2nd Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that 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.

Both the text and illustrations are appealing, as they invite the students into learning about creativity, art, dinosaur bones, pollination, and a Mexican folktale. 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:
  • Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World by Susan Hughes is about students from around the world and how they access their learning. The text supports students in viewing life from a different perspective.
  • The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds will resonate with children who say, “I can’t draw!” and have begun to doubt their own capacity to be creative. The illustrations are appealing, especially as Vashti gets creative with dots.
• Module 2:
  • Fossils Tell of Long Ago by Aliki Brandenberg is an engaging, informational text that makes the history of fossils easy to understand for young learners. The text follows the story of a fish that turns into a fossil. The text has questions woven into the story to help readers understand the fossilization process.
  • Stone Girl, Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt unfolds the story of a girl who goes hunting for fossils. The pictures help to enhance the learning in this text as they are vivid colors but simple images. The book uses metaphors that teachers can utilize as they teach students the concept of a metaphor.
• Module 3:
  • From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons contains brightly colored and well-labeled illustrations to tell the story of how seeds turn into trees and flowers.
  • What is Pollination? by Bobbie Kalman provides photographs of pollinators showing their contributions to producing food. The photographs will appeal to young readers because of the zoomed-in aspects which allow the reader to see minute details such as pollen on insects.
• Module 4:
  • A Place for Butterflies by Melissa Stewart supports students’ learning about the topic of butterflies. The topic keeps students’ interest and uses academic vocabulary such as gardens, nectar, and grow.
  • The Lizard and the Sun by Alma Flor Ada is a folktale from Mexico that tells the story of the missing sun, and how only the lizard perseveres to find it and bring it back to the sky. The text and illustrations are inviting and help capture the beauty of this ancient folktale.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that materials reflect the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards at each grade level.

The required texts for the Grade 2 Modules provide a balanced mix of literary and informational texts including fables, drama, and poetry. To supplement the texts types and genres, educators can use Grade 2 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. Examples of the Module required texts include:

• Literature Texts:
  • Module 1: The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds and “The Magic Bow” by EL Education
  • Module 2: Stone Gone, Bone Girl by Laurence Anholt and The Dog that Dug for Dinosaurs by Laurence Anholt
  • Module 3: The Little Hummingbird by Michael Yahgulanaas and Hey, Little Ant by Philip & Hannah Hoose
  • Module 4: The Ant and the Grasshopper by Diane Marwood and Lizard and the Sun by Alma Flor Ada
• Informational Texts:
  • Module 1: Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools around the World by Susan Hughes
  • Module 2: Fossils by Ann O. Squire and Curious about Fossils by Kate Waters
  • Module 3: What is Pollination? by Bobbie Kalmann and “Thanks a Bunch, Beetles!” by EL Education
  • Module 4: A Place for Butterflies by Melissa Stewart and A Place for Bats by Melissa Stewart

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that texts (including read-aloud texts and some shared reading texts used to build knowledge and vocabulary) 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 2 texts have Lexile scores within the grade band of the text for students. Texts have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative and qualitative analysis and 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 Invisible Boy by Trudy Ludwig falls in the 2-3 Lexile band with a Lexile of 680. The meaning/purpose of the text is moderately complex, and students must infer the central message of the story. The text structure is moderately complex and is written in chronological order. Dialogue boxes and illustrations will help students understand the central message in the story. The language features are moderately complex and students will need to use context clues and the illustrations to understand some of the vocabulary words used in the story. The knowledge demands are slightly complex and students should be able to relate to the main character and be familiar with the story setting.
• Module 2:
  • Stone Gone, Bone Girl: A Story of Mary Anning of Lyme Regis by Laurence Anholt falls in the 2-3 Lexile band with a Lexile score of 520. The meaning/purpose of the text is moderately complex since there are multiple levels of meaning. The text structure is slightly complex because the story line is clear and chronological. The language features are moderately complex. There are some unfamiliar vocabulary words and figurative language. The knowledge demands are moderately complex. The setting is a small English village in 1799, and some of the historical and geographical elements of the story may be unfamiliar to students.
• Module 3:
  • From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons falls in the 2-3 Lexile band with a Lexile score of 660. The meaning of the text has to be inferred, which makes the text moderately complex. The text structure is moderately complex with connections between the natural processes being hard to understand. The language features are slightly complex with simple language. There are many domain specific words that are defined in context or through the illustrations. The knowledge demands are moderately complex because the text relies on common knowledge and some discipline-specific content knowledge.
• Module 4:
  • A Place for Bats by Melissa Stewart falls in the 4-5 Lexile band with a Lexile score of 920. Meaning/purpose is slightly complex but quite clear -- the threat to bats in the environment. Text structure, language features, and knowledge demands are all moderately complex. Problems and solutions are described in large print at the top of each two-page spread. The organizational structure of the text is complex, but predictable. The text contains some academic and domain specific vocabulary, but is not overly technical. This text relies primarily on a general knowledge of plants and insects and on some discipline-specific knowledge about pollinators.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that 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 2 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 focused read-alouds and close read-alouds to read complex texts to students. In Unit 1, students hear the complex texts, What Does School Mean to You? and The Dot. To help students understand the texts, students answer text-dependent questions and add to the Module Guiding Question anchor chart, which can be used to guide student thinking in later units. Students reflect on their learning in their What is School? notebook. Students also participate in role-playing to help them understand The Dot. In Unit 2, students listen to two complex read alouds and document their learning in their Off to Class notebook, which contains notes about informational text.
• In Module 2, Unit 1, students hear the close read-aloud text, Stone Girl, Bone Girl. Students learn about selected response questions and strategies to answer those types of questions. A Close Readers Do These Things anchor chart is created to help as they listen to the text over many lessons. In Unit 2, students start by listening to close read-aloud from excerpts of the complex text, Fossils. Students start to learn close reading strategies as they read nonfiction articles about fossils.
• In Module 3, Unit 1, students participate in focused reading of Seed to Plant (National Geographic). To scaffold student learning and understanding, the following anchor charts are co-created: Plant, Seed, Fruit, and Flower Frayer Model. Students also create scientific drawings and interact in a Science Talk. In Unit 2, students work on their research skills as they conduct whole group and small group research about pollination based on the text, What is Pollination?
• In Module 4, Unit 1, students participate in close read-aloud, focused read-aloud, and independent reading of folktales and fables. To support students’ comprehension of the complex texts, there are role-playing opportunities, text-dependent questions asked, and note-taking. In Unit 2, students read two complex texts that are opinion-based. To scaffold student understanding of opinion texts, students hear the text, Hey, Little Ant, and students discuss the two different perspectives in the text.

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 2 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. Opportunities include close reading strategies to support student learning and readers theatre activities. Other opportunities for engaging in reading include daily ten-minute read-alouds in the Labs, decodables in the Skills Block, and Accountable Independent Reading (AIR) in the Skills Block. The instructions for Grade 2 independent reading are not explicit, teachers will need to plan for independent reading .

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

• During Module lessons, students hear a variety of read-aloud texts and read texts about the following topics: schools and community, fossils tell of earth’s changes, the secret world of pollination, and providing for pollinators. Students hear texts read aloud by the teacher, and students read texts. For example:
  • In Module 1, Unit 2, Lesson 8, students participate in a Reader’s Theater activity in order to learn more about classrooms and what it is like to be a student.
  • In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 2, students are guided through a Close Read Aloud of Stone Girl, Bone Girl. Students participate in Focused Partner Reading, which provides students the opportunity to read text with a partner.
  • In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 1, students read pages 4-7 of Seed to Plant with their predetermined reading partner.
  • In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 4, students read the story, The Lizard and the Sun, and, in Lesson 6, students have a one-page printout of the story, The Ants and the Grasshopper. The story is broken down into four main chunks in order to support students reading.
• During the K-2 Reading Foundations Skills Block, students have the opportunity to read Decodable Student Readers. For example:
  • In Module 2, Part 1, Cycle 9, Lessons 42, 44, and 45, students read “The Spelling Bee.” During Independent Rotations, students participate in AIR, which requires students to choose books to read independently and "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.” Students complete Reading Response sheets during and after reading.
• During the Lab Story Time, 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 text list and 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 2 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 questioning is found in 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 1, after listening to The Magic Bow, students are asked, “What was this story mostly about? At the beginning of the story, how did the people think the bow helped them? What happened to the bow? What did the women help the people realize after the bow was stolen?”
• In Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 10, students read Fossils and the Earth Long Ago answer Selected Response Questions, and respond to the prompt, “According to the article, what can we learn from studying fossils? Below, show one thing we can learn from studying fossils. Draw a picture and write a sentence about what we can learn from studying fossils.”
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 2, the teacher begins the read aloud of Plant Secrets by inviting students to look at the cover and make an inference by asking, “What do you notice?” Students are expected to be able to point out the items on the cover: leaves, plants, a pink flower, a magnifying glass. After reading pages 1-26, the teacher stops to ask, “What is Plant Secrets about?” While responses will vary, students answers may include: "the secret behind how plants grow, the secret inside of each plant part, plants growing into different parts." After briefly reviewing the learning target, the teacher prompts students to turn and talk, “Based on what we learned about in Plant Secrets, what do you know about seeds, plants, flowers, and fruits?” Again, responses may vary but should revolve around: "plants grow and become all of these things; these are parts of a plant." The teacher closes out the Read Aloud session by prompting, “Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why? I’ll give you time to think.”
• In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 1, this first lesson in the unit prompts the teacher to activate prior knowledge about pollination. Prior to reading aloud The Bear and the Bee, the teacher prompts students to think: “How does the little pollinator make a big difference?” After reading the text the teacher asks, “What happened in the story?” A potential student response is “The bear let the bee live, and the bee saved the bear by scaring away the hunter.” The teacher also asks, “How did the little pollinator make a big difference?” Students are expected to respond, “The bee saved the bear.” The teacher ends the session by cueing a conversation, “Do you agree or disagree with what your classmate said? Why? I’ll give you time to think.” Responses can be shared aloud or used as anecdotal assessment data.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that 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).

The curriculum offers 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 which is 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 schools and community to write an informational text: “The Most Important Thing About School.” Students utilize information from the whole class and small group research to write and compile a book comparing and contrasting their own school with the school from the text Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World by Susan Hughes. Students use The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown as inspiration to write a concluding sentence about what they think is the most important thing about school. Lessons throughout the Module prepare students to complete the culminating task. In Unit 1, Lesson 6, Close Read/Read Aloud, Session 3, the teacher rereads the first sentence on page 11 from The Invisible Boy and invites students to Think-Pair-Share using the following prompt: “Why does Brian choose to draw instead of playing board games with the other kids?” If the discussion is productive, students are cued to expand the conversation by saying, “Can you say more about that?” In Unit 2, Lesson 2, students record information and answer prompts in the Off to Class Notebook after reading information about the Rainforest School. Students answer the following prompt: “Listen as your teacher rereads the sidebar under Mecias’ photograph. Look carefully at the illustrations. Then, answer the question below. What do we know about Mecias’ village? Use the text and the illustrations to write a short description of the village.”

The Module 2 Performance Task requires students to incorporate their knowledge about fossils and their informative nature regarding the Earth’s changes to carefully and accurately create detailed illustrations for the narrative that they wrote in the Unit 3 Assessment. Lessons throughout the Module prepare students to complete the culminating task. In Unit 2, Lesson 2, Session 2, Close Read/Read Aloud, the teacher uses a total participation technique and invites students to respond to the following prompt: “Based on the text, what are some traces animals might leave behind?” In Unit 2, students complete the Fossils and the Earth Long Ago Selected Response Questions and respond to the following prompt: “According to the article, what can we learn from studying fossils? Show one thing we can learn from studying fossils. Draw a picture and write a sentence about what we can learn from studying fossils.”

The Module 3 Performance Task requires students to create a poster with scientific drawings and captions and then deliver an oral presentation. Students include a reflection about the role critique and revision played in their final product and answer questions from audience members following their presentation. Lessons throughout the Module prepare students to complete the culminating task. In Unit 1 Assessment, students independently read the section entitled “What Do Plants Need?” from Seed to Plant (National Geographic) by Kristin Baird Rattini, and then respond to selected response and short answer questions using the text and illustrations and rereading as needed. In Unit 1, Lesson 2, students complete a response sheet in the Plants and Pollinators Research Notebook after close reading the text The Secret World of Pollination. Students choose a plant set and draw a detailed illustration of each stage within each box. Students are expected to use the words seed, plant, flower, and fruit to label each stage.

The Module 4 Performance Task requires that students take action to help butterflies by creating a wildflower seed packet filled with seeds that will help provide butterflies with nectar and a habitat. The front of the wildflower seed packet includes a title and a detailed, colorful pencil drawing of a monarch butterfly. The back of the wildflower seed packet includes instructions for how to plant the wildflower seeds, as well as a typed opinion piece explaining why people should help butterflies. Lessons throughout the Module prepare students to complete the culminating task. In Unit 1, Lesson 2, students write a paragraph to recount the Story and the Central Message of The Little Hummingbird. The teacher reminds students of the focus question and explains that they will answer this question when they write a paragraph that recounts the story, “What is the central message in The Little Hummingbird?” Using the Fables and Folktales response notebooks, students begin writing paragraph after the teacher models recounting the ideas in six sentences. In the Unit 2 Assessment, students read the text, Help Protect Butterflies!, and answer selected response and fill-in-the-blank questions. Using both this text and A Place for Butterflies, students compare the points in two texts. In Part II, students draft a written piece stating their opinion about how butterflies and people can live together. In this piece, students include two reasons supporting their opinion, as well as an introduction and conclusion.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that materials provide 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.

Some text-based discussions are available 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 schools. Students begin the module by participating in a series of focused read-aloudsto explore the module guiding question, “What is school, and why are schools important?” Throughout the Module, students engage in close read-alouds of a text to learn about schools around the world along with the challenges they face and the potential solutions to those challenges. Students engage in whole class research and extended research to learn more about schools. Students utilize their research to help produce an informational book tilted “The Most Important Thing about Schools.” Throughout the unit, students participate in collaborative conversations with their peers to process and extend their understandings of the similarities and differences between their own school and the school that they have researched.
• In Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Work Time A, Focused Read Aloud Session 1, Teacher Guide page 49, the teacher reads text to the end of page 3 and then tells students they are going to use the Think-Pair-Share protocol. The teacher guides students through the protocol using the following question: “Why do Nubian and Josslyn think school is important?” While pairs discuss, the teacher circulates and listens as students share using the Speaking and Listening Checklist to gather formative data. If needed, the teacher prompts students by asking, “Could you say more about that?”
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 2, Close Read/Read Aloud Session 2, while reading the text Stone Girl, Bone Girl: A Story of Mary Anning of Lyme Regis, the teacher rereads page 1 and focuses the students’ attention to the illustration on page 2. Using a total participation technique, the teacher invites text-based responses from the group by asking, “What does ordinary mean? What does extraordinary mean?” Students turn and talk with an elbow partner to answer the question, “Why did Mary Anning’s father think that she was ‘no ordinary girl’?”
• In Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 5, the teacher completes a small Read Aloud from What is Pollination? and, as a class, adds notes to the “Research About Bees: Class Notes” anchor chart. Later in the lesson, during a shared writing experience, the teacher prompts partner groups to turn and talk, “What information did you find about why bees are attracted to flowers?” With expected responses to revolve around, “collect pollen and nectar to eat.” Students to turn and talk with their partner to answer, “What information did you find about their body structures that support pollination?” Student responses should include specific vocabulary acquired from the text e.g. “long tongues” and “hairy bodies.” To move the conversation further, the teacher asks, “Who can explain why your classmate came up with that response?” Students use these conversations to complete a section in their Plants and Pollination research notebooks.
• In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 6, after modeling how to fluently read The Ants and the Grasshopper, the teacher initiates turn and talk protocol with assigned partners by prompting, “Where or when does this fable take place?” A possible response includes “It takes place somewhere outside during the autumn and winter.” The teacher then asks, “Why is it important to know that this fable takes place in the autumn and winter?” The suggested student response is as follows: “The change in season affects the characters’ food supply. It is a key detail connected to the problem/challenge.” Lastly, the teacher inquires, “What actions did the ants take that showed responsibility?” The suggested student response is as follows: “They collected enough food so that they could.” Students work in groups to reread and act out the fable, The Ants and the Grasshopper, to gain a further understanding of the central message with supports from the characters’ problems and solutions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that materials support 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 to discuss what they are reading by asking relevant follow-up questions and providing teacher 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 and 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 1, Lesson 5, after reading The Dot, teachers draw students’ attention back to the text and reread pages 15-18. Students find a partner and follow the Think-Pair-Share protocols to discuss what is happening in the text on pages 15-18.
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 3, Close Read/Read Aloud Session 3 after reading Summer Sun Risin’, students turn and talk with an elbow partner. Students discuss the following questions: “Why did the author decide to use different words to describe what the sun is doing on this page?” and “Why did the author use the words pauses and waits?”
• In Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 1, Work Time B, Teacher Guide pages 300-301, the teacher directs students’ attention to the Musical Mingle Protocol anchor chart. Students are prompted to answer, “What happened to Josh so far in this text?” and “What did you learn about paleontologists from this text?”
• In Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 5, the teacher displays a variety of photos about bees as students learn about scientific drawings in relation to a research project. After reviewing what a scientific drawing is (“Observe closely before you begin drawing. Draw only what you can see.”), the teacher displays one photograph at a time and model draws while completing a think aloud, “I see that there is a bee in this photo. The bee is sitting on a yellow flower. I also see the bee’s body parts: eyes, legs, and wings. I see some fuzzy hair on the bee’s body.” The teacher distributes two other photos and allows time for students to observe closely before prompting the question, “What do you notice when you look closely at your bee photo?” Student responses will vary depending on their area of focus. As students move into writing a sentence into their Plans and Pollinators research notebook, the teacher circulates and asks, “What shapes and lines do you notice when you look closely at the bee in the photo?” After the work session is completed, students return to the carpet and share their observations and writings with an elbow partner.
• In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 4, the teacher completes a Read Aloud of The Lizard and the Sun by stopping throughout to initiate the Turn-and-Talk protocol to story elements and the characteristics of a folktale. At the end, the teacher prompts the questions, “What characters help the lizard overcome her challenge? How did each of them help?” Students are expected to answer with examples from the text (the emperor, woodpecker, dancers, and singers; the emperor asked the woodpecker to wake up the sun; he asked dancers and singers to sing and dance for the sun.) The teacher asks, “What did the lizard do to show perseverance in finding the sun?” Again, students are expected to answer using text evidence, “She kept looking for the sun until she found the sun. When she could not wake up the sun, she got others to help.” The teacher concludes the discussion by prompting, “What, in the text, makes you think so?” Expected student responses vary based upon each student’s perceptions and background knowledge. Students then transition into the Role-Play protocol for acting out The Lizard and the Sun in small groups.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 3, Lesson 1, students respond to the text by comparing their school to a boat school in Bangladesh. Students use the Boat School Differences: Student Response Sheet as a guide.
• In Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 7, after reading Fossils, students respond to the text by writing the steps of fossilization in order.
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 9, the teacher records responses while students work together to add on a few sentences about what they have learned about paleontologists. The teacher uses sentence frames “I learned that paleontologists are _____.” and “One thing paleontologists do is _____.” This is used to create a shared writing piece about paleontologists.
• The Module 2 Performance Task requires students take on the role of being a paleontologist and produce a narrative about the moment they discovered a fossil. Using a photo of a fossil that they find interesting, students produce a draft with a beginning, middle, and end. They also revise this narrative to include elements of narrative writing they have learned about. Students then combine their writing with detailed drawings that correspond to each part of the story and add color to these drawings. Students’ books are presented orally to visitors at the Celebration of Learning at the end of the Module.
• In Module 3, Unit 2, students complete a process writing project of an informational paragraph with a focus statement, detailed sentences, and a conclusion about bees and pollination in their Bee Writing booklets. The teacher leads students through a shared writing experience in Lessons 11-12 and an independent process writing experience is completed by students in Lessons 13-14. In Lesson 15, students share their writing with their peers.
• In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 5, students participate in an on-demand writing experience with the book, The Lizard and the Sun. After orally recounting the story in Lesson 4, students compose a short paragraph about the central message from the text with a focus on the story elements.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 the writing process and a combination of drawing and writing to compose many types of writing, including opinion, informational, and narrative. 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 create an informational book titled “The Most Important Thing about Schools.” Using information from whole class and small group research, they write and compile a book that compares and contrasts their own school with a school from the book, Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools around the World by Susan Hughes. This is a scaffolded writing task in which students learn about the steps in the writing process and complete this book over several lessons.
• In Module 2, students take on the role of being a paleontologist and produce a narrative about the moment they discovered a fossil. Using a photo of a fossil that they find interesting, students produce a draft with a beginning, middle, and end. Students revise their writing piece to include elements of narrative writing. Students combine their writing with detailed drawings that correspond to each part of the story and add color to these drawings. Students’ books are presented orally to visitors at the Celebration of Learning at the end of the Module.
• In Module 3, students write an informational writing piece through keeping a plants and pollinators research notebook and provide information about how pollination helps plants.
• In Module 4, students practice opinion writing through keeping an opinion book and writing an informational writing piece about a butterfly seed packet.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 Module 1, Unit 2 Assessment, students engage in two close read-aloud sessions of Off to Class. During these sessions, students take notes based on specific text-dependent questions. Then they use the information from their notes to write an informative paragraph that describes what makes it hard for children to go to school in a particular community, and how that community solves that problem so children can go to school.
• In Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 5, students answer the question, “What are the steps of fossilization?” Students use the Fossilization Anchor Chart containing notes and sketches to help them write complete sentences and draw illustrations to answer the prompt on page 9–10 of their paleontologist’s notebook.
• In Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 1, students are utilizing the Scientific Drawings and Captions Template to complete a performance task to show understanding of bees and pollination. The teacher shows a picture of a bee flying to an apple flower. The teacher asks, “What do you notice about drawing #1?” The teacher quickly reviews the Scientific Drawings anchor chart before releasing partner groups to their tables with their My Pollinator Writing booklet. Students are then required to use one of the pollinator photographs at their seat to create a scientific drawing with labels and write a caption including scientific terms. Students are encouraged to use the pollinator texts at their disposal (Merci Beaucoup, Bees!, Forever Grateful, Flies and Wasps!, Muchas Gracias, Butterflies and Moths!), the Plants and Pollinators Word Wall, and and information they took away from the video the teacher showed titled “Louie Schwartzberg: The Hidden Beauty of Pollination” to complete the performance task.
• In Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 3, students participate in a partner read of Bats’ Roosts in Danger! With a partner. Once they finish reading, they are to read and discuss questions from the book. Students then record their answers in their research notebooks. Students then share their notes (which are derived from the text) out loud for the teacher to record on the Dangers That Bats Face and Reasons Bats are Important: Class Notes chart.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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. Opportunities to explicitly learn how to use reference materials, such as how to find the correct spelling of words in the dictionary, are missed.

• L.2.1a
  • In Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 2, students participate in Poem and Movement: “A Group of Dinosaurs,” Version 1. The teacher asks: “What is a noun?” The teacher then tells students that when there is one person, place or thing, you use a singular noun, like “one student” or “one teacher.” The teacher asks: “What would it sound like to have more than one student or teacher?” Then the teacher tells the students: “A noun changes when there is more than one. When a noun becomes a group of people or things, it changes again. Then you use a collective noun (a group of students is called a class). Through think aloud the teacher says: “She said she knew a group of fish was always called a school.” or “I heard there could be a group of fish. The word for a group of fish is a school.” The teacher then starts the Collective Nouns Anchor chart adding “fish” and “school” to their respective columns. The teacher continues reading the poem, asking students to help fill in the chart with the rest of the collective nouns from the poem.
• L.2.1b
  • In Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 4, during Opening A students are told they will be writing opinions about bats and butterflies. The teacher draws students’ attention to the words bats and butterflies explaining that one is an irregular plural noun. The teacher writes the heading regular plural noun and irregular plural noun on the bottom of The Butterfly Poem explicitly stating the rule for regular plural nouns is to add -s or -es to the noun. Students then identify regular plural nouns in the poem (trees, bats, caves, collectors, protectors, bushes). The teacher then shares what an irregular plural noun is and provides examples. Students identify the irregular plural nouns within the poem (butterflies, cherries, berries).
• L.2.1c
  • In Module 4, Unit 3, Lesson 3, students learn a reflexive pronoun is used when a pronoun is needed that refers back to the subject of the sentence. Students see yourself in the sentence frame of Butterfly Reflection #1. The teacher asks “What other examples of reflexive pronouns ending in -self do you know?”
• L.2.1d
  • In Module 2, Unit 3, Lesson 2, in the Opening, students are introduced to a new part of speech: irregular past-tense verbs. The focus is on identifying irregular past-tense verbs in the poem and listing them on the Irregular Past-tense Verbs anchor chart. The teacher displays “I Found a Baby Dinosaur,” Version 1 and read it aloud to students. The teacher defines the word past (having to do with an earlier time; former). The teacher reminds students that a verb tells an action. The teacher explains that a past-tense verb tells an action that happened earlier, or in the past and that sometimes verbs “do not play fair,” so they are called irregular. These past-tense verbs do not end in “-ed.” The teacher uses an Irregular Past-tense Verbs anchor chart. The students identify irregular past-tense verbs from the poem and list them on the chart.
• L.2.1e
  • In Module 3, Unit 2, Lesson 5, students learn adjectives and adverbs in “It’s Pollination Time.” The teacher defines adjective as a word that describes a noun. Students listen for adjectives and answer: “What words describe the bee?” Next, the teacher defines adverb as a word that describes a verb. Students listen for verbs and then the teacher asks: “What verbs did you hear? What word describes how the bees were slurping?” Students learn gently is an adverb.
• L.2.1f
  • In Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 3, students learn to improve sentences they wrote. The teacher displays Upgrading Sentences anchor chart. The teacher models adding an adjective and an adverb to a sentence to upgrade the sentence. Students practice adding to their sentences to create Level 2 sentences.
• L.2.2a
  • In Module 4, Unit 3, Lesson 4, during the Opening, the teacher displays Amanda’s letter and asks students to read it chorally. After reviewing the rule for capitalization of proper nouns, the teacher highlights the capital letters. Students then write a welcome letter and are to use capital letters correctly.
• L.2.2b
  • In Module 4, Unit 3, Lesson 3, students learn the placement of commas in Amanda’s letter. The teacher shares that one rule of letter writing is to include a comma after the greeting to separate the greeting from the body of the letter, as well as a comma after the closing.
• L.2.2c
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 11, Lesson 52, students participate in Snap and Trap. The teacher points to the word “they’ll” and asks: “Does anyone know what two words we also use to say the same thing as ‘they’ll’?” (they will). The teacher says: “When we shorten two words into one, it is called a ‘contraction.’ The word ‘contract’ means to make something smaller. Last week we looked at contractions with ‘is.’ This week, let’s see how we make contractions with ‘will.’” Teacher reminds student of the role of the apostrophe, explaining that the apostrophe’s job is to hold the place where the letters ‘wi’ are in the word ‘will.’” Teacher invites students to name the two words that are used to say the same thing as “we’ll” and “it’ll.”
• L.2.2d
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Lesson 41, in Work Time A, students are taught the 1-1-1 doubling rule in words when a vowel suffix is added. This knowledge supports students’ ability to decode and encode words by generalizing familiar spelling patterns.
• L.2.2e
  • In Module 4, Unit 3, Lessons 6, students are encouraged to check their written work for capitalization, punctuation, and spelling, but explicit instruction as to how to use reference materials is not included.
• L.2.6
  • In Module 4, Unit 2, Lesson 5, students name the adjectives in the first three lines of “The Butterfly Garden.” Students choose two or three examples of synonyms to replace pretty. The class reads the first sentence of the poem again with a replacement adjective.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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.

The materials reviewed provide students with multiple explicit opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills. The students engage in activities that have students distinguish long and short vowel sounds by sorting them with teacher assistance. The students are provided opportunities to practice by working individually and with partners to decode words with long vowels and apply spelling-sound relationships. The materials offer a systematic approach to phonics instruction which allows for repetitive and specific practice of grade-level phonics skills. Activities are designed for teacher-student interaction, choral reading, echo/response techniques, and writing application.

Lessons and activities provide students opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills while decoding words (e.g. distinguish long and short vowel sounds, apply spelling-sound relationship on common words, decode words with common prefixes and suffixes, decode two syllable words with long vowels). For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 1, Lesson 1, students participate in an activity where they must be able to decode the word, identify the vowel sound in the word, and identify whether it is long or short. The student places the card in the appropriate column on the T-Chart.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 1, Lesson 2, the Learning Target is “I can decode (regularly spelled) two-syllable words with long vowels.” The teacher reviews syllables and has students practice counting the number of syllables in words. Using syllable cards, students then practice building the following words: moment, insect, splendid, singing, music, rabbit and along. Later on in the lesson, students work with a partner to practice reading and writing more one- and two-syllable words.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 7, Lesson 31, the Learning Target is “I can decode a word with a vowel team (two vowels that make a long vowel sound) in the middle. The class plays the syllable sleuth game with some words that contain vowel teams, such as sailboat, meaning, toaster, detube, and repfray. Later in the lesson, the teacher displays the words coin, join, boy and enjoy and asks students how the words could be grouped. The class then discusses the oi and oy vowels teams. Students also follow the same procedure for learning about the ow and ou spelling patterns.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 8, Lesson 38, the teacher posts the following words on the board and reads them aloud: blind, scold, mind, hold, most, child, wild. Students work with a partner to discuss the rule they learned about words with closed syllables but have a long vowel sound and come at the end of a syllable.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 13, Lesson 63, the Learning Target is “I can make new words using base words and the suffixes “-ing,” “-ed,” and “-er.” I can make and decode a new word by adding a prefix or a suffix to a base word.” During the lesson, the teacher makes a chart with columns for Base Word and Suffix. Using the base words write, come, use, change, make and love, the class practices adding the suffixes -ing, -er and -ed to create new words. The class also discusses how the meaning of the words change with each suffix.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 16, Lesson 76, students learn -ge, -dge. In Work Time A, students listen to and view a sentence that contains -ge and -dge. The teacher displays enlarged -dge and -ge Work Time Words t-chart and asks students to figure out why the words are sorted in the way they are sorted. The teacher asks: “How is the /j/ sound spelled in these words? How will we know which to use when we’re writing words with the /j/ sound at the end?” Students are guided to figuring out -dge comes after a short vowel.
• Additional cycles that cover prefixes and suffixes (referenced on the Second Grade Scope and Sequence chart found on page xi of the Module 4 Part 1 Teacher Guide) include:
  • Cycle 9 - Doubling consonants with vowel suffixes
  • Cycle 12, Suffixes -tion and -sion.
  • Cycle 13 - Dropping the e with vowel suffixes
  • Cycle 14 - Suffixes -ly, -ment and -ness
  • Cycle 15 - Prefixes un- and re-
  • Cycle 16 - Suffixes -y and -ly
  • Cycle 17 - Suffixes -er and -est
  • Cycle 18 - Suffixes -ful and -ness
  • Cycle 21 - Prefixes dis- and de-
  • Cycle 22 - Prefixes - in- and im-

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 21, Lesson 103, the teacher displays words on the board for students to categorize as base words or prefixes. The teacher has students look at the two prefixes dis- and de- with base words in order to figure out the meaning of the prefixes. The teacher makes dislike and asks a student to share the meaning of dislike. The teacher creates deconstruct and asks a student to share the meaning of deconstruct. Students learn that dis- means not and de- means to separate or remove.

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

In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, instruction includes the following phonics focus:

• In Cycle 1: CVCe and open and closed syllable words
• In Cycle 2: /a/ and long a; spelling patterns ‘ay’ and ‘ai’
• In Cycle 3: /e/ and long e; spelling patterns ee, ea, and y
• In Cycle 4: /i/ and long i; spelling patterns igh and ie
• In Cycle 5: /o/ and long o; spelling patterns ‘oa’ and ‘ow’

In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, instruction includes the following phonics focus:

• In Cycle 6: r-controlled vowels and open and closed syllables
• In Cycle 7: oi, oy, ou, ow spelling patterns and contractions with the word “not”
• In Cycle 8: old, ost, ind, ild spelling patterns and contractions with the word “is”
• In Cycle 9: words that double the middle consonant when adding a suffix
• In Cycle 10: three sounds of the suffix or word ending -ed: /it/, /ed/, and /d/ and contractions with the word “would”
• Cycle 11: oo, ou, ui, ue, and ew sound patterns (decoding only)
• Cycle 12: -tion and -sion word endings and contractions with the word “us”

In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, instruction includes the following phonics focus:

• Cycle 13: consonant -le (C-le) syllable type
• Cycle 14: C-le syllable type
• Cycle 15: -ck, -k, -c
• Cycle 16: -ge, -dge, eu, ei
• Cycle 17: -ch and -tch
• Cycle 18: -able and -ible
• Cycle 19: au and aw

In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, instruction includes the following phonics focus:

• Cycle 20: “y” generalization for plural endings
• Cycle 21: schwa with “a”
• Cycle 22: schwa with “o”
• Cycle 23: “-ate” words (schwa and CVCe)
• Cycle 24: Compound words
• Cycle 25: “cal” vs. “cle” words and possessives
• Cycle 26: “-ous” vs. “-us” words

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks providing 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 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 Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 4, students learn what fiction texts usually have. The teacher asks: “What does it mean for a book to be fiction?” (It is writing that tells a story from an author’s imagination. It is a story that has characters and a setting. It is a story with a beginning, middle, and end.)
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 4, students learn to retell the beginning of Stone Girl, Bone Girl. The teacher displays the BME (Beginning, Middle, End) graphic organizer and story pictures #1, #2, #3. The teacher reminds students that “the beginning of a story is when the reader learns who the characters are, the setting (where the story takes place), and a little bit about what might happen in the story.”
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 3, students are reminded that main idea is the main point and that key details support or tell more about the main idea. Students read with a partner to determine main idea of pages 4-5 of Seed to Plant. The teacher asks: “What is the main topic the author describes on page 4?"
• In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 1, students learn to look for key details in order to recount “The Bear and the Bee.” To help students the teacher displays Story Elements and Central Message Class Notes: “The Bear and the Bee” and reviews the definition of story elements (main character, setting, problem/challenge, response) with the class. Students work in pre-determined groups of four to sort story elements from “The Bear and the Bee” into categories.
• In Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 10, students compare and contrast story elements from “The Ant and the Grasshopper” and “Bunnyyarl the Flies and Wurrunnunnah the Bees.” Previously in Lesson 6, students learned compare means similarities and contrast means differences. The teacher displays a T-Chart showing one column is for story elements that are the same and the other column is for story elements that are different. The teacher asks,“What is the setting of each version of the story? Are those settings the same, or are they different? In which column of the T-chart should I write about the setting?”

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 Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 3, students view fossil photo #1 and help create the caption for it. The teacher provides the following sentence frame for students: “This is a ___. Paleontologists learned ___.”
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 6, students view fossil photo #2 and help create the caption of it based on what they see and what the teacher reads aloud to them about the photo. Students use a sentence frame to create the caption.
• In Module 2, Unit 1, Lesson 8, students view fossil photo #3 and create use the following sentence frame to create the caption: “This is a ____.” During Work Time A, the teacher asks students, “What text features do you notice in this text that we noticed in Fossils?”
• In Module 2, Unit 2, Lesson 9, students create Museum Displays which require text features. Students make a title and headings.
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 3, the students learn about text features from Seed to Plant. The teacher informs students about text, table of contents, headings, captions, labels, and pictures. Students help contribute to the Text Features anchor chart as they go through a text feature walk with the teacher and text.
• In Module 3, Unit 1, Lesson 4, the students learn about a diagram. “Display pages 8-9 of Seed to Plant and orient students to the diagram of a plant on page 9. Share that a picture with labels is called a diagram.” The teacher asks, “What information does this diagram give you? How does a diagram help the reader?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria that 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.

Fluency is highlighted in the Reading Foundations Skills Block through the Instructional Practices for Lesson Work Time. Fluency practice allows students to interact with a piece of the text from the Decodable Student Reader to apply the elements of fluency to decode. Students begin to use a Fluency Rubric in Modules 3 and 4 to provide specific feedback to classmates. The Instructional Practice Snap or Trap helps students to review high-frequency words of the cycle. Student review all high-frequency words that will be read in the Decodable Student Reader. Students decode and analyze each word to determine if the word is a ‘snap’ word because it is decodable or ‘trap’ because it is irregularly spelled. Engagement Texts and Decodable Student Readers are used in each cycle in every module. 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 is limited. Students are provided with opportunities to read grade level text; however, the opportunities are mainly based in teacher read alouds followed by turn and talks to discuss the text.

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

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 3, Lesson 12, the teacher reads aloud the Engagement Text, “Sunnyside City Park is New and Improved!” The students are provided with the following purpose for reading the decodable: “First we read an article from the Sunnyside Gazette: ‘Sunnyside City Park is New and Improved!’ Now we will read a story about characters from Sunnyside: ‘Do Fish Eat Cheese?’ This story is filled with words that YOU can read! There are decodable words, and there are some words that don’t play fair, like ‘our’ and ‘been.’”
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 9, Lesson 42, students search for high-frequency words in the Decodable Student Reader: “The Spelling Bee” with a partner. Students are provided the following purpose after searching for high-frequency words: “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 4, Cycle 20, Lesson 97, students search for high-frequency words in the Decodable Student Reader: “Babies.” The purpose for reading the decodable text is to read a text that contains words the students can read. Students read “Babies” with a partner.

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 on-level text and grade level decodable words. For example:

• During Work Time in Modules 1 and 2, the teacher leads analysis of an excerpt and students select one or two fluency elements to focus on (dependent of the excerpt). The Fluency Rubric is introduced in Modules 3 and 4, so students can provide feedback to their classmates about fluency.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 1, Lesson 4, students read aloud the poem, “A Moment in Time.” Prior to reading the poem, the teacher states, “One part of being a proficient reader is being able to decode (read) words accurately. We know the closed, open, and magic ‘e’ syllable types really well, so we can read this accurately.” After reading the poem, the teacher states: “We’re reading this poem pretty proficiently. We can read the words accurately, and we know what it’s about.”
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 6, Lesson 29, students participate in the Fluency instructional practice during Work Time. The teacher displays an excerpt from the Decodable Student Reader: “Fall Fest at the Park.” The teacher displays the Rules of Fluency index cards (smoothly, with expression, with meaning, and just the right speed) and reads them aloud. The teacher reads the excerpt word by word in a monotone, skipping over punctuation, with little to no expression. Students turn to a partner and share what they noticed about how the teacher read the excerpt.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 13, Lesson 64, the teacher displays an excerpt from “No Food to Be Found” and the Rules of Fluency index cards. Students are tasked with: “You should also think about what words should be grouped and read together and what the punctuation tells you. You’ll annotate the text the way we’ve been doing. Then you can try it out with your partner so you can hear how it sounds.” Students practice reading smoothly (phrased) and “with meaning.”

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/cueing system, 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 7, Lesson 32, students identify Snap or Trap words that are hard to read or spell because they do not look or sound like they should. Students selects a trap word (their, people, says, have) and identify why it is a Snap or Trap words.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 13, Lesson 62, students participate in the Work Time Instructional Practice: Snap or Trap that highlights the words: we’ve, I’ve, you’ve, even, one, guess, tonight, anywhere, they’ve. The teacher states: “All of these words are high-frequency words, which means we see them a lot when we read and use them a lot when we spell. Some of them are regularly spelled; they ‘play fair.’ Some of them are irregularly spelled, so they ‘don’t play fair.’ We will figure out which ones should go in the Snap column and which ones go in the Trap column.” The students identify words as snap or trap.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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, Decodable Student 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. Lessons address the spelling patterns and high-frequency words that have been used throughout the cycle (to decode in isolation, read in a text, and spell words). Students apply skills to construct a shared sentence. The chosen sentence also reinforces words from the decodable text.

Materials support students’ development learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills (e.g apply spelling-sound relationship on common words, decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels, decode words with common prefixes and suffixes) in connected text and tasks. For example:

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 2, Lesson 7, during Work Time, the teacher models reading words with inflectional endings while reading the text, “New Subway Train Stop.” When students read the Decodable Student Reader: “Same Rides the Subway Train,” they encounter similar words with inflected endings.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 6, Lesson 27, students apply what they have learned about decoding two-syllable words with long vowels, words with r-controlled vowel patterns and words with common prefixes (part of the word at the beginning) and suffixes (part of the word at the end) in the Decodable Student Reader: “Fall Fest at the Park”.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 20, Lesson 97, students apply what they have learned about decoding singular words ending in “y” and plural words ending in “ies” and “eys” in the Decodable Student Reader: “Babies.”

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

• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 20, Lesson 97, students read high-frequency words (“usually,” “eight,” “animal,” “people,” “around,” “that’s,” “they’re,” “you’ve”) in the Decodable Student Reader: “Babies.” The teacher points out the high-frequency words on the Interactive Word Wall. Partners search and find high-frequency words in their individual books. The partners read “Babies” to each other, in unison or both.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 12, Lesson 57, students read the Decodable Student Reader: “Too Many Options!” The teacher reviews the words: let’s, place, and large. The teacher models locating one of the high-frequency words in the text and highlighting the word. Then the students work in partners to search the text for the high-frequency words and highlight them in their own book.

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 3, Cycle 13, Lesson 63, students participate in an Interactive Writing activity for writing a silly sentence with words ending in C-le syllable.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 20, Lesson 98, students participate in an Interactive Writing activity for writing a silly sentence with singular words ending in “y” and plural words ending in “ies.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 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 goal for the student to work toward.

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of foundational skills. 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 Fluency assesses the ability of the reader to decode accurately, effortlessly, and with automaticity.
• In the K-2 Resource Manual, Assessment Overview, the 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 Grade 2 as exit tickets. These assessments help a teacher quickly check on mastery of daily learning targets. For example:
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 6, Lesson 26, during Differentiated Small Group, students in the Partial Alphabetic complete an exit ticket, which assesses students' ability to build r-controlled words, check spellings by identifying syllable types, and write list of words created as an exit ticket. The teacher analyzes the exit ticket with the students to figure out which words were more challenging and discuss why.
• An Assessment Path is provided for each grade level in the Resource Manual. For example, for Grade 2 at the beginning of the year, the teacher should assess spelling (begin with Full Alphabetic Word List), Decoding (begin with Late Full Alphabetic Word List), and Fluency (begin with Passage 4). The suggested assessments for the middle of the year are: Spelling (begin with Consolidated Alphabetic Word List), Decoding (begin with Early Consolidated Alphabetic Word List), and Fluency (begin with Passage 5). The suggested assessments for the end of the year are: Spelling (begin with Consolidated Alphabetic Word List), Decoding (begin with Middle Consolidated Alphabetic Word List), Fluency (begin with Passage 6).

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

• In Reading Foundations Skill Block, Module 1, Cycle 3, Lesson 11, the teacher uses exit tickets during Small Group Differentiation. For example, students in the Partial Alphabetic stage are assessed for building “ee,” “ea,” and “y,” words, checking spellings by identifying placement of vowel sound, and writing a list of words created as an exit ticket. The teacher analyzes the exit tickets with the students.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycle 13, Lesson 63, the teacher determines whether students are able to count the number of syllables by identifying the vowel sounds in order to ensure mastery of the skill. They also determine whether students are dividing the word and syllables in order to decode the words. During Work Time A, the teacher is analyzing students’ ability to correctly identify spelling patterns with the C-le ending syllable.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 4, Cycle 24, Lesson 121, teachers have the ability to complete an additional assessment which assesses students' ability to read and decode words they have been taught up to this lesson. This is an optional assessment that teachers can complete. The students decode two-syllable words, words with patterns from the cycle, and spelling words from the cycle that are taught.

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

• Based on how a student performs on the assessments a student will fall into the early, middle, or late stage of pre-alphabetic, partial alphabetic, full alphabetic, or consolidated alphabetic stages. This will help to guide the instruction a student receives over the course of the school year.
• 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. The chart contains activities aligned to CCSS and categories (rhyming, letter recognition, phonological manipulation, onset/rime, high frequency words, vowels, fluency, digraphs, syllables, affixes, question). For example, Roll and Write helps students demonstrate their ability to read grade level appropriate high-frequency words.

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 2 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 grade 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 10, the students in the Partial Alphabetic group complete the exit ticket by sorting Syllable Word Cards into open or closed syllable types. Students write a list of words sorted as an exit ticket. The teacher analyzes the exit tickets with the students to figure out words that are more challenging for students. Students in the Full Alphabetic group, complete an exit ticket consisting of Syllable Slice and Word Lists. The lesson plan suggests working with a common appropriate text making connections to “ay” and “ai” words. For students in the Consolidated Alphabetic group, the students are to complete an exit ticket consisting of Syllable Slice and Word Lists. The lesson plan also suggests checking in with AIR and inviting students to write an article for the Sunnyside Gazette using “ay” and “ai” words.

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 3, Cycle 13, Lesson 61, students may need support in segmenting the word into syllables orally and spelling each syllable. “Example: ‘scribble’ Ask: ‘What is the first syllable you hear?’ What syllable type is that?’ Students write the first syllable. Ask: ‘What is the second syllable you hear?’ What syllable type is that?’ Students write the second syllable."
• Additional suggestions for support are provided through Meeting Student’s Needs, portions of each lessons. For example:
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Cycle 1, Lesson 1, on page 23, the teacher is instructed to “Consider using the Articulatory Gestures chart as needed to support students who may have difficulty distinguishing the sounds of the short vowels.”
  • In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Cycle 2, Lesson 6, Page 100, Meeting Students Needs, one of the suggested activities is to “Consider annotating the letters in a vowel team by placing a dot under each and drawing a straight line between the dots. This can serve as a visual, reinforcing the fact that while there are two vowels, they make just one sound.”

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 7, students learn about the spelling patterns oi, oy, ou and ow along with decoding two syllable words. Over the course of five lessons, students work to practice and master these skills. Some of the activities students complete in these lessons include playing syllable sleuth with two syllable words, reading and spelling words with the oi, oy, ou and ow spelling patterns and reading the Decodable Student Reader: “A New Playground.”
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 2, Cycle 12, students learn the vowel teams ai and ay over the course of five lessons in the cycle. Activities students complete with these spelling patterns include the Words Rule activity, the Decodable Student Reader: “Sam Rides the Subway Train,” and writing words with the ai and ay spelling patterns.
• In Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 3, Cycles 13-14, students learn consonant-le (C-le) syllable type words. Over 10 lessons, students work on consonant-le syllable type words. Some of the activities students complete in these lessons include Syllable Sleuth, writing silly sentences, and reading the Decodable Student Reader: “No Food to Be Found.”
• There are Decodable Student Reader texts throughout that help students read and apply grade level phonics. For example, in Reading Foundations Skills Block, Module 1, Cycle 3, Lesson 12, students read “Do Fish Eat Cheese?” In Module 4, Cycle 23, Lesson 112, students read “Sam’s Story: The Tale of the Knight’s Nose.”