The materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-based, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text).

Throughout each text that is read or read aloud to the students, students are asked text-based questions to discuss with a partner or the whole group. Students recall information from the text or retell the story. There are usually 2-3 questions related to the text for each reading.

The Making Meaning component contains lessons with text-based questions.

• In Unit 2, students listen to the story, When Sophie Gets Angry-Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang. In Week 1, Day 1, students answer: “What does Sophie do to calm down?” In Week 1, Day 2, students are asked: “What do you remember about the story?” and “Have you ever acted like Sophie?”
• In Unit 3, students listen to Maisy’s Pool. In Week 2, Day 1, students are asked: “What problem does Maisy have?”
• In Unit 5, students listen to Brave Normal: A True Story by Andrew Clements and are asked questions such as, “Why is Norman a hero?"
• In Unit 6, students listen to "In Doctor’s Help."Students are asked, “What are some of the homes you learned about? How are the homes alike? How are the homes different?”
• In the Writing About Meaning section of Making Meaning in Unit 7, students listen to A Tiger Cub Grows Up and A Baby Penguin Story and are asked to write a few sentences about what they learned about baby animals.
• In Unit 9, students listen to A Porcupine Named Fluffy. In Week 1, students are asked to answer questions such as “Why is Fluffy unhappy?” “Why isn’t Fluffy happy with his name?” and "What do Fluffy and Hippo have in common?”
• In the Writing about Reading component, which is a component of Making Meaning, students write about a text using evidence.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Day 1, students hear the story What Happens at an Airport and the teacher pauses at page 8 to ask the students what they have learned so far about the book. The same question is asked again after the teacher reads page 14.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Day 1, the teacher reads the poem Mice and asks the students what the poet says about mice.
• In the Being a Reader component, students answer text-based questions.
• In Week 2, Day 1, students are asked to recall one thing they liked about the story after reading the story We Can’t See in the small group instruction, set one.
• In Week 4 of small group instruction, students read the book It Can Sit and discuss what the book talks about and what surprised them as they read.
• In Week 15, students engage in the shared reading of Red Sled and are asked questions during the week long shared reading such as “What happens so far in this story?” and “What did you like most about this book?” after the students finish the book.

The materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small-group, peer-to-peer, whole-class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

The materials in Kindergarten provide opportunities for students to share their thinking about texts in each lesson through Think-Pair-Shares and Turn and Talks. They are engaged in this type of discussion frequently and are required to talk about the reading and/or their writing. Guidance and modeling are provided. The Making Meaning Component has a Vocabulary Teaching Guide which utilizes vocabulary words from the stories students have been reading. The vocabulary teaching guide provides multiple opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions across the whole year's scope of instructional materials. Peer discussion is emphasized and encouraged, and there are independent lessons within the modules of teaching of the text that give students time to use academic vocabulary and syntax each week.

At the beginning of each Making Meaning unit, students are provided a new Turn and Talk partner. Students are provided direct instruction and opportunities to practice this structure prior to practicing it with texts.

• In Unit 1, Week 3, students are introduced to the "Turn to Your Partner Strategy." In the teacher edition, there are explicit directions for the teacher to do this, including modeling, explaining, and practicing. Students discuss questions such as, "What is your favorite color?" and "What is your favorite book?" in the initial lesson.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, students are introduced to Think-Pair-Share. The teacher explains that the difference between these two structures is that the students have to think by themselves before they talk in pairs. There is modeling done before students practice. Students practice with the question, “What do you like to eat for breakfast?” The materials include video clips and prompts to support teachers.

Students are provided opportunities throughout each lesson to share their thinking with their partner and the class. For example:

• In Unit 2, Being a Writer, students are asked to discuss with their partner what they notice about the text, City Signs.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, while discussing the story Charlie Needs a Cloak in the Making Meaning component, the students discuss with their partner: “Why does Charlie need a new cloak?”
• In Unit 5, Being a Writer, students are asked: “What words did you hear that tell how a food sounds or looks?” Students turn to their partner and discuss the vocabulary that they learned while reading the poem.

Academic vocabulary is taught and revisited throughout the Making Meaning component, so students can practice using the words in discussions. There are 30 weeks of instruction and ongoing review activities in which students review previously taught words. For example, in Week 1 of the Vocabulary Teaching Guide, the focus words are as follows: creature, imitate, companion, and explore. After the students review the read aloud, My Friends, they are asked what "creature they see" and then are expected to respond with the prompt: “The creature I see....”

Syntax is modeled and discussed in discussions. For example, in Being a Reader, Week 8, Day 2, students work on reviewing the inflectional ending -s. The teacher asks the students, “Which would we say, 'The boy decide which book he wants to read,' or 'The boy decides which book he wants to read?'” Students share their thinking with the class. In the Being a Reader component, students have opportunities to discuss with a partner what they drew or wrote.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading (or read aloud) and researching (shared projects) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

Students are provided with a variety of opportunities to discuss with a partner their understanding of texts read aloud to them or about the shared writing projects they are completing. They are given multiple opportunities to listen and discuss with peers what they are reading, writing, and listening to, as well as with the whole class. Follow-up questions and supports for speaking and listening are found throughout the materials. There are times throughout the year where the teacher is explicitly told to model proper speaking and listening, and students discuss what they see and hear.

In the Making Meaning component of the materials, students are given multiple opportunities to turn to a partner to discuss what they read, supporting both their listening and speaking. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 2, students are asked to turn to a partner after hearing the story Cat’s Colors to discuss what colors the cat talks about in the part of the story the students just heard.
• In Unit 1, Week 5, Day 1, students hear the story Friends at School and turn to their partner to discuss what part of the story they liked best.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, students listen to the story Pumpkin, Pumpkin and discuss the story with a partner. Students are given a mini-lesson on active listening and speaking. The teacher models speaking loudly enough to be heard and then asks the students what they heard about the teacher's voice. The teacher also asks, “What will you do to be a good listener when your partner or something else is talking?” Then students discuss with their partner what happened to the pumpkin seed so far in the story as well as what they think Jamie will do with the pumpkin.
• In Unit 6, Week 1, students discuss questions such as, “Why are doctors important to the community” with their partner after listening to Doctors Help.
• In Unit 7, Week 2, Day 1, after hearing the story A Harbor Seal Pup Grows Up, students turn to a partner and discuss what they are still wondering about Sidney, the harbor seal pup. The teacher offers further support by asking additional questions such as, "Who is wondering something that is different from what {_____} shared?" and ‘What other things are you wondering about Sidney?"

In the Being a Writer component of the materials, students engage in shared-writing projects after hearing a text. This allows them to continue practicing speaking and listening skills as well.

Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 4, after hearing When I Get Bigger by Mercer Mayer, students are instructed to turn to a partner and discuss something that they want to do when they get bigger. Then students discuss something they could draw or write that would show what they want to do.
• In Unit 2, Week 6, students hear the story I went Walking. Before beginning, the teacher asks students what they will do to be a good partner to help students remember good speaking and listening skills.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, students discuss with their partners what they can add to their drawing to tell more in their story. During this component, students discuss how to be a good speaker or listener by being asked questions such as: “What will you do to be a good listener during sharing today?” and “How will you sit? What will you do with your eyes? Your hands?”

In the Being a Reader component of the materials, students are regularly required to speak and listen about the shared reading. Students have opportunities to demonstrate listening carefully as well as reflect on what they did to be a good listener.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials including a mix of on-demand and process grade-appropriate writing (e.g., grade-appropriate revision and editing), and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

The Kindergarten materials include a mix of on-demand and process writing as well as grade-appropriate, short, focused projects. The writing in Kindergarten includes a mix of writing and drawing during both the reading and writing lessons. There is a mix of on-demand writing, typically after the read aloud as well as focused-writing tasks that take several days to complete, including opportunities for shared writing. The longer writing tasks give opportunities for students to go back to revise and add more detail. Digital resources such as blogging and technological connections are also included.

Students are frequently given opportunities for on-demand writing. One example of this is in Making Meaning in Unit 2, Week 4, Day 2, when students draw and write about things they love about themselves. Similarly, in Making Meaning Unit 3, Week 2, Day 1, students watch the teacher model thinking aloud and drawing and writing about how the story Maisy’s Pool reminds them of a time when they had a problem that they solved. The students then draw and write about a problem they had and how they solved it. Another example of this in Making Meaning is in Unit 7, Week 1, Day 2, after listening to both A Baby Duck Story and A Baby Penguin Story, the teacher models and then the students write a few sentences about what they learned about baby animals from both books. Another example is in Unit 7, Week 2, after hearing A Duck Story and Harbor Seal, when students write sentences and then draw pictures to make a timeline directly related to the Harbor Seal growing up. One example of a shared writing is in Unit 5, Week 2, when students contribute to a shared poem about animals before writing their own.

There are also opportunities for students to engage in process writing. In Unit 3, students begin rereading and adding to stories. For example, in Unit 3, Week 4, after listening to and discussing When Sophie Gets Angry - Really, Really Angry, students visualize, share orally, and then write about a time when they got really angry. Then, on the second day of the lesson, they go back and look at the words the author uses and use that to reread their own story and add details. Another example of process writing is in Unit 4 where students hear and discuss nonfiction books and write nonfiction as a class and individually in the Being a Writer section. Students gather information for their own nonfiction writing through interviews and observations and add details to their writing throughout. They review spellings and explore punctuation. They also share their writing in pairs and with the class from the Author’s Chair. For this three-week unit, the first day of each week the students explore nonfiction, the second day they write about nonfiction, and then the third day they write and share about their nonfiction. In Unit 4 of Becoming a Writer, students write about food. They begin by creating a list of vegetables, fruits and other foods that the students like to eat and might want to examine. They use this to then spend several days to write a nonfiction book about the food of their choice.

Technology is utilized, as well. After several of the lessons, students can create digital stories using a digital storytelling tool. This tool allows students to choose characters, settings, and events to create their own stories. They can record their stories into the tool or retell their stories orally. Another opportunity for writing using digital resources is where is an option for the teacher to create a class blog where the students can share with their families what they have been taught through reading and discussions. As a class, students choose a read aloud to write about. The students can add a few sentences about what the class enjoyed about the text and the comprehension strategies practiced using this text. Families have the opportunity to respond to the blogs. Both technology pieces are optional for teachers.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials providing opportunities for students to address different text types of writing (year-long) that reflect the distribution required by the standards.

Writing materials include a balance of narrative, informational, and opinion writing lessons and opportunities for students, primarily in the Being a Writer component of the program. There are a variety of prompts, models, anchor pieces, and supports throughout the year within the Being a Writer component that includes the three types of writing. In the Making Meaning component, students are exposed to expository writing because they are often required to respond to a text after hearing it.

In Being a Writer, narrative writing is found in Units 1-3. Kindergarteners write about true stories from their own lives. For example, in Unit 2, students generate writing ideas through hearing and discussing read-aloud books, visualizing, observing the world around them, and making lists. They rehearse their writing by telling stories orally, and they practice writing letters, words, and sentences. On Week 5 of this unit, students draw a picture and write one or more letters, words, or sentences to tell what they like to eat. Similarly, in the Making Meaning component, students have some opportunities to write personal narratives such as in Unit 3, Week 2, Day 2, students have to write about a problem they have had and how they solved it.

In Being a Writer, expository writing is found in Unit 4. The unit focuses on writing observations and facts about a topic and explore text features such as table of contents and labels. After hearing read alouds, students engage in the “Writing About Reading” section of the Making Meaning component. For example, in Unit 6, Week 2, students have to write about tools from the book Tools and A Day in the Life of a Zookeeper and then draw a picture.

Opinion writing is found in Unit 6 of Being a Writer. Students write personal opinions and use reasons to support opinions. During this two-week unit, the students hear and discuss examples of opinion writing. They learn what an opinion is, generate opinions about topics, explore clearly stated opinions, and provide reasons to support their thinking.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for the Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials including explicit instruction of the grammar and conventions standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application both in and out of context.

Language standards are addressed throughout lessons within Being a Reader, Being a Writer, and Vocabulary Teacher Guide (Making Meaning). The instructional strategies of the lessons include teacher modeling, Think-Pair-Share, and Turn to Your Partner. Students are supported in their acquisition of grade-level grammar and convention standards through teacher questioning and the students having opportunities to speak with a partner before recording their responses. Students use Handwriting Notebooks to record their handwriting lessons. Students also are presented with visual materials to help aid in language and convention standards acquisition such as sentence strips, note cards, and vocabulary picture cards.

Materials include explicit instruction of all grammar and conventions standards for the grade level, and instruction is provided in increasingly sophisticated contexts.

Students have frequent opportunities to print upper and lowercase letters. In Being a Reader, the first five weeks of handwriting lessons include hand-strengthening finger games and songs as well as stretches and gross-motor activities that address posture and pencil grip in an active and engaging way. Establishing good posture and appropriate pencil grip is essential to handwriting success, and developing these skills early in the year sets a foundation for the letter formation instruction that begins in Week 7. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Week 2, students learn hand-strengthening finger games and songs.
• In Being a Reader, Week 3, students do stretches, posture activities, and gross-motor movements.
• In Being a Reader, Week 4, students learn and practice the pincer and pencil grip. Actual letter formation instruction begins in Week 7.
• In Being a Reader, Independent Work, Week 7, students practice writing the capital letters T, I, and L. “Practice T, I, and L Independently. Distribute the Handwriting Notebooks to the students. Ask a student to model how to use the correct pencil grip and use good posture. Then have the students complete pages 5–7 in their notebooks. As the students work, walk around and observe, assisting them as needed.”
• In Being a Reader, Week 8, students are learning the letters H, F, and E. The instructions are as follows: “H, Pull down straight. Lift. Up to the top and over. Pull down straight. Lift. Go to the middle and slide.”

Students have the opportunity to use frequently-occurring nouns and verbs. The opportunities occur in Read Alouds. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 26, Day 3, students practice using nouns and verbs by creating a sentence that names a body part and describes how it is used, following the same pattern from the shared reading. “Remind the students that each page of Here Are My Hands introduces a part of the body and describes how it is used. Explain that now the class will think of parts of the body that are not mentioned in the book, and then you will use their ideas to write sentences that follow the same pattern as the book.”

Students have the opportunity to learn how to form regular plural nouns orally by adding -s or -es. For example:

• In Being a Writer, Unit 4, Week 2, Day 2, during Open Days the teacher directions state: “As you model, look for opportunities for adding -s or -es to form plural nouns.”

Students have the opportunity to understand and use question words about texts when the teacher asks specific questions referring back to the text. For example:

• In Being a Writer, Unit 4, Week 2, students answer questions about chefs, such as: “Who do chefs cook for?" "What do chefs cook?" and "Where do chefs work?” Afterwards, teachers review question words that were used. After reading a book about chefs, students and the teacher discuss which questions about chefs were answered through their reading. Students also observe an interview with a class guest and practice asking that guest questions. In this same unit, students practice interviewing and writing about a classmate.

Students have the opportunity to practice using frequently-occurring prepositions. For example:

• In Being a Writer, Unit 3 Week 2, the teacher reviews common prepositions with students and discusses with students how to make the sentence, “The cat ran,” more interesting by telling where the cat ran.
• In Being a Writer, Unit 4, Week 2, the teacher writes on the board: "The cat ran." As students give ideas to make the sentence more interesting, the teacher points out prepositions such as up and under.

Students have the opportunity to produce and expand complete sentences. For example:

• In Being a Writer, Unit 2, Week 5, Day 1, students generate a class list of things they like using the sentence frame: “I like _______.”
• In Being a Writer, Unit 6, Week 1, Day 3, students make a class book titled “The Reasons I Like Chocolate,” using the sentence frame: “The reason I like _______ is _______.”

Students have the opportunity to capitalize the first word in a sentence and use ending punctuation. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Week 6, Day 3, students practice capitalizing at the beginning of a sentence during Guided Spelling with the following sentence: "Are plums good?"
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 17, Day 3, students learn about end punctuation, using a sentence from the shared reading story. “What punctuation mark do you see at the end of this sentence? If necessary, remind the students that the punctuation mark is called a period, and review that sentences sometimes end with periods.”

Students have the opportunity to recognize and name punctuation. Over the course of the year thirty-two lessons provide opportunities for students to recognize and name punctuation. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week, 17, Day 2, the teacher reads page 9 of Millions of Snowflakes, identifying the period at the end of the sentence, “I eat them up.” Teachers then point to the exclamation points after the words, “Yum! Yum! Yum!” and tell the students that these marks are called exclamation points. The teacher explains how an author uses periods and exclamation points and how they can be used by the reader.

Students have the opportunity to write letter(s) for most consonant and short-vowel sounds. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Week 5, Day 2, students listen to a sentence (See this yak.), and then students write the sentence.

Students have the opportunity to spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of letter-sound relationships. For example:

• In Being a Writer, Unit 6, Week 7, Day 2, the teacher displays the writing/drawing chart and asks students to watch as they model writing a two- or three-sentence story about a food s/he likes to eat. As the teacher writes, students are engaged in thinking about how to spell some unfamiliar words. The teacher is to try to select single-syllable words with letter–sound combinations the students have learned. The teacher asks the following questions and write the letters as the students suggest them.
• “Eat starts with the [/e/] sound. What letter is that?”
• “What’s the [next/last] sound? What letter is that?”
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Week 5, Day 1, students are guided through spelling the following decodable words: fit, tan, yes.

Students have the opportunity to determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on Kindergarten reading and content. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Vocabulary, Week 11, Day 1, students are introduced to unfamiliar words (antonyms) in context and out of context using the story, Maisy’s Pool and word cards. “In this lesson, the students are introduced to antonyms—words with opposite meanings—through the words uncomfortable and comfortable. (Although you may choose to introduce it, we do not formally teach the term antonym to the students.) Discussing a word and its opposite requires students to think about the critical attributes of the words and helps them understand and remember the words.”

Students have the opportunity to explore word relationships and nuances in word meanings with support and guidance. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Independent Work, students engage in picture or word sort as a part of every lesson. "Every week after the students start Small Group Reading, they do a picture or word sort from their small groups in the reading area during independent work rotations.”
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 14, Day 1, students listen to the poem read aloud and act out the poem. “Explain that now you will read the entire poem aloud and that as you read, the students will act out the poem together. Ask: How can we act out jumping?”

Materials include opportunities for students to demonstrate application of skills both in and out of context. For example:

• In Being a Writer, Unit 2, Week 3, Day 2, students have the opportunity to practice writing letters in context. During the Guided Writing Practice, the teacher states: “Lips starts with the /l/ sound. What letter is that? Write the letter l with me on your wipe-off boards. What sound do you hear next in liiips? What letter spells that sound? Write the letter i with me next to the letter l.”
• In Being a Writer, Extension component, Unit 6, Week 2, Day 1, students have the opportunity to explore capitalizing the pronoun I. “Show the cover of the book I Love School! And read the title aloud. Point to the word I in the title, and remind the students that when you are writing about yourself you use the word I.”
• In Being a Writer, Unit 4, students have the opportunity to practice understanding and using question words, and students have the opportunity to answer questions the teacher asks about the text. Students also answer questions about the classroom in order to make a Facts About Our Classroom class book.
• In Being a Reader, Week 26, Day 3, students have the opportunity to practice using frequently-occurring nouns and verbs based on the read aloud, Here are My Hands. Students change out nouns and verbs for other nouns and verbs.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks directly teach foundational skills to build reading acquisition by providing systematic and explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, letter-sound relationships, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness (K-1), and phonics (K-2) that demonstrate a transparent and research-based progression for application both in and out of context.

Foundational skills are presented to explicitly address phonological awareness, phonics, and word recognition. Phonemic awareness is taught explicitly in the Shared Reading lessons in the Being a Reader Teacher Manual. In addition, foundational skills and differentiated instruction that includes phonics and decoding are incorporated in the Small-group Reading sets of the Being a Reader materials. These skills are taught in a logical progression that increases in difficulty throughout the year.

Students have frequent and adequate opportunities to learn and understand phonemes (e.g. produce rhyming words, segment syllables, blend onsets and rimes, pronounce vowels in CVC words, and substitute sounds to make new words). For example:

• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 6, Day 2, students are introduced to rhyming words from the read aloud and practice identifying rhyming words in context. “Tell the students that now they will find other rhyming words in Hands Can. Explain that you will read part of the book again, two sentences at a time, and the students will read aloud after you. Ask the students to listen for rhyming words as you read. Read aloud the sentences on pages 3–5; then have the students read them aloud. Ask, “What two words rhyme (sound the same at the end) in these sentences?”
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 13, Day 2, students review syllables by first clapping their names, then students clap and determine how many syllables are in the highlighted words from their shared reading of the poem, “Windshield Wipers.” Next, students sort words by number of syllables. “Show the students the card for the word windshield. Read the word aloud and then have the students repeat the word and clap on the syllables. Ask, How many syllables do you hear in windshield?”
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 3, Week 5, Day 2, students identify rhyming during the Sound Sort: “What sounds do you hear at the end of hat? Does hat rhyme with cat or with fan?”

Lessons and activities provide students adequate opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills while decoding words (e.g. one-to-one correspondences, long and short sounds with common spellings, and distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying sounds of the letters). For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 1, Week 1, students are introduced to the vowel sound /o/ and its associated letter name. Students also practice tracing the letter name on their tables and say the sound /o/. “Explain that today’s sound is /ŏ/, and have the students say the sound. Point to the alphabet wall card for Oo. Explain that the picture of the octopus will help them remember the sound /ŏ/ because the word octopus begins with the sound /ŏ/. Write o on your wipe-off board, point to the spelling, and say the letter name. Tell the students that the letter o stands for the sound /ŏ/. Have the students repeat the sound as you point to the spelling. Then have the students each trace the letter o on the table in front of them with one finger as they say /ŏ/.”
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 1, Week 3, Day 1, students learn the spelling-sound a /a/. For example, the teacher materials state: “Point to the alphabet wall card for Aa. Explain that the picture of the apple will help them remember the sound /a/ because the word apple begins with the sound /a/. Write a on your wipe-off board, point to the spelling, and say the letter name. Tell the students that the letter a stands for the sound /a/. Have students repeat the sound as you point to the spelling. Then have the students trace the letter a on the table in front of them with one finger as the say /a/.”
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 2, Week 8, Day 1, “Some students are confused by the different pronunciations of say and says because their spellings are similar. You may wish to display the words side by side. Direct the students’ attention to the ending -s and the change in pronunciation. Then have them chorally read both words several times as you point to them.”

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonological awareness instruction to build toward application. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group, students learn phonological awareness. In Set 1, students learn beginning sounds such as /s/, /n/, /m/. In Set 1, 2 and 3, students learn middles sounds. In Set 1 and Set 2, students learn ending sounds. Students blend onsets and rimes in Set 2 and Set 3.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonics instruction to build toward application. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group, students start by learning single consonants and short vowels with CVC in Set 1 and 2. By Sets 3-4, students apply their learning of single consonants and short vowels.
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Sets 1-5, each lesson introduces a new high frequency word and also reviews previous words from prior lessons. “Introduce the High-frequency Word here “We are all here in the classroom.” Introduce here by saying the word as you show the word card to the students. Use the word in a sentence. Have the students read it and spell it twice, and then read it a third time. Review High-frequency Words Review the previously introduced high-frequency words by showing each word in the review deck and having the students read it, spell it, and read it again.

The materials reviewed for Center for the Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks provide explicit instruction for and regular practice to address the acquisition of print concepts, including alphabetic knowledge, directionality, and function (K-1), structures and features of text (1-2).

The Kindergarten materials provided resources for teachers to use to teach students about print concepts. The Shared Reading lessons provided teacher directed modeling, guided practice and independent practice for students to master these skills. Books that were used during the Shared Read alouds were revisited throughout the week, and students continued to work on skills associated with the books. Text functions such as directionality of text and spacing were taught through whole group choral reading.

Materials include frequent and adequate lessons and activities for students to learn how to identify and produce letters. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 1, Guided Spelling Week 1, students learn to identify and write letters. For example, students learn to identify and write the letter s. “Explain that today the students will write the letter s, which stands for the sound /s/. Hope up your wipe-off board and demonstrate how to form the lowercase letter s as you say /s/. Then have the students write the letter s on the lined side of their wipe-off boards as they say /s/.”
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 2, Day 2, the teacher rereads the text, The Alphabet, from the previous day’s lesson. Afterwards, the class reads alphabet cards together. Each student then receives a letter and the class works together to put the alphabet in order. Students also go through a routine where they practice learning their classmates names when the teacher pulls out a name card from an envelope one letter at a time and discussing the letters/sounds as the names are revealed.
• In Being a Reader, Appendix E, Letter-Name Instruction shares the research used in creating the Small-Group letter name instruction that combines discovery-based learning, direct instruction, and facilitated practice. The appendix provides different activities such as Name Strips, Card Decks and Alphabet Mats that can be used in Small-Group instruction. It also provides independent activities for example, alphabet puzzles, tracing letters, and matching capital and lowercase letter cards.

Materials include frequent and adequate tasks and questions about the organization of print concepts (e.g. follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing, upper- and lowercase letters). For example:

• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 3, Days 1-3, students participate in a choral reading of, “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and the teacher uses a pointer to show reading from left to right and sweeping. “Explain that now the students will chorally read “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” and you will use the pointer to point under each word. Ask them to watch carefully where the pointer moves when it reaches the end of each line of the song. Chorally read the song and stop at the end of line 7. Ask: Where do I need to move the pointer now? Why do you think that?”
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 1 Day 3, after reading aloud the text Gossie, the teacher discusses the spaces between words with students. “Tell the students that now they will look at some words in the story. Turn to page 3 and echo read it one sentence at a time. Point under each word as it is read. Remind the students that written words are separated by spaces. Point under the first word on page 3 - This - and read it aloud. Point to the space after This and tell the students that this space separates the word This from the next word in the sentence - is…”
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 11, Day 3, the teacher models how to read a poem with a partner and how to read the poem by pointing to the words as the student reads. “Also point out that each of you used a finger to point under the words as you read, and explain that pointing under each word is important because it helps you and your partner read the same words at the same time.”

The materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are frequently built into the materials for students to practice and gain decoding automaticity and sight-based recognition of high-frequency words. This includes reading fluency in oral reading beginning in mid Grade 1 and through Grade 2.

Students have multiple opportunities over the course of the year to read emergent texts within Being a Reader: Independent Work, Shared Reading, Small Group Reading, and Making Meaning. The instructional core materials also provide opportunities for students to practice automaticity and accuracy of grade level decodable words through choral reading, echo reading, sound sorts, and the sound cards. Students also have multiple opportunities to practice high-frequency words during shared reading and in small group reading.

Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to purposefully read emergent-reader texts. For example:

• Every week, after the students start small-group reading, students read emergent-level texts from their small groups in the reading area during independent work rotations.
• Appendix C of Being a Reader Teacher’s Manual provides the title of the texts read during Shared Reading lessons. An example of some of the texts are: Barnyard Banter, I Went Walking, I Love Bugs and Here are My Hands.
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 1, Week 2, Day 2, Emergent Reader Text, We Can’t See!, the teacher starts by introducing the text and some of the words students will come across in the text. “Tell the students that this story is about two children who are waiting for something exciting. They cannot see, because there are a lot of people in the way. Show the students the crowd in the picture on the cover. Open to page 2, and ask the students to find today’s new word, isn’t. Then point to page 3 and ask students to find the new word can’t. Write the word here on your wipe-off board and read it for the students. Have the students say the word. Tell the students that they will see this word in today’s book.”
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 4, Week 3, Day 1, students reread the book Life in a Plains Tribe, Part I in a quiet voice. The teacher monitors and supports students who are struggling to read the book.

Materials support students’ development of automaticity and accuracy of grade-level decodable words over the course of the year. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 1, Week 3, Day 1, students practice blending decodable words. The teacher models how to blend sounds to read the word at. The teacher has students write the following words on their wipe-off boards: Nan, tan, mat, man, Sam, sat. “Point to the left of Nan. Then point to each letter as the students say the sounds. Point back to the beginning of the word and sweep under it as the students read it.”
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 7, Day 3, students are introduced to “Read the Word Cards” and practice sorting words from the shared reading texts by first letters. Students also practice chorally reading the words. “Introduce and Read the Word Cards. Explain that you wrote the names of some of the round objects in the book on index cards. Show the students the first word card, read it aloud, and have the students read it aloud with you. Show the second word card, read it aloud, and have the students read it with you. Use this procedure to have the class read all of the words.

Students have opportunities to read and practice high-frequency words.

• High-Frequency Words: A repertoire of high-frequency words supports students’ automaticity in reading connected text. After you introduce each word, the students read and spell it, which focuses the students’ attention on the left-to-right sequence of letters. High-frequency words are reviewed daily and are added cumulatively to the weekly books. Word cards that can be added to the class word wall are provided, as well as a “Word Bank” that the students can use for reference. (From Being a Reader, Small Group Reading, Elements of Instruction)
• In Being a Reader, Set 2, Week 8, Day 1, “Some students are confused by the different pronunciations of say and says because their spellings are similar. You may wish to display the words side by side. Direct the students’ attentions to the ending -s and the change in pronunciation. Then have them chorally read both words several times as you point to them.”
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 4, Week 6, Day 2, students learn the high-frequency word, too. The teacher introduces the word too by showing the word card with too and then using too in a sentence: “I like watching movies and I like reading books, too.” Students read it and spell it twice. Then students read the word a third time.

The materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks providing systematic and explicit instruction in and practice of word recognition and analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected text and tasks.

In Kindergarten, word analysis skills are explicitly taught across writing and reading tasks. When working in whole group writing tasks, the teacher models sounding out words with students and has students follow along, writing the words on their whiteboards. Letter/sound correspondence was also discussed in the Being a Reader small group sets. High-frequency words and the use of a word wall is also referenced and utilized in the Being a Reader small group sets, in the Being a Reader shared read-alouds and in the Being a Writer teacher’s manual, which provides lots of practice for students with these words.

Materials support students’ development to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills (e.g. one-to-one correspondences, syllable segmentation, rime and onset recognition, long and short sounds with common spellings and distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying sounds of the letters) in connected text and tasks. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 11, Day 3, students echo read Hands On and review rhyming words in context. “Which two words rhyme in these sentences?” Then students play a rhyming game with words in the pocket chart. “Do [row] and [hold] rhyme? How do you know?”
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 13, Day 1, students echo read a poem and figure out alliterative words. “Explain that now the students will echo read the title and the first two lines of the poem and highlight any words that are near each other and start with the sound /w/. Echo read the title as you point under each word. Then ask: “Do you hear any words in this line that start with the /w/ sound? What are they?”
• In Being a Reader, Small Group Reading, Set 1, Week 1, Day 2, students practice one-to-one correspondence. “Explain to the students that when they read their books, they will start on the first page and point to each word on the page as they read it. Tell them that if they finish reading the book, they will turn back to the first page and read it again.”

Materials provide frequent opportunities to read high-frequency words in connected text and tasks. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 1, Week 4, Day 2, students read It Can Sit!, which contains the high-frequency word yes. The word yes was taught earlier in the lesson.
• In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 2, Week 7, students read Fish for Max, which contains the high-frequency word out. Students learned out earlier in the lesson.

Lessons and activities provide students many opportunities to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills while encoding (writing) in context and decoding words (reading) in connected text and tasks. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 24, Day 1, students discuss rhyme and repetition of a poem called “I’m a Yellow-billed Duck.” “What do you notice about the words in the part of the poem we just read?”
• In Being a Reader, Shared Reading, Week 27, Day 3, students chorally read I Love Bugs! And then students clap syllables in bug names from the text.
• In Being a Writer, Unit 2, Week 4, Day 2, when making a class list together the teacher encourages students to think about the sounds that they hear in the words they are writing.
• In Being a Writer, Unit 2, Week 5, Day 1, the word wall is introduced. In the teacher instructions, teachers are informed that for Unit 2 they will be provided words to add to the wall each week, but beyond that unit, it is the teacher’s judgement which words to add to the wall.

The materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials supporting ongoing and frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills, including a clear and specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments will be supported.

Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the school year to assess where a student is in relation to foundational skills. The beginning level mastery tests provide opportunities to assess students’ skills in letter sounds and blending. Sight word knowledge is also assessed. The assessments are to be completed every 2-3 weeks throughout the school year, which provides teachers with relevant assessment data over the course of the school year. Whole group assessments are provided for teachers in the K-2 Assessment Manual. Based on how students perform on the assessments, teachers are often provided with instructional suggestions to support students who are struggling.

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of foundational skills. For example:

• Mastery Tests for Small-group Reading Sets 1-5, a Mastery Test Assessment Note occurs once every four weeks in Small-group Reading Sets 1-5. This test assesses how well individual students are learning the spelling-sounds and high-frequency words taught in Small-group Reading Sets 1-5. For example, in Mastery Test 1, the teacher assesses students’ spelling-sounds knowledge of s, n, m, t, a and high frequency words: he, she, can’t, isn’t, to, get
• In Being a Writer, there are weekly Class Assessment Records that are used to assess the class progress in specific skills. For example, In Being a Writer, Unit 2, Week 1, Day 2 the Class Assessment Record includes the questions: “Are they writing letters? Words? Letter-like symbols that stand for writing?” In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 2 the Class Assessment Record includes the questions: “Are they using letters, words, or letter-like symbols to label their drawings? Are they using the letter-sound relationships from their phonics instruction in their writing?”
• The Individual Reading Observation for Small-group Reading includes the following suggestions for supporting readers:
• If the student struggles with a word for more than a few seconds, read the word for the student.
• If the student struggles to read a particular type of word (e.g., high-frequency words, polysyllabic words, words with inflectional endings), you may want to address this during an individual conference at another time.
• If the student incorrectly reads a word and does not self-correct, ask the student to reread the sentence.
• If the student incorrectly reads a sentence or a passage aloud and does not recognize the error, you may want to stop the student and ask, “Does that make sense?” You may need to paraphrase what was read aloud. Encourage the student to go back and reread.
• If the student struggles to reads fluently, you may want to address this during a Small-group Reading lesson on fluency or during an individual conference.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information of students’ current skills/level of understanding. For example:

• Placement assessments help identify students’ reading levels for small-group reading instruction. Assessment of students is suggested to take place the third or fourth week of school. The Placement Assessments for Small-group Reading Sets 1-5 measure each student’s use of spelling-sound correspondences to read decodable words and each student’s knowledge of letters and high-frequency words.
• In Being a Reader, Small Group Reading, Week 2, Day 3, Group Progress Assessment GA1, student’s progress is assessed with the following question: “Is the group mastering the high-frequency words taught in the lessons?” The teacher is to mark a check in one of the following columns- All or most students, About half of the students, Only a few students.

Materials support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in foundational skills. For example:

• In Being a Reader, Small Group Reading, Set 1, Week 1, Day 3, the Teacher Note column provides the teachers with opportunities to make instructional adjustments for print awareness to support students in mastery of grade level foundation skills. “Teacher Note- Observe the students’ reading behavior. Support students who struggle with directionality or with pointing under each word as they read.”
• In Being a Reader, Small Group Reading, Week 2, Day 3, Group Progress Assessment GA1, the student’s progress is assessed with the following question: “Is the group mastering the high-frequency words taught in the lessons?” The teacher is to mark a check in one of the following columns- All or most students, About half of the students, Only a few students- the following suggestion is given at the bottom of the assessment: Support struggling students with a reteach of the content: see “Reteach with The Pet” at the end of Set 2, Week 2.
• After administering the Placement Assessment, in the Being a Reader Teacher Manual instructions are provided for how to form small groups based on student performance.Forming Small Groups: “You will form differentiated small groups after finishing beginning-of-the-year placement assessments and setting the foundation for independent work. In kindergarten, it is likely that some students will be ready for small-group instruction earlier in the year than other students. For students who are not ready for reading instruction, use the suggestions in Appendix E, “Letter-name Instruction,” in your grade-level whole-class Being a Reader Teacher’s Manual to teach letter names.”

The materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks providing high-quality lessons and activities that allow for differentiation of foundational skills, so all students achieve mastery of foundational skills.

The materials provide high quality lessons in foundational skills throughout the school year. This is done through Being a Reader and Making Meaning The materials provide teachers with opportunities for differentiation through small group reading sets. Teachers are also provided with guidance and support for each lesson in the teacher column of the lesson plan. Skills are also repeated numerous times throughout the school year to help students build mastery and independence in foundational skills.

Materials provide high-quality learning lessons and activities for every student to reach mastery of foundational skills. For example:

In Being a Reader, the lessons provide the teacher with suggestions for scaffolding, as well as a lesson plan that is structured the same week to week. The students are provided with multi-sensory approaches to work toward mastery of foundational skills such as clapping, picture cards, and using their fingers to trace letters on their desks. The lessons allow students to practice and apply what they learned from the Read Aloud and allow time for teachers to informally monitor and reflect on student progress.

In Being a Reader, Week 2, Day 2, teachers are provided with a segmenting support note in the margins that states, “For segmenting activities, draw out continuous sounds and leave a very short pause between sounds (/ss/ /ăă/ /mm/, not /ssăămm/).”

In Being a Reader, Small Group Reading, the lessons are structured the same from week to week and provide teachers with guidance for scaffolding support in the Teacher Note column/sidebar. Students are introduced to new high frequency words each lesson and review the words from the previous lesson. Students are introduced to phonological awareness, sound-spelling, and frequency words before reading their decodable reader for that lesson. Students also participate in Guided Spelling at the end of each lesson.

In Being a Reader, Set 1, Week 1, Day 1, teachers are informed, “In this lesson, the students: Practice oral blending, Learn the spelling-sounds s /s/, Identify beginning sounds, Learn the procedure for the sound sort, Learn the high-frequency word he, Review high-frequency words.”

Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support each student’s needs. For example:

In Being a Reader, Set 1, Week 1, Day , when students are working on identifying beginning sounds, the teacher is provided with ideas to support students who are struggling with segmenting, “If the students struggle to identify the first sound, you might use a visual aid. Draw three blanks side by side on a wipe-off board and point to each blank as you say the sounds. Then ask the students to say the word slowly as you point to each blank. Finally, point to the first blank and ask the students to identify the first sound.”

In Being a Reader, Small Group, Set 2, students have the opportunity to continue to practice skills taught in the previous set. Students are taught spelling-sounds b /b/,p /p/,l /l/,g /g/, short e,w /w/, th/th/, th/TH/,y /y/,v /v/,sh /sh/,x /ks/,ch -tch /ch/,z /z/,j -dge /j/. In Set 3, the students participate in guided spelling of words that contain these spelling-sounds (which, when, whiz, mush, test, bag, shut).

In Being a Reader, Week 17, Day 1, teachers are advised to “Page through Millions of Snowflakes and tell the students the word for each place the snowflakes land in the story (nose, eyes, tongue, chin, hand, house, tree, ground, me). Invite the students to share how to say each of those words in their primary language.”

Students have multiple practice opportunities with each grade level foundational skill component in order to reach mastery. For example:

Students first begin with a placement test that allows for differentiation of foundational skills. Students are then placed in small group readers depending on their placement tests. Opportunities for additional support of foundational skills are provided in the Being a Reader, Small Group Reading.

In Being a Reader, Set 1, Week 7, Day 3, Identifying Middle Sounds, “Tell the students that today they will listen for the sound they hear in the middle of a word. Explain that you will say a word, and they will say the middle sound. Practice, using the word not. First day the word once normally, then say the word twice, emphasizing the middle sound.” Some of the words that students identify the middle sound in include: sun, hat, dim, fun, Dan, miss. This skill is again repeated in Set 1, Week 3, Day 2. “Tell students that today they will listen for the sound they hear in the middle of a word. Explain that you will say a word, and they will say the middle sound. Practice, using the word pet. First say the word once normally, then say the word twice, emphasizing the middle sound.” Students also identify the middle sound in the following words: whip, job, zip, whiz, zap, jet.