2nd Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 in the units and across the yearlong curriculum are high-quality, rich in content, and include science and social studies topics. The anchor texts are of publishable quality, worthy of careful reading, well-crafted, content-rich, and include a range of student interest. 

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Week 5, students listen to Amazing Migrations: Butterflies, Bats, and Birds by Cheryl Willis Hudson. The text has an overall description text structure, but within each section, the text is often organized sequentially to describe and give details about seasonal migration patterns. Maps enhance readers’ understanding of content and are integral to understanding. Text features such as glossary and headings help readers learn science concepts and domain-specific terms. 
• In Unit 4, Week 2, students listen to Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni Gaudi by Rachel Rodriguez. Language is complex and contains many examples of abstract and figurative language. The tone is whimsical, and descriptive sentences, such as "Mountain peaks jag against the sky," provide interest but may prove challenging. Vocabulary may be unfamiliar, such as metalsmiths, monastery, and ruins.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, students listen to Introducing Landforms by Bobbie Kalman and Kelley MacAulay. The informational text contains vibrant photographs of nature which include captions and labels to help guide student understanding. The text features strong content vocabulary about land forms. It is written in a descriptive text structure which include headings and bold print.
• In Unit 5, Week, 5, students listen to Rocks! by Christopher Cheng. The text includes a lot of discipline-specific content knowledge. Students will require background knowledge of the study of rock and other unfamiliar concepts—geology, biology, history (ancient Egypt), and modern architecture. Students will also need support with vocabulary (minerals, igneous, sedimentary, magma).

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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, infographics, poetry, drama, realistic fiction, fables, legends, folktales, biographies, persuasive text, and procedural text. 

Examples of literary texts include:

• Unit 1, Week 5: You Can’t Climb a Cactus by Derrick Barnes
• Unit 3, Week 2: The Legend of the Lady Slipper by Lise Lunge-Larsen & Margi Preus
• Unit 3, Leveled Reader: Three Wishes by David Booth
• Unit 4, Week 4: One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul
• Unit 4, Leveled Reader: Dear Diary by Dona Foucault

Examples of informational texts include:

• Unit 1, Leveled Reader: Notes from Antarctica by Mariel Early
• Unit 1, Leveled Reader: Landmarks of the United States by Gwen McCutcheon
• Unit 2, Week 5: Amazing Migrations by Cheryl Willis Hudson
• Unit 3, Week 4: The Abenaki by Joseph Bruchac
• Unit 3, Trade Book: Celebrating the New Year by Traci Sorell
• Unit 5, Week 2: excerpts from How Water Shapes the Earth by Jared Siemens and How Earthquakes Shape the Earth by Aaron Carr and Megan Cuthbert
• Unit 5, Leveled Reader: Glaciers by Mariel Early

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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. Most of the shared reading texts are within the range of the Grade 2 Lexile band. 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 build in difficulty throughout the school year. The Lexile ratings of the shared reading text begin at 530L and end the year at 710L.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• How Many Stars in the Sky?, 530L: In the Unit 1, Week 1, this shared reading text contains longer sentences with the average length of 9.0 words. The Qualitative analysis suggests students may need additional help with Language, Descriptive language, and Knowledge Demands:  Science knowledge of the stars and the sun. This informational text is very complex with the Levels of Meaning. There is a family theme and a scientific concept of the sun and the stars. Students may miss the implied family themes. 
• You Can’t Climb a Cactus, 530L: This anchor text for Unit 1, Week 5, includes the theme of having a good time despite one’s initial reluctance to try something new. The theme is easily discerned from the main character’s change of heart; a related theme that learning new information can be fun is developed through the high-interest animal and plant life in the Arizona desert. The story includes experiences common to most readers, such as going on a plane/vacation, visiting a museum or nature center, and participating reluctantly in a family event.
• A Home on the Prairie, 730L: This shared reading text for Unit 2, Week 2, includes the Qualitative Measures that suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Author’s use of pronouns and Knowledge Demands: Accessing prior knowledge of prairies.  The sentences are simple, and the vocabulary is mostly familiar and conversational in tone. The subject matter includes some discipline-specific content knowledge that students may find unfamiliar. New words and concepts are defined in the text and in the glossary, and content is presented in very simple terms.
• A Green Kids Guide to Watering Plants, 510L: This anchor text for Unit 2, Week 5, includes an author’s purpose that is implied but easy to identify; the title refers to being “green” and the author states, "Now, it is time to plant and water your fruits and vegetables!" Students can easily infer that the author’s purpose is to explain how to plant and water a garden in a “green” way. Each section of the text has a main idea related to how to be a green gardener. The text also has elements of sequential text structure that follows steps in planting and watering a garden and in related processes. The illustrations and headings enhance understanding of the content and connect ideas. Subject matter includes some common, practical knowledge and some discipline-specific content knowledge.
• The Abenaki, 580L: This story anchor text for Unit 3, Week 5, includes sentences that are mostly simple, but at times the text includes academic vocabulary (effective, culture, society, and traditional). Most domain-specific terms, such as "wigwam," are defined in the text or can be understood from context. Students who are not familiar with the traditions of Native American tribes may find the text challenging. Some students may need support connecting traditions of the Abenaki from long ago (wigwams, using natural resources) to the traditions they have today (powwows, traditional clothing). 
• Excerpt from How Water Shapes the Earth by Jared Siemens, 710L: In Unit 5, Week 2, this informational text is a shared read. The Quantitative Measures place this text in the Grade 2–3 complexity band. The Qualitative Measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Terms for features of Earth’s surface and Knowledge Demands: How water changes Earth by wearing away and building up the land. The language is literal, straightforward, and easy to understand, and sentences are mainly simple. The vocabulary is familiar, conversational, and contemporary. Students may need support in understanding the terms for the land forms and bodies of water mentioned in the text (cliff, coastline, valley, canyon, river, waterfall). Knowledge Demands:  Subject matter relies on common practical knowledge and some discipline-specific content knowledge of land forms and features of Earth’s surface. Students may also find it useful to understand the processes (erosion, weathering) that shape the land. 
• Introducing Landforms, 520L: This anchor text for Unit 5, Week 5 contains sentences that are mostly simple in construction, and the language is mostly straightforward. There is a high density of domain-specific terms, and although these are often defined in the text, the number of new terms may be challenging for students. The text relies on common practical knowledge and some discipline- specific content knowledge. Students may need support connecting familiar land forms they know from their own experience to those that are unfamiliar.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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, students summarize with partners after the Shared Read in Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 2. After the first read, “In pairs have students choral-read the poem aloud...after partners reread the poem, have them summarize the events and ideas in the poem to each other.” In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 4, during the Close Read in Reading Workshop, students summarize the key ideas they learned from the headings. 
• By the middle of the year, students summarize as they read to help independently comprehend and retell the story. In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 2, during the Shared Reading of Reading Workshop, the teacher models during the think aloud: “My purpose for reading is to learn more about the Abenaki. After I read each page, I try to summarize or retell, what I learned. On this page, I learned that Abenaki means ‘Dawn Land Place.’ They have that name because they live in the east. I also learned that the Abenaki language is called Algonquin.”

Examples of how students use details to help determine the main idea of their reading include, but are not limited to:

• In the beginning of the year, the students learn how to use details to help determine the main idea. In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Listening Comprehension, students listen to the read aloud of “Helping the Community” and listen for key details. The teacher rereads the text and uses a think aloud to model finding details and the main idea.
• In the middle of the year,  students use details to help determine the main idea. In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson, Reading Workshop, Leveled Readers, students read the informational text, Game On! Students use details from the story to determine the main idea. The teacher prompts, "What main idea can we take away? What more can you say about this idea and provides scaffolding, if needed."
• By the end of the year, students need to make inferences to find the main idea. In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, after reading Rocks!, students make inferences from the text to determine the main idea. Using the Student Interactive, students underline the text evidence that helps them determine the main idea of the selection.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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, 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, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, students read How Many Stars in the Sky? by Lenny Hort; Genre: Realistic Fiction; 530L. The Quantitative Measures place this text in the Grade 2–3 complexity band. The Qualitative Measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Descriptive language and Knowledge Demands: Stars and the sun; why we see stars only at night.
  "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The text’s multiple levels of meaning are subtle and difficult to separate; the constancy of family is echoed and reinforced by the idea that the stars are in the sky even when they aren't seen. Students may focus on scientific ideas and miss the implied family themes. The first-person narrative is chronological; though it moves through three different settings, it is easy to follow. The illustrations directly support an understanding of the text by showing characters, settings, and events in the story. The language is largely explicit and easy to understand, and the vocabulary is mostly conversational; however, students may need support with informal and idiomatic language (I bet she’d know) as well as unusual verbs in descriptive language (Powerful searchlights beamed from the roofs of the skyscrapers). The story includes themes of varying levels of complexity as it engages both science concepts and family relationships. There are no references to other texts, but students will find some background knowledge about stars helpful. Elements of setting (department stores) may be unfamiliar.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, students read Cendrillon: An Island Cinderella, by Tracey Baptist; Genre: Folktale; 570L. The Quantitative Measures place this text in the Grade 2–3 complexity band. The Qualitative Measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Pronouns with confusing antecedents and Knowledge Demands: Plot of traditional Cinderella story. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." This variation on the classic rags-to-riches Cinderella story contains many of the same intertwined themes, including the importance of the virtues of goodness, kindness, and forgiveness and the idea that greed and ambition will not be rewarded. The third-person narrative is chronological and relatively simple, with recognizable elements of fairy tales and a number of time-order words to help readers track the sequence. Students may need support inferring events in the narrative that are not stated directly: "There was a shipwreck, and Papa did not return." The sentences are mostly simple and compound, but there are some complex constructions. The vocabulary is mostly familiar and conversational. Students may need help identifying antecedents for pronouns when there is more than one option: "She made her scrub pots and sweep the floor." The story includes themes of varying levels of complexity and the experiences portrayed are uncommon to readers. Familiarity with the fairy tale Cinderella is important for students to understand the reference and parallels.
• In Unit 5, Week 4, students read “Volcano Wakes Up!” by Lisa Westberg Peters; Genre: Poetry. The Quantitative Measures are not generated for poetry and drama. The Qualitative Measures suggest that students might need additional support with Meaning: Connecting different poems to a common topic or theme and Structure: Determining the speaker of each poem. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The collection of poems includes speakers with various points of view, connected by one event—a volcanic eruption. There are multiple levels of meaning that are difficult to separate and interpret. Finding a cohesive theme depends on the multitude of voices all adding their own perspective on the event. The collection presents poems from several points of view. Some points of view are repeated, while others are not. Each speaker has a different personality and style, and each poem makes use of different poetic devices. Students will need to consider the structure of each poem apart from the structure of the overall narrative, which is chronological. The language used varies from poem to poem but is overall dense and complex. Figurative language is used frequently, and unusual juxtapositions— particularly when street sign language is used to create lines of poetry—add complexity. Vocabulary includes some informal language and spelling: "I M at the AllUCanEat, AllNt, HotLavaBBQ!". Poems include themes of varying levels of complexity. The experience of being near a volcano is likely to be uncommon to most readers. Students may benefit from prior knowledge of volcanic activity and eruptions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 texts through small group guided reading. A Leveled Readers library available in print and online is also diverse in genre and complexity. 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 4, students listen to a poetry called "A Traveling Alphabet". Next, using the Student Interactive, students read together a compilation of poems in the same genre called Poetry, containing poems such as "Pete at the Zoo," "Keziah," "Rudolph is Tired of the City," and "Lyle". Students Close Read the same text days later with support questions in the Student Interactive. Teachers then have 18 options ranging from Guided Reading Level H to Level M for small group texts. A Matching Texts to Learning resource is offered to teachers who choose to select other texts that match the instructional focus to provide additional texts that fit the weekly theme. 
• In Unit 4, Week 3, students work on realistic fiction in the Reading Workshop with the read aloud, Making a Difference in Your Community. The leveled readers are realistic fiction (How Loose is Your Tooth, Celebrating Eid, Sam’s Stones, Milo’s Basketball, and Grandpa Don’s New Home) and fantasy (Freddy Forget-Me-Not Loses His Laugh).
• In Unit 5, Week 2, students work with the nonfiction genre in the Reading Workshop. Students launch the week with an infographic, “The Grand Canyon.” The Read Aloud consists of two informational texts, Volcanos and Shifting Plates. The Shared Read is another nonfiction text, How Water Shapes the Earth and How Earthquakes Shape the Earth. 
• In Unit 5, Week 3, students begin the weekly launch with the infographic, “Lightning!”. This is a short, informational text. Next, the Read Aloud, “Preparing for the Storm,” is a drama. The Shared Read, When the Rain Falls, is also a drama. Students revisit this text for a close reading on Days 3 and 4.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 are asked to 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 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students answer, “Why does the music stop? Why does Mira put her brush down?” 
• Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read: After a shared reading of “What Is a Community,” students “identify the main idea. Underline the words that tell you the main idea of this section.” Another student task is to “highlight words to tell why the library is a popular place in communities.” Both of these activities require that students engage directly with the text.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read: After the Shared Read The Legend of the Lady Slipper, students “underline the words the author uses to show the girl is a hero to the people in the village.” Later in the text, students answer, “How does the girl figure out how to get out of the snow? Who or what helps her?” and “underline the text that shows who gave the girl advice.”
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Reading Workshop Small Groups, the guided reading prompts include: “What descriptive details does the author use to help you visualize parts of the story? What details help you picture the characters and setting?”  
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 2, Student Interactive, page 39, Check for Understanding, students compare “How are the Frogs in ‘The Frogs at the Rainbow’s End’ and the Mouse in ‘The Mouse at the Seashore’ alike? How are they different?”
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students learn how to annotate the text to use text features. The teacher models for students how to annotate the text to use text features by reading aloud Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni Gaudi. After the teacher explains and models how to identify the text features students have the option to: "1. Students continue to read Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni Gaudi and annotate the text to complete a text feature graphic organizer on page 310 of the Student Interactive. 2. Students create a chart showing text features and how these features help them understand the text, gain information, or locate information."
• In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Shared Read: After a shared read of Who Says Women Can’t Be Doctors?, students answer, “What person caused Elizabeth to want to become a doctor? What event happened that caused Elizabeth to want to become a doctor?” Students must go back into the text to underline the details to reference the text in order to answer the questions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 1, the Unit Essential Question is, "How do different places 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 can we learn about a place when we look at it closely?
• Week 2 Essential Question: How can people improve their neighborhoods?
• Week 3 Essential Question: How does living in a community help people?
• Week 4 Essential Question: How do different places make us feel? 
• Week 5 Essential Question: How can a new place help us change and grow?
• In Unit 3, the Unit Essential Question is, "What makes a tradition?" 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 stories do people tell to understand the world around them?
• Week 2 Essential Question: What stories do people tell to understand the world around them?
• Week 3 Essential Question: How can a traditional story be told in different ways?
• Week 4 Essential Question: What makes a Native American tradition?
• Week 5 Essential Question: How does food help make a tradition?
• In Unit 5, the Unit Essential Question is, "How does earth 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: What are some of Earth's changing features?
• Week 2 Essential Question: How do natural events change the earth?
• Week 3 Essential Question: How does weather change Earth?
• Week 4 Essential Question: How does a volcano eruption change Earth?
• Week 5 Essential Question: What can rocks explain about how Earth changes?

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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. 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 2, Week 5, Lesson 5, students follow the prompt given on page 406 of the Student Interactive to Disagree Respectfully when needed in a discussion with a partner. Examples of sentence starters that help students disagree respectfully can be found on the same page: “I agree with you about …, but, …” or “I see what you mean about…, but I also think…”
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 2, during the first read of The Abenaki, students are asked to think about the author’s message. Students discuss, “What is important to the Abenaki? How do you know?”  Sentence frames are provided if needed: “_____ is important to the Abernaki because _____.”
• In Unit 4, Week 6, Lesson 3, students challenge the text by critically thinking about literacy. Using an article, students review and recognize characteristics of a text. Students are given sentence stems to help clarify their positions on taking action. Students discuss orally and take turns with their partners. They are encouraged to use academic vocabulary from the unit. 
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 3, Describe Connections, teachers are directed to give students extra oral practice using their vocabulary words to describe connections between stories. Sentence frames are provided for this activity: "Some different resources we find on Earth are _____ and _____. Our environment can be affected by _____."
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 5, during the reflect and share lesson, the teacher models how to participate in the discussion by referring to the text to support original opinions or ideas. Students are given sentence starters: “I think _____. I read _____.” The students then talk about it with peers.
• In Unit 5, Week 6, Lesson 4, Project-Based Inquiry, Collaborate and Discuss, students create a TV infomercial that persuades the audience to agree with their opinions about the most exciting way Earth changes. Students decide if they will post a video of their infomercial on the school’s website or read the script aloud to the class. The teacher  reminds students of the effective traits for giving a speech:
• Speak clearly at an appropriate pace and remember your purpose: to persuade. Sometimes you may want to raise your voice and speed up your pace. At other times, you may want to slow down and speak more softly. Either method may help you persuade your audience to agree with you.
• Listen attentively to other presenters. Pay attention to facts and opinions in each one.
• Make personal connections to your own experiences as you listen.
• Ask appropriate questions and listen to the answers. Listen carefully to questions from the people who hear your presentation, and give thoughtful answers. Share information that focuses on the topic under discussion.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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, Week 2, Lesson 1, students respond to the read-aloud by orally completing a graphic organizer to tell who the main characters are and name their character traits. Answering the questions, “Who are the main characters in this story? What are they like?”
• In Unit 1, Book Clubs, students read Friends Around the World in small groups. After reading, students discuss the photographs in the book. Students will list Noticings, Connections, and Wonderings about the photographs on the Discussion Chart. If groups are having a hard time deciding what to discuss, the teacher asks the following questions: “What do you notice about the size of Ho Chi Minh City? What differences do you notice about weather in the places pictured in the book?”
• In Unit 1, Week 6, Lesson 5, Celebrate and Reflect, students write and present a persuasive paragraph about a favorite place in their community. Pairs of students will practice presenting their essays with other teams. Before presenting the paragraphs, the teacher reminds students of the traits of effective speech:
• “When I read the essay aloud, I do not stare down at my paper. Once in a while, I looked up to make eye contact with my audience.”
• “I shared my ideas by speaking clearly at an appropriate pace. I did not rush. I read a little more slowly than I usually talk so the audience could hear and understand every word.”
• “To make sure others understood the information and ideas I shared, I followed language conventions, including speaking in complete sentences. I pronounced each word correctly.”
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 2:  Reading Workshop, Shared Read, during reading What’s in the Egg, Little Pip?, the teacher prompts students to “talk with a partner about how Pip and Merry feel when they find out both of their families have an egg. What is the author saying about how it feels when friends share feelings?” Students must use evidence from the story to answer these questions.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, Genre and Theme, students learn about the elements and structure of fables. Students turn and talk with a partner to answer the following questions: “Tell what happens in a fable you know. What is its moral? What makes it a fable?”
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Genre and Theme, students learn the elements and characteristics of a legend, then students read Thunder and Lightning. Students discuss the text with a partner and tell why it is a legend. 
• Unit 4, Week 6, Students read the research article, “Time Capsules,” to build background knowledge. Students work in partners to discuss text connections, using sentence stems provided: “This reminds me of ____. One item that is important to me is ____. I read a book about sharing or saving things, and I remember ____.”
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 1:  Genre & Theme, students discuss in small groups the Earth’s features using the Infographic, “Earth’s Features.” The teacher provides questions to facilitate discussion among the groups: “How does the air protect us from harmful light and objects in space? What are the different types of water on Earth? Why do clouds drop rain and snow on Earth? Where does the rain go?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 ending with 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 3, during the second and third Minilessons of the Writing Workshop, students explore and then apply the “structure of fiction” to a text. In Minilesson 2, students explore the structure and the teacher presents story characters, settings, and plots using the suggested Mentor Stack. In Independent Writing, students think of plots for their fiction stories and, if needed, teachers guide the development of their idea through the use of the conference prompts. In Minilesson 3, students deepen their plots by elaborating on problems and solutions. As students become more familiar with the structures, they begin writing their own stories. 
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Writer’s Workshop, students learn that a list article is an article in which the author lists numbered details that support a main idea. Students then begin to create their own list article, using the Stack Books as models to identify a topic, main idea, and create graphics.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, students study folktales. They are given a beginning sentence in thei Student Interactive and are asked to add details to the story. For example, “Imagine you are writing the story of Cinderella. Start with this sentence and write two more sentences. Choose words to help you develop story events. Cinderella’s stepsisters are getting ready for the ball.”
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Compare Texts, students choose buildings from their readings and write an opinion about two of the buildings. Students are provided with a resource in the Student Interactive which defines what an opinion is and includes a list of opinion words to support student writing. This is a short, focused writing activity that is connected to the texts they have read.
• In Unit 4, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Writing Workshop, students collect personal items to include in a group time capsule. Students also write letters to themselves about the time capsule. In the first Minilesson, students plan their letters by thinking about key words and vocabulary to use in an internet search. In the second Minilesson, students begin collecting items to put in their time capsule. In the third Minilesson, students create a list of the items in the time capsule and why they included that item. In the fourth Minilesson, students write their letters. Then they revise and edit their letters. In the fifth Minilesson, students share their time capsule with the class.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reader’s Workshop, Shared Reading, students read How Water Shapes the Earth and How Earthquakes Shape the Earth. Students then respond in writing to answer the question, “What did you learn from reading these texts?” Students complete the following free write: “Write about the most interesting thing you read in the two texts. Why did you find it so interesting?”
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Writing Workshop, the first and second Minilessons cover editing the text for pronouns and capitalization. Students review sets of texts and practice editing skills. In the Independent Writing block, students review their own sets of procedural writing for correct use of pronouns and capitalization. The teacher uses the conference prompts on page 396 of the Teacher Edition to guide the process. In the Student Interactive, page 662, students edit the greetings and closings of a letter for correct abbreviations and capitalization. In the next three Minilessons in Week 5 of the Writing Workshop, students revise their procedural writing one last time before publishing and celebrating (sharing) their texts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 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 the 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 3, Reader’s Workshop, Close Read, after reading Places We Go, the teacher models finding clues in the text to determine the main idea. Using the underlined clues in the text, the teacher guides students in finding the main idea in three sections of the book. Students then record the main ideas on the chart in the Student Interactive. Then, in Lesson 4, Close Read, students read Places We Go. Students learn what text evidence is and how to identify it to support the main idea. Then students are asked to complete one of the following tasks: "1. Complete the text evidence graphic organizer on page 119 of the Student Interactive. 2. Read a text independently and use a graphic organizer to identify text evidence and the main idea of the text."
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 5, Reflect and Share, students read Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni Gaudi. Students learn that writers include opinions in their writing. Then students make personal connections and write an opinion about a text using details and examples from the text. Students are asked to complete one of the following tasks: "1. Students use page 312 of the Student Interactive to write their opinion using details from the text about two buildings they read about in Building on Nature: The Life of Antoni Gaudi. 2. Students write an opinion paragraph about a text that they have read independently. Students will use details and examples from the text to support their opinion."
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, after rereading the texts, How Water Shapes the Earth and How Earthquakes Shape the Earth, students use a graphic organizer to compare and contrast water and earthquakes, using their close read notes in the Student Interactive. Support for writing a comparison is provided under the ELL Targeted Support section with sentence frames: “Both water and earthquakes can _____. Water does it _____. Earthquakes do it _____.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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. The 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 then 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.  

Materials include explicit instruction of all grammar and conventions standards for the grade level, and materials include opportunities for students to demonstrate application of skills both in- and out-of-context. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Students have opportunities to use collective nouns (e.g., group). 

• In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Collective Nouns, the teacher and the students read the definition of collective nouns, then the students choose the correct form of a word and write it into a sentence.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, Language & Conventions, Spiral Review, the teacher reminds students that a collective noun names a group of persons or things emphasizing that it is singular even though it names a group of more than one. With a partner, students create a list of collective nouns and put the words into sentences.

Students have opportunities to form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns (e.g., feet, children, teeth, mice, fish). 

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 1, Language & Conventions, Irregular Plural Nouns, Spiral Review, teachers are directed to remind students that a word is plural when it names more than one of something. Teachers review irregular plural nouns with examples. Teachers provide word cards and with students categorize them into singular and plural nouns. Afterwards, students categorize the plural nouns into regular and irregular.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 5, Language & Conventions, Irregular Plural Nouns, the students write an irregular plural noun into a sentence.

Students have opportunities to use reflexive pronouns (e.g., myself, ourselves). 

• In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Bridge, Language & Conventions, Reflexive Pronouns, the teacher reminds students that a reflexive pronoun is one that refers back to the subject. The teacher writes a sentence frame on the board and helps students complete the sentence with a reflexive pronoun. With a partner, students complete another sentence frame with a reflexive pronoun and explain their choice.
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Writing Workshop, Edit for Pronouns, the teacher uses scripted language to explain to the students what reflexive pronouns are in the context of a sentence written on the board. Students orally provide additional example sentences that contain reflexive pronouns. Students edit a paragraph to correct mistakes regarding reflexive pronouns.

Students have opportunities to form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (e.g., sat, hid, told). 

• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Irregular Verbs, the teacher writes present tense irregular words on the board and students generate orally with a partner the past tense of the irregular verbs.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Irregular Verbs, p. 241, the teachers remind students that while -ed can be added to most verbs to form the past tense, irregular verbs do not follow this rule. The teacher tells students that they will need to memorize the spellings of irregular past tense verbs. The teacher displays present tense sentences. Students choose correct irregular verbs and then change them to past tense to complete the sentences. 

Students have opportunities to use adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified. 

• In Unit 4, Week 5, Writing Workshop, Edit for Adjectives and Adverbs, the teacher displays a stack text, then reads from the script in the Teacher Edition to state the definitions of adjectives and adverbs. In the Student Interactive, p. 441, students edit a paragraph. Students add adjectives and adverbs to enrich the passage and also correct mistakes in the usage of adjectives and adverbs.

Students have opportunities to produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences (e.g., The boy watched the movie; The little boy watched the movie; The action movie was watched by the little boy). 

• In Unit 5, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Apply Rearranging Words, the teacher reads a script to model the effectiveness of rearranging words and sentences. In the Student Interactive, p. 627, students revise a paragraph by rearranging words and/or sentences.

Students have opportunities to capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names. 

• In Unit 4, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Capitalization and Commas, the teacher reads a script to explain that “names of people, places, months, and days of the week should always be capitalized.” In the Student Interactive, p. 405, students edit a letter by correcting capitalization errors.

Students have opportunities to use commas in greetings and closings of letters. 

• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Teach Commas in Dates and Letters, the teacher writes a friendly letter on the board and explains to students where commas go in greetings and closings. The teacher asks the students to tell where the commas should go in the example letter. The students tell the teacher where the commas go.

Students have opportunities to use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives. 

• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Possessive Nouns, p. 319, the teacher reminds students that a possessive noun shows ownership. With students, the teacher reviews the placement of an apostrophe. Student volunteers complete the routine.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics, Review Contractions, the teacher reviews the rule of turning two words into a contraction. The teacher writes an example on the board. Students are provided with words and engage in a matching activity connecting words with the corresponding contractions.

Students have opportunities to generalize learned spelling patterns when writing words (e.g., cage → badge; boy → boil). 

• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling, Spell words with ou, ow, oi, oy, the teacher writes words on the board that contain the target orthographic patterns. The teacher says each word, while circling the target pattern. Students write new words with the same spelling patterns. 

Students have opportunities to consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings. 

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Writing Workshop, Explore Tools Authors Use, the teacher explains how to use a dictionary by saying that students should think about how a word is spelled, then work to find the word in the dictionary. If they cannot find it with the first spelling they imagined, they should think of a different spelling. Students are told they should also review the definition. The teacher models looking up a word. Students work in groups using dictionaries to determine if words given by the teacher are spelled correctly or not.

Students have opportunities to compare formal and informal uses of English. 

• In Unit 3, Week 6, Lesson 4, Inquiry and Research, Extend Research, Write a Thank You Note, p. 426-427, the teacher reminds students that letters and thank you notes are usually formal. The teacher shares a model example of a thank you note and review the parts including how to formally close a thank you note.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 the year, Grade 2 students receive explicit instruction in phonics in each unit. Lessons within each unit include a five-day focus with systematic and explicit instruction. Students are engaged in phonics lessons during the Reading Workshop Word Work instruction. Students are engaged in a variety of activities that allow them to interact with the instruction of phonics, including decoding and encoding words based on letter patterns, and recognizing common orthographic letter patterns. 

Materials, questions, and tasks directly teach foundational skills to build reading acquisition application in and out of context. Lessons and activities provide students opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills while decoding words (e.g. distinguish long and short vowel sounds, apply spelling-sound relationship on common words, decode two-syllable words with long vowels). Example include, but are not limited to: 

Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Long and Short Vowels, p. 22, the teacher shows the students two pictures in the Student Interactive of a bat and gate asking the students to listen to the vowel sound in each word and name the short and long vowel. Students listen to the teacher say short and long vowel words clapping once for short vowels and twice for long vowels as practice. This lesson leads into a phonics long and short vowel lesson; the teacher explains that CVC words are short vowels and models decoding short vowel words. Students practice by comparing short vowel words with long vowel e final ending words.
• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 3 (Flexible Option), Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling Spell Words with Short Vowels, p. 78-79, the teacher has students spell five one-syllable words with closed syllables while the teacher underlines the short vowel in each. Also, using Spelling from the Resource Download Center, p. 23, students spell one-syllable words with closed syllables and short vowel sounds by reading words from the word box and writing a spelling word to complete sentences.
• In Unit 1, Week 2, Flexible Option, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling Spell Words with Long Vowels (CVCe), p. 154-155, the teacher displays five CVCe words and reads and spells the first word aloud. Students repeat after the teacher then read and spell the remaining words aloud.
• Using Spelling from the Resource Download Center, p. 24, students spell one-syllable and multisyllabic CVCe words by reading words from the word box and writing a spelling word to complete sentences.

Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling Spell Words with Long a: ai, ay, ea, p. 152-153, the teacher explains that the long /a/ sound can be spelled ai, ay, and ea. The teacher writes main, pay, daybreak, sailor, and great on the board, says each word emphasizing the long /a/ sound as they underline the long /a/ spelling pattern. Students spell these one-syllable and multisyllabic words. In Student Interactive p. 285, students spell one-syllable and multisyllabic words with vowel teams.
• In Unit 2, Week 5, Lessons 2 and 3, Reading Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling Spell Words with Long o: o, oa, ow, pp. 390-391, the teacher explains that the long vowel /o/ can be spelled several ways with vowel teams. During the model and practice, the teacher displays words for students, and they practice underlining the letters that work together to make the long /o/ sound.
• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Review Vowel Teams oo, ue, ew, ui, the teacher explains that vowel sounds can have multiple spellings. The teacher writes example words on the board, and underlines the vowel sound spelling (i.e., spoon, clue, few, and fruit). The teacher and the students orally decode the words. The teacher uses explicit language and thinks out loud to the students. The teacher explains to look at spelling patterns in words to help with reading the words. The teacher defines vowel digraphs. The students work in student pairs to sort words with the target spellings into columns based on their vowel sounds. 

Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics:  Decode Words with Open Syllables V/CV, p. 102-103, the teacher points to the word go on p. 280 of the Student Interactive, says the word emphasizing the long vowel sound, and explains that it is an open syllable. The teacher points to the word, paper, and explains it has two syllables, the VCV pattern and VCV syllable division. The teacher points to the word, bonus, says the word, and leads students in breaking the word into syllables and blending back. In Student Interactive, p. 280, students read the words with open syllables in the chart and divide the words into syllables, underlining the open syllable in each word.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work: Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Open Syllables V/CV, the teacher reminds the students that there is a vowel sound in every syllable. The teacher explains that a syllable that ends in a vowel often means the vowel says its long sound. The teacher uses explicit language and thinks out loud to the students, explaining the number of vowel sounds s/he hears, and the letter patterns s/he sees. The teacher writes the word, robot, on the board and the students segment the word in syllables, then blend the syllables to say the word. The students write two words given to them by the teacher. The students then "break the words into syllables and identify the long vowel." In Student Interactive, p. 281, students decode words with open syllables by writing the syllables of each word on lines and circling the open syllables.

Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.

• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode Words with Suffixes -ly, -ful, -er, -less, -or, p. 182, the teacher explains a suffix is added to the end of the base word to create a new word and meaning. The teacher adds the suffix -ly to a word and discusses the new meaning; students identify the meaning and use the new word in a sentence. In the Student Interactive, p. 322, students practice underlining the base word and circling the suffix of words.
• In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 2,  Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Prefixes un-, re-, pre-, dis-, p. 266, the teacher reminds the students that the prefix changes the meaning of the base word, and the teacher reviews decoding words with a prefix. Students practice by saying the word, the prefix, and the words meaning for five words; the students also decode by identifying the prefix and read the words aloud. In  the Student Interactive, p. 367, students decode the words with prefixes and identify the word meaning based on the prefixes.

Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences. 

• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop Word Work, Phonics: Decode Words with Vowel Teams oo, ue, ew, ui, p. 330, the teacher explains that oo, ue, ew, ui are all vowel teams that make the same long vowel /u/ sound. In the Student Interactive, p. 174, the teacher models and students see and practice saying words with different long /u/ vowel teams noticing the spelling that represents the sound.
• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 3 (Flexible Option), Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling Spell Words with Vowel Teams oo, ue, ew, ui, p. 390-391, the teacher reminds students that the sound in soon can be spelled with the vowel teams oo, ue, ew, and ui. The teacher displays the words cue, fewer, cocoon, and cruise. Students spell each word and then sound out and say each word. Volunteers use each word in a sentence. Also, using Spelling from the Resource Download Center, p. 151, students read words with vowel teams oo, ue, ew, and ui from the word box and complete sentences. 

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonics instruction to build toward application.

• In Scope and Sequence, Phonics, Unit 1, p. R28, it indicates the following skills are 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 1, such as short vowels, long vowels (CVCe), consonant blends, consonant digraphs, and inflected endings.
• In Unit 2, the phonics skills include long /a/ (ai, ay, ea), vowel digraph ie, long /e/ (ee, ea, ey, y), and long /o/ (o, oa, ow).
• In Unit 3, the phonics skills include long /i/ (i, ie, i_e, igh, y), comparative endings, r-controlled vowels (er, ir, ur), diphthongs (ou, ow, oi, oy), vowel teams (oo, ue, ew, ui).
• In Unit 4, the phonics skills include closed syllables (VC/V), open syllables (V/CV), suffixes, prefixes.
• In Unit 5, the phonics skills include: homographs, double consonants, vowel patterns (aw, au, augh, al), syllable pattern VCCCV, and abbreviations.

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

In myView, text structures and text features are frequently taught during teacher mini lessons and are referenced multiple times over the course of the five units. Student activities include orally identifying text features, sequence of events, main ideas and details, and facts that are the same and different across texts. For text structures, materials support instruction with student engagement in Writing and Reading Workshop. Students are provided lessons and practice to help build their understanding of the text structures with activities that allow the student to apply the skills with an activity such as underlining or discussing the function and importance of the structure. For text features, students are given opportunities to practice locating, naming, and establishing the purpose of the features in the text. 

Students have opportunities to identify text structures (e.g. main idea and details, sequence of events, problem & solution, compare and contrast, cause and effect). For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Describe and Understand Plot Elements, the teacher models how to look for sentences that describe plot elements related to the main event, the problem, and the resolution in a passage on the students' interactive. Students underline the sentences that describe how the main character solves her problem.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Reflect and Share, Write to Sources, the teacher models how to organize a paragraph by explaining that a main idea is the first part to think about and can become the topic sentence. The teacher explains that writing sentences to support the main idea is the next important part of writing a paragraph. The teacher provides this explicit instruction in the context of writing a paragraph about animals. Students develop a paragraph in response to a paragraph using the modeled approach the teacher showed the students.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Compare and Contrast Stories, the teacher describes how to compare and contrast two stories. The teacher uses a graphic organizer to show how to write items that are the same across the stories in one column and items that are different in a second column. Students find additional items to compare and contrast and share them with the group. Students work independently with an additional pair of stories to create their own two-column chart to note items that are the same and different across the two stories.
• In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Identify Text Structure, the teacher describes how to identify sentences that indicate sequence of events, then underlines the sentences to show students the technique of using underlining in close reading activities to identify important parts of the text. The teacher explains words in the text that indicate time-order of events. The students mark their independent texts where they find time-order words indicating sequence of events.
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Identify Main Idea, pages T374-375, the teacher explains informational texts have a main idea and authors develop the main idea with supporting evidence. The teacher uses the Close Read note on p. 638 of the Student Interactive to model how to underline sentences that state and support the main idea. In the Student Interactive, p. 654, students use what the class underlined to complete the chart on  identifying the main idea and providing supporting evidence. 

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

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Read Like a Writer, Write for a Reader, How Graphic Features Support Purpose, pages T370-371, the teacher models using the example on Student Interactive p. 188 to show students how graphic features can enhance understanding. Students write a sentence about an animal they like and draw a picture to help the reader understand.
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Writing Workshop, Explore Text Features, p. 245, the teacher displays an article and the students identify the text features and name its purpose. The teacher and students also identify the bold words and discuss the importance.  
• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Understand Text Features, the teacher models a think-aloud to the students regarding the use of text features in a passage on the Student Interactive. The students work in pairs to discuss why the author used certain text features in the text.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Use Text Features, the teacher models how using text features helps to understand text. Students create a chart listing the text features and noting how the features help them understand the text. Titles, pictures/illustrations, captions, and headings are included.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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.

During phonics and word study Minilessons, which are in each five-day sequence of each unit, students have the opportunity to read and write words with the high-frequency word focus. High-frequency words are introduced and/or reviewed on a daily basis. Students have multiple opportunities to develop automaticity of grade level words through multiple reads of leveled readers. The materials include a range of leveled texts to use with students in small group instruction each week. The leveled texts contain a comprehensive Teacher's Edition to provide purpose and direction. 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 the option of choosing a recorded voice to expressively read the text to them as words are highlighted.

Materials provide students practice to gain decoding automaticity and sight-based recognition of high-frequency words as well as reading fluency in oral reading.

Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to purposefully read grade-level text. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Realistic Fiction, pages T328-T329, the teacher introduces elements of realistic fiction text. The teacher instructs students to think about the purpose for reading realistic fiction, the main events, and details about the character’s problem while reading. The teacher models determining the purpose for reading realistic fiction. In the Student Interactive, page 164, students complete the Turn and Talk activity, discussing with a partner their reasons for reading You Can’t Climb a Cactus.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Introduce the Text,  p. 270, the teacher introduces vocabulary for the text, What’s in the Egg Little Pip?, and explains that understanding the vocabulary helps with text understanding. In the Student Interactive, p. 344-365, students apply First Read Strategies when reading the text independently, in pairs, or as a class.

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 grade level decodable words. For example: 

• In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, Fluency, p. T367, the teacher reminds students that fluency is about reading words accurately at an appropriate rate. Students practice reading every word correctly by rereading paragraphs 7-9 aloud several times with a partner.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, Fluency, p. T133, the students practice reading with fluency by reading aloud paragraphs 14-19 several times with a partner. Students are instructed to read the dialogue with feeling, or prosody. Students read in a different voice for the old woman and the little girl to show their points of view.
• In Unit 3, Leveled Readers, Learning About Traditions, the teacher states to the students that when they read, they should read at a speed that is not too fast.  The teacher explains that an appropriate rate makes the text easier to understand. The teacher models appropriate rate by reading an email in the text. Students read other emails in the text with a partner, with a focus on appropriate rate.
• In Unit 4, Leveled Readers, Cool Clubs, the teacher states to the students that when they read they should read the words the author wrote. The teacher models a non-example by reading a text then adding, omitting, and replacing words in the passage. 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 reads the author text accurately.
• In Unit 5, Leveled Readers, Freeze Frame, the teacher states to the students that when they read, they are to look to the names of characters and emotions of the words used when characters are saying or doing something (i.e., said, cried, explained or asked) to help them know how to read the text with expression. The teacher models reading with and without expression. Students practice reading the sentences with expression. 
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Informational Text, p. 346, the teacher pairs up students and assigns an informational text from the classroom library. The students practice skills for accuracy and fluency. In the Student Interactive, p. 634, students partner read the same page to increase fluency and accuracy and help one another with challenging words.

Materials support reading of texts with attention to reading strategies such as rereading, self-correction, and the use of context clues. For example:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 2, p. 48, Reading Workshop, Close Read, Vocabulary in Context, the teacher explains that students can use words in a sentence to help identify the meaning of an unfamiliar word. In the Student Interactive, p. 32, students underline words that help to identify the word meaning.
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Academic Vocabulary, Context Clues, the teacher states to the students that context clues are words and pictures that can help them understand what an unknown word means. The teacher points out a sentence on the Student Interactive, then demonstrates a think-aloud showing the students how to use the words around the unknown word to understand its meaning. Students complete a worksheet on the Student Interactive where they circle words in a short passage that provide clues to new vocabulary words. 

Students have opportunities to practice and read irregularly spelled words. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics:  Consonant Digraphs ch, sh, wh, th, ph, and Trigraph tch, page 254, the teacher reviews consonant digraphs and trigraphs. Students name consonant digraphs and trigraph while the teacher writes them. Students name some words with the digraphs or trigraph. Teacher models how to make a word web for consonant digraphs. Pairs of students draw a word web, write their assigned consonant digraph or trigraph in the center of the web and write as many words as they can around it. Partners share their webs and read words aloud. Partners choose two words from their webs and write two sentences, each using one of the words.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, High-Frequency Words, the teacher tells the students that the high-frequency words of the week, including the word, kind, are words they will see often in text. The teacher writes the words on the board. Students come to the board, point to the high-frequency words, then say the word out loud. The students then write contextual sentences on the Student Interactive with the high frequency words of the week.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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.

Each week, students learn and apply word analysis and word recognition skills to connected text, decodable stories, and written tasks. This is done through the use of weekly Reading Workshop and Reading Writing Workshop Bridge instruction using teacher modeling, student collaborative practice, and the Student Interactive practice. Students have opportunities to read irregular words in the context of decodable readers. Students have weekly opportunities to decode and spell/write then apply the phonics skills to their work. 

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.

Materials support students’ development to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills (e.g apply spelling-sound relationship on common words, decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels, decode words. The following skills are taught: 

Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 2, Teacher-Led Options, Independent/Collaborative, Decodable Readers, students read the decodable reader, A Hot Job. The Reader contains short vowels.
• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 2, Teacher-Led Options, Independent/Collaborative, Decodable Readers, students read the decodable reader, Homes. The Reader contains CVCe words. 

Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Writing Workshop Bridge, p. T390, the teacher reminds the students about vowel teams as digraphs (oo, ue, ew, ui). The teacher displays four words and models saying the words, underlining the sounds, repeating the sounds, and having the student spell the words. In the Student Interactive, p. 209, students practice completing 12 sentences by filling in the correct vowel team word from the list.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lessons 4 and 5, Reading Workshop, Decodable Text, Read A Small Tree in a Big Wind, the teacher introduces a decodable reader by telling the students they will practice reading a story that contains the vowel patternsm aw, au, augh and al. The teacher points out two ways the sound /aw/ is spelled in words in the story. Students first read the test silently, then chorally with a partner.

 Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.

• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Long /e/, p. T256, the teacher reminds the students that a sound can be represented by different spellings (ee, ey, y). In the Student Interactive, p. 338, students write long /e/ words in sentences.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lessons 4 and 5, Reading Workshop: Decodable Text, Read Spider's Web, the teacher models how to hear two vowel sounds in the word, spider, and that the first syllable contains a long vowel sound. The teacher asks the students where the word will break. Students tell the teacher the word breaks after the first vowel letter. Students orally read the word, then read the story.

Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode Words with Inflected Endings -s, -es, -ed, -ing, p. T320, the teacher writes sentences and models decoding the words with inflected endings. In the Student Interactive, p. 161, students decode words with inflected endings and tell their meanings in pairs.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Review Comparative Endings, p. T98, the teacher reminds the students that the suffix is added to the base word to show comparison. The teacher models with three words adding the suffix and the students decode. The students work in pairs to play a card game to practice using the base word with adding -er and -est, reading and using the word in a sentence.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lessons 4 and 5, Reading Workshop, Decodable Text, Read A Place to Play, the teacher explains that the students will read a decodable text that contains words with suffixes. After the students have read and reread the story, the teacher models by saying how s/he can "hear and see the suffix -er on the word leader." The teacher points out the base word, then asks students to talk about what the word with its suffix means. The teacher repeats the activity with another word with a different suffix. The students identify then orally read words from the story with suffixes.

Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences.

• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics:  Decode Words with Vowel Sound Spelled aw, au, augh, al, p. T180, the teacher displays sound-spelling cards 56, 57, 58, and 106. The teacher reads the words, audience, daughter, hawk, and chalk, and explains the different spellings for the /aw/ sound. In the Student Interactive, p. 550, the teacher guides students in identifying the vowel sound in law and how it is spelled. Students read words in the chart and listen for the vowel sound in each word. Partners reread the words in the chart and underline the letters that make the vowel sound. Students choose one word from each spelling pattern and use it in a sentence.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Text, Read A Small Tree in a Big World, p. T186, the teacher introduces a decodable text in the Student Interactive, p. 553, and asks the students to look for the letter pattern, aw, au, augh, al. The students read the text silently and then with a partner. After reading, the teacher asks the students to identify the words from the text with certain letter sound patterns.
  

Materials provide frequent opportunities to read irregularly spelled words in connected text and tasks. The following skills are taught:

Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words

• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, High-Frequency Words, p. T27, the teacher explains that some words are not spelled the way they sound. The teacher explains that one needs to look closely at these words. The teacher has the students write down the words, eyes, earth and thought. After the students write the words, they read them out loud to a partner. The students then complete a worksheet where they insert the words into contextual sentences.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Lesson 2, Teacher-Led Options, Independent/Collaborative, Decodable Reader, p. T63, the teacher shows the students the high-frequency words from the week's lesson and reminds students they will practice reading them in the story. Students read the decodable story, Talent Show, containing the high-frequency words, sometimes, mountains and young, twice with a partner.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 2, Teacher-Led Options, Independent/Collaborative, Decodable Reader, p. T61, the teacher shows the students the high-frequency words from the week’s lesson and reminds students they will practice reading them in the story. Students read the decodable story, A Goose in Need, containing the high-frequency words, heard, door, and sure.

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

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Spelling: Spell Words with ar, or, ore, oar, the teacher explains the letter combinations for ar. Students complete Spelling on p. 28 from the Resource Download Center, which requires students to write the word that belongs to each clue in a sentence.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, High-Frequency Words, p. T27, the teacher reviews high-frequency words of the week (different, between, even). The teacher uses short sentences to have students identify, read, and spell words. In the Student Interactive, p. 221, students identify, read, and write the high-frequency words in each sentence. Partners write this week’s high-frequency words in a list and read them to each other several times.
• In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Prefixes un-, re-, pre-, dis-, p. T266, the teacher reviews how to decode words with prefixes, un-, re-, pre-, and dis-, and  displays words with prefixes. The teacher leads students in saying the prefix, word, and meaning. Students complete this process with remaining words. Students write sentences using each word. In the Student Interactive, p. 367, students decode words with prefixes in sentences and the word’s meaning.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 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 fluency strategies and information about how to utilize assessment data to form groups and use data to drive instruction. Teachers are guided to assess students through observation and conferring, formal assessments, samples of student work, and informal progress checks. Formative assessments are provided in Quick Check, Assess and Differentiate, Assess Prior Knowledge, Assess Understanding, Observational Assessments, Conferring Checklists, and Rubrics. Cold reads allow student’s progress to be tracked weekly using grade level reading passages for comprehension and fluency, accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression. 

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. For example:

• The online Grade 2 Baseline, Middle-of-Year, and End-of-Year Test, reads the directions and questions to the student. The Baseline allows the student to demonstrate foundational skills in phonics and high-frequency words.
• The Middle-of-Year assessment allows the student to demonstrate foundational skills in high-frequency words and phonics. The following question is an example of a phonics question on the mid-year, grade-level test that includes 16 phonics questions such as the multiple choice questions: "Which word has the same sound as the long i in hike?" Answer choices: dip, drip, side.
• The End-of-Year test allows the student to demonstrate foundational skills in high-frequency words and phonics. The following question is an example of a phonics question on this mid-year, grade-level test that includes 16 phonics questions: "Which word has the same sound as the long i in kite?" Answer choices: baby, kitten, pencil.
• In Grade 2, Summative Assessments Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, there are fluency assessments. In the oral Fluency Checks, the teacher is provided the assessment passage and tools to check a student’s fluency. There are explicit instructions for the teacher on administering, scoring, and interpreting the fluency results. Fluency assessments are optional.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Formative Assessment Options, p. 257, students use strategies to decode long vowel /e/ words with the spelling, ee, ea, ey, y. Students can use the Student Interactive, p. 338, to read the word and identify the long vowel /e/ sounds or use letter tiles and create and decode long vowel /e/ words with the ee, ea, ey, y. The teacher will use this Quick Check to notice and assess the students ability to decode and write words with the long vowel /e/ spellings, then decide if students have understanding or struggles, then move into the appropriate small group instruction.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Teacher Led Options, Fluency, the teacher works in a small group of 2-4 students. The teacher has students read orally to assess proficiency on reading rate and accuracy. The teacher uses the Fluency Progress Chart to note student performance.

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

• In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Assess & Differentiate, Teacher-Led Options, Fluency, Prosody, p, T280, the teacher selects two stanzas of a poems for students to take turns reading with appropriate phrasing and expression and models if needed. Students read pp. 19-24 in Unit 1, Week 4, Cold Reads for fluency assessment. The teacher uses the Fluency Progress Chart to track student progress.
• In Unit 4, Week 5, Progress Check-Ups Online, students are read the directions and each question along with the answer choices. This online assessment is used to monitor student progress on standards learned each week. In this check, the student is assessed on phonics.
• In Cold Reads for Fluency and Comprehension: Teacher's Manual with Student Reproducibles 2, How to Identify Miscues and Errors, the teacher is given explicit directions on how to code student errors including guidance on omissions, substitutions and insertions of words. Guidance is provided for how to code errors related to mispronunciation, hesitations, and self-corrections.

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

• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Teacher-Led Options, ELL Targeted Support, p. T216, the teacher is provided activities for both emerging/developing students and expanding/bridging students. With emerging/developing ELL students, the teacher writes quickly and slowly and works with students to identify the word within the word. The teacher explains that these are words with affixes added. The expanding/bridging ELL students go through the text and find words ending in -ly and use the word within the word to determine the meaning.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Decode and Write Words with Open Syllables V/CV, the teacher uses a Quick Check to determine if students are able to decode and write words with the open syllable V/CV pattern. "If students struggle, revisit instruction for Phonics in Small Group on pp. T142-144. If students show understanding, extend instruction for Phonics in Small Group on pp. T142-143."
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Teacher-Led Options, Intervention Activity, the teacher works with a small group of students in an intervention group. The teacher provides explicit instruction in multisyllable words with double consonants, a lesson that was already introduced to the whole class. The students identify words with the targeted pattern in connected text.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 lessons and activities that allow for differentiation of foundational skills to achieve mastery. For example: 

• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness, Recognizes Changes in Words, p. T172, the teacher reminds students that each sound is important in a word. Changing a sound will change the word. The teacher tells students they can make new words by changing the middle sound or phoneme in a word. The teacher points to a picture of a pen. The teacher states the word and emphasizes /e/. The teacher points to a picture of pan. The teacher states the word and emphasizes /a/. The teacher says pan and pin. Student identify the different sounds. Students name a set of pictures in the Student Interactive, and students identify what sound changes. 
• In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics, Decode and Write Words with Prefixes un-, re-, pre-, dis-, p. T266, the teacher reminds the students prefixes change the meaning of a base word. The teacher displays unwise, unwell, rewind, precook, disagree. The teacher points to unwise. The teacher states, "This word has the prefix un-. I know the prefix un- means 'not.' So unwise means 'not wise'.” Students say the prefix, the word, and its meaning. The teacher points to the remaining words. Student identify the word by reading the prefix, reading the word, and saying the meaning. Students write sentences using each word.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, High-Frequency Words, the students are reminded that high-frequency words are words students need to learn by remembering the letters. Students read the following words: become, across, during. The teacher states, “If I can recognize these words quickly as I’m reading, I can read more fluently. Using them in sentences is one way to help me remember them.” Students underline the high-frequency words in sentences. Students write their own sentence for each word. Students share their sentences with peers.

Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support each student’s needs. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Formative Assessment Options, Quick Check, the teacher is prompted to answer the following question about students: "Are students able to decode and write words with the digraphs and trigraph? If students struggle, revisit instruction for Phonics in Small Group on pp. T278-279. If students show understanding, extend instruction for Phonics in Small Group on pp. 278-279."
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, ELL Targeted Support, the teacher provides English Language Learners (ELLs) with extra practice with the week's new letter-sound correspondence. The teacher tells the ELLs to watch her mouth as the /er/ sound is stated. The students repeat the sound. The teacher then writes several words that contain the /er/ sound. The students say the words with the teacher.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Formative Assessment Options, Quick Check, the teacher is prompted to answer the following question about students: "Are students able to identify and write words with double consonants? If students struggle, revisit instruction for Syllable Patterns in Small Group or pp. T140-141. If students show understanding, extend instruction for Syllable Patterns in Small Group on pp. T140-141."
• In myFocus Intervention Guide, Level C, Practice and Assess, Lesson 6, Vowel Teams ea, oo, ey, y, ie, ee, p. 56, the teacher reminds students that vowel sounds can be spelled different ways and that you can spell the short /e/ sound spelled ea. The teacher models the word head, isolating the short /e/ sound. The teacher guides students in practicing the vowel sound in the word together. Teachers extend practice by having students identify and pronounce other short /e/ words spelled ea.

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, Lessons 4 and 5, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Review Vowel Digraph ie, p. T178, the teacher reminds students that the digraph ie can stand for the long /i/ sound in pie or the long /e/ sound in field, writes words on the board with ie, says the words, and asks students what long vowel sound they hear in each. Students repeat words, identify the vowel sound, look back at p. 293 in the Student Interactive, choose three words with the ie digraph and write a sentence for each.
• In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 4 and 5, Reading Workshop, p. 343, the student is provided Additional Practice of spelling of long vowel /o/ and /e/ irregularly spelled words and high-frequency words in the My Words to Know found in the Resource Download Center. The Resource Download Center is for teachers to provide extension exercises through reproducibles in phonics, high frequency words, decodable reader booklets, and spelling to support foundational skills.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Foundational Skills, High-Frequency Skills, Minilesson, the teacher states that the target high frequency word is hard to remember and states that students should "look closely", then write it and read it out loud. The students write the word and read it to their partner. Two additional high frequency words are written and read by the students. In Turn, Talk and Share, the students complete a worksheet in the Student Interactive. Students read the target high-frequency words, then complete the sentences using the target words. In the Decodable Text, Read Rabbit's Kite, the students read a decodable text with the same high-frequency words practiced in Reading Workshop earlier in the week. The students practice reading sentences from the decodable with a partner using prosody.