begins by saying the sounds /s/ and /ē/, and says, “When I blend those 2 sounds together…the word is see.” After that example, the student is responsible for providing the correct word that is formed from blending the sounds. The words that the student should produce are made of two to three phonemes and include the words my, no, odd, sat, and mop. 

  • In the Unit 3, Unit 4, and Unit 5 Encoding Assessments, the materials provide assessment opportunities for students to demonstrate phoneme segmentation and blending. Students repeat a spoken word and segment it into the individual phonemes they hear, then blend the phonemes to produce the whole word. For example, in the Unit 3 Assessment, students segment bath as /b/ /ă/ /th/ and blend the phonemes to produce bath. In the Unit 4 Assessment, students segment clip as /c/ /l/ /ĭ/ /p/ and blend the phonemes to produce clip. In the Unit 5 Assessment, students segment sky as /s/ /k/ /ī/ and blend the phonemes to produce sky.

• Assessment materials provide teachers-and, when appropriate, caregiver-with clear information about student’s current skill levels in phonemic awareness. 

  • According to the Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness Assessment Form A, each subtest is scored separately. A student is considered proficient if they correctly complete all tasks on a given section of the test, such as Onset Fluence: Initial Phoneme Isolation, Blending Phonemes into words, Final Phoneme Isolation, Segmenting words into phonemes, Isolating Medial Sounds in words, Adding initial phonemes, Deleting initial phonemes, and Substituting initial phonemes. A student is considered developing if they correctly complete 3-4 tasks on a given section. A student is considered beginning if they correctly complete 0-2 tasks on a given section. The teacher can record each student’s individual response on the form and transfer the student’s results into the digital assessment tool. 

    • For example, in the Deleting Initial Phonemes section on Assessment Form A, there is space to record a student’s response to the task of deleting the first sound in a word. The first item has a column that lists the word nod, another column instructs the teacher to tell the student to say what is left after removing the initial /n/ sound, a column for the correct response, and a column that provides space for the teacher to record the student’s response. There are five items on this subtest and the teacher has space to record the student’s response to each item as well as the total results. The teacher also has space on this subtest form to check if the student responds to the task with the whole word or if the student responds after four seconds. 

• Materials support to teachers with some instructional suggestions or next steps based on assessment results to support student progress toward mastery. 

  • According to the Kindergarten Phonemic Awareness Assessment Form A, “students who score in the ‘Beginning’ range may need additional intervention with targeted skills.” For students at the beginning range, the materials suggest that the teacher uses the “Phonological Awareness assessment for Kindergarten” which assesses “students with larger units of language (phonological awareness).” The materials also state that there are additional progress monitoring assessments, such as Weekly Check Ins, “available to monitor student progress with specific skills.” 

  • According to the Heggerty Support, Phonemic Awareness, Planning Intervention video, the teacher is encouraged to use the results of phonemic awareness instruction, in addition to anecdotal and observational evidence, to plan intervention in phonemic awareness for students who may need additional support. The teacher is not advised to reteach a full phonemic awareness lesson. Instead, they should target 1-2 phonemic awareness tasks where a student needs to develop further, beginning with more simple phonemic awareness tasks, such as isolating phonemes, before moving to more complex phonemic awareness tasks. To find the corresponding lessons for the specific skills a teacher needs to teach, the teacher is advised to use the index or the scope and sequence in their teacher materials. When teaching these skills in a small group setting, the teacher is advised to spend no more than 5 minutes on phonemic awareness skills before following up with explicit phonics instruction. 

  • According to the Phonemic Awareness Corrective Feedback guide, teachers identify the phonemic awareness skill requiring support and the type of error a student demonstrates and use the corresponding instructional guidance to provide additional support. 

    • For example, when a student needs support with initial phoneme isolation, the teacher models the word and initial sound using an Elkonin box or counter and has the student repeat the word and sound. 

    • When a student omits a phoneme during segmenting, the teacher identifies the number of phonemes, models separating each sound, and can use manipulatives to represent the individual phonemes before the student repeats the task.

    Materials include some guidance to support instructional next steps based on assessment results, including proficiency ranges, identification of strengths and needs, intervention planning, progress-monitoring assessments, and error-specific corrective feedback. However, guidance for connecting specific assessment results to targeted instructional responses remains broad and largely dependent on teacher interpretation. The materials provide instructional guidance for identified phonemic awareness errors, but do not consistently connect specific assessment outcomes to corresponding reteach routines or intervention pathways.

The phonics scope and sequence in Bridge to Reading partially meets the expectations for Indicator 1g. Materials provide a generally cohesive and intentional sequence of phonics instruction that progresses from simpler to more complex skills and emphasizes high-utility sound-spelling patterns that support early word reading. Instruction begins with short vowel patterns in VC and CVC words and progresses to consonant digraphs, double consonants, consonant blends, common spelling patterns, and long vowel patterns. Opportunities for review and application are embedded across units to support cumulative development of phonics skills. However, while materials reference established research frameworks related to reading development and identify phonics as an important component of decoding, they provide limited explanation of the evidence-based rationale for the specific order in which phonics skills are introduced and advanced across the program.

• Materials contain a limited, evidence-based explanation for the expected sequence for teaching phonics skills. 

  • According to the Introduction and Overview, materials provide a general research-based explanation for reading development through references to the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) and Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001). These frameworks identify decoding, including phonics, as a critical component of reading comprehension and describe how word recognition develops alongside language comprehension through increasingly automatic and strategic processes. Materials further describe Bridge to Reading as a comprehensive approach to foundational literacy in which phonics is one of several interconnected components, including phonemic awareness, morphology, fluency, oral language, and communication. The program states that skills are introduced, strengthened, and reviewed across grades to support students in becoming fluent readers.

    Materials include a general research-based explanation for reading development; however, the explanation of the phonics sequence is limited. While materials reference established frameworks that identify phonics as a component of decoding, they do not clearly articulate the rationale for the specific order in which phonics skills are taught or how the sequence supports progression from simpler to more complex skills.

• Materials generally provide a cohesive, intentional phonics sequence that progresses from simple to more complex skills and includes ample opportunities to apply skills through decoding in connected text. 

  • According to the Scope and Sequence, materials outline the progression of phonics concepts across Books 2–4, beginning in Unit 2 with foundational word-level patterns and continuing through increasingly complex phonics patterns in subsequent units and weeks. 

    • Book 2 – Unit 2: VC and CVC Words with Short Vowels (Weeks 9–17)

      • Week 9: m, s, p, short a

      • Week 10: t, n, short a

      • Week 11: b, l, f, short i

      • Week 12: h, r, short i

      • Week 13: d, g, c, short o

      • Week 14: j, k, short o

      • Week 15: v, w, x, y, z, short e

      • Week 16: qu, short u, y as a vowel

      • Week 17: Review with inflectional endings -s and -es

    • Book 3 – Unit 3: Consonant Digraphs and Double Consonants (Weeks 18–24)

      • Week 18: Initial and final digraph sh

      • Week 19: Initial digraphs wh, ch; final digraph ch

      • Week 20: Initial digraph th (voiced, voiceless); final digraph th (voiceless)

      • Week 21: Final digraph -ck

      • Week 22: Double consonants -ff, -ss, -zz

      • Week 23: Double consonant -ll

      • Week 24: Review with inflectional endings -s and -es with double consonants and digraphs

    • Book 4 – Unit 4: Consonant Blends and Sounds of -ng/-nk (Weeks 25–28)

      • Week 25: l blends

      • Week 26: r blends

      • Week 27: s blends

      • Week 28: Sounds of -ng and -nk

    • Book 4 – Unit 5: Long Vowels and CV and VCe Words (Weeks 29–34)

      • Week 29: VCe long vowel a

      • Week 30: VCe long vowel i

      • Week 31: VCe long vowel o

      • Week 32: VCe long vowels e and u

      • Week 33: Soft c and soft g

      • Week 34: Review

• Phonics instruction is based on high utility patterns and/or specific phonics generalizations. 

  • According to the Scope and Sequence, phonics instruction focuses on high-utility sound-spelling patterns that support early word reading. 

    • Materials begin with short vowel patterns in VC and CVC words and systematically introduce common consonants and high-frequency word structures. 

    • Instruction progresses to include frequently occurring phonics patterns such as consonant digraphs (sh, ch, th, wh), double consonants (-ff, -ss, -zz, -ll), and consonant blends (l-, r-, and s-blends). 

    • Materials also introduce common spelling patterns such as final -ck and nasal endings (-ng, -nk), which appear frequently in early reading.

    • Later instruction includes long vowel patterns using VCe structures and introduces soft c and soft g, which are common phonics generalizations in English. Opportunities for review are embedded within and across units, including application of inflectional endings (-s, -es) with previously taught phonics patterns.

The phonics instruction in Bridge to Reading partially meets the expectations for Indicator 1j. Materials provide systematic and explicit teacher modeling of newly taught phonics patterns through consistent blending, segmenting, spelling, and word chaining routines. Daily lessons guide teachers to model sound-by-sound analysis, phoneme-grapheme correspondence, blending, segmentation, and encoding routines before students practice the same routines independently or with support. Materials also include structured dictation aligned to newly taught and previously taught phonics patterns, allowing students to apply phonics learning through word- and sentence-level encoding practice. In addition, lessons include structured blending and segmenting routines that provide repeated opportunities for students to manipulate and apply taught phonics patterns through guided practice. However, teacher guidance for corrective feedback is inconsistent and often limited to brief prompts, scaffolds, or behavioral reminders rather than explicit corrective routines that support teachers in identifying student misconceptions and providing instructional next steps toward mastery.

Note: This indicator is analyzed at the lesson level to examine the instructional progression within and across lessons. Repeated references to a single week or lesson reflect the structured sequence of explicit instruction and guided practice, which is representative of how the materials support this skill throughout the year. 

• Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of newly taught phonics patterns. 

  • In Unit 2, Week 10, Day 2, Phonics, the materials provide explicit instructions for teacher modeling of VC and CVC words with the short /ă/ sound. The teacher begins by reminding students that they have reviewed the letters a, t, n, m, p,and s and explains that they will continue reviewing those letters while reading and spelling words with the /ă/ sound. The teacher uses Word Construction Cards to spell the word sat and leads students through the Reading Routine, in which students say the sounds, slowly blend the sounds, and then read the word. The teacher models this process by segmenting the word sat and explicitly identifying the phoneme-grapheme correspondences, stating, “The letter s is a consonant that stands for the sound /s/. The letter a is a vowel that stands for the short a sound /ă/. The letter t is a consonant that stands for the sound /t/.” The teacher then repeats the modeling routine with the word Tam using the same instructional sequence.

    While the lesson provides explicit and repeated teacher modeling routines, the word Tam may not consistently reflect a clear example of the isolated short /ă/ vowel sound due to vowel variation before nasal consonants.

  • In Unit 3, Week 24, Day 1, Phonics, the materials provide explicit instructions for teacher modeling of the phonics concept of the inflectional ending -s that says /s/ or /z/. The teacher begins by reminding students that an “ending is a letter or letters that are added to the end of a word to change the word’s meaning.” The teacher elaborates to explain that the inflectional -s can be added to a noun to make it plural or a verb to make the word represent an action that is happening right now. The teacher displays a word sum to show how the ending is added to the base word “to create a new word with a different meaning.” The teacher first shows the word sum “check + -s → checks.” The teacher then explains, “in the word check, the ending -s stands for the sound /s/…the ending -s changes the meaning…by making checks plural.” The teacher repeats this process with the word sum “shell + -s → shells.”

• Lessons include blending and segmenting practice using structured, consistent blending routines with teacher modeling. 

  • In Unit 2, Week 10, Day 2, Phonics, the lesson includes blending practice with structured routines and teacher modeling through word chaining activities. The teacher guides students in using Word Construction Cards and Spell Tiles to construct and manipulate words with the short /ă/ sound. The teacher begins by constructing the word pan and guides students to use the Reading Routine to say the individual sounds and slowly blend the sounds together to read the word. The teacher then directs students to substitute the initial consonant by changing the letter p to the letter m and asks, “What word do you have now?” Students independently blend the sounds to read the word man. The teacher continues the word chain by changing the letter m to the letter t, prompting students to blend the sounds to read the word tan. The routine provides repeated opportunities for students to apply blending and phoneme substitution within a consistent instructional structure.

    While the lesson includes explicit blending and segmenting routines, the words pan, man, and tan may not consistently reflect isolated productions of the short /ă/ vowel sound due to vowel variation before nasal consonants.

  • In Unit 3, Week 24, Day 2, Phonics, the lesson includes segmenting practice with structured routines and teacher modeling of words with inflectional endings -es. The teacher begins by modeling the Spelling Routine with the word bunches. The teacher leads students through a recitation of the routine where they say the word, then say each sound before matching the correct grapheme to the phoneme. The teacher says, “listen to each sound in bunch: /b/ /ŭ/ /n/ /ch/. I hear four sounds, so I will draw four lines. Next, I will match each sound to the letter s that stands for it, placing the Spell Tile on the matching line.” The teacher connects each phoneme to the appropriate grapheme before changing bunch to bunches. The teacher says, “This word ends with the sound /ch/, so I need to add the ending -es.” The teacher concludes by saying the word bunch is a noun, so “the word bunches means more than one bunch.” The teacher repeats this modeling with the word tosses before having students continue with guided practice on the words lunches, mashes, and fizzes. 

• Lessons include dictation of words and sentences using the newly taught phonics pattern(s). 

  •  In Unit 3, Week 19, Day 3, Review, students engage in dictation practice using previously taught phonics patterns. Using whiteboards or Spell Tiles, students spell words such as dug and fixes and sentences such as The big dog dug in the wet mud., and Zeb fixes my red rug., applying taught phonics patterns through teacher-directed encoding practice.

  • In Unit 5, Week 29, Day 1, students engage in teacher-directed dictation practice using newly taught long vowel silent e pattern. Using Spell Tiles, students segment phonemes and encode words such as mad, made, pal, and pale while connecting sounds to corresponding graphemes. The teacher models how adding a final silent e changes the vowel sound from short to long and guides students to reread words to confirm accuracy. Students then extend the activity by writing sentences using the target words pal and pale, applying the taught phonics pattern in connected writing.

• Materials include limited teacher guidance for corrective feedback when needed for students. 

  • In Unit 2, Week 10, Day 4, Corrective Feedback, the materials state If students need support remaining engaged during discussion, the materials direct the teacher to remind students of the importance of active listening by stating, “Before you share your ideas, listen carefully to your classmates. This helps everyone learn from each other.” The guidance focuses on behavioral redirection and participation expectations rather than providing corrective instructional feedback tied to student phonics errors or misconceptions.

  • In Unit 3, Week 24, Day 1, Phonics, the materials include teacher guidance for corrective feedback. If a student needs support reading words with the inflectional ending -s, the materials direct the teacher to prompt the student to cover the ending with their finger and “read the base word first, before attaching the ending to the word.”

    Materials include teacher guidance for corrective feedback during phonics instruction; however, the guidance is often limited to brief prompts, scaffolds, or behavioral reminders rather than explicit corrective routines that support the teacher in identifying student misconceptions and providing instructional next steps toward mastery.

The decodable texts and instructional routines in Bridge to Reading partially meet the expectations for Indicator 1m. Decodable texts align to taught phonics patterns and provide opportunities for students to apply phonics knowledge in connected text through READ Books and differentiated Heggerty Library resources. Students apply newly taught and previously learned sound-spelling patterns through word-, sentence-, and connected-text reading. Lessons also provide opportunities for rereading through multiple reading formats. However, plans for repeated readings of decodable texts provide limited guidance for systematically using rereading to reinforce accuracy, automaticity, and confidence.

Note: This indicator is analyzed at the lesson level to examine the instructional progression within and across lessons. Repeated references to a single week or lesson reflect the structured sequence of explicit instruction and guided practice, which is representative of how the materials support this skill throughout the year.

• Decodable texts reflect grade-level phonics patterns aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.

  • In Unit 2, Week 9, Day 4, Phonics and Fluency, READ Book, students read the decodable text The Zoo Map aligned to the weekly phonics focus of VC and CVC words with short vowel a and the consonants m, p, and s. Before reading, the teacher models identifying and decoding words with the target phonics patterns from the text. Students then read sentences such as “I am Pam,” “Sam had a zoo map,” and “The map has a cat,” applying the weekly phonics patterns in connected decodable text.

    • According to the Scope and Sequence and the Heggerty Library resources, in Unit 2, Week 9, students read the decodable text Tap, Tap, Tap! aligned to the phonics focus of VC and CVC words with short vowel a and the consonants m, p, and s. Prior to reading, students engage in blending practice with words such as at, map, an, and pan, applying sound-by-sound decoding with the target short vowel pattern. During reading, students encounter connected text including “Sam and I tap,” which reinforces the weekly phonics focus through repeated use of short vowel VC and CVC patterns. 

  • In Unit 5, Week 34, Day 4, You Do, students read the READ Book passage Spot Will Not Do That aligned to the phonics focus of words with learned spelling patterns. Prior to reading, the teacher previews the passage and activates background knowledge through prediction and discussion. Students then independently read the passage and apply previously taught phonics patterns in connected text, including short vowels, consonant blends, and other previously learned spelling patterns in words such as spot, black, shake, grins, and will. The passage provides opportunities for students to reread connected text while the teacher observes students’ application of phonics patterns and provides differentiation and corrective feedback as needed.

    • According to the Scope and Sequence and Heggerty Library resources, in Unit 5, Week 34, students read the decodable text Lake Hills Drive, which aligns to the phonics focus of CVCe words with long vowel sounds. Prior to reading, students practice decoding and comparing short vowel and long vowel words with final silent e through blending lines and word pairs such as tub/tube, rat/rate, slid/slide, slop/slope, slim/slime, and rip/ripe. Students apply these phonics patterns while reading connected sentences including “Life is nice on Lake Hills Drive” and “I like to take a hike by the lake.” The lesson provides repeated opportunities for students to apply previously taught long vowel and CVC spelling patterns in connected decodable text while rereading words and sentences to build fluency.

    According to the Teacher Resource Book, Heggerty Library Overview, the Heggerty Library provides differentiated connected-text practice that may reinforce previously taught patterns, practice weekly skills, or preview upcoming concepts based on student need.

• Lessons include limited detailed plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to reinforce accuracy, automaticity, and confidence. 

  • According to the Scope and Sequence and the Heggerty Library resources, in Unit 2, Week 9, students engage in rereading of decodable words and sentences aligned to the short vowel a phonics focus. Students read blending lines with words such as at, map, an, pan, tap, nap, am, and Sam, applying sound-by-sound decoding and blending routines. Students are then directed to “go back to the first word and read the words again” and reread the sentence “Sam and I tap.” During reading of the decodable text Tap, Tap, Tap!, the lesson provides teacher choice for rereading through “Echo read, Choral read, Partner read, [or] Independent read.” Students are also told to “reread the words and the sentence until everyone has finished.” Teacher guidance beyond these prompts is limited to “Teacher observes and provides modeling and feedback as necessary.”

  • According to the Scope and Sequence and Heggerty Library resources, in Unit 5, Week 34, students engage in rereading of words, sentences, and connected text aligned to the phonics focus of CVCe words with long vowel sounds. Students reread word pairs such as tub/tube and rat/rate after first decoding them sound-by-sound. Students are then directed to “go back to the beginning and read each word again” and “try to read the words at a faster rate, without touching and saying each sound.” Students also reread sentences including “Life is nice on Lake Hills Drive” and “I like to take a hike by the lake.” During reading of the decodable text Lake Hills Drive, the lesson provides teacher choice through “Echo read, Choral read, Partner read, [or] Independent read” and directs students to “continue to read the words and sentences fluently until everyone in our group is done.” Additional guidance is limited to “Teacher observes, providing error correction and feedback.”

    Materials provide connected-text opportunities aligned to phonics instruction through the READ Books and differentiated Heggerty Library resources. However, plans for repeated readings of decodable texts provide limited guidance for systematically using rereading to reinforce accuracy, automaticity, and confidence.

• Reading practice occurs in decodable texts aligned to the taught phonics patterns and reflects an absence of predictable texts. Use of decodable texts decreases over time as students demonstrate decoding proficiency and transition into increasingly complex texts. 

  • According to the Scope and Sequence and the Heggerty Library Resources, in Unit 2, Week 9, students engage in reading practice using decodable text that aligns to the taught phonics patterns and reflects controlled, decodable language rather than predictable text structures. The text Tap, Tap, Tap! includes words that are primarily composed of previously taught sound-spelling patterns, requiring students to apply decoding skills rather than relying on predictable text structures. The lesson sequence integrates blending lines and decodable text reading, demonstrating a structured approach to early decoding practice. 

  • According to the Scope and Sequence and Heggerty Library resources, in Unit 5, Week 34, students read the decodable text Life on Lake Hills Drive, which reflects controlled, decodable language aligned to taught phonics patterns. The text includes words that primarily follow previously taught sound-spelling patterns, requiring students to apply decoding skills rather than rely on predictable text structures. Practice progresses from word-level decoding to sentence-level and connected text reading, supporting application of phonics knowledge. Decodable texts are used to reinforce both newly taught and previously learned patterns, supporting students as they build decoding proficiency and read with increasing fluency and independence.

    Decodable texts are used consistently across units to provide opportunities for students to apply phonics knowledge in connected text as the range and complexity of patterns increase from Units 1-5.

The phonics assessment opportunities in Bridge to Reading partially meet the expectations for Indicator 1n. Materials regularly and systematically assess students’ mastery of taught phonics skills through middle-of-year and end-of-year summative phonics assessments, unit assessments, Exit Tickets, and Week Check-Ins administered across the year. Assessment materials provide the teacher with guidance for administration, scoring tools, proficiency thresholds, and structured methods for recording and analyzing student performance in decoding and encoding phonics skills. Materials also include instructional guidance and analysis tools to support assessment-based instructional next steps during benchmark and unit assessments. However, more frequent formative assessments provide less structured information about students’ phonics understanding and include limited instructional follow-up guidance tied to student performance.

• Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence in phonics. 

  • According to Assessments, Phonics Benchmarks, the Bridge to Reading benchmark assessments of phonics skills are designed to be administered two times per year in Kindergarten. These assessments occur at the middle of the year (MOY) and at the end of the year (EOY). These assessments also include a whole-class component, which includes decoding and encoding assessments, and an individual component, which includes a decoding assessment. 

    • For example, in the MOY Phonics Assessment, the teacher asks the students to spell words. The teacher begins the assessment by telling students that the teacher will say a word, use it in a sentence, and then say the word again. The student is instructed to “spell each word as best as you can, using everything you know about letters, sounds, and spelling patterns.” The teacher also informs the students that some words might “be tricky because we haven’t learned all of the spelling patterns yet” but that the purpose of the assessment is to help the teacher “figure out what to teach you next.” The teacher then models the assessment with the word dog and gives students the opportunity to practice with the word ten. In both the practice and the modeling opportunity, the teacher guides students through identifying the number of sounds in the word, then writing the letters that stand for each sound, before finally blending the sounds together to check their work. Some of the words that students are asked to spell include at, in, leg, job, fun, bat, and kit, as aligned to scope and sequence. 

  • In the Unit 3 Assessment, the materials provide an assessment opportunity for students to demonstrate their progress toward mastery in decoding and encoding words with consonant blends, glued sounds, and double consonant endings, as well as high-frequency, irregular words and sentences. The assessment has two parts. The first part is a whole-group, paper-based assessment that includes both decoding and encoding opportunities. The second part is an individual word reading assessment. For example, in Part 2, students are asked to read a list of words. The teacher tells the students that they will “use what you have learned about letters, sounds, and spelling patterns to read the words that you see. This will give me a better idea of what you already know and what we can continue to work on together. You can use your reading routine strategy to help you.” The teacher demonstrates by reading the word pass, and the student has a practice opportunity with the word shop. The student then has five words that follow previously taught phonics patterns to read (thud, jazz, wishes, dolls, shin, and chess). 

  • In Unit 1, Week 9, Day 2, students complete Exit Ticket 9: Words with Short a, /ă/ to demonstrate progress toward phonics skill development. The assessment requires students to apply phonics knowledge both in and out of context by selecting the correct word to match a picture, including map and Pam, and spelling words such as has and sap. Exit Tickets are embedded within Day 2 lessons across weekly units, providing regular and systematic opportunities for students to demonstrate phonics progress over the course of the year.

  • In Unit 4, Week 25, Day 5, students complete the Week 25 Check-In to demonstrate phonics skill development through reading and writing tasks. Students read sets of words and identify target words such as cluck, slam, and how. Students then spell dictated words including flock, clap, slush, and help and write the dictated sentence “Now I will play with blocks.” The assessment includes opportunities for students to apply phonics knowledge in isolated word reading, spelling, and sentence-level writing. Week Check-Ins are embedded within Day 5 lessons across weekly units,

    The materials provide assessment opportunities in phonics through MOY and EOY phonics benchmark assessments, unit assessments in Units 2 through 5, and weekly checks that are inclusive of phonics skills beginning in Unit 2, Week 9. 

• Assessment materials provide teachers and students with some information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonics. 

  • According to the MOY Phonics Assessment, the teacher can record an individual student’s results on a Student Tracking Sheet. For example, in the tracking sheet for the Encoding Assessment, the teacher can mark which words a student spelled correctly and which patterns that word follows. For example, the teacher can note if a student spelled the word leg correctly and see how well a student is developing in their ability to spell CVC words with short vowel sounds and three phonemes. 

  • According to the Individual Student Assessment Report on the digital platform, the teacher can determine how a student is progressing towards mastery in phonics with each benchmark assessment. For example, the benchmark assessments test students on the following patterns: VC, CVC, CCVC/CVCC-Digraph, CCVC (Initial Blend), and CVCe. The results of a student’s performance on the benchmark can then be categorized as at the Beginning Threshold, Developing Threshold, and Proficient Threshold for each pattern. For example, on the MOY Phonics Assessment, a student is considered at the Beginning Threshold for the CCVC (Initial Blend) pattern if they score 60% or less on those items. A student is considered at the Proficient Threshold for the CVC pattern if they score 80% and above on those items. 

  • According to the Unit 3 Assessment, the teacher can record an individual student’s results on the Assessment Scoring Guide. For example, in the scoring guide for Part 2, the teacher can mark which words a student read correctly and make any notes about the student’s performance. The Scoring Guide asks teachers to “highlight or circle areas of misrepresentation of letter-sound correspondence” and to make any observations about a student’s performance that related to the student’s ability to represent vowel and consonant sounds accurately. A student is considered at the beginning level if they score at or below 60% on the Unit 4 assessment. A student is at the developing level if they score between 61% and 79% on this assessment, and they are considered at the proficient level if they score 80% and above.  

    Assessment guidance described for the Unit 3 Assessment is similarly provided across Unit 2–5 Assessments and the MOY and EOY Phonics Assessments. Benchmark assessments include guidance to support teachers in identifying students’ phonics strengths and needs. However, more frequent formative assessments, such as Exit Tickets and Week Check-Ins, provide less structured information about students’ current phonics understanding.

• Materials support teachers with some instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in phonics. 

  • According to the Assessment Analysis Guidance Sheet for the MOY Phonics Assessment, students “who have not demonstrated proficiency with encoding words containing previously taught concepts…will benefit from continued instruction to support mastery.” For example, if students are demonstrating an encoding error where they have letter-sound misrepresentation (e.g. spelling sit instead of set), the materials suggest that the teacher uses Sound Wall Cards, Word Construction Cards, and ABC Letter Cards to highlight and reinforce accurate mouth position and letter-sound correspondences. 

  • In the Unit 3 Assessment, Word Analysis: Part 2, the materials guide the teacher to identify the key phonics patterns within words used on the assessment so they can better target future instruction for specific students. For example, the word thud is described as having the short vowel sound /ŭ/, the consonant d, and the digraph th. If a student misread the word thud, the teacher could use the Word Analysis Table to determine what element was challenging for a student and plan additional instructional steps based on that information. 

    Instructional guidance described for the Unit 3 Assessment is similarly provided across Unit 2–5 Assessments and the MOY and EOY Phonics Assessments. Benchmark assessments include guidance to support instructional next steps based on student performance. However, more frequent formative assessments, such as Exit Tickets and Week Check-Ins, include limited instructional follow-up guidance tied to student results.

The instructional opportunities for syllabication and morpheme analysis in Bridge to Reading partially meet the expectations for Indicator 1q. Materials provide limited explicit instruction in syllabication through opportunities for students to identify and count syllables and use syllable information to apply phonics and spelling generalizations; however, materials do not explicitly teach syllable types or syllable-division strategies for decoding and encoding multisyllabic words. Materials provide explicit instruction and multiple opportunities to apply morpheme analysis through reading, spelling, word construction, and word manipulation; however, explicit morpheme instruction and practice are limited to the inflectional endings -s and -es. Additional morphology embedded within phonemic awareness activities provides oral exposure rather than explicit morpheme analysis for decoding and encoding. As a result, opportunities to learn, practice, and apply word-analysis strategies remain limited in scope.

Note: This indicator is analyzed at the lesson level to examine the instructional progression within and across lessons. Repeated references to a single week or lesson reflect the structured sequence of explicit instruction and guided practice, which is representative of how the materials support this skill throughout the year.

• Materials contain limited explicit instruction of syllable types and syllable division that promote decoding and encoding of words. 

  • In Unit 3, Week 21, Days 1–2, Phonics and Fluency, students use syllable identification while learning and applying consonant digraphs. 

    • On Day 1, the teacher introduces the consonant digraph ck and explains that ck represents /k/ at the end of a one-syllable word immediately following a short vowel. The teacher models this generalization with words such as back, pack, lick, quack, and mock, explicitly identifying each as a one-syllable word and connecting the short vowel and final /k/ to the spelling ck. During guided spelling practice, students are asked to identify the number of syllables and sounds in words such as rack, sick, and Nick before matching each sound to its corresponding letters. Corrective feedback directs students who need additional support with counting syllables to distinguish single-syllable words such as pack, Zack, and sick from multisyllabic words such as cupcake, lion, and muffin. 

    • On Day 2, students continue applying syllable identification while spelling words with initial and final consonant digraphs. For example, before spelling chick, students identify that the word has one syllable and three sounds. The teacher then uses the fact that chick is a one-syllable word with a short vowel to guide students in determining that final /k/ is represented by ck. Although students identify and count syllables to support application of the ck spelling generalization, the lessons do not introduce syllable types or teach students a procedure for dividing multisyllabic words to support decoding and encoding.

  • In Unit 5, Week 30, Day 3, Phonics and Fluency, students use the number of syllables in a word to support application of the spelling generalization for vowel y. The teacher displays my, why, and fly and explains that vowel y can represent /ī/ or /ē/. The teacher states, “When vowel y is at the end of a one-syllable word, it usually stands for the long i sound, /ī/.” Students then apply this understanding while reading blending lines that include words with long vowel patterns and previously learned phonics patterns. The lesson contrasts this spelling with other representations of long /ī/, including words with final silent e, and students practice identifying and reading the targeted vowel patterns in words and sentences. Although the lesson explicitly connects the number of syllables in a word to the application of the vowel y generalization, students are not taught to identify syllable types or use syllable-division strategies to decode or encode multisyllabic words.

    Materials provide limited explicit instruction in syllabication. Students identify and count syllables and use syllable information to apply phonics and spelling generalizations, such as final ck in one-syllable words and vowel y representing /ī/ at the end of one-syllable words. However, materials do not explicitly teach syllable types or syllable-division strategies to support decoding and encoding of multisyllabic words.

• Materials contain limited explicit instruction in morpheme analysis to decode unfamiliar words. 

  • In Unit 2, Week 17, Day 1, Phonics and Fluency, materials include explicit instruction in morpheme analysis through the introduction of the inflectional ending -s. The lesson defines endings as letters added to a base word to change meaning and explicitly teaches how -s functions to indicate plural nouns and present tense verbs. The teacher models word construction using word sums such as cup + -s → cups and tab + -s → tabs, explaining how the addition of the ending changes the meaning of the base word. Instruction also addresses the phonological variation of the ending, noting that -s can represent /s/ and /z/ depending on the base word. The lesson provides explicit modeling of how to analyze words into base word and ending, as seen in examples such as pig/pigs and hop/hops. The teacher guides students to identify the base word, add the ending, and interpret the resulting meaning, reinforcing both structural and semantic understanding. 

  • In Unit 3, Week 24, Day 2, Phonics and Fluency, materials provide explicit instruction in morpheme analysis through the inflectional ending -es. The teacher explains that the ending -es is added to words ending in the sounds /ks/, /s/, /z/, /ch/, and /sh/ and explicitly teaches how the morpheme changes meaning. Students learn that adding -es to a noun indicates more than one and that adding -es to a verb can indicate an action occurring in the present. The materials use word sums, including lunch + -es → lunches and kiss + -es → kisses, to demonstrate how the morpheme is added to a base word. During decoding instruction, students analyze words such as rushes and quenches, identifying the base word and the inflectional ending to determine pronunciation and meaning. During encoding instruction, students apply the same analysis when building and spelling words such as bunches and tosses, using the base word and the ending -es to read, spell, and interpret unfamiliar words.

    The Scope and Sequence identifies explicit morpheme instruction focused on the inflectional endings -s and -es. Students encounter additional opportunities across the instructional sequence and READ Books to practice and apply these taught endings in reading and spelling. However, explicit morpheme instruction and practice are limited to the inflectional endings -s and -es.

• Multiple and varied, but limited opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies. 

  • In Unit 2, Week 17, Day 1, Phonics and Fluency,  materials provide opportunities for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies through repeated decoding and encoding tasks using inflectional endings. Following explicit instruction on the ending -s, students apply their understanding by reading and spelling words such as pigs, rats, hops, and pods using structured Reading and Spelling Routines. The teacher models how to segment the base word, add the ending, and read the full word, reinforcing the connection between phonemes, graphemes, and meaning. Students engage in multiple examples that require applying the strategy of analyzing words into base word and ending, supporting both decoding and encoding. The lesson also incorporates meaning-based application, as students discuss how the addition of -s changes the meaning of nouns and verbs.

  • In Unit 3, Week 24, Day 2, students engage in multiple and varied opportunities to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies with the inflectional ending -es. Students first analyze word sums such as lunch + -es → lunches and kiss + -es → kisses to examine how adding -es changes word meaning. Students then read words including rushes and quenches using Word Construction Cards and the Reading Routine while analyzing phoneme-grapheme correspondences and the role of the inflectional ending. Practice continues through spelling activities with words such as bunches, tosses, lunches, mashes, and fizzes using the Spelling Routine, Spell Tiles, and Word Construction Cards. Students also manipulate base words to form new words, changing dish to dishes, pinch to pinches, and miss to misses, applying knowledge of how inflectional endings change meaning across reading and spelling tasks.

    The materials also embed inflectional endings and simple suffixes within phonemic awareness activities; however, these oral activities provide exposure to morphological structures rather than explicit morpheme analysis for decoding and encoding. Across phonics instruction, students receive multiple and varied opportunities to apply word-analysis strategies through reading, spelling, word construction, and word manipulation; however, identified morpheme-analysis practice is limited to the inflectional endings -s and -es, and students do not apply syllable types or syllable-division strategies to decode and encode multisyllabic words.

The assessment opportunities for word recognition and analysis in Bridge to Reading partially meet the expectations for Indicator 1r. Materials provide regular assessment opportunities across the year that measure students’ progress in word recognition through Weekly Checks and Unit Assessments. Students demonstrate word recognition through identification of decodable words, previously taught Red Words, and independent word-reading tasks. Assessment materials include scoring guides, proficiency thresholds, and Word Analysis Tables that provide information about students’ current word-recognition skills. Materials also include some assessment opportunities related to morpheme analysis through the assessment of taught inflectional endings. However, assessment opportunities related to word analysis occur less frequently than opportunities related to word recognition. While materials provide instructional guidance connected to assessment results, the guidance primarily focuses on phonics, decoding, and encoding errors rather than word recognition or morpheme analysis. As a result, instructional suggestions for using assessment data to support students’ progress in word recognition and word analysis are limited.

• Materials regularly and systematically provide some assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition.

  • In Unit 2, Week 16, Weekly Check, the materials provide an assessment opportunity for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence in word recognition. In the Read Words portion of the assessment, the teacher tells students that they “will see two words in a row. Read each word to yourself. Then, I will tell you the word to circle.” Students independently read pairs of words and identify the spoken target word. 

    • For example, students read quiz and quit before circling quiz, read sum and the nonsense word som before circling sum, and read us and up before circling up. Student responses provide information about their ability to accurately recognize and distinguish printed words.

  • In the Unit 4 Assessment, the materials provide assessment opportunities for students to demonstrate their progress toward mastery and independence in word recognition. In Part 1, the whole-group, paper-based assessment, students complete multiple-choice decoding tasks in which they read groups of words and identify the target word named by the teacher. 

    • For example, students read words such as bank, bent, and back before selecting the target word. The assessment includes five pattern-word items and two Red Word items, requiring students to recognize previously taught high-frequency words such as went and now. Students also complete an encoding task that includes previously taught Red Words such as how and from, as well as sentence dictation containing both pattern words and Red Words.

    • In Part 2, the individual word-reading assessment, students read words independently to demonstrate word-recognition proficiency. The assessment includes both decodable words and previously taught Red Words, including thank and some. 

    • In Word Analysis: Part 1, the materials identify words containing inflectional endings, including drums and sleds, which assess the inflectional ending -s. Teacher guidance explains that the Word Analysis Table may be used to identify areas requiring additional instruction or practice for individual students or the class. Student performance provides information about their ability to recognize and apply taught morphological features, such as inflectional endings, when reading and spelling words.

    In the Kindergarten sequence, assessments with word recognition elements begin in Unit 2, Week 9 through Weekly Checks. These assessments include opportunities for students to demonstrate recognition of both decodable words and previously taught high-frequency words. Unit Assessments in Units 2–5 continue to assess word recognition through multiple-choice decoding tasks that require students to distinguish among similar words, including pattern words and irregular high-frequency words. Materials also include some assessment opportunities related to morpheme analysis through the assessment of inflectional endings. 

• Assessment materials provide the teacher and students with some information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition.

  • In the Unit 5, Part 1: Whole Group Paper-Based Assessment Scoring Guide, the materials provide the teacher and students with information concerning students’ current skills in word recognition. 

    • For example, the Scoring Guide provides space for the teacher to record each student’s accuracy in identifying the correct word among several options. Assessment items include words that follow previously taught phonics patterns as well as previously taught high-frequency irregular words. In the accompanying Word Analysis Table, the words thank and some are identified as red words, allowing teachers to monitor students’ recognition of previously taught irregular words separately from the phonics patterns assessed within the unit. The teacher can mark whether a student identified each word correctly and record observations about performance. A student would be considered at the beginning proficiency level if they scored at or below 60% for this portion of the assessment. A student would be considered at the developing proficiency level if they scored between 61% and 79%. A student would be considered proficient if they scored at or above 80%.

    In the Kindergarten sequence, only Part 1 of the unit assessments provides the teacher and students with information concerning students’ current skills in word recognition. Materials also provide some information related to word analysis through the assessment of inflectional endings identified in the Word Analysis Table. However, assessment information related to word analysis occurs less frequently than assessment information related to word recognition.

• Materials support the teacher with limited instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students progress toward mastery in word recognition. 

  • In the Unit 4 Assessment include, the materials include  information about students’ recognition of previously taught red words and application of taught inflectional endings. The accompanying instructional guidance primarily focuses on phonics, decoding, and encoding errors. 

    • For example, the Instructional Guidance Sheets provide reteaching activities for letter/sound errors, vowel sound errors, omissions and additions, phoneme blending, phoneme-grapheme mapping, and spelling rule confusion. 

    Materials provide limited guidance for using assessment results to plan instructional next steps specifically related to word recognition or morpheme analysis.