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Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: myView Literacy | ELA
ELA K-2
The myView Literacy materials for Grades K-2 meet expectations for alignment and usability. The materials include a broad variety and range of high-quality texts, strong daily opportunities for reading, writing, speaking, and listening aligned to the standards.
There is also practice of phonics, fluency, and word recognition and analysis skills.
Questions and tasks support students as they engage with texts and build literacy skills. Information for implementation supports teachers as materials are used in the classroom, including assessments, standards alignments, and supports for all learners.
Kindergarten
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
1st Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
2nd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
ELA 3-5
The myView Literacy materials for Grades 3-5 meet expectations for alignment and usability. The materials include a broad variety and range of high-quality texts, strong daily opportunities for reading, writing, speaking, and listening aligned to the standards.
There is also practice of phonics, fluency, and word recognition and analysis skills.
Questions and tasks support students as they engage with texts and build literacy skills. Information for implementation supports teachers as materials are used in the classroom, including assessments, standards alignments, and supports for all learners.
3rd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
4th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
5th Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.
Usability (Gateway 3)
Report for 1st Grade
Alignment Summary
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations of alignment. Texts are of high quality. The materials provide opportunities for student growth in reading, writing, speaking and listening, and developing language skills over the course of the year. The materials also meet the overall expectations for instructional supports and usability, with guidance for implementation.
1st Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Usability (Gateway 3)
Overview of Gateway 1
Text Quality & Complexity and Alignment to Standards Components
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the expectations for high-quality texts. Texts are the central focus of lessons, are at the appropriate grade-level text complexity, and are accompanied by quality tasks aligned to the standards of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language in service to grow literacy skills. Texts are the right text complexity criteria for grade level, student, and task. The materials provide opportunities for rich and rigorous evidence-based discussions and writing about texts; however, materials do not provide students with opportunities to learn opinion writing. Each Unit includes the same opinion writing folder with five lessons for opinion writing, but no guidance is included on when or how to use the lessons. Additionally, the folder is not directly connected to the core materials and may be overlooked.
Materials in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language targeted to support foundational reading development are present; however, instructional timing is limited to 15 minutes daily, which is not sufficient for students to master grade-level foundational skills.
Criterion 1.1: Text Complexity & Quality
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criterion for texts are worthy of students’ time and attention. Materials support students’ advancing toward independent reading. Some anchor texts, including read-aloud texts, are of publishable quality, worthy of careful reading, and consider a range of student interests, and the materials reflect the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards at each grade level. 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 according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task. Read-aloud texts are above the complexity levels of what most students can read independently. 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. Anchor texts, including read-aloud texts, and the series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement in the grade level and support materials for the core texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to support their reading at grade level by the end of the school year.
Indicator 1A
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for anchor texts (including read aloud texts in K-2 and shared reading texts in Grade 2 used to build knowledge and vocabulary) are of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading/listening and consider a range of student interests.
The anchor texts across the year vary in quality. Some texts pertaining to science and social studies topics are of publishable quality, worthy of careful reading, well-crafted, and include a range of student interest; however, other texts included in the instruction materials are of low-quality and not worthy of careful reading.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 2, Week 2, students listen to The Life Cycle of a Sunflower by Linda Tagliaferro. This informational text is about the life cycle of a sunflower plant. The text has clear pictures to engage the reader with the text and integrates the cross-curricular connection with science.
- Unit 4, Week 1, students listen to Through Georgia’s Eyes by Rachel Rodriguez. Rich text and illustrations. Includes meaningful content knowledge about the life of Georgia O’Keefe and is presented using well-crafted language. Illustrations are presented as paintings, are at times abstract, and are likely to be engaging for students at this grade level.
- In Unit 5, Week 1, students listen to Every Season by Shelley Rotner and Anne Love Woodhull. The text contains strong academic vocabulary with clear, powerful illustrations to support student learning about the four seasons. The text is worthy of reading multiple times and is revisited as a close read in the weekly lesson. It is well-crafted with poetic literary language that is very descriptive.
Examples of texts that are low quality and not worthy of careful reading include, but are not limited to:
- Unit 3, Week 4: The Cow and The Tiger, is low level, straightforward, and without any complexity worth multiple reads.
- Unit 4, Week 4: Thumbs Up for Art and Music is a “persuasive text” written as if from the perspective of a young student. It is low level and neither content nor craft rich.
Indicator 1B
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials reflecting the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards at each grade level.
The materials, including shared reading texts, leveled readers, and trade books, contain a variety of topics and are balanced between literary and informational texts throughout each unit. The materials include informational text, narrative nonfiction, infographics, poetry, drama, realistic fiction, fables, folktales, biographies, historical fiction, persuasive text, and procedural text.
Examples of literary texts include:
- Unit 1, Week 1: The Blackout by Zetta Elliott
- Unit 1, Week 5: Making a Map by Gary Miller
- Unit 2, Week 5: Bigger Shoes for the Big Race by Wade Hudson
- Unit 3, Week 2: The Clever Monkey by Rob Cleveland
- Unit 3, Week 4: The Cow and the Tiger by Sudha Ramaswami
- Unit 4, Week 1: Through Georgia’s Eyes by Rachel Rodriguez
- Unit 4, Week 5: Eleanor Roosevelt by Mathangi Subramanian
- Unit 5, Week: You Can’t Wear That by Judi Laman
- Unit 5, Week 2: Seasons Around the World by Ana Galan
- Unit 5, Week 3: In Spring by Angela Johnson
Examples of informational text include:
- Unit 1, Week 3: Neighborhoods Around the World by Traci Sorell
- Unit 1, Week 6: All Aboard the Bus, no author listed
- Unit 2, Leveled Readers: Sharks by Susan Hughes
- Unit 2, Week 1: The Life of a Frog by Rene Saldana Jr.
- Unit 3, Trade Book: Imagination at Work by Jennifer Torres
- Unit 3, Week 1: Telling Stories by Angela Johnson
- Unit 4, Week 4: What is the Story of Our Flag by Janice Behrens
- Unit 5, Week 2: Seasons Around the World by Ana Galan
- Unit 5, Trade Book: Moving with the Seasons by Christopher Cheng
Indicator 1C
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 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 K-2 are above the complexity levels of what most students can read independently.
Texts have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, and relationship to the associated student task. Anchor texts and shared reading texts are placed at the appropriate grade level according to the quantitative and qualitative analysis. The text complexity chart provides examples of places where students may need support through the qualitative measure. The leveled research articles from each unit during Week 6 have a Lexile range to support a variety of learning levels. Texts that are above or below grade level quantitative bands have qualitative features and/or tasks that bring the text to the appropriate level for students to access the text. The majority of texts gradually increase in complexity throughout the school year. The Lexiles of the shared reading text begin at 300L and end the year at 560L.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Making a Map, 400L: This anchor text for Unit 1, Week 5, contains each step in the process of creating a neighborhood map and is clearly supported by illustrations. This is a procedural text: the steps needed to create a map are clear and in a logical order. Words such as first, then, and next help show the order of steps, and the illustrations assist in understanding each step. Vocabulary relating to neighborhood places should be familiar to students. The concept of maps, the information they provide, and their purpose is needed to understand the procedural text.
- Jackie Robinson, 560L: This anchor text for Unit 4, Week 2, includes an author’s purpose of informing readers about Jackie Robinson’s life that is clear and explicit from the first page: "Jack Roosevelt Robinson ... became a Hall of Fame baseball player. He was born in Cairo, Georgia." Signal words and phrases that include dates and years help clarify the sequence. Historical photos of Robinson and his teammates enhance the reader’s understanding of the text. The text includes a mix of simple and more abstract ideas, such as prejudice and the importance of pursuing goals despite challenges.
- In Spring, 480L: This anchor text for Unit 5, Week 3, includes illustrations that closely support the text by showing the characteristics of the spring season. Students who are unfamiliar with the spring season may struggle to understand the author’s reasons. Background knowledge of the spring season will help students’ understanding of the text.
Indicator 1D
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials supporting 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 materials contain the complexity of anchor texts and supporting texts to provide students with the opportunity to grow their comprehension skills throughout the school year. Series of texts are at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for the grade band. Skills build on one another, as well as the complexity of the texts to support the thinking and literacy skills. The Teacher's Edition provides appropriate scaffolds to support both the teacher and the students. The Shared Reading texts include a variety of complexity levels to help grow students’ literacy skills throughout the year.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the beginning of the year, the students describe the setting of stories. In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, students recall the setting of the story from the Close Read. In the Student Interactive, students tell the setting and note what details from the story helped to describe the setting.
- In the middle of the year, students use setting details to visualize the story. In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, students recall the setting and make a picture in their mind about the setting and events. In he Student Interactive, students draw their own picture of how they see the forest, using the text for a reference.
- By end of year students identify the setting as a main component of fiction text. In Unit 5, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, students reference a fiction anchor chart to identify that all fiction stories have characters, a setting, and a plot that all relate to a theme.
Throughout the materials, students compare characters:
- In the beginning of the year, students compare how two characters act. In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students compare the main characters in two different stories, Garden Party and Click, Clack, Click!. The teacher does a Think Aloud to model how to describe the main character and then has the students underline the text that shows how the character in the second text feels. The teacher leads a discussion comparing and contrasting the two characters.
- In the middle of the year, students compare how two characters are similar and different. In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Compare Texts, students have read the folktales, The Clever Monkey and “The Tricky Wolf.” Students retell both texts with the teacher prompting for details. The teacher conferences with students and has students describe “one way tricky characters are alike." Then the teacher asks, "What do the tricky characters do in each text? What makes the tricky characters similar and different?”
- By the end of the year, students compare seasons and write an opinion piece using text evidence to support. In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Compare Texts, after reading Every Season and Seasons Around the World, students write an opinion paragraph: “What part of the world you would want to live in and why.” Students are directed to support their opinion using text evidence.
Indicator 1E
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria 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.
Each unit contains a shared reading text which is accompanied by quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as Reader and Task Considerations. The publisher provides a text complexity analysis located in the Text Complexity Analysis Charts section of the instructional materials. In addition, there are additional considerations for English Language Learners, Intervention, and On Level and Advanced students. The Book Club guided reading books are also leveled to assist teachers in matching students to texts. The publisher provides information for the text rationale and placement in the Getting Started with myView Literacy page under Program Overview. “Texts were chosen based on criteria such as literary merit, author’s craft, themes, gender and cultural representations/experiences, insight, readability and diversity. Final text selections for inclusion in myView Literacy were subject to numerous professional reviews to confirm the literature meets Pearson’s requirements for quality, appropriateness, and sensitivity. In developing myView Literacy, we worked to integrate multicultural experiences so students see themselves as part of what is valued in the school curriculum.”
Examples of instructional and text notes include the following:
- In Unit 2, Week 2, students read The Life Cycle of a Sunflower by Linda Tagliaferr; Genre: Informational Text, 360L: The quantitative measures place this text in the Grade 1 complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Sequence words and phrases and Knowledge Demands: Life cycles. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The purpose of the text is explicitly stated on the first page: "How do sunflowers grow? Sunflowers grow from the seeds of the sunflower plant." It should be clear that the author’s purpose is to inform readers. The stages of a sunflower’s growth are presented in a straightforward and clear manner. Sequence words (next, then, next year), headings, and photographs directly support the text. Domain-specific vocabulary is conveyed using simple sentences, is accessible for this age (buds, soil, stems, leaves), and reinforces science content in other life science areas, such as needs of plants and plant parts. However, students may need extra support understanding verbs used in the text: sprout, peek, form, bloom, scattered. Plant life cycles may be unfamiliar to students. Students will benefit from background knowledge of how plants grow from seeds and how the life cycle continues once a plant is fully grown.
- In Unit 3, Week 4, students read The Cow and the Tiger by Sudha Ramaswami Genre: Fable; 410L: The quantitative measures place this text in the Grade 1 complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Text Structure: Fables, and Language: Descriptive words. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The moral of the story is easy to understand and is explicitly stated at the end of the text: Always keep your promises. Always tell the truth. Students may need some assistance relating events in the text to the moral. Illustrations directly support and assist in interpreting the text. The story has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Students may need assistance recalling or understanding the characteristics of a fable. The sentence structure and dialogue are mainly simple, and repetitive language creates a pattern: “I promise, I promise ...” “You promised, you promised ...” Descriptions of the setting include simple, easy-to-understand adjectives: grassy, shadowy. Emotion-themed vocabulary should be familiar to students: sad, angry, happy, surprised. The fable’s moral explores a single theme. There are no references to other texts, but students may benefit from a discussion about the common traits of fables and the importance of their morals.
- In Unit 4, Week, 5, students read Eleanor Roosevelt by Mathangi Subramanian; Genre: Biography; 490L: The quantitative measures place this text in the Grade 1 complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Purpose: How Eleanor Roosevelt used her role as President Roosevelt’s wife to help others and Knowledge Demands: American history. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The author’s purpose to inform readers on Eleanor’s life is implied but clear: She wanted to be more than a President’s wife. She wanted to help people. Students may need support to understand how Eleanor’s role as the president's wife gave her opportunities to help others. The biography is structured by the ways that Eleanor helped people. Ideas are explicit and clear. Photos and a map support the text but are not essential for understanding social studies content. Language is mostly straightforward and familiar, with mainly simple sentences. Some words (vote, leader, rights) may be unfamiliar but are defined in the text. Students may need support understanding the mention of Europe and Asia in the context of World War II. While Roosevelt’s life and character can be understood without a lot of discipline-specific content knowledge, the allusions to the Great Depression and World War II make the text more complex. Students will benefit from background knowledge of the problems of that historical period.
- In Unit 5, Week 4, students read My Autumn Book by Wong Herbert Yee; Genre: Fiction; 540L: The quantitative measures suggest that this text is at the upper level of readability for Grade 1. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Figurative language; unusual sentence structures and Knowledge Demands: Characteristics of autumn; plant and animal life in autumn. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." While the author clearly describes autumn, there is a central idea that is implied: the author is creating a book that shows all the wonders of autumn. This is suggested by the title but is not evident until the end of the story. Several sentences follow an unconventional pattern, with fragments (Empty my pack) and reversed word order (Downstairs I rush). Continued lines often begin with capitalization reminiscent of poetry. Students will need support tracking text and understanding these patterns. Several instances of figurative language (Dogwood shows off a new crimson gown; Trees dressing up for the fall celebration) and onomatopoeia (rap-a- tap; KER-yak) will require support for student understanding. Many words are challenging (crisp, silken, investigate, beware, scamper, formation, delay, fetch). Students who are unfamiliar with autumn will require background knowledge of the characteristics of the season. Most students will need support understanding leaves changing color, animals preparing to hibernate, and birds migrating.
Indicator 1F
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that support materials for the core text(s) provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to support their reading at grade level by the end of the school year.
The materials include several opportunities for students to engage in diverse literature and informational text in a day, week, and unit. Throughout the Reading Workshop, Reading-Writing Bridge, Writing Workshop in each week and the Project-Based Inquiry in each unit, students are exposed to text in the form of Read Aloud, Shared Reading, Close Reads, Mentor Stacks, Guided Reading, and Independent Reading. Reading Workshop each week includes the following: Read Aloud, Shared Read, Close Read, Compare texts.
Texts cover a variety of genres, complexity levels, and opportunities for students to work with diverse texts. Students also have the opportunity to engage with text through small group guided reading. Teaching support is provided in a separate guide that addresses each component to the guided reading with differentiation ideas and targeted support for ELLs, conversation prompts and Guided Writing. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Week 3, students listen to the informational text Read Aloud, Signs in Your Neighborhood. Next, using the Student Interactive, students Read Together a story in the same genre, Look Both Ways! Students Close Read the same text days later with support of questions in the Student Interactive.
- In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 1, students listen to a read-aloud of the poem, Think Big and Before. During genre and theme, students read the poem, Silly Animal Sights. During Shared Reading, students read and respond to Poodle Doodles, The Box and Sandcastles. During Close Reading, students identify the author’s purpose and make and confirm predictions of The Best Story. Students read the decodable books, What Could I be?, and Luke Meets Pete.
- In Unit 4, Week 2, students are introduced to biography in the Reading Workshop with the read-aloud, Sandra Day O’Connor, then a shared read, Jackie Robinson. Students are also guided to apply what they know by using a website about Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Student Interactive. The leveled readers are informational texts (Pioneer Village, A Restaurant, In the Past, and Ways to Learn) and narrative nonfiction texts (Bones and Welcome to America).
- In Unit 5, Week 3, the weekly genre focus is Persuasive Text during Reading Workshop. To introduce the unit, students listen to “Seasonal Activities.” Next, students listen to the Read Aloud, “Fall is the Best Season,” and the Shared Read text, “In Spring.” Texts are revisited as a Close Reading on Days 3 and 4.
Criterion 1.2: Alignment to the Standards with Tasks and Questions Grounded in Evidence
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criterion for materials provide opportunities for rich and rigorous evidence-based discussions and writing about texts to build strong literacy skills. 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. Sets of high-quality sequences of text-based questions with activities that build to a culminating task that integrates skills to demonstrate understanding are included. The materials provide frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions in a variety of groupings that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax, while also supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading or read aloud and researching (shared projects) with relevant follow-up questions and supports. The materials include a mix of on-demand and process, grade-appropriate writing (e.g., grade-appropriate revision and editing) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate. The materials provide opportunities for students to address different text types of writing; however, opportunities are missed for students to learn opinion writing.
The materials also include explicit instruction of the grade-level grammar and conventions standards as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application both in and out of context.
Indicator 1G
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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).
The materials contain text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics. Students analyze the author’s words and phrases as they interact with texts through questioning or by completing different tasks. The sequence of questions and tasks provide frequent opportunities for students to interact with texts, by completing a Shared Read on Day 2 and a Close Read on Days 3 and 4 of the weekly cycle. Text-based questions, tasks, and assignments support students’ literacy growth over the course of the school year. The teacher materials provide support for planning and implementation of text-dependent writing, speaking, and activities.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 2, Shared Read, students “underline the words that tell what the boy says.” Using the underlined words, students answer, “What do the boy’s words tell you about what kind of person he is?”
- In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, students have a weekly question, “How are baby animals different from their parents?” Students are instructed to “use evidence from the texts they have read this week to respond the Weekly Question.”
- In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Interact with Sources, students use the timeline, Changing with Seasons, to learn about timelines. Then students are asked the following questions about the timeline: "How does the snowshoe hare change with the seasons? How does the little brown bat change with the seasons? How are the snowshoe hare and little brown bat similar and different? Do you know any other animals that change with the seasons?"
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, the teacher conducts a read-aloud of three different poems, Poodle Doodles, The Box, and Sandcastle. Then students complete the following tasks: "Tell a partner which poem you liked best and explain why." Students select a poem and illustrate part of it.
- In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students learn about the structure of informational text. Students learn that biographies are usually organized in sequential order. After the teacher explains and models how to identify the text structure, students have two options: "1. Students organize statements about Jackie Robinson’s life by putting a number beside the event on page 100 of the Student Interactive Workbook. 2. Students use their notebooks to list three to five important events in order from a biography or other text that they are reading."
- In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, students use an infographic to discuss what they can learn about helping others based on the experiences of the three people. Teacher directions state to have student pairs refer back to the infographic to help them come up with a reason for the class.
- In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, students identify how Eleanor Roosevelt helped people. Students highlight in the answer from the text in their Student Interactive booklets pages 206-207.
Indicator 1H
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials containing 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).
Materials include culminating tasks across a year’s worth of material. Culminating tasks are varied and provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do in speaking and writing. Each unit ends with Week 6 as an Inquiry Project where students research a real world issue and are asked to consider what they have learned across the unit to further develop their skills. Additionally, materials include a Unit Essential Question and Weekly Essential Questions that students answer to reflect on their learning.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 2, the Unit Essential Question is, "How do living things grow and change?" Each week, students read a text related to the unit theme and answer a weekly Essential Question during Reflect and Share and are asked to use what they learned from the week. At the end of the Unit, students answer the Unit Essential Question.
- Week 1 Essential Question: How do animals grow and change?
- Week 2 Essential Question: How do plants grow and change?
- Week 3 Essential Question: How are baby animals different from their parents?
- Week 4 Essential Question: How do animals change with the seasons?
- Week 5 Essential Question: How do people grow and change?
- In Unit 5, the Unit Essential Question is, "How do the seasons affect us?" Each week, students read a text related to the unit theme and answer a weekly Essential Question during Reflect and Share and are asked to use what they learned from the week. At the end of the Unit, students answer the Unit Essential Question.
- Week 1 Essential Question: What happens during the seasons?
- Week 2 Essential Question: What are seasons like around the world?
- Week 3 Essential Question: What do people like about seasons?
- Week 4 Essential Question: How do we know when seasons are changing?
- Week 5 Essential Question: What do living things do in the winter?
Indicator 1I
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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 materials provide multiple opportunities for evidence-based discussions across the entire scope of instructional materials. The Small Group Guide contains protocols for teachers to teach, model, and practice with students when collaborating with their peers. For example, Small Group Guide protocols for Book Club include: come to Book Club prepared, listen to what others have to say, and do not interrupt each other. Most lessons provide discussion protocols for turn and talks, whole group discussions, and small group discussions. The teacher materials support evidence-based discussions and encourage modeling with a focus on using academic vocabulary and syntax. Students are provided with guidelines and objectives to engage in collaborative discussion. Students have the opportunity to share during each lesson and carry out discourse through several activities.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Week 6, Lesson 5, Celebrate and Reflect, students are taught to speak loudly and clearly when presenting their informational writing about neighborhood workers with a partner. Students refer to the following speaking and listening rules on page 232 of the Student Interactive Workbook: "Listen actively. Share ideas about the topic. Speak clearly."
- In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 5, students Reflect and Share about two of the text they read in the week, Garden Party and Click, Clack, Click. The Teacher Edition guides the Minilesson with a set of strategies for students to successfully discuss the stories. There is a Model and Practice component to the lesson with examples of what the teacher could state when modeling the discussion.
- In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 2, after reading How Do Baby Animals Grow?, students underline the correct vocabulary word to match the picture in their student interactive readers. Next, they “Turn, Talk, and Share” with a partner and describe the different animals using their vocabulary words. The teacher is directed to “remind students that when they respond, or reply, to what their partner says, they should use the new vocabulary words.”
- In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 1, students make and use words to connect reading and writing in oral language. Students listen to the teacher model the use of the vocabulary word in a sentence and then are given the opportunity to respond using the word as well.
- Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 5: Protocols for discussions are given during a Minilesson about comparing texts. “They should: Listen actively when others speak. Ask questions about information they do not understand. Describe how they felt and what they saw during their personal experiences."
Indicator 1J
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.
Speaking and listening instruction takes place regularly over the course of the school year and includes facilitation, monitoring, and instructional supports for teachers. The materials include practice for speaking and listening skills that support students’ increase in ability over the course of the school year. The teacher regularly models using think alouds and facilitates the students talking about what they are listening to or reading throughout the year. Students regularly demonstrate what they are reading and researching through varied speaking and listening opportunities. Speaking and listening work requires students to gather evidence from texts and sources. Students have the opportunity to speak about shared projects. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Book Clubs, students read Neighborhoods Around the World in small groups. After reading, students discuss the text, pictures, and designs using a Discussion Chart. Students will list Noticings, Connections, and Wonderings on the Discussion Chart.
- In Unit 1, Week 6, Lesson 5, Project Based Inquiry, students Celebrate and Reflect the project by reading their projects aloud or presenting digitally. In the Student Interactive page 232, rules for speaking and listening are presented to support students to successfully complete this task. Students also complete questions on the same page of the Student Interactive: “The source that helped me the most is…”
- In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 1, students actively listen to a story that is read aloud. The objective of the lesson states: "Students will listen actively, ask relevant questions to clarify information and answer questions using multi-word responses. Students will recognize characteristics and structures of informational text." This lesson also includes Think Aloud support for teachers to model their understanding of elements of informational text. Students are asked to set a purpose for listening to the story. Students are encouraged to tell what happens first, next, and last and chart it using the sample wrap-up graphic in the Teacher Edition page 106.
- In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, Genre and Theme, students listen to The Tortoise and the Hare. Students turn and talk with a partner about the moral of the fable.
- In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Genre and Theme, students read The Tricky Wolf in the Student Interactive. Students work with a partner to describe how they know that the wolf is tricky, name the problem the characters have, and identify the moral. Partners will then share this information with the class.
- In Unit 4, Week 1, Lesson 2, students complete a Project-Based Inquiry while conducting research by interviewing a person. The Student Interactive page 241 provides students with the starting points of questions that need to be asked to conduct an interview. On page 239 of the Student Interactive, students work collaboratively with each other to develop meaningful interview questions. Through guided modeling in the Teacher Edition, page 412, the teacher may use a volunteer to stage a mock interview to provide an authentic experience for students.
- In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 1, students actively listen to a biographical text. The objective of the lesson states: "Students will listen actively, ask relevant questions to clarify information and answer questions using multi-word responses." Students are asked to be active listeners and pay attention to details.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 4, Close Reading, students read Eleanor Roosevelt. Then students generate questions after reading to help them learn more about the text while the teacher circulates to assist when needed.
- In Unit 5, Week 6, Lesson 2, Project-Based Inquiry, students read the research article, “Summer and Winter Sports,” to help develop background knowledge for writing. Students are provided with sentence stems to use for pairs to share their connections with the class: “In this season, I ____. This reminds of a time when ____."
Indicator 1K
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials including a mix of on-demand and process writing grade-appropriate writing (e.g. grade-appropriate revision and editing) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.
The materials include a mix of both on-demand and process writing, covering a year’s worth of instruction. Materials also include short and longer writing tasks and projects. Opportunities for students to revise and edit are provided and materials include digital resources where appropriate. The Steps to Writing Independently are outlined in the Launching Writing Workshop section of the Teacher Edition. This gradual release model guides teachers to present writing in a supported process, moving through a modeled writing, shared writing, guided writing, and independent writing. Conference prompts are provided for the teacher to utilize when identifying additional supports for students. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Week 2, Writing Workshop, students are taught to identify and apply features of a fiction book and features of a nonfiction book. During the Independent Writing time, students who demonstrate understanding continue to draw and write their own books using the skills learned in this lesson. Conferencing prompts are provided to teachers on page 226 of the Teacher Edition, which enable teachers to provide support for learners who have not yet fully mastered the concept.
- In Unit 2, Week 1, Writing Workshop, students learn that authors write informational books to teach about a topic. Students then begin to create their own informational book by using the Stack Books as models to identify a topic, main idea, and create graphics.
- In Unit 3, Week 1, Writing Workshop, students are introduced to poetry. On page 51 of the Student Interactive, a poem is shown with labeling identifying key elements of the genre. The learning goal is to write poetry. In the Independent Writing section on page 84 of the Teacher Edition, students are guided to explore more poems or begin composing their own poems with guidance during the conference prompts. Throughout Week 1, students explore what a poem sounds like, what it looks like, and how to generate ideas. During Weeks 1-5, students learn how to include sensory language and imagery in their poems, include white space, sound words and rhymes, edit and revise their poems, and share a final draft of their poems with other students.
- In Unit 4, Week 6, Writing Workshop, students complete a research project in which they interview an older family member about a person who was important to them and write an essay on the interview. In the first Minilesson, students plan their project by thinking about who they will interview. In the second Minilesson, students conduct research by interviewing a family member. In the third Minilesson, students organize their notes and began writing the first draft of the essay. In the fourth Minilesson, students write thank you notes to the person they interviewed, revise, and edit their essays. In the fifth Minilesson, students share their research project with the class.
- In Unit 5, Week 4, Writing Workshop, students edit their writing for prepositions. They utilize the Student Interactive (digital workbook) to practice editing.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading Writing Bridge, students learn about writing informational text. Sentence starters are provided in the Student Interactive and the class finishes writing the informational sentences together. For example, “Some information I learned about seasons is ___. When it is summer, I expect to ___.”
Indicator 1L
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials providing opportunities for students to address different text types of writing (year long) that reflect the distribution required by the standards.
The materials provide multiple opportunities across the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply different genres, modes, and types of writing; however, opportunities are missed for students to learn opinion writing. Each Unit includes the same opinion writing folder with five lessons for opinion writing, but no guidance is included on when or how to use the lessons. Additionally, the folder is not directly connected to the core materials and may be overlooked.
Opportunities for students and teachers to monitor progress in writing skills are provided. Where appropriate, writing opportunities are connected to texts and/or text sets which include prompts, models, anchors, or supports. Each lesson offers a purpose for the writing, a teaching and modeling section, examples to help guide students, shared writing practice, and independent writing practice. Students receive daily lessons on writing through the Reading-Writing Bridge and the daily Writing Workshop. Rubrics for writing are available for each of the genres, as well as a 4-point writing rubric.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Weeks 1-5, Writing Workshop, students learn about authors and the resources (digital tools and other books) they use to write. Students begin writing first drafts for their fiction books. Then they edit and revise to add details to words and illustrations. Finally, students share a final draft of their writing with other students.
- In Unit 2, Week 1, the first Minilesson in Writing Workshop presents how authors write informational books and the elements of that type of text. During Independent Writing, students read additional books from the Mentor Stack to continue exploring the genre. Conference prompts are provided to teachers on page 80 of the Teacher Edition. Throughout the week, students learn to recognize characteristics and structures of informational text. On page 48 of the Student Interactive, students have the opportunity to identify which topics they know a lot about and list them. Students are asked to develop a main idea based on those topics.
- In Unit 2, Week 6, Project-Based Inquiry, students engage in a week-long project. Students read differentiated research articles about animals in zoos. Working in partners, they discuss what they are reading using sentence stems provided by the teacher to lead discussions. The teacher introduces persuasive writing using models. Students are encouraged to research their animals using both print and digital resources. They are guided through the research process by answering questions in their Student Interactive book and through teacher modeling. Students then write a persuasive letter to a zookeeper giving reasons why their animal should be in the zoo. The teacher completes a guided writing with writers who need extra assistance. Students share their persuasive letters with the class at the end of the week. There is a four-point Research Project Rubric that is used for each unit’s project-based inquiry to help monitor student progress.
- In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 5, Writing Workshop, Compare Texts, students write an opinion of a character from Before the Railroad Came and compare him to another character they have read about. Students are expected to use text evidence to support their writing. Sentence stems are provided: “I think…because…”
- In Unit 5, Week 2, Writing Workshop, students are introduced to the elements of a how-to text. Mentor texts are used to model the structure of procedural texts. Students practice writing an introduction and conclusion on how to make a bed in their Student Interactive books. Next, they write the steps to brush their teeth and add pictures/graphics to support the text. At the end of the week, students share their personal narratives in their Writing Club groups. Conversation Starters are provided to help with discussions within their Writing Clubs. Student conference suggestions are provided for the classroom teacher, as well as a variety of Minilessons to support student learning.
Indicator 1M
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials including regular opportunities for evidence-based writing to support recall of information, opinions with reasons, and relevant information appropriate for the grade level.
The materials provide frequent and regular opportunities during the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply writing and respond to text using evidence. Writing opportunities are focused around student’s understanding of texts presented and ability to create, respond, and build upon the text. Each week the shared reading text is revisited on two additional days as a close read and students respond in their Student Interactive. The materials provide opportunities that build writing skills over the course of the school year. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 4, Close Read, students read Look Both Ways. Students learn what text evidence is and how to identify it to support their understanding of the text. Then students complete one of the following tasks: "1. Draw details that support the heading Crossing Guards on page 123 of the Student Interactive. 2. Students write a few things they think about the text on different sticky notes. Then students place the sticky note near text evidence supporting that idea."
- In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Compare Texts, Reflect and Share, after reading the two texts, “Kinds of Neighborhoods” and Making a Map, the teacher models taking notes about how the two texts were alike and different. Next, the students compare the two texts and explain how they are alike and different using text evidence.
- In Unit 2, Week 2, in the Writing Workshop second Minilesson, students focus on the main idea of a book. Using the Mentor Stacks, the teacher explains that information in an informational book is related in some way to a main idea. On page 85 of the Student Interactive, students read a passage and write the main idea for the passage. Students then compose a main idea for the book they will be writing. Students reference the text they have read to help create their own informational book.
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 5, Compare Texts, students read Poodle Doodles, The Box, and Sandcastles. Students learn how to write an opinion and use details from the text to support their opinions. Students complete one of the following tasks: "1. Students use text evidence to share and support their opinions of the poems they read. 2. Students use evidence from the self-selected independent texts to support their opinion as they compare the texts. Students should use sticky notes to mark supporting evidence."
- In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reader’s Workshop, Close Read, students reread Before the Railroad Came and the teacher models going back into the text to find evidence to help determine the theme of the story. The students then answer, “What is the theme of Before the Railroad Came?” in their Student Interactive using the evidence they underlined in the text.
- In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 5, Reader’s Workshop, Compare Texts, Reflect and Share, after reading and discussing Seasons Around the World, students “Write about what part of the world you would like to live in and why.” Students are prompted to use the word, because, and give reasons to support.
- In Unit 5, Week 3, Writing Workshop, the Develop Structure section of the Writing Workshop on page 228 of the Teacher Edition uses procedural text from the Mentor Stack to teach students to apply steps in a process. Using numbers, students order each step of the procedural text to make sense for the reader. Students order a set of directions in the Student Interactive page 128 to compose a procedural text that makes sense. Students create their own how-to books using the information they learned from the Mentor Stack.
Indicator 1N
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.
The materials include explicit instruction of all grammar and conventions standards for the grade level. The majority of the grammar and conventions lessons are presented in Writing Workshop and the Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge as whole group materials. Students are provided additional practice of these standards with the Student Interactive that corresponds with the presented lessons. Each lesson is similarly structured with a Teaching Point and Model. The Language Awareness Handbook has additional lessons and student applications for grammar and conventions. Student practice of grammar and conventions is done orally, in isolation during whole group, partner work, and independent work, or in-context.
Explicit instruction of all grammar and conventions standards for the grade level and opportunities for students to demonstrate application of skills both in- and out-of-context are included. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Students have opportunities to print all upper- and lowercase letters.
- In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Consonants Ff, Bb, Gg, the teacher teaches letter names and sounds for letters Ff/f/, Bb/b/, Gg/g/ using common letter sound correspondence and uppercase and lowercase letters. In the Student Interactive, p.104, students practice printing the letters.
- In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading-Writing Bridge, Handwriting, Letters Dd, the teacher models writing Dd. Students complete a worksheet with the focus on printing the uppercase and lowercase letter D.
- In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Bridge, Handwriting, Letters Rr, the teacher models printing letters Rr. Students complete Handwriting to practice printing words with tracing and then independently.
Students have opportunities to use common, proper, and possessive nouns.
- In Unit 3, Week 2, Lessons 2 and 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Common and Proper Nouns, the teacher introduces common and proper nouns. In the Model and Practice as well as the Apply, students identify the common and proper nouns in a sentence and then create their own sentences with the common and proper noun to share orally.
- In the Language Awareness Handbook, Lesson Nouns and Proper Nouns, p. 131 the teacher introduces nouns stating that everything has a name and practice of naming items in classroom. For model and practice, the students sort nouns words into the categories of person, place, thing, animal.
Students have opportunities to use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences (e.g., He hops; We hop).
- In Unit 1, Week 2, Lessons 3 and 4, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Present Tense Verbs, the teacher introduces that present tense verbs end in -s if one person does the action. Students practice the modeled sentences together. Students edit their sentences in the Student Interactive.
- In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Singular and Plural Nouns, students identify singular and plural nouns and generate one written sentence with a singular noun and one written sentence with a plural noun.
Students have opportunities to use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns (e.g., I, me, my, they, them, their, anyone, everything).
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Pronouns, students circle the subjective, possessive, objective, or indefinite pronoun in a sentence and then read eight sentences.
- In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language Conventions, I and me, teachers review all pronouns and have students complete a sentence with the correct pronoun. Students pair up and create their own sentences with pronouns.
Students have opportunities to use verbs to convey a sense of past, present, and future (e.g., Yesterday I walked home; Today I walk home; Tomorrow I will walk home).
- In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Past Tense Verbs, the teacher and students read the definition of past tense verbs. Students circle past tense verbs in sentences and rewrite sentences changing the verbs from present tense to past tense.
- In Unit 4, Week 3, Lessons 1-5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Verbs, the teacher models using verbs with past and future tense and practices with students. Students circle verbs in sentences during whole group instruction, adding will for future tense, and using the word tomorrow. Students write sentences with past tense verbs as well as use will in their writing workshop.
- In the Language Awareness Handbook, Lesson Verbs for Past, Present, and Future, the teacher presents verbs for past, present, and future tense after the students are asked to identify when the action took place. Students say and write sentences with the words yesterday, now, and tomorrow.
Students have opportunities to use frequently occurring adjectives.
- In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Adjectives and Articles, the teacher and students read the definition of adjectives and articles. Students underline adjectives and circle articles in sentences and write a sentence with an adjective and an article.
- In Unit 4, Week 5, Writing Workshop, Edit for Adjectives and Articles, p. 381, the teacher explains adjectives and shows students how to edit their writing for adjectives. Students edit their Personal Narrative for adjectives.
- In the Language Awareness Handbook, Adjective Activities p. 143-144, the teacher uses four lessons to connect adjectives to words that describe color, shape, size, and kind of noun. The teacher introduces, teaches, and models using adjectives to describe, color, shape, size, and kind of noun. Students practice each type of adjective.
Students have opportunities to use frequently occurring conjunctions (e.g., and, but, or, so, because).
- In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Make Inferences, students use conjunctions and practice because.
- In Unit 5, Week 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Transitions and Conjunctions Lessons 2-5, the teacher shows and explains that conjunctions connect ideas together in writing. In Student Interactive, p. 90, students pair up and create their own sentences and identify the conjunction.
Students have opportunities to use determiners (e.g., articles, demonstratives).
- In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Adjectives and Articles, the teacher and the students read the definition of adjectives and articles. Students underline adjectives and circle articles in sentences. Students write a sentence with an adjective and an article.
- In Unit 4, Week 6, Project-Based Inquiry, Extend Research, p. 416, students write a thank you note. During the edit portion of the lesson, students check that articles are used properly.
Students have opportunities to use frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., during, beyond, toward).
- In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Prepositions, the teacher and the students read the definition of prepositions. The students read sentences and draw what the sentences indicate. Students also underline the prepositions in the sentences.
- In Unit 5, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Prepositions, p. 300, the teacher demonstrates the use of prepositions in editing. The teacher models proper edits as well as creates a list of prepositions for student reference. The students will edit their own how-to book for proper preposition use at independent writing.
Students have opportunities to produce and expand complete simple and compound declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory sentences in response to prompts.
- In Unit 4, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Apply Punctuation Marks, p. 310, students identify the variety of punctuation marks from provided books. In the Student Interactive, p. 184, students practice adding punctuation.
- In Unit 4, Week 5, Lessons 2-4, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Compound Sentences, p. 374, the teacher models combining two simple sentences into a compound sentence using a comma or conjunction. Students combine simple sentences as a group, with a partner, then write their own compound sentences.
Students have opportunities to capitalize dates and names of people.
- In Unit 2, Week 4, Writing Workshop Edit for Capitalization, p. 294, the teacher shares that good writers use rules for using capital letters. The students edit drafts and write independently using appropriate capitalization in their writing.
- In Unit 3, Week 5, Lessons 2-4, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions Capitalize I and Proper Nouns, p. 366-367, the teacher explains using a capital letter when writing names, days, and months. In the Student Interactive, p. 208, students practice underlining capital letters and editing sentences for capitals.
Students have opportunities to use end punctuation for sentences.
- In Unit 4, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Apply Punctuation Marks, the teacher explains that punctuation is needed at the ends of different types of sentences. The teacher models and shows different punctuation for sentences based on examples from books. Students edit for punctuation marks in their own writing.
- In Unit 5 Week 4, Writing Workshop, Apply Punctuation Marks, p. 304, the teacher explains three types of sentences with corresponding punctuation. Students explain why specific sentences have a certain punctuation mark. In the Student Interactive, p. 171, students edit their own how-to books for punctuation marks.
Students have opportunities to use commas in dates and to separate single words in a series.
- In Unit 2, Week 5, Writing Workshop Edit for Commas, p. 365, the teacher explains that commas are used to separate words in a list and the day and year in dates. Students look for commas in a text and discuss the purpose of using the comma. In the Student Interactive, p. 192, students practice using commas together collectively and then independently.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Commas in Dates and Sentences, the teacher and the students read the rule for using commas in dates and sentences with words in a series. Students write commas in sentences missing commas in the spaces.
Students have opportunities to use conventional spelling for words with common spelling patterns and for frequently occurring irregular words.
- In Unit 1, Week 2, Lessons 2 and 3, Spelling Short /i/ Words, p. 150-151, the teacher shares the pattern of the letters and sounds for spelling short /i/ words and noticing. In the Student Interactive, p. 91, students practice spelling short /i/ word. Students spell words and the teacher pronounces the sounds in isolation.
- In Unit 3, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Explore Spelling Patterns and Rules, p. 303, the teacher explains that spelling is important for the writer because the reader needs to understand and enjoy the writing as well as spelling follow patterns and rules. Students look at words and make a visual notice of the spelling pattern and then make spelling edits to their writing.
- In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling, Spell words with Diphthongs /ow/, /ou/, the teacher explains how /ou/ and /ow/ are spelled in words. The teacher explains how to alphabetize words with /ou/ and /ow/.
Students have opportunities to spell untaught words phonetically, drawing on phonemic awareness and spelling conventions.
- In Unit 3, Week 1, Lessons 2 and 3, Spelling, Spell Words with Digraphs and Trigraphs, p. 76, the teacher explains that digraphs are two sounds that work together and that trigraphs are three sounds that work together both making a single sound. In the Student Interactive, p. 49, students practice circling the digraph or trigraph in words.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling, Spell Words with Open and Closed Syllables, the teacher explicitly defines open and closed syllables, "The first syllable in begin, be-, ends in a vowel. It has an open syllable. The first syllable in topic, top-, ends in a consonant. It is a closed syllable." Students complete an activity in the Student Interactive to sort and spell closed and open syllables.
Criterion 1.3: Tasks and Questions: Foundational Skills Development
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criterion for materials in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language targeted to support foundational reading development are aligned to the standards; however, instructional timing is limited to 15 minutes daily, which is not sufficient for students to master grade-level foundational skills. 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, phonological awareness, and phonics that demonstrate a transparent and research-based progression with opportunities for application both in and out of context. Materials, questions, and tasks also provide explicit instruction for and regular practice to address the acquisition of print concepts, including alphabetic knowledge, directionality, function, and structures and features of text. Instructional opportunities are frequently built into the materials for students to practice and gain decoding automaticity and sight-based recognition of high-frequency words, as well as fluency in oral reading. 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. The materials support 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.
Indicator 1O
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.
Over the course of a year, students receive phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics instruction in each unit. Lessons include a five-day focus with systematic and explicit instruction. Students are engaged in a variety of activities that allow them to interact with the instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics, including segmenting and blending activities using manipulatives to sound out letters and sounds, and writing and sorting words based on lesson targets. There are a variety of instructional practices in Reading Workshop Word Work lessons that allow the students to interact and gain mastery of phonological awareness and phonics skills with guided practice. According to myView’s Foundational Skills Scope and Sequence, all Grade 1 phonological awareness and phonics standards are taught.
Examples of materials, questions, and tasks directly teaching foundational skills include, but are not limited to:
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).
- Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
- In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 5, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Distinguish between short and long /a/, the teacher orally provides words to the students, asking them to distinguish whether the middle sound is a long or short vowel sound. The students orally segment the sounds with the teacher, then verbalize whether the medial vowel sound is long or short.
- In Unit 2, Week 6, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Distinguish between short and long /i/ and /i/, the teacher has the students look at two pictures and say mice and brick; the students listen to the sounds then identifies which words has the short and long vowel sound. The students can have further practice as the teacher names words. The students will raise their hands if the word has a long vowel /i/ sound.
- Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
- In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 1, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Segment and Blend Phonemes, the teacher orally provides a word to the students, then models segmenting and blending the sounds in the word, which contains a consonant blend. Students repeat words spoken by the teacher, then segment and blend the sounds in the following words: black, grab, stack, stop, brick, glad.
- In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Segment and Blend Phonemes, the teacher models segmenting and blending sounds for three words and then ask students to join in practice saying the words with segmenting and blending. Students practice by dividing into groups with a blend (str, spl, spr) and then determine which words read by the teacher have which blend.
- Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
- In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Medial /a/, the teacher orally provides a word to the students, segmenting the sounds. The teacher then prompts the students to orally repeat the segmented sounds. The students then verbalize which sound is the medial sound. The activity is repeated with several more words.
- In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Recognize Alliteration, the teacher tells students that a group of words can have the same initial sound. The teacher shows a picture of a monkey and ask what sound monkey begins with. Students hear the /m/ sound. The teacher asks, “What sound do monkey, map, and moon begin with?"
- In Unit 1, Week 6, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Initial and Final Sounds, p. 392, the teacher points to picture of a bee on the Student Interactive p. 216 and informs students that a bee says buzz. The teacher asks what sound is heard at the end of buzz. The teacher points to other pictures and asks students to identify the initial sounds. The teacher says a group of words. Students give a thumbs up if the word ends with the sound /z/. The teacher then says words that begin with the sounds /y, /v/, and /z/. Students name the initial sound in each word.
- In Unit 4, Week 6, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work Phonological Awareness: Middle and Final Sounds, the teacher orally provides a word to the students, segmenting the sounds. The students orally identify medial and final sounds.
- Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
- In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Segment and Blend Phonemes, the teacher orally provides a word to the students, then models segmenting and blending the sounds in the word, which contains a consonant blend. Students repeat words spoken by the teacher, then segment and blend the sounds in the following words: black, grab, stack, stop, brick, glad.
- In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Segment and Blend Phonemes, p. T100-T101, the teacher explains segmenting sounds in a word as saying them sound by sound and blending sounds as putting the sounds back together to say a word. The teacher points to a picture on the Student Interactive p. 66, tells the name of the picture (dirt), tells individual sounds in the word, and asks students what sound is heard in the middle of the word. The procedure is repeated for the words girl and skirt. The teacher says five words and works with students to segment the sounds in each word and identify the medial sound. Students blend the 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).
- Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
- In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Consonant Digraphs sh and th, pp. 236-237, the Sound-Spelling Card 47 is used to introduce the sound /sh/ spelled sh. The teacher explains that when two letters in a word spell one sound, those letters are called a digraph. The teacher uses Sound-Spelling Cards 50 and 51 to introduce the soft and hard sounds of digraph th. In the Student Interactive, p. 124, students practice blending and decoding the words with digraphs.
- In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 2, Word Work: Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Digraphs and Trigraphs, the teacher explains the definition of a digraph and trigraph, writes example words (ranch, catch, while, match, when, whale, chip, rich, Phil) on the board. The students orally decode the words. The students sort the words into columns on a T Chart according to whether the digraph or trigraph is at the beginning of the words or the end of the words.
- Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
- In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Consonants Ff, Bb, Gg, p.176-T177, the teacher reviews letter names and sounds for f, b, and g. The teacher models decoding words using sound boxes (phoneme grapheme mapping). The teacher repeats procedure with two additional one syllable words. In the Student Interactive, p. 103, students work with a partner to decode the words.
- In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work: Phonics: Decode and Write Words with r-Controlled Vowels er, ir, ur, the teacher explains the three spelling sequences of the vowel sound /er/, then writes example words on the board (i.e., her, girl, hurt). The students identify in each example word the spelling of the sound /er/. The students decode more words written by the teacher, and sort the words based on their orthographic spelling of the sound /er/. In the Student Interactive, p. 67, students decode words.
- Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
- In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Long /a/ Spelled VCe, p. 308, the teacher explains that when a vowel is followed by an e in the same word it has a long vowel. Students practice the sound and spelling of long vowel /a/ words that end in e. In the Student Interactive, p. 161, students continue to practice by saying and writing four more long vowel /a/ words that end in e as well as practice decoding long vowel /a/ words with a partner.
- In Unit 4, Week 6, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode Words with Vowel Team ie, p. 398, the Sound-Spelling Card 69 is used to introduce the long /e/ sound spelled ie and Sound-Spelling Card 70 is utilized to introduce the long /i/ sound spelled ie. The teacher writes a word containing ie on the board, reads the word, and has students read the word. Students tell what vowel sound is heard and how it is spelled. This procedure is repeated for six additional words containing the vowel team ie. In the Student Interactive p. 230, students practice decoding words.
- Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
- In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Syllable Pattern VCCV, the teacher reminds the students that every syllable has one vowel sound. The teacher talks about how words with a VCCV pattern can be divided between the two consonants. The students say the word in syllables, then blend the syllables to read the word. In the Student Interactive, p. 147, students work in pairs to decode additional multisyllabic words.
- In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode Words with Open Syllables, p. 318, the teacher guides students to say words in syllables (tiger, robot, meter). Students practice by reading words syllable by syllable then blend the syllables to say the word. The teacher explains that there is one vowel in each syllable. In the Student Interactive, p. 181, students are introduced to open syllables with practice.
- Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Open and Closed Syllables, pp. 314-T315, the teacher explains that words are made up of syllables and that each syllable has only one vowel sound. The teacher writes the two syllable word, robot, on the board, telling students that if a word has one consonant between two vowels, the consonant usually goes with the second syllable and the first vowel sound is long. The teacher draws a line between o and b. The teacher models how to divide, segment, and blend four additional two syllable words. In the Student Interactive, p. 175, students read the two syllable words with a partner.
- Read words with inflectional endings.
- In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work: Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Inflectional Ending -s, the teacher explains the grammar rule associated with the inflectional ending -s. The teacher explains to the students the "change in meaning" when adding the inflectional ending -s to several words. In the Student Interactive, p. 95, students decode words with the inflectional ending -s.
- In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode Words and Write Words with Inflectional Ending -ing, pp. 242-T243, the teacher informs students that the inflectional ending -ing can be added to the end of a verb to show that someone or something is, was, or will be doing something. The teacher writes the verb yell on the board and adds the inflectional ending -ing to make the word yelling and explains how it changes the meaning of the word. This procedure is utilized with three more words (fish, pick, bend). Students add -ing to words, tell what the new words mean, and use them in a sentence. In the Student Interactive, p. 129, students partner read words and add -ing to the words and discuss the new word meaning.
Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction to build toward application.
- In Pearson myView, Table of Contents, Getting Started with myView, Planning Resources, Foundational Skills Scope and Sequence breaks down Grade 1 phonological awareness skills by unit.
- Unit 1 skills include medial sounds, recognize alliteration, segment and blend phonemes, add phonemes, initial sounds, final sounds, and change phonemes.
- Unit 2 skills include segment and blend phonemes, final sounds, change phonemes, produce rhyming words, add and removes phonemes, medial sounds, distinguish between short /a/ and long /a/.
- Unit 3 skills include segment and blend phonemes, manipulate phonemes, remove phonemes, medial long /u/, distinguish between short /u/ and long /u/, distinguish between short /e/ and long /e/, final long /i/ and long /e/, final sounds, syllables, and add phonemes.
- Unit 4 skills include segment and blend sounds, final sounds, change phonemes, remove phonemes, middle and final sounds, distinguish between short /a/ and long /a/, initial sounds, and distinguish between short /o/ and long /o/.
- Unit 5 skills include middle and final sounds, segment and blend phonemes, distinguish between short /o/ and long /o/, distinguish between short /u/ and long /u/, manipulate phonemes, and manipulate sounds.
Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonics instruction to build toward application.
- According to Scope and Sequence, Phonics, Unit 1, R24, the following skills and sequence taught: Connect sounds and letters to consonants, know sound-letter relationships and match sounds to letters, generate sounds from letters and blend those sounds to decode (consonants, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs & short and long vowels & r-controlled vowels, vowel digraphs, and other common vowel patterns), decode multisyllabic words, and recognize common letter patterns and use them to decode syllables (CVC, VCCV, VCV, VCCCV).
- In Unit 1, the phonics skills are review skills from Grade K, such as short vowels and consonant letter sounds
- In Unit 2, the phonics skills include initial consonant blends, final Xx, /k/ spelled as ck, /z/ spelled as s, final consonant blends, inflectional endings (-s)
- In Unit 3, the phonics skills include: consonant digraphs and trigraphs, long /o/, /u/, /e/ spelled VCe, long /e/ spelled ee, inflectional ending -ed, vowel sounds /y/, syllable pattern VCCV, consonant patterns ng, nk, and open syllables.
- In Unit 4, the phonics skills include: r-controlled vowel ar, ir, ur, inflectional ending -es, trigraph dge, diphthongs ow, ou, vowel digraphs ai, ay, oi, oy, and vowel digraph ea.
- In Unit 5, the phonics skills include: long /o/ spelled oa, ow, oe, consonant blends and trigraphs, long /i/ spelled igh, suffixes -er, -or, vowel team ue, ew, ui, prefixes re-, un-, long /i/, long /o/, suffixes -ly, -ful, open and closed syllables, and vowel teams oo, ou.
Indicator 1P
The instructional materials reviewed for 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).
Print concepts are frequently taught during teacher Minilessons and are referenced multiple times over the course of the five units. Teacher modeling, guided practice, and questioning provide students with the opportunity to practice and master print concepts. Student activities during Reading Workshop include orally identifying capitalization, punctuation, main ideas, details, and text features including illustrations and other graphical text features.
Materials, questions, and tasks provide explicit instruction for and regular practice to address the acquisition of print concepts, including alphabetic knowledge and directionality as well as structures and features of text. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Materials include lessons and tasks/questions about the organization of print concepts (e.g. recognize features of a sentence).
- Students have opportunities to recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation).
- In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 4, Reading-Writing Bridge, Language & Conventions, Simple Sentences, p. 77, the teacher reminds students that sentences begin with capital letters and end with punctuation marks.
- In Unit 4, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Capitalization, the teacher explains when to capitalize letters by showing the students a book, then asking questions to facilitate the students learning regarding sentences begin with capital letters, and the word I is always capitalized. The teacher explains other rules for capitalization including the fact that names start with capital letters. The students edit sentences to correct for capitalization.
- In Unit 4, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Explore Punctuation Marks, the teacher explains that punctuation is used to end a sentence and that different punctuation marks tell us what type of sentence it is. Students edit their drafts of writing to correct for punctuation. Some students are asked to try to use different types of ending punctuation.
- Students have opportunities to identify text structures (e.g. main idea and details, sequence of events, problem and solution, compare and contrast, cause and effect).
- In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Describe Characters, students read a text, then compare and contrast the main character in the text with the main character in a text the students previously read. The students underline words/sentences in the previously read text describing the main character, then engage with the teacher to compare and contrast the two main characters across the two texts.
- In Unit 2, Week 1, Writing Workshop, Informational Books: Main Idea and Details (U2-T83), the teacher explains to the students what a main idea is and that details are written by the author to tell the reader more about the main idea. The students read a text in the Student Interactive and orally identify the main idea and details.
- In Unit 4, Week 2, Writing Workshop, Apply Problem and Resolution, the teacher models how when writing a story, the reader should identify what the problem is and solution is. Students orally generate details about the problem and solution of a given topic with the teacher.
- In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Find the Main Idea, the teacher explains to the students what a main idea is in a biography, and that details are written by the author to tell the reader more about the main person. The students read a text in the Student Interactive and underline sentences that support the main idea.
- Materials include lessons and activities about text features (e.g. title, byline, headings, table of contents, glossary, pictures, illustrations).
- In Unit 1, Week 5, Writing Workshop, Edit for Illustrations and Words (U1-T375), the teacher explains to the students that illustrations help the reader understand the text. The teacher shows the students a book and asks how the illustrations help them understand the text. The students check their written work to make sure the illustrations and associated words help the reader understand the text.
- In Unit 2, Week 3, Writing Workshop, Explore Features and Simple Graphics (U2-T225), the teacher uses a non-fiction book to explain the different types of text features in a book including, table of contents, index, glossary, chapters, sections, labels, graphics, and pictures. The teacher explains that text features help the reader understand the text. The students orally answer teacher questions related to text features.
- In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Use Text Structure, p. 138, the teacher explains informational text can be organized in chronological order or description, a biography is usually chronological order or time order. The teacher uses “Sandra Day O’Connor” on p. 112-113 to model using text structure. In the Student Interactive, p. 83, students go back to Close Read notes on pg. 83, 87, 91, and 95 and underline answers.
- In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Introduce the Text, First Read Strategies the teacher reminds the students to look at text features to make predictions as well as use the table of contents to determine what they will learn about on each page in the text.
Indicator 1Q
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 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.
Over the course of the school year, high-frequency word instruction and decodable readers are part of students’ weekly reading routine. Students practice reading with the teacher as the model as well as with partner reading and whisper reading independently to increase fluency with grade level appropriate text throughout Reading Workshop and guided reading lessons. During phonics and word study Minilessons, which are included in each five-day sequence in each unit, students have the opportunity to read and write words with the phonics and high-frequency word focus. High-frequency words are introduced or reviewed on a daily basis. Students have multiple opportunities to develop automaticity of grade level words through multiple reads of decodable readers and regular practice each week with high-frequency words. Students have weekly opportunities throughout the year to practice oral reading (with teacher modeling and guidance) incorporating rate, accuracy, and expression/prosody in the leveled readers. Students have opportunities to listen to audio of fluent readers, as well as record themselves orally reading to analyze their skill in reading text with appropriate rate, accuracy, and fluency.
Examples of materials that provide students practice to gain decoding automaticity and sight-based recognition of high-frequency words as well as reading fluency in oral reading include, but are not limited to:
- Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to purposefully read grade-level text.
- In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read Big Biff, the teacher explicitly describes how the students will practice reading words in a story containing sounds they have learned. Students practice reading the high-frequency words they learned during the previous week. Students orally read the high-frequency words are, by, look, was, and you with the teacher, then read and reread the story with a student partner as the teacher listens. Students reread the story, the teacher prompts the students to identify words in the text containing letter-sound correspondences previously introduced.
- In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Introduce the Text, p. 42, the teacher introduces vocabulary from the Student Interactive to go with the text, The Life of a Frog. Students share information that they already know about frogs. The teacher explains that the vocabulary words will help students understand the main idea of the text. Students complete a first read independently, in pairs, or as a class for understanding and enjoyment using the First Read Strategies of Read, Look, Ask, Talk.
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read A Deep Sleep, the teacher explicitly describes how the students will practice reading words in a story containing sounds they have learned. Students practice reading the high-frequency words they learned during the previous week. Students orally read the high-frequency words out, who, live, and work with the teacher, then read and reread the story with a student partner as the teacher listens. Students reread the story. The teacher prompts the students to identify words in the text containing letter-sound correspondences previously introduced.
- 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.
- In Unit 1, Leveled Readers, Hide and Seek, the teacher states to students that when they read they should read the words the author wrote. The teacher models a non-example by reading a text adding words that the author did not write. Students raise their hands when they hear the teacher is not reading what the author wrote. Students read a page to a partner and the partner analyzes if the reader read the author text accurately.
- In Unit 3, Leveled Readers, Stone Soup, the teacher states to the students that when they read, they should read at a speed that is not too fast and not too slow. The teacher explains that an appropriate rate makes the text easier to understand. The teacher models appropriate rate. Students engage in a choral read with the teacher on the same passage the teacher used to model appropriate rate.
- In Unit 4, Leveled Readers, Welcome Home, the teacher states to the students that when they read, they are to look at the punctuation to help them know how to read the text with expression. The teacher explains that exclamation marks are to be read with "strong feeling.” Students find sentences in the book that end with an exclamation point, then practice reading the sentences with strong expression.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Fluency activity, p. T339, students reread pages 192-193 aloud with a partner to practice using appropriate fluency by reading for accuracy.
- In the Small Group Guide, in student small groups, p. 62, the teacher plays audio of people reading fluently, has the students record themselves reading, and provides opportunities for students to reread passages with a focus on fluency.
- Materials support reading of texts with attention to reading strategies such as rereading, self-correction, and the use of context clues.
- In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Academic Vocabulary, Context Clues, pp. T212-213, the teacher reviews the academic vocabulary and how to utilize context clues to understand unfamiliar words. Teacher models an example of using context clues. In the Student Interactive, p. 115, students circle context clues for underlined words.
- In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Academic Vocabulary, Context Clues, the teacher states that context clues are words and pictures that can help them understand what an unknown word means. The teacher writes a sentence and draws a picture on the board then demonstrates a think-aloud showing the students how they can use the words and the picture around the unknown word to understand its meaning. The teacher rereads the sentence using a known word that might be what the unknown word means to see if the sentence makes sense. In the Student Interactive, p. 123, students highlight words in a sentence that provide clues to new vocabulary words.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, p. 337, the teacher and students read Signs of Winter in the Student Interactive, p. 189-197. The teacher asks the students to underline words that describe the illustration and explains to the student that pictures can be used to learn or clarify word meanings. In the Student Interactive, p. 189-197, students underline the context clues that help with determining work meaning.
- Students have opportunities to practice and read irregularly spelled words.
- In Unit 3, Leveled Readers, Shadow Puppets, the teacher introduces the high-frequency word, what, by writing it on the board and talking about the spelling. The students read it and spell it.
- In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode Words with Long /i/ Spelled igh, pages T96-T97, the teacher uses Sound-Spelling Card 71 (lightbulb) to introduce spelling long /i/ with igh. The teacher models decoding words using the igh spelling for long /i/. In the Student Interactive, p. 58, students practice blending and decoding the words with long /i/ spelled igh.
- In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop: Decodable Story, Read Best Time of the Year, the teacher shows irregularly spelled high-frequency words off, laugh, and because to the students and tells the students that the words will be in the decodable story they will read.
Indicator 1R
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks providing systematic and explicit instruction in and practice of word recognition and analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected text and tasks.
Students learn and apply word analysis and word recognition skills to connected text, decodable stories, and written tasks. Through Reading Workshop, the use of weekly decodable readers and shared read-alouds, students practice previously introduced word recognition and analysis skills introduced and/or reviewed during that week. Students receive explicit lessons with encoding target letter-sound correspondences beyond isolated graphemes and simple phonics generalizations. Throughout lessons, the students practice letter patterns for sounds, syllables, and vowels with practice reading in pairs/small groups and writing activities. However, opportunities are missed for students to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills while encoding in connected texts and tasks.
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. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Materials support students’ development 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.
- Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
- In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Assess & Differentiate, Teacher-Led Options, Word Work Strategy Group, p. T54, the teacher uses Sound-Spelling Cards 34, 46, 49, and 52 to review digraphs wh, ch, ph and trigraph tch. Teacher displays words. Students read each word aloud with digraphs. Emerging students write and read each word and circle the consonant digraph. Developing students use each word in a sentence and then read each sentence aloud.
- In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read Can Phil Help? the teacher introduces a decodable reader and explains to the students that the target letter/sound reviewed in the lesson will also be in the reader. The students read a decodable text that contains digraphs and trigraphs.
- Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
- In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Syllable Pattern VCCV, p. T250, the teacher reviews that words have syllables and that one vowel represents one syllable. The student identifies the syllables and then blends the syllables. In the Student Interactive, pp. 147-148, students practice identifying and blending syllables in sentences.
- In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read Kurt Can Help, the teacher introduces a decodable reader and explains that the target letter/sound reviewed in the day's lesson will be in the reader. The students read a decodable text that contains words with the vowel sound /er/.
- Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
- In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Long a Spelled VCe, pp. T308-309, the teacher writes the following words on the board: b_ke, t_le, pl_ne, g_me. The teacher says the word bake slowly and students repeat the word. The teacher points to the missing letter and asks what letter could go in the blank. Students respond and teacher writes the letter in the blank. The process is repeated with remaining words. In the Student Interactive, p. 162, students work with a partner to blend and read words in sentences.
- In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read The Race, the teacher introduces a decodable reader and explains that some long vowel sounds will be in the reader. The students read a decodable text that contains words with the long vowel sounds /o/, /u/, and /e/, spelled with the final consonant-e pattern.
- Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
- In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read The Picnic, the teacher introduces a decodable reader and begins by having the students say how many syllables are in the word, picnic. The teacher explains that the students will read a decodable text that contains other words with two syllables. In the Student Interactive, pp. 149-151, students read the text, Picnic, with two syllable words as well as long vowel /e/ and /i/ words. The teacher asks students to share words that have two syllables after reading. The teacher asks the students to divide the word into syllables and identify that the words would be divided between two consonants.
- Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
- In Leveled Readers for Unit 1, the leveled text readers, Hoop Shot, Erin’s Neighborhood, and Super Freddie have many two- and three-syllable words for the student to decode while reading in small groups.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read In Winter, the teacher introduces a decodable reader and begins by telling the students the number of syllables in the word, winter. The teacher explains that winter has a pattern of VCCV which indicates that the first vowel sound will be short. The teacher explains that the students will read a decodable text that contains other words with two syllables. The students read the text on their student interactives.
- Read words with inflectional endings.
- In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Assess & Differentiate, Teacher-Led Options, Word Work Strategy Group, Inflectional Ending -s, p. T204, the teacher displays Sound-Spelling Card 129 and explains the word pulls is a verb, verbs describe actions, and the ending -s shows that one person, animal, or thing does the action now. Students work in pairs to make T-charts with one side having verbs. Students list those same verbs on the other side with the inflectional ending -s. Students read the words together. Emerging students work in pairs to practice reading words with inflectional endings. Developing students find words with the inflectional ending -s in a text and read their sentences with those words to their partner.
Materials provide frequent opportunities to read irregularly spelled words in connected text and tasks.
- Recognize and read grade-level appropriate irregularly spelled words.
- In Unit 3, Leveled Readers, the text, The Duckling, provides the student with practice reading words with irregular and complex spelled words in small groups (ai, ck, ua, ay)
- In Unit 3, Week 6, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read What Now?, the teacher introduces a decodable reader by telling the students they will practice reading high-frequency words reviewed in this week's lessons. The teacher shows the words and has the students read the words with the teacher. The teacher tells the students they will remember the words when they see them. Students work in pairs to take turns orally reading the decodable story. The students orally reread the story.
Lessons and activities provide limited opportunities for students to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills while encoding (writing) in context and decoding words (reading) in connected text and tasks.
- In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling, Spell Words, Writing Workshop, the directions to the teacher state, “As students proofread their writing, remind them to check the spellings of words with final consonant blends and the consonant pattern -ck."
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Long /e/ Spelled e, ee, students write a sentence about one of the long /e/ picture names in the Student Interactive, p. 110.
- In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 4, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling, Spell Words with Long /o/ Spelled oa, ow, oe, Writing Workshop, the directions to the teacher state, “As students proofread their writing, remind them to check the spellings of words with diphthongs oi and oy and words with the long /o/ vowel teams oa, ow, and oe."
Indicator 1S
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.
The materials include formative and summative assessments in phonemic awareness, phonics, and high-frequency words. Materials include three teacher manuals that help support the teacher in determining progress for students: Assessment Guide, Progress Check-Ups Teacher Manual, and Summative Assessments Teacher’s Manual. Within the manuals and the Teacher Edition, there is weekly support for teachers in using assessment results to inform instruction and remediation. There is weekly support for adjusting instruction for students below and above grade level. There is weekly support for the teacher to adjust instruction or reteach concepts to English Language Learners. The Small Group Guide provides information about how to utilize assessment data to form groups, use data to drive instruction, and provides fluency strategies. Teachers are guided to assess students through observation and conferring, formal assessments, samples of student work, and informal progress checks. The assessment outline include the following: Baseline Test given at the beginning of the year, progress check-ups that assess weekly skills and monitor progress to intervene, Middle-of-Year test monitor student progress on material taught in Units 1-3, and End-of-Year test that provide a summative view of students’ progress for the year.
Examples of materials that support ongoing frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills include, but are not limited to:
- 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.
- In Unit 2, Week 2, Progress Check-Ups, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, Phonics, p. 33, the teacher administers a progress measure to assess student knowledge of letter-sound correspondence. The teacher reads a sentence, then provides three words from which students choose the correct word with the same sound as the letters in the teacher-spoken word from the sentence.
- In Unit 2 Test, Summative Assessments, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, High-Frequency Words, p. 55, the teacher administers a test, by orally reading sentences with missing words. The teacher orally reads three high-frequency words. Students darken a circle beside the high frequency word on their worksheet that best completes the sentence.
- In Unit 5 Test, Summative Assessments, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, Fluency Selection, p. 67, the teacher completes fluency assessments with each student individually. Students orally read the passage. The teacher records student performance on a copy of a passage.
- The Grade 1, Baseline, Middle-of-Year, and End-of-Year Test. These online assessments read the directions and questions to the student: "The Baseline allows the student to demonstrate skills in the areas of phonics and word recognition. The Middle-of-Year assessment allows the student to demonstrate skills in the areas of high-frequency words and phonics. The End-of-Year test allows the student to demonstrate skills in the areas of high-frequency words and phonics."
- Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information of students’ current skills/level of understanding.
- In Summative Assessments, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, How to Identify Miscues and Errors, p. 59, the teacher is given explicit directions on how to code student errors including guidance on omissions, substitutions and insertions of words. Guidance is also given for how to code errors related to mispronunciation, hesitations, and self-corrections.
- In Summative Assessments, Teachers Manual with Student Reproducibles, How to Measure Oral Reading Accuracy and How to Measure Reading Rate, p. 63, the teacher is given explicit directions on how to calculate oral reading accuracy and reading rate after individual students have read the test passage. The Fluency Checks or Running Records are optional assessments.
- In Progress Check-Ups, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, Student Progress Chart Grade 1, p. 7, the teacher is provided with a progress monitoring chart to note student assessment results from every week to track progress and performance.
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Progress Check-Ups, the online assessment has 16 questions that read the directions and questions to the student. Ten questions are foundational skills. The assessments has five high-frequency word questions that check the student understanding of high-frequency words with the student choosing the word that best completes the sentence. The assessment has five phonics questions that checks the student understanding on inflectional endings for -ed and -ing along with long vowel /e/ words (with irregular spelling).
- Materials support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in foundational skills.
- In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Quick Check, the teacher has an option for students struggling with digraphs and trigraphs to receive a second phonics lesson in a small group setting, as well as a small group lesson option for students who could benefit from an extension of the phonics concept introduced. The Notice and Assess instruction states, "Are students able to decode and write words with digraphs and trigraphs?" The Decide instruction states, "If students struggle, revisit instruction for Phonics in Small Group on pp. T54-T55. If students show understanding, extend instruction for Phonics in Small Group on pp. T54-T55."
- In Unit 4, Week 6, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Formative Assessment Options, p. 401, students complete the Student Interactive, pp. 232-233 to practice vowel team ie skills. Students write four ie words from the board and then sort the words into long vowel /e/ and long vowel /i/ word lists. The teacher uses this Quick Check to notice and assess the students ability to decode and write vowel team words with ie then decide if students have understanding or struggles then move into the appropriate small group instruction.
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Assess & Differentiate, p. T344, indicates that the teacher should utilize the Quick Check on page T341 to determine small group instruction. Teacher-Led Options include Strategy Group: Develop Vocabulary activity which refers students back to Signs of Winter and teacher demonstrates using the word, weather; ELL Targeted Support which includes instruction for both emerging/developing students and expanding/bridging students; intervention activity using myFocus Reader pp. 62-63 with the teacher providing a fluency activity focusing on prosody.
- In Summative Assessments, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, Unit, Middle-of-Year, and End-of-Year Assessments Item Analysis Charts, Grade 1, Unit 1 Assessment, pp. T32-T33, each item of the unit assessment along with the depth of knowledge level and CCSS alignment is provided. myFOCUS Remediation opportunities are provided for each item number. Remediation for item number 1 is located in Lessons 45 and 46.
Indicator 1T
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 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.
Differentiation opportunities are presented throughout the Kindergarten materials. There are numerous formats for small group instruction in every unit based on student needs. Example groupings include groups focused on leveled reader activities, one-on-one conferring groups, strategy groups, ELL Targeted Support groups, and intervention groups for students performing below grade level on learning objectives. For students below level, small group differentiated instruction occurs on a daily basis. For students at or above grade level, small group differentiated instruction occurs one to two times per week. The program materials include the Kindergarten myFocus Intervention Teacher’s Guide to target and address student intervention needs.
Instructional pacing of lessons is limited to 15 minutes per day, which is not sufficient in supporting students' mastery of grade-level foundational skills.
Materials provide high-quality learning lessons and activities for every student to reach mastery of foundational skills. For example:
- In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Phonics, p. 98, the teacher uses the Sound-Spelling Card 22 (cars) to model that /z/ is spelled s. The teacher shows the following sentence and models how the s can say /s/ or /z/: "I like cats and dogs." Students decode words in the Student Interactive and identify the word that ends with -s that means “more than one pet.” An extension is provided in Foundation Skills Extension for students to practice the letter sound s when used a /s/ and making the /z/ sound. Students can decode words with letter sound correspondence and decode words with inflectional endings -s, -es, -ed.
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, High-Frequency Words, the teacher shows the following high-frequency words: or, out, who, live, work. Students read the words and the teacher reminds students that they have to remember the letters rather than the words. The teacher models remembering the letters in or. Students say and spell the word. The teacher asks students to use the word in a sentence. The teacher repeats the lesson with the rest of the high-frequency words. Students identify, read, and write high-frequency words in the Student Interactive.
- In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Phonological Awareness: Initial and Final Sounds, the teacher shows a picture of an eagle and states: “This is a picture of an eagle. Listen to the sounds in eagle: /e/ /g/ /el/. Say the word with me.” The teacher asks students to identify the vowel sound in the beginning. The teacher repeats the lesson with pea and tea and asks, “What sound is the same in all three picture names? For practice, the teacher states more words (easy, pea, sea, eat, flea) and students identify the initial and final sounds in each word.
Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support each student’s needs. For example:
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Formative Assessment Options, Quick Check, the teacher is to Notice and Assess if students are able to decode and write words with long /e/ spelled e and ee. The teacher is provided two options: If students struggle, revisit instruction for Phonics in Small Group on pp. T02-T03. If students show understanding, extend instruction for Phonics in Small Group on pp. T202-203.
- In Language Awareness Handbook, 1, page 14, Unit 1, Week 4, the teacher provides an additional lesson to English Language Learners where the students identify and pronounce words with the week's target letter-sound correspondence in the decodable story, “Fill the Pen.”
- In myFocus Intervention Teacher's Edition, Practice and Assess, Lesson 15, Decode Words: Initial and Final Blends, p.100, the teacher is guided to remind students that you can hear each sound in a word, including the two sounds within blends and that blends can be at the beginning or end of a word. The teacher models the sn blend and blending the word, snap. The teacher guides students through practicing blending the word snack. The routine is reviewed and practiced with the words, snug, clap and trim. Progress is monitored when students tell the teacher which word in a set includes the blend.
Students have multiple practice opportunities with each grade level foundational skill component in order to reach mastery; however, little instructional time is included for students to practice to mastery. For example:
- In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Teacher-Led Options, Word Work Strategy Group, pp. T204-205, teacher displays Sound-Spelling Card 129, explains that pulls is a verb, explains what verbs do and that the ending -s on pulls shows one person, animal, or thing does the action now. Pairs make T-charts with one side including verbs. Students list those same verbs with the inflectional ending -s. Students read the words to each other.
- ELL Targeted Support activity guides students to improve skills in decoding words with the inflectional ending -s. Students read the words to each other.
- Emerging students work in pairs reading words with inflectional ending -s.
- Developing ELL readers find words with the inflectional ending -s in a text and read their sentences with those words to a partner.
- The Intervention Activity uses Lesson 27 in the myFocus Intervention Teacher’s Guide for instruction on reading words with inflectional endings. For Independent/Collaborative activities, there is the Word Work Activity, Build Words with Letter Tiles. The teacher pairs students to use letter tiles to create words with inflectional ending -s. Students create words and read aloud. Students can also play the Letter Tile game in the myView games on PearsonRealize.com.
- For Independent/Collaborative activities, in the Decodable Reader activity, students read the decodable reader, Big Jobs, places sticky notes on pages in the text that have verbs with inflectional ending -s, and rereads sentences with verbs containing the inflectional ending -s.
- In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode Words with Long /o/ Spelled VCe, the teacher provides explicit instruction on the long /o/ sound with the VCe spelling using Sound Spelling Card 84. The teacher orally segments the sounds in rope. Then, the students say rope with the teacher.
- In the Student Interactive, p. 56, the students decode two words containing the long /o/ sound with the VCe pattern.
- In Lesson 2, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Long /o/ Spelled VCe, the teacher reminds the students of the phonics generalization of the long /o/ sound with the VCe spelling. The teacher shows a table of VCe words with the letter o missing. The teacher writes the letter o in the first word. The students read the word. The activity is repeated with the additional three words listed.
- In Lesson 2, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Long /o/ Spelled VCe, Student Interactive, p. 57, the students decode twelve words containing the long /o/ sound with the VCe pattern. They spell two words with the long /o/ sound with the VCe pattern.
- In the Decodable Story, Read The Race, the students read a decodable story containing words with the long /o/ sound spelled with the VCe pattern
- In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Teacher-Led Options, Word Work Strategy Group, pp. T54 and T55, the teacher displays sound-spelling card 86 and explains the letters oa spell the long sound of /o/. The teacher repeats with sound-spelling card 99 (snow). The teacher uses the word toe to review long /o/ spelled oe. The teacher displays additional words and students read the words. The teacher asks students to tell how the long vowel sound /o/ is spelled in each word. ELL Targeted Support indicates that students illustrate words with the long sound of /o/ spelled oa, ow, and oe. Students say words with the long /o/ sound and illustrate one word and label their drawing.
- Emerging students list words with the long /o/ sound, illustrate one word and write a sentence using the word.
- Developing ELL students list words with long /o/ sound spelled oa, ow, or oe, illustrate two words and exchange drawings with a partner, label their partner’s drawings and write a sentence about each one.
- For additional support, the online Language Awareness Handbook is suggested. The Intervention Activity listed focuses on vowel teams ee, ea, ai, ay, oa, and ow and references using Lesson 22 in the myFocus Intervention Teacher’s Guide for instruction on vowel teams.
- In Independent/Collaborative Word Work Activity, teacher distributes letter tiles. Students practice forming words with the long /o/ sound spelled oa, ow, and oe. Students can also play the Letter Tile game in the myView games at PearsonRealize.com. Decodable Reader activity, students read the Decodable Reader Our State to practice reading long /o/ words spelled oa, ow, or oe and high-frequency words. Students work in pairs to read and listen to use letter-sound relationships to decode.
Overview of Gateway 2
Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for materials build knowledge through integrated reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language. The materials build students’ knowledge across topics and content areas and academic vocabulary instruction is intentionally and coherently sequenced to consistently build students’ vocabulary. Questions and tasks, at times, build in rigor and complexity to culminating tasks; however, students do not consistently need to use text evidence from the unit to complete the culminating tasks. Reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language skills are taught and practiced in an integrated manner.
Gateway 2
v1.0
Criterion 2.1: Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criterion for materials build knowledge through integrated reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language. Texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently. The materials contain sets of coherently sequenced higher order thinking questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics. The materials contain limited coherently sequenced set of text-dependent and text-specific questions and tasks that require students to build knowledge and integrate ideas across both individual and multiple texts. Questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks; however, culminating tasks do not always require students to use the texts read over the course of the unit. The materials include a cohesive, consistent approach for students to regularly interact with word relationships and build academic vocabulary/language in context. The materials contain a year-long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and practice which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts, and they include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to develop and synthesize knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials. The materials also provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
Indicator 2A
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students knowledge and vocabulary which will over time support and help grow students’ ability to comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.
Texts are connected by a central topic that is appropriate for Grade 1. Texts build students’ knowledge, vocabulary, and the ability to comprehend complex texts across the school year. The Student Interactive books help to guide students through the close read process throughout the entire year. Over the five units, central topics include My Neighborhood, I Spy, Imagine That, Making History, and Beyond my World. The units are designed to build knowledge and vocabulary and become more rigorous as the year progresses.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 2, the theme is I Spy. This unit is about how things grow and change. In Week 3, Lesson 1, students listen to Animal Babies Change and discuss some changes animals make as they grow. The topic is built upon with the shared read, How do Baby Animals Grow?
- In Unit 3, the theme is Imagine That. This unit is based on using imagination and being creative. In Week 4, the Leveled Readers discuss ways to use imagination to create things. The books, I Draw With Chalk, Let’s Make a Mask, and Cool Cakes, show things that someone can create using their imagination. The books, The Duckling, Stone Soup, and The Elves and the Shoemaker, are folktales that provide opportunities for students to use their imagination and visualize the stories.
- In Unit 4, the theme is Making History. In Weeks 1-5, the texts build students' knowledge on important people and developments of our historical background. Over the unit, students learn about Georgia O’Keeffe, Jackie Robinson, the development of the railroad, the story of how the American flag came to be, and Eleanor Roosevelt.
- In Unit 5, the theme is Beyond My World and the Essential Question is “How do the seasons affect us?” The shared reading texts that follow that theme are: Week 1, Every Season with the Weekly Question: What happens during the seasons?; Week 2, Seasons Around the World with the Weekly Question: What are seasons like around the world?; Week 3, In Spring with the Weekly Question: What do people like about the seasons?; Week 4, My Autumn Book with the Weekly Question: How do we know when seasons are changing?; Week 5, Signs of Winter with the Weekly Question: What do living things do in the winter?
Indicator 2B
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.
Over the course of the year, students analyze the author’s words and phrases, key ideas, details, craft, and structure as they interact, both individually and in large/small groups, with texts through questioning or by performing different tasks. Questions and tasks are sequenced to build students’ understanding gradually through each text and topic. By the end of each unit, questions and tasks become increasingly more complex and rigorous.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, after reading Henry on Wheels, the teacher reminds students they learned the words “sand, block, street, and corner” and asks students to “think about why the author used these words. How are they related to each other? What is the author describing?”
- In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Genre and Theme, students learn that informational text can be organized by sequence of events or description. After the teacher models how to identify the organizational pattern of an informational text, students are asked to complete either of the following tasks: "1. Students work in pairs to discuss the organization of informational text. The teacher circulates to determine if students have an understanding. 2. Students look at other informational texts independently. Students list the books that they read and note the structure of each text."
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Shared Reading, students learn about the structure and elements of poetry. The teacher reads aloud “Poodle Doodles,” “The Box,” and “Sandcastle." Then, students are asked to complete either of the following tasks: "1. Students complete page 130 in the Student Interactive Workbook. Students circle the example from each poem that shows alliteration and repetition. 2. Students independently read poems and place sticky notes to mark examples of repetition, alliteration, rhythm, and rhyme.
- In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students learn how to compare and contrast two texts. The teacher models how to compare texts by reading aloud What is the Story of Our Flag and The First American Flag. Then, students are asked to complete either of the following assignments: "1. Using the stories What is the Story of Our Flag and The First American Flag, students compare and contrast the two texts using the Student Interactive Workbook page 176. 2. Students read two independent texts. Then, students use a graphic organizer to show how the texts are similar and different."
- In Unit 5, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Close Reading, Find Important Details, students read My Autumn Book. The teacher asks the following sequence of questions: "Does the story need this detail to make sense? Does it matter that a chilly wind blows? Does it matter that the girl zips her jacket?"
- In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students learn how to make inferences from the text. The teacher models for students how to infer by reading aloud and modeling from Signs of Winter. Then students are asked to complete either of the following assignments: "1. Use page 201 from the Student Interactive Workbook to write what they read, what they know, and to draw an inference using the text Signs of Winter. 2. Students draw inferences about the text and record their inferences on a chart."
Indicator 2C
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.
The materials include some sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that provide opportunities for students to analyze across multiple texts as well as within single texts. Each unit focuses around an Essential Question. Questions and tasks are provided in the materials during Shared Reading and Listening Comprehension build students’ understanding of the topic and prepare them to answer the Essential Question at the end of the unit. During Shared Reading, students complete a first read and close read of the text. At times, the close read includes questions and tasks that provide opportunities for students to build knowledge of a topic within and across texts; however, questions and tasks do not consistently provide opportunities for students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across individual and multiple texts and do not build in complexity or rigor.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 2, students learn about the unit theme, I Spy. The Essential Question is "How do living things grow and change." Throughout the unit, students are exposed to text-dependent questions and tasks in the listening comprehension and shared reading texts that build towards answering the Essential Question. For example, in Week 1, Lesson 5, Compare Texts, Formative Assessment, students use text evidence from this week’s texts, A Kit Grows Up and The Life of a Frog, to make comparisons to how animals grow and change.
- In Unit 3, students learn about the unit theme, Imagine That. The Essential Question for the unit is: "How can we use our imaginations?" Throughout the unit, students listen to folktales, fables, and poetry and answer questions. For example, in Week 5, Lesson 5, the teacher states: “When comparing texts, you should first find and retell the important ideas from both texts. Retelling authors’ ideas in your own words show that you understand the texts. Then you can compare those ideas.” Students retell and compare Thumbs Up for Art and Music! and the infographic “Creative Expression.”
- In Unit 4, students learn about the unit theme, Making History. The Essential Question is: "Why is the past important." Students listen to texts and answer questions throughout the unit to build towards answering the Essential Question. For example, in Week 2, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Compare Texts, students compare the shared text, Jackie Robinson, and another biography they have read. They describe whether the two biographies are similar or different using text evidence to support their answer. In the Student Interactive, students compare a biography about Martin Luther King, Jr. from a web site and Jackie Robinson with teacher guidance.
- In Unit 5, students learn about the unit theme, Beyond My World. The Essential Question is: "How do the seasons affect us?" Throughout the unit, students learn about seasons and answer questions. For example, in Week 5, students listen to Signs of Winter and learn how to use the pictures and text to find out information about the topic and details. During Reflect and Share, students learn how to share ideas and opinions when comparing across texts. The teacher models sharing ideas and opinions about the texts, Signs of Winter and Every Season. Students practice sharing opinions on another season they have read about.
Indicator 2D
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).
Culminating tasks provide students with some opportunities to demonstrate comprehension and knowledge of a topic or topics. Earlier questions and tasks provide the teacher with some usable information about student’s readiness to complete culminating tasks; however, culminating tasks do not always require students to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills. At times, students students can complete tasks without using knowledge learned from the texts they listened to during Reading Workshop and are often an extension of what they are learning.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Reading Workshop, Project-Based Inquiry, students learn about neighborhoods. For the project, they research a neighborhood worker and then write an informational text about the worker. The students read the article, “Workers in the Neighborhood,” to get background knowledge and choose a neighborhood worker to research. The teacher models informational writing using a mentor text and students begin their research using print sources. The teacher and students analyze a student model and read the article, “All Aboard the Bus.” Students write their informational writing piece and then revise and edit it. On the final day, students present their writing to the class. Questions the teacher asks to support students with their projects are: “What might your classmates already know about your neighborhood worker? What do you think is most important for them to learn about your neighborhood worker?” Teachers are also directed to: "Check students’ understanding of informational texts by asking them to write or draw the main idea of their text before they continue with the Conduct Research page in their Student Interactive Workbooks."
- In Unit 2, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Reading Workshop, Project-Based Inquiry, students learn about how living things grow and change and for their project are going to “work in pairs to research an animal. Then, they will write a letter to the zookeeper requesting that this animal be added to the zoo.” The students read the article, “Animals in Zoos,” to get background knowledge. The teacher models opinion writing using a mentor text. Students begin their research using a zoo website. The teacher and students analyze a student model and read the article, “Safari Adventure.” Students continue researching, and finally write their letter and then revise and edit it. On the final day, students present their letters to the class. Some examples of questions/tasks the teacher uses to support students’ with their projects are:
- If students struggle with conducting research and demonstrating understanding of information gathered, select an appropriate source. Read aloud while the group follows along. As you read each sentence, ask students whether it is about our animal or not and whether it is a fact or not. Students are then directed to write their fact on a sticky note and then begin writing their rough draft.
- Have students demonstrate understanding by writing a new fact on the lines provided at the bottom of p. 213. Provide assistance as needed.
- If students struggle to use the Revise checklist, reteach the definitions of opinion, reasons, and facts.
- In Unit 4, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Reading Workshop, Project-Based Inquiry, students learn about making history. For their project, “student pairs are going to interview an older person about someone who was important to them and then write an essay about the interview.” The students read the article, “American Progress,” to get background knowledge and choose an older person to interview. The teacher models informational essay writing using a mentor text, students begin their research by writing interview questions and then interviewing an older person. The teacher and students analyze a student model and read the article, “Technology Over Time.” Students write their letter and then revise and edit it. On the final day, students present their letters to the class. Some examples of questions/tasks the teacher uses to support students’ with their projects are:
- If students struggle to generate questions for the interview, have them fill out a KWL chart with what they already know about the person they will interview and what they want to know. Help students identify what they know and want to know by asking questions, such as, “Where did this person live as a child? Who took care of him/her?”
- If students struggle to use the Revise checklist, use the student model or an informational mentor text from the classroom library to reteach definitions of title, main idea, and details. Help students recognize how details expand on the main idea.
- In Unit 5, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Reading Workshop, Project-Based Inquiry, students “will write and perform a short play to persuade an audience that a season of their choice is the best.” In Unit 5, students learn how people can make a difference through reading, writing, and completing tasks. For example, in Week 6, Lesson 1, teachers are given instructions to help students start the project: "On the board, draw a four-square chart with a circle in the center. Label the center circle 'Seasons.' Elicit the names of the seasons from students and write each season name in one square in the chart. Have students describe the weather, landscape, and activities for each season. Then have students use the chart to determine which season they like best, and generate two questions about seasons."
Indicator 2E
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.
The materials provide teachers guidance outlining a cohesive year-long vocabulary development component in the Reading Workshop and the Reading-Writing Bridge. The vocabulary taught in the Reading Workshop comes directly from the anchor text for the week. The vocabulary taught in the Reading-Writing Bridge focuses on academic vocabulary; examples include: context clues, antonyms, and related words. Vocabulary is repeated in contexts (before texts, in texts) and across multiple texts. Attention is paid to vocabulary essential to understanding the text and to high value academic words. Students are supported to accelerate vocabulary learning with vocabulary in their reading, speaking, and writing tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, the teacher guides discussion surrounding an Infographic. In Lessons 3 and 4, the vocabulary is discussed again through teacher questioning during the close reading of the shared reading text. For example, “Headings are used to group _____. What are the various tasks a crossing guard does?” Students also complete a vocabulary page in the Student Interactive. During Lesson 5, Compare Texts, the teacher again provides oral practice of the vocabulary words during questioning when connecting to the Weekly Question. In Week 1, Lesson 1 of the Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, students are reminded of the vocabulary words for the week and complete a context clues activity with the words in the Student Interactive. In Week 6, Project-Based Inquiry, students are reminded to use their academic vocabulary words in their projects.
- In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 2, Shared Reading, students read The Blackout. The teacher says, “Authors choose words that can help a reader picture what happens in a story. The vocabulary words check, quiet, listen, and mutter tell what happens and what the characters are doing.” The teacher tells students to "Remind yourself of the word’s meaning. Look for pictures that can help you understand a word’s meaning." Students complete one of the following tasks: "1. Students underline the word that completes each sentence on page 38 of the Student Interactive. Students find and list words in their independent reading texts that tell about events and characters."
- In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 2, Shared Reading, students read The Life Cycle of a Sunflower. The teacher reminds students that "authors choose words to help them describe things. The vocabulary words from The Life Cycle of a Sunflower all tell about the parts of a plant and how it grows.” The teacher tells students to "Remind yourself what each word means. Look for illustrations and photographs that help you understand the words. Think about why the author chose to use these words. What information is the author describing?" Students are asked to complete one of the following tasks: "1. Students draw a picture that shows what each word means on page 76 in the Student Interactive. 2. Students will find and list unfamiliar words that describe a topic from their independent reading texts."
- In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, the teacher introduces and reinforces the story vocabulary words (sad, angry, happy, and surprised) before and after reading. Students then act out words they know. The teacher defines the words for students, if needed. Words are also defined in text boxes as students are reading to help with word meaning. After reading, students complete a vocabulary activity in the Student Interactive to check for understanding.
- In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 2, Shared Reading, students read What is the Story of Our Flag? and The First American Flag. The teacher tells students, “the vocabulary words stars, field, patch, and stripes describe parts of the American flag. Some of the words have more than one meaning.” The teacher tells students to "Look at pictures of the flag to help them visualize the word’s meaning. Use context clues from the text." Students are asked to complete one of the following tasks: "1. Students use a picture of the American Flag to write the word that fits each label on page 174 in the Student Interactive. 2. Students use sticky notes to mark pages with unfamiliar words. If they can use context clues to determine meaning, ask students to put a check mark on the sticky note."
- In Unit 4, Week 6, Lesson 1, Project-Based Inquiry, students use the academic vocabulary from the unit (experience, supply, necessary, record) as they prepare for the culminating project. Students discuss the words as they relate to the unit theme, Making History. When using the Student Interactive, students talk about the picture using academic words.
- In Unit 5, Week 3, Reading Workshop, Leveled Readers, the teacher introduces and reinforces the story vocabulary words (stories, land, shines, and warmth) before and after reading. During and after reading the teacher leads the discussion: "The storyteller tells us this story is about Tokahe and Tatanka. Think about what you have seen and read so far. What else do you think this story is about? Why? Think about your experiences with new places. Why do you think the people were interested in another land? Think about the experiences the Lakota have had in the new land. Predict how the Lakota will use the buffalo to help them." Teachers guide students through a sequence graphic organizer together, and finally, the students write to a prompt about the story: “Why did Tatanka and his wife become buffalo?” During the discussion and writing, there are many opportunities to use the story vocabulary.
Indicator 2F
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials contain a year long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts.
The materials contain well-designed lesson plans, models, writing rubrics, and protocols for teachers to implement and monitor students’ writing development. Students are supported through the writing process with mentor texts, models, and shared writing. Feedback is provided by peers, the teacher, and self-evaluations to ensure that students' writing skills are increasing throughout the year. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Writing Workshop, Week 1, Introduce and Immerse, students are introduced to Writer’s Workshop and the writing process and begin learning about writers. They use the Student Interactive to help generate ideas. In Week 2, Develop Elements, students generate ideas for their books and learn about digital tools. In Week 3, Develop Structure, students learn about fiction and nonfiction books. In Week 4, Writer’s Craft, students work on adding details to their writing. In Week 5, Publish, Celebrate, Assess, students revise by adding to their illustrations and improving their writing. Students then publish and celebrate/share their writing. The Daily Plan is five to 10 minutes of Minilessons, 30-40 minutes of independent writing and conferences, and five to 10 minutes of share back focus. Writer’s Workshop is scheduled daily.
- In Unit 2, Writing Workshop, students learn the elements of informational text. In Week 1, students write a variety of informational books. In Week 2, students apply what they learned about writing a main idea and supporting it with facts, details, and graphics to help readers better understand their topic. In Week 3, students explore and apply structure and features of informational books and develop an introduction and conclusion for their own writing. In Week 4, students explore and apply relevant grammatical skills to help them correct and improve their writing. In Week 5, students apply what they have learned to publish, share, and celebrate their informational book.
- In Unit 4, Weeks 1-5, Writing Workshop students learn the elements of narrative writing. In Week 1, students write a variety of personal narratives, choosing their best work to share at the end of the unit. In Week 2, students apply what they learn about the narrator, setting, problem, and resolution as they write their own personal narrative. In Week 3, students organize the events in their personal narratives. In Week 4, students explore and apply grammatical skills to correct and improve their writing and continue to write and edit their drafts. In Week 5, students publish and celebrate their personal narratives and be assessed on what they learned about personal narratives.
- In Unit 5, Week 2, Writing Workshop, Writing Workshop, students are introduced to the elements of a how-to text. Mentor texts are used to model the structure of procedural texts. Students practice writing an introduction and conclusion on how to make a bed. Next, they write the steps to brush their teeth and add pictures/graphics to support the text. At the end of the week, students share their how-to writing in their Writing Club groups. Conversation Starters are provided to help with discussions.
Indicator 2G
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to develop knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials.
The materials include research projects that are sequenced across the school year. Each unit ends with Week 6 as an Inquiry Project. Students research a real-world issue through this project and are asked to demonstrate their learning across the unit, providing the opportunity to demonstrate what they know and are able to do in speaking and writing. Research skills progress over the course of the year and research articles are provided on each topic at three different reading levels to support teachers and students in the research process.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1, Week 6, Lesson 1, Inquiry Project, students work in pairs to research neighborhood workers and write an informational text about what they do. In Lesson 1, students brainstorm by writing and/or drawing about neighborhood workers and generate questions about what they do. In Lesson 2, students learn the characteristics of informational writing and use print resources to conduct research answering the questions they generated. In Lesson 3, students use a student model to guide their writing. In Lesson 4, students draw a life-size version of their neighborhood worker, revise, and edit their writing. In Lesson 5, students share their informational text with the class and reflect on their projects.
- In Unit 4, Week 6, Lesson 1, Inquiry Project, students interview an older family member about someone who was important to them to write a research project. In Lesson 1, students think about who they interview and generate interview questions. In Lesson 2, students learn the characteristics and structure of informational text and practice interviewing their peers. In Lesson 3, students use a student model to guide their writing. In Lesson 4, students write thank you notes to the person they interviewed, revise, and edit their writing to include more details. In Lesson 5, students share their informational text with the class and reflect on their projects.
- In Unit 5, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Reading Workshop, Project-Based Inquiry, students write a persuasive play about their favorite season. Students use student-friendly websites to conduct their research about seasons. They work in pairs to research and ask a question about their season that needs to be answered. Students then write the question and notes in the Student Interactive. The teacher provides a model of a persuasive play in the Student Interactive. Students are provided with sentence starters, if needed. Students finish writing their plays and share with the class.
Indicator 2H
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.
The materials provide procedures for independent reading, including an independent reading log and tracking system, included within the Student Interactive. The weekly reading plan includes daily opportunities for independent reading during small group and as a formative assessment option. Students are provided a wide variety of guided reading text that span the grade level. The teacher regularly provides supports through guided reading groups. The students may reread these texts independently throughout the week.
Example include, but are not limited to:
- In Units 1-5, there is an independent reading log for students to record their independent reading to include the date, the book they read, pages read, minutes read, and their rating of the book. In addition to the reading log, materials also provide an independent reading focus for each unit. For example, in Unit 1, the focus is selecting just-right independent reading books and in Unit 4, the focus is comparing and contrasting two texts.
- In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Introduce the Unit, students learn about the independent reading log and how to find a just-right book. This is found in the Student Interactive. Students fill out the date, book title, pages read, minutes read, and then rate the book with a smiley face, straight face, or a sad face. Students are then directed to read a book that they select in their favorite genre.
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Assess & Differentiate, Small Group, while the teacher is conferring with students, there are several Independent/Collaborative suggestions for students. Under the heading Independent Reading students can "Read a self-selected trade book, Read or listen to a previously read leveled reader or selection, or Continue reading the Book Club text." This is a similar format for Independent Reading under the Assess & Differentiate, Small Group weekly plan throughout the school year.
- In Unit 4, students are taught how to select a just-right-book in the Student Interactive on page 8. On page 9, there is a reading log for students to track their independent reading. In Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Respond and Analyze, students have the option to find and list words that tell about the setting or events in their independent reading texts. During small groups on page T207 of the Teacher's Edition, students reread or listen to Before the Railroad Came. Students read a self-selected text or a Book Club text.
- In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, the teacher confers with students about texts they have read independently.
- In Unit 5, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Close Read, under Formative Assessment Options, students are given a choice of text to use to find the most important detail that supports the topic in a fiction text they are reading independently. Students draw their most important detail in the Student Interactive.
Overview of Gateway 3
Usability
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the expectations for instructional supports and usability indicators. Although the materials are well designed, the pacing of daily lessons is not appropriate. The materials support teacher learning and understanding of the Standards, as well as offer teachers resources and tools to collect ongoing data about student progress on the Standards. Teachers are provided with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so that they demonstrate independent ability with grade-level standards. The materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning, and digital materials are accessible and available in multiple platforms.
However, the overall web platform presents several navigational challenges and can be difficult to navigate when searching for resources or program components.
Criterion 3.1: Use & Design
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criterion for materials are well designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Although the materials are well designed, the pacing of daily lessons is not appropriate to fit the instructional minutes of an English Language Arts block and allow for effective lesson structure. Student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids. The materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items. The visual design is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Indicator 3A
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.
Materials are well designed; however, the pacing of each daily lesson is not appropriate to fit the minutes of an English Language Arts block and allow for effective lesson structure. In the Getting Started Guide, times are listed for each component of these lessons and suggested instructional minutes for them. The lessons are sequenced to incorporate Reading Workshop, Reading and Writing Workshop Bridge, Small Group/Independent, and Writing Workshop. Materials also include a Suggested Weekly Plan that outlines instructional minutes for each section. Within the Reading Workshop portion, materials cover both foundational skills lessons as well as reading lessons with a suggested time of 10-20 instructional minutes. The content within these portions may need more instructional time to complete each day.
- Each daily lesson format is broken apart into Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, and Reading-Writing Bridge Workshop sections. Suggestions for instructional minutes are as follows:
- Reading Workshop: 10-20 minutes (This includes foundational skills)
- Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge: 5-10 minutes
- Small Group/Independent: 20-30 minutes
- Writing Workshop: 5-10 minutes
- Independent Writing: 30-40 minutes
- Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge: 5-10 minutes
Indicator 3B
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that the teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
The materials are well designed; however, the pacing of individual lessons may not provide time for maximum student understanding. In the Getting Started Guide and Overview of the Curriculum, there are five units, each with six weeks of lessons, totaling 30 weeks of core new instruction. This time frame provides teachers with flexibility over the course of the year; however, core content within each daily plan may not reasonably be completed in the amount of time listed in the Suggested Weekly Plan. The lessons are sequenced to incorporate Reading Workshop, Reading and Writing Workshop Bridge, Small Group/Independent, and Writing Workshop. Materials also include a Suggested Weekly Plan that outlines instructional minutes for each section. Within the Reading Workshop portion, materials cover both foundational skills lessons as well as reading lessons with a suggested time of 10-20 instructional minutes. The content within these portions may need more instructional time to complete each day. Teachers may need to make instructional adjustments to ensure students had opportunities to work towards mastery of the core content, especially pertaining to foundational skills.
Indicator 3C
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (eg. visuals, maps, etc.)
The Student Interactive contains the student texts, as well as practice materials for all components of Reading and Writing Workshop. In addition, additional printable practice pages are available online. The student resources include ample review and practice resources in the Student Interactive. The directions are clear with explanations and correct labeling of resource aids. However, some response boxes in the consumable worksheets are not large enough to provide adequate space for students to respond.
There are five volumes for Grade 1 according to the Program guide:
- The myView Literacy program contains online leveled reader support with ELL Access Videos to build background, as well as audio and word -by-word highlighting for student scaffolding.
- Interactive graphic organizers and highlighting and note taking capabilities are available.
- Sentence frames before, during, and after reading provide the language structures students need to incorporate academic language into their speech and writing (Language Awareness Online).
- Additional practice, printable pages are available online.
- Research articles are written at three different reading levels.
The materials contain many science and social studies topics. Content vocabulary is underlined and highlighted in blue in the text. The sidebars contain definitions of the vocabulary words to assist the reader. Clear, colorful photographs are also used to help students with these concepts. Directions are clear. When doing a close read of the shared reading text, the directions are in the margin on the page where students find the text evidence. Since the shared reading texts are all in the Student Interactive, students underline the text evidence directly on the shared reading text. For example, in Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, after reading The Life of a Frog, in the margin is the close read icon. Use Text Features is bolded. Students are directed to “Highlight the words that tell how the tadpole has changed. Use the text and pictures.” Visual aids such as maps, photographs, headings, bold words, glossary, and illustrations are correctly labeled. Further examples of clear student directions include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 1 of the Student Interactive p. 93, students use a graphic organizer to write ideas in one column and where the idea comes from in the other column. The directions state, “What do you want to write about? Use the chart to draw or write your ideas.”
- In Unit 2 of the Student Interactive p. 43, students use a graphic organizer to write a word from the story that relates to the words around the circle. The directions state, “read the words by each circle. Write the related word from the box in the circle.”
- In Unit 4 of the Student Interactive p. 137, students draw a picture of a connection they made to Before the Railroads Came. The directions state, “write and draw about a connection you can make to the big idea of Before the Railroad Came. Look back at what you highlighted in the text.”
Indicator 3D
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.
The publisher has provided documentation of alignment with Common Core State Standards. Detailed information of where the standard is being practiced in the Student Interactive and Teacher's Edition are listed under the corresponding standard in Planning Resources for each grade level. The ten standards are divided into Literature, Informational, and Foundational Skills, Writing, Language,and Speaking and Listening. There are specific standards-based assessments in each unit that include listening comprehension, high-frequency words, phonics, conventions, and writing. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, students learn the elements of poetry. The specific questions that aligned to this standard is: "Which lines end in words with the same middle and ending sounds?"
- In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, students are asked to complete one of the following tasks: "1. Students draw the lines in the poem Changes that rhyme. 2. Students copy the lines that rhyme or have rhythm. Students underline words that rhyme and highlight words they can clap on rhythm from independent text."
Indicator 3E
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that the visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
The visual design of the materials is not distracting or chaotic. The Student Interactive contains the majority of the student materials, including the shared reading text. This is the primary resource used by students and it utilizes a consistent font and format throughout the book and units. The text and the photographs and illustrations/visuals support students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
The Student Interactive is comprehensive and contains the shared reading text, as well as the practice pages for Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, and Reading and Writing Bridge. These are available in both print and digital resources. The digital version appears to look the same as the print version of the materials. Digital materials also include videos and text with audio. The text highlights word-by-word while being read to support student engagement. Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, and Reading and Writing Bridge, Small Group, and Project-Based Inquiry pages are color-coded for ease of navigating the materials. The materials contain many science and social studies topics. Content vocabulary is underlined in the text. The sidebars contain definitions of the vocabulary words to assist the reader. Clear, colorful photographs are also used to help students with these concepts.
The digital materials include a Teacher's Edition, Student Edition, the Student Interactive, assessments, trade books, book club books, audio/video resources, games, interventions, dual language resources, leveled readers, small group guides, anchor charts and Minilessons, text complexity charts, interventions, etc. All tabs are clearly labeled without any distracting images.
Criterion 3.2: Teacher Planning
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criterion for materials support teacher learning and understanding of the Standards. The materials contain a Teacher's Edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the Student Edition and in the ancillary materials. While the Teacher’s Edition contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary, and it shows the progression of the content, the standards explanation in the context of the curriculum is not included or linked. The materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies. The materials also include strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the ELA/literacy program, as well as suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Indicator 3F
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The Teacher's Edition contains many suggestions and examples on how to present content to students throughout the year. The unit and weekly format of the Teacher's Edition follows a structured routine throughout the year for each grade level. The materials provide teachers with ample annotations to model skills and strategies through teacher think alouds. Teacher support is also provided for the use of embedded technology to support student learning. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Teacher's Edition provides a unit overview, as well as a weekly overview and a suggested weekly plan to aid in lesson planning. Teachers can use the Weekly Hyperlinked Planner to make planning lessons easier.
- At the beginning of each unit, there is a Program Overview section. Within the Program Overview section, the Program Components section lists the print and digital resources. The Instructional Model is included in the Program Overview, and an explanation is included for how the Reading Workshop, Reading-Writing Bridge, Writing Workshop, and Project-Based Inquiry Project fit together. In the Program Overview, there is a section for each model: the Reading Workshop Instructional Model, the Reading Workshop Small Group Instructional Model, and a Writing Workshop Instruction Model. These sections explain how the Unit of Study is seperated, list resources, and the include the Weekly Plan/Objectives. The Program Overview section also explains the Reading-Writing Bridge and the Project-Based Inquiry section. The assessments are explained in the Assessment Overview. Guidance is included for teachers to use with ELL students, struggling students, and accelerated students.
- In Getting Started, Program Overview: Reading Workshop Minilesson, Focus On Strategies: “Lead a discussion to help students recognize major characteristics of informational text. Explain that to understand an informational text, readers must be able to recognize the text’s main, or most important, idea and key details. Readers should also look for domain specific vocabulary, text features, graphic features, and a recognizable text structure.”
- Model and Practice: “Read the Model ‘Game Over’ on page 24 of the Student Interactive with students. Then model how you can tell it is realistic fiction. Max and Jan are the two people in the story ‘Game Over.’I can tell that they like to play together. They act like other children that I know. Just as they start to play, Max throws the toy up and it gets stuck. That seems like something that could really happen. Even though the story is made-up, it has characters and actions that seem real. I can tell that ‘Game Over’ is realistic fiction. Then read the Anchor Chart on page 25 together.”
- The Language Awareness Handbook is an online resource that provides resources to scaffold instruction during reading and writing workshop. For example, sentence frames that can be used to help students include academic language in their reading and writing. Weekly lessons contain a launch video and student online text contains audio and word-by-word highlighting for student support. In writing, teachers are provided with conference prompts to help focus instructional needs. For example, “If students need additional support, Then choose a personal narrative from the stack to review together and discuss its narrator, setting, and events.”
Indicator 3G
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
The materials contain a Professional Development Center with videos and white papers that contain advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject. Professional Learning videos are provided to give teachers the research behind the series and enhance teaching practices. These materials are authored by the authors and researchers of the program. The myView Literacy authors provide teachers with best practices.
The Professional Development Tab contains full adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary. Categories provided include Assessment, Book Club, Comprehension & Assessment, Differentiation, Dual Language, Engagement, Foundational Skills, Inquiry, Reading, Small Group, and Vocabulary.
Examples of videos provided include:
- In Reading there are four video offerings: “Isolated vs. Integrated Skills Instruction in Texts to Improve Comprehension,” “Organizing the Literacy Block and the Reading Workshop Part 1,” “Organizing the Literacy Block and the Reading Workshop Part 2,” and “What is Integrated Skills Instruction?” The White Papers include “Text Complexity Systems: A Teacher’s Toolkit” and “The Reading Workshop.”
- In Vocabulary, there are two video offerings: “How to Start Teaching a Generative Vocabulary Approach” and “What is a Generative Approach to Vocabulary Instruction?” These videos are both authored by Elfrieda “Freddy” Hiebert, Ph.D.
Indicator 3H
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.
The materials include a progression of content presented in the unit through the weekly plan. Grade level standards are also addressed in the supplemental correlation standards chart.
While the Teacher's Edition does show the progression of the content through the weekly focus guide and what each component of the block will detail as their focus for the week, the standards explanation in the context of the curriculum is not included or linked. The teacher has to use the supplemental correlation standards chart to determine when/where the standards are being covered.
The materials provide the specific lesson outline for when the standards are taught, however, resources do not reference the relationship or rationale for teaching the standards or how they will support the learner. CCSS correlation charts are provided for each grade level in the Getting Started resources online, however, these are not directly included in the Teacher's Edition.
The Teacher's Edition contains a detailed scope and sequence reference (pages R22-R30). The chart outlines everything for Grades K-5 and notes which skills are targeted at each grade level. The chart breaks everything down by where the skills can be found: i.e. Reading Workshop includes foundational skills and reading comprehension. Each topic is then broken down further. For example, foundational skills includes print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics, high-frequency words, word structure and knowledge, and fluency. This breakdown allows for a simple reference to locate at what grade skills can be found while also giving context to the overall curriculum.
Standards are consistently referenced at the beginning of units, in each lessons’ clearly stated objectives, and the assessments. Specifically, the assessment overview on pages xviii-xix give purpose for assessments to meet standards within the context of the overall curriculum.
Indicator 3I
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.
The Teacher's Edition has explanations of instructional approaches and research-based strategies of the program. The program authors/advisory board are presented and have different quotes about components of the program/instructional approaches. The instructional model of the curriculum is explained in the Teacher's Edition for both the overall instructional structure of the block and the daily structure and focus. An explanation of the Reading and Writing Workshop Bridge also provides teachers with the knowledge of those research based strategies.
In the online resources, a teacher can find professional development to guide the instructional approaches used in the curriculum. Each topic has a short (approx. 3-5 minute) video explaining the approach and providing specific purpose and strategies for the topic. The videos are presented by experts in the field. Some topics also have presenter created notes or articles detailing the research based instructional approach with significant references.
Indicator 3J
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents or caregivers about the ELA/literacy program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Information is available for teachers through the unit overview and weekly overview. The Assessment Guide includes letters teachers can send home to parents and caregivers for each unit. These letters outline specifically what will be covered in each unit and provide suggestions for supporting student progress and achievement at home. These letters begin on p. 128 of the Assessment guide and are available in both English and Spanish.
Criterion 3.3: Assessment
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criterion for materials offer teacher resources and tools to collect ongoing data about student progress on the Standards. The materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress. Assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized and they provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up. The materials include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress. The materials indicate how students are accountable for independent reading based on student choice and interest to build stamina, confidence, and motivation.
Indicator 3K
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.
The materials include multiple, varied assessment opportunities throughout the curriculum to measure student progress. Students are assessed in all areas of reading and writing through the assessments presented in the curriculum. Teachers are able to assess students in a base-line, mid-year, and end-of-year assessment. Unit assessments are given to assess the standards addressed in that unit. Within each unit, teachers have access to give students weekly progress assessments. Cold read fluency passages are also used as an assessment monitoring tool for teachers on fluency and comprehension. Each unit also contains an end of unit project, during Week 6, which has a rubric for students to assess student progress. Writing workshop assessments are also offered in the curriculum. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Summative Assessments
- Baseline, Middle-of-Year, and End-of-Year Tests
- Unit Tests
- Cold Reads for Fluency and Comprehension
- Customizable Digital Assessments
- Inquiry-Based Project Rubrics and Checklists
- Progress Check-Ups
- Writing Workshop Assessments.
Through Examview, teachers can create Cold Reads, Progress Check-ups, and Unit Tests using questions from a bank or creating their own. Teachers can also choose from multiple choice, multiple response, and essays, or include all three. The program offers both English and Spanish. Additionally, teachers can monitor and track student progress within Examview.
The program also suggests gathering comprehensive assessment data to inform instructional pathways using embedded daily routines and digital/print assessment resources, such as quick checks, assess and differentiate, assess prior knowledge, assess understanding, observational assessments, conferring checklists, and rubrics. All of these provide ample opportunity to assess student progress in a genuine way.
Indicator 3L
Indicator 3L.i
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
There are several forms of formative, summative and unit assessments within the materials. The Summative Assessments Teacher Manual includes a standards correlation chart for the baseline, middle-of-year, and end-of-year assessments as well as for all unit tests that provides item analysis information for the teacher, including the item focus/skill, DOK level and which standard it measures.
- The Assessment Guide states, “Pearson Realize allows teachers to view each student’s results of assessments taken online, and for assessments aligned to standards, they can see scores by question and by standard. Use the DATA tab of Pearson Realize to view results. Click or tap a bar in the Mastery bar chart to show details of that assessment. Choose the Item Analysis tab to see question level scores. Choose Mastery Analysis tab to see scores by standard.”
- In the Assessment Guide, in the Teacher Form, the Weekly Standards Practice details the “slides” to be presented to students that have formative assessments that are used as a measure of vocabulary, phonics, language and conventions. Alignment of standards is presented at bottom of each slide.
- Under the ExamView, it also mentions that you can search/assign test questions by standard.
Indicator 3L.ii
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.
The provided Assessment Guide is an extensive tool for teachers to provide support in interpreting student data and next steps in instruction. There is a chart included that delineates the types of assessments in the program, examples, when the assessment should be administered, data type, and information regarding how to utilize the data. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Assessment Guide for grades K-5 provides teachers with “ongoing professional development support to read and interpret data to drive instruction.” This 192 page document is designed to support teachers with all types of student assessment throughout the school year. For example, there is a Reading Strategy Checklist, a teacher tool to monitor a student’s knowledge of reading strategies. It is in rubric form with categories of Proficient, Developing, Emerging, and Not Yet. Each chapter has a case study example that ends with a teacher reflection, what’s next, and the take away.
- Chapter 3 of the Assessment Guide is titled Benchmark Assessment and Instructional Grouping. It begins with a case study and then guides the teacher through “What are guided reading levels and how are they used?” It helps to match readers with the correct myView Cold Read level for progress monitoring and has an If...Then chart to help teachers with grouping students. Students are grouped into Developing, On Level, and Advanced and given a suggested instructional focus for reading.
- Questions are provided to guide teachers through the process of looking at data and deciding next steps in Chapter 4 of the Assessment Guide. For example, "Is this student making progress in this small group? Do I need to regroup this student? Do I need to change the way I am instructing this student? Do I need to change the texts this student is reading?"
- In the Writing Workshop section of the Teacher's Edition, there is a section called If...Then which is designed to guide the teacher when doing student conferencing during Writing Workshop. For example, "If students need additional support, Then ask: Which word in a sentence do you always capitalize? If students show understanding, Then ask: Which capitalization rules will you use to help you edit your writing?"
Indicator 3M
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.
The Progress Check-Ups Teacher Manual contain routines, guidance, and progress monitoring tools for teachers to use to monitor students throughout the school year. Examples include, but are not limited to:
Examples of the routines and guidance that is provided to teachers while conducting progress monitoring appears in the Description of the Progress Check-Ups:
- In Kindergarten, there are 25 check-ups—one for each instructional week in the myView Literacy program. Progress Check-Ups assess Kindergarten students in a developmentally appropriate manner. Each Progress Check-Up contains four sections.
- The High-Frequency Words section consists of three multiple-choice questions that assess students’ knowledge of the week’s high-frequency words. Teacher scripting is provided for each item.
- The Phonics section consists of four multiple-choice questions that assess students’ knowledge of the week’s phonics skills. Answer choices are provided as pictures, so that students do not have to be able to read. Teacher scripting is provided for each item.
- The Listening Comprehension section consists of a selection read aloud to students and three multiple-choice questions that assess students’ knowledge of the week’s comprehension focus. Answer choices are provided as pictures, so that students do not have to be able to read. Teacher scripting is provided for each item.
- The Writing section consists of a writing prompt that asks students to draw and write or dictate in a particular writing mode. Teachers may wish to record dictation provided by students.
The Assessment Guides states, “Comprehension is assessed in most of the myView assessment products. The myView Progress Check-Ups, myView Cold Reads for Fluency and Comprehension, myView Unit Tests, myView Middle-of Year Test, and myView End-of-Year Test will help you determine progress in Comprehension on a weekly basis.” The materials also suggest taking running records of students. There are weekly word study lessons built into the program in the myView Reading-Writing Bridge.
- Chapter 4 of the Assessment Guide is titled Ongoing Assessment. The chapter begins with a case study example concluding with teacher reflection, what’s next, and the take away. The materials suggest teachers do formative assessments throughout the school year. “Combined, your observations, running records, inventories, small-group conferences, and Weekly Progress Check-Up results will help inform your understanding of where your students are and how they are progressing.” The Guide also provides teachers with a chart of different types of questions to use for informal assessments that monitor student understanding and gives teachers a guide of what to do next. If a student receives a low score on a Progress Check-Up or shows a lack of adequate progress during the year, the teacher may use myFocus Intervention, Level A to provide the student with additional opportunities to practice high-frequency words, phonics, comprehension, and writing. This can be done through large-group, small-group, or individual instruction. Alignments between individual assessment items and lessons in myFocus Intervention are provided on the Item Analysis Charts.
Indicator 3N
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials indicate how students are accountable for independent reading based on student choice and interest to build stamina, confidence, and motivation.
At the beginning of each unit, a reading log is introduced to hold students accountable for independent reading based on student choice and interest to build stamina, confidence, and motivation. Students are accountable for independent reading using the reading log to record their independent reading. This reading log is found in the Student Interactive. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Students are provided with a reading log in the Student Interactive at the beginning of each unit. They need to record the date, book, pages read, and minutes read. After reading, students rate the book by circling a happy, sad, or straight faced smiley face. In Introduce the unit, Independent Reading, students are directed to self-select texts and “spend increasing periods of time reading and interacting independently throughout the unit to build stamina.”
- In Reading Workshop, Assess & Differentiate, Independent Reading, several teacher suggestions for independent reading include the following: "Reread the shared reading text. Read a self-selected trade book of text. Reread and/or listen to their leveled reader. Partner read a text, coaching each other as they read the book.
Students are provided with a choice during independent reading which should help to build stamina, confidence, and motivation.
- In Unit 1, the teacher explains that they should count the number of words that they do not know on the first page and if they miss five or more words than the book is too hard and they need to select an easier book. The teacher also explains that students should set a purpose for reading. Then students are directed to read page 8 in the Student Interactive. On page 9, there is a My Independent Reading Log where students record the date, title, pages read, and their rating of the book.
- In Unit 3, teachers are asked to have students select a text and set a purpose for reading, hold their books correctly as they read, read a few more pages everyday, and complete the reading log. Then students are directed to read page 10 in the Student Interactive. On page 11, there is a My Independent Reading Log where students record the date, title, pages read, and their rating of the book. Students are given three questions to ask themselves before reading on page 10: "Am I reading to enjoy a story? Am I reading to learn about at topic? Am I reading to answer a question?"
- In Unit 5, teachers are asked to have students circle any unfamiliar words they encounter in their texts, sound out unfamiliar words and try to recognize word parts, and look for context clues in words and pictures. Then students are directed to read page 10 in the Student Interactive. On page 11, there is a My Independent Reading Log where students record the date, title, pages read, and their rating of the book. Students are given three strategies for when they come across an unfamiliar word: "Sound it out. Look for word parts you know. Look for clues in the text and pictures."
Criterion 3.4: Differentiation
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criterion for materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so that they demonstrate independent ability with grade-level standards. The materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards. The materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade-level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards, while also regularly including extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. The materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
Indicator 3O
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.
The Teacher's Edition provides strong support for meeting the needs of all learners, including English Language Learners. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Program Overview breaks down the support in the Teacher's Edition in Reading Workshop to include whole group lessons and small group lessons. These lessons are meant to differentiate and provide support to all students. The materials also focus on the three tiers of instruction. In small groups, leveled readers with lesson plans are included to support guided reading groups. There is a Leveled Reader Teacher Guide, as well as a Small Group Guide to assist the classroom teacher. The Leveled Reader Teacher's Edition provides “possible teaching points for differentiation with DOK levels of complexity.” There are various types of small groups for the classroom teacher to use listed in the Teacher Guide. There are strategy group Minilessons, intervention activities, guided reading, and conferring opportunities.
- Several online tools are available to further support teachers and students. For example, at the beginning of every unit there are “ELL Access videos to build background.” There is a Text Complexity Analysis for the Shared Reading text in each unit. This analysis includes reader and task considerations for English Language Learners, Intervention, and On Level/Advanced to support those learners.
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Shared Reading, Introduce the Text, teachers are provided with ELL strategies:
- Have students use familiar language to help them learn new and essential, or important vocabulary words from the Poetry Collection. Display the vocabulary words, draw, doddle, decorate, and scribble.
- Emerging- Help students by saying the vocabulary words in the context of sentences that use accessible or familiar language. Have students repeat after you.
- Developing- Provide students with sentence frames that use language they would find accessible or familiar. Have student pairs fill in the sentence frames using the vocabulary words.
- Expanding- Have students work in small groups to list accessible or familiar, words that are related to one or more of the vocabulary words.
- Bridging- Have students work in small groups to create a sentence that includes at least one of the vocabulary words. Guide them to use accessible, or familiar, language in their sentences.
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Assess and Differentiate, teachers are provided with intervention strategies: "Read the text on pages 34-35 in the myFocus Reader with students. Use the teaching support online at pearsonrealize.com to provide additional insight for students on how information can bring about new ideas."
- In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 5, Assess and Differentiate, On Level and Advanced, teachers are provided with strategies to use with students who are reading, writing, speaking, and listening above grade level:
- Organize Information and Communicate- Help students organize their findings about famous people who had new ideas into a format to share with others.
- Critical Thinking- Discuss information students learned and the process they used.
Indicator 3P
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The Language Awareness Handbook, myFocus Intervention Teacher Resource Guide, and the Teacher's Edition regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level and meet or exceed grade-level standards. The Teacher Guide provides ELL Targeted Support throughout the units and continues the entire school year. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Program indicates unit launch videos that are included to “spark interest, make connections, and build knowledge to improve students’ comprehension.” The online edition of the Student Interactive provide “audio support and word-by-word-audio highlighting (K-2).” There are also ELL Access Videos to “provide background and help English language learners comprehend leveled texts.” These are all materials to support students working below grade level and English Language Learners with grade-level texts. There is “ELL Targeted Support Embedded at Point of Use” in the Teacher's Edition, as well as “dual language resources.” Sentence Frames are also provided for students to help incorporate academic language.
- The materials for Week 6 in each unit allow students to work on a research project. To support students with their reading of research articles, each article is available in three different reading levels.The teacher is also provided with If...Then conferring tips in Writer’s Workshop.
- “The Language Awareness Handbook is a valuable resource that provides integrated reading and writing support while working in tandem with core Whole and Small Group instruction in MyView. The handbook provides models of scaffolded instruction, useful strategies, and practical routines that you can employ during reading or writing workshop. It is intended that these linguistically accommodated lessons be used during small-group time with students that you determine need additional scaffolded instruction. Refer to this handbook during planning to determine which lessons will provide the most focused scaffolds for your students. You may use any or all of the lessons or lesson parts as dictated by the needs of your students. This handbook is meant not only for the classroom teacher, but can be used by any support person working with the diverse student populations in your school.”
- “myFocus Intervention Teacher Resource Guide targeted instruction focuses on the development of skills and strategies to help students achieve on-grade-level expectations. The lessons are tied to national and state English Language Arts standards. Lessons can be used flexibly, based on students’ differing instructional needs and rates of mastery. Discrete skills are scaffolded into small, manageable Minilessons for thorough coverage, focused practice, and built-in progress monitoring. Data-driven assessments after sets of related lessons allow teachers to monitor students’ progress efficiently and effectively.”
- The Teacher's Edition provides intervention and ELL strategies to teachers for students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English.
Indicator 3Q
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
The materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. The Teacher's Edition and the Extension Activities in the Resource Download Center provide extension opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Leveled Readers include a wide range so that the teacher can match students with their appropriate reading level. Students who read above grade level, read books at their instructional levels. Also, the research articles are leveled into Easy, On Level, and Challenge. Students who are reading above grade level would read the Challenge articles. The Text Complexity Charts also provide prompts/tasks for On Level and Advanced students. In the Teacher's Edition, the Formative Assessment for each week gives students two choices so students can challenge themselves.
- In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Assess and Differentiate, teachers are provided with strategies to use with On Level and Advanced level students: "Have students use 'Helpful Heroes' to form questions about historical people who have helped others. Prompt them to pick one question to investigate this week."
- In Unit 4 of the Extension Activities in the Resource Download Center, students think about the questions provided as they read, write about what they notice, question, and connections as they read, and think as they read.
Indicator 3R
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.
The materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies. These groupings are outlined in the Teacher's Edition with lesson plans to accompany the various grouping strategies. Students work in whole group, small groups, or with a partner. The Teacher's Edition suggests different groupings for various tasks.
Grouping suggestions include:
- In small groups, leveled readers with lesson plans are included to support guided reading groups. There is a Leveled Reader Teacher Guide, as well as a Small Group Guide to assist the classroom teacher. The Leveled Reader Teacher Guide provides “possible teaching points for differentiation with DOK levels of complexity.”
- There are various types of small groups for the classroom teacher to use during Reading Workshop listed in the Teacher Guide: strategy groups, intervention groups, guided reading groups, and conferring with 2-3 students. Teacher-led options for strategy groups, intervention activities, as well as suggestions for on-level and advanced support in the Teacher’s Edition.
- Collaborate Groups suggestions include Book Club ideas in the Teacher's Edition and Writing Club ideas in the Teacher's Edition.
- Partner Work suggestions include Turn, Talk, and Share suggestions throughout the Teacher's Edition and Project-Based Inquiry Project.
Criterion 3.5: Technology Use
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criterion for materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning. Digital materials are accessible and available in multiple platforms. Digital materials are web-based, compatible with multiple internet browsers, “platform neutral,” follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices. Materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning, drawing attention to evidence and texts as appropriate. Digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations and the materials can be easily customized for local use. While the materials include or reference technology that provide some opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other, the materials lack teacher guidance and support on how to conduct collaboration or how the collaboration can benefit student performance.
The overall web platform presents several navigational challenges and can be difficult to navigate when searching for resources or program components.
Indicator 3S
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that digital materials (either included as supplementary to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) are web-based, compatible with multiple internet browsers (eg. Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.), “platform neutral” (ie., Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform), follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
The program is accessible through the internet and follows a universal programming style and allows the use of tablets and mobile devices. Some updates may be required for best compatibility. Evidence includes, but is not limited to:
The Realize and Realize Reader Web system requirements include the latest versions of Google™ Chrome™, Microsoft Edge®, Mozilla® Firefox®, and Apple® Safari®. By designating officially-supported operating systems and browsers, Pearson is able to ensure an optimal user experience; however, Realize and Realize Reader will operate in other, untested combinations of operating systems and browsers.
The Realize Reader Apps compatibility requirements provide the operating systems, devices, screen resolutions and accessibility programs to ensure the best user experience. A systems requirement check for compatibility is provided and includes: Apps / Operating Systems, iOS App: Apple iPad OS 11+, iOS App: Apple iPad OS 12+, Chrome App: Chrome OS only (Mac OS and Windows not supported), Windows App: Windows 10*.
Supplementary digital materials include the Reading Spot App, which houses additional leveled readers to support student reading. Throughout the Program Guide, references are made to the online support and a Google Classroom connection.
Indicator 3T
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning, drawing attention to evidence and texts as appropriate.
Technology can easily be incorporated in a variety of ways to enhance student learning. The program offers a digital platform for student texts, the teacher guides, and support materials.
Digital materials available to students allow students to engage with texts online. The Digital Walkthrough Guide states that students have access to online games to practice vocabulary, spelling, and foundational skills. Students can also highlight and annotate the text, play games, and watch videos.
Online Leveled Reader Support includes ELL Access Videos build background. Interactive Graphic Organizers make reading and thinking active.
The Reading Spot App! allows access to thousands of additional leveled readers and texts. Teachers can search for titles by Lexile® level, Guided Reading level, student interests and genre, language, grade level.
Indicator 3U
Indicator 3U.i
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations.
The materials provide resources for teachers to create custom variations of rubrics and assessments. This helps teachers meet the needs of their students. Teachers also have access to videos that support English Language Learners with visual context. The app for leveled readers allows teachers to access a variety of readers beyond what is suggested in the teaching guides. Teachers can assign multiple assignments to students through the online platform.
The Program Guide states that teachers can differentiate instruction and assessments for students based on their needs. Also in the Program Guide, SuccessMaker is available for Tier 3 intervention support and MyFocus Intervention is available for Tier 2 intervention.
The Digital Walkthrough Guide states that students have access to online games to practice vocabulary, spelling, and foundational skills.
Indicator 3U.ii
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria that materials can be easily customized for local use.
The material provide resources for teachers to create custom variations of rubrics and assessments. There is a tab for state customization that leads to customized lesson plans. This is available for all grades. The units are planned in a way that teachers can choose what best suits the needs in their classroom. All Unit Tests have the ability to modify or edit based on the needs of the students. There is a link for the teacher to customize each Unit Test.
Indicator 3V
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials include or reference technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other (e.g. websites, discussion groups, webinars, etc.)
The instructional materials include some opportunities for students and teachers to collaborate electronically through digital platforms. However, the materials lack teacher guidance and support on how to conduct this collaboration or how the collaboration can benefit student accomplishments.
The Digital Tools reference the Google Classroom Connection video that states students can collaborate through Google Classroom on assignments that are assigned through myView.
The research-based article, “Purposeful Uses of Technology for Literacy and Learning Through Inquiry in Grades K–5” by Julie Coiro, Ph.D., lists the websites and other forms of technology a teacher can use to enhance the literacy practices in the classroom.