1st Grade - Gateway 1

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

From Phonics to Reading Teacher’s Edition Level A provides instruction on the formation of upper or lowercase letter forms. There are words and sentences that students write incorporating letters. There are direct lessons in the Letter Formation: Letter Formation Guide. Students receive minimal practice in multimodal instruction by completing a word ladder and the read-spell-write routine where students read a word, spell the word, and then write the word.

Materials include directions for the teacher concerning how to explain and model how to correctly form each of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher’s Edition, Letter Formation, Letter Formation Instruction, there is a guide for explicitly teaching students to form uppercase and lowercase letters. For example, to form uppercase F, “1. pull down, lift 2. Top, slide right, lift 3. Middle, slide right.” To form lowercase f, “1. Curve back from the top, lift 2. Cross in the middle.”

Materials include opportunities for students to practice forming all of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher’s Edition, Letter Formation, Letter Formation Instruction, there is a handwriting scope and sequence for Level A. For example:

  • In Lesson 4, the handwriting focus is “Letters with circles: Oo, Aa, Cc, Ss Model pencil grip and posture. Discuss proper spacing of letters, words, and sentences.”

  • In Lesson 19, the handwriting focus is “Letters with circles and straight lines: Qq, Jj.”

• The Teacher's Edition Level A provides daily activities to practice forming uppercase and lowercase letters through "Sound-Spelling/Blending" routines, writing high-frequency words, dictation exercises, and word building and word study routines that are included throughout the 150 lessons of the program.

• In Level A Student Book, Lesson 8, pages 110-111, there is a “High-Frequency Words” Exercise, and students write words multiple times while saying the letters as the letters are written.

• In Level A Student Book, Lesson 16, pages 229-237, there is a “Read-Spell-Write” activity with high-frequency words, and students say the letter names while writing each letter.

Materials include limited opportunities for students to practice forming letters using multimodal and/or multisensory methods. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 2, page 172, students make new words using the word ladder and then write the words on a page, which includes multiple letters, including the letters T, A, K, E, C, and L.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 19, Day 1, page 268, students complete the read-write-spell activity with multiple letters in the words.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials have frequent opportunities for students to engage in phonological awareness activities through Kindergarten and early Grade 1.

The Teacher's Edition for Level A provides daily activities for students to practice phonemic and phonological awareness skills. These skills are addressed in the first exercise of the day and then reinforced through various activities that are woven into the lessons and in activities found in the Student Book. Lessons assume that students are familiar with skills such as blending and segmenting. Lessons do not provide explicit teacher modeling unless students need corrective feedback.

Materials include a variety of activities for phonological awareness. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, phonological awareness exercises include the following skills: recognizing and producing rhyme, oral blending, oral segmentation, alliteration, categorizing sounds, phonemic manipulation, and distinguishing long and short vowel sounds.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, during the oral blending, the students say the following sound sequences, /a/t/, /k/a/t/, /a/n/, /p/a/n/, /n/a/p/, /m/a/n/, /t/a/p/, /f/a/n/, and /f/a/n/z/.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Days 1-5, there are activities to practice oral blending (with /th/ and /sh/ sounds), oral segmentation (with words containing /sh/ and /th/ sounds), and phonemic manipulation involving addition of sounds (/th/ and /sh/) to form new words.

• In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 22, Days 1-5, there are activities to practice the following: oral blending of words with r-controlled vowels, phonemic manipulation involving adding sounds and syllables to words containing r-controlled vowels, phonemic manipulation involving substituting sounds in words containing r-controlled vowels, and categorizing sounds in words containing r-controlled vowels.

There are frequent opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, there are thirty lessons which include activities that focus on one or more of the following skills: identifying that words are made up of sound units, clapping and counting syllables, blending phonemes into syllables and words, and identifying beginning and ending sounds in a word or syllable. In all thirty lessons, every day of instruction includes instruction and/or practice in phonological awareness.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 6, Day 1, students practice oral blending words with /f/ /l/ and /s/ /l/. Students listen and join in during: “fl...fl...fl… Flip, flop, flip. When it’s wet you might slip.”

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 14, Day 3, students complete substitute sound activity after the teacher models the students practice by replacing the final sound in these words: he, my, got, hit, sob.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction in phonological awareness through systematic modeling across the Kindergarten-Grade 1 grade band.

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials provide daily instruction in phonological awareness skills, including distinguishing short from long vowel sounds in spoken words, orally producing words by blending phonemes, categorizing words based on initial and ending sounds, and orally segmenting words into phonemes. The Teacher's Edition Level A provides examples for teaching each of the skills included in the scope and sequence chart. Students orally blend words during the Phonemic Awareness portion of the lesson and then connect the sound-spelling pattern during the Learn and Blend portion of the lesson. The Instructional Guide for Phonological Awareness Scope and Sequence Rationale contains additional routines.

Materials provide the teacher with some systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 15, Day 1, students distinguish long orally blend words that contain long a and short a vowel sounds. Words include: at, gate, ran, pan, may, man, bake, paint.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 15, Day 3, students distinguish long a from short a vowel sounds. The teacher calls out words and students stand tall if they hear a long a vowel sound and stay seated if they hear a short a vowel sound.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 16, Day 1, students orally blend words using the Learn and Blend Routine that contain short e and long e vowel sounds.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 17, Day 1, students orally blend words that contain short o and long o vowel sounds.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 18, Day 1, students orally blend words that contain short i and long i vowel sounds.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 19, Day 1, students orally blend words that contain short u and long u vowel sounds.

• Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 10, Day 1, page 137, Students practice blending the sounds /ch/, /tch/, and /wh/. Then the teacher is to, “Provide corrective feedback by modeling how to stretch together (or sing) the sounds.”

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 16, Day 1, page 225, the teacher says sound sequences for: /ē/ /t/; /h/ /ē/ /t/; /k/ /ē/ /p/; /f/ /r/ /ē/; /ch/ /ē/ /p/; /ch/ /ē/ /z/; /s/ /p/ /ē/ /k/; /s/ /p/ /ē/ /d/. Students are to blend the sounds together. The teacher is to “provide corrective feedback by modeling how to stretch together (or sing) the sounds.”

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 28, Day 1, page 397, the teacher says sound sequences for: /m/ /ī/ /l/ /d/; /m/ /ī/ /n/ /d/; /f/ /ī/ /n/ /d/; /f/ /ō/ /l/ /d/; /ch/ /ī/ /l/ /d/; /k/ /ō/ /l/ /d/; /s/ /k/ /ō/ /l/ /d/. The teacher is to “provide corrective feedback by modeling how to stretch together (or sing) the sounds.”

  • In Instructional Guide: Phonological Awareness Scope and Sequence Rationale, pages 4-5, there is the Oral Blending Routine. It includes the following steps: Introduce, Model (I Do), Guided Practice/Practice (We Do/You Do).

• Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Day 1, page 123, the teacher says the sound sequences for: /sh/ /u/ /t/; /sh/ /e/ /l/; /th/ /e/ /m/; /d/ /i/ /sh/; /w/ /i/ /th/; /k/ /l/ /o/ /th/.

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 29, Day 1, page 411, the teacher says the sound sequences for: /p/ /ī/; /g/ /ō/; /g/ /ō/ /z/; /l/ /ī/ /z/; /d/ /ō/; /f/ /l/ /ī/; /f/ /r/ /ī/ /d/; /s/ /k/ /ī/ /z/.

• Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).

  • In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 2, page 171, the teacher says the words: cake, gate, hide, ride, brave, slide, shaves, and brakes. The students identify the number of sounds, and the teacher adds a counter in each box based on the sound.

  • In Teacher Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 17, Day 2, page 243, the teacher is provided with examples of words (coat, toads, float, grows) to have students segment into sounds. Students orally segment three- to five-letter words into their sounds and then count the number of sounds heard.

  • In Instructional Guide: Phonological Awareness Scope and Sequence Rationale, page 6, there is the Oral Segmentation Routine (Sound by Sound). It includes the following steps: Introduce, Model (I Do), Guided Practice/Practice (We Do/You Do).

Materials provide the teacher with examples for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words called for in grade level standards. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 5, Day 2, page 69, there are six words that students and the teacher segment sound by sound and count the number of sounds. Then the teacher shows students how to practice segmenting words using boxes and counters.

• In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 14, Day 3, page 203, there is one example for the teacher to model replacing the ending sound. There are five other examples for the teacher to do with the students.

• In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 6, Day 4, page 420, students blend long /i/ and long /o/ words. There are eight examples that the teacher completes with the students.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials provide practice of each newly taught sound (phoneme) and sound pattern across the Kindergarten-Grade 1 band.

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials provide daily practice in phonological awareness that matches the new sound or sound pattern taught in the lesson. Exercises in distinguishing long from short vowel sounds, blending and segmenting phonemes, categorizing sounds, or manipulating phonemes provide daily oral practice with the target sound or sound pattern of each lesson. Students have opportunities to practice each of the grade level standards. However, the program does not incorporate a variety of multimodal/multisensory activities for the students to practice phonological awareness skills. Materials include an online component where students can hear the words read to them.

Materials provide opportunities for students to practice each new sound and sound pattern called for in grade level standards. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 3, students practice identifying words that are long and short vowels, by standing up tall if the word they hear is long vowel /a/ or /i/.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 13, Day 3, students distinguish between long and short vowel sounds /o/ and/e/.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 13, Day 3, students practice identifying short and long vowel sounds with the words not, note, cut, cute, men, mean, met, bug, eve, hop, pup, rope, fuse, and ten.
• In Teacher's Edition, Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 15, Day 1, students practice blending long /a/ words ate, gate, rain, pain, may, man, bake, and paint.
• Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds,or phonemes, including consonant blends.
• In Teacher’s Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 1, students practice blending /o/ /n/; /p/ /o/ /t/; /r/ /o/ /k/; /n/ /o/ /t/; /t/ /o/ /s/; /d/ /o/ /t/; and /d/ /o/ /t/ /s/.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 30, Day 4, students practice by blending sounds together to make words. There are eight words the students practice blending: /k/ /ē/; /n/ /ē/ /s/; /h/ /o/ /k/ /ē/; /b/ /r/ /ē/ /f/; /ch/ /ē/ /f/ /s/; /v/ /a/ /l/ /ē/; /m/ /i/ /s/ /t/ /ē/; and /s/ /a/ /n/ /d/ /ē/.
• Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 6, Day 3, students practice finding the word that has the same initial sound from the word bank: slip, sled, and flap; plan, pan, and plot; slam, slow, and sit; flat, clap, and clip; fly, five, and flap; blue, glad, and globe.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 16, Day 3, Students practice deleting the first sound to make a new word using beat, peel, reach, feet, jeep, and team.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 17, Day 3, students replace the middle sound in words.
• Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 6, Day 5, students segment words flag, clap, plus, slip, clock, glass, black, and plan sound by sound.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Day 2, students segment scan, smell, snap, spun, swim, steps, and slams. The students practice using sound boxes and counters.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 17, Day 5, students practice segmenting each of the following words sound by sound: go, goat, grows, soy, soak, row, road, and roads.

Materials include multimodal/multisensory activities for student practice of phonological awareness. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 15, Day 2, oral segmentation exercise includes multimodal instruction, as students use visual, auditory and tactile cues to segment the words save, may, make, pain, paint, rain, and train using sound boxes and counters.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, phonological awareness exercises are choral oral practice. Some exercises include clapping, “stand up/sit down if. . .” responses.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 3, students stand up if the teacher says a short vowel word.

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

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials use instructional routines that provide students with daily phonics instruction. These routines provide students with opportunities to hear, say, encode and read newly taught grade level phonics patterns, including consonant digraphs, long vowel patterns, and words containing one and two syllables. The materials provide teachers with some explicit examples, instructional routines, and systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade level phonics pattern. According to the High-Impact Routine: Dictation, a teacher can model encoding a word using the Think and Write tool. According to the High-Impact Routine: Word Building, a teacher can model building a word with the Make New Words tool.

Materials contain some explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade level phonics standards. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Day 1 introduces two digraphs, sh and th . The teacher explains that digraphs are groups of letters that make one sound. The teacher writes wish and ship. The teacher underlines sh in each word and models blending.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 10, Days 1-5, teaches the consonant digraphs/trigraphs /ch/ and /tch/, and /wh/.
• Day 1, the teacher writes chop and catching, underlines the digraph/trigraph and models blending.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 11, Days 1-5, , teaches the consonant digraphs /ng/ and /nk/.
• Day 1, the teacher models how to sort words with /ng/ and /nk/.
• Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher displays the following word cards: bat, can, cat, fan, fat hat, man, pan, ran, and sat. The teacher is prompted to read each word with the students to make sure they know the words. During the closed sort, the teacher is prompted to model sorting the first words. During the check and discuss the teacher reviews the words in each sort category. The teacher guides students to understand that the letter a can stand for /a/ sound and that -an and -at are two common short /a/ spelling patterns.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Lesson 13, Day 1, the teacher displays the following word cards: bone, cube, cute, home, hope, Steve, these, those, use, vote. The teacher reads each word to students. The teacher models sorting the words based on o_e, e_e, or u_e.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 22, Day 1, the teacher writes corn and store, underlines the r-controlled vowel spelling in each word, and models blending.
• Know final e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 26, Day 1, the teacher models blending the words in line 1 :saw, raw, law, paws, cause, and because. The teacher compares the vowel sounds, pointing out the complex vowel /o/ sound.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Days 1-5, teaches the final e rule with /a/ and /i/.
• Day 1, the teacher writes skate, ice, time, nice and underlines the a_e or i_e. The teacher models blending the words.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 13, Days 1-5, teaches the final -e rule with /e/, /o/, and /u/.
• Day 1, the teacher writes cone, Pete, use and underlines the o_e, e_e, or u_e. The teacher models blending.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lessons 15-19, the teacher teaches long vowel sounds that do not involve the final -e rule (e.g., /ai/, /ee/, /oa/, /igh/).
• Lesson 15, Day 1, the teacher writes train and late and underlines the long a spelling in each word. The teacher models blending.
• Lesson 17, Day 1, the teacher writes row and goat and underlines the long o spelling in each word. The teacher models blending.
• Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 25, Day 4, the teacher writes the word pointing on the board. The students examine the word before dividing it into syllables. The teacher draws a line between the syllables, and the teacher calls attention to the vowel sound in each syllable. Students read the word. This is repeated with the words shouting, graceful, joining, and hidden.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 30, Day 3, the teacher uses the words bunny and turkey to guide children to identify the syllables. The teacher draws attention to the long e sound in the syllable ny, the r-controlled vowel sound in the syllable tur and the long e sound in the syllable key.
• Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 20, Day 3, the teacher writes the word wagon and models dividing it into syllables. The teacher explains that every syllable in a word has only one vowel sound. Students practice with elbow, using the Word Study page in the Student Book.
• Read words with inflectional endings.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Day 3, the teacher writes dashed. The teacher guides students to separate dash and -ed. Then the teacher guides students to blend dash and -ed to read dashed.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 13, Day 3, the teacher writes vote. The teacher states, “Vote ends in a final e. Then I add -ed. In words that end with e, you drop the e before adding -ed.” The teacher models drawing a line through the final e. The teacher writes the word vote with -ed.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 26, Day 4, the teacher writes the words draws, loves, loved, and loving. Students read the words, and the teacher calls attention to the inflectional ending in each word and discuss any spelling changes made to the base word before the ending was added. The teacher repeats the process with the following words: care, cared, caring; crawls, crawled, and crawling.

Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade level phonics pattern. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, each lesson includes some recurring instructional routines that provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction.
• Students hear the newly taught sound in the Learn and Blend, Make New Words, and Say and Write routines.
• Students say the newly taught sound in the Learn and Say, Say and Write, Sort it Out, and Cumulative Review routines.
• Students encode the newly taught sound in the Retell and Write, Listen and Spell, Make New Words, and Think and Write routines.
• Students decode the newly taught sound in the Blend It and Reading Connected Text routines.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 8, Day 2, students practice re-reading blending lines from student book with r-blend words they were taught and practiced in Days 1 and 2.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 16, Day 3, the students read each word, circle the words with short /e/ sound, and complete each sentence with the correct word.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 24, Day 5, students complete a word ladder. The teacher gives the clue and students change letters to change the word.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice reading words containing new and review phonics elements through decoding by phoneme and reading complete words. Opportunities for practice are built into daily instructional time. Teacher's Edition Level A is structured so that, in each of its thirty lessons, students are introduced to a phonics skill in the Sound-Spelling/Blending exercises and are provided daily opportunities to cumulatively review previously taught phonics skills with a quick review on Days 2-5 of each lesson. Phonics elements are practiced when reading words in isolation, in short sentences, and in connected text selections that are a part of each lesson. Additional decoding practice is provided through Connected Text selections incorporated in each lesson, along with word building, word sorting, and writing exercises.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode (e.g., phonemes, onset and rime, and/or syllables) phonetically spelled words. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition, Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Days 1-5, there are practice opportunities for the phoneme/grapheme for digraphs /sh/ and /th/.

  • Day 1, Introduce Sound-Spelling, students blend and read words containing the /sh/ and /th/ sounds using the Learn and Blend activity in Student Book. Students read the Read Connected Text sentences containing the focus elements.

  • Day 2, Sound-Spelling/Blending, students review sound-spelling cards for all previously taught phonics skills and reread the Blend It lines in Student Book to a partner. Students read the /sh/ and /th/ sound in Connected Text in Student Book, and complete Word Building exercises with the sounds.

  • Day 3, Sound-Spelling/Blending, students review all previously taught phonics skills and reread the Blend It activity from Student Book before reading a Read Connected Text selection from Student Book.

  • Day 4, students complete Independent Practice decoding and selecting the correct word to associate with a picture in Student Book. A Cumulative Review exercise has students read and complete the Sound Spelling/Blending sentences in Student Book, and students then complete a second reading of the connected text in Student Book.

  • Day 5, Writing Extension, students reread the connected text selection from Student Book.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 16, Day 4, students read /ea/ words (meal, thread, reach, clean, breath, spread).

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 22, Day 2, students complete the blending activity where they decode one syllable and r-controlled vowel sounds in words such as or, for, fork, oar, roar, soar.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Student Book Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 14, students complete the Read and Write activity. Students read each word and circle the word that has a long vowel sound. The words are be, bed, bet, net, no, not, so, sock, stop, set, she, shell, hi, hill, hit, he, help, and hen.

• In Student Book Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 17, students chorally blend and read the following words: cot, coat, bat, boat, go, grow, road, toad, goat, throat, coast, toast, low, flow, glow, grow, snow, slow, foam, show, loaf, float, blow, and row.

• In Student Book Level A,, Unit 5, Lesson 24, students read /ou/ and /ow/ words in the Blend It activity.

Materials contain opportunities for students to review previously learned grade level phonics. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 4, Day 4, students complete the cumulative quick check, where the teacher displays the sound-spelling cards for all previously taught phonics skills one at a time. The students say each sound and then the teacher mixes them up and the students read the sounds again.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 1, students read connected text, "The Plane Ride." The text has long /a/ and long /i/ words in it, which is taught in Unit 4, Lesson 14 and Unit 4, Lesson 15.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 25, Day 2, students complete the Blend It activity, which reviews diphthong /oi/ words.

Materials contain a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade level phonics. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 6, Day 2, students complete the word building activity by replacing the beginning sound of the word with another after students have used the letter cards to build or make words in a sequence.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 3, students complete a Blend It activity, where there is a list of words that students practice reading by blending the sounds together and reading the words

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 25, Day 1, students read the text, "How to Make a Royal Meal." There are /oy/ words in the text.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials promote frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials provide frequent and systematic practice decoding phonetically regular words in the context of a sentence. Opportunities for practice of decoding words in sentences occurs once or twice daily. Both the Blend It and the Read Connected Text exercises provide students opportunities to decode words that contain targeted, as well as previously taught sound-spelling patterns.

Materials provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Student Book Level A, the Blend It exercise in each lesson includes two context sentences. Students use these sentences to practice decoding words that contain the current or past target sound-spellings and/or high frequency words. Students read the sentences chorally on Day 1, then practice independently or with a partner on Days 2-5.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, students read the connected text, "My Cat." During the reading, if students have difficulty reading any word, the teacher stops and provides corrective feedback by modeling how to sound the word out. The teacher has the students read the sentence again. The teacher confirms that the word is correct by asking students to use other cues.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, Blend It, students read sentences in lines 4-5. This practice happens on Days 1-3.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words in a sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• In Student Book Level A, each lesson contains a Read Connected Text exercise on Day 1, where the teacher guides students in a choral reading of words in sentences with the connected text selection.
• In Student Book Level A, each lesson contains a Take-Home Book that students use in class and at home to practice decoding words in sentences. The teacher guides students in a choral reading of the book on Day 3 and Day 4. Students read the book independently on Day 5 of each lesson.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 6, Day 1, students read the text, "The Plan for the Play," which targets decoding skills for l-blend words.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 14, Day 3, Blend It, students read lines 3 - 4 which contain decodable words in sentences.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 29, Day 1, Blend It, students read lines 4-5, which contains the following sentences:
• I could eat a whole pie!
• Do you eat a lot of fried food?

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

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials include some recurring instructional routines that give students frequent practice building and encoding words, both in isolation and in written responses to text. There are practice opportunities for students to build, manipulate, and spell words. There is encoding practice that students complete included in the Dictation activities, Think-Write-Spell activities, and Sort It Out activities. According to the High-Impact Routine: Dictation, a teacher can model encoding a word using the Think and Write tool. According to the High-Impact Routine: Word Building, a teacher can model building a word with the Make New Words tool.

The materials contain teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns of phonics. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 11, Day 5, students complete a word ladder, where they write different words based on clues by the side of the word ladder. The teacher instructions say, “Guide children to complete the word ladder. Say each clue and the number of letters that must change. Prompt children to write the new word.”

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 15, Day 2, during Dictation, the teacher explicitly models segmenting a word and encoding its sounds. The teacher says the word may and models segmenting the word with left to right hand motions, then guides children to connect each sound to a spelling. Children complete Think and Write independently, encoding chain, gray, and train.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 18, Day 2, during Word Building, the teacher is guided to have children use letter cards to build or make the following words: me, my, fly, cry, try and shy. The teacher is prompted to tell children to replace a letter with a new letter to make a new word. The students write the new words in Student Book.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words in isolation based in common and newly-taught phonics patterns. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 18, Day 4, during Read and Write, students write words with long /i/ and /igh/ words.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 26, Day 3, the teacher writes the words walks, walked, and walking. The teacher reviews the inflectional endings -s, -ing, and -ed. The teacher guides children to write the new words with these inflectional endings.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 30, Day 5, students complete the Word Ladder activity where they have different clues, and students write words to meet those clues. The words are long /e/, /ey/, and /ie/ words.

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

In From Phonics to Reading Level A, recurring instructional routines explicitly model and teach both reading and spelling of high-frequency words, primarily using the Read-Spell-Write routine. High-frequency words are read and written in isolation and in context. An appropriate number of high-frequency words are taught over the course of the curriculum, and materials provide explicit examples for teacher modeling. The teacher completes explicit teaching of high-frequency words every day in the Read-Write-Spell routine which is completed in the lessons. The students learn four words in each lesson across the year. There is practice in two different routines the Read-Write-Spell routine and Extend activity where students practice reading the high-frequency words in isolation.

Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of irregularly spelled words. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, each lesson introduces four high-frequency words. The high-frequency words are taught and practiced using recurring instructional routines every day of each lesson including the Read-Spell-Write routine, the Use in Context routine, and the Cumulative Review routine.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 4, Day 1, the teacher uses the Read-Spell-Write routine for irregularly spelled words. The teacher writes the words in context, underlines the word and points to the word to have students read. The teacher spells the word out loud and points out any word spellings or letter spellings that the students already know. The teacher spells the word little. The teacher asks students if they know any other words with double letters.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 2, the teacher reteaches the high-frequency words water, that, of, and carry using the Read-Spell-Write routine.

Materials include frequent opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of irregularly spelled words in isolation. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, high-frequency words are introduced using the same Read-Spell-Write routine for each word. Materials ask the teacher to first write the word in a context sentence, read the sentence to the students, underline the word and tell students what the word is, and have students chorally read the word. The teacher spells the word aloud and studies the spelling with students, noticing sounds of letters and familiar spelling patterns. Finally, students write the high-frequency word twice in the Student Book with the help of a print model.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 8, Day 1, the teacher spells aloud the following high-frequency words: said, when, there, where. The teacher models spelling the word as the teacher writes the word.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 19, Day 1, during the Spell section of the Read-Spell-Write routine, the teacher spells the word aloud and has children repeat it. The students spell it with the teacher.

Students practice identifying and reading irregularly spelled words in isolation. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Day Five of each lesson reviews high-frequency words by having the teacher write the lesson’s four target words in isolation, then having students chorally read each word.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 5, the teacher writes the words and, stop, see, and jump on chart paper, and the students chorally read them.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 18, Day 5, the teacher writes the words full, different, into, and through on chart paper and students read them chorally.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 1, in the Read section, teachers are instructed to “write the word in a context sentence and underline the word. Point to the word and have children chorally read it.” There is one model provided for the teacher prior to asking the students to chorally read the words.

Materials include a sufficient quantity of new grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words for students to make reading progress. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Unit 1 planner, students learn twenty words for Lessons 1-5. They learn four words in each lesson.
• In Teacher's Edition Unit 2 planner, students learn twenty words for Lessons 1-5. They learn four words in each lesson.
• In Teacher's Edition Unit 3 planner, in Lessons 12 and 13, students learn eight high-frequency words. There are four words in each lesson.
• In Teacher's Edition Unit 4 planner, in Lessons 14-19, students learn four words in each lesson. They learn twenty-four high-frequency words by the end of the lessons.
• In Teacher's Edition Unit 5 planner, in Lessons 20-27, students learn four words per lesson in eight lessons, for a total of thirty-two words.
• In Teacher's Edition Unit 6 planner, in Lessons 28-30, students learn four words in each lesson, for a total of twelve words.

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

In From Phonics to Reading Level A materials, recurring instructional routines provide students with frequent practice both reading and writing high-frequency words in context. Practice occurs in frame sentences, student-generated sentences, and connected text. Practice opportunities are systematic and frequent, and there are lessons that provide students with opportunities to read words in sentences and to write grade-level words. The students complete pages in their Student Book that would allow them to go back and look at words when they are writing other activities.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read grade level irregularly spelled words in a sentence. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, each lesson has an Use in Context exercise in which students write high-frequency words in the context of a frame sentence. The teacher asks students to read the sentences to a partner.
• In Student Book Level A, each lesson has a Connected Text passage and a Take-Home Book in which students read connected text that includes targeted high-frequency words.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 8, Day 1, during the Write portion of the routine, students write the high-frequency words in a sentence and read the sentence to a partner.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 2, during the Extend part of the lesson, a student creates an oral sentence using high-frequency words and reads the sentence to a partner.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 28, Day 3, students complete the Use in Context routine in Student Book. After creating sentences using their high-frequency words from the lesson, the student reads the sentence to a partner.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to write grade level irregularly spelled words in tasks (such as sentences) in order to promote automaticity in writing grade level irregularly spelled words. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, each lesson has a Use in Context exercise that asks students to write the targeted high frequency word in a frame sentence.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 18, Day 3, students write the high-frequency words in sentences.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Day 2 of each lesson has an Extend exercise in which teachers ask students to create an oral sentence for each high-frequency word and to write those sentences.
• In Teacher's Edition, Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 29, Day 2, students create oral sentences with each high-frequency word, read the sentences to a partner, and then write the sentences. The students are encouraged to build upon sentences and add descriptions.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Day 1, during the Write activity, students write the high-frequency words in sentences in Student Book.

Materials provide repeated, explicit instruction in how to use student-friendly reference materials and resources and reading high-frequency words (e.g., word cards, word lists, word ladders, student dictionaries).

• Students complete pages in their Student Books that can be used as a reference to look back on and review. Students complete Read-Spell-Write lessons in their Student Books on Day 1 and on Day 3 the teacher reteaches the words and students use their work from Day 1 to apply the high-frequency words in context of a sentence.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials provide explicit instruction in phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication and morpheme analysis using the Word Study routines and when introducing new sound-spelling patterns in the Blend It exercises. Opportunities for students to practice word analysis strategies are present during various activities.

Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis). Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Day 2, during the Dictation routine, the teacher demonstrates how to segment a word sound by sound.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 14, Day 3, the teacher uses the Word Study exercise to teach the prefixes re- and un-. The teacher models adding the prefix un- to the base word well and the prefix re- to the base word do, then discusses the change in meaning with students. Students practice using the Word Study page in Student Book.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 20, Day 2, during the Dictation routine, the teacher says the word back. The teacher models segmenting the word sound by sound. The teacher does this with the word barn and then asks students how many sounds are in barn.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 20, Day 3, the teacher uses the Word Study exercises to introduce the transition to reading longer words. The teacher writes the word wagon and models dividing the word into syllables, explaining that every syllable has only one vowel sound. The teacher models blending the syllables to read the word. Students practice building words from syllables using the Word Study page in Student Book.

Materials contain explicit instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Read Connected Text, teachers are instructed to provide corrective feedback if children have difficulty with a word, then have students reread the sentence with the corrected word, confirming the word is correct using syntax and context cues.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 18, Day 1, the teacher introduces /ī/ patterns. The teacher tells students that the /ī/ sound can also be spelled with y and igh. The teacher writes the words fly and sigh, underlines the /ī/ spelling, and chorally reads the words with students.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 21, Day 1, the teacher introduces the r-controlled vowel sound /ur/ spelled er, ir, ur. The teacher writes bird and purse and underlines the r-controlled vowel spelling in each word.

Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 1, Connected Text, students begin by circling short /o/ words.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 18, Day 5, Word Building, students complete a word building activity by using a Word Ladder. There are clues on the side of the page to help students practice word analysis skills. For example, one clue says, “The word rhymes with try.” Students change one or two letters to change the word.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 22, Day 2, Word Building, students make new words by replacing different letters.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials provide opportunities for students to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity in Kindergarten and Grade 1.

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials offer frequent opportunities for students to engage in decoding practice. Students repeat the Blend It words and sentences daily, and decodable Take-Home Books and Connected Text passages are reread multiple times per lesson as part of recurring instructional routines. Explicit instruction and teacher modeling of fluent reading focused on accuracy and automaticity are included in every lesson. Students are exposed to fluent reading through teacher modeling, echo reading and audiobook modeling.

Materials provide limited systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 9, Day 3, the teacher is prompted to have the students to point to each word as they read chorally. If they have trouble with a word, the teacher uses a corrective feedback procedure. The teacher has the students reread the sentence with the correct word. The teacher asks the students questions about the word by asking if the word makes sense in the sentence.
• In From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons, Lesson 14, the teacher models intonation using end punctuation. The teacher models reading sentences that end in a period, a question mark, and an exclamation mark. The teacher models intonation, then points out that you read a sentence with an exclamation mark with “great enthusiasm or excitement,” and you raise your voice at the end of a sentence with a question mark.
• In From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons, Lesson 17, the teacher uses an Oral Reading Model routine. The teacher explains the elements of fluent reading, then models reading a passage with expression. Students practice reading the passage with partners while the teacher makes notes on student fluency.

Materials provide opportunities for students in Kindergarten and Grade 1 to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Level A Student Book, Blend It, the exercise asks students to “read the words each day by yourself and to a partner.” Students read both words in isolation and in sentences.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 29, Day 2, students reread the Blend It lines to a partner to build fluency. The teacher circulates and provides corrective feedback.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, each lesson contains a decodable Take-Home Book. This book is used for two readings. The second read is designed to build fluency as students whisper-read the text.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, on Day 1, Day 2 and Day 5 of each lesson, during Independent/Partner Work, students are asked to reread the Connected Text passage and Take-Home Books from the current lesson and previous lessons.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson, 15, Day 5, the teacher writes the words away, one, doesn’t and something on chart paper. Students chorally read each word.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are built into the materials for systematic, evidence-based, explicit instruction in fluency (Grades 1-2).

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials include explicit instruction in fluency. Materials contain opportunities for students to hear a fluent reading modeled by a teacher or fluent reader. Explicit instruction in and modeling of phrasing, expression, intonation, rate, and accuracy is included in the From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons guide. There are opportunities for students to practice fluency through the use of the Blend It activities, high-frequency activities, connected texts, and take-home texts, and minilessons include explicit, systematic instruction on fluency elements using grade level text.

Materials include frequent opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements using grade-level text.

• In From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons, Level A, Lesson 1, the teacher explains and models rate and accuracy. The teacher says, “A strong reader reads at a good pace and can pronounce all of the words correctly,” then models appropriate rate and accuracy using the passage in Student Book.
• In From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons, Level A, Lesson 12, the teacher models intonation. The teacher selects one “prosodic element” in the lesson’s connected text to explain and model. Students practice the element using the same text independently and with support. Then students read sections of the text aloud to the class.
• In From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons, Level A, Lesson 7, the teacher explains and models phrasing. The teacher models reading a passage without pauses between the words, then again with appropriate pauses and phrasing. The teacher discusses the differences with the students, then explains that repeated readings help them learn to read with appropriate phrasing.
• In Teacher’s Guide to Fluency, instructional routines are included for phrasing, expression and intonation, punctuation, rate, and accuracy.

Materials provide opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of grade-level text by a model reader. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons, Level A, Lesson 4, the teacher engages students in an Echo Read lesson. The teacher reads the Connected Text , modeling appropriate rate and intonation. The students repeat each phrase or sentence, “mimicking” the teacher’s rate and intonation. The teacher uses this routine to introduce new texts in all future lessons.
• In From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons, Level A, Lesson 13, the teacher uses an Audiobook Modeling routine. The teacher explains that students will listen to how a “good reader” reads aloud to try to improve their own fluency. Students listen to an audio recording of text, stopping at the end of each page to reread the page, matching the pace, phrasing, and expression of the audiobook reader.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 4, students reread the text to a partner.

Materials include a variety of resources for explicit instruction in fluency. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Student Book, Level A, Digital Resources, the Interactive Instructional Resources for each lesson include an audio version of the lesson’s Take-Home Book, modeling fluent reading of the text. This audio version can be used with the Audiobook Modeling minilesson routine.
• In Student Book, Level A, Digital Resources, the Interactive Instructional Resources for each lesson include an audio version of the Blend It activity. The audio version models fluent reading of words and sentences for daily Blend It practice in fluency.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 7, Day 3, students read the take-home book, "The Best Snack." The teacher uses the Echo Reading routine to introduce the text and model fluent reading.
• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 20, Day 1, the students are prompted to reread the Blend It lines every day to themselves or a partner to build fluency.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for varied and frequent opportunities are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2 (once accuracy is secure).

From Phonics to Reading Level A materials offer frequent opportunities for students to engage in supported practice of fluent reading in grade-level texts. Guidance for teacher support of student growth in fluency is general instructions to provide corrective feedback. Students have access to Blend It activities, connected texts, and take-home books that they practice reading throughout the week.

Varied, frequent opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to gain oral reading fluency. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, materials ask students to engage in repeated choral reading and whisper-reading of grade-level text in the Read Connected Text instructional routines.

  • In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 2, Lesson 8, Day 1, students chorally read the connected text, "What is it?".

  • In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5 Planner, students have two connected texts that they read that week. In Lesson 21, for example, the two texts are "How to Make a Sandcastle" and "Gets Hurt." Students have a home/school connected text that they read each week. For example, in Lesson 23, the home/school connected text is, "Books, Books, Books."

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3 Lesson 13, Day 1, students are introduced to the Blend It activity, which has words and sentences. This activity occurs every week, and students read the lines and the sentences every day either to themselves or to a partner.

Materials contain opportunities for students to participate in repeated readings of a grade-level text to practice oral reading fluency. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In From Fluency to Comprehension: Routines and Minilessons, Level A, Lesson 2, the teacher introduces a repeated reading fluency routine that students use in all subsequent lessons. This routine includes structured daily repeated reading of connected text and take-home books from each lesson.

• In Student Book Level A, each lesson contains a Connected Text passage and a Take-Home Book. These grade-level texts are used in recurring instructional routines that include repeat readings on Days 1, 2 and 5 of every lesson.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 17, Day 4, students reread the text, "The Boat," through whisper reading or reading to a partner.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 5, Lesson 22, Day 3, students are prompted to whisper read the Blend It lines and sentences to themselves or to a partner to build fluency. Student previously read the Blend It lines and sentences.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 6, Lesson 28, Day 4, students read the connected text, "Kind Child, Wild Child," for a second read before taking the book home.

Materials include guidance and feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Teacher’s Guide to Fluency, the materials recommend a gradual release process to improve student fluency. At the beginning of the year, the teacher models fluent reading and helps students follow along in the text by gliding a finger under the words while reading. Then students move to choral or echo reading. Finally, the students move to independent practice, reading with a partner or whisper reading alone, with the teacher making observations and providing corrective feedback.

• In Teacher’s Guide to Fluency, the materials suggest supports for each area of fluency. For example, for phrasing, the teacher uses markers to underline words that go together in phrases, or draw lines between phrases to show students where phrases begin and end.

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, in the Read Connected Text instructional routines, teachers are instructed to provide corrective feedback if children have difficulty with a word. Teachers are instructed to have children reread the sentence with the correct word.

  • In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 1, Lesson 4, Day 4, students reread the text, "Little Bugs, Big Bugs." The teacher circulates, and provides corrective feedback as needed.

  • In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 4, Lesson 19, Day 1, students read the student book, "Where Could I Find?" If students have any problem reading a word, the teacher stops students and provides corrective feedback, such as modeling sounding out the word. Students reread the sentence with the correct word. The teacher asks questions to be sure they have the right word such as, “Is it the right word?”

• In Teacher's Edition Level A, Unit 3, Lesson 12, Day 3, the students reread the Blend It lines, and the teacher circulates to listen and provide corrective feedback as needed.