2nd Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts.

The materials are coherently sequenced, with lesson parts connecting with previous learning. There is clear articulation of how work with previous texts, tasks and skills relates to new learning. The materials include questions and tasks with most texts requiring students to analyze language, key details, craft, and structure. Most lesson parts allow for in-depth analysis for some aspects of language, key details, craft, and structure. Most lessons include question types that help students build understanding, and integrate ideas and knowledge across several days. During each part, students had the opportunity to engage in orally discussing what they had read or writing a response in their English Language Arts Journal. Questions are sequenced from basic to more text-based and varied in type. Many of these skills are developed through the instructional tasks included in the PLUS format (Project, Learn, Use, Show) for each Unit. Each unit and/or part requires a different analysis of the language, structure, story elements, and craft, yet ample amount of practice is built into the program and cyclical planning ensures that concepts are introduced, taught, and then practiced at a higher level later in the unit or in another unit.

The following series of daily tasks and question sets exemplifies a coherent and connected sequence:

• Every lesson part begins with a reminder of the previous work and lesson understanding and a connection to the new learning that is upcoming in the lesson. For example, in the Unit 5 Project: Pioneering New Ideas and New Worlds, the end of unit task for learners states, “What do you think of when you hear the words “Wild West?” What do you picture? Cowboys? Searching for gold? What was life really like in the days of the Old West? Was it really “wild?” What was it like for children? You will write a multi-purpose paper to find out what it was really like to go out west.” In Unit 5, Lesson: Kids Who Went West, Part 1, students read the story Going West pages 70-85. When they are finished, the directions state, “Now, look back in the text you read. Find places in the text that tell you how Mama or Jake feels about the challenges they face. This text evidence will help you think about Mama’s or Jake’s point of view. Pick one of these two characters. Write a summary statement that tells your character’s point of view about the journey. You can look back at the text to help you remember how this character feels about the journey.” In Unit 5, Lesson: Kids Who Went West, Part 2, students read the text Going West pages 86-99. When they are finished, the directions state, “One way to get clues about a character’s point of view is to look at what he or she says. Dialogue, or the words the characters say, can give you key details. Look back at the story. How does Mama feel about living on the prairie? How do you know? You can write a summary statement about how Mama feels. Then, support that statement with what Mama says. These are key details. To help you do this work, you’ll create Point of View Chart.” In Unit 5, Lesson: Kids Who Went West, Part 3, students read the text Going West pages 100-117. After reading, the directions state, “Now, you will write a story about a child pioneer. To prepare for writing a story about a topic, it is useful to brainstorm details. What do you know about pioneer life now that you have read Going West? With your Learning Guide, brainstorm a list of details about life on the prairie. Then, with your Learning Guide, you will retell the narrative about Hannah and her family. Use the details you wrote on your list."

Evidence of the analysis of language, key ideas and details, craft, and structure include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson: Find Out the Trouble at the Sandbox, Part 1, the students focus on characters and how they act. After reading chapter 1 of Trouble at the Sandbox, the student discusses various aspects of the character with the Learning Guide. Example questions include: “Theo doesn’t mind playing in the sandbox on a hot day. What does this tell you about him? How are Theo and his friends building the volcano, and what does this tell you about them?” Students then complete a web graphic organizer to describe Theo.
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Let’s Meet Snowshoe Hare!, Part 2; Prior to this lesson, students read a story about how a bear and a beaver prepare for winter. Students are asked to read the next portion of the story Snowshoe Hare’s Winter Home and think about the following question as they read: “How are Trout, Turtle, and Duck are preparing for winter?” Students work to fill out a Main Idea and Key Details Graphic Organizer where they are required to use the question: "What do the details tell about where the characters live in the winter?" Students cite the main idea and three key details from the text. Students then work to write a short story based upon a selection of topics where they are required to put the events in order using transition words. The curriculum provides the following transition words as examples for students to use in their writing along with an example: first, before, during, then, next, after, soon, later, suddenly, following, finally, at last, now, therefore, tomorrow, yesterday, meanwhile.
• In Unit 2, Lesson: Reading I Wanna Iguana, Part 2, students read page 81-87 of I Wanna Iguana and then answer: “How is this story organized?” The student looks more closely at the text and discusses the structure with the Learning Guide using the questions as talking points: “What is the structure of the story?” “How is this different from other stories?” “How are readers introduced to the characters of the story?” “How is this different from other stories?” “How do readers learn about story events? How is this different from other stories?” The structure of I Wanna Iguana is a series of letters. Students learn about using commas in greetings and closings of a letter and then put it into practice by responding to one of the letters in the story I Wanna Iguana.
• In Unit 3, Lesson: Who Was Susan B. Anthony?, Part 4, students reread Marching with Aunt Susan and answer the following questions in their English Language Arts journal: “What is the point of view of the crowd at the Golden Gate Auditorium? How can you tell that Papa cares about women’s rights even though he doesn’t let Bessie go hiking at the beginning of the story?” After discussing various characters’ point of view, the students try to determine if a character’s point of view can change. They look back at the text and answer the following questions in their English Language Arts journal: “What does Bessie's father think about what women and girls can do at the beginning of the story? How do you know at the end of the story that her father’s point of view has changed?”
• In Unit 4, Lesson: Reading Myths: Do Dragon’s Cause Thunder?, Part 2; Students have read The Earth Dragon Awakes and Seek the Sun in previous lessons. They go back and compare/contrast the cultural references in the texts and how they affect the character’s beliefs, thoughts, and how they respond to certain events. Students then draft a conclusion for the myth they have been working on using the text evidence from both stories and the text structure of using a detail from the beginning of the story to help show the reader what has changed within the story or what has stayed the same.
• In Unit 5, Lesson: Who Was Johnny Appleseed?, Part 5, students read the end of John Chapman: Planter and Pioneer with a focus of identifying author’s purpose and supporting an opinion with examples and details. After reading students complete a task that is provided in the lesson: “Make a list of any words or phrases you do not know in the pages you read. Look at the pictures on the pages near each word or phrase. Do the pictures give clues about the meaning? Look at the words on the page. Do you see clues there? Figuring out the meaning of words and phrases you do not know will help you better understand the story and the author’s purpose. Work with your Learning Guide to figure out the meanings of words and phrases you do not know.” Students work to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words using context clues or a different strategy they have utilized prior. Students are then encouraged to use the word in a sentence that supports the meaning after figuring out what the word means.
• In Unit 5, Lesson: Who Was Johnny Appleseed?, Part 6, after rereading John Chapman: Planter and Pioneer, students are asked to look at the points the author makes and the reasons the author makes those points. Students fill out a T-Chart to keep track of the points and reasons. The students are given the following example: “Look again at the text. On page 4, the author writes that Johnny loved wild places best. You can write that in the Author’s Points column. On page 7, the author writes, 'All day and night, summer, fall, winter and spring, John lived outdoors.' You can write 'Always lived outdoors' in the second column to show that this is a reason for the point in the Author’s Points column.” The students complete the rest of their T-Chart.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that materials contain a year long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts.

At the beginning of each unit, background knowledge for content and writing skill areas is embedded in the first select lessons. As the unit continues, selected texts, writing tasks, writing stamina, and any projects increase in length and complexity. The Learning Guide gradually releases responsibility to students, from modeling and full support to independent completion with scaffolded support. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of instructional tasks within the PLUS structure (Project, Show, Use, Learn).

Throughout the units, students have multiple opportunities to respond using text-based evidence to support their answers. Students respond in their English Language Arts Journals, through discussion with their learning guide, show their learning via interactive online tasks, and complete culminating projects that encompass a unit’s worth of knowledge. Students participate in shorter writing tasks and have opportunities to go back to the writing tasks to revise by adding content or incorporating the skill they are learning (e.g., description) In multiple units throughout, the shorter writing tasks are pieces of the culminating project. Each unit has an assessment or culminating task that at some point would have required interaction from all four literacy domains (reading, writing, listening, and speaking).

According to the Calvert Support Services document, “Instead of providing ancillary materials for Learning Guides, Calvert provides customers access to highly-trained, certified professional educators for any questions or needs that arise from the curriculum! Education Counselors have considerable experience in the classroom and are extensively trained on the curriculum. The Advisory Teaching Service (ATS) is an optional service that may be purchased from Calvert that enhances the services offered by education counselors.”

Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1, Lesson: Meet Friends Around the World, Part 2, students work on writing informational pieces. The students are prompted to describe a place using facts. The prompt states, “Use facts to describe one of the places that Isabel’s e-pals lives. You can use facts from the text or captions. The facts should be placed in a logical order.” The Teaching Notes tell the Learning Guide to have the students write the facts in a paragraph.
• In Unit 2, Lesson: Reading Alexander, Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday, Part 3, the LEARN Card directions state, “Think about the ending of Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday. Think about how you can be creative and write a new ending to the story. Now decide which characters will be in your new ending. Make sure the ending follows from the beginning and middle and provides a satisfying closure. Write your new ending in your English Language Arts Journal."
• In Unit 3, Lesson: Who Was Susan B. Anthony?, Part 1, students work to conduct a research project. Students are asked to write down three questions about Susan B. Anthony’s time period. They then write out a list of sources where they might find the information. The students are then told to use the internet to find their information..
• In Unit 3, Lesson: What is Change Makers All About?, Part 1, students work on revising a paragraph. Students are given steps to help them revise and are then told, “Go to the summary paragraph you wrote last time. Apply the steps to your paragraph. Revise it to make it clearer. Fix any errors you find. See if you can add conjunctions to combine ideas. When you’re done, make a clean copy and show it to your Learning Guide.” The Teaching Notes provide suggestions for the teacher or Learning Guide to make during the revision process.
• In Unit 4, Lesson: Danger! Earthquakes, Part 5, the USE Card directions state, “In this unit, you have read both fiction and informational texts about earthquakes. One of the stories you read about earthquakes was based on real-life events. You will compare and contrast the key points in the Afterword of The Earth Dragon Awakes to the key points about Earthquakes in Danger! Earthquakes in the Text Collection. Once you have at least one idea that is the same in both texts, and one idea that is different, write a short paragraph about those ideas."
• In Unit 5, Lesson: Johnny’s Timeline, Part 2, students reread part of the book Johnny Appleseed looking for text features. Students answer the following questions in their English Language Arts Journal: “How was John able to plant so many apple trees? Look at the photograph on page 54. Read the text on page 55. What does the photograph tell you about the frontier? Look at the picture on page 56. What does it tell you about how a cider mill works? Read pages 56–61. What facts do you learn about John Chapman? Look at pages 56–61. The timeline does not change. Why is that?” Students are then asked to think about some of the text features the author chose NOT to use in Johnny Appleseed. Students are encouraged to think about some of those and why they would be helpful if the author decided to use them. Students craft an opinion paragraph and support their opinion with reasons. They are encouraged to follow the structure: State an opinion and reasons to support the opinion. Use linking words, such as because, and, and a/so to connect opinions and reasons. Provide a concluding statement or section."

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the expectations for materials providing a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

The materials provide some ideas for independent reading. The Before You Begin section states there is a Reading Log. The lessons provide scaffolding opportunities to help foster independent reading. Guidance is provided through the Teaching Notes.The Before You Begin section says that the students will be reading two to three books per week outside their class texts.

In the LEARN Card activities, students are encouraged and reminded to read books independently, while noting the titles of the books read in their Reading Log. In the Getting Started portion of the platform, the following information is provided for students:

“You should be working to read at least 2–3 books per week in addition to the books in your ELA course. Your Reading Log is a great way to see how much you have read and the kinds of books you enjoy reading. To create your Reading Log, make a table that contains the book’s title, author, number of pages, and the dates you were reading the book. Remember to keep your Reading Log up to date all year long, since you will refer to it in some of your lessons. To find texts to read outside of your classwork, you can use independent reading resources, or visit your local library and ask your librarian.”

Information about Independent Reading expectations is found in the “Before You Begin” portion at the beginning of the school year. The materials suggest 30 minutes of independent reading per day of instruction. The Learning Guide is at liberty to decide when students actively engage in Independent Reading throughout the day.

The Reading Log is meant to serve as a measure of how much the students have read and the kinds of books they enjoy reading. Students create their own Reading Log by making a table that contains the book’s title, author, number of pages, and the dates they read. Some unit lessons refer to the Reading Log. A link to Independent Reading Resources is provided for the Learning Guide. It contains the independent reading Lexile levels for each grade band and resource links with suggested reading lists.

When reading texts during a Lesson, the Learning Guide is offered suggestions for how to read with students that includes read the text aloud to the student, play an audio recording of the text (if applicable) while the student follows in the text, or have the student repeat after the Learning Guide, whisper-read with the Learning Guide, or read along with the Learning Guide.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In the Before You Begin section, there is a “Reading Log” section. In this section, it states, “You will be asked to keep a Reading Log for your ELA course. You should be working to read at least 2–3 books per week in addition to the books in your ELA course.” This section also includes a link titled “independent reading resources,” which helps the students find texts outside the classwork to read. The Before You Begin section also has a “Text Selection” section that states, “As you select texts to read independently, find books that have similar challenges to what you are reading, as well as finding books of different genres and topics. Use your Reading Log to create a balanced reading life!”
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Meet Friends Around the World, Part 1, students read pages 4-7 of Friends Around the World. The Teaching Notes state, “Guide your student while reading. Select the appropriate reading option for your student. Explain that reading accurately means pronouncing each word correctly without missing words, substituting words, or adding words. Have your student follow along as you model accurately reading aloud from the first page of Friends Around the World. Then echo read the third page of reading with your student.” This does provide some scaffolding for independent reading.
• In Unit 2, Lesson: Reading A Chair for My Mother, Part 4, from the LEARN Card, students are encouraged to read one or two books a week just for fun and write the titles in their Reading Log. Students think about why they like those stories or characters and write the reasons in their Reading Log.
• In Unit 3, Lesson: Learning About Roosevelt and Lincoln, Part 1, students read page 42-44 of Theodore Roosevelt: The Adventurous President. The teaching notes state, “Guide your student in reading Theodore Roosevelt: The Adventurous President. Select the appropriate option for your student: Read the story aloud to your student while he or she follows in the text. Play an audio recording of the story (if applicable) while your student follows in the text. Have your student read the story aloud with another student or with you, either chorally or by reading alternate sections. Have your student read the story independently.” This provides some instruction on scaffolding towards independent reading, although it does not provide any resources for the teacher to use to document how the students is doing with their independent reading.
• In Unit 4, Lesson: Reading Seek the Sun, Part 3, LEARN Card, students are reminded to read on their own for fun between lessons and record the titles of the books they read in their Reading Log, discuss what they read with their Learning Guide, and describe the characters in the fiction books they have read to the Learning Guide.
• In Unit 5, Lesson: Who Was Johnny Appleseed?, Part 6, students are asked to use their Reading Log. The prompt says, “Remember to read books for fun in your free time. Record the books you read in your Reading Log. Read both stories and informational texts. You might like one type of text better than another. However, you might be surprised! When you read a new book, write something you like about the book in your Reading Log.” There is a Teaching Note that prompts the Learning Guide to ask the student about the stories he or she has read.