1st Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2a.

The materials include a well-defined teacher resource for content presentation, including a detailed scope and sequence and a weekly planner. The teacher resource contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills content through session-specific teacher-scripted lessons along with sidebars prompting for when and how to use the digital articulation videos and slides. The technology pieces include support and guidance for the teacher and do not create an additional layer of complication around the materials.

Materials provide a well-defined teacher resource (teacher edition, manual) for content presentation. For example:

• The Teacher Guide contains the key objectives for each session. There is information for phonics, word analysis, high-frequency words, fluency, and differentiated supports for learners. The Teacher Guide provides a weekly scope, sequence, and detailed daily lesson plans, called sessions. The session plans are explicit and detailed. The sessions provides explicit instruction for the teacher to follow. The lesson supports the teacher with a check for understanding annotation containing a scaffold to use if needed. 

• The Tools for Instruction is a teacher resource that contains detailed information and instructional routines to help the teacher implement all foundational skills content effectively. Instructional Routines found in Tools for Instruction contain detailed information on routines.   

The teacher’s manual provides a weekly scope and sequence in addition to a detailed daily lesson plan. For example:

• The Instructional Routines Guide, located in the front matter A40–47 and in the Program Implementation section of the digital Teacher Toolbox, introduces and defines the instructional routines found in the program. The routines include scripting for the specific skill being taught and routines for: 

  • Phonological Awareness

    • Recognize Letter Sounds Routine

    • Isolate Sounds Routine

    • Identify Sounds Routine

    • Blend Sounds Routine

    • Segment Sounds Rouitne

    • Delete Sounds Routine

    • Add Sounds Routine

    • Change Sounds Routine

  • High-Frequency Words

    • See and Say the Word Routine

    • Spell the Word Routine

    • Write the Word Routine

  • Phonics

    • Decoding Blend Words Routine

    • Encoding Spell It Routine 

  • Corrective Feedback

    • Decoding Corrective Feedback Routine

    • Encoding Corrective Feedback Routine

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Sessions 1–5, the Teacher Guide contains a detailed scope and sequence followed by daily lesson plans referred to as sessions. The session plans are explicit and detailed. The plan provides instruction that tells the teacher what to say explicitly. The lesson supports the teacher with a useful check for understanding annotation that contains a scaffold to use if needed.

• In Unit 4, Week 20, Session 1–5, Weekly Planner, the weekly planner includes daily plans and maps out each section of the program the teacher will be using with students. Session 5 information outlines the weekly assessment and the cumulative review. Each session contains the unit words, the standards being taught, and the materials the teacher will need for the week. 

The teacher resource contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills content (i.e., phonological awareness, print concepts, letters, phonics, HFW, word analysis, decoding). For example:

• In Unit 2, Week 7, Sessions 1–4, the Teacher Guide outlines the segmenting syllables routine with a model, which explains to the teacher that they are going to break the word apart and then clap each syllable as they say the word. 

• In Unit 3, Week 14, Session 2, Teacher Guide, the Segment Sounds Routine is clearly scripted using the model, apply and check format. The Super Words Routine outlines what the teacher says and does and what students do. 

Any technology pieces included provide support and guidance for the teacher and do not create an additional layer of complication around the materials. For example:

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Weekly Planner, Classroom Resources, the Articulation Videos allow the teacher to clearly see how to pronounce each sound presented during the week. Each video also includes words that begin with each of the featured sounds.

• In Unit 2, Lesson 13, Session Slides, the Digital Toolbox contains technology pieces that are not cumbersome or complicated. From the digital toolbox, teachers access slides that accompany the lesson, articulation videos, and interactive tutorials from the main interface. Articulation videos allow the teacher to clearly see how to pronounce each sound presented during the week. The Session Slides provide teachers with an easy-to-use and helpful technology tool.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2b.

The materials include complete detailed adult-level explanations for each of the foundational skills. Materials are designed to provide the teacher with additional information to help them understand why the skills are important or to provide tips on how to meet the diverse student needs. Detailed examples of the grade-level skills concepts are provided to the teacher throughout the lesson as part of the explicit instruction format.

Complete, detailed adult-level explanations are provided for each foundational skill taught at the grade level. For example:

• The Instructional Routines defines phonological awareness as “an understanding that spoken words are made up of sounds. It states that phonological awareness lessons help children recognize and manipulate spoken sounds before learning to attach each sound to a grapheme or letter.” The Foundational Skills Terms to Know defines foundational skills words including, but not limited to, consonant blends, continuous sounds, phrasing, and prefix. 

• The Instructional Resources: Elkonin Boxes explains that “the smallest unit of speech represented in the alphabetic writing system is called, phoneme.” 

Detailed examples of the grade level foundational skill concepts are provided for the teacher. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 4, the session guide provides teachers with examples for blending onset and rime. Materials state: “Have children blend the onset and rime in the word mill. Listen to the Sounds: Your turn! Listen as I say the first sound and the rest of the word: /m/ /ĭl/. Blend the Sounds Together: Now you blend the sounds together to say the word. /m/ /ĭl/ What is the word? mill.”

• In Unit 2, Week 6, Session 1, the session includes a box that explains that students identifying beginning sounds in spoken words can build students ability to retain letter sounds. In this section, there is one example that the teacher models, and six examples that they can apply to the learning. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2c.

The materials include content that can reasonably be completed within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding. The program utilizes lesson plans that are research-based, including foundational concepts, such as phonological and phonemic awareness, alphabetic principles, phonics, and high-frequency words. The program materials have lessons and guidance for both the whole group and small group. The session documents have multiple sections but do not have time frames for each section of phonological awareness; rather, materials note the total time of the entire session. Materials provide assessments to identify how small group lessons should be done and what skills should be reinforced. Sessions are designed to be taught in whole group for 45 minutes. There are a total of six units with 30 weeks of instruction and five sessions each week. 

Lesson plans utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction. For example:

• In the Teacher Toolbox, Program Implementation Guide, the Instructional Routines provide a detailed explanation of the program design. The Teach, Model, and Apply model provides a structure and instructional routine for lessons on phonological awareness, phonics, high-frequency words, handwriting, and phonics.

• In Unit 6, Week 30, Session 1, the lesson begins as the teacher models using the Sound Spelling and Articulation Cards for the /o/ sounds and reminds children vowel sounds can have different spellings and uses haul as an example. The teacher models the Blend Words routine. The teacher checks for understanding and provides reteaching support.

The effective lesson design structure includes both whole-group and small-group instruction. For example: 

• In Program Implementation, the Flexible Pacing Options document states that the whole group instruction is meant to be 45 minutes for Sessions 1–4 with 10–15 minutes of small group instruction using Magnetic Readers. 

• In the Teacher Toolbox, the Weekly Planner Unit provides instruction for the whole configuration and 45 minutes of instruction. In the lesson, the instructions point teachers toward the Magnetic Readers as a resource for small group instruction.

The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans is clear and appropriate. For example: 

• In the Teacher Toolbox, Weekly Planner, the Flexible Pacing Options are: Phonological Awareness and Phonics, 20 minutes; Read Aloud Together and Concepts of Print, 10 minutes; Letter formation, 15 minutes. This results in a total of 45 minutes for whole group instruction.

• In the Teacher Toolbox, Weekly Planner, Unit 4 includes 20 minutes for phonological awareness, phonics, and high-frequency words; 30 minutes for word analysis and word-level reading fluency; and 45 minutes for connected texts.

The suggested amount of time and expectations for maximum student understanding of all foundational skill content (i.e., phonological awareness, print concepts, letters, phonics, HFW, word analysis, decoding) can reasonably be completed in one school year and should not require modifications. For example:  

• The How Magnetic Reading Foundation Works document states there are six units with 30 weeks of instruction (approximately 150 days).

• The Scope and Sequence shows pacing for all units across 30 weeks in concepts of phonological awareness, phonics, word analysis, spelling, letter formation, high-frequency words, fluency, and unit words. 

For those materials on the borderline (e.g., approximately 130 days on the low end or 200 days on the high end), the evidence clearly explains how students would be able to master ALL the grade level standards within one school year.

• N/A

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2d.i.

The materials provide a delineated sequence for phonological awareness skills to be taught within the year. The materials contain a clear evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy for teaching phonological awareness skills in the following progression found in the Introduction: rhyming, beginning sound isolation, blending compound words, onset rimes, individual phonemes, segmenting phonemes, and culminating with adding/substituting and deleting phonemes. The materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction and practice to build toward students’ application of skills that build in complexity. According to the Foundations Research document, there is a repetitive nature to Grade 1 skills and 103 skills are taught. 

Materials contain a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy for teaching phonological awareness skills. For example:

• In Welcome to Magnetic Reading Foundations, Introduction, Research Base, the research states that students  learn to hear, identify and manipulate large word parts into syllables and onset-rime. The learning should focus on isolating, identifying, and manipulating individual phonemes. 

• The Magnetic Reading Foundations Research Rationale states students are supported by reading from the beginning of the year. There are large sound units such as syllables and onset-rime. It states that the skills start with isolation and blending/segmenting but then progress to addition, deletion, and substitution tasks building from simple to more complex.

• In Magnetic Reading Foundations Introduction, Research Base, the introduction briefly explains the research for teaching phonological awareness. Materials state, “Research has confirmed that the phoneme level is the most important that can be taught to the earliest readers (Brady 2020). Furthermore, the ability to identify and manipulate phonemes is an important precursor to decoding because it trains children to hear the words that correspond to sound spellings. (Wagner and Torgerson, 1987).” 

Materials contain a phonemic awareness sequence of instruction and practice based on the expected hierarchy. For example:

• In Scope and Sequence, Units 1–5, materials identify the phonemic awareness sequence for first-grade instruction.  Based on this document, the sequence of instruction follows a research-based approach to that begins with the component parts of the known word (segmenting the word into its phonemes), isolating a specific phoneme, deleting that phoneme, adding the new phoneme, and blending the phonemes together to say the new word.

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Session 1, the teacher provides instruction on blending onset and rime within words. The teacher models the word hug, /h/ /ug/.  Students participate in guided practice with the word yum, /y/ /um/.  Finally, students use use the routine to segment the follow words: hum,/h/ /um/; luck /l/ /uk/; buzz /b/ /uz/; jug /j//ug/; hut /h//ut/; and ducked, /d//ukt/.  

• Unit 3, Week 15, Session 2, the teacher provides instruction on segmenting individual sounds within words.  The teacher models with the word brand, /b/ /r//a//n//d/. Students participate in guide practice with the word grab /g//r//a//b/.  Students use the routine to segment the following words breath /b//r//e//th/; braids, /b//r//a//d//z/; grapes /g//r//a//p//s/; group, /g//r//oo//p/; cry /c//r//i/; and dream /d//r//e//m/. 

• Unit 5, Week 27, Session 3, the teacher provides instruction on adding a sound to a word to make a new word. The teacher models by adding /p/ to the word ouch to create the word pouch. The students participate in guided practice by adding /d/ to the word out to create the word doubt. The students use the routine to add phonemes and pronounce the new words: /g//r/+owl = growl; /k/ + ouch = crouch; /p/+out = pout; /g/+round = ground; how+/l/=howl and brow=/n/=brown.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction based on the expected hierarchy to build toward students’ application of the skills. For example:

• In Scope and Sequence, Units 1–6, materials identify the phonemic awareness sequence for first-grade instruction. Based on this document, the sequence of instruction follows a research-based approach that begins with the component parts of the known word (segmenting the word into its phonemes), isolating a specific phoneme, deleting that phoneme, adding the new phoneme, and blending the phonemes together to say the new word.

  • Unit 1: Recognize/Produce Rhyme; Isolate Phonemes (Initial); Blend, Identify, Segment Phonemes, Segment Onset and Rime, Recognize/Produce Alliteration

  • Unit 2: Blend Syllables, Segment Syllables, Isolate Initial Phonemes, Blend, Identify, Segment Phonemes, Add, Delete Initial Phonemes

  • Unit 3: Blend/Segment/Add Phonemes, Isolate/Identify/Substitute Medial Phonemes, 

  • Unit 4: Blend/Segment Phonemes, Isolate Initial/Medial/Final Phonemes, Identify/Delete Final Phonemes, Substitute Initial Phonemes 

  • Unit 5: Blend/Segment/Identify/Add Phonemes, Isolate Initial /Medial/ Final Phonemes, Substitute Initial/Medial Phonemes 

  • Unit 6: Blend/Segment/Add/Delete Phonemes, Identify Phonemes, Isolate Initial/Medial/Final Phonemes, Substitute Initial/Medial/Final Phonemes

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2d.ii.

The materials provide a clear research based explanation for the instructional sequence of phonics skills that are taught. The scope and sequence of phonics instruction is based in high-utility patterns and/or common phonics generalizations. Phonics skills move from simple to complex, with some review of previously learned phonics skills.

Materials clearly delineate a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction and practice to build toward the application of skills. For example:

• Unit 1: Short a; Consonant Review: m, t, s, b, n, p, r, h, c/k/, d; Short i; Consonant Review: f, g, l, j, k, qu, x, z, w, v, y; Short o; Short e; Short u

• Unit 2: Digraphs: sh-, th-, ch-, wh-; Digraphs: -th, -sh, -ck; Digraphs: -ch, -tch, -ng; Beginning Blends: bl-, cl-, fl-, pl-; Beginning Blends: st-, sk-, sm-, sp-

• Unit 3: Beginning r-Blends: fr-, cr-, dr-, tr-; Beginning Blends: gr-, br-, sn-, sw-; Three-Letter Blends: scr-, spl-, str-, spr-; Ending Blends: -st, -sk, -nd, -nt, -mp; Long a: a_e  

• Unit 4: Long o: o_e; Long i: i_e; Long u: u_e; Long e: e_e; Soft c, g; Long a: ai, ay; Long e: e, ee, ea

• Unit 5: Long o: o, oa, ow; Long i: i, y, igh; Long e: y, ey; r-Controlled Vowel ar; r-Controlled Vowels er, ir, ur

• Unit 6: r-Controlled Vowels or, oar, ore; Diphthongs ou, ow; Diphthongs oi, oy; Variant Vowel oo (book); Variant Vowels oo (room), ue, ew; Variant Vowels au, aw, a(l)

Materials have a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence. For example:

• The Magnetic Reading Foundations Research Rationale states that the Grade 1 phonics scope and sequence follow the same overall structure as Kindergarten but contain more concepts and skills. It also states concepts of simple to complex can be seen in the review of moving from consonant digraphs to consonant blends. 

• The Magnetic Reading Foundations K–2 phonics scope and sequence begins with letter recognition, in which students are steeped in letter learning and heavily scaffolded into decoding words with the simplest sound spellings, such as short vowels, progresses through consonant digraphs, and advances into more complex sound spellings, like blends and vowel teams (Guthrie & Seifert, 1977; Pirani-McGurl, 2009). Students then learn spelling patterns that help them recognize larger, distinct representations of spoken sounds. This helps students develop their word attack skills for decoding multisyllabic words and use knowledge of spelling patterns to accurately encode, or write, the combination of letters to represent the sounds they hear in spoken words (Ehri, 2020; National Reading Panel, 2000; Petscher et al., 2020).

Phonics instruction is based in high-utility patterns and/or common phonics generalizations. For example:

• The Grade 1 Phonics Scope and Sequence follows the same overall structure of Grade K, though it includes more concepts and many more skills (Grade K concepts in italics): alphabet review, short vowel sounds, consonant digraphs, consonant blends, CVCe long vowels, soft c and g, long vowel patterns, r-controlled vowels, diphthongs, and variant vowels. As in Grade K, the Grade 1 overview demonstrates a systematic approach to the four principles in numerous ways. First, the principle of building from simple to more complex concepts can be seen in the sequence of consonant digraphs to consonant blends. Consonant digraphs are taught first because learning a grapheme corresponds to one sound (e.g., sh makes a /sh/ sound) is a simpler concept than a spelling that corresponds to two or more sounds (e.g., bl makes a /bl/ sound) (Pirani-McGurl, 2009). Second, the principle of practice and application that can be seen with short vowels in Grade K can also be seen in Grade 1. After short vowels in CVC words, students learn consonant digraphs and consonant blends, which gives students time to practice and apply short vowel patterns in CCVC and CVCC words before they progress to the new concept of long vowels (Guthrie & Seifert, 1977). Third, the principle of concepts and skills repeating consistently across grades is shown in the repetition in Grade 1 of short vowels and CVCe long vowels. Within these concepts, skills are presented in the same order as in Grade K (Guthrie & Seifert, 1977). 

• Concepts are reviewed while skills progress within Grade 1, as seen in the progression of learning all CVCe long vowels before learning multiple long vowel patterns. Learning that a_e makes a long a sound (e.g., tape) is a simple concept and easily transferable to o_e makes a long o sound (e.g., hope) (Mesmer, 2019), so all CVCe long vowels are grouped together. Additional long vowel patterns follow in sets of two or three, such as ai, ay, (e.g., claim, say) and o, oa, ow (e.g., cold, float, snow). Because students have already secured knowledge of CVCe long vowels, they can more easily master additional spelling patterns for the same sound. Because the principles listed above are related, this progression of CVCe long vowels to additional long vowel patterns also embodies the principle of building from simple to complex patterns. Fourth, the principle of introducing high-utility skills strategically in Grade 1 can be seen in the different order of skills within CVCe long vowels (i.e., a, o, i, u, e) and the subsequent long vowel patterns (i.e., a, e, o, i, e). Long u patterns (e.g., ew, ue) are considered low utility and are taught in Grade 2. Magnetic Reading Foundations departs from a consistent order of vowels across skills to prioritize utility and access to a greater number of words, which allows students to read more complex and conceptually interesting text in the decodable Magnetic Readers.

Patterns and generalizations are carefully selected to provide a meaningful and manageable number of phonics patterns and common generalizations for students to learn deeply. For example:

• The Teacher Guide includes the Scope and Sequence. The students review consonants and short vowels. In Unit 2, students learn digraphs along with beginning blends. In Unit 3, students continue to learn additional beginning blends along with three-letter blends, ending blends and the beginning of long vowels with silent e. In Unit 4, students continue to learn the rest of the long vowels with silent e along with additional phonics patterns for long a and long e. In Unit 5, students learn additional phonics patterns for long o, i, and e along with the r-controlled phonics pattern.  Unit 6 completes the year of learning with students learning additional  r-controlled phonics patterns along with dipthongs and variant vowels.

• The Teacher Guide explains the Structure of a Week. The program follows a predictable, five-session structure systematically designed to introduce a new phonics skill in the first session. In Session 2, students practice and extend what was introduced in Session 1 and review skills from the previous week. In Session 3, the teacher introduces a new phonics skill. In Session 4, students practice the new skill and review previous phonics skills. In Session 5, students complete an individual assessment. If a student has not mastered a skill, materials provide instructional guidance on next steps for teacher use.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2f.i.

The materials include a variety of decodable texts that contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence to address securing phonics. Each week students read a decodable text designed to provide practice securing current and previously learned phonics skills. Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing phonics skills. All units contain a Connected Text passage for each target sound spelling with decodable words and known high-frequency words. Units 4–6 include Connected Text lesson plans in which students participate in a first and second read. All units also include a Magnetic Reader for each week with detailed lesson plans that include multiple readings in Sessions 2 and 4.  

Materials include decodable texts to address securing phonics. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Session 2, students read the Connected Decodable Text, “Six Big Figs,” to practice previously-taught sound-spellings; the target sound-spelling short i and consonants f,g, k, l, and x and; Super Words but, her, not, of.

• In Unit 5, Week 21, Session 2, students read the decodable text, “A Toad in a Boat” to pracrtice previously-taught sound-spellings; the target sound-spellings words with o, oa; and Super Words find, light, little, right.

Decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. For example: 

• In Unit 2, Week 9, Session 2, students identify and practice words that begin with beginning blends bl, cl, such as claps and blushing using the decodable text “Big Red Blobs.” 

• In Unit 3, Week 11, Session 4, students identify and practice words that begin with dr-, tr- blends such as Trip, drum, and trumpet. Students read the decodable text “At the Sock Hop.” 

Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing phonics skills. For example: 

• In Unit 2, Week 8, Session 1, the teacher explains that ch stands for /ch/ at the end of a word. Students read the decodable words found in the passage. The teacher and students read Magnetic Reader “Such Fun, Music.” The students then read the passage in unison and reread the text with a partner or independently.  

• In Unit 3, Week 13, Sessions 2 and 3, students read the decodable text, “To Spot Big Fish.” The students first read the passage in unison and reread the text with a partner or independently.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2f.ii.

The materials include decodable texts that utilize grade-level high-frequency and irregularly spelled words that are aligned to the scope and sequence. In addition, the lesson materials include lesson plans to teach and review previously taught high-frequency/irregularly spelled words. Each week contains two Connected Text passages that contain the week’s high-frequency words. Connected Text lesson plans include a first and second read in Sessions 2 and 4. All weeks also include a Magnetic Reader that contains the week’s high-frequency words with detailed four-part lesson plans that include multiple readings. 

Materials include decodable texts that utilize high-frequency/irregularly spelled words. For example:

• In Unit 2, Week 6, Session 2, students read the decodable text passage “A Ship for Jess,” which includes the Super Words like, make, there, and what. 

• In Unit 5, Week 22, Session 4, students read the decodable text passage, “Game Day,” which includes the Super Words before, buy, even, and our. 

Decodable texts contain grade-level high-frequency/irregularly spelled words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. For example:

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Session 2, students read the decodable text passage “Meg Can Help!”, which includes the Super Words be, he, she, and we.

• In Unit 4, Week 16, Session 4, students read the decodable text passage “Rose’s Home,” which includes the Super Words down, over, these, and who. 

Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing reading high-frequency words/irregularly spelled words in context. For example:

• In Unit 3, Week 13, Session 2, detailed lesson plans direct the study of the focus phonics skill scr-, apl- and the super words another, live, move, and near in the decodable Connected Text “To Spot Big Fish.” Students then read the passage in unison and reread the text with a partner or independently. 

• In Unit 4, Week 17, Session 2, detailed lesson plans direct the study of the focus phonics skill u_e and e_e and the super words also, first, how, and new in the decodable connected text “Fun in the Sun.”  Students then read the passage in unison and reread the decodable “Fun in the Sun.”  Students then read the passage in unison and reread the text with a partner or independently. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2g.i. (K-1)

The materials provide assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation. Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation. The materials also provide information on the next steps for students based on the assessment results.

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Session 5, the whole class assessment, Part 1 Encode Target Sound-Spellings, assesses students' ability to write letters that stand for the following sounds: /a/, /b/, /p/,/r/, /n/,/d/. The teacher dictates a sentence to the whole class, and students write the sentence using correct spelling and punctuation.  

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Session 2, directions in the Teacher Guide prompt the  teacher to check if students can distinguish between words and sentences. Students circle the letter and draw a box around the word. 

• The Letter Formation Assessment tracks students’ ability to properly form and write all of the letters. 

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation. For example:

• In the Toolbox, materials note that the assessment forms are designed to provide current levels of understanding in print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation. The teacher records the Unit number, date, and student name and record student errors in print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation for each part of the assessment.

• The Concepts of Print Assessment prompts the teacher to track and record results. Assessment guidance prompts the teacher to review the instructional next steps based on how students do. 

Materials support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Session 4, following the Teach and Apply sections within Concepts of Print, the teacher checks to see if students are able to correctly identify a group of words as a sentence. If students are not yet able to complete this task, teacher guidance is as follows: “Write a short sentence, such as The dog has a nap. Read the sentence aloud. Ask questions to reinforce that a sentence tells a complete thought, begins with a capital letter, and ends with punctuation.” 

• In Unit 1, Week 4, Session 1, following the Teach and Apply sections within Concepts of Print, the teacher checks to see if students are able to identify the title, author, and illustrator as they read. Guidance directs the teacher to display additional books and point to the title, author’s name, and illustrator’s name on the cover. Students repeat this process using other books.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2g.ii.

The materials provide weekly, unit, and formative assessment checks to evaluate and monitor student progress toward the development of mastery and independence in phonological awareness. The assessment materials support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in phonological awareness. Additionally, the assessment materials provide information on students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonological awareness. 

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence in phonological awareness. For example:

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Session 1, the teacher assesses alliteration by saying pairs of words. Students give a thumbs-up when the words begin with the same sound. 

• In Unit 3, Week 13, Session 2, the teacher administers a check on long a, a_e, during which students orally practice segmenting onset and rime in the words base, chase, just, cape, plane, and mask. 

• In Unit 5, Week 22, Session 5, during the Weekly Assessment, students orally identify the medial sound in one set of three words such as hit, fin, mix. Students add the initial or final found to one set of words. Then, students substitute the initial sound in one word, for example, changing the /l/ in light to /t/ in tight.  

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonological awareness. For example:

• The Weekly Assessment Tracker is designed to provide current levels of understanding in phonological awareness. The materials indicate that to score the Individual Assessment, which includes the phonological awareness assessment items, the teacher should use the corresponding Weekly or Unit Assessment Tracker to record both the number of items answered correctly and the specific errors a student makes. 

• The Program Implementation Guide provides ongoing opportunities to monitor student progress, The materials outline formative assessment opportunities to provide current levels of understanding in phonological awareness, These opportunities include checks within the daily lesson plans and the materials indicate that these checks allow a teacher to note which students were unable to perform the lesson objective, then do a quick reteach on the spot or reteach in a small-group lesson. 

Materials support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in phonological awareness. For example:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Session 5, during the Weekly Assessment, if students struggle to blend sounds, guidance directs the teacher to model and practice using familiar words. The teacher says the object's name in individual phonemes and then has students practice by orally blending the phonemes. 

• In Unit 3, Session 5, guidance included in Instructional Next Steps, Part 5 notes that if students are not able to blend the phonemes in a word, add initial phonemes to a word, delete the initial phoneme form words, blend onset and rime, or isolate the initial phoneme, specific next steps for the teacher include reteaching strategies and examples designed to address areas where students demonstrated difficulty.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2g.iii.

The materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress in word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). The materials provide phonics assessment materials and tools that include scoring and recording sheets to collect ongoing data about student progress in phonics. The materials help teachers determine student progress through the systematic implementation of the assessments. Materials include unit assessments, weekly assessments, and daily checks for understanding. The materials instruct teachers in scoring assessment results, and each assessment includes an Instructional Next Steps section that indicates the next steps if a student consistently makes errors in assessed phonics skills. 

Materials provide resources and tools to collect ongoing data about students’ progress in phonics. For example:

• The teacher and student materials include Unit and Weekly Assessments containing phonics skills assessment items for all weeks of Units 1–6, static and editable Unit and Weekly Assessment Trackers, and a Scoring Guide. 

• In Unit 2, Week 8, the Weekly Assessment Tracker includes an editable Grade 1 Weekly Assessment that is a whole class editable form with six parts, including target sound-spelling patterns, target words, and Part 4 word analysis words. 

Materials offer assessment opportunities to determine students’ progress in phonics that are implemented systematically. For example:

• The Weekly and Unit Assessments include decoding and encoding, both in and out of context. Unit Assessments 4–6 increase in complexity, adding a section in which students encode two sentences that include some words with target-sound spellings. Encode Connected Text assessment items are included in Units 1–3 but are optional. 

• Materials include five weeks of instruction in each unit, six units, and a total of 30 weekly assessments. Materials include six unit assessments, and daily checks throughout each lesson plan. 

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence with phonics. For example:

• In Units 1–6, Unit Assessment, during the Unit Assessment, students encode six sounds or sound pairs, encode eight words, and read a Connected Text passage that contains both previously-taught high-frequency words and the unit’s target sound-spellings. The Units 4–6 assessments include an Encode Connected Text section, in which students encode two dictated sentences that contain some words with target sound-spellings. 

• In Units 1–6, Weekly Assessment, students encode six sound-spellings, encode six target words, and decode two sentences selected by the teacher from a list of sentences containing words with target sound-spellings. 

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information that students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonics. For example:

• In Program Implementation, Assessment Resources, Scoring Guidelines, the Weekly Assessment Tracker is designed to provide information on current levels of understanding in phonics. The materials instruct teachers how to use weekly and unit assessment trackers to score assessments and determine the next steps. For the individual word recognition and word analysis assessments, if students miss two or more items in any category, the materials instruct the teacher to consult the corresponding Instructional Next Steps.

• In Assessment Resources Grade 1, the Scoring Guidelines state if students miss two or more items in any category, the teacher should find the corresponding section in the Instructional next steps and follow the instructions. 

Materials genuinely measure students’ progress to support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in phonics. For example:

• In Program Implementation, Assessment Resources, Scoring Guidelines, the materials outline instructional next steps that correspond to the different phonics assessment items: 

  • If a student substitutes an incorrect letter for a given sound in the Encoding Sound Spellings and Encoding Target Words assessment items, the materials instruct the teacher to look for patterns across Parts 1, 2, and 4 of the assessment, then to provide additional instruction in any sound-spellings with a pattern of errors across items. 

  • If a student adds or deletes sounds when encoding sound-spellings, the materials instruct the teacher to provide children with an anchor word to help children retrieve the sound-spelling. 

  • If a student consistently makes errors with target sound-spellings when reading connected text items, the materials instruct teachers to compare results with assessment parts 1 and 2, in which students encode target sound-spellings. If a pattern emerges, the materials instruct teachers to reteach the target sound-spelling with which a student is struggling. The materials also suggest randomly displaying Word Building Cards and asking students to say the sound for each letter or letters on the card.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2g.iv. 

The materials include checks for understanding within the lessons, weekly formative assessments, and unit summative assessments that measure student progress in word recognition and analysis. Units 1–6 include a Read Connected Text unit assessment which measures students’ ability to decode known sound-spellings, read high-frequency words, and read words with target word analysis elements. Weekly assessments in Units 1–6 also include Read Connected Text assessments. The assessment materials then provide teachers with instructional steps designed to provide reteaching lessons and strategies designed to help ensure all students master word recognition and word analysis skills.

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition (high-frequency words or irregularly spelled words) and analysis. For example:

• In Unit 1, Week 4, during the Short e: Weekly Assessment, Part 3, students write the high frequency words for, with, you, and are.

• In Unit 3 Assessment, Weeks 11–15, students read aloud a connected text passage that contains 5–7 high-frequency words, 12–15 words with the unit’s target sound-spellings, and 3–4 word analysis words containing target word endings, depending on the passage selected. The teacher records any errors using the Assessment Tracker. 

• In Unit 5, Week 21, Session 5, during the Long o: o, oa, ow Weekly Assessment, each student reads two sentences that each contain one high-frequency word and one or two target sound-spellings or word analysis target skills from the week. The teacher records any errors using the Assessment Tracker. 

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition and word analysis. For example:

• In Program Implementation, Assessment Resources, Scoring Guidelines, the Weekly tracker is designed to provide information on current levels of understanding. The materials instruct teachers how to use the weekly and unit assessment trackers to score assessments and determine next steps. For the individual word recognition and word analysis assessments, if students miss two or more items in any category, the materials instruct the teacher to consult the corresponding Instructional Next Steps. 

• In Unit 3, Week 15, Session 5, the Long a, Short a: Part 5, Read Connected Text portion of the Unit assessment is designed to provide the teacher with information related to each student’s current level of word recognition and word analysis skills.  

Materials support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis. For example:

• In Unit 1, Assessment, Weeks 1–5, the materials outline instructional next steps based on the Read Connected Text assessment results. If students consistently made errors across target sound-spellings and high-frequency words, the materials instruct that students should choose a Magnetic Reader from the unit to reread for practice. The materials instruct the teacher to listen as the student reads aloud and to give corrective feedback using Fix-Up Strategies, including Confirm or Correct Word Recognition or Read More Slowly. 

• In Unit 6 Assessment, Weeks 21–25, the materials outline instructional next steps based on the Read Connected Text assessment results. If students consistently made errors with target sound-spellings, the materials instruct teachers to compare results with assessment Parts 1, 2, and 4 in which students encode target sound-spellings. If a pattern emerges, the materials instruct teachers to reteach the target sound-spelling with which a student is struggling.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2g.v.

The materials include multiple fluency assessment resources. The materials include benchmark assessments to be administered in the fall, winter, and spring. These benchmark assessments  provide teachers and students with information about students' current skills/level of understanding of fluency through the use of a scoring guide which provides guidance on calculating the mean words correct per minute and includes guidelines for determining proficiency based on these scores. The materials also provide fluency formative assessment and practice resources in the areas of rate, expression, phrasing, and intonation/inflection. The Administration of Fluency Guide provides teachers with materials and supports teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in fluency.

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly and systematically over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of fluency. For example:

• In Fluency Practice & Assessment, Fluency Benchmarking, Administration Guide, the materials indicate that the Fluency Benchmark Assessment should be given in the winter and spring of first grade. Each assessment is administered one-on-one and consists of two benchmark passages. 

• In Fluency Practice & Assessment, Fluency Implementation Guide, the materials indicate that formative fluency assessments may be given at any point in Units 4–6 of first grade. 

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information about students' current skills/level of understanding of fluency. For example:

• In Fluency Practice & Assessment, Fluency Benchmarking, Administration Guide, the materials provide instructions for calculating students’ mean Words Correct per Minute (WCPM) and mean accuracy. The materials provide a WCPM Grade Level Percentile Ranges chart which prompts teachers to record students’ percentile range from the following options: 0–10, 11–24, 25–49, 50–75, 76–90+. The materials indicate that students meet grade-level expectations on the Benchmark Assessment if their Mean WCMP rate is in at least the 50th percentile on the Grade Level Percentile Ranges Chart.

• In Fluency Instruction and Formative Practice, Rate and Accuracy WCPM Tracker, the Corrective Feedback section notes that if a student is very stilted or monotone, the teacher should model reading one or two sentences with prosody and have the child repeat them. 

Materials support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in fluency. For example:

• In Fluency Practice & Assessment, Fluency Skill: Rate and Accuracy, the materials instruct teachers to identify students in need of targeted practice with rate. The materials provide student passages and teacher directions and administration scripts. The materials instruct the teacher to repeat the activity with the same passage until the student achieves a proficient rate on that passage. 

• The Implementation Guide for Fluency Practice and Formative Assessmentsuggests that if children are below level the teacher should determine what the primary problem is for the student within rate, and accuracy. It then suggests that if a child regularly spends more than one full second between each word, the teacher should focus on the Rate and Accuracy resources. Guidance prompts the teacher to choose the skill that corresponds to the weekly skill from the program scope and sequence, after selecting a passage from earlier in the year.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2h.

The materials include standards alignment resources for both formative and summative assessments inclusive of tasks, questions, and assessment items along with specific standards covered in lessons. The materials include two Standards Correlation documents. One document outlines where in the program each standard is addressed, by unit and page number. The other document breaks down each item on the weekly and unit assessments by standard addressed. Additionally, the weekly materials include a list of standards addressed in the week’s lessons. While these embedded standards lists do not provide a breakdown of individual activities and tasks aligned to specific standards, that level of detail can be found in the Standards Correlation Lesson document by cross-referencing unit and page number. 

Materials include denotations of the standards being assessed in the formative assessments. For example:

• In Program Implementation, Standards Correlations, Weekly and Unit Assessments, the materials provide a Standards Correlation chart that shows the CCSS standard that corresponds to each assessment item in the weekly formative assessments.  

• In Unit 2, Week 9, Session 5, Weekly Assessment, the Standards Correlation chart indicates that Part 6, Items 6–10, correlate with standard RF.1.3.f, “Read words with inflectional endings.” The assessment item requires students to read connected text containing words with -ed and -ing endings. 

Materials include denotations of standards being assessed in the summative assessments. For example:

• In Program Implementation, Standards Correlations, Weekly and Unit Assessments, the materials provide a Standards Correlation chart that shows the CCSS standard that corresponds to each assessment item in the summative unit assessments.  

• In Unit 4, Unit Assessment, the Standards Correlation chart indicates that Part 2 of the assessment correlates with standard L.1.2d, “Use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words.” The assessment items require students to encode the following words: sweet, trail, lace, cube, teach, gray, badge, me.

Alignment documentation is provided for all tasks, questions, and assessment items. For example:

• In Program Implementation, Standards Correlations, Weekly and Unit Assessments, the materials provide a Standards Correlation chart that shows the CCSS standard that corresponds to each assessment item in the weekly and unit assessments.  

• In Instructional Materials, the materials include a list of standards addressed in the week’s lesson in the Weekly Planner and as a drop-down menu attached to the Teacher Lessons, Student Workbook, and other weekly materials. The Standards Correlations: Lessons document in Program Implementation outlines specific standard correlation to activities and tasks. 

Alignment documentation contains specific standards correlated to specific lessons. For example:

• In Program Implementation, Standards Correlations: Lessons, the materials provide a Standards Correlation chart that shows the CCSS standard that corresponds to each lesson. This document is organized by standard and provides the unit with a page number for lessons that correspond to the standard. 

• Several pages of the Grade 1 CCSS Correlations lists RF.1.3b in the Teacher Guide for Units 1–6.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2i.i.

The materials provide regular support for students who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English. The Program Implementation materials provide an overview of supports and the rationale as well as a Language Transfer Chart for sounds and sound-spellings in five languages (Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Haitian Creole). Within the lessons, materials preview specific supports for each session of each week in the Weekly Planner and Unit Overview. Materials embed support strategies and examples specific to activities and tasks in the lesson plans.

Materials provide support for English Language Learner (ELL) students. For example:

• The Program Implementation Guide includes English Learner materials. It includes the Universal Design for the Learning approach of the curriculum, and explains how this design benefits all students. The document includes a chart of Strategies and Scaffolds for English Learners that outlines the program’s types of support, related strategies, and examples from lessons. Supports include identifying sound and sound-spelling transfers, using visual and aural supports, using kinesthetics and rhythms, leveraging home languages, explaining idioms and expressions, analyzing words, and partnering.

• The Program Implementation Guide includes a Language Transfers Chart. The chart compares English sounds and sound-spellings in the top five home languages spoken in the United States: Spanish, Mandarin, Vietnamese, Arabic, and Haitian Creole. The materials instruct teachers to point out existing transfers and to use EL support strategies in the lessons where transfer does not exist. 

General statements about ELL students or strategies are noted at the beginning of a unit or at one place in the Teacher Edition are then implemented by the materials throughout the lessons. For example:

• The Teacher Guide provides a detailed overview of the Universal Design for Learning which indicates strategies and scaffolds for English Learners. Materials embed supports designed to support foundational skills learned at the first encounter with the text. Materials provide point of use supports to help English Language Learners acquire grade-level phonological awareness, phonics, and reading skills.

• In Unit 3, Week 13, Weekly Planner, the Weekly Planner outlines specific English Learner Supports for Sessions 1–5, including identifying sound and sounds-spelling transfers, vocabulary supports, and review. Lesson materials include English Learner symbols that identify sections that provide teacher guidane on implementating support strategies specific to the lesson or task.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2i.ii.

The materials provide regular support for differentiation and reteaching to  students needing additional support. The Program Implementation resources offer guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level in opportunities to learn foundational skills at the grade-level standards. The Program Implementation resources include an Instructional Routines document that outlines specific strategies for adapting lessons to support all learners. Within the Classroom Materials, a Small-Group Differentiation section offers reteaching lessons in the skills addressed each week. Teacher lesson plans also include formative checks, which offer reteaching strategies. Each week’s Weekly Planner instructs teachers to use assessment data to support students in need of reteaching and points teachers to the location of Instructional Routines and Instructional Next Steps. 

Materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching. For example:

• The Program Implementation includes a Flexible Pacing Options Guide. The  materials outline options for implementing small-group instruction when needed. The document indicates teachers should prioritize small-group instruction if there is a large variation in children’s skill proficiency. The materials instruct teachers to vary the frequency with which they meet with different small groups, meeting more frequently with students who would benefit from reteaching. The document indicates that Session 5 can be used weekly for reteaching and assessment. It also provides sample small-group pacing schedules to incorporate small-group teaching and information on using digital resources, alphabet books, and magnetic readers in small-group instruction. 

• Materials include Small-Group Differentiation each week. The Tools for Instruction section provides small-group reteaching lessons for the specific skills taught that week. Each plan includes step-by-step directions for teachers and suggested modifications for instruction if the teacher observes specific student errors. 

Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level in extensive opportunities to learn foundational skills at the grade-level standards. For example:

• In Program Implementation, the Instructional Routines Guide includes an Options for Differentiation box for each instructional routine. The Options for Differentiation provide guidance on how to differentiate specific activities and tasks, including adding manipulatives, visuals, and movement; incorporating games; using Sound Spelling and Articulation and Word Building cards; and teaching and sharing tools for learning and self-checking, including sound-spelling and articulation cards. Each week’s Weekly Planner instructs teachers to use assessment data from the previous week to plan modifications and review the support for learner variability in the Instructional Routines to support students. 

• In Unit 3, Week 12, Session 5, following an analysis of the Whole-Class and Individual Assessment, materials provide the teacher with If-then scaffolded reteaching activities designed to target specific grade-level foundational skill gaps.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 2i.iii.

The materials provide opportunities for students to have advanced opportunities using a challenge set for students. The Program Implementation materials offer pacing suggestions for incorporating increased small-group instruction for classes with a large variation in proficiency. Program Implementation materials include Options for Differentiation for recurring instructional routines, which include some challenge options. Classroom Resources includes small-group instruction supports for above-level students. Many of the extension activities are based on comprehension and writing activities and are not always specific to foundational skills.

Materials provide multiple opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth. For example:

• The Small Group Differentiation section included in the Tools for Instruction provides small-group lessons for the specific skills taught the given week. Tools for Instruction lessons include a range of content, allowing use for extension lessons for students working above grade level. Instructional Routines include an Options for Differentiation box for each instructional routine. These provide guidance to differentiate specific activities and tasks, including adding manipulatives, visuals, and movement and incorporating games. 

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Session 1, the Word Level Reading Fluency task includes a fourth line of words intended for students who are ready for a challenge. This line includes the following words: shop, chop, rock, flock. The challenge words incorporate blends and digraphs. 

There are no instances of advanced students simply doing more assignments than their classmates. For example:

• In Unit 2, Week 6, Extension Session, materials provide advanced opportunities to read the Magnetic Reader, “Lunch with Val.” Students engage in comprehension activities, respond to a writing prompt, and create an illustration.

• In Unit 5, Week 22, Extension Session, materials provide advanced opportunities to read the Magnetic Reader, “Cy’s First Day.” Students engage in comprehension activities, respond to a writing prompt, and create an illustration.