1st Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for anchor texts (including read aloud texts in K-2 and shared reading texts in Grade 2 used to build knowledge and vocabulary) are of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading/listening and consider a range of student interests.

The texts provide content that is relevant and interesting to students. Anchor texts across the yearlong curriculum are of publishable quality. Anchor texts consider a range of student interests and are well-crafted and content-rich. Examples include:

• Module 1:
  • The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens is a clever twist on the Little Red Hen. After no other school supplies will help the little red pen grade papers, they must work together to save the pen after she falls into the trash can. The text has engaging text features, such as speech bubbles and bolded, colorful font.
  • Use Science Tools by Kelli Hicks is an informational text and has appealing photographs of students and scientists showing a range of diversity in race, gender, and age. The photos demonstrate the use of the tools as used in science with children conducting the demonstrations.
• Module 2:
  • Sun and Moon by Lindsey Yankey is a text that engages students in the story by using simple sentences and pictures that are student-friendly. The content of the text has a different perspective and helps students to see that while something may seem better it may not be always what it seems.
  • Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle tells the story of Monica, who stretches her arms but is unable to grab the moon. How Papa gets the moon for the daughter is imaginative, especially with Carle’s illustrations, and will engage students at this grade level.
• Module 3:
  • Flight School by Lita Judge captures students’ attention because the cover portrays an owl that is dressed up. Students in the story learn about how other birds are not able to fly, which birds are able to fly, and what it takes for birds to learn to fly. The text includes pictures that engage students in learning. There is a rich quality of vocabulary words provided, such as “immediately,” “flap,” and “broken-hearted.” The pictures are kid-friendly as evidenced by their vivid colors.
  • Beaks by Sneed Collard III is an informational picture book that looks at the adaptations of bird beaks, beak qualities, and specific beak uses. The text poses questions that students will find engaging, and the illustrations are realistic as they demonstrate how the beaks appear in reality.
• Module 4:
  • City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male by Meghan McCarthy allows for a variety of learning to occur, such as what it’s like to move, how to settle into a new life, and the path that the bird takes in order to make a new friend. The illustrations engage students in learning since the text is based on a true story of a bird in New York City.
  • Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers portrays the friendship between a boy and a penguin that he believes to be lost. The boy tries to take the penguin back to its Antarctic home, which is an engaging idea. The illustrations add to the humor of the text.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of indicator 1b. Materials reflect the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards at each grade level.

There is balance of literary and informational text in time spent on different types of texts. The majority of required texts for the Grade 1 Modules are literary texts, which include stories and poetry. To supplement the texts types and genres, educators can use the Grade 1 Recommended Texts and Other Resources List. According to the Module 1 Teacher Guide, “Throughout the module, to support a volume of reading on this topic, see the Recommended Texts and Other Resources list” (p. 43). During the Labs, there are recommended texts for Storytime. The majority of these recommended texts are also literary texts. Examples of the Module required texts include:

• Literature Texts:
  • Module 1: The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires andThe Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens
  • Module 2: Summer Sun Risin’ by W. Nicola-Lisa and Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me by Eric Carle
  • Module 3: Birds by Kevin Henkes and A Place for Birds by Melissa Stewart
  • Module 4: City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male by Meghan McCarthy and Lost and Found by Penguin Young Readers
• Informational Texts:
  • Module 1: A Chef’s Tools by Holden Strauss and I Use Science Tools by Kelli Hicks
  • Module 2: Does the Sun Sleep?: Noticing Sun, Moon, and Star Patterns by Martha E.H. Rustad and Sun and Moon by Lindsay Yankey
  • Module 3: Birds by Penelope Arlon and Beaks by Sneed Collard
  • Module 4: The Lion and the Bird by Marianne Dubuffet and “What’s Best? The Debate about Pale Male?” by EL Education

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for texts (including read-aloud texts and some shared reading texts used to build knowledge and vocabulary) that have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade level according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and a relationship to their associated student task. Read-aloud texts at K-2 are above the complexity levels of what most students can read independently.

Grade 1 read-aloud texts are two to three grade levels higher in complexity according to quantitative and qualitative analysis and the relationship to their associated student task. Anchor texts are placed at the appropriate grade level. Examples of text that demonstrate the appropriate complexity include:

• Module 1:
  • The Little Red Pen by Janet Stevens has a Lexile score of 300. The text has moderately complex meaning/purpose, text structure, and language features. Readers have to infer the central message and the plot is told through dialogue. The knowledge demands are slightly complex as the experience is imaginative but includes familiar objects and settings.
• Module 2:
  • What Makes Day and Night by Franklyn Branley falls in the K-1 Lexile band with a Lexile score of 230. This illustrated science book explains what makes day and night using simple language and clear diagrams. Meaning/purpose, text structure, language features, knowledge demands are all moderately complex. The text is structured to logically build an understanding of the scientific concepts needed to understand what makes day and night, using diagrams and labeled illustrations. The vocabulary is mostly familiar and not overly technical. The text includes a mix of simple and more complicated ideas.
• Module 3:
  • Just Ducks by Nicola Davies falls in the 4-5 grade Lexile Band with a Lexile score of 940. The purpose/meaning of the text is moderately complex since students will need to infer some of the meaning throughout the text by following the storyline and using information from the captions. The text structure is moderately complex with chronological order, but contains different fonts. The language features are moderately complex since the vocabulary used throughout the text is more complex as is the punctuation used, such as ellipsis, exclamation points and dashes. The knowledge demands are slightly complex, most students will have the appropriate background knowledge needed to understand the story.
• Module 4:
  • City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male by Meghan McCarthy falls in the 4-5 grade Lexile band with a Lexile score of 880. The meaning/purpose and language features are moderately complex. There are multiple levels of meaning and some vocabulary may be unfamiliar. The text structure and knowledge demands are slightly complex with a clear, chronological storyline and the experiences will be familiar to many readers.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ literacy skills (comprehension) over the course of the school year through increasingly complex text to develop independence of grade level skills (leveled readers and series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels).

Complex texts are read aloud to Grade 1 students during the Module lessons to guide students to understand the Guiding Questions and Big Ideas. Students are guided to understand increasingly complex texts to develop independence of grade level skills.

• In Module 1, the teacher uses Close read-aloud, Focused read-aloud to read complex texts aloud to students. In Unit 1, students play with tools and draw and label various tools (cooking, math, best for the job) to develop language about tools. The teacher reads complex texts about tools and shows students pictures from the texts. Sentence starters are provided for students to use to share their understanding. When the teacher reads aloud The Most Magnificent Thing, students co-create a Frayer model and students use a Magnificent Thing recording form to document.
• In Module 2, the teacher uses Close read-aloud and Focused read-aloud to read complex texts to students. To help students understand Summer Sun, Risin’, and Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, and Sun and Moon, the students participate in role playing for characters, setting, and events. To scaffold student understanding of the informational text, Does the Sun Sleep? Noticing Sun, Moon, and Star Patterns, there are science videos, experiments, demonstrations, and simulations.
• In Module 3, the teacher reads aloud complex texts to students. Students use a Birds Research notebook to document their learning from the read alouds (Birds and Just Birds). Students participate in Science Talks to discuss what they learned from the complex read-alouds. By Unit 3, students gain background knowledge from the complex text read-alouds to independently read text in order to research birds.
• In Module 4, the teacher uses Close read-aloud and Focused read-aloud to read complex texts to students. In Unit 1, the teacher reads aloud The Lion and the Bird and Pierre the Penguin. To help students comprehend and compare the texts, students participate in role-playing. The teacher leads students through shared writing to compare the characters’ experiences. In Unit 2, students participate in more role-playing to understand the Focused read-aloud complex text, City Hawk: The Story of Pale Male. To help students understand the complex text, “What’s Best? The Debate about Pale Male’s Nest,” students participate in a text-based discussion and pair share.

During Storytime in the Labs, students hear texts read aloud for an additional 10 minutes. These read-alouds and Labs help scaffold student learning of the module topics and texts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that support materials for the core text(s) provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to support their reading at grade level by the end of the school year.

There is a Required Trade Book Procurement List and a Recommended Texts and Other Resources List. These lists contain a range and volume of informational and literary texts that students read or have read to them during Module lessons. Other opportunities for engaging in reading include daily ten-minute read-alouds in the Labs, decodables in the Skills Block, and Accountable Independent Reading in the Skills Block. The instructions for Grade 1 independent reading are not explicit, teachers will need to plan for independent reading.

Instructional materials identify opportunities and supports for students to engage in reading (and reading aloud) a variety and volume of texts to become independent readers and/or comprehenders as they grow toward reading independence at the grade level. Examples include:

• During Module lessons, students hear a variety of read-aloud texts about the following topics: tools and work; the sun, moon, and stars; birds’ amazing bodies; and caring for birds. Students hear texts read aloud by the teacher. Texts include I Use Science Tools, Kitten’s First Full Moon, and Beaks!.
• During the K-2 Reading Foundations Skills Block, students have the opportunity to read decodable readers. For example, in Module 3, Part 2, Cycle 15, Lesson 77, students read “James and Sam Make a Flame.”
• During Independent Rotations, students participate in Accountable Independent Reading (AIR), which requires students to choose books to read independently. AIR is a time for “students to apply the skills and build stamina, automaticity, and comprehension by reading a large volume of texts of their own choice, with a specific focus on their own personal reading goals."
• During the Lab Storytime, students hear ten minutes of a read aloud text at the beginning of the Lab. The teacher selects a read aloud text from the Recommended Texts and Other Resources List, and the teacher provides a focus question for students to think about as the teacher reads the text aloud. Students participate in a Research Lab, which allows students to select appropriate texts from a range of levels about content literacy.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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).

The materials contain questions and instructional tasks designed to encourage understanding of key ideas of texts and determine the most important learning from the readings. Text-dependent questions and tasks are specifically included in the anchor text and through close reading sessions that occur in lessons and support explicit as well as valid inferences. As stated in Your Curriculum Companion on page 275, “In each session, students are lifted to greater understanding of the text through purposeful text-dependent questions and activities.” These text-dependent questions are typically found in activities with structured protocols requiring discourse such as: Back-to-Back, Face-to-Face, Think-Pair-Share, and Pinky Partners. Additionally, text-dependent questions are found on Unit Assessments and Student Response Sheets. Text-dependent questions would be stronger if they prompted students by asking, “What evidence from the text helped you answer this question.”

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, students listen to the story, The Most Magnificent Thing. After hearing page 2, students are asked explicit questions from the text such as, “What did the girl decide to do?” After listening to pages 4 and 5, students are asked, “Whom does she pick to help her? Why do you think she did this?”
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 3, students listen to Summer Sun Risin'. After listening to pages 5 and 6, students are asked to answer the following questions from the text, “What is the boy doing? What is the sun doing? Where is the sun?”
• In Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 2, students listen to Feathers: Not Just for Flying. After listening to the story, the teacher asks a question about main idea and text features: “How might some of these jobs help birds survive?” Students are expected to provide a response that connects directly to the text (The heron’s feathers create shade so that the bird can find fish and frogs to eat. The heron must eat to survive.) After reviewing specific structures throughout the book, the teacher prompts, “If we understand how the pages are organized, how would that help us find the information we need?” Students are to respond with direct evidence from the book such as, “The heading tells us the feather’s job, the text box gives more explanation, the caption tells us what kind of bird has that kind of feathers, and the pictures show us the feathers and the birds.”
• In Module 4, Unit 3, Lesson 2, during the Focused Read Aloud of A Place for Birds, the teacher briefly reviews author’s point of view using key details and illustrations. After a short picture walk, the teacher reads pages 1-2 and then stops to ask, “Based on these pages, what do you think the author’s point is?” The students are expected to respond with something similar to, “People do things to hurt birds, but people can do things to help birds, too.” The teacher then extends the conversation asking students, “Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why? I’ll give you time to think.” After reading pages 5-6, the teacher stops again to ask, “How does the illustration show what this page is about?” Students are expected to respond with something similar to, “It shows the birds using a small birdhouse.” The teacher prompts, “How does this support the author’s point?” Again, students are expected to respond with something similar to, “It shows how birds need houses and birdhouses help them with a place to live.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials containing sets of high-quality sequences of text-based questions with activities that build to a culminating task which integrates skills to demonstrate understanding (as appropriate, may be drawing, dictating, writing, speaking, or a combination).

Materials offer numerous opportunities for students to engage with text-based questions and activities that build to a culminating task. The close reading/read aloud sessions in the Module lessons are taught across five lessons to support comprehension and knowledge building from the text. Following these lessons, students demonstrate their understanding of the text through a variety of activities involving writing, drawing, and speaking. Students also have daily opportunities to participate in collaborative conversations and the teacher records ideas on an Anchor Chart displayed in the classroom. In addition, students complete written responses in notebooks and journals that require reference back to the text and give the teacher usable information about students’ readiness to complete the culminating task. The culminating task for each module is found in Unit 3 and is called a performance task. This task gives students the opportunity to demonstrate their content and literacy knowledge from the module through a combination of literacy skills including reading, writing, drawing, and speaking and listening.

The Module 1 Performance Task requires students to incorporate their knowledge about tools to create a magnificent work in a small group that fulfills a need or solves a problem within the classroom. Students independently write a description of what their group created, why they created it, and how they used tools to create it. Lessons throughout the Module prepare students to complete the culminating task. In Unit 2, Lesson 6, the teacher displays The Most Magnificent Thing Recording Form and reads the following prompt: “How was the little girl able to make such a magnificent thing?" Students must show examples from the story and are reminded that it may be helpful to them as writers to first draw and then write. In the Unit 2 Assessment, students engage in a focused read-aloud of The Little Red Pen. Students ask and answer questions about the characters’ words and actions, use context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary from the text, and make connections between the illustrations and the text. Students write to show their understanding of the text by responding to the final focus question using text evidence: “How are the characters showing collaboration in this part of the text? What work does this help them do?”

The Module 2 Performance Task requires students to incorporate their knowledge about the sun, moon, and stars to use feedback from peers and from the teacher to revise and edit their “What the Sun Sees” poems from the Unit 3 Assessment. Students are expected to use the High-Quality Work Anchor Chart and the High-Quality Narrative Poem Checklist to create a quality final piece of writing. Lessons throughout the Module prepare students to complete the culminating task. In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Close Read/Read Aloud Session 3, the teacher invites students to turn and talk with an elbow partner after reading Summer Sun Risin’ to discuss the following question: “Why did the author decide to use different words to describe what the sun is doing on this page? Why did the author use the words pauses and waits?” In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Work Time A, after rereading the text, What the Moon Sees, the teacher displays the What the Moon Sees Anchor Chart and informs students that they are going to review the illustrations to generate ideas of what the moon sees at night during this story.

The Module 3 Performance Task requires students to create two cards to demonstrate their expertise about how a bird uses specific body parts to survive. The Expert Bird Riddle card contains an informational riddle that teaches the reader about a specific bird’s key body parts and how those parts aid in survival. The Expert Bird Scientific Drawing card contains a black-and-white scientific drawing of the expert bird that accurately depicts the bird’s external anatomy. Lessons throughout the Module prepare students to complete the culminating task. In Unit 2, Lesson 6, students discuss the guiding question, “How do birds use their body parts to survive?”, using the Pinky Partners protocol. In Unit 3, Lesson 1, students use Little Kids First Big Book of Birds to begin their research to write riddle cards. Students work with a partner to explore the pages of this book, listening for a question and then looking through the book to find the answer. Students use text features such as illustrations, headings, captions, and labels to help them to read each page and locate information.

The Module 4 Performance Task requires students to create a piece of artwork titled “Feathered Friends Saver” along with writing that serves an authentic need in their school or local community. Students create a scientific drawing of a local bird and write an informational paragraph about birds. Students are asked to display the Feathered Friends Savers in the school or deliver them to a local organization, so that they can be hung to prevent birds from flying into window. Lessons throughout the Module prepare students to complete the culminating task. In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Culminating Task, students are partnered with a reading buddy to read their notes about the problem in The Lion and the Bird from their Stories of Bird Helpers response journal. Using a total participation technique, students state the problem using a complete sentence. If necessary, students are supported with the following sentence stem: “The problem in The Lion and the Bird is...” The process is repeated for discussing the story’s solution and author’s message with the following sentence stems: “The problem in The Lion and the Bird is solved when... The author’s message in The Lion and the Bird is...” In Unit 1, Lesson 2, students complete their Stories of Bird Helpers Response Journal after reading The Lion and the Bird, Part I. students use evidence from the text to support their thinking by answering the following questions: “What happens to the bird? Why is this a problem?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small groups, peer-to-peer, whole class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

Protocols are provided for evidence-based discussions. These protocols give each task structure and provide supportive scaffolds. The Your Curriculum Companion Guide provides the rationale for program protocols and the importance of modeling and using sentence frames to deepen student discourse for all students, including ELL and struggling students. Protocols are provided for Think-Pair-Share, Back-to-Back, Face-to-Face, and Pinky Partners discussion activities. Several protocols also exist to promote language and academic vocabulary development such as the Frayer Model, Interactive Word Walls, and Contextual Redefinition. Students utilize these protocols to analyze and synthesize author’s intent and understand the syntax of the text. The teacher is provided multiple anchor charts and answer keys to support teaching the protocols effectively. A companion book, Classroom Protocols, provides protocols for facilitating evidence-based discussions, encouraging the modeling and usage of academic vocabulary, emphasizing the learning and usage of new vocabulary, and conducting informal checks of understanding. While these strategies are utilized throughout the program they are listed in one area as an efficient tool for educators to use to differentiate instruction.

Text-based discussions are emphasized in the Close Read/Read Aloud lessons. Each of these sessions provides an opportunity for students to discuss their responses to questions that are largely based on the text itself, looking closely at words, sentences, and ideas presented in the text. Language Dives help guide conversations among students about specific words, phrases, and sentences to better understand complex syntax. Total participation techniques such as Turn-and-Talk, Cold-Call and Equity Sticks are also utilized to engage all students in responding to text-based questions and prompts.

Examples of protocols and opportunities for evidence-based discussions that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax include, but are not limited to:

• In Module 1, Teacher Guide Overview, students build their literacy and citizenship skills as they engage in a study of tools and work. Students first learn about how tools help to do a job. They then extend their understanding of what it takes to do a job when they learn how the “habits of character” ofinitiative, collaboration, perseverance, and responsibility help them do work. Throughout the Module, students are introduced to hand tools through a series of "tool challenges" where they are presented with a dilemma and the following question: "Which tool is best for the job?" Students engage in a series of focused read-alouds about how tools are used throughout the world along with character studies to allow students to consider the habits of character that they may build as they face challenges. Students then use their classroom tools and habits of character to work together to create a "magnificent thing" for their classroom. Students share, discuss, and reflect on their creation.
• In the Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 2, Close Read/Read Aloud, Session 2 of the text, The Most Magnificent Thing, the teacher invites students to look at the illustrations at the top of page 3. The teacher asks, “What is the girl doing in these pictures?” While drawing students’ attention to the last illustration of the girl on page 3, the teacher asks, “Let’s look closely at the girl’s face and body.” Students respond using Think-Pair-Share to the following prompt: “What do you notice?”
• In Module 2, Unit 2 Assessment, Teacher Guide, page 252, students engage in a Science Talk to discuss possible answers to the unit’s guiding question, “What patterns can we observe in the sky?” During the class discussion, students use sentence starters to share information that they have learned or add on to other student’s comments to enhance the explanation.
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 10, students participate in a science talk protocol with the central question posed, “What makes a bird a bird?” In reviewing the expectations the teacher asks, “What does it mean to add onto someone’s ideas?” With possible answers including, “listen to what they say; add new or different details.” Sentence frames are provided for students if they need them (“I think he/she means... I’d like to add... This makes me think __________ because...”) Students sit in their triads on the carpet while bringing their What Makes a Bird a Bird student notes as the teacher poses the question, “What makes a bird a bird?” As triads converse, the teacher utilizes the Speaking and Listening Checklist to gather anecdotal notes. In closing, students share their insights and new information is added to the Ideas About Birds anchor chart.
• In Module 4, Unit 3, Lesson 3, the teacher displays a previously read book, A Place for Birds. The teacher recaps the main points of the book by asking questions: “What was the author’s main point of this book?” With elicited student responses possibly including “People harm birds but can find ways to help them.” The teacher asks, “What does the author use to support her point?” Student responses vary depending on the evidence the students cite from the text. The teacher inquires, “What is the author’s point in this text?” A possible response is included: “Birds have problems, but people can find ways to help them.” The teacher refers to the Vocabulary Strategies chart and poses the following questions with possible student responses during a structured Think-Pair-Share format: “What does the word 'sandy' mean?” (with sand) “What strategy did you use to help you figure out its meaning?” (I found the base word, sand, and noticed that the word has an extra part on the end, -y. The ending -y means “made up of.” The word sandy must mean to be made up of sand.) To extend the conversation, the teacher prompts, “Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

There are many opportunities for students to discuss what they are reading by having teachers ask relevant follow-up questions and provide support. The Focused Read Aloud and Close Read/Read Aloud sessions incorporate numerous opportunities for students to listen to their teacher, listen to their peers, and speak about what they are thinking and have learned about the text. Think-Pair-Share, Back-to-Back, Face-to-Face, and Pinky Partners are lessons strategies used to encourage these collaborative discussions. Specific Speaking and Listening lessons are strategically placed before and after Read Aloud or Close Reading lessons. While all lessons provide opportunities for student discourse, these lessons are focused on providing structured opportunities for students to use new vocabulary, gain background knowledge prior to reading, and engage with text that has been read independently and then shared with a partner or read as a class and then shared with a partner or group. Research is implemented in the Read-Think-Talk-Write Cycle and begins as shared class research discussed by all. K-2 Labs, which are scaffolded experiences connected to the Module Lessons, place an emphasis on research to help students expand their content knowledge.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Module 1, Unit 3, Lesson 1, Close Read/Read Aloud Session 3, after reading the text, Have Fun, Molly Lou Melon, students participate in a Think-Pair-Share. Students go back to the text with their partner and answer the question, “What did Molly Lou Melon learn from Grandma?”
• In Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Close Read/Read Aloud Session 3 after reading The Invisible Boy, the teacher rereads the first sentence on page 11. Students participate in Think-Pair-Share to discuss, “Why does Brian choose to draw instead of playing board games with the other kids?”
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky, during work time, the teacher facilitates a structured discussion using the Speaking and Listening Checklist to informally assess students’ conversational skills and comprehension. After pointing to the text and rereading, the teacher asks, “What will you use to help you infer?” Then, the teacher asks for the meaning of the following sentence from the text: “We use things we learn from Why the Sun and Moon Live in the Sky to guess why people write about the sun, moon, and stars.”
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 2, the teacher reviews the Classroom Discussion Norms anchor chart at the beginning of session B and hones in on “Respond to others’ ideas by adding on or asking questions.” The teacher displays the Ideas About Birds anchor chart and reads the question, “What makes a bird a bird?” Students preview bird video links and bird photographs in small groups. As students work, the teacher walks around the room and encourages, and, if necessary, facilitates dialogue between partnerships about the research pieces. The teacher provides specific, positive feedback on their ability to build onto others’ ideas during the conversation.
• In Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 10, students work with the text and discuss opinions about what to do about Pale Male’s nest in What’s Best? The Debate about Pale Male’s Nest. After reviewing the two opinions of the text (take the nest down/leave it up), the teacher facilitates the Turn-and-Talk protocol to gain a deeper understanding of the perspectives by asking, “What do the birdwatchers want?” Students are expected to answer that they want to leave the nest up. The teacher probes and inquires, “Why?” Expected responses will vary, but may include “Tall buildings are good places for nests. Pale Male could find food. The birds are fun to look at.” Then, the teacher facilitates the other opinion that was shared in the text by asking, “What do the people who live in the apartment building want?” Students are expected to respond, “They want the nest to be taken down.” Again, the teacher probes deeper thinking by inquiring, “Why?” Expected responses will vary, but may include that the nest is messy or that the area is becoming crowded. The teacher concludes the discussion by asking, “How did our discussion add to your understanding of the debate about Pale Male’s nest? I’ll give you time to think and discuss with a partner.” Expected student responses will vary based upon student opinion. Students transition into Reading Independently to Research part of the lesson where they use their research notes and the conversation that just occurred to answer the question, “What should happen to Pale Male’s nest?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials including a mix of on-demand and process writing grade-appropriate writing (e.g. grade-appropriate revision and editing) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

There are opportunities for on-demand writing, process writing, and short, focused projects through a variety of instructional tasks. On-demand writing addresses a variety of text types and purposes and is included in each module’s end-of-unit assessment. To demonstrate understanding of the text, students on-demand write and draw in response to text through instructional tasks in the Module Lab Lessons.

The Skills Block lessons provide more opportunities for on-demand writing utilizing content that is directly related to the phonic skills/spelling skills that are being taught. Shared writing activities address several genres and are completed during whole group instruction time with students doing the thinking and the teacher doing the writing and modeling of the Revising and Editing Checklist. Writing of research projects is supported through the Read-Think-Talk-Write Cycle and the Writing for Understanding Framework and students engage with text to identify information that will help them answer a research question. The curriculum recommends the use of a variety of digital resources throughout the Module lessons. Additionally, the curriculum provides anchor charts and exemplar writing samples to support instruction.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, students use the Cutting/Farming Tools Student Response Sheets to label pictures of tools and respond to the prompt, “What job does the tool help to do?” Suggestions for drawing apps are provided.
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 9, students use pictures and words to share their cloud facts with a reader, using the Cloud Fact page in their Meteorologist’s notebook.
• In Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 2, the teacher reviews the definition of observations and tells students that they will look at images of the sun and moon and then record their observations using pictures and words. During this whole group activity, the teachers asks, “How would you describe the sun in this photograph? What adjectives could you use to describe it? How would you describe the moon in this photograph? What adjectives could you use to describe it?” Ideas from students are then used to create a class shared writing piece.
• In Module 2, the Process Writing Tasks prompts students to revise and edit “What the Sun Sees” Narrative Poems. Students use feedback from peers and from the teacher to revise and edit their poems. Students also use the High-Quality Work anchor chart and the High-Quality Narrative Poem Checklist to create a revised final product.
• In Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 11, students begin a process writing piece after spending the first 10 lessons reading and taking notes about birds. In Lesson 11, students are able to analyze a model/exemplar. In Lesson 12, students draft their focus statement for their My Beaks informative paragraph. Lesson 13 requires students to take it a step further and draft detail sentences. In Lesson 14, students prepare a writing organizer. Lessons 15-16 require a performance task independent of both a focus statement and detail sentences with a conclusion statement. Students cap off the project in Lesson 17 by sharing their informative writing with peers.
• In Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 8, students work to complete an on-demand writing experience of an opinion statement plus a reason from the text of what to do with Pale Male’s nest.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

Materials offer opportunities for students to engage in writing tasks across the text types required in the standards. Students use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose many types of writing, including opinion, informational, and narrative, utilizing the writing process. Writing opportunities are scaffolded, so students move from drawing, to labeling, to writing. There is a balance of short writing pieces and longer writing pieces that are worked on over the span of a unit. By incorporating a variety of writing tasks in multiple formats, students experience independent writing, partner writing, the writing process, and a balance of genres. The Writing for Understanding framework and the Read-Think-Talk-Write Cycle support students as they engage in writing tasks throughout the Module Lab lessons. To provide instructional support Writing Checklists are available for informational, narrative and opinion writing in the Teacher Guide Supporting Materials.

• In Module 1, students write an informational writing piece about habits of character along with an informational writing piece about creating a magnificent thing. Module 1 Performance Task: In this two-part performance task, students create a magnificent thing in a small group and then independently write a description of what their group has created, why they created it, and how they used tools to create it. Students complete a scaffolded writing task during which they learn about the steps of the writing process and produce an informative piece of writing.
• In Module 2, students write a narrative poem titled “What the Sun Sees.” Students use feedback from peers and the teacher to revise and edit their previously written “What the Sun Sees” narrative poems. Students then use the High-Quality Work anchor chart and the High-Quality Narrative Poem Checklist to revise their poems into a high-quality final product.
• In Module 3, students write an informational writing piece through keeping a birds research notebook and explaining how birds’ body parts help them to survive.
• In Module 4, students write an opinion writing piece about leaving the nest up along with an informational writing piece through keeping a bird helpers response journal.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials including regular opportunities for evidence-based writing to support recall of information, opinions with reasons, and relevant information appropriate for the grade level.

Materials include regular opportunities for evidence-based writing. Activities require students to participate in collaborative conversations about text while the teacher records the ideas from these conversations on anchor charts. As students move through the module units, these charts are utilized during independent writing and drawing. Unit 1 of each Module builds background knowledge on the specific topic and students are engaged in tasks that require writing with evidence. Materials provide opportunities for students to recall information from text by drawing, dictating their understanding of the text in their own words, detailing elements of the text, and engaging in other writing tasks that represent each of the writing text types.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In the Module 1, Unit 2 Assessment, students engage in a focused read-aloud of The Little Red Pen. Students ask and answer questions about the characters’ words and actions, using context to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary from the text, and to make connections between illustrations and the text. Students then write to show their understanding of the text by responding to the final focus question using evidence from the text, “How are the characters showing collaboration in this part of the text? What work does this help them do?”
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 3, students have already participated in a close read of Summer Sun Risin’ in Lessons 1 and 2. In Lesson 3, students respond in the student workbook pages by writing and drawing about three parts of the boy’s day from sunrise to sunset. They are told to refer to the text to include what the boy is doing and what the sun is doing in the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Students must also use the sentence frame at the bottom of each box to tell in words what the picture shows.
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 4, students are working on completing a research project. Students add to their Birds Research notebook by creating a drawing of a great spotted woodpecker and labeling the parts of the bird. Students can utilize the previous read aloud and class conversation of the book, Birds, where the teacher leads students through discovering the physical characteristics about birds and the Physical Characteristics of Birds anchor chart to complete their labeling.
• In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 5, students write a solution and ending for the book, Pierre the Penguin, in their Stories of Bird Helpers response journal. The teacher prompts students during a think-pair-share to think about who helps Pierre and how the problem was solved. The teacher then concludes the conversation by asking, “What, in the text, makes you think so?” The students are then released to write a compound sentence in their response journal using information from the text.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

Opportunities to learn language standards are in the Module Lessons and in the Foundational Reading Skills Block. Grammar and convention standards are predominantly taught and learned through in context instruction. Some of the conventions of standard English are contained in checklists and assessments with few opportunities to see the conventions of Standard English modeled.

• L.1.1a
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 3, Lesson 16, page 20, during Writing the Letter to Match the Sound lesson, students skywrite the words zip, chip, lip, kid, fish with proper letter formation.
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 5, Lesson 26, students participate in the instructional practice Chaining. During this lesson, the teacher emphasizes proper letter formation as the students write each word on their whiteboards.
• L.1.1b
  • In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 8, students participate in a Focused Read Aloud with the text, Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me. The teacher explains: “Tell students that nouns can be proper nouns or common nouns. A proper noun is a specific name and is always spelled with a capital letter like Ms. Adelia or San Jeronimo School (insert your name and your school name). A common noun is a word used for general people, places, or things like girls, boys, and school.”
    • Students answer the following questions: “Which of these words are proper nouns? Which of these words are common nouns? How do you know?” (Monica and Papa are names and spelled with a capital letter)
• L.1.1c
  • In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 3, students participate in singing the “Sun, Moon, and Stars” song, while the teacher tracks the print with her/his finger or a pointer. The teacher tells the students that the song uses nouns and their matching verbs. The teacher underlines the nouns and verbs in the song while the students touch their head when they hear a noun and touch their feet when they hear a verb.
• L.1.1d
  • In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 5, during the opening, students sing "Sun, Moon, and Stars" Version 2. The teacher tells students that the song includes pronouns and uses a marker to draw a box around the pronoun "it." Students sing the song aloud and touch their noses when they hear a pronoun and the teacher puts a box around it. Students learn the pronouns "it" and "them." Opportunities for all students to explicitly learn other pronouns are missed.
• L.1.1e
  • In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 8, the teacher informs students they will use “Sun, Moon, and Stars” Version 2 to change verb tense in the song. “Tell students that they will try it today by singing the song as if they were singing about something that happened yesterday.” The teacher models singing in the past tense: “The sun shone over us all, I saw it sparkle like a ball...etc.” Students are invited to sing the song in the past tense.
• L.1.1f
  • In Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 2, during the Opening, students read the poem, "What We See: The Sun, Moon, and Stars." The teacher defines adjectives for students and then reads each verse, stopping to ask what adjectives were found. The teacher circles or highlights the adjectives in each verse.
• L.1.1g
  • In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 4, students learn about compound sentences. The teacher states: “A conjunction is the special type of connecting word used in compound sentences. One conjunction you learned about in the last lesson is 'but.' Some familiar conjunctions are 'and,'' so,' and 'because'.” Students watch the teacher combine two simple sentences. Later in the lesson, students write a compound sentence in their response journal.
• L.1.1h
  • In Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 3, the teacher tells students that determiners are used to talk about the number of things. The class is divided into two groups and the teacher models using this nest, these birds, that nest, those birds.” In Lesson 4, the teacher reviews the four determiners found on the anchor chart (this, that, these, those). Students play a matching game with determiner cards and noun picture cards.
• L.1.1i
  • In Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 5, students learn a new poem: “Where Are They? The Sun, Moon, and Stars." The teacher reads the poem and introduces the idea of prepositions: “Tell students that words that describe where things are located in relation to other things have a special name, prepositions. Define preposition (a word that describes the location of one thing in relation to another thing).”
    • In Lesson 6, the teacher highlights/circles the prepositions in the poem. An anchor chart is created for prepositions.
• L.1.1j
  • Materials include two checklists to assess students’ use of punctuation and sentence building:
    • The Snapshot Assessment can be used to assess students’ use of a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.
    • The Language Checklist can be used to assess students of producing and expanding complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to a prompt.
• L.1.2a
  • In Module 1, Unit 3, Lessons 8, 9, and 10, students draft a focus statement for My Magnificent Thing Description in their Magnificent Thing Writing booklet. The expectation is that the capitalization rules are followed. An editing checklist is used for students to make sure they have correct capital letters in their writing.
• L.1.2b
  • In Module 1, Unit 3, Lessons 8, 9, and 10, students draft a focus statement for My Magnificent Thing Description in their Magnificent Thing Writing booklet. The expectation is that punctuation rules are followed. An editing checklist is used for students to make sure they have correct punctuation in their writing.
  • In Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 7, students analyze an example and non-example in “What the Moon Sees.” Students refer to the High-Quality Work anchor chart and the teacher asks, “What does it mean to follow conventions?” and after students answers, confirm that you should write with complete sentences, use end punctuation, and spell Word Wall words correctly. The non-example is missing periods (It is a poem).
• L.1.2c
  • Materials contain checklists and rubrics to assess use of commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.
    • In Module 4, there is an Informative Writing Checklist, an Opinion Writing Checklist, an Opinion Writing Rubric, and Unit 2 Assessment Revise and Edit Checklist.
• L.1.2d
  • In Module 1, Cycle 3, Lesson 18, on page 62, during the Spelling to Complement Reading lesson, the teacher pronounces the word "pit" and models stretching out the word. Students then stretch the word. After the teacher models stretching the word while counting the phonemes by thumb tapping, students do the same. Students then identify the phoneme for each sound and the teacher writes it on the board. This routine is repeated with students writing the words on their white boards: Pit, spin, spit, chin, grip, kin, is, this, inch, sip, sips, lip, flip, zip, zips, ship, kid, it.
• L.1.2e
  • In Module 1, Cycle 4, Lesson 21, during the Phonemic Blending and Segmentation lesson, students make words using the sounds that they know. They segment and blend n-u-t to spell "nut" and "shut." Students then move to Writing the Letter to Match the Sound lesson. The teacher says a word, pronounces the phonemes and writes letter on the board while students skywrite the word.
• L.1.6
  • In Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, students are given a sentence stem during a Think-Pair-Share, which provides students the opportunity to use a phrase with a frequently occurring conjunction: “I think the best tool for the job will be __ because __.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

Instruction of phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition occur during whole group, optional lessons, and small group lessons within a sixty minute block. Lessons supporting phonological awareness are concentrated in Module 1. Many of the phonological awareness lessons are added to phonics lessons. Lesson addressing the phonics and word recognition standards are more evenly distributed across all four modules. Opportunities are missed for whole group lessons that address all phonics skill as some of the lessons are optional or for smaller groups in Meeting Students’ Needs. Activities for teaching digraphs are found in the resource manual activities. EL Education has many components and can be confusing, and time-consuming for teachers to locate the skills/standards that are to be taught. There are routines for students to participate in to learn the standards, such as sound boxes.

Students have frequent opportunities to learn and understand phonemes (e.g. distinguish long and short vowels, blend sounds, pronounce vowels in single-syllable words, and segment single-syllable words). Examples include:

• In the Reading Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 1, Lesson 1, on page 21, students listen as the teacher reads the poem, "Open a Book, Unlock a Door." Students are asked what vowel sound is heard in the word "lands". This process is repeated throughout the poem. The option is given for students to complete a short vowel picture sort found in K-2 Resource Manual: Activity Bank page 161. Students sort twelve pictures by the long and short vowel sound.
• In the Reading Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 2 , Lesson 8, during Opening B, on page 134, students segment words before writing the words. The teacher says the words "van, path, math". Students segments each word pronouncing the phonemes.
• In the Reading Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 3, Lesson 18, during Work Time A, on page 62, the teacher pronounces a word and models stretching out the word, counting each phoneme using the thumb-tapping technique. Students then stretch out the word (pit, spin, spit, chin, grip, kin, is, this, inch, sip, sips, lip, flip, zip, zips, ship, kid, it) counting the number of phonemes.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 4, Lesson 21, students blend a single-syllable word by blending sounds. The teacher shows the word "quit". The teacher points to each letter, making each sound and blending the sounds to pronounce the word. Students write the word on their whiteboards and they point to each letter from left to right, making each sound and blending the sounds to pronounce the word. The teacher removes the "t" and replaces it with a "z". The students erase the "t" and replace it with a "z"on their whiteboards. They point to each letter from left to right, making each sound and blending the sounds to pronounce the word.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 4, Lesson 23, students spell single syllable words by pronouncing each phoneme separately, writing the appropriate grapheme in a sound box on their sound board. This is done with the words: shut, run, pun, lunch, quiz, quite. Then students write the first word from memory on their whiteboard by pronouncing the whole word, saying the separate phonemes, and writing the word below the boxes.
• In the Reading Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 5, Lesson 26, during Opening Option A, on page 19, the teacher models saying the phonemes /b/ /o/ /ks/ and blending them making the word "box". Students repeat this process to make the words shop, jog, now and wow.
• In the Reading Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 15, Lesson 76, during Work Time, on page 20, students identify how many vowel sounds are heard and when the teacher says the words pal, rag, tap, man, at, hop, kit and can and identifies the words as closed syllable words. The teacher writes the word on the board and adds a magic "e". Students say the words with a long vowel.

Lessons and activities provide students opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills while decoding words (e.g. spelling-sound correspondences of digraphs, decode one-syllable words, know final-e and long vowels, syllable and vowel relationship). Examples include:

• In the Reading Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 2 , Lesson 6, during Work Time A, on page 101, the teacher shows the word "pat" with movable letters and students write the word on their white boards. Students point to each letter from left to right, making each sound and blending the word. The teacher removes the letter "p" and replaces with the letter "c" and students erase the "p" and write a letter "c". Students discuss how the word change and how it stayed the same. This is repeated for "hat". If students require more practice, students chain tap.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Part 2, Cycle 3, Lesson 20 during Opening A, students read silly Martian words the teacher has written on the board (mig, lish, dap pip) using the sound that corresponds to the letter and digraphs. Student discuss with a partner how he or she was able to decode each word.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 3, Lesson 19, students write the word "map". The teacher pronounces the word, segments the word into three phonemes and then asks: “What is the first sound you hear in /m/ /a/ /p/? The teacher writes the letters on the board as students write the letters on their whiteboard. The students are asked to read the word they have written.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 3, Lesson 20, students write single syllable words with consonant digraphs. The teacher says a word aloud (chin, fish, or naps) the students spell the word together aloud. Students write the word on their whiteboard. This is repeated 2 to 3 times.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 5, Lesson 27, students read a decodable book. The teacher models how to read an unfamiliar word (gift) by saying the sound that goes with each of the letters they see in the word and blending the sounds together to read the word. Students then read from the Decodable Reader: “Sam’s Box” with includes words with -s. (sees, lifts, likes, wants, pets, hugs).
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 5, Lesson 28, during Work Time A, on page 66, the teacher pronounces a word for students. Students stretch out the word and counting the phonemes. Student then print a letter in each box for each phoneme in the word on the student sound board.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Part 1, Cycle 12, Lesson 61, during Work Time, on page 21, the teacher brings students together singing, “We’ve been workin’ on long words, sound by sound by sound. We’ve been workin’ on long words, so we can read more words aloud. We take a word like ‘exit’ and break it into parts. ‘Ex’ plus ‘it’ makes ‘exit,’ and now it’s time to start!” The teacher provides direct instruction on syllables requiring a vowel. Students are syllable sleuths and break longer words into parts in order to read them. Students underline the consonants and circle the vowels in each word part on their white boards.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Part 2, Cycle 15, students read and spell words that have the long vowel sounds with the Magnanimous Magician: Magic “e” during the opening and work time. In Lesson 77, during Work Time B, on page 39, students read "James and Sam Make a Flame." The teacher models how to read the new word "fire", instructing students to say the sound that goes with each of the letters you see in the word and blend together.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 61, students participate in the Instructional Practice, Syllable Sleuth: Closed Syllables and are guided through identify the number of syllables in a multisyllabic word and determining that every syllable has a vowel. The teacher says the word "napkin". The teacher asks, "How many vowel sounds do you hear in ‘napkin’? How many vowels do you see? What kind of sound do these vowels make? What do you notice about the vowels in this word? How many parts do you see in our word? What do you notice about these two syllables? What do they both have?"
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 63, students decode and write words with 2 syllables. Students have syllable boards, whiteboard markers, and whiteboard erasers. The teacher says the word “basket” and then pronounces each syllable separately. Students say the word and pronounce each syllable separately. The students point to the first line on their whiteboard while saying the first syllable and point to the second line on their whiteboard while saying the second syllable. Students print the first syllable on the first line and the second syllable on the second line. This process is repeated with the words: catnip, contest, magnet, pigment, tablet. Students then write the words from memory on their whiteboards by pronouncing the whole word by first saying the separate phonemes and writing the word below the boxes.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 21, Lesson 106, students participate in the Instructional Practice Chaining: Encoding with Vowel Teams ai, oa, and ea. The teacher says the word “tail”. The students say the word. The teacher writes the letters for each on the sounds on a board. The teacher covers the word and the students write the word from memory. The teacher uncovers the word and the students check their spelling.
• In the Reading Skills Block, Module 4, Part 2, Cycle 22 , Lesson 111, during Opening A, on page 19, the teacher says the long vowel "o" words: go, joke, boat. The words are written on the board and students examine how the sound /o/ is spelled. Students identify which word is open syllable, magic e, and first letter in the vowel team.
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Part 2, Cycle 22, Lesson 112, during Work Time, on page 39, students Partner Search and Read Pat’s Birthday. As students read, they are instructed to locate the vowels and notice what it is teamed with, look between vowels to find the consonants and divide before the consonant in order to pronounce the first and second syllable.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction to build toward application. For example, in the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Phonemic Blending and Segmentation are included in Module 1, Cycle 2, 3 and 4. In Module 2, Phonemic Blending and Segmentation are included in Cycle 5-11 and in Module 3, it is found in Cycle 12.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonics instruction to build toward application. Examples include:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, instruction includes the following phonics focus:
  • Cycle 2: t, a, p, n, h, c, th, s, m, r, v, g
  • Cycle 3: i, ch, k, y, sh, z, d, l
  • Cycle 4: u, q
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, instruction includes the following phonics focus:
  • Cycle 5: o, b, j, w, x, p, g
  • Cycle 6: e, short sound
  • Cycle 7: y as long i
  • Cycle 8: wh, ck
  • Cycle 9: ll, ss, ff, zz
  • Cycle 10: mastery of double and triple consonant clusters (initial), including bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, sl, sp, spl
  • Cycle 11: ou, continuation of consonant clusters
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, instruction includes the following phonics focus:
  • Cycle 12: syllable type CV/VC
  • Cycle 13: syllable type VC/CV and compound words
  • Cycle 14: open syllable with long vowel sound
  • Cycle 15: CVCe with an emphasis on long a
  • Cycle 16, CVCe with a focus on long o and long i
  • Cycle 17, Continuation of CVCe with a focus on long u and long i
  • Cycle 18, Continuation of CVCe with two-syllable words and suffixes
• In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, instruction includes the following phonics focus:
  • Cycle 19, r-controlled vowels a and o
  • Cycle 20, r-controlled vowels i, u and e
  • Cycle 21, vowel teams oa, ai, ea
  • Cycle 22, vowel teams ay, ow
  • Cycle 23, vowel team ee and -y as long e
  • Cycle 24, vowel team ie and spelling pattern igh, both producing the long i sound
  • Cycle 25, two-syllable words

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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, and directionality (K-1), structures and features of text (1-2).

Students are provided the opportunity in each cycle to participate in an interactive writing lesson with the teacher to reinforce writing high-frequency words and words with the spelling pattern being learned at that time. During each interactive lesson, students are asked about the beginning letter, space between words, and ending punctuation. In Modules 1, 2, and 4, students have the opportunity to retell stories, including details about the central message and key details.

Materials include frequent, adequate lessons and tasks/questions about the organization of print concepts (e.g. recognize features of a sentence). For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 10, Lesson 54, students participate in Interactive Writing. During the lesson, the teacher reads the chosen sentence aloud and taps out the words on the paper or whiteboard. The teacher asks, “What do we need to remember to do to this first letter so our reader will know that this is where our sentence starts? What comes after a word? What do we need to remember to put at the end so that our reader know we are done with this sentence?"
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 64, students participate in Interactive Writing. During the lesson, the teacher reads the chosen sentence aloud and taps out the words on the paper or whiteboard. The teacher asks, "What do we need to remember to do to this first letter so our reader will know that this is where our sentence starts? How do I begin my sentence? How do I let the reader know that this is the end of the sentence?"
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 19, Lesson 99, students participate in Interactive Writing. During the lesson, the teacher and students edit sentences that need edits of capitalization and punctuation that may include question and exclamatory ending marks.

Students have frequent and adequate opportunities to identify text structures (e.g. main idea and details, sequence of events, problem and solution, compare and contrast, cause and effect). For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, during Work Time, on page 35, after reading The Magic Bow, students are asked what the story was mostly about.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 7, students are asked the following questions about the problem in the narrative story: "What is the problem in the story? Are they solving their problem?" The narrative text structure is not discussed.
• In Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 7, students learn about story structure for the The Little Red Pen. The teacher asks, “What is the problem in this story?”
• In Module 2, Unit 1, students identify literary story elements such as beginning, middle, and end, main character, setting, and central message.
  • In Lesson 3, students answer the following questions about Summer Sun Risin’: “Who is the main character? Where does the story take place?“
  • In Lesson 5, students answer questions about events that occurred in the middle of the text: “What time of day do you think the middle of the story takes place? Where do you think the sun will be in the middle of the story?”
  • In Lesson 9, the teacher defines central message as “the big idea or lesson it teaches the characters and readers.” The teacher provides an example of central message. After reading Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me, the teacher asks, "What was the central message of this story?”
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 9, students use the sequence of events to assist them in retelling Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me.
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 13, students use the sequence of events to assist them in retelling Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky.
• In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 6, students learn about compare (to find similarities between two or more things) and contrast (to find difference between two or more things). The teacher provides simple examples of comparing and contrasting. Using the icons on the Bird Helpers anchor chart, the teacher helps students compare characters’ experiences. Compare and contrast is listed in Module 4, Unit 1; however, the lesson focuses on comparing and contrasting two texts (Pierre the Penguin and Maggie the One-Eyed Peregrine Falcon) and not the structure of compare/contrast within a text.

Materials include frequent and adequate lessons and activities about text features (e.g. title, byline, headings, table of contents, glossary, pictures, illustrations). For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 7, during Work Time, the teacher models using the table of contents to find the chapter titled “The Moon” when reading Does the Sun Sleep? Noticing Sun, Moon, and Star Patterns.
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 3, students learn about headings (a group of words at the top of a page of writing that tells you what the section is about) and text features (parts of the text that help the reader understand the text better). The teacher asks students to find text features in Birds (Scholastic Discover More).
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 6, students find, locate, and identify text features. The teacher asks the following questions: “Do you see the heading ‘Feathers’ on this page? Give a silent thumbs-up if you see it. What text features do you notice on these pages?”
• In Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 1, the learning target is: “I can use text features and illustrations to answer questions using the text Little Kids First Big Book of Birds.” Students are told to use the text features such as illustrations, heading, captions, and labels to help them read the page.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

In the Reading Foundations Skills Block, students participate in the instructional practice: High-Frequency Word Fishing, which provides students the opportunity to apply decoding skills and growing knowledge of irregularly spelled words to review the high-frequency words. Students begin the process of committing high-frequency words to memory by using known letter-sound connections and context. Students are engaged in repetitive activities that may contribute to their understanding of high-frequency words; however, various opportunities to interact with the words in alternate formats are limited.

Opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to purposefully read grade-level text. For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 9, Lesson 47, teacher reads aloud the Engagement Text: “Sam and Nell Have a Ball.” The students are provided the following purpose for reading the decodable: “Before you read the book with your partner, we are going to be detectives. We are going to look for some of the high-frequency words. Remember, some of these words ‘don’t play fair,’ which means they are not easily decodable.”
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 62, students search for high-frequency words in the Decodable Reader: “A Sunset Picnic” with a partner. Students are provided the following purpose after searching for high-frequency words: “Now you are ready to read the Decodable Reader with your partner. Some of the words in the story will be familiar because you have learned them in previous lessons. And some of the words you will see for the first time, but don’t worry: The words you see for the first time are words with closed syllables. You just need to break the word into syllables and read each syllable, then blend them together to read the word.”
• In Reading Foundations, Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 19, Lesson 47, students have the purpose to search for high-frequency words in the Decodable Reader: “Looking for Mars” together and highlight in their own book. Then students read “Looking for Mars” with a partner. Partners take turns, read in unison, or both.

Opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate sufficient accuracy, rate, and expression in oral reading with grade-level text and decodable words. However, opportunities are missed for students to practice these skills independently and regularly during the Reading Foundations Skills Block. Fluency practice is contained in Module 3 Cycle 12-14 and Module 4 Cycle 19-21. There are optional fluency assessments in Reading Foundations, Module 1 and Module 2. Fluency opportunities include:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 1, Lesson 4, the teacher displays the familiar poem, “Open a Book, Unlock a Door.” Students recite the poem aloud with expression while standing in place and making movements that reflect their interpretation of the words in the poem.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 65, students practice reading fluently using a passage on a Student Sheet while the teacher assesses the student’s ability to read smoothly and with expression using a rubric.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 18, Lesson 94, teachers are encouraged to do ongoing assessments that have teachers observe students during Work Time to determine whether the students can read syllables separately and then blend them to read the word accurately.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 19, Lesson 105, the teacher reminds students that there are four important rules of fluency that were sung in the transition song.
  • “Teacher: 'Can you read this fluently? Smoothly, with expression, please. Can you read it smoothly with expression and with meaning?’ Students: ‘Yes, we’ll read it fluently. Not too fast and not too slow. Yes, we’ll read it fluently at just the right speed.’ All together: ‘So now we’ll read this fluently. Think about how smooth it will be. Now we’ll read this fluently at just the right speed.’”

Materials support reading of texts with attention to reading strategies such as rereading, self-correction, and the use of context clues.

• In the K-2 Resource Manual, there is the Reader’s Toolbox Routine. The purpose of the Toolbox is provide strategies to use the meaning and syntax cueing systems. According to the K-2 Resource Manual, “the most efficient way for readers to solve an unknown word is to use the visual cueing system.”
  • Students learn to look at the pictures, use background knowledge, look at the sentence, and analogy.
  • To teach students to use the meaning and cueing systems, the teacher states: “Picture clues don’t always work because we don’t always have pictures when we read. And sometimes the pictures don’t really match the words. But if you’ve tried your first tool, looking at the letters, and you realize there are parts of the word that you aren’t sure how to decode/read, then you can try this tool.”

Students have opportunities to practice and read irregularly spelled words. For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 5, Lesson 28, students participate in High-Frequency Word Fishing with the words: from, wants, says, see, he, had. Students pretend to throw a fishing line and ‘catch’ a fish. The student chooses one of the Word Cards, reads the high-frequency word from the card, puts it back into the pond and it becomes someone else’s turn.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 20, Lesson 103, students participate in High-Frequency Word Fishing with the words: about, around, again, your, does, knew, would, could, over, old. Students pretend to throw a fishing line and ‘catch’ a fish. The student chooses one of the Word Cards, reads the high-frequency word from the card, puts it back into the pond and it becomes someone else’s turn.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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 each module, Student Decodable Readers are used as an instructional practice in each cycle. Texts consist of decodable words that are matched to the spelling patterns students are learning in each cycle. The teacher explicitly teaches all high-frequency words students will see in the Decodable Student Reader. Texts provide opportunities for students to decode and recognize words in context. Encoding in context is accomplished during Interactive Writing. Students work together to construct a sentence, crafting a shared sentence from the decodable text. Students spell words by segmenting the sounds (in sequence) of spoken words and match them to their letter(s). Sentences include words that reinforce the spelling patterns students are learning. They also include the high-frequency words that have been taught.

Materials support students’ development learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills (e.g. spelling-sound correspondences of digraphs, decode one-syllable words, syllable and vowel relationship, decode two-syllable words, read words with inflectional endings) in connected text and tasks. For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 2, Lesson 9, students apply what they have learned about each phoneme in this cycle to decode VC and CVC words in the Decodable Reader: “Pat’s Mess”. The Decodable Reader includes the singular and plural of “hat” which was introduced earlier in the cycle. Students partner read “Pat’s Mess” to each other, in unison, or both.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 62, students apply what they have learned about closed syllables to decode multisyllabic words in the Decodable Reader: “A Sunset Picnic.”

Materials provide frequent opportunities to read irregularly spelled words in connected text and tasks. For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 2, Lesson 9, students read high-frequency words (a, an, can, has, is, the, this) in the Decodable Reader: “Pat’s Mess”. The teacher displays the Enlarged Decodable Reader. Teacher models through think aloud how to find high-frequency words in the text and highlights them. Partners search and find high-frequency words in their individual books. The partners read “Pat’s Mess” to each other, in unison, or both.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 62, students read high-frequency words (was, you, they) in the Decodable Reader: “A Sunset Picnic”. The teacher displays the Enlarged Decodable Reader. Teacher models through think aloud how to find high-frequency words in the text and highlights them. Partners search and find high-frequency words and highlight them in their individual books. The partners read “A Sunset Picnic” to each other, in unison, or both.

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 Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 5, Lesson 29, students participate in an Interactive Writing activity for writing regular and familiar one-syllable words.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 64, students participate in an Interactive Writing activity for writing regular and familiar two-syllable words. Suggested sentences from the Teacher Guide: “Dad got a big sandwich from the shop.” or “They got to the hill and saw the red sunset.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

The Grade 1 materials provide teachers and students with frequent and ongoing assessment opportunities. The variety of assessment types (benchmark, informal, formal, summative, formative, daily, by cycle, etc.) demonstrate that assessment of K-2 foundational skills is necessary to determine student mastery to determine where students are struggling and to differentiate the instruction needed by the students. For example, students complete cycle assessments on a regular basis throughout the school year and, based on a student’s performance on the assessment, the teacher and the student can set a student goal.

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

• Benchmark assessments are administered at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year to assess Letter Name and Sound Identification, Phonological Awareness, Spelling, Decoding, and Fluency. These assessments help teachers group students based on whether or not students fall into the early, middle or late pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, alphabetic, or consolidated alphabetic stages.
• The Benchmark Assessment for Decoding assesses the ability to decode words with automaticity.
• In the K-2 Resource Manual, Assessment Overview, Types of Assessments Chart contains the following information about Benchmark assessments:
  • “Beginning-of-Year: Provide diagnostic information to help the teacher:
    • Determine the phase at which a student currently is reading and spelling
    • Determine the approximate cycles in the K–2 Continuum that would best fit that student’s instructional needs
    • Gauge whether the student is approximately on grade level (as defined by the CCSS)
  • Middle-of-Year 2
    • Track students’ progress toward the end-of-year goals (as determined by the grade-level Scope and Sequence)
  • End-of-Year:
    • Measure students’ mastery of the end-of-year goals”
• Cycle assessments are administered more often than Benchmark assessments and provide information about students’ progress toward mastery of skills taught up to a particular point. These assessments can be differentiated based on student need.
• Daily assessments are conducted in K-1 and called Snapshot Assessments. These assessments help a teacher quickly check on mastery of daily learning targets. For example:
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 64, the teacher observes students to see if students can: Use a capital letter for the first word in a sentence, Use a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point at the end of a sentence, Decode (read) two-syllable words by thinking about the syllable type, Use knowledge about common spelling patterns to correctly spell words with those common patterns. The teacher records students’ progress on the Snapshot Assessment, which is optional.

• An Assessment Path is also provided for each grade level (Page 43 - Teacher Resource Manual). For example, in Grade 1, the following assessments are recommended:

• Beginning of the Year
  • Spelling (begin with Partial Alphabetic Word List): If Spelling Assessment results show that the student is at least in Middle or Late Partial Alphabetic micro-phase
  • Decoding (begin with Partial Word List): If Spelling Assessment results show that the student is at the Early Partial or below: Letter Name and Sound Identification Phonological Awareness”
• Middle of the Year
  • Spelling (begin with Full Alphabetic Word List)
  • Decoding (begin with Early Full Alphabetic Word List)
  • Fluency (begin with Passage 2)
• End of the Year
  • Spelling (begin with Full Alphabetic Word List)
  • Decoding (begin with Middle Full Alphabetic Word List)
  • Fluency (begin with Passage 3)

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

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 5, Lesson 27, there is a Snapshot Assessment that the teacher can administer that assesses a student's ability to read the words from, wants, says, he, be, had in the Decodable Reader: “Sam’s Box.”
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 8, Lesson 41, the teacher observes students during the Opening to determine whether students demonstrate one-to-one correspondence with words. The teacher observes students during Work Time to determine whether they can say the sounds for each letter correctly. The teacher records students’ progress on the Snapshot Assessment.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, Lesson 65, the teacher shows students the stack of Question Cards. The teacher states: “Each card will ask you a question that will help you practice what you’ve been learning.” Students respond individually using white boards to the question cards, so that the teacher can see their current understanding.

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

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 7, Lesson 37, the teacher is prompted, “Students in the early to middle Partial Alphabetic (PA) phase may need to spend more time with each short vowel than the whole group lessons provide. Those working within the middle to late PA phase may be comfortable using the phonemes introduced in this cycle and small group time can be utilized in order to support in this area.”
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Cycle 8, Assessment for Lesson 45, assess students’ decodable phase in order to help the teacher develop better support during lessons. The assessment analyzes students in the decodable phase, partial, full or consolidated phase. Students are also assessed in high frequency words, spelling and sentence dictation. There is an optional fluency assessment and then once the students are assessed the teacher has a goal setting foundational table to help determine where students are at and what support they need.
• Based on how a student performs on the assessments, the teacher is directed to a chart in K-2 Skills Block Resource Manual that provides lessons to use for additional supports based on whether a student in in the early, middle or late range of the pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic or consolidated alphabetic ranges. For example:
  • A student that is Middle Partial Alphabetic should work on the following skills/lessons:
    • GKM4, C19–22: decoding CVC words and beginning to decode CVCC; comparing long and short vowel sounds
    • C19: all short vowels; words with digraphs
    • C20: “-am” and “-an” words
    • C21: “-ank” and “-ink” words
    • C22: “floss” words (double consonants)
  • A students in the Early Full Alphabetic range, should receive the following lessons for support.
    • G1M3, C12–17: syllable types: closed- syllable, open syllable, and CVCe syllable-type words
    • C12: two-syllable with closed syllables
    • C13: repeat C12 with double consonants in middle and compound words
    • C14: open syllables
    • C15: CVCe (mostly /ā/)
    • C16: CVCe (mostly /ō/ and /ī/)
    • `C17: CVCe (mostly /ū/ and /ē/)
• A chart is provided in the Resource Manual with Activity Bank materials and their uses to help teachers choose what to use with students to assess their learning needs. For example, Blending Boxes helps students “mark” each phoneme they hear in a word with a penny and then blend the phonemes to say the word.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

Numerous differentiation opportunities were provided throughout the Grade 1 materials. During whole group lessons, teachers have the option to differentiate lessons through the Meeting Student Needs portion of the lessons. Students are provided with small group differentiation based on their needs. For students below level, small group differentiated instruction occurs on a daily basis. For students at or above grade level, small group differentiated instruction occurs once or twice a week. Students have multiple practice opportunities within each cycle to master grade level foundational skills. The same format for differentiation was present in all three grade levels, making for a coherent transition from grade level to grade level.

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

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block each day 40-45 minutes is allotted for small group differentiated instruction. “Teacher meets with two or three differentiated small groups, based on phase. Each group meets with the teacher for 10-12 minutes while other students do purposeful independent work.” Groups are formed based on how a student scores on the benchmark assessments.
• For differentiation lessons and instructions, the teacher can refer to:
  • Reteaching or extending the whole group lesson
  • Activity Bank
  • Differentiation Pack
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 2, the differentiated small groups instruction begins.
  • In Lesson 7, the students in the Partial Alphabetic group complete exit ticket, read the Decodable Reader: “Sam Rides the Subway Train” and highlight each word that contains the spelling patterns from the current cycle: “ay” and “ai.” The teacher can select from three lessons for students in the Full Alphabetic group. 1. Students read the Decodable Reader: “Sam Rides the Subway Train” then highlight each word that contains the spelling patterns from the current cycle: “ay” and “ai.” 2. Students work with teacher to write a new page in the Decodable Reader: “Sam Rides the Subway Train” using words with spelling patterns from the current cycle: “ay” and “ai.” 3. Students work with teacher or in pairs to provide a written response to the prompt: "How do you think Sam felt after he rode the subway train by himself?" With the teacher, students look over the exit tickets to analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.

For students in the Consolidated Alphabetic group, students read the Engagement Text: “New Subway Train Stop Opens.” Students provide a written response to the prompt: "What is something that you would work to improve in your neighborhood?" Students should try to use words with the spelling patterns “ay” and “ai.” Students should use a Writing Checklist (example found in supporting materials) to self-check or partner-check writing conventions. With the teacher, students look over the exit tickets to analyze words that were more challenging and discuss why.

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

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 23, Lesson 117, students begin a read aloud of the story, The Little Seed, during the story the teacher is prompted for struggling readers and ELL learners to use picture cards for the nouns in order to help them comprehend the story.
• Teachers are also provided with additional activities in lessons, under the heading, Meeting Students’ Needs, that are designed to further understanding. For example:
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block Cycle 1, Lesson 1, teachers are instructed, “If students are not familiar with the word 'recite,' explain that the word describes what a person is doing when they are speaking aloud a written piece (such as a poem) from memory.”
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Cycle 1, Lesson 4, on page 58, “Consider deepening the analysis of words during this shared writing experience by asking students to identify the long and short vowel sounds in the words during step 11. Share with them the spelling that represents the sound in that word.”

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

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 6, students learn about short "e" words. Students will focus on this skill over the course of five lessons and will complete activities such as segmenting, blending and spelling words with short "e".
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 8, students learn about /w/ and /k/ spelled wh and -ck. Students practice these skills over the course of five lessons through activities such as blending, segmenting, chaining, sorting and spelling words with wh and -ck.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 12, students have five lessons to learn that every syllable has a vowel and identify the two, three, and four phoneme words they have been working on as closed syllables.
• There are decodable readers throughout that help students read and apply grade level phonics. For example, in Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 16, students read the Decodable Reader: “James and Same Take a Hike.” In Module 4, Cycle 19, Lesson 97, students read the Decodable Reader: “Looking For Mars.”