The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction to print and to practice the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).

Materials provide opportunities for students to practice forming all 26 letters, both uppercase and lowercase. Students rainbow write letters in their Student Activity book using crayons. The Accommodations section offers a suggestion for students to practice forming the letters in the air before writing or trace on the floor in front of them using their finger; however, materials do not include explicit instruction on how to form each letter. 

Materials include limited opportunities for students to practice forming all of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). Examples include:

• Print all upper- and lowercase letters.
  
• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, Handwriting, page 10, students use Student Activity book pages 57-59 to rainbow write the letters b/B and c/C. Students first use the guides with dotted lines to trace the letters then trace the letters without the guides. Students use crayons to trace the letters. There is no explicit instruction on how to form the letters. 
• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, Handwriting, page 13, students use Student Activity book pages 60-61 and 64-65 to rainbow write the letters d/D and f/F. Students first use the guides with dotted lines to trace the letters then trace the letters without the guides. Students use crayons to trace the letters. The Accommodations section suggests to practice forming the letter in the air before writing or tracing or on the floor using their finger; however, no explicit instruction on how to form the letters is provided. 
• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, Handwriting, page 124, students use Student Activity book page 84 to rainbow write the letters i/I. Students first use the guides with dotted lines to trace the letters then trace the letters without the guides. Students use crayons to trace the letters 5-10 times with each color crayon. The Accommodations section suggests to practice forming the letter in the air before writing or tracing or on the floor using their finger; however, no explicit instruction on how to form the letters is provided. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials provide instructional support for general concepts of print and connect learning of print concepts to books (K-1) and provide cumulative review of print concepts, letter identification, and printing letters. (K-early Grade 1).

Although there are many teacher models for use in teaching general concepts of print, the Grade 1 materials do not contain explicit teacher instructional materials for teaching all print concepts. There are multiple opportunities for students to practice with print concepts, such as starting a sentence with a capital letter and ending a sentence with punctuation, but these opportunities do not include specific, explicit instructions for teachers to use when teaching these concepts. 

Materials include some sufficient and explicit instruction for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., recognize features of a sentence). Examples of print concepts instruction include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation).
  
• In I Am Ready, Blue Teacher Planner, Steps 2 and 3, page 132, an extension of the short story, “Chimp Chats,” is provided. Students are to color the first letter of the sentence green and color the end mark red to signify the end of the sentence. This activity is repeated on page 134 of the Blue Teacher Planner in Center 4, Short Story. 
• In I Am Ready, Blue Teacher Planner, Steps 2 and 3, page 189, students create a sentence using one Bug word and one Frog word. The students read the sentence they created. Students are then prompted to write the sentence in their booklet, practicing using a capital letter to start the sentence and an end mark at the end of the sentence. 
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, days 106-110 there is a center called Train Sentences. This activity is described in detail on page 385 of the Student Activities Book. The engine shows the use of a capital letter to start a sentence and a caboose (p 407) is the end mark needed to complete the sentence.
• Teachers can use interactions with books to teach print concepts, however materials lack explicit teacher directions in teaching the distinguishing parts of a sentence.

Some practice opportunities using print concepts in the context of student books include:

• Students can use books to identify, practice, and reinforce print concepts, but the materials lack explicit direction for student practice with distinguishing parts of a sentence.
• Students have frequent and varied experiences learning about print concepts with actual books. Materials include appropriate physical books which provide opportunities for students to interact meaningfully with books.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling.

While there are opportunities to practice phonics skills learned through writing and reading in the materials, phonics instruction is not explicitly taught in a regular, systematic way.  The materials do not provide guidance for teachers that describes an explicit, systematic approach to instruction that focuses on modeling to instruct phonics. While the accommodations section of the plans sometimes includes modeling, not all students would be exposed to this feature. There are a variety of activities available for each consonant and short vowel; however, the materials do not provide for systematic modeling by the teacher. Materials do not indicate if these activities are to take place on a daily basis. There are not frequent opportunities for students to explicitly say letter names or sounds.

Materials contain limited explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics standards. For example:

• Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, page 121, students work on learning consonant digraphs. Students say the name of each picture on the Couple Cards. Then, each Couple Card is placed in a category based on the sound that it makes. The teacher initially begins sorting all of the cards by beginning sounds. Then, the teacher holds up the picture cards and the students decide which category the card goes in. The activity is completed by sorting the cards by ending sound.
• Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, page 173, students write en on the roof of the house. Then they write as many -en words as possible in the house. Students practice putting the beginning sound (onset) on an “ending chunk” (rime) to create a word.
• Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
• In Steps 4 and 5, Orange Teacher Planner, Sneaky "e" Introduction, page 43, teachers place the Sneaky "e" postcard at the end of words to change them to long vowel words. This lesson is repeated on pages 46 and 49 of the Orange Teacher Planner. 
• In Steps 4 and 5, Orange Teacher Planner, Step 4 Book, Snake 1 and Snake 2, page 51, the Slow Down Sounds are sneaky "e" and a_e. "If students see this spelling, students need to slow down, take their time decoding, and think carefully about the phonics they have been taught."
• During Center #2: Word Hunt, students look through the book and find six different words containing a_e. 
• This cycle includes Making Couple Cards, Mat Match Pictures, Mini Book, Practice Pages, and Step Book activities and is repeated within the Orange Teacher Planner for o_e, i_e, soft c, and u_e/ue. 
• In Steps 4 and 5, Orange Teacher Planner, Vowel Team Introduction, pages 186-187, the directions state, "Review Sneaky "e" as a way to make a long vowel sound. Explain that the next way to make a long vowel is with vowel teams: 'When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. When two vowels team up, they shout the first one's name.'" The teacher then displays the Vowel Team Mat and write the spelling of the first vowel teams being introduced, ee and ea, on the board. The teacher says a word with that spelling and students sound out and write the word on a piece of paper or a whiteboard.  The directions include the following: "Note: Explain that there are two ways to spell the long /e/ sound. Students do not need to spell the words using the correct one at first but need to be able to read both spellings." 
• In Steps 4 and 5, Orange Teacher Planner, Word Hop, pages 323-324, once students have covered all five vowel teams, ee, ea, ai, oa, and ui, they use them to make words. Students write each vowel team, along with 10 consonants, on a separate index card, lay the cards out on the floor, and hop to make vowel team words. Students blend the sounds, say the word, and take turns hopping. 
• Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
• No evidence found.
• Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Practice Pages, Step 3, page 246, students draw a line from the first syllable in a word to its second syllable to create the word that matches the picture.
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Compound Words, page 247, students find the number of syllables in words by clapping for every syllable they hear, putting their hand under their chin and counting how many times their chin pulls down, or noticing how many times their mouth opens. The directions include the following: "Note: Two-syllable words can be just two-syllable words or they can be 'compound words.' Compound words are words made up of more than one word (not just more than one syllable).'"
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Sound Hunt: Multisyllabic Words, page 250, students use the Sound Hunt paper, located in the Student Activity Book, page 334, along with library books or magazines to find words with two to three syllables.  
• Read words with inflectional endings.
• No evidence found.

Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade-level phonics pattern.

• No evidence found.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.

The materials include activities for teaching each sound or spelling pattern but lack direction on the frequency of instruction. While students do have opportunities to learn how to decode words through phonics skills, such as beginning/medial/ending sounds in CVC words, there is no evidence that these practice opportunities occur daily. It is unclear whether the centers that focus on these skills are meant to be conducted on a daily or weekly schedule. The materials serve as a “menu” of choices rather than an explicit list of which lessons should be practiced in order for students to meet mastery of decoding words. 

Examples of opportunities for students to decode words include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Step 1 materials contain a 5-day cycle. For the first 50 days, all the letters and basic sounds are reviewed. For example, in Days 11-15, the following consonants are reviewed: qu, r, s, t. In Days 50-85, the focus is on CVC words. The Step 2 and 3 materials contain a 5-day cycle. The materials focus on different topics (blends, consonant digraphs, ng, nk, two-syllable words, and compound words), and materials contain some opportunities during centers to review the previously learned topics. The Steps 4 and 5 materials contain a 5-day cycle. The materials focus on different topics, such as long vowel sounds vs. short vowel sounds, sneaky e, and vowel teams. There are review weeks for sneaky e (Days 206-215) and vowel teams (Days 246-255), but no consistent daily opportunities to review previously taught grade level phonics skills.
• In I Am Ready, Green Teacher Planner, Step 1, pages 3-5, 84-85, 196, and 264, the center layout illustrates the letter that is taught during each five-day cycle. Each cycle provides some phonics practice through reading The Consonant Play Book, practicing the letter/sound or skill for that week in centers, and completing practice pages using that sound/skill.
• In I Am Ready, Green Teacher Planner, Step 1, page 171 and Student Activity Book pages 255-256, students sound out and read each short e word on their paper. Then students practice writing the word on the blank line and draw a picture to illustrate the word
• In Steps 2 and 3, Practice Pages, students read the sentences that contain words with -nk and -ng. 

Examples of review for previously taught grade level phonics skills include:

• In Ready, Set, Go, Teacher’s Handbook, Steps 1-5:
• There are charts that list activities to reinforce students’ learning of letter sounds. (pages 30-32)
• There are center ideas to practice letter sounds on pages 137-139. These centers can be used as whole-group instruction ideas and as independent learning centers.
• In Green Teacher Planner, Step 1, Days 6-10, students practice reviewing the beginning sounds of j, k, and l. Students say the name of the picture. Students decide on the beginning sound and color the box of the letter they heard.
• In Blue Teacher Planner, Steps 2 and 3, Lessons 86-115, there are center activities that review letters and sounds. In Day 105, Center # 6: Act It Out, page 81, students review blends, do charades using words with blends/digraphs, and write those words.
• In Orange Teacher Planner, Steps 4 and 5, Day 209, page 154, students participate in Word Hunt. Students look through the text, Cat Gets a Scare, and find six different sneaky e words. Students write each of the six words on the Word Hunt paper.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade level phonics, including common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns.

Materials include opportunities for students to build/manipulate, spell, and encode grade level phonics; however, the practice is not always daily and does not consistently have students practice encoding words. In Steps 2 and 3 of the Blue Teacher Planner, there are six practice pages for encoding words in isolation. The centers in Steps 2 and 3 of the Blue Teacher Planner do not emphasize encoding a whole word, although there is practice in filling in the beginning, medial, or ending sound of words. The materials do not include protocols for teachers to model encoding.  

Limited opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade level phonics include:

• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, Practice Pages, Word Families op, page 135, students practice putting the beginning sound (onset) on an “ending chunk” (rime) to create word families. 
• In the directions pages for the Steps 2 and 3 Blue Practice Book, there are brief directions for the activities that have students build a word. There are brief directions for students to write sentences about a picture (p. 40), but teachers are directed not to use these until Steps 4 and 5 of the Orange Practice Book.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and practice opportunities of high-frequency words to develop automaticity.

High-frequency words in the Express Readers materials are called Sticky Words. There are nine sight words in I Am Ready, Step 1, seven words in I Am Ready, Step 2, five words in I Am Ready, Step 3, 12 words in I Am Ready, Step 4, and eight words in I Am Ready, Step 5, for a total of 41 words. Within the I Am Ready program, Sticky Words instruction begins on Day 51 in Step 1, Day 95 in Step 2, and Day 172 in Steps 4 and 5. There is some explicit instruction as to what the words are and how they sound; however, there is no explicit instruction on the meaning of the high-frequency words, such as all, again, and said. 

Materials include some systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words. Examples of high-frequency words instruction include:

• Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
  
• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, Center 5: Sticky Word Detective, page 311, students participate in a center about Sticky Words. Students complete Sticky Word Hunt or students use a magazine to find the selected Sticky Word.  
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Day 100,  Activity: Sticky Word Detective, page 58, the teacher writes the Sticky Words in boxes on Sticky Word Hunt and then copy Sticky Word Hunt for each student. Students color each Sticky Word a color and count up the number of Sticky words. The teacher does not explicitly teach the Sticky Words.
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Day 119, Activity: Sticky Word Detective, page 130, the teacher displays Sticky Word Display Cards for Step 3. The teacher puts the Sticky Word, she, in the middle of the display. The teacher then reads a story to the students that includes the Sticky Word, she. The teacher is not directed to teach or say the word, she, prior to reading the story.
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Day 172, Sticky Words Intro, page 28, the teacher displays Sticky Word Display Cards. The teacher puts the Sticky Word, they, in the middle of the display. The teacher then reads a story to the students that contains they. The teacher is not directed to teach or say the word, they, prior to reading the story.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials provide frequent practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences).

The Express Readers materials provide students with limited opportunities to read and write Sticky Words (high-frequency words). In the I Am Ready program, students start reading and writing Sticky Words on Days 61-65 in Step 1, Days 91-95 in Steps 2 and 3, and Day 172 in Steps 4 and 5. Steps 4 and 5 have minimal opportunities for students to read and write Sticky Words in sentences. Over the course of all the materials, there are few activities for students to write Sticky Words in sentences. The sentence building/writing/reading activities are based on the phonics sound the students are learning.

Activities for students to practice reading and writing Sticky Words include: 

• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, page 299, students participate in Pick the Sentence. Students look at a picture and read each sentence next to the picture. Students then decide which sentence describes the picture and color in the box for the chosen sentence. The sentences contain the Sticky Word the. The sentences also contain high-frequency words not taught, such as has and is.  
• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, page 280, students participate in Center #3, Express Theater: “Dog Gets a Job.” Students select a role from the Express Readers and practice reading their part. “Dog Gets a Job” includes three Sticky Words: be, for, to.
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Day 142, page 207, students participate in Pick the Sentence. Students look at a picture and read each sentence next to the picture. Students then decide which sentence describes the picture and color in the box for the chosen sentence. The sentences contain the Sticky Word the. The sentences also contain high-frequency words not taught, such as is and has.
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Days 121-125, page 153, students participate in Center #6: Express Theater: “Chimp Gets a Check-up.” Students select a role and practice reading their part. “Chimp Gets a Check-up” has one Sticky Word: you.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials explicitly teach word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis) based on the requirements of the standards and provide frequent practice opportunities for students to apply word analysis strategies.

Materials contain some instruction of word analysis strategies, such as letter sound recognition, beginning/medial/ending sounds, blends, digraphs, syllabication, and compound words. Materials contain instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words, such as how to decode a CVCor CVCe word. Explicit instruction of word analysis is not consistent in lessons. There are no lessons that teach inflected endings, prefixes, or suffixes. Opportunities for students to practice and apply word analysis strategies are usually on a weekly basis with little variety. The activity stays the same, while the “letter of the week” changes. The majority of activities for students to apply word analysis come in non-instructional settings, in which students are doing practice pages, centers, or activities not under the teacher’s direct instruction.

Examples of the explicit teaching of word analysis strategies are limited and include:

• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, Listen and Blend #1, page 197, the teacher selects three different Couple Cards. The teacher tells the students that the teacher will say a word in pieces. The students have to put the sounds together to figure out their word.
• In Step 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, page 41, the teacher picks a card at random from the Step 2 Couple Cards and the students say as many rhyming words as possible.
• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, Consonant Digraph Introduction: Crash Letters Mat & Crash Cards, page 145, the teacher states, “When two to three letters crash into each other and make a NEW sound, they are digraphs.” The teacher holds up both hands and demonstrates how two letters say their own sound, but when the letters crash, a new sound is made. 
• In Steps 4 and 5, Orange Teacher Planner, Making Couple Cards, ui, page 280, students think of words that have ui in each word. Students write one word per index card. Then students draw a picture to match the word. 

Word analysis practice opportunities include:

• In Steps 2 and 3, Blue Teacher Planner, students complete Practice Page Rhyming 9. Students read the word at the beginning of the row and then circle the pictures in the row that rhyme with that word. 
• In Steps 4 and 5, Orange Teacher Planner, page 9, Long Vowel Sounds, students must determine the long vowel and decide whether it has a long /a/.
• In Step 1, Green Teacher Planner, page 58, Sound Tap, Segmenting, students identify beginning and ending sounds in words.