The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for enhancement of supporting content with major content at the grade. The review team found evidence where supporting content enhances focus, particularly in the area of counting and cardinality, but not for all major work of Kindergarten. For example:

• In units 3 and 5, the K.CC cluster is used in workshop activities within lessons dealing with additional content and also by including it in the Classroom Routines for the day.
  • Specifically, in unit 5, lesson 2.2, "pattern block puzzles" asks the students to create a composite shape and to count the number of different shapes used and record the number of each shape.
• Unit 2 uses measurement standards as a support for K.CC. An example of this is name towers, where students build towers with snap cubes to represent the number of letters in their name. Each snap cube has a dot sticker placed on it that has a letter written on it. In this activity students gain a visual representation of the number that matches the number of letters in their names. Students also directly compare the length of their "name tower" to other students' name towers. This activity uses direct comparison of length, measurement vocabulary (longer than, shorter than) paralleled with counting and representing numbers 1-10 and comparison vocabulary (more than, less than).

On the contrary,

• In unit 4, measuring and counting, all lessons within investigation 1 focused on non-standard measurement which is not a Kindergarten standard. All lessons in investigation 2 simultaneously engage students in the major work of K.CC.A, K.CC.B and K.CC.C. 

*Evidence updated 5/20/2015, score unchanged

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for viability of content for the scope of one year. The curriculum consists of 163 total sessions according to the provided pacing in the Investigations and Common Core State Standards Resource. Although this is a manageable number of days for a school year, with the inclusion of unit 3 on patterns, the review team determined that the amount of content was not fully viable for one school year to foster coherence between Kindergarten and Grade 1. The depth of content needed to prepare students for Grade 1 needs to be further developed for K.NBT.A as well. Teachers would need to find supplemental resources in order to cover the content for Kindergarten.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations for consistency with the progressions. There is partial alignment to development of grade-by-grade progressions and to the amount of work with grade-level problems. Since there is no grade level prior to Kindergarten, there are no opportunities to explicitly relate the grade-level concepts to prior grade level standards. In the front of each unit, there are detailed explanations of the content addressed in a section called "Mathematics in this Unit." Within this section, the "Looking Back" and "Looking Forward" pieces explains content from entering school to future grades within the program. There are not explicit connections to CCSSM, however. Some examples of alignment and misalignment with the indicator include:

• In unit 1, work in data analysis (surveys) is a future expectation, but its use is articulated as a means to count and compare quantities in a meaningful, real-world context.
• In unit 7, session 1.1, a math note provides a rationale for counting objects slightly beyond 20, acknowledging that this goes beyond Kindergarten expectations.
• Five of the lessons in unit 2 (sessions 2.10-2.14) extend comparing two quantities to ordering more than two is given no explanation or acknowledgement that this goes beyond Kindergarten expectations of comparing two quantities.
• Pattern work is not identified as future work in unit 3.
• In unit 4, non-standard length and weight with cubes and other non-standard units is not identified as future work, but is connected to Kindergarten counting work.
• Every lesson in unit 2 includes one or more of these differentiation suggestions.
• The one cluster lacking in extensive work is K.NBT.1 as only three lesson opportunities for students to work on gaining foundations for place value exist.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade. The materials include some instances where learning objectives are shaped by cluster headings and include some problems that connect clusters and domains. Examples for both arguments include:

• In unit 6, "Composing and decomposing the teen numbers into one ten and some number of ones" can be found as learning objectives. In sessions 5A.3-5A.5, students build teen numbers using ten frames and record using an addition of 10+ some number of ones in order to develop an understanding of place value.
• In unit 4, "modeling the action of combining and separating situations," "combining two amounts," and "adding or subtracting from a number" can be found in sessions 3.2-3.7; investigation 2 includes "finding the total after a small amount (1,2,3) is added to a set;" investigation 3, sessions 3.2-3.7 demonstrate "modeling the action of combining and separating situations," "combining two amounts," and "adding or subtracting from a number"; and investigation 4, sessions 4.2 and 4.5 include "recording decompositions and compositions of a number using addition and subtraction notation."
• In unit 6, investigation 1, six lessons involve "using numbers and addition notation to describe arrangements (combinations) of object;" investigation 2 includes "finding the total after a small amount (1,2,3) is added to or subtracted from a set;" and investigation 3 demonstrates "combining two single-digit numbers with totals to 10," "modeling action of combining and separating situations," "separating one amount from another," and "using numbers and addition notation to represent an addition situation." All support the K.OA.A cluster heading.
• In unit 2, session 1.4 connects number words, numerals, and quantities (shaped by K.CC.3).
• In unit 6, sessions 5A.3-5A.5 combine and connect K.NBT and K.CC.B.5 and K.CC.A.3.
• Unit 5 sessions 1.3-1.5 and most lessons in investigations 2 and 3 combine and connect work in K.G.A.2 and K.G.B.4 with counting in K.CC.A.3, K.CC.B.5 and comparing numbers in K.CC.C.6.
• Unit 1 investigation 3 lessons and Unit 7 investigations 2 and 3 lessons combine and connect work in sorting and classifying K.MD.B.3 with opportunities to rote count and write numbers K.CC.A.3 and comparing quantities K.CC.C.6.
• However, with the inclusion of Unit 3 on patterns, not addressing cluster headings in Kindergarten, or containing grade level problems, the review team saw that the math focus points and work students were engaged in were not shaped by Kindergarten clusters.