The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for anchor texts being of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading and consider a range of student interests.

The read-aloud modeled reading texts are of publishable quality and worthy of careful reading; however, other texts, including those found in shared reading and interactive reading are not high quality. The students spend the majority of the time in the program with interactive readers and these are the texts that the students do the most independent reading with, though the majority of these texts are not high quality. Examples of high quality texts include:

• Theme 3: I Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb. The text is high-quality because it has rich language, is age appropriate and students can identify with it.
• Theme 5: Be My Neighbor by Maya Ajmera & John D. Ivanko. The text describes neighborhoods around the world and includes a lot of high-level content vocabulary.
• Theme 9: Are Trees Alive by Debbie S. Miller. This nonfiction text contains facts and information about trees, while still introducing readers to scientific vocabulary. The book also compares trees to people.
• Theme 16: Tiger, Tiger by Dee Lillegard. This story about a boy creating a tiger contains rich language and author’s craft to create suspense and engage the reader.

Many of the well-known anchor texts are only included as modeled reading in the teacher's edition. These are strictly read-alouds, where the students do not see the text or the illustrations. Many of the texts were written or rewritten for this curriculum series.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the expectations for materials reflecting the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards.

Texts include a mix of informational and literary texts. Small group readers also contain both types of texts for each level. Many texts are included, resulting in a wide distribution of genres and text types as required by the standards, including historical fiction, poetry, fairy tales, nonfiction, biographies, data, journal articles, fables, tall tales, dictionaries, encyclopedias, diaries, guides, science fiction, social studies, memoirs, plays, and mysteries. However, the majority of texts are written in a narrative text structure. Students have few opportunities to read texts written in an informational text structure.

The following are examples of literature found within the instructional materials:

• Theme 1: We Can Get Along: A Child’s Book of Choices by Lauren Murphy Payne
• Theme 2: Little Cliff’s First Day of School by Clifton Taulbert
• Theme 3: I Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb
• Theme 5: Be My Neighbor by Maya Ajmera and John D. Ivanko
• Theme 7: The Bell in the Well by Jeanne Willis
• Theme 10: Carolinda Clatter! by Mordicai Gerstein
• Theme 13: A Play for All by Meish Goldish
• Theme 15: The Underground Dance by Tony Mitton

The following are examples of informational text found within the instructional materials:

• Theme 1: Schools Then and Now by Rachel Kranz
• Theme 4: Luisa’s Lab by Judith Brand
• Theme 6: What Do I Want to Be by Laurie Razokis
• Theme 8: How Should I Dress? by Ashley S. Burrell
• Theme 9: Are Trees Alive? by Debbie Miller
• Theme 12: How to Grow a Sunflower by Silvia Katavis and Gill Mathews
• Theme 14: Citizens to Look Up To by Ashley S. Burrell
• Theme 16: Amazing Animals by David Drew

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially 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 Grade 1 are above the complexity levels of what most students can read independently. Examples of text that are at appropriate level of complexity according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and a relationship to their associated student task include:

• Theme 1: We Can Get Along by Lauren Murphy Payne (440L)
• Theme 3: I Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb (AD540L)
• Theme 6: The Night Worker by Kate Banks (AD 530L)
• Theme 7: Snow Is Falling by Franklyn M. Branley (460L)
• Theme 12: One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies (650L)
• Theme 15: The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre (670L)

There are additional texts that also present ideas, vocabulary, and themes; however the tasks associated with these texts do not always allow the texts to align to the appropriate level of complexity. A teacher would need to adjust the associated task to meet grade level complexity expectations.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the expectations that the materials support 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).

The curriculum includes texts at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for the grade band. Although the texts are within levels appropriate for the grade level band, however, the lesson texts and associated strategies do not increase in complexity. The leveled readers for small group reading and Independent reading do increase in complexity but are not associated with specific lessons or units. Skills are taught throughout the year, however the skills do not appear to build on one another. Skills are mostly not dependent on the text and do not require comprehension of the text. Skills are taught in the first half of the year for 1-2 weeks and reviewed for 1-2 weeks in the second half of the year. The rest of the time, the skill is not practiced. Each unit has comprehension questions, although they are not always text-dependent. A graphic organizer is also used in most units to build student understanding. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Theme 1, students focus on the comprehension strategy of making connections. Students connect to prior knowledge using the text, We Can Get Along by Lauren Murphy Payne by discussing what is happening in the pictures and how the children appear to be getting along. During the Think Aloud!, students turn and talk with their partner about a time when they were afraid or angry. The teacher models making connections and then students discuss the choices they made and whether it made things better or worse. Throughout the week, students discuss making connections. An activity associated with this comprehension strategy uses a graphic organizer where students can make connections with a Whole Class Chart. During the writing, students are working on learning about the five steps of the writing process. They do not use the text, We Can Get Along to show their understanding of the strategy.
• In Theme 3, the strategy focus is creating images. Students listen closely to create mental images (visualize). Students use graphic organizers in whole group lessons, small group lessons, and independent reading, to practice creating mental images. The questions are not necessarily text related.
• In Theme 9, students focus on the comprehension strategy of making connections by comparing and contrasting information. Students connect to prior knowledge using the text, Are Trees Alive? by Debbie S. Miller by discussing what parts of trees they see in the pictures. During Think Aloud!, students turn and talk with their partner about how seeds are the same and how they are different. The teacher models making connections by comparing and contrasting information. For example, “In this paragraph I notice that trees and people both grow. They are the same in this way. A difference is that trees grow from seeds and people grow from babies to adults.” Throughout the week students discuss making connections. An activity associated with this comprehension strategy uses a comprehension organizer for making connections with a Whole Class Chart but the activity does not relate to the text. During the writing component, students work on editing their work and writing a problem and solution piece. They do not use the text, Are Trees Alive? to show their understanding.
• In Theme 11, students use the reading strategy of creating images to enhance understanding. Students practice creating images for the two weeks of Theme 11. It is a review of the skill previously taught in Theme 3. The activities and charts remain static throughout the year in terms of scaffolding and instruction and do not grow students' abilities to grapple with increasingly complex text.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the expectations that anchor texts (including read-aloud texts in K-2) and the series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text complexity analysis.

The publisher does not provide a rationale for the placement of the texts in Grade 1. There is no text complexity analysis provided. Quantitative and qualitative measures are not included, nor discussed in the instructional materials. The only rationale given is that the texts are chosen for the social studies and science content. The Program Overview states, “Whole class materials for Learning by Design feature fiction and nonfiction selections linked to science and social studies themes based on national standards for each grade level. The focus of instruction is on listening, speaking, reading, and writing in the context of content area themes.”.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations that anchor and supporting texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of texts to achieve grade level reading.

Students engage in a broad range of text types and disciplines, as well as a volume of reading. During each theme, students interact with texts during teacher read-alouds, shared readings, and interactive readings. Leveled readers and decodable readers are also provided for small groups, at their reading level. Additional texts across a range of levels are provided in the Book Nook during Reading Workshop. Connect to Literature Books are also listed in the theme. For example, in Theme 3, What Makes Things Move:

• Read Aloud: I Face the Wind by Vicki Cobb
• Shared Reading: On the Move by Nina Tsong
• Reading Workshop: What Goes Up, Must Come Down by Daniel Shepard, Blowing in the Wind by Lisa Trambauer, The Leaf Boats by Annette Smith.
• Decodable Book: "The Big Hot Pot"
• Leveled Readers: “Hurry Up, Hippo!!” by Alan Rubin, “Play Ball!” by Ellen Catala, Level D; “Buddy’s Bath” by Susan Ring, Level E; “The Saturday Cat” by Susan Ring, Level F; “Our Town” by Kim Ulander, “The Best Pet for Al” by Bruno M. Frank, “Heroes of the Sky” by Ellen Catala, “On the Farm” by Dana Carroll
• Connect to Literature: “Hot Air” by Marjorie Priceman, “The Wind Blew” by Pat Hutchins, “The Little Sailboat” by Lois Lenski

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not 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).

Questions throughout the curriculum are largely personal connection questions, related to themes and events in the texts. During the modeled reading portion of each text, there are some focus questions that rely on the text for students to answer orally. There are comprehension questions after reading the text. In addition, comprehension questions are listed inside of the small group reading guides. Many of the questions prompt the students to compare a personal experience with something that happened in the text and are labeled in the Teacher’s Guide as Make Connections. The materials reviewed contain multiple questions and tasks that do not directly require to students ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text. Though each text has comprehension questions listed, most of them are text-to-world questions and ask students to rely on their senses to create answers.

Some questions are related directly to the text and others can be answered without exposure to the text. There are only a limited amount of text-dependent questions throughout the themes observed that require students to return to the text. Overall, the majority of questions, tasks and assignments are not text-dependent. Examples of questions, tasks and assignments include, but are not limited to:

• In Theme 1, Small group reading Level B Reader, "My Puppy", Lesson 1, students are asked to retell events from the text. Students are directed, “Share at least two things in the order that you read them from the book.” Students are required to use the text to discuss the answer. In Lesson 2, students are asked to answer literal and inferential questions. Students are asked, “Find and tell me how many dogs with spots there are in this book” (literal) and “Do all the children who are holding their puppies look happy? Why do you think that is so?” (inferential) Students need to use the text to answer these questions.
• Theme 3, Lesson 10, students read a text and students are to answer the questions, “Do you think the monsters’ pet makes a good pet? Why or why not?” The questions are not high-quality or text-dependent and do not lead to a culminating task.
• In Theme 5, Lesson 2, the teacher models how the character has written pieces of information she learned from her reading that helped her understand a new idea. Students are then asked, “What does it mean to use details to make a new idea? How is synthesizing like putting a puzzle together?”
• In Theme 6, Lesson 6, students are asked to infer using pictures from the photo essay “Community Workers Protect Us”. Students are asked “How do community workers keep us healthy and safe?” Teachers direct students to “Discuss why it is important we know about and can recognize the community workers in the photo essay.” Students do not need to use the text to answer these questions.
• In Theme 14, Week 1, Lesson 1, for the text Little Miss Liberty, in the Think Aloud! the teacher models drawing conclusions and asks students to perform the task: “Share with your partner something you know about the Statue of Liberty that has helped you understand the text so far”. Though students need the text to answer this question, they must also have background knowledge about the Statue of Liberty.
• In Theme 16, Lesson 1, students are asked, “What do you know about tigers?” As the text is read students are asked by the teacher to “Listen for how I change my voice while reading this text. How will the changes help you understand the text? Which word in the text is a word that imitates the sound (swish)?" Questions asked with the text Amazing Animals are “What do your different body parts allow you to do? Name some parts of other animals that allow them to do things we can’t do.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the expectation for the inclusion of 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 questions are primarily literal, recall in nature and are rarely sequenced into further, high-quality questions. The protocol is similar in each theme; students read the text, talk about it, complete a graphic organizer, learn an organizational pattern or form for writing, but lack opportunities to build to a culminating task. The instructional materials include a majority of turn and talk discussions about making a connection to the text but do not build towards a culminating task.

There are no culminating activities at the end of each theme. Most questions are discussion based, rarely requiring students to write or work independently. There are some Enrichment Activities in the margin of the Comprehensive Teacher Guide that asks the students to do independent writing, and present their ideas and findings to the class. There is no teacher guidance for these activities. There are no culminating tasks or activities that provide a synthesis of texts, information, or skills taught throughout a theme, and no rubric is included for standard alignment or mastery. Culminating tasks do not relate to coherent sequences of text-based questions. A generic rubric for writing is provided in the Appendix, however, there is no reference to it in the curriculum for teachers to know to reference it. There is a separate assessment book, but these are a mix of multiple choice questions and extended response questions. These are not consistently text-based questions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small groups, peer-to-peer, whole class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

The Think Aloud! teacher modeling occurs in the first lesson of every theme. It includes modeling with specific listening skills such as active or precise listening. Then, students are asked to think about the focus questions prior to reading. Students answer the focus questions during turn and talk, with a partner after reading the text. Focus questions do not provide any indication of what answer the teacher should expect or guide the teacher to model the answer for the students.

There are no protocols for evidence-based discussions. There is some modeling of speaking with correct syntax and academic vocabulary, but this is not consistent throughout materials. Throughout the curriculum, students have opportunities for turn and talks. However, these discussions are often not evidence-based. Students are asked to make connections they had while reading with a partner and/or to reflect on their application of the comprehension strategy. There is no evidence of the teacher modeling discussions or protocols. There is an explanation of the turn and talk model in the Comprehensive Teacher’s Guide Professional Handbook section (pg. T63), but there is no protocol or modeling of the structure for the students. The teacher is often instructed to say “Discuss with a partner...” but how to do this is not evident in the curriculum. There are not opportunities embedded in the curriculum for the teacher to model the use of academic vocabulary and syntax that are connected to a text.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading (or read aloud) and researching (shared projects) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

There are few opportunities for students to practice their speaking and listening skills throughout the curriculum. They are asked to share their thoughts about vocabulary words, parts of the text, personal text connections, and a few times, specific details from the text. In Lessons 1 and 2 of each theme, there is a modeled reading lesson that focuses on a listening skill. The five listening skills are discriminative listening, precise listening, strategic listening, critical listening, and appreciative listening. The teacher reads the text aloud and stops throughout to ask questions about the text, which are usually about connections, vocabulary words, and the reading strategy of the day. In addition, questions are asked before the text is read to build background knowledge and after the text is read. During the last lesson of each week, students participate in an interactive reading where they answer questions with a partner. For example:

• In Theme 2, Lesson 1, students are provided opportunities to speak and listening with a peer during and talk and the critical listening sessions. For example, the teacher directs the students to, “Tell your partner why you think Little Cliff pretended that his shoes didn’t fit.” There is a lack of opportunity to demonstrate what they are reading (or read aloud) and researching through varied speaking and listen opportunities. Through the turn and talk activity, students are required to tell what they think but are not asked to draw evidence from the text. In Lesson 3, students are able to connect to prior knowledge with two discussion questions. However, the questions lack an opportunity for them to demonstrate what they have read. In Lesson 5, students have an opportunity to turn and talk. For example, “Did Bear remind you of anyone you know? Why? What other connections from your life did you make with the story?” Although students are able to speak and listen, the discussion is not based on information from texts and sources.
• In Theme 11, Under Discriminative Listening, the teacher models, “When I am listening to someone read a story aloud, I have to listen carefully to how the reader’s voice changes as he or she reads. This book has different parts. One part tells a story about one tiny turtle and the other part tells facts about turtles.” Then students talk with partner and tell them something they noticed about how the teacher read part of the story differently. The Think Aloud has the teacher model creating images to enhance understanding as you read, “I can create sensory and emotional images by using the author’s words to connect to my five senses and feelings…” Under Turn and Talk, the students describe an image they have in their mind about what is happening in the story. The purple highlighted portion of One Tiny Turtle on page 342 is used to point out how the sentences flow together and are easy for the listener to follow. Children identify the word that connects the second sentence to the first sentence. In Lesson 2, under Oral Language, whole class chart 93 is used to describe the pictures. The teacher models using descriptive language such as “Look at the cluster of sticky frog eggs.”
• In Theme 16, Lesson 6, in Read and Comprehend page 518, students are instructed to reread the photo essay “Animal Parts”. Student volunteers point out the sentences. The students then complete a turn and Talk with a partner by discussing “How would you explain to a friend what a sentence is? How are sentences different from paragraphs?” Question types do not encourage evidence-based discussions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials including a mix of on-demand and process writing and short, focused projects. Materials include process writing that covers a year’s worth of instruction, but lack on-demand writing pieces. Opportunities for students to revise and edit are provided. Materials do not include digital resources.

A writing resource guide is provided and regular writing experiences are present throughout the year. The writing resource guide includes writing organizers and writing craft lessons. The writing organizers are used during explicit writing instruction to model the prewriting process and provide exposure to all of the writing tools. Before students use the writing organizers, they participate in the shared writing process with teachers using the writing charts. There is no evidence of on-demand writing opportunities. Examples of process writings include:

Theme 1

• In Lessons 1-5, the Build Writing Skills section takes students through the entire writing process beginning with introduction in Lessons 1-2 and ending with Sequence in Lessons 3-5.

Theme 3

• In Lesson 9, organization is reviewed and the teacher uses Writing Chart 7 to guide students to revise a paragraph by deleting the sentences that are off topic. In small groups, the teacher is directed to help students with ideas (e.g., the content of the piece, main theme, choice of details to support the ideas). The teacher is also directed to assess progress using a rubric to assess ideas.

Theme 6

• In Theme 6 students work on writing trait, organization. The organizational pattern is main idea and details.
• In Lesson 9, students use their Infer Organizer to write a sentence that tells something about one of the jobs mentioned in the text "What Do I Want to Be?” Students then share their sentences. Students use notes from a previous lesson on Writing Chart 18 to identify main idea. The teacher uses Modeled Writing to write a topic sentence on chart paper. Then in the Interactive Writing section, students write their notes into sentences on the chart paper. The class revises the writing together.
• In Lesson 10 in the Build writing Skills section on page 197, the students who wrote independently present their writing. The teacher then models how to critique writing. After all pieces are shared the class discusses the writing pieces by answering questions.

Theme 8

• In Lessons 1-5, the Build Writing Skills section also takes students through the entire writing process beginning with Revising in Lessons 1-2, then Main Idea and Details in Lessons 3-5.
  

Theme 13

The Writing Organizational Pattern is problem and solution.

• In Lesson 1 in the Build Writing Skills section on page 405, the teacher introduces prewriting by stating, “Explain that prewriting is what a writer does before he or she starts to write a draft…” Then the teacher displays Writing Chart 37 and reads aloud the three steps to prewriting. “Tell children to follow these steps before they begin writing their piece”. The teacher then works with small groups and some students work independently to prewrite.

Theme 16

The writing process emphasized is editing and the writing organizational pattern is main idea and details.

• In Lesson 1, Build Writing Skills page 503, the teacher introduces editing. “Tell children that the author of “Tiger, Tiger” wrote her story and then went back and improved it by editing.” The teacher then displays Writing Chart 46 and reads the four editing steps to students.
• In Lesson 2, on page 509, the students and teacher use Writing Chart 46 to work together to find and edit the mistakes in the paragraph (capitalization, punctuation, spelling mistakes).

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet meet the opportunities for students to address different genres/modes of writing that reflect the distribution by the standards.

Materials provide multiple opportunities across the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply different genres/modes/types of writing but they do not reflect the distribution required by the standards. In addition, materials provide opportunities for students/teachers to monitor progress in writing skills for a whole year’s use. Although students are given the opportunity to build their writing skills through writing forms each week, practicing different modes of writing is not evident. Each theme focuses on one genre or organizational structure. For example:

• Theme 2: Reports, Trait: Introduction
• Theme 3: Story Writing, Trait: Ideas
• Theme 4: Prewriting and Sequencing
• Theme 7: Poetry, Trait: Voice
• Theme 11: Letter Writing, Trait: Sentence Fluency
• Theme 12: Publishing Procedural Texts
• Theme 13: Problem and Solutions
• Theme 14: Reports and Conventions
• Theme 15: Story Writing and Presentation

• In Theme 2, Lessons 3-5, students build writing skills with report writing.
• In Theme 3, through shared writing, students write a story. The teacher uses modeled writing and shared writing to write a story on page 87. The teacher and students work on story writing for five lessons, and the students share their finished stories. Story writing is revisited in Themes 5 and 15.
• In Theme 7, Lessons 3-5, students build writing skills with poetry.
• In Theme 11, students work on writing letters with the trait of sentence fluency on page 335.
• In Theme 12, students publish posters (page 387) with the form of procedural texts (on how to press a flower).
• In Theme 14, students engage in report writing of informational/explanatory texts for 5 lessons through shared writing and then share their finished reports.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria for materials including frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information appropriate for the grade level.

There are few opportunities for evidence-based writing. There are a few writing prompts that require students to pull evidence from texts. There is also no explicit instruction provided. Students are not taught how to support answers with evidence from the text. Writing tasks can often be answered without analysis of the text because the focus is more on the traits of writing verse understanding the topic or text. Many of the evidence-based questions are used as discussions, not when writing. For example, in Theme 1, Week 1, students learn about writing an introduction for the writing process. The teacher uses a classroom book that is nonspecific to describe how the author used the steps of the writing process to write the book. For Independent Writing, students use prewriting to generate topic ideas. The Theme Topic Prompts for Week 1 is about an exciting day or boring day, listing the events in order. The story for the week is called “Good Students”, but the writing task does not require students to produce evidence for their writing, or support recall of information.

In Lesson 4, the story, The Bear Who Wouldn’t Share, is used to discuss first, next, and last to retell the story. Then students use shared writing to think of a story to go along with the pictures on Writing Chart 2, page 19.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially 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.

Grade 1 materials address all of the language standards. The overall lesson format for each new skill is brief and repetitive and lack adequate scaffolding for students to achieve mastery. The grammar and conventions standards are taught out of a separate resource called the Writing Resource Guide. Additionally, grammar and convention standards are mainly taught out of context with limited opportunities for students to apply skills to their writing. Students do not learn the correct terminology for nouns and verbs. Students learn naming words and action words. The outline of grammar and convention lessons are not increasingly sophisticated in context.

Materials include instruction of all grammar and conventions standards for the grade level. Examples include:

Students have the opportunity to print all upper and lowercase letters. For example:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 4, students write telling sentences they find in a book. The sentences they find contain different letters of the alphabet. There is a Handwriting Master for Uppercase Manuscript and Lowercase Manuscript available in the Appendix.

Students have the opportunity to use common, proper, and possessive nouns. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 6, students learn naming words for animals and things (common nouns) and naming words for people and places (Proper Nouns). For common nouns, the teacher explains: “Naming words name a person, place, or thing.” Students sort animals and things on the board. Independently, students find one naming word that names an animal, and one thing of a storybook. Students make a sentence with the nouns they found.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 8, students learn about possessive nouns. The teacher explains that an apostrophe and an -s are used to show who or what own's something. The teacher writes the phrase, "Becca's bike" on chart paper and uses a green marker to circle the apostrophe and a black marker to underline the -s. Students then look around the room and use the sentence stem, "_____'s _____" to find examples to add to the chart. Student volunteers circle the apostrophe and underline the -s. Students then draw a picture of something that belongs to someone and complete the "_____'s _____"sentence stem under their drawing.

Students have the opportunity to use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 8, students practice writing sentences with singular and plural naming words.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 10, students learn subject-verb agreement. The teacher writes cat on chart paper and shows that by adding an -s, the noun becomes plural. Then the teacher shows students: “The cat likes milk. The cats like milk.” The teacher explains that likes goes with cat because they both talk about just one. The teacher is to say: “Naming parts and actions words must talk about the same number of things.” As a pair, students look through a storybook to find a sentence with a singular subject and one with a plural subject. Students copy the sentence onto paper and underline the subject and label as singular or plural.

Students have the opportunity to use personal, possessive and indefinite pronouns. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 11, students learn subject pronouns when the teacher shows how to change "Ana rides her bike" to "She rides her bike." Students look through storybooks to find examples of subject pronouns.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 12, students learn object pronouns when the teacher shows how to change "Tom called Rosa" to "Tom called her." For independent practice, students draw a picture of themselves smiling at a family member or friend, and students use an object pronoun to complete the following sentence: “I smile at ___.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 15, students learn about personal and possessive pronouns. Students learn the personal pronouns: I, me, she, he, it, him, her, you, they, them. Students learn the possessive pronouns: my, his, her, its, your, our, their. The teacher write sentences on the board and identities the nouns. Then, using index cards, the teacher replaces the nouns with personal or possessive pronouns. Students work on rewriting sentences using personal or possessive pronouns from a set of sentences that contain pronoun options in parenthesis.

Students have the opportunity to use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 9, students learn present tense and past tense actions words. In Action Words That Tell About Now (present tense), the teacher explains that sing is an action word that tells about now. For independent practice, students find action words and add the action words to their chart paper. For Action Word That Tell About the Past, students learn that past tense verbs usually end in -ed. The teacher creates a chart of Action Words About the Past. For independent practice, students, make their own Action Words About the Past. Students look through storybooks for past tense action words.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 11, students learn future verb tense. The teacher is prompted to ask a child what he or she will eat for dinner and to point out the words, will eat. On chart paper titled, "Action Words About the Future," the teacher writes the sentence stem, "After school today, I will." Volunteers complete the sentence stem and identify the future tense verb in the sentence. Using books and magazines, students create their own Action Words about the Future chart and are prompted to include three examples.

Students have the opportunities to use frequently occurring adjectives. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Themes 13-15, students learn describing words for color, size, feelings, senses and how many.
  • In Theme 13, the teacher models how adjectives work in the following sentence: “Jack has a ___ ___ cat.” The teacher adds small and black. During independent practice, in pairs, students tell the partner a color and size. In Theme 13, students also learn to describe feelings as adjectives.
  • In Theme 14, students learn adjectives for describing senses. Students think about a time when they watched someone make microwave popcorn, and students describe adjectives for their senses. For independent practice, students think of a food in order to write two sentences about the food.
  • In Theme 15, the teacher reviews different types of adjectives.

Students have the opportunities to use frequently occurring conjunctions. Opportunities to use but, or, so , or because were not present. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 16, students learn how to join simple sentences with and. The teacher asks students to imagine that Sam is singing while Sarah is clapping. The teacher shows students that the sentence can be combined with a comma and and. For independent practice, with a partner, students rewrite two sentences using the conjunction and.

Students have opportunities to use determiners. For example:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 5, students learn about the articles: a, an, the. The teacher first provides students with the definitions of a, an, the. The teacher then writes sentences on the board, circling the article and explaining the use of each. Students write three sentences on their own that contain articles.

Students have opportunities to use frequently occurring prepositions. For example:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 15, students learn the prepositions: beyond, to, for, since, through, inside, across, above, until, after, for. The teacher writes a two-column chart on the board with, "When/Where or What Direction." Using index cards, students sort the prepositions into the appropriate column, with teacher guidance. Students repeat the activity with a partner.

Students have the opportunities to produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 3, students learn about telling sentences. The teacher writes "Telling Sentences, Naming Part, Telling Part, Period" in an idea web on chart paper. The teacher then uses the sentences, "I am big. Mom likes cars. Tim plays tag" as example. The teacher models by underlining the naming part once, the telling part twice, and circling the period. Students then find telling sentences in a book and copy them on paper. They complete the same procedure that was modeled.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 4, students learn about asking sentences. The teacher tells students that an asking sentence ends in a question mark and usually begins with a question word. The teacher writes a question mark on chart paper and the question words: who, what, when, where, why how. The teacher then writes the sentences: Who are you? Where is he? I like him. A student volunteer identifies the sentence that is not an asking sentence. Students then give examples of sentences that are asking sentences. Students write an asking sentence, on their own, that begins with a question word and ends with a question mark.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 5, students learn about command sentences. The teacher creates a chart with the labels: Commands, Strong Feelings. Students help brainstorm ideas that go under each column. The teacher writes the sentences without punctuation on chart paper: I am six, I love recess, Get down, Tie your shoe. Student volunteers complete sentences with periods or exclamation points. Students write sentences with exclamation points and read them to a partner with the right inflection.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 16, students review Sentence Types that include simple and compound telling, asking, command, or strong feeling sentences.
• Students complete a lesson called Aim At The Right Target, students during this lesson find a type of writing they have written and write a letter to a friend. Once they are done with the letter, they share it with a friend.

Students have the opportunities to capitalize dates and names of people. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 6, students learn to capitalize proper nouns. The teacher informs students that the names of specific people begin with a capital letter. For independent practice, students make a list of five names of people they know.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 7, students learn to capitalize dates. The teacher explains calendar proper nouns and their capitalization rules. “The words day, month, and holiday are naming words that do not get capital first letters, because they can name many things. Words like Wednesday, August, and Thanksgiving name only one thing, so they begin with capital letters.” For independent practice, students write the current day of the week, the current date, and their birthday.

Students have the opportunities to use end punctuation for sentences. Examples include:

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 3, students learn ending punctuation. The teacher explains that sentences end with periods, question marks, or exclamation points. The teacher reads two lines with exaggerated expression to help the students identify what kind of punctuation to place at the end of the line. For independent practice, students write a sentence without punctuation. Students read their sentence to a partner with expression, and the partner decides what punctuation belongs at the end of the line.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Lesson 15, students practice writing simple sentences. When they begin writing the sentences the teacher reminds them of the rules of using a period at the end of a sentence.
• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 3, students learn ending punctuation. The teacher explains that sentences end with periods, question marks, or exclamation points. The teacher reads two lines with exaggerated expression to help the students identify what kind of punctuation to place at the end of the line. For independent practice, students write a sentence without punctuation. Students read their sentence to a partner with expression, and the partner decides what punctuation belongs at the end of the line.

Students have the opportunities to use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and frequently occurring irregular words. Examples include:

• At the beginning of the week, for lessons 1-6 in each theme, students receive a spelling word list of 10 words. The word list contains high frequency words and words from the phonics skills portion of the lesson plans. A spelling routine is also located in the appendix. The routine includes: word sort, word hunt, make a word, and practice test.

Students have the opportunities to spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions. Examples include:

• In each theme, students participate in daily Build Writing Skills lessons. Lessons include time for students to write independently. The teacher is prompted to support students in small group who need additional help in writing and spelling conventions.

The instructional materials for Grade 1 partially 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.

Grade 1 lessons focus on different areas of phonemic awareness and phonics. Lesson 1 of each week has a phonemic awareness/phonics activity. Lesson 2 has a phonics activity. Lesson 3 has phonemic awareness/phonics/high-frequency words. Lesson 4 and Lesson 5 have phonics activities. However, some standards are not taught in the materials such as: Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words and inflectional endings are not taught in detail. Students have sufficient opportunities to practice reading one-syllable words, but explicit instruction in decoding two-syllable words was minimal during phonics instruction.

Students have opportunities to learn and understand phonemes (e.g., distinguish long and short vowels, blend sounds, pronounce vowels in single-syllable words, and segment single-syllable words). Instruction in distinguishing long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words is not evident. Examples include:

• In Theme 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, the phonemic awareness/phonics activity focuses on -op and -ot word families. The phoneme isolation activity starts with -op words. The teacher states an -op word and students focus on the middle and ending sound in the word. This is then done with -ot words. The "Connect Sounds and Symbols" activity extends this to help students make the sound and spelling connection between the letters o and p and the letters o and t.
• In Theme 4, Week 2, Lesson 6, students practice segmenting the words gum, bud, sun and cup. The teacher models the first one and then students practice segmenting the other words.
• In Theme 7, Week 2, Lesson 6, student listen to the teacher isolate word families such as ill and ell. Students listen and tell the phoneme that has been added to the following word pairs: “ill/pill, ill/bill. Repeat activity with ell words: ell/bell, ell/fell.”
• In Theme 8, Week 2, Lesson 6, the focus is -ail and -ain word families. The teacher states an -ail word and has students identify words from that word family that the teacher states. This is also done for the -ain words. The word families continue to be covered in the "Connect Sounds and Symbols" activity where the teacher writes the word hail on the board, and sounds out the word slowly while drawing his/her finger underneath the letters. The teacher is instructed to “help children understand that the letters ai stand for one sound, long a.” The teacher then points out that while there are “four letters, it has only three sounds.” This is repeated for several more -ail and -ain words.
• In Theme 12, Week 1, Lesson 1, students say blends in words. The teacher writes cl on the board and states, “The letters c and l stand for the sounds you hear at the beginning of clap /kl/. Students say the blends in the following words: “blot, glad, plus, and slip.”
• In Theme 13, Week 1, Lesson 1, students practice phoneme segmentation with Elkonin boxes. Students segment words with r-controlled vowels such as car and star.
• In Theme 15, Week 2, Lesson 6, students blend words with sw- and sm-. The teacher begins by modeling how to blend the letters in swim. Students then blend the word smash.
• In Theme 15, Week 1, Lesson 3, the focus is on st and sk blends. As the teacher says the word storm slowly, students are asked to “listen to /st/ at the beginning and write the letters that make the sound as you model on the board.” The teacher then says several word pairs and students are asked to “clap when they hear a word that begins with /st/.” The same is done with /sk/ words.

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

• In Theme 7, Week 1, Lesson 2, students learn two digraphs: sh, th. The teacher displays the Skills Master chart containing /sh/ and /th/ words. The teacher then models blending the words the, with, this, think, shade, shapes, shark. Students then place a sticky note under the words with th- and practice blending. They repeat this for the words with sh-
• In Theme 8, the phonics lessons contain CVCe. In Theme 8, Week, Lesson 1, students learn -ake and -ale. In Theme 9, students learn -oke and -ope.
• In Theme 12, Week 2, Lesson 7, students learn compound words. To read compound words, students read one-syllable words first such as: day, time, sun, tan.
• In Theme 16, Week 2, Lesson 1, students learn two digraphs: ch, wh.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction to build toward application. However, instruction in all standards is not evident. Examples include:

In the small group reading teacher’s guide, there is a “Developmental Phonics Scope and Sequence” provided. This scope and sequence breaks the skills down into phonemic awareness, alphabet knowledge, sound-symbol patterns, and meaning (word study). In the introduction to the scope and sequence, the authors state, “In Literacy by Design, phonemic awareness, phonics, and word study instruction is correlated to reading levels. Below grade-level readers receive instruction in foundational skills, while above grade-level readers receive instruction in challenging skills. Phonemic awareness skills are focused in levels AA through I. Alphabet knowledge is covered in levels A through E. Sound-Symbol patterns are addressed in levels F through M. Meaning (Word Study) is covered in levels N through W.

• Themes 1-5, short vowels
• Theme 6, et, ed, ick, ack word families
• Theme 7, th, sh digraphs and ill, ell word families
• Theme 8, short vowels to long vowels
• Theme 9, -oke, -ope, -oad, and -old word families
• Theme 10, ike, ide, ie, ight word families
• Theme 11, eed, eam word families and long u
• Theme 12, consonant l blends and compound words
• Theme 13, r-controlled vowels
• Theme 14, gr, tr, br, pr blends
• Theme 15, st, sk, sw, sm blends
• Theme 16, bl, nd, nt, st final blends and ch, wh digraphs

The instructional materials reviewed for Literacy by Design Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks provide explicit instruction for and regular practice to address the acquisition of print concepts, including alphabetic knowledge and directionality(K-1), structures and features of text (1-2).

In Grade 1, students have sufficient opportunities over the course of the school year to learn text features and text structures through shared read-alouds. A typical lesson entails the teacher introducing and explaining a text feature, followed by modeling that text feature in a story the class is reading. Text structures and text features are taught although there are missed opportunities for students to practice the skill. Students work on print concepts in whole group and small group.

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

• In the Writing Resource Guide, Theme 1, students learn word spacing. The teacher uses the Writer’s Handbook to teach. The teacher gives two students the words Dan and runs. The teacher is instructed to, “Say to each child You are a word. Place each child in order so the class can see the sentence Dan runs.” The teacher then takes students through the lesson emphasizing that words in a group make a sentence.
• In Level C, Small Group Reading, students practice book handling skills. The teacher models the skill and then has students practice the skill.
• In Theme 6, Week, 1, Lesson 5, the teacher explains the importance of ending punctuation. “Tell children that good readers pay close attention to the punctuation marks at the end of sentences. Periods, questions marks, and exclamation points help us understand the meaning of sentences.” The class then practices finding ending punctuation marks in other books.
• In Theme 16, Week 1, Lesson 5, the teacher reviews the features of a sentence with students. “Explain that sentences are made up of words that tell a complete thought. Point out that every sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a period, exclamation point, or question mark. Ask a volunteer to point to a sentence in the Big Book.”

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). The materials do not provide instruction in cause and effect at this grade level. Examples include:

• In Theme 1, Week 1, Lesson 4, students learn about the organizational pattern of the mentor text, The Bear Who Wouldn’t Share. The text is organized by sequence of events. The teacher reviews the text and has students help complete a graphic organizer that will help sequence the story.
• In Theme 3, Week 1, Lesson 4, students learn how a literary text is organized with story structure. Students also learn main ideas and details. The teacher reviews the mentor text and includes the elements of story (character, setting, beginning, middle, end). Then, the teacher reminds students that a story has a main idea and details. Students start describing setting, beginning, middle, and end.
• In Theme 3, Week 1, Lesson 4, the teacher reviews the mentor text for problem and solution. The teacher displays Writing Chart 38 to show a problem and a solution. Students help explain the problem and solution in Writing Chart 38.
• In Theme 6, Week 1, Lessons 3-5, students learn about the organizational pattern of main idea and details based on the mentor text, What Do I Want to Be?. Students help the teacher complete a graphic organizer of the text to help them write a main idea and supporting details piece.
• In Theme 9, Weeks 1 and 2, Lesson 2, when reading the story Are Trees Alive? The teacher uses a think aloud to demonstrate comparing and contrasting while reading. “In this paragraph I read that both trees and people need a special substance to keep them alive. This is an important way they are alike. But I also read here that trees and people each have a different kind of substance. Trees have sap; people have blood. Comparing and contrasting trees and people helps me understand what I am reading.”
• In Theme 13, Week 2, Lesson 8, the teacher discusses the importance of determining the main idea in a text using, A Play for All. “Remind children that good readers think about a text after they finish reading it. They decide which idea or ideas in the text were most important. This helps them understand the purpose of the text. Have children think about the beginning, middle, and end of A Play for All. Is there one idea that you thought of in each part of the play? Is it the most important or main idea?”

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

• In Level I, Small Group Reading, Lesson 2, for the story, A Dictionary of Snake Facts, the nonfiction feature of headings is discussed. The teacher will, “Remind children that this book is a picture dictionary with entries about snakes. Each entry has a heading at the top of the page that names the term explained in the entry. Open the book to any page and have children locate and read the headings they see on the page."
• In Theme 2, Week 2, Lesson 7, students learn about the contents page. The teacher introduces using the table of contents. “Explain that the contents page of a book helps readers find out where certain information can be found in the book. Each part of the book is listed in the order it can be found in the book, along with the page number where that part begins.” The teacher then models using a table of contents to find information.
• In Theme 13, Week 2, Lesson 7, students learn about typographical cues. “Explain that these words are in bold print because the author thinks they are important and wants us to pay close attention to them.” Students look for examples of bold-faced and italic words in classroom books.
• In Theme 14, Week 2, Lesson 7, students learn about captions. The teacher explains the use of captions in non-fiction text. “Explain that captions are the words next to or below pictures that tell more about them. Captions give additional, interesting information that helps explain ideas in a text.” The teacher then models reading and explaining captions from a big book.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.

Grade 1 provides opportunities for students to purposefully read text, practice reading fluency, learn reading strategies, and learn to read irregularly spelled words. Fluency instruction occurs over the course of the school year, through the use of small-group reading lessons. Reading strategies are referenced as Fix-Up Strategies and are often modeled during shared read-aloud lessons. Lessons include a “Focus on Fluency” section that targets skills such as phrasing, expression and punctuation. The purpose for reading each book is clearly stated at the beginning of each reading lesson. There is an online fluency practice available.

Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to purposefully read on-level text. Examples include:

• In Theme 4, Week 1, Lesson 3, during Shared Reading, the teacher sets the purpose for reading. “Set Purpose: Let’s read to see what Luisa observes about water.”
• In Theme 7, Week 1, Lesson 4, during Shared Reading, the teacher sets the purpose for the reading. “Let’s reread The Bell in the Well to make sure we understand the story.”
• In Theme 15, Week 1, Lesson 4, during Shared Reading, the teacher sets the purpose for the reading. “Let’s reread The Underground Dance to make sure we understand everything that happens in the story.”

Multiple 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 decodable words. Examples include:

• In Theme 4, Week 2, Lesson 8, students learn to vary their voice to show character emotion. The teacher models reading pages 4-5 of the Big Book aloud, pointing out the exclamation points to read with strong emotion. Students chorally read the text with the teacher to practice voice pitch and tone changes.
• In Theme 8, Week 2, Lesson 8, students learn to read in phrases. The teacher models reading from the Big Book and pauses between phrases to aid in understanding. Students chorally read to practice reading in phrases.
• In Theme 11, Week 2, Lesson 8, students learn to change their voice to represent the various characters in the text. The teacher models reading the Big Book to show the tones of Mother Duck, Fox, and the ducklings. The students echo read the text to practice changing their voice to reflect the different characters.

Materials support reading of texts with attention to reading strategies such as rereading, self-correction, and the use of context clues. Reading strategies are used over the course of the school year and are referred to as fix-up strategies. Examples include:

• In Theme 7, Week 1, Lesson 2, the teacher models monitoring understanding during Modeled Reading. “Emphasize how stopping and thinking about what they have read or heard will help them understand the point the author is making.” The teacher explains the three ways to check for understanding: reread, ask myself questions, and think about the meaning. Students discuss the following questions: “Why would you need to stop and think about what you’ve read? What is one way to check that you understand your reading?”
• In Theme 7, Week 1, Lesson 2, the teacher models monitoring understanding during Modeled Reading. “Emphasize how stopping and thinking about what they have read or heard will help them understand the point the author is making.” The teacher explains the three ways to check for understanding: reread, ask myself questions, and think about the meaning. Students discuss the following questions: “Why would you need to stop and think about what you’ve read? What is one way to check that you understand your reading?”
• In Theme 8, Week 2, Lesson 9, the teacher reviews different fix-up strategies students can use while reading, “Review with children that good readers use fix-up strategies when they have difficulty with a text. These strategies include looking at the pictures, rereading, reading on, looking for the word parts we do know, and thinking about what makes sense.” Students then practice reading on their own and using fix-up strategies when they come to parts of the text of which they are unsure.
• In Theme 15, Week 1, Lesson 2, the teacher models how to decode challenging words in text. The teacher models different techniques. “Explain that the girl did not know the word village, so she broke it into parts.” Students discuss the following questions: “What does it mean to break a word into parts? How can breaking words into smaller parts help you learn new words?”

Students have opportunities to practice and read irregularly spelled words. Examples include:

• In Theme 3, Week 2, Lesson 8, students learn the following high-frequency words: I’m, house, it’s, then, good. Students spell the word aloud with the teacher, write the word on their own paper, and read the words to gain automaticity.
• In Theme 9, Week 1, Lesson 3, students learn the following high-frequency words: next, still, got, us, something. Students spell the word aloud with the teacher, write the word on their own paper, and read the words to gain automaticity.
• In Theme 15, Week 1, Lesson 3, students learn the following high-frequency words: close, catch, bad, add, everything. Students spell the word aloud with the teacher, write the word on their own paper, and read the words to gain automaticity.
• In Theme 16, Week 1, Lesson 3, the high-frequency words brother, beautiful, before, done, and any are introduced. Students are expected to, “Spell the words aloud with you, copy them on their own paper, and then read them to gain automaticity.”

The instructional materials reviewed partially meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks provide systematic and explicit instruction in and practice of word recognition and analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected text and tasks.

Grade 1 materials provide opportunities for word analysis and recognition skills as a regular part of small guided reading group instruction. Skills are taught through regular phonics instruction and high frequency word instruction in each guided reading group book. These skills are also addressed in writing, through the use of Spotlight on Phonics lessons that integrated phonics skills during read-aloud of a mentor text to student writing. However, the materials lack explicit directions for the use of decodable and leveled readers.

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

• In Theme 4, Week 2, Lesson 9, students practice reading short u words. The teacher reviews the big book, “Luisa’s Lab,” and students practicing reading the words, mug, up, run and yum.
• In Theme 5, My Neighborhood, Lesson 1, the word families of un and ug are taught. This is done through word rhyming activities and the connect sounds and symbols activity where the teacher writes words that end with un and ug and then has students “identify the rhyming pairs.”
• In Theme 7, Week 1, Lesson 2, the students place sticky notes under words with th in them. Student read the /th/ word and underline the word with their finger. Then the students place sticky notes under words with sh in them. Student read the /sh/ word and underline the word with their finger. In Lesson 4, students identify th and sh words in The Bell in the Well.
• In Theme 7, Week 2, Lesson 2, the the students place sticky notes under words with -ill in them. Student read -ill words and underline the word with their finger.
• In Theme 8, Week 1, Lesson 2, students place sticky notes under words with -ake in them. Student read the -ake word and underline the word with their finger. Then the students place sticky notes under words with ale in them. Student read the -ale word and underline the word with their finger.
• In Theme 11, Week 1, Lesson 3, students decode two-syllable words, with -eed and -eam words.
• In Theme 13, Week 2, Lesson 9, students practice reading words with -y ending when they are reading the book, A Play for All. They practice reading the words, my, shy and try.
• In Theme 15, Week 2, Lesson 6, students practice making words with sw and sm blends.
• In Theme 16, Week 2, Lesson 7, students learn digraphs ch and wh by listening to words that have the sounds in them and raising their hand when they hear the first wh word.
• Word recognition and analysis skills were addressed on a regular basis in the Small Group lessons through phonemic awareness activities. For example:
  • In Level D, Buddy’s Bath, “Say think, thank, thistle. Explain that these words begin with the /th/ sound, and have children repeat the sound. Tell them that the letters th together can make the /th/ sound. Have children tell you which word ends with /th/: math, sick. Yes, math ends with the /th/ sound.”
  • In Level D, "Cold Day, Hot Chocolate", “Tell children that word families are made of words with the same ending sounds. These words rhyme. Say sentences, such as Can I take my /b/-/ike/ on a /h/-/ike/? Model for children how to blend the onsets and rimes, say the words, and then note their rhyme. Form sentences with onsets and rimes for these words: nice, mice; nice, rice; like, Mike. Guide children to blend the segmented ike and ice words in your sentences.”

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

• In the Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide, Appendix, there are five high-frequency word activities:
  • Concentration requires two sets of high-frequency word cards. Students take turns flipping over the high-frequency word cards. Students match the identical high-frequency words.
  • Board Game requires a numbered spinner, button marker, and a “follow the path” grid. Students spin, move the number of spaces, read the high-frequency word, and use the word in context. If successful, the student’s marker stays on the space.
  • High-Frequency Bingo requires a set of high-frequency cards and bingo cards with grid. Students write random high-frequency words on the grid squares and play bingo in the typical manner.
  • Say It! Match It! requires two students each with a set of high-frequency words. Students turn cards over at the same time and if the words match, students shout “Match!”
  • Word Search requires a 5x5 boxed grid with a high-frequency word in each of the 25 boxes. A set of high-frequency cards must match the words in the grid. A student selects a card, reads the word, and places a marker on the grid to the matching word.
• In Level B, Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide, the teacher is provided with a list of high-frequency words: get, his. The teacher writes the words on the Word Wall and has students copy the words onto index cards. As the students read the text, they make tally marks each time they notice the high-frequency words.

Lessons and activities provide students opportunities to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills while encoding (writing) in context and decoding words (reading) in connected text and tasks. Examples include:

• In Theme 5, Week 1, Lesson 3, in the phonemic awareness/phonics activity, the high-frequency words or, by, there, milk, and more are introduced. The teacher reviews the words with students through spelling them aloud. After this, students are expected to “copy them on their own paper, and then read them to gain word automaticity.”
• In Theme 7, Week 1, Lesson 3, when learning about the poem A Bell in the Well, students have a Spotlight on Phonics lesson that focuses on th and sh digraphs. “Review /th/ and /sh/ by asking children to share words with th and sh in them. Write these words on the board and point out the th and sh spelling patterns. As children write independently, encourage them to refer to the list of words on the board and think about the spelling patterns of th and sh words.”
• In Theme 13, Week 1, Lesson 3, when learning about problem and solution using the text, A Play for All, students have a Spotlight on Phonics section that focuses on using r-controlled vowels in their work. “Remind children that good writers sound out words to help them spell words in their writing. Review how the letter r changes the sound of the preceding vowels in words such as car and horn. Ask children to think about what they’ve learned about r-controlled vowels to help them spell words as they write independently today.” After writing the teachers asks students to, “Share examples of words with r-controlled vowels that you used in your writing today.”
• In Theme 13, Week 2, Lesson 10, students explore words with -y together as a group through listing consonant combinations to reinforce the sound of long i with the y added at the end of these combinations. The next activity is Explore Words in Writing. In this activity, the teacher asks, “A question whose answer is a word with -y. Then have children write the word.”

Practice with distinguishing long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words is not evident in the materials.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially 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.

Grade 1 materials lack opportunities for assessments to provide the teacher with next steps. For example, the Fluency Assessment Rubric provides data to the teacher about students’ fluency, but no next steps or supports for what the teacher should do to help students make progress in fluency. The materials do not include a clear and specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments will be supported. The program for Grade 1 contains assessments in spelling, fluency, phonics, comprehension, writing and READs diagnostic assessments. There is also a READs teacher manual that helps support the teacher in determining progress for students. On an oral fluency assessment, there are questions that the teacher can answer after giving a reading fluency assessment such as: patterns that were noticed, miscues that the student had, or how often the student asked for teacher assistance. Once these questions are answered, there is no guidance on what the teacher is expected to do next in order to support the student.

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:

• Rigby READS (Reading Evaluation and Diagnostic System) Forms A and B are used.
  • This provides teachers with information about students’ instructional levels.
  • It provides diagnostic data about strengths and developmental areas of phonics, phonemic awareness, and fluency.
  • The reports provide information about: small group placement, student comparison to grade-level expectation, and information about planning purposes.

• Theme Progress Tests provide are administered every two weeks. These assess Theme Skills Mastery: comprehension, vocabulary, phonics/word study, high-frequency words, literacy skills, grammar, writing. The mid-year and end-of-year tests are cumulative.
• The Appendix of Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide includes:
  • A Fluency Assessment Rubric and a Fluency Assessment Tracking Form to track each student’s fluency progress.
  • An Oral Reading Record to analyze each student’s oral reading.
• Benchmark Book Assessments are given, “3-4 times a year or as necessary to assess reading level.”
• Fluency Readers are used once a student can read at a level C and are given once a month.
• Fluency Reader Software is used once a month and contains automatic calculation of words per minute.

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

• In Theme 8, there is on-going test practice sheets 64 and 65 that students do during the theme. There is also a progress assessment on pages 66 - 72 of the assessment guide to help the teacher determine if students are on-track in understanding the skills that are taught.
• Fluency Assessment are on A30 of the Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide. Teachers are instructed to give the fluency assessment by using one of the leveled readers that students have read at least two times. The teacher then conducts a one minute fluency assessment on a section of text from the book. Teachers are instructed not to begin fluency assessment until at least level F. A Fluency Assessment Rubric is also included where a teacher scores a student on a scale of 1-4 in the following areas: expression, accuracy, punctuation, phrasing, pace and comprehension. The teacher then comes up with a total “prosody rating score.” A table in the Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide informs the teacher about the student grade level based on words per minute.
• Small Guided Reading Group lessons also provide in the moment assessments for teachers to use. For example:
  • In Level E, "K-9 Team on Patrol", page 142, the teacher is provided with the following Assess Progress box in the margin: “Phonics: Assess recognition and use of -ide and -come word families with the magnetic board. Place the letters for the words ride and home on the board for a child to read. Then ask the child to choose the letters for the words tide and dome.”

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

• Theme Progress Tests provide a scoring rubric with the tested elements with reteaching follow-ups. For example:
  • In Theme 8, Week 1, Lesson 1, the teacher is prompted to give Theme 7, progress test. For students that scored fewer than 12 of 15 items correct, the teacher is prompted to use the reteaching suggestions provided in Theme 7 scoring guide during the differentiated reading instruction lesson.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially 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.

Grade 1 materials include 64 leveled readers in Grade 1 and 6 copies per set. Each leveled reader includes five pages of lesson plans with two days of instruction. There are 20 minutes for instruction time and 5-10 minutes of reflection time. Prior to reading the Leveled Readers, students practice phonemic awareness and phonics lessons. Weekly lessons provide multiple opportunities for students to learn and master a foundational skill such as short vowel sounds. The materials provide minimal guidance to a teacher as to how to differentiate the core lessons or small group lessons when students are struggling or understanding the foundational skill learning. The materials provide some suggestions for struggling learners and limited suggestions for extended learning. Extension activities are inconsistently provided throughout the entire program. There is a Skills Master that includes additional practice to extend lessons through decodable stories.

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

• In the Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide, students on track and students ready for acceleration can access phonics instruction. There are different lessons with levels for students to learn foundational skills at their instructional level.
• In the Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide, struggling readers have the opportunity to access differentiated instruction of foundational skills such as phonemic awareness and phonics.
  • In Level B, Lesson 1, Phonemic Awareness/Phonics, students at that level have the opportunity to blend onset and rime such as /g/ /ot/, /c/ /ot/, /h/ /as/, and /p/ /ad/.
• Integrated differentiation is in the core materials to help English language learners and struggling learners access the grade level content in reading and writing, but not necessarily with foundational skills in the core material, Comprehension Bridge, and Writing Bridge.
• Enrichment activities are also provided throughout the teacher's manual in the margins of certain lessons. For example:
  • In Theme 12, Week 2, Lesson 10, “Have children write their own list of fanciful compound words they make-up and define. For example, penball could be a game played with pens and superballs.”

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

• While extra opportunities are provided in the Small Group Reading, the guidance provided to teachers for scaffolding and adapting the small group lesson is not detailed. For example:
  • In Level D, Lesson 2, the sidebar contains “Assess Progress Fluency: As children read, listen to individuals to assess their use of punctuation. See page A31 of this guide for a Fluency Rubric” No guidance is provided as to how to adapt the Small Group Reading Lesson 2 Fluency based on the Fluency Rubric.

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

• Over a week, students have the opportunity to learn a particular phonemic awareness and phonics skill. Small Group Reading also contains further lessons in phonemic awareness and phonics skills. For example:
  • In Theme 7, Week 1, students learn two digraphs: th, sh. In Lesson 1, students blend sounds to make the word ship after the teach states the word. In Lesson 2, students find words in text with th and sh. In Lesson 3, students listen to the teach say words with th and sh, and students hold up a card to identify with digraph they hear.
  • In Small Group Reading Level D, Lesson 1, students listen to the teacher says words that begin with /th/. Students tell the teacher which words end in /th/.

• Students practice a foundational skill in whole group by writing the words, finding the words in a sentence or by using a magnetic board to build the words. Students then continue to practice the skill in small group reading lessons when they are reading a text that is at their reading level.