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Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: Open Court Reading Foundational Skills Kits | ELA
ELA K-2
The Open Court Reading Foundational Skills Kits for Kindergarten meet the expectations for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction and partially meet in Grades 1 and 2. Materials for Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 partially meet the expectations for implementation, support materials, and assessment. Foundational skills instruction includes a research-based synthetic approach with systematic and explicit instruction; however, there is a lack of daily encoding instruction which may hinder orthographic mapping. Materials also include decodable texts aligned to the program’s scope and sequence for phonics and high-frequency words. Materials include explicit instructional support for general concepts of print and provide a variety of physical books for student practice. Materials include explicit instruction and student practice in phonological awareness and include multimodal and multisensory approaches for student practice. Materials include explicit instructional routines for Sound-by-Sound Blending, Word Building, Whole-Word Blending, and Blending Sentences which are used frequently throughout the unit lessons. Materials provide frequent opportunities for students to read high-frequency words in context; however, there is very limited practice, if any, for writing high-frequency words in context. Materials include explicit instruction of word analysis strategies and some opportunities for explicit instruction and practice of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding of decodable books; however, fluency is modeled infrequently by the teacher. The materials contain no explicit directions for the teacher to model how to engage a text to emphasize reading for a purpose. Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year; however, materials do not include assessment results guidance in the following areas: determining the proficiency level of students based on stages of reading development and specific, concrete instructional suggestions on how to support students’ progress toward mastery.
Kindergarten
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
1st Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
2nd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
Report for 1st Grade
Alignment Summary
The Open Court Reading Foundational Skills Kits for Grade 1 partially meet the expectations for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. Materials include sufficient and explicit instruction regarding features of a sentence, such as capitalization, punctuation, and word spacing; however, there is a lack of explicit information on how print concepts are taught with student materials. Materials provide teachers with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds, and spoken words, however the teacher does not explicitly teach distinguishing long from short vowel sounds without showing students vowel graphemes. Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics standards. The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks; however, students are provided with limited daily activities to practice encoding newly and previously taught sound patterns. Materials include some systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words. Materials include explicit instruction of word analysis strategies and some opportunities for explicit instruction and practice of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency; however, fluency is modeled infrequently by the teacher. Materials do not provide explicit lessons for the teacher in confirming and self-correcting errors in fluency.
1st Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Usability (Gateway 2)
Overview of Gateway 1
Alignment to Standards and Research-Based Practices for Foundational Skills Instruction
The Open Court Reading Foundational Skills Kits for Grade 1 partially meet the expectations for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. Materials include sufficient and explicit instruction regarding features of a sentence, such as capitalization, punctuation, and word spacing; however, there is a lack of explicit information on how print concepts are taught with student materials. Materials provide teachers with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds, and spoken words, however the teacher does not explicitly teach distinguishing long from short vowel sounds without showing students vowel graphemes. Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics standards. The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks; however, students are provided with limited daily activities to practice encoding newly and previously taught sound patterns.Encoding practice begins in Unit 2 of the materials. Materials include some systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words. Less than half the words are irregularly spelled words. Materials include explicit instruction of word analysis strategies and some opportunities for explicit instruction and practice of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency; however, fluency is modeled infrequently by the teacher. Materials do not provide explicit lessons for the teacher in confirming and self-correcting errors in fluency.
Criterion 1.1: Print Concepts and Letter Recognition (Alphabet Knowledge)
Materials provide clear directions to model the formation of each uppercase and lowercase letter. Students practice saying the directions to form letters, and they write letters in the air and on their palms. Materials include sufficient and explicit instruction regarding features of a sentence, such as capitalization, punctuation, and word spacing; however, there is a lack of explicit information on how print concepts are taught with student materials. Previously learned print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation are included in some of the Warm Up activities and in student Skills Practice pages. There is minimal review of letter formation.
Indicator 1A
Indicator 1A.iv
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction to print and to practice the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1 provides clear directions to model the formation of each uppercase and lowercase letter. Students have the opportunity to practice letter formation during guided practice. Students practice saying the directions to form letters, and they write letters in the air and on their palms.
Materials include clear directions for the teacher concerning how to explain and model how to correctly form each of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).
Print all upper- and lowercase letters.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Penmanship, provides a Penmanship/Handwriting document which shows hand and paper positioning. The document provides both ball-and-stick and continuous stroke penmanship models with formation instructions for all uppercase and lowercase letters.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Penmanship, there is a video clip demonstrating how to form letters in the ball-and-stick model for each uppercase and lowercase letter. The videos do not include voice directions, only visuals.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 1, letter recognition, the teacher explains how to form the capital A and lowercase a.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 8, letter recognition, the teacher explicitly indicates the necessary strokes to form the letters Tt, Uu, and Vv.
Materials include frequent opportunities for students to practice forming all of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase)
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 5, guided practice, students write the uppercase and lowercase letters Kk Ll, and Mm and underline the best form letter for each letter written.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 9, guided practice, students write the uppercase and lowercase letters Ww, Xx, Yy, and Zz and underline the best form letter for each letter written.
Materials include frequent opportunities for students to practice forming letters using multimodal and/or multisensory methods.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 1, the teacher instructs students to write the letter a in the air or on their palms while they say the directions to form the letter strokes and as the teacher models.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 5, students write the letters k, l, and m in the air before writing the letter on paper.
Indicator 1B
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials provide instructional support for general concepts of print and connect learning of print concepts to books (K-1) and provide cumulative review of print concepts, letter identification, and printing letters. (K-early Grade 1).
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, provides a review of concepts of print, letter identification and letter formation. Materials include sufficient and explicit instruction regarding features of a sentence, such as capitalization, punctuation, and word spacing. Teachers use big books to teach concepts of print and have students identify the features of a sentence. Previously learned print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation are included in some of the Warm Up activities and in student Skills Practice pages. There is minimal review of letter formation. Although students engage in reading pre-decodables and decodables on their own and with partners, there is a lack of explicit information on how print concepts are taught with student materials.
Materials include limited explicit instruction for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., recognize features of a sentence).
Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation).
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, About Sentences, the teacher reminds students that sentences have punctuation and capitalization. The teacher asks students to identify the punctuation in the sentences displayed, identify capitalized words, and explain why the words are capitalized.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 3, About Sentences, the teacher reminds students about end punctuation and capitalization. The teacher has students identify the end punctuation in sentences displayed and identify capitalized words.
Materials include limited lessons, tasks, and questions for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., recognize features of a sentence).
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, Features of Print, the teacher displays a big book and asks students to count the number of sentences on the page, identify where the sentence begins, and asks about the feature of the first word in a sentence and about punctuation.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 1, Dictation and Spelling, the teacher uses a sentence dictation routine and reminds students to use capitals and end punctuation when writing.
Materials include a variety of physical books ( e.g.,teacher-guided, such as big books) that are suitable for the teaching of print concepts.
In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 3, Warm Up, the teacher presents a big book and asks a student to point to spaces between words and another student to count the number of words in the line. The teacher repeats the process for additional students and additional lines in the text.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 5, Fluency, the teacher uses a teacher's copy of the student decodable to model and read the story first with students prior to students using their own copy to read the book.
Materials include limited explicit instruction about the organization of print concepts (e.g. recognize features of a sentence) in the context of a book.
In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 1, Features of Print, the teacher presents a big book and tracks words from right to left and bottom to top until students correct the tracking. The teacher calls on a student to demonstrate where to begin reading.
Materials consistently include opportunities for students to engage in authentic practice using print concepts in the context of student books.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 3, Reading a Pre-Decodable, the teacher explains that books are read from left to right and top to bottom. The teacher models, and the students read their copy of the pre-decodable with a partner, taking turns.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 5, Reading a Decodable/ Core Decodable 5: “Cal Can Bat”, Reading the Decodable, students each have a copy of the book and are asked how to find a specific page in a book. Students point to a page number. The teacher reads the title, author, and illustrator pointing to each word and then asks students to explain the job of the author and illustrator.
Materials contain periodic cumulative review opportunities during which the teacher reminds students about previously learned grade level print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation.
In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, Warm Up, the teacher explains that reading occurs from left to right and top to bottom. The teacher asks students to point to the first word and track from left to right.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 7, Warm Up, the teacher reviews letters a-p with the students with a recognition drill using sound/spelling cards.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonics and Decoding, the teacher reviews the sentence features of the first word, capitalization, and punctuation by having students identify the features in the text.
Materials include students’ practice of previously learned print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 1, Features of Print, the teacher presents a poem in a big book and reviews counting the number of words and spaces in sentences.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 1, page 1, students practice writing the uppercase and lowercase Aa and Bb.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 5, page 1, students practice writing the uppercase and lowercase letters Kk, Ll, and Mm.
Criterion 1.2: Phonological Awareness
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonological awareness.
Materials provide teachers with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds, and spoken words, however the teacher does not explicitly teach distinguishing long from short vowel sounds without showing students vowel graphemes. Students also have limited opportunities to practice distinguishing long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words without seeing the vowel grapheme. Materials include some multimodal and multisensory approaches to student practice.
Indicator 1C
Materials have frequent opportunities for students to engage in phonological awareness activities during Kindergarten and early Grade 1.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials have daily opportunities for students to engage in phonological awareness activities through Kindergarten and early Grade 1.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, contains phonological awareness activities consistently through each five-day instructional sequence and uses routines to introduce new concepts. Students have ample opportunity to orally practice blending onset and rimes, singing songs to substitute long vowels in words, identifying rhyming words, and orally segmenting words into sounds.
Materials include a variety of activities for phonological awareness.
In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 2, the teacher uses the lion puppet to help students isolate and say initial sounds in words.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 3, the teacher uses the lion puppet to say the onset and rime of a word and asks the students to blend the sounds and state the whole word.
In Unit 5, Lesson 2, Day 1, students substitute the first sounds of a given word.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 1, students sound out each phoneme in a given word.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition, Resources, Songs, students listen to and hear the song “Apples and Bananas” which repeats with substituting the long vowel sound (e.g. eeples, ipples, opples, upples) in the words.
There are frequent opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Unit Planner found on the first page of each of the 12 Units, identifies the phonological/phonemic awareness skill taught or reviewed each day.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, through the menu, teachers can access the course map which shows what is taught during each day regarding skills.
Indicator 1D
Materials provide explicit instruction in phonological awareness through systematic modeling across the K-1 grade band.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction in phonological awareness through systematic modeling across the Kindergarten-Grade1 band.
Instructional materials provide teachers with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds, and spoken words, however the teacher does not explicitly teach distinguishing long from short vowel sounds without showing students vowel graphemes. Teachers can access videos in the professional learning section in the menu for examples on instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words called for in grade-level standards along with written examples in the Teacher Edition.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide the teacher with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words.
Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 5, Phonemic Awareness, Listening for /i/ and /ī/, the teacher writes a long, thin /i/ on one side of the board. The teacher points to the letters and tells students that these long letters say their name, or make the /ī/ sound. On the other side, the teacher writes a shorter, stouter /i/. The teacher tells students that these short letters make the /i/ sound. Materials state, “Explain that you are going to say some words. If students hear /ī/, they should point to the long /i/ and say /ī/. If they hear /i/, they should point to the short /i/ and say /i/.(e.g., did /i/ dine /ī/ wish /i/ win /i/ hide /ī/”).
Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonological and Phonemic Awareness Phoneme Blending, the materials state that the teacher tells students they will say a beginning sound. Then the Lion Puppet will say a word part. Materials state, “The game is to blend your sound and his word part to make a new word. Use the puppet to demonstrate:
Teacher: /sss/
Teacher: /sss/
Puppet: nō
Puppet: lōw
Teacher: /sss/-/nō/. Snow!
Teacher: /sss/-/lō/. Slow!”
Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phoneme Segmentation: Initial Sounds, this activity introduces students to the idea of isolating sounds in words or phoneme segmentation. Using the Lion Puppet, the teacher tells students that today he wants to teach them a new game. Materials state, “You will say a word and then they will say only the first sound of the word. Demonstrate with the
Puppet:Teacher: chair, Puppet: /ch/, Teacher: sail, Puppet: /s/”
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 1, Phoneme Segmentation: Final Consonant Sounds, using the Lion Puppet, materials state, “tell students that you will say a word, and they will say only the final sound of the word. Demonstrate with the puppet. Teacher: maze Puppet: /z/ Teacher: plan Puppet: /n/
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 3, Phoneme Segmentation: Medial Vowels, using the Lion Puppet, the teacher tells students that they will say a word and the Lion Puppet will say only the sound in the middle of the word, the vowel sound. The teacher uses the puppet to demonstrate: “Teacher: jab Puppet: /a/ Teacher: fin Puppet: /i/. Your turn!”
Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 4, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation: Individual Sounds, the teacher says some words, and the Lion Puppet repeats the word sound by sound. Materials state, “Use the puppet to demonstrate: Teacher: map Puppet: /m/ /a/ /p/ Teacher: hot Puppet: /h/ /o/ /t/”
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation: Individual Sounds, the directions tell the teacher to read a list of words and have students repeat each word sound by sound.
Materials provide the teacher with examples for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words called for in grade-level standards.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, through the menu, teachers have access to professional learning videos about phonological/phonemic awareness, phoneme manipulation, and medial sounds. The teachers can watch a teacher utilizing the Lion Puppet with students to complete a section of the lesson.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, provides examples in each of the phonological/phonemic awareness lessons.
Indicator 1E
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials provide practice of each newly taught sound (phoneme) and sound pattern across the K-1 band.
Instructional materials include ample opportunities for students to practice each new sound and sound pattern. For each unit, students have three to five practice opportunities to master skills such as substituting, phoneme blending, oral blending onset and rime, and oral segmenting. Students have limited opportunities to practice distinguishing long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words without seeing the vowel grapheme. OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1 includes mostly oral practice and does include some multimodal and multisensory approaches to student practice.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide opportunities for students to practice each new sound and sound pattern.
Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Day 3, Phonemic Awareness, Listening for /e/ and /ē/, the teacher says words such as see, bread, head. When students hear long /ē/, students say /ē/ and give a thumbs up. When students hear short /e/, students say /e/ and give a thumbs down.
In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 2, Warm Up, Listening for /o/ and /ō/, the teacher says words such as go, boat, top. When the students hear long /o/, students say /o/ and give a thumbs up. When students hear short /o/,students say the /o/ and give a thumbs down.
Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Common Core Standards Correlation, there is a range of one to twenty opportunities per unit for student practice in Units 1-8.
In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonological and Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Blending; Initial Consonant Sounds, students practice blending initial consonants.
In Unit 4, Lesson 2, Day 3, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Blending; Single-Syllable Words, students practice blending single-syllable words.
Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Common Core Standards Correlation, there is a range of two to thirteen opportunities per unit for student practice in Units 1-8.
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation: Final Consonant Sounds, students practice segmenting final consonant sounds.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 5, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation: Medial Vowels, students practice segmenting medial vowels.
In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 5, the teacher says a word and asks students to repeat only the first sound in the word. The students practice identifying the beginning sound of 15 single-syllable words.
Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Common Core Standards Correlation, there is a range of one to four opportunities per unit for student practice in Units 2-10.
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 2, the teacher uses the lion puppet to model how to segment a word into individual sounds. The teacher says the word hid and uses the puppet to model the individual sounds, /h/ /i/ /d/. The teacher asks the students to say the individual sounds in 12 additional words.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation: Individual Sounds, students practice segmenting individual sounds.
In Unit 4, Lesson 3, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation: Individual Sounds, students practice segmenting individual sounds.
Materials include a variety of multimodal/multisensory activities for student practice of phonological awareness.
In Unit 4, Lesson 2, Day 4, the teacher uses the Apples and Bananas song as a review for long vowel sounds. The students sing along, replacing the vowels with the long vowel sound of /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ while they sing.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 5, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation, students practice saying the whole word and then only saying the final sound.
In Unit 7, Lesson 2, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation, students use magnetic boards with a grid. Students move counters to spaces on the grid to represent each phoneme in a given word.
Criterion 1.3: Phonics
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonics.
Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics standards. Materials include explicit instructional routines for Sound-by-Sound Blending, Word Building, Whole-Word Blending, Blending Sentences, Sounds-in-Sequence Dictation, Whole-Word Dictation, Sentence Dictation, Closed Syllables, and Open Syllables. Materials include lessons that provide students with frequent opportunities to decode phonetically spelled words, read complete words, and review previously taught grade-level phonics daily through sound-by-sound blending routines, blending sentences routines, whole-word blending routines and oral language warm-ups. Students have frequent opportunities to decode words in sentences through materials in the ePresentation resources, Core Decodables, Practice Decodables, and through student Skills Practice Pages. Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build, manipulate, spell, and encode newly taught sound and spelling patterns. The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks through the use of generating words with a certain letter/sound where the teacher writes the words on the board and points out certain spellings of sounds in words; however, students are provided with limited daily activities to practice encoding newly and previously taught sound patterns. Encoding practice begins in Unit 2 of the materials.
Indicator 1F
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling.
Materials include explicit instructional routines for Sound-by-Sound Blending, Word Building, Whole-Word Blending, Blending Sentences, Sounds-in-Sequence Dictation, Whole-Word Dictation, Sentence Dictation, Closed Syllables, and Open Syllables. Sound/Letter cards are used for many activities. Digraphs are introduced in Unit 3, but not intentionally practiced again until Unit 11. Additionally, routines are consistent for the introduction of each new sound pattern and students have the opportunity to hear, say, encode, and read each pattern within the same lesson.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics standards.
Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, the teacher uses Routine 1, Introducing Sounds and Spellings Routine, to introduce /th/ spelled th. The teacher displays Sound/Spelling Card 33—Sloth, points to the picture, and tells students this is the Sloth Card. The teacher points to the th spelling and tells students that when the letters t and h come together, they make one new sound, /th/. The teacher then plays the “Sloth Story” which has a repeated line, “He thumps like this: /th/ /th/ /th/ /th/.” The name of the card, the sound, and the spelling are reviewed. The teacher writes th and says /th/. Students use their fingers to write the spelling several times in the air, on their palms, or on the surface in front of them as they say /th/. The lesson continues with words that end in /th/.
In Unit 11, Lesson 2, Day 4, Warm Up, What I Saw Game, the students pretend to go on a journey and see many things that start with different sounds. Students suggest an item beginning with /sh/, such as shell, shark, or ship. The teacher provides the following sentence frame: “On my journey, I saw a _____. It begins with /sh/." The game is extended by having students repeat the previous answers before adding their own. After a few students have participated, the teacher changes the target sound and is reminded to include other consonant digraphs: /th/ and /ch/ for beginning sounds and /ng/ and /nk/ for ending sounds.
Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 4, Phonics and Decoding, About the Words, 16 regularly spelled one-syllable words are provided. The teacher points out that the words each have one syllable. Students identify the vowel sound/spelling in each word and then identify the kind of spellings that come before and after the vowel in each word. The teacher asks them which vowel sound a vowel makes when it is closed in by consonants in a word or syllable. The students identify the consonant blends in the words ramp and risk. The teacher points to crab and crib and students identify the sound and the spelling that differs in each word. The lesson continues with the word pair drop and drip. The words rock, rack, kid, and kit are used to review /k/ spelled k and -ck. Students identify the sound/spelling for /k/ in each word.
In Unit 5, Lesson 2, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, the teacher uses Routine 2, the Sound-by-Sound Blending Routine, to blend the words: use, used, mule, huge, cub, cube, cut, cute
Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
In Unit 4, Lesson 3, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, Introduce the Sound/Spelling, the directions tell the teacher to write a list of words on the board (e.g., make, base, state), say each word sound by sound, and use two fingers to bracket the a_e spelling.
In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 1, Warm Up, Phonics and Decoding, the teacher uses Routine I to introduce /oo/ for ew. The teacher points to ew and tells students this is another spelling for /oo/.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, About the Words, the teacher uses Sound/Spelling 43-Hawk and Routine I to introduce au. The teacher explains that au does not come at the end of the word or syllable.
Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, About the Words, students identify the sound/spelling that is different in each word on the line (kit, kid, Kim, Kip). The teacher reminds students that each syllable in a word contains a vowel sound. They count the vowel sounds in each word to determine how many syllables it contains. The teacher reminds students that when a vowel is closed in by consonants, it makes the short sound.
In Unit 5, Lesson 2, Day 4, Phonics and Decoding, About the Words, students identify and count the vowel spellings and syllables in each word. (hum, human, pup, pupil). The teacher points out that /u/ has the short sound in the closed-syllable words hum and pup and the long sound in the open-syllable words human and pupil. Students identify the spelling for /ū/ in the words (united, unicorn, uniform, unison), and then students identify and count the vowel spellings and syllables in each word.
Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, About the Words, the teacher explains to students that each word (deadlock, breadbox, headset, bedspread) is a compound word, or a word made up of smaller words. The teacher points out that each word that makes up these compound words is a separate syllable. The students blend the words syllable by syllable and are reminded that each syllable in a word has a vowel sound/spelling. Students identify the vowels and then count and clap the syllables in each word.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonics, Blending, About the Words, using Routine 11, the Open Syllables Routine, to help students blend the multisyllabic words, the teacher writes the word open and has students count and say its syllables (two: o-pen). The teacher points to the first syllable and reminds students that a syllable that ends with a vowel spelling is called an open syllable. Vowels in open syllables usually have the long sound.
Read words with inflectional endings.
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 4, Phonics and Decoding, About the Words, the teacher tells students that pins, drums, and balls are plural nouns. Pins mean “more than one pin,” drums mean “more than one drum,” and balls mean “more than one ball.”
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 5, Phonics and Decoding, Review the Sound/Spellings, the teacher uses Sound/Spelling Cards Hen and Exit to review /e/ spelled e and /ks/ spelled -x. As the teacher touches each card, students name its picture and then say the sound for the spelling. To review the sounds for -ed, the teacher writes the following words on the board, spotted, spelled, stacked, and students say each word sound by sound and identify the sound for the -ed ending.
Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade-level phonics pattern.
In Unit 2, Lesson 2, Day 5, the teacher follows Routine 6, Word Building Routine, to have students spell the words. Students use their a, b, g, j, i, r, and s Letter Cards to make jab, jig, rag, bag, brass, grab.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher introduces the sound of the /ks/ spelled x. The teacher points to a picture card of an X and demonstrates the sound. The teacher asks the students to say the sound of the /ks/ blend and read eight words with the x at the end of the word, and dictates two words with the /ks/ spelled x for students to practice writing.
In Unit 11, Lesson 3, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, the teacher follows Routine 8, the Whole-Word Dictation Routine (summer, searching, corner, shirt, charm, farm, earlier), and Routine 9, the Sentence Dictation Routine (Carter heard a dog barking), with the words and sentence.
Indicator 1G
Materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.
Materials include lessons that provide students with frequent opportunities to decode phonetically spelled words, read complete words, and review previously taught grade-level phonics daily through sound-by-sound blending routines, blending sentences routines, whole-word blending routines and oral language warm-ups. Students read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills through the use of the Whole-Word Blending Routine and Sentence-Blending routine when working with Sound/Spelling Cards, pages from the Student Edition, and word lists/sentences from the ePresentation Resources. The review activities found throughout the lessons provide students an opportunity to review previously learned grade-level phonics.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode (phonemes, onset, and rime, and/or syllables) phonetically spelled words.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, students engage in the Sound-by-Sound Blending Routine in which they decode a word list with words with the /k/ sound.
In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, the teacher uses Instructional Routine 2, the Sound-by-Sound Blending Routine, and Instructional Routine 4, the Blending Sentences Routine, to have students blend the words and sentences. In About the Words, students identify the spelling for /th/ and identify where in the word the spelling appears.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, students engage in the Closed Syllables Routine in which they decode a word list with words with the /s/ spelled ce and ci.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, students engage in the Blending Sentence Routine in which there are two sentences with words with the /k/ sound.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, students engage in the Whole-Word Blending Routine in which they are to blend words with spelling ce and ci as a unit.
In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding /oo/ spelled ew, Blending, the teacher uses Instructional Routine 3, the Whole-Word Blending Routine, and Instructional Routine 4, the Blending Sentences Routine, to have students blend the words and sentences from the ePresentation Resources.
Materials contain opportunities for students to review previously learned grade-level phonics.
Unit 3, Lesson 2, Day 5, the teacher reviews the sound of the /e/ spelled ea. The teacher uses the sound-by-sound blending routine and reads the words thread, breath, bread, and spread.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 3, Warm-Up, students read “New Pet” and identify words with the spelling ie and ae.
In Unit 11, each day’s phonics activity is to review either the different ways a long/short vowel /e/ can be spelled along with reviewing consonant digraphs and r-controlled vowels. Students go on to read a list of words and sentences with these phonics concepts from the ePresentation Resources.
Materials contain a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade-level phonics.
In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 5, Phonics and Decoding Review the Sound/Spellings, the teacher points to each Sound/Spelling Card being reviewed: 1, 2, 4, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, and 20 from the ePresentation Resources. Students name the picture on each card, say its sound, and name the spelling or spellings. They identify which cards are for vowels and which are for consonants. Students explain what the green band on the vowel cards means.
In Unit 10, Lesson 2, Day 2, the teacher plays “Which Doesn’t Belong” with students. The teacher writes words on the board and asks students which word does not belong and why. The teacher accepts any response that follows previously taught rules.
In Unit 11, Lesson 3, Day 5, Phonics and Decoding Review r-Controlled Vowels, Blending, the teacher reviews r-controlled vowels by having students reread the words and sentences from Days 1 and 2 from the ePresentation Resources of words and sentences.
Indicator 1H
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials promote frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
Materials provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding regular words in sentences and frequent student opportunities to decode words in sentences. Student materials include pre-decodable and decodable books and routines include reading and re-reading the books to build fluency. Students have frequent opportunities to decode words in sentences through materials in the ePresentation resources, Core Decodables, Practice Decodables, and through student Skills Practice Pages.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1 Teacher Edition, Instructional Routine 4, Blending Sentences Routine, Sound-by-Sound, students blend each word using the Sound-by-Sound Blending Routine. Once all the words have been blended or read, students reread the sentence naturally, with expression and intonation. In Whole Word Blending, as students become more automatic in blending, the teacher writes the whole sentence, and students read the words, stopping to blend only those words that cannot be read quickly and automatically. They write or display each word and blend it using the Whole-Word Blending Routine. Once all the words have been blended or read, students reread the sentence naturally, with expression and intonation.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, using the Blending Sentences Routine, students read each sentence that includes words such as pen, fell, steps, and led.
In Unit 9, Lesson 1, Day 4, the teacher uses the Reading a Decodable Routine with the teacher modeling the reading with expression. Students read one page as a class and then practice with partners. The decodable routine includes the students referring to sound/spelling cards as they are reading to assist with decoding.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words in a sentence.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 5, students first find and read words with the long /i/ sound and then read the words in the sentence to build fluency. Students then read additional sentences in a decodable book.
In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, the teacher uses Routine 3, the Whole-Word Blending Routine, and Routine 4, the Blending Sentences Routine, to have students blend the words and sentences. In About the Sentences 1-2 from the ePresentation Resources, the teacher explains that the words on and of should be viewed as a "starting point" for a chunk of text to be read together. Students identify the chunks of text in the sentence.
In Unit 9, Lesson 1, Day 4, students read a decodable book with words in sentences.
In Unit 11, Lesson 1, Day 3, Student Skills Practice, students read the story and fill in the word missing in the blank.
Indicator 1I
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials include daily practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics, including common and newly-taught sound and sound patterns.
The materials provide teacher-level modeling using structured and repeated routines. Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build, manipulate, spell, and encode newly taught sound and spelling patterns. Students use letter cards to build words and write letters and words on workbook pages. Students engage in frequent opportunities to encode words in isolation through the Sounds-in-Sequence Dictation Routine.
Examples include but are not limited to:
The materials contain teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words using common and newly taught sound and spelling patterns of phonics.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher uses the Sounds-in-Sequence Dictation Routine. The routine requires teachers to say the word, use the word in a sentence, have the students say the first sound, and the teacher points to the corresponding sound/spelling card. The teacher writes the word on the board.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 4, Phonics and Decoding, Generating Words, the teacher writes students’ suggestions of words that contain the /j/ spelled ge.
In Unit 12, Lesson 2, Day 3, the teacher uses the Whole Word Dictation Routine to say the word, have students say the sounds, and then write the word on the board for students to proofread their spelling.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words in isolation based on common and newly taught phonics patterns.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 2, the teacher provides students with letter cards a, d, m, n, and s. The teacher uses the Word Building Routine and orally states a word. Students build the word with their letter cards and then blend the letter sounds and read the word with the teacher.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher dictates and the students spell the words can, cap, cap, and clap.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 4, Phonics and Decoding, Dictation and Spelling, using the Sounds-in-Sequence Dictation Routine, students encode words with the /j/ sound on Line 1.
In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 2, Warm Up, the teacher divides the class into three or four teams. The teacher explains that the teacher will write a long /i/ spelling on the board and that teams will have one minute to think of words that use that spelling. When time is up, the teacher calls on each team to say and spell its words. The teacher then will write the words on the board and award one point for each correct word.
Indicator 1J
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials promote application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks. (mid K-Grade 2)
The materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks through the use of generating words with a certain letter/sound where the teacher writes the words on the board and points out certain spellings of sounds in words. Students are provided with limited activities that apply phonics as they encode words into sentences or phrases through the dictation and spelling portion of the day’s activities through Routines and words/sentences read aloud by the teacher. Student Skills Pages have additional encoding activities.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of teacher modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, TE Routines, Routine 9, the Sentence Dictation Routine has the teacher say the sentence, dictating one word at a time following the Sounds-in-Sequence or Whole-Word Dictation Routine. The teacher writes or displays the sentence on the board, or a student writes it. The students proofread and check for spelling.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, Generating Words, the teacher asks students to think of words that begin with /k/, writing their suggestions on the board. The teacher circles the spelling c in each word and tells students to say the sound as each c is circled. If they suggest a word that begins with k, such as kite or kitten, they write that word in a different column.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 1, Generating Words, the teacher asks students to think of words that contain /ow/, writing their suggestions on the board. If they suggest a word that contains the spelling ou, such as round or couch, they write that word in a different column. The teacher points out that /ow/ can be spelled in different ways and that they will learn about the other spelling later.
Lessons provide students with limited activities and tasks to promote application of phonics as they encode words in sentences or in phrases based on common and newly taught phonics patterns.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 4, Dictation and Spelling, the dictation that occurs in every other lesson consists of one or more lines of words. Initially, Line 1 is Sounds-in-Sequence Dictation. After Whole-Word Dictation has been introduced, that routine is used for words on the remaining lines.
In Unit 2, dictation also contains a sentence for students to write. The students look at Skills Practice, page 30 and the teacher tells them that they will dictate, or say, two words, and the students should write the words on the lines at the bottom of the page. The teacher says the word, uses it in a sentence and repeats it, and then students say the word. However, this is not independent encoding, as the students already have the words in front of them.
In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 2, Guided Practice, students complete Skills Practice pages for additional review of /ē/ spelled ie and dictation. They review the sound/spelling at the top of page 165 and students complete the activities on the pages. Dictation and Spelling. The teacher reminds students to ask “Which spelling?” when they are unsure about which spelling to use in a given word. After each line, have students proofread the spelling of their words and make needed corrections. However, this is not independent encoding into sentences or phrases.
Criterion 1.4: Word Recognition and Word Analysis
Materials include some systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words. Students practice reading words in isolation from the word wall and off the board. Less than half the words are irregularly spelled words. Materials provide frequent opportunities to read high-frequency words in context and to write high frequency words during Dictation activities. Materials include explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g., syllabication) and some opportunities for explicit instruction and practice of word solving strategies (e.g., open and closed syllabication) to decode unfamiliar words.
Indicator 1K
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and practice opportunities of high-frequency words to develop automaticity.
Materials include some systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words. Specific routines for teaching high-frequency words, Routine 4 and Routine 5, are included, however the routines are not specified in the instruction. In Routine 4, the teacher is to write or display the high-frequency word and underline the word. Students blend the work. In Routine 5, the teacher is to review new and any previously-learned high-frequency sight words; however the specifics about how the teacher explicitly reviews new and previously-learned sight words is not included in the materials. Students spell a high-frequency word with the teacher if it is in the sentence they are reading during Phonics Blending and Sentence Extension, and they spell by typing them in during eActivities. Students practice reading words in isolation from the word wall and off the board. Less than half the words are irregularly spelled words.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials include some systematic and explicit instruction of irregularly spelled words.
Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 7, Reading Pre-Decodable, High-Frequency Words, the teacher writes the words have and I on the board. The teacher reads each word, spells each word, and uses the word in a sentence.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 4, Blending, the teacher displays the word said, underlines it, reads it, spells it, and reads it again. The teacher writes the word said on an index card and adds the card to the high-frequency word bank.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 2, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book, the teacher is to review the high-frequency words about and around by pointing to them in the High-Frequency Word Bank and have students read the words. The teacher does not explicitly instruct on high-frequency words.
Materials include limited opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of irregularly spelled words in isolation.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 4, Blending, the teacher displays the word said, underlines it, reads it, spells it, and reads it again.
In Unit 3, Lesson 3, Day 5, the teacher points to the high-frequency word are in the High-Frequency Word Bank. Students read the word. The teacher does not model the spelling of the high-frequency word.
In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, the teacher uses Routine 4, the Blending Sentences Routine, to blend the sentences. Before blending the sentences, the high-frequency word every is introduced and is written on an index card and added to the High-Frequency Word Bank. Sentence: Every summer, dozens of bunnies hop in the cornfield. Using Routine 4, the teacher does not model the spelling of the high-frequency word.
Students practice identifying and reading irregularly spelled words in isolation.
In Unit 3, Lesson 3, Day 5, Warm Up, the teacher holds up a high-frequency word flashcard and asks students to read the word and use it in a sentence. The instruction calls for teachers to “review all of the previously learned high-frequency words.”
In Unit 5, Lesson 3, Day 4, Warm Up, the students play a game in teams. The students pull a high-frequency word card out of a bag and if they read it correctly, the team gets to keep the card; if read incorrectly, the student returns the word to the bag.
In Unit 12, Lesson 3, Day 1, Warm Up, High-Frequency Word Review, the high-frequency words students have learned are reviewed by using the High-Frequency Flash Cards and having a word bee. Students are divided into two teams. The teacher shows a word to the first member of Team A. The student says the word and uses it in a sentence. Play continues by alternating teams and using a different high-frequency word each time.
Materials include a sufficient quantity of new grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words for students to make reading progress.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Appendix, page 24, High-Frequency Word Lists, Section 4, lists seventy-five high-frequency words for Grade 1. Less than half the words are irregularly spelled words.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Appendix, Scope and Sequence indicates that twenty Kindergarten (K) High-Frequency words are reviewed in Getting Started and Unit 1. The first new word, call, is introduced in Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 2.Subsequent units include the following:
Unit 2 reviews 10 Kindergarten words and introduces 6 new words.
Unit 3 reviews 7 Kindergarten words and introduces 9 new words.
Unit 4 reviews 7 Kindergarten words and introduces 11 new words.
Unit 5 reviews 4 Kindergarten words and introduces 11 new words.
Unit 6 introduces 16 new words.
Unit 7 introduces 10 new words.
Unit 8 reviews 1 Kindergarten word and introduces 9 new words.
Unit 9 introduces 1 new word.
Unit 10 introduces 1 new word.
Unit 11 introduces 2 new words. No new words are added in Unit 12 nor is there any review indicated in Unit 12 in the Scope and Sequence.
In Unit 2, the teacher introduces the high-frequency words call, look, was, what, big, got, all, if, to, get, ask, of, as, he, his, just.
In Unit 4, the teacher introduces the high-frequency words girl, her, with, any, from, like, water, but, do, long, my, no, where, an, they, she, yes, were.
Indicator 1L
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials provide frequent practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences).
Materials provide frequent opportunities to read high-frequency words in Decodables, from the Word Bank, flashcards, in some blending word lists and sentences, written on the board, and eGames. There are references that a list of high-frequency words is located on the inside back cover of each decodable but this was not noted in the eBooks for teachers or students. Students write sentences during the Dictation routine that contain previously learned high-frequency words.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Lessons provide students with opportunities to read grade level irregularly spelled words in a sentence
In Unit 11, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonics and Decoding, Routine 4, the Blending Sentences Routine is used to have students blend any words they cannot read fluently and automatically. Before blending the two sentences, the high frequency word put is introduced, written on an index card, and added to the High Frequency Word Bank. Sentences include: There are four birds in the tree. and I put my teacup on the deck.
In Unit 11, Lesson 3, Day 4, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, students review sentences from the previous two days. The sentences contain r-controlled vowels and seven high-frequency words. Sentences include: We stopped to get our car from the parking lot. and Each chirping chick hatched from an egg.
In Unit 12, Lesson 3, Day 4, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book Core Decodable 114:” Andy Lee” Base Words, the teacher reviews previously learned high-frequency words by pointing to them in the High-Frequency Word Bank and having students read them. They use Routine 5, the Reading a Decodable Routine, to read the story with students. Students reread the sentence several times until they can read it accurately and automatically. The teacher reminds students that the more they reread stories, the more natural their reading will sound.
Lessons provide students with opportunities to write grade level irregularly spelled words in tasks (such as sentences) in order to promote automaticity in writing grade level irregularly spelled words.
In Unit 5, Lesson 3, Day 1, Guided Practice, students copy the sentence Steve will be here. and choose a sentence to copy that matches pictures. Similarly, in Unit 8, Lesson 3, Day 4, Guided Practice, students copy the sentence Roy has a new toy train. Students practice writing them correctly on the lines. These copying activities happen infrequently.
In Unit 11, eActivity: Lesson 2, Day 4, Foundational Skills, students read, spell, and type high-frequency words in isolation. Four of the ten words are irregularly spelled words. If the student is using a tablet or interactive whiteboard, they write the letters with their finger. How to spell and type the word is modeled in the eActivity.
Materials provide explicit instruction in how to use student-friendly reference materials and resources and reading irregularly-spelled words (e.g., word cards, word lists, word ladders, student dictionaries).
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 3, Reading a Pre-Decodable, Core Pre-Decodable 1, See!, the teacher introduces the high-frequency words see and the. The teacher writes each word on the board, reads it, spells it, and uses it in a sentence. Students repeat the word, spell it, and use it in a sentence. Each word is written on an index card and placed in the High-Frequency Word Bank.
In Unit 9, Lesson 2, Day 4, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book, Core Decodable 104, “Gram and the Kids”, High-Frequency Words, the teacher reviews previously introduced high-frequency words by pointing to them in the High-Frequency Word Bank and having students read them.
In Unit 10, Lesson 3, Day 3, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book Core Decodable 108, “Mr. Plant Expert”, the teacher reviews previously learned high-frequency words by pointing to them in the High-Frequency Word Bank and having students read them.
Indicator 1M
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials explicitly teach word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis) based on the requirements of the standards and provide frequent practice opportunities for students to apply word analysis strategies.
Materials include explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g., syllabication) and some opportunities for explicit instruction and practice of word solving strategies (e.g., open and closed syllabication) to decode unfamiliar words. When the teacher uses the Whole-Word Blending and Blending Sentences Routine, students complete the decoding of unfamiliar words without the teacher modeling prior.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis).
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, the teacher uses the Closed Syllable Routine to help students blend multisyllabic words such as panted, hinted, and rented.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, the teacher uses the Open Syllable Routine to help students blend multisyllabic words such as title, bridle, and idle.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 4, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book Core Decodable 98: “Paul’s Sauce” /aw/ spelled au, aw, the teacher uses Routine 5, the Reading a Decodable Routine, as they read the story with students. The teacher tells students that there are several multisyllabic words in the story and if they don't recognize or if they mispronounce a word while reading, they should stop reading and decode each syllable of the word. Then they should reread the entire sentence several times until they can read it accurately and automatically. The teacher models this practice.
In Unit 9, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, the teacher has students choose a word and identify the prefix and base word on lines one and two of the text.
Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Scope and Sequence at the beginning of each unit in Teacher Edition shows the phonics skill taught/reviewed in each day’s activities in the column titled Phonics and Decoding through the blending of words and sentences.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resources, materials include:
Routine 2, the Sound-by-Sound Blending Routine, to blend words.
Routine 3, the Whole-Word Blending Routine, to blend the words.
Routine 4, the Blending Sentences Routine, to blend sentences.
Routine 10, the Closed Syllables Routine, to help students blend multisyllabic words.
Routine 11, the Open Syllables Routine, to help students blend the multisyllabic words. These routines are used frequently.
In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher demonstrates how to differentiate between the /oo/ and the long /u/ by pointing out the similar spellings of ue and u though they can make the same sound. Students identify the /oo/ sound, and students are guided through practice writing words.
Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Scope and Sequence at the beginning of each unit in Teacher Edition shows the phonics skill taught/reviewed in each day’s activities in the column titled Phonics and Decoding through blending of words and sentences, Student Skills Practice Pages, and Decodable Readers.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, students use the Sound-by-Sound Blending Routine to blend words in Lines one and two: herd, dirt, sir, and stir.
In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, students use theOpen Syllable Routine to blend the following multisyllabic words: tiny, pony, and treaty.
In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonics and Decoding, Blending, students use the Closed Syllable Routine to blend the following multisyllabic words: running, tightrope, and skyscraper.
Criterion 1.5: Decoding Accuracy, Decoding Automaticity and Fluency
Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding in K and 1, and rate, expression, and accuracy in mid-to-late 1st and 2nd grade. Materials for 2nd grade fluency practice should vary (decodables and grade-level texts).
Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding of decodable books using Routine 5: Reading a Decodable. Materials provide some opportunities for students to hear explicit, systematic instruction in reading elements such as accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression. Fluency is modeled infrequently by the teacher. Materials provide students with opportunities to engage in repeated readings of grade-level texts along with teacher corrective feedback to gain oral reading fluency. Materials do not provide explicit lessons for the teacher in confirming and self-correcting errors in fluency. Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to read on-level texts for understanding, but there is little evidence about reading for a purpose.
Indicator 1N
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials provide opportunities for students to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity in K and Grade 1.
Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding of decodable books using Routine 5: Reading a Decodable with teacher modeling. Students utilize Routine 5 along with Core Decodables and Practice Decodables when engaging in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity. The materials provide teachers with directives to provide explicit instruction in the area of decoding as students hone their fluency (i.e., accuracy and automaticity) skills through decoding practice.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Sound-by-Sound Blending Routine, the teacher guides students through a process in which they spell a given word in a sentence sound-by-sound. Once the word has been spelled, the students reread the word to build fluency. Once the entire sentence has been written, the students reread the entire sentence to build fluency.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Whole-Word Blending Routine, the teacher guides students through a process in which they say the sound of each part of the word and then read the word again naturally. After the entire line of words has been decoded, the teacher directs students to reread the line to build fluency.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 3, Reading a Decodable Routine 5, as the teacher reads the story, students use their voices to show expression and intonation of the reading.
In Unit 9, Lesson 2, Day 4, the teacher uses Routine 5, Reading a Decodable Routine, as they read the story with students, the teacher models stopping and blending a word syllable-by-syllable and rereading the entire sentence.
Materials provide opportunities for students in Grade 1 to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 3, students use the sound-by-sound blending routine for the following words: ax, Max, six, ox, rust, must, stands, lamps, and drums.
In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 2, students use the whole-word blending routine for the following words: chief, puppies, city, babysitter, cornfield, and shield.
In Unit 9, Lesson 2, Day 4, the teacher uses Routine 5, Reading a Decodable Routine, as they read the story with students. The teacher explains to students there are several words in the story with prefixes and if they do not know how to pronounce a word while reading, they should stop reading and decode each syllable of the word. They remind students that the more they read stories, the more natural their reading will sound.
In Unit 11, Lesson 1, Day 4, Building Fluency, students build fluency by rereading Core Decodable 109 twice with a partner, alternating pages. Students are reminded that if they don’t understand or recognize a word while reading, they should reread the word and then reread the entire sentence until they can read it accurately, automatically, and fluently. For additional practice, students can read Practice Decodable 86, “Weeds or Flowers.”
Indicator 1O
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are built into the materials for systematic, evidence-based, explicit instruction in fluency (Grades 1-2).
Materials provide some opportunities for students to hear explicit, systematic instruction in reading elements such as accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression. Fluency is modeled infrequently by the teacher. Routine 5 focuses on having students read the decodable text, therefore teacher explicit instruction and modeling is limited. Materials provide opportunities for students to hear reading modeled by the teacher, using the same text the students read. The teacher uses echo reading to guide students in developing their rate and intonation. Although the materials used consist of displayed sentences and decodable books, there is a wide variety of decodable texts introduced throughout the year. The Rhyme Stew Big Book and Routine 5 provide opportunities for students to hear the fluent reading of grade-level text by a model reader or peer.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials include some opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements using grade-level text.
Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 1, Fluency, Reading a Decodable Book, the directions explain how to read the text for students to demonstrate proper intonation and pausing.
In Unit 5, Lesson 3, Day 1, Building Fluency, students reread Core Decodable 70 twice with a partner, alternating pages. The teacher observes students and checks their reading for speed, accuracy, and expression.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 1, the teacher reads a decodable, and students echo read. The materials indicate that teachers should model reading with expression.
In Unit 9, Lesson 3, Day 4, the teacher models reading. Materials indicate that the teachers should model the proper rate of reading by using pauses.
In Unit 11, Lesson 3, Day 4, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency, Reading a Decodable Book, the teacher uses Routine 5, Reading a Decodable Routine with the decodable story, “A Summer Home”. The lesson focuses on how fluent readers use commas in the text to help them control the pace of their reading. The teacher models reading at the appropriate rate by pausing at the commas. Students chorally repeat the sentence read. The teacher reads the rest of the story continuing to model pausing at commas.
Materials provide some opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of grade-level text by a model reader.
In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 2, Warm Up Features of Print, “Hey, Diddle, Diddle” on pages 6–7 of the Rhyme Stew Big Book, students listen closely and stop the teacher when they hear something wrong. The teacher reads the first line of the rhyme, sweeping their hand under the words. Then they move their hand to the second line and read it, beginning with the last words: fiddle the and cat The. A volunteer points to the word that students should read first for that line.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, Reading A Decodable, the teacher uses Routine 5, the Reading a Decodable Routine, as the teacher reads the story with students.
In Unit 9, Lesson 3, Day 4, students read a decodable book and echo read with a partner. Teachers remind students to read at an appropriate rate.
In Unit 12, Lesson 3, Day 4, Building Fluency, students chorally re-read Core Decodable 114 twice with a partner. The teacher reminds students that if they don’t understand or recognize a word while reading, they should reread the word and then reread the entire sentence until they can read it accurately, automatically, and fluently.
Materials include a variety of resources for explicit instruction in fluency.
The teacher reads from the Rhyme Stew big book. The teacher models skills with, Decodable readers, and the ePresentation Resources.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, teachers guide students through reading a decodable book. The materials indicate that teachers should focus on building fluency by asking students to reread twice with a partner.
In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 1, students repeatedly read two displayed sentences to build fluency.
Indicator 1P
Varied and frequent opportunities are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2 (once accuracy is secure).
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for varied and frequent opportunities are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2 (once accuracy is secure).
Materials provide students with opportunities to engage in repeated readings of grade-level texts along with teacher corrective feedback to gain oral reading fluency. The Teacher Tips located in the bottom margin of pages provide guidance and feedback suggestions to teachers for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Varied, frequent opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to gain oral reading fluency.
In Units 1-9, within a week of lessons, students have three to five opportunities to practice oral reading fluency with core decodable texts, practice decodable texts, and teachers can send take-home decodable texts for extra practice. The genre of most texts is literary.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book, Building Fluency, students build fluency by echo reading the Core Decodable 51 twice with a partner, alternating pages. For additional practice, they read Practice Decodable 43, “Search and Learn”.
In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, About the Sentence 1, students review descriptive words and expand the sentence by adding descriptive words to it. The teacher writes new sentences on the board and has students read them several times to build fluency
Materials contain opportunities for students to participate in repeated readings of a grade-level text to practice oral reading fluency.
In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Pre-Decodable, Building Fluency, students reread “I Can See” twice with a partner.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book, Building Fluency, students reread “Bird Shirts” twice with a partner.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book, Building Fluency, students build fluency by chorally rereading Core Decodable 63 twice with a partner. The teacher reminds students to read at the appropriate rate by pausing at the end punctuation. For additional practice, students read Practice Decodable 52, “Nine Little Flags”.
In Unit 11, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonics and Decoding, About the Sentence 2, students reword Sentence 2 to make it a question, “Did I put my teacup on the deck?” The teacher writes the new sentence on the board and has students read the sentence several times to build fluency. They remind students to use the proper intonation for a question.
Materials include guidance and feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency.
In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable, after the teacher calls on various students to read particular pages of the text, the directions suggest rereading the entire text using the choral reading strategy.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable, the directions suggest having students identify the first word and the ending punctuation of each sentence so that students are aware of the beginning and the end of sentences.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 2, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book, Building Fluency, the directions tell the teacher to observe students and check for accuracy, rate, expression.
In Unit 9, Lesson 2, Day 4, Teacher Tip (bottom margin) states, “Gaining a better understanding of the spellings of sounds and the structures of words will help students as they encounter unfamiliar words in their reading. Students should be reading with more and more accuracy and expression. Observe students and check their reading for accuracy, appropriate rate, and proper expression.”
Indicator 1Q
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials provide teacher guidance to support students as they confirm or self-correct errors (Grade 1-2) and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding.
Materials do not provide explicit lessons for the teacher in confirming and self-correcting errors in fluency. There are teacher tips and students are told to reread unfamiliar words in sentences, but little evidence of practicing strategies of using confirmation or self-correction of errors. Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to read on-level texts for understanding, but there is little evidence about reading for a purpose.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide limited lessons for the teacher in confirming and self-correcting errors in fluency.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 4, the Teacher Tip states, “Gaining a better understanding of the spellings of sounds and the structures of words will help students as they encounter unfamiliar words in their reading. Students should be reading with more and more accuracy and expression as the year progresses. Observe students and check their ability to determine when they mispronounce a word and then correct their reading by rereading the word and the sentence.”
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 4, Reading a Decodable, Building Fluency, students reread the Core Decodable. The teacher reminds students that if they don’t recognize a word or if they mispronounce a word while reading, they should reread the word and then reread the entire sentence until they can read it accurately.
In Unit 11, Lesson 1, Day 4, Fluency: Reading a Decodable, the directions tell the teacher to explain to students if they don’t recognize or understand a word, they should stop reading, decode each syllable in the word, reread the word naturally, and then reread the entire sentence.
Materials provide limited opportunities for students to practice using confirmation or self-correction of errors.
In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 5, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable, Checking Comprehension, students answer questions about the following literary elements: setting, characters, and events in the story.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 4, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable, Checking Comprehension, students answer questions about the following literary elements: characters and events in the story.
In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 4, Reading a Decodable, Checking Comprehension, students identify any words that were difficult for them in the story. Students retell the story. The teacher asks comprehension questions and students answer aloud.
In Unit 12, Lesson 3, Day 4, Reading a Decodable, Checking Comprehension, students identify any words that were difficult for them in the story. Students retell the story. The teacher asks comprehension questions and students answer aloud.
Some opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to read on-level texts (Grades 1-2) for purpose and understanding.
CR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, students are provided multiple opportunities to read Core Decodables and Practice Decodables targeting the phonics concepts for the grade level. It is not clear that students are reading for a purpose. There are comprehension questions to check for understanding.
In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Pre-Decodable, students read “I Can See”.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book, students read “Bird Shirts”.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, About the Sentences, the teacher presents two sentences and the students reread each sentence several times with natural intonation and fluency: We will walk to the wildlife park. Mike can ride his bike well.
Overview of Gateway 2
Implementation, Support Materials & Assessment
The Open Court Reading Foundational Skills Kits for Grade 1 partially meet the expectations for implementation, support materials, and assessment. Materials provide a Digital Teacher Edition that contains content for that day based on each skill being taught through ePresentation. The program includes a Program Overview that is comprehensive. Materials are designed to be implemented with a whole group of students according to a clear structure and include 190 days of instruction. Units are designed to be taught within a given amount of time and each lesson should take one day, however evidence was found only in an ancillary Professional Development video for the suggested pacing of an individual lesson. Materials include a researched-based scope and sequence for phonological awareness and phonics. There are multiple opportunities to assess foundational skills; however, materials include limited instructional suggestions were noted for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in foundational skills. Materials include differentiated suggestions as well as a photo library to support language development and comprehension of vocabulary. English Language (EL) Tips are integrated throughout the lesson at the point of use. Although the program overview indicates differentiated instruction occurs in small group settings, and differentiated instruction guides are provided in daily lessons, no mention of changing from the whole group to small group exists in the digital guide.
Criterion 2.1: Guidance for Implementation, Including Scope and Sequence
Materials provide a Digital Teacher Edition that contains content for that day based on each skill being taught through ePresentation. The program includes a Program Overview that is comprehensive. The materials contain a Resource Library that clearly provides adult-level definitions of each of the foundational skills and the reason that each skill is an important contributor to building fluency. Research-based reasoning is provided along with examples and a complete program overview.
Materials are designed to be implemented with a whole group of students according to a clear structure and include 190 days of instruction. Units are designed to be taught within a given amount of time and each lesson should take one day, however evidence was found only in an ancillary Professional Development video for the suggested pacing of an individual lesson.
Materials include a research document, “Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading” which delineates a phonemic awareness sequence of instruction and practice for the expected hierarchy of phonemic awareness competence.Materials include a research report, “Foundational Skills: Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading”, which provides a clear, evidence-based rationale for phonics instruction and the progression of skills. Also, the Unit Planner for each unit provides a cohesive scope and sequence for phonics instruction based on the evidence-based rationale in the research report.
Indicator 2A
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials contain a teacher edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The Open Court Reading (OCR) Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1 provides a Digital Teacher Edition that contains content for that day based on each skill being taught through ePresentation. The program includes a Program Overview that is comprehensive.The Teacher Edition includes additional notations for English Learners (EL) and differentiation by flipping the toggle on at the top of the digital page. There are links in the materials box and also in the individual skills to routine cards that explain the routine(s) needed for that day and the skills being taught. Also found in the Teacher Edition at the top of each day are optional Show Me How videos that go over routines and information for teachers. The technology pieces to support and guide teachers do not create an additional layer of complication as they are readily available in the day’s digital page.
Materials provide a well-defined, teacher edition for content presentation. Examples include but are not limited to the following:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition consists of twelve units that are divided into lessons and days within the lessons. The twelve units contain a warm up, phonological and/or phonemic awareness, phonics and decoding, and progress monitoring/assessment.
Materials include Common Core State Standards (CCSS) alignment, objectives for each lesson,and formal and informal assessments. Strategies for English Learners (EL) and differentiated instruction can be found in most lessons. For example, in Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1 in the Phonemic Awareness section, the lesson includes differentiated strategies for teachers to add to the instruction for the day. In the side margins under ePresentation, the teacher can find routines and media to support the instruction.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition Course Map provides a glance at the sections of each unit, lesson, and day along with headings covered in each daily lesson such as warm up, classroom routine, phonological awareness, letter recognition, and reviewing sounds and letters. Each section also provides succinct details about the specific letters and sounds in the lesson.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, each day of the week/lesson contains a separate digital page in which the teacher can find the standards being taught, links to materials needed, objectives, along with Show Me How videos to review and gather prior to beginning that day's lesson.
The teacher resource contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills content (i.e., phonological awareness, phonics, irregularly spelled words, word analysis,and fluency). Examples include but are not limited to the following:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Teacher Edition (TE) Routines, has PDF documents for instructional routines named Introducing Sounds and Spelling, Sound-by-Sound Blending, Reading a Decodable, Word Building, Whole-Word Blending, Sounds-in-Sequence Dictation,Closed Syllables, Open Syllables, Whole-Word Dictation, and Sentence Dictation.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills. The teacher will use letter cards,a lion puppet, sound/spelling cards, decodables, and resources such as instructional routine cards in each lesson. Lessons start with a warm-up.
In Unit 4, Lesson 2, Day 3, there is a reference to Routine 1, the introduction of sounds and spellings routine, to introduce /nk/. The routine is explained in the Teacher Edition and a link to the routine is included in the ePresentation resources. The routine consists of giving the student reminders to stop and decode each syllable and re-read the sentence to check for understanding.
In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 4, students review high-frequency words and count vowels and syllables in a word. The lesson continues with phonics and decoding and ends with an informal assessment that provides more practice time for the student with e-games of blending and an interactive game to reinforce skills previously taught.
In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 1, the Show Me How Videos review instructional routines for teaching the /oo/ sound, including using the sound/spelling cards, needed for that lesson.
In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 1, ePresentation resources, Phonics and Decoding long /oo/ spelled ew blending- Instructional Routine 3 Whole Word Blending, there is a link to the PDF of routines needed for skills/routine being taught in that lesson.
Any technology pieces included provide support and guidance for the teacher and do not create an additional layer of complication around the materials. Examples include but are not limited to the following:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, ePresentation resources are right at the point of need in the lesson based on the skill being taught and can be quickly accessed as needed.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Show Me How Video, located at the top of the page, contains professional development to teachers based on skills taught in that lesson and can quickly be accessed as needed.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition To Do section provides the teacher access to the student view of the materials. The teacher can access different units, days, or lessons through a drop-down menu and view activities assigned to the student.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library provides links for all materials needed including big books, assessments, games, high-frequency words, letter cards, phonics, songs, and others.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, the materials provide teachers with a How to Video for professional learning on “Reinforcing Dialectical Variations Using the Sound/Spelling Cards”.
In Unit 9, Lesson 3, the materials provide teachers with resources for dictation of words and sentences. These resources provide technology support and guidance for the teacher and do not create an additional layer of complication around the materials.
Indicator 2B
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition contains a Resource Library that clearly provides adult-level definitions of each of the foundational skills and the reasons that each skill is an important contributor to building fluency. Research-based reasoning is provided along with examples and a complete program overview. Though the Resource Library is separate from the daily teacher planner, the planner also includes videos with brief explanations of the foundational skill and how to teach the skill. In each lesson, there are examples for the teacher to use when teaching phonemic awareness, phonics, or word analysis.
Complete, detailed adult-level explanations are provided for each foundational skill taught at the grade level. Evidence includes, but is not limited to:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, daily lessons are on one digital page with drop-down boxes for each skill. Directions show how to deliver the lesson and, if appropriate, an explanation of the skill being taught.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition Resource Library includes “Foundational Skills: Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading”. The 36-page guide provides definitions for print awareness, phonological and phonemic awareness, phonics, word analysis, and fluency. The guide also explains research-based explanations regarding the development of the foundational skills and provides explanations of strategies for fluency practice, such as oral reading, assisted reading, reading aloud, and independent reading.
In Unit 4, Lesson 2, Day 3, a Differentiation Instruction Guide provides explanations for Phoneme Blending: One-Syllable Words. The guide provides instructions and suggested words to play a word game.
In Unit 8, Lesson 3, Day 2, Dictation and Spelling, explicit instructions demonstrate Routine 6, Word Building Routine. In the ePresentation Resources for that segment of the lesson, the lesson provides words for dictation and spelling.
Detailed examples of the grade level foundational skill concepts are provided for the teacher. Evidence includes, but is not limited to:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition Resource Library includes a phonemic awareness lesson guide accessible under the back to school resource tag. The guide provides explanations of phonemic awareness activities such as oral blending, segmentation and phoneme blending. Adult-level explanations are given for each skill, followed by several examples of the skill and how it would be taught.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition,Program Overview PDF, explains and gives examples of phonics and decoding, blending, and fluency.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, includes Differentiated Instruction Tips at point of use in each lesson. These tips give teachers concise activities to use with students who would benefit from extra support or extended practice.
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 2, the Show Me How Video focuses on preteaching vowel patterns before blending, and using the vowel-first blending routine to help students who are struggling with vowels.
Indicator 2C
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for foundational skills lessons are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Content can reasonably be completed within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, is designed to be implemented with a whole group of students according to a clear structure. According to the Program Overview, small group lessons are provided during Workshop time but there is no information about planning or implementing Workshop time in the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1. Units are designed to be taught within a given amount of time and each lesson should take one day, however evidence was found only in an ancillary Professional Development video for the suggested pacing of an individual lesson. It takes 190 days to complete all lessons.
Lesson plans utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Research Library provides research by Marsha Roit, EdD, “Foundational Skills: Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading”. The author states that “Open Court has had a long and successful history of teaching the critical foundational skills using materials that integrate knowledge from research on the learning theory and cognitive science as well as language and literacy development combined with instructional practice and teacher expertise.” The references cited include R.L. Allington (2006), A.L. Archer & C.H.Hughes (2011), and L.C. Ehri (2002).
The effective lesson design structure does not include both whole group and small group instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Program Overview, Page 6, Workshop Overview, addresses how workshop time for small group reading can be built into language arts time for 15-30 minutes only before or after core instruction, which is the whole group instruction time.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Program Overview and daily lessons in regard to differentiation, addresses that differentiation can take place in small groups during the workshop time while other students are completing skills (e.g., practice worksheet, reading decodable, practicing skills with eGames, work on inquiry, complete homework, reread selection, complete writing assignment).
The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans is somewhat clear and appropriate. Examples include, but are not limited to:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Program Overview addresses the possible time allotted to the Workshop, but the expected total time for a day of lesson activities was not noted in the teacher edition nor was there a breakdown of time for each skill.
Information about daily pacing was found in an ancillary Professional Development video for grades Kindergarten and 1.
The suggested amount of time and expectations for maximum student understanding of all foundational skill content (i.e,. phonological awareness, phonics, irregularly spelled words, word analysis, fluency) can reasonably be completed in one school year and should not require modifications. Examples include, but are not limited to:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, has twelve units each with three lessons to be completed over fifteen days. There is also a Getting Started Unit which takes ten days. The entire Scope and Sequence requires 190 school days to complete.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Scope and Sequence in the resource library show the skills needed can be completed within one year.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Planner and Course Map listed under the menu lays out week-by-week and day-by-day for the teacher to see what is being taught each day and can be completed in one year.
Indicator 2D
Indicator 2D.i
Scope and sequence clearly delineate the sequence in which phonological awareness skills are to be taught, with a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy of phonemic awareness competence. (K-1)
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for scope and sequence delineate the sequence in which phonological awareness skills are to be taught, with a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy of phonemic awareness competence.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, explains the phonological awareness skills hierarchy in the Program Overview. The included research document, “ Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading” delineates a phonetic awareness sequence of instruction and practices for the expected hierarchy of phonemic awareness competence. The Appendix has a detailed Phonemic Awareness Scope and Sequence.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials contain a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy for teaching phonological awareness skills.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Resource Library, Research, Foundational Skills: “Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading,” page 8, notes that, “instruction starts with larger linguistic units—sentences, words, and syllables— and progresses through onsets and rimes (the initial consonant or blend of a syllable is called an onset; the remainder of the syllable is called a rime) to the smallest linguistic unit—phonemes or individual sounds.”
Materials contain a phonemic awareness sequence of instruction and practice based on the expected hierarchy.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Appendix, Scope and Sequence, page 2, provides a detailed Scope and Sequence which includes Long and Short Vowel Differentiation, Phoneme Addition, Phoneme Blending, Phoneme Isolation, Phoneme Substitution, Phoneme Matching, Phoneme Pronunciation, Producing Rhyming Words, Recognizing Rhyming Words, and Segmentation.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Program Overview, page 10, states, “Students progress by identifying sentences, identifying words, working with rhymes, exploring compound words, listening for syllables, blending syllables, oral blending, deleting and substituting sounds, segmenting phonemes.”
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Appendix, Page 2, Phonemic awareness skills are listed in order/sequence and are identified which skills are taught in which grade.
In Unit 8, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights a progression from segmenting initial sounds to counting vowels and syllables in a word.
Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction based on the expected hierarchy to build toward students’ application of the skills.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Course Map, the menu on the left-hand side, shows phonemic awareness skills by unit, lesson, day.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Unit Planner, found at the beginning of each of the 12 Units, identifies the phonological/phonemic awareness skill taught or reviewed per day. In Units 1-2, phonological awareness and phonemic awareness skills are taught each day. In Unit 3, phonemic awareness skills are taught each day. In Units 4-8, phonemic awareness skills are taught on days 1, 3, 5.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, students practice four skills.
Days 1-4: students practice substituting initial consonant sounds.
Days 1-3: students practice segmenting final consonant sounds.
Days 4-5: students practice restoring final consonant sounds.
Day 5: students listen for short and long /i/.
In Unit 3, Lesson 3, students practice five skills:
Day 1: students practice initial and final consonant sounds
Day 2: students blend single-syllable words.
Day 3: students segment individual sounds
Day 4: students blend words with consonant blends.
Day 5: students blend single-syllable words.
In Unit 7, Lesson 1, students practice three skills:
Day 1: students segment individual sounds.
Day 3: students blend single-syllable words.
Day 5: students listen for long vowel sounds.
Indicator 2D.ii
Scope and sequence clearly delineate an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for scope and sequence clearly delineate an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, includes the research report,”Foundational Skills: Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading”, which provides a clear, evidence-based rationale for phonics instruction and the progression of skills. Also, the Unit Planner for each unit provides a cohesive scope and sequence for phonics instruction based on the evidence-based rationale in the research report. Patterns and generalizations are presented and then reviewed for students to have a manageable number of phonics patterns to learn deeply.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials clearly delineate a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction and practice to build toward application of skills.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Scope and Sequence for Sound and Spelling Introduction, indicates that a review of sounds occur in Units 1-3 and then instruction moves to digraphs and inflectional endings, the introduction of the schwa sound, diphthongs, prefixes in Unit 9, r-controlled vowels in unit 11, and a review of diphthongs and inflectional endings in Unit 12.
In Unit 3, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights a progression of the following graphemes: -ed, sh, th, ar, and or. The unit culminates with a review of all the sounds of the unit.
In Unit 6, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights a progression of the following graphemes: y, ey, ai, ay, and igh. The unit culminates with a review of all the sounds of the unit.
In Unit 8, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights a progression of the following graphemes: ew, ou, aw, oi, and oy. The unit culminates with a review of all the sounds of the unit.
Materials have a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Foundational Skills: “Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading” research report, the author Marsha Riot explains that the hierarchy of difficulty ranges from consonants whose sounds can be produced in isolation with the least distortion, high utility consonants, short vowels, digraphs, inflectional endings, and long vowels.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Foundational Skills: “Five Ways to Build the Cornerstone of Proficient Reading”, page 13, indicates that after simple consonants and short vowels, there should be instruction on long vowels, VCE generalization, and digraphs.
Phonics instruction is based in high utility patterns and/or common phonics generalizations.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher guides students through reading the decodable Nat’s Cap. The decodable contains the decodable words Nat, cap, can, mom, stop, cab, and cat.
In Unit 4, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights common graphemes: er, ir, ur, -ng, schwa, -le, -el, -il, -al, -nk, qu, y, v, a, a_e.
In Unit 9, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights common graphemes for prefixes and vowels: un-, dis-, im-, in-, re-, short and long a.
In Unit 11, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights common graphemes for short and long e, review consonant digraphs, and review r-controlled vowels.
Patterns and generalizations are carefully selected to provide a meaningful and manageable number of phonics patterns and common generalizations for students to learn deeply.
In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher introduces the sound of the long /i/ spelled i_e. The teacher guides students through a practice workbook page and introduces open syllables. The teacher models how to break up the words and makes notations for the long /i/ and an arrow from the letter e to the I on the workbook page.
In Unit 6, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights a weekly progression (i.e.,learn the sound, blend, review) of the following spelling patterns for the /i/ sound: igh, y, and ie.
In Unit 8, Unit Planner, there is a scope and sequence that highlights a weekly progression (i.e.,learn the sound, blend, review) of the following spelling pattern for the /oo/ sound: ew, u_e, and oo.
Indicator 2E
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the ELA/literacy program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition provides students, parents, or caregivers access to online resources including activities, songs, games, cards, decodable books, and e-books. There are directions on activity pages for the students both printed and text-to-speech.There is no evidence of letters to parents or caregivers about the program or what is being taught in each unit. Opportunities are missed for materials to fully explain the activities to parents and caregivers and strategies they can use with the child.
Materials contain jargon-free resources and processes to inform all stakeholders about foundational skills taught at school. Examples include but are not limited to
Neither the OCR Foundational Skills, Grade 1,Teacher Edition nor the Program Overview show evidence of an intentional home connection.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition, for written activities, directions are not directed to parents but can be understood by students, parents, or caregivers who read and understand English. Directions are in writing and text-to-speech. In the Student Edition, parents or caregivers have access to their student’s account to view each lesson, which gives them access to all student resources which include videos/songs, cards, decodables, ebooks, games, and activities.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library contains blackline masters Decodable Take Home books. A Parent Letter in English inside the book provides the purpose of shared reading and ways to practice outside of school. The parent letter is not included in the online decodables.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition, directions on the games and activities are spoken aloud in English such that students and parents can understand what to do.
Materials provide stakeholders with strategies and activities for practicing phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency, and print concepts that will support students in progress towards and achievement of grade level foundational skills standards. Examples include but are not limited to
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library includes Core Decodable Takehomes. The takehomes include fourteen pre-decodable and twenty-eight decodable books. There are no strategies included for parents to work with their child.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition, Resources, Songs contains thirteen songs to support phonological awareness and phonics. There are no strategies included for parents to work with their child.
OCR Foundational Skills, Grade 1, Practice Pre-Decodable & Decodable Take Home BLM, page 7 provides a Parent Letter in English advising parents,“Do not expect your child to read each story perfectly, but concentrate on sharing the book together. Participate by doing some of the reading. Talk about the stories you read, give lots of encouragement, and watch as your child becomes more fluent throughout the year!”
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition, includes a section describing how teachers could send assignments to the students although it is not clear how that would work and what the role of parents would be in those assignments.
Criterion 2.2: Decodable Texts
Materials include the use of decodable texts aligned to the program’s scope and sequence for phonics skills and high-frequency words. Students have multiple opportunities to reread decodable texts independently and with partners.
Indicator 2F
Indicator 2F.i
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with phonics aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.
Materials include the use of decodable texts aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Also, students have multiple opportunities to reread decodable texts independently and in partnership with their peers to build fluency.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials include decodable texts to address securing phonics.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Core Decodables, contains one hundred fourteen books that contain decodable texts for students to practice phonic skills. Takehome Books 1 and 2 also contain one hundred fourteen books that contain decodable texts. Practice Decodables contain ninety-one books that contain decodable texts.
In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 5, the teacher reviews blending single-syllable words and the sounds /r/ and /k/ spelled c, k, and ck. Students read a decodable including the words Cal, Kip, bobcats, rock, and black among other decodable words.
Decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Core Decodables, Books 1-38, contain texts that are aligned to the graphemes: al, ff, e, u, and dge. Books 39-77 contain texts aligned to ea, ar, nk, ee, and ce. Books 78 -114 contain texts aligned to oa, oo, aw, oy, and im. These texts are aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 2, Reading a Decodable, the teacher uses Routine 5, Reading a Decodable Routine, as Core Decodable 35, “A Red Fox”, is read with students. This aligns with the Scope and Sequence for Unit 3, Lesson 1, Days 1 and 2, which focus on /ks/ spelled x and /e/ spelled e.
In Unit 8, Lesson 3, Day 4, Reading a Decodable, the teacher uses Routine 5, Reading a Decodable Routine, as Core Decodable 101, “Roy and Royal”, is read with students. This aligns with the Scope and Sequence for Unit 8, Lesson 3, which focuses on /oi/ spelled oy.
Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing phonics skills.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Building Fluency, students reread “Max and Sam” twice with a partner.
In Unit 6, Lesson 2, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Building Fluency, students reread “A Fancy Jacket” twice with a partner.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 5, the teacher uses Reading a Decodable routine and students reread sentences until they can read with accuracy and automaticity. Students then read the decodable two times with a partner.
Indicator 2F.ii
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with high frequency words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.
Materials include decodable texts with high-frequency words aligned to the scope and sequence. Students use a consistent routine when reading the decodables and re-read the decodable during each routine.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials include decodable texts that utilize high-frequency/irregularly spelled words.
The Core 20 decodable, “At the Mall”, highlights the high-frequency word call. Core 35 decodable, “A Red Fox”, highlights the high-frequency words: down, its, and red. Core 63 decodable, “A Mess”, highlights the high-frequency words: ride,walk, we, and well.
In Unit 5, Lesson 3, Day 4, Reading a Decodable, Core Decodable 71, “Summer Heat”, the high-frequency word is two. The lesson also includes an ePresentation Resource with a list of the eighty-one Previously Introduced High-Frequency Words.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 3, Reading a Decodable, Core Decodable 80, “Why, Bly?”, the high-frequency word is don’t. The lesson also includes an ePresentation Resource with a list of the ninety-seven Previously Introduced High-Frequency Words.
In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 4, students read a decodable book. The decodable includes the words the, up, her, said, of, he, asked, six. The materials include a list of previously introduced high-frequency words for the lesson.
Decodable texts contain grade-level high-frequency/irregularly spelled words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 4, the word said is one of the high-frequency words for the lesson. Students read a decodable book; the word said is on four of the six pages.
In Unit 4, Lesson 3, Day 2, the word were is the high-frequency word for the lesson. Students read a decodable book, The word were is on three of the six pages in the decodable.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 3, Reading a Decodable, the high-frequency word don’t aligns with the Scope and Sequence for Unit 6, Lesson 3, which indicates that the word, don’t, is introduced.
In Unit 10, Lesson 3, Day 5, Reading a Decodable, the high-frequency word some aligns with the Scope and Sequence for Unit 10, Lesson 3, which indicates that the word, some, is introduced.
Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing reading high-frequency words/irregularly spelled words in context.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, TE Routines, Routine 4: Reading a Decodable, the last step in the routine is Reread the Decodable (partner reading, choral reading, turn-taking, and so on) to build fluency.
In Unit 4, Lesson 3, Day 2, students review high-frequency words and then read a decodable book using Reading a Decodable routine. The routine includes reading and re-reading the book. Teachers ask students to chorally re-read the book again twice with a partner.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 3, students review high-frequency words and read a decodable book. The routine includes reading and re-reading the book. Teachers ask students to chorally re-read the book again twice with a partner.
In Unit 7, Lesson 3, Day 4, Reading a Decodable, Building Fluency, the teacher builds fluency by having students chorally reread Core Decodable 91 twice with a partner. For additional practice with /o͞o/ spelled ue, students read Practice Decodable 72, “Sue, Rudy, and the Truth.”
Criterion 2.3: Assessment and Differentiation
Materials include Diagnostic and Benchmark Assessments. Materials provide student practice in forming letters but there is a lack of assessment regarding mastery of letter formation. Materials provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence in phonological awareness, decoding, word recognition and analysis, and fluency.
Materials do not include assessment results guidance in the following areas: determining the proficiency level of students based on stages of reading development and specific, concrete instructional suggestions on how to support students’ progress toward mastery. Limited instructional suggestions were noted for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in foundational skills. Materials do not include materials that specifically denote the standards assessed on formative or summative assessments.
Materials include differentiated suggestions as well as a photo library to support language development and comprehension of vocabulary. English Language (EL) Tips are integrated throughout the lesson at the point of use. Each digital lesson has a toggle that can be switched on for differentiation support strategies and lesson extensions/adaptations. These activities can also be found in the Differentiated Instruction Guide in the Resource Library. Although the program overview indicates differentiated instruction occurs in small group settings, and differentiated instruction guides are provided in daily lessons, no mention of changing from the whole group to small group exists in the digital guide.
Indicator 2G
Indicator 2G.i
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress through mastery of print concepts (K-1), letter recognition (K only), and printing letters (as indicated by the program scope and sequence) (K-1).
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress through mastery of print concepts (K-1), letter recognition (K only), and printing letters (as indicated by the program scope and sequence) (K-1).
OCR Foundational Skills Kit provides student practice in forming letters but there is a lack of assessment regarding mastery of letter formation. Diagnostic Assessment Guides indicate teachers should re-teach or provide intervention, although there is no explicit reference to specific re-teaching or intervention strategies. Limited instructional suggestions were noted for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in print concepts and letter formation.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide limited assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of print concepts. No evidence was found for the assessment of letter formation.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment Book, Table of Contents, lists an assessment for each week and an assessment at the end of each unit. The assessments cover phonics skills and high-frequency words.
In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 1, Reviewing Sounds and Letters, Dictation and Spelling, the teacher asks students to write as many letters of the alphabet as they can. Students are encouraged to write both capital and lowercase letters. The teacher explains to students that they are not expected to know all of the letters at this point. The purpose of the activity is to gather baseline information, not for assessment.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Foundational Skills Diagnostic Assessment, page T5, the teacher assesses the student’s ability to write the letters G, q, f, R, and z.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with limited information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessment, Foundational Skills Diagnostic Assessment, page iii, “Students’ results in the Diagnostic Assessment will assist you in making key instructional placement decisions. Use the results of these assessments to identify a student’s reading needs. The Diagnostic Assessments contain material in the four technical skill areas in which an on-level student should be able to show mastery, defined as a score of 80 percent or higher in the multiple-choice subtests and the appropriate number of words identified in the oral reading fluency measure for the time of the year. Students who score below the expected level on any of the technical skill areas will need to remedy this through additional scaffolding and support provided in Intervention.”
No evidence was found for the assessment of letter formation.
Materials provide limited support to teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in print concepts and letter formation.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Foundational Skills Diagnostic Assessment, page iii, students who score below the expected level on any of the technical skill areas will need to remedy this through additional scaffolding and support provided in Intervention.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Benchmark Assessment, page v, if students score below the cutoff for any Benchmark Assessment teachers can use several strategies to help students get back on track. Intervention should be assigned to students who need more intensive help.
Indicator 2G.ii
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonological awareness (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-1)
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress of phonological awareness (as indicated by the program scope and sequence).
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Resources, includes a Unit Planner that indicates where assessments are located in the Assessment Book. There are Diagnostic and Benchmark Assessments. The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1 does not include assessment results guidance in the following areas: determining the proficiency level of students based on stages of reading development and specific, concrete instructional suggestions on how to support students’ progress toward mastery. There is a missed opportunity for providing teacher guidance for instructional strategies for assessment area deficits.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence in phonological awareness.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment Book, Table of Contents, it lists an assessment for each week and an assessment at the end of each unit.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Diagnostic Assessment, Phonemic Awareness, the teacher says a word, changes one sound in the word to create a new word, says the new word, then asks the students to say yes or no if the new word accurately represents the change in sound.
In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Final Consonant Sounds, the teacher says a word, and students have to choose the picture with the same final sound as the given word.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with limited information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonological awareness.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessment, Foundational Skills Diagnostic Assessment, page iii, states, “Students’ results in the Diagnostic Assessment will assist you in making key instructional placement decisions. Use the results of these assessments to identify a student’s reading needs. The Diagnostic Assessments contain material in the four technical skill areas in which an on-level student should be able to show mastery, defined as a score of 80 percent or higher in the multiple-choice subtests and the appropriate number of words identified in the oral reading fluency measure for the time of the year. Students who score below the expected level on any of the technical skill areas will need to remedy this through additional scaffolding and support provided in Intervention.”
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment Teacher Edition, Performance Expectations: Lesson and Unit Assessments, 80 percent mastery is considered an acceptable level of mastery (e.g., four out of five items correct).
Materials support teachers with some instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in phonological awareness.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Foundational Skills Diagnostic Assessment, page iii, indicates that students who score below the expected level in any area will require additional scaffolding and intervention support.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessment TE, page v, indicates “Comprehensive assessment will make it easier to identify students who are struggling, provide them with additional instruction and practice, and prevent their falling further behind.”
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessments, Benchmark Assessments, Diagnosis, page v, offers only general help with the next steps. The guide states, “If students score below the cutoff for any Benchmark Assessment, use one or more of the following to help students get back on track: Reteach students who need extra help; Practice opportunities are available to students within the Skills Practice Workbooks, Leveled Readers (Approaching Level), eGames, and Language Arts Handbook; Differentiate Instruction during Workshop; Intervention should be assigned to students who need more intensive help.”
Indicator 2G.iii
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics in- and out-of-context (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics (as indicated by the program scope and sequence).
Materials include a variety of assessment opportunities such as diagnostic, benchmark, unit, and daily assessments in which students demonstrate their mastery of decoding skills. The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1 does not include assessment results guidance in the following area: concrete instructional suggestions on how to support students’ progress toward mastery.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide resources and tools to collect ongoing data about students’ progress in phonics.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessment, Assessment Book, the phonics assessments cover Phonics and Word Reading, Sounds and Spellings, encoding of missing sounds in words, and Phonics Review. Decoding Ability in context is measured under Reading Prosody in the Oral Fluency assessments.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessment, Diagnostic Assessment Book, the phonics assessment covers decoding and encoding.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Diagnostic Assessment, there are two Phonics and Decoding assessments in which students are to identify the given word in a wordlist, and two Oral Reading Fluency assessments in which students read as many words as they can from a wordlist.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Benchmark Assessment, Test 1, Group Dictation, students spell the selected words given by the teacher, and in Test 2, Oral Fluency Passage Reading, students read a passage with one hundred thirty-three words.
Materials offer assessment opportunities to determine students’ progress in phonics that are implemented systematically.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Unit Planner for each unit, it indicates when assessments are done. For example, Unit 4, Lesson 3, Unit Planner, Assessment column, notes Formal Lesson Assessment pages 37-38 and Formal Unit 4 Assessment on Day 5. Part of the lesson assessment asks students to choose from 3 words based on the beginning sound the teacher says. The Phonics and Word Reading Part of the unit assessment directs students to choose the spelling of sounds. The Sounds and Spelling part has students choose the spelling for sounds heard.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment, each unit has three lesson-level assessments that primarily focus on out-of-context phonics skills.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment, Units 7-12, each has one unit assessment that includes one oral reading fluency assessment.
Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence with phonics.
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, students select the letter that represents the final consonant after the teacher says a word.
In Unit 5, Lesson 2, after the teacher says a word, students select the correct spelling of the word.
In Unit 9, Lesson 2, students select the word that conveys the appropriate meaning using the following prefixes: im-, in-, and re-.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information about students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonics.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment Teacher Edition, Performance Expectations: Lesson and Unit Assessments, 80 percent mastery is considered an acceptable level of mastery (e.g., four out of five items correct).
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Benchmark Assessment Grade 1, Mastery, “For the Phonemic Awareness and Phonics sections, students who evidence a level of mastery may be awarded the points without taking the section of the test. Mastery is defined as a perfect score in consecutive Benchmark tests.”
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment, Performance Expectations: Unit Assessment, Phonics, Acceptable Correct for Unit 7: 32 out of 40 points. Units 8-12: 24 out of 30 points.
In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 5, there are two formal assessments. One is for the understanding of the skills taught in the lesson and the other for skills taught in the unit.
Materials genuinely measure students’ progress to somewhat support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in phonics.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Benchmark Assessment, SRA Open Court Reading Foundational Skills Benchmark Assessment Overview, Diagnosis, the directives state that if students score below the cutoff for any Benchmark Assessment, the teacher should use one or more of the following general suggestions to help students get back on track: reteach students who need extra help, practice opportunities are available to students within the Skills Practice Workbooks, Decodable books, eGames, and Language Arts Handbook, differentiate Instruction during Workshop, and intervention should be assigned to students who need more intensive help.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Benchmark Assessment, page v, provides only general suggestions for each of the three skill areas assessed.
Indicator 2G.iv
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence).
Materials provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year. Points of assessment are indicated in the Unit Planner and Teacher Edition. Assessments are provided in the Assessment Book, Diagnostic Assessment Book, and the Benchmark Assessment Book. The Assessment Blackline Masters provide student copies of each assessment. Teachers are provided with both a Student Assessment Record and a Class Assessment Record. Students use eActivities and eGames for informal assessment. A Teacher Resource Book with interventions is provided but not cross-referenced with each assessment. There is a lack of direct, explicit information on how to provide intervention for each assessment.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition (high-frequency words or irregularly spelled words) and analysis.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Foundational Skills Benchmark Assessment, each benchmark assessment has a high-frequency word reading assessment given three times throughout the year.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Unit Planner for each unit indicates when assessments are done. For example, Unit 3, Unit Planner, Lesson 3, Day 5 indicates that Assessment pages 26-27 and Assessment 28-32 will be done.
In Unit 6, Lesson 2, Day 5, Formal Assessment, pages 56-57, the test assesses Letters and Sounds and checks for word spelling. Students are given three similarly spelled words and must select the correct spelling of the word the teacher says. Page 57 has a similar activity for students to locate five high-frequency words (here, pretty, could, day, way).
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition and word analysis.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resources, Assessment, Diagnostic Assessment Book, is provided to help the teacher identify student strengths, weaknesses, and areas of concern in four technical skill areas: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics and Decoding, Spelling, Oral Reading Fluency. The Diagnostic Assessment can be used as an initial screener with individual students or groups of students who might be lacking the prerequisite skills for the grade level. The information from the Diagnostic Assessment can then be used to inform instruction in those specific areas.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Foundational Skills Benchmark Assessment, Oral Fluency: High-Frequency Word Reading Tracking Chart, provides the teacher with the goal for each benchmark assessment.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resources, Assessment, Benchmark Assessment Book, pages iv and v, notes the Benchmark Assessment “has two major components: 100-Point Skills Battery and Oral Fluency.
The 100-Point Skills Battery component samples skills from 5 strands within the grade-level curriculum: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Decoding, High-Frequency Word Reading, and Spelling.
“Because each of the Benchmark Assessments is equivalent in difficulty and format, they provide a means for measuring the progress of all students in a classroom over the course of the academic year. Improving total scores on the Benchmark Assessments indicates a student’s increasing mastery of the foundational skills curriculum.”
Materials support teachers with limited instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Foundational Skills Benchmark Assessment, Diagnosis, the directives for students who score below benchmark are as follows: reteach students who need extra help, use Skills Practice Workbooks, differentiate during Workshop, and assign students to intervention who need intensive help.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Resources, Assessments, Assessment Book, page vi, provides some general suggestions for helping students: “When appropriate, allow students to move to new skills rather than limiting them to instruction and practice in only the skills with which they are struggling. For example, if students have not mastered recognition of the first cluster of alphabet letters, allow them to move on to other letters while continuing to practice the first set.”
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resources, Assessment, Benchmark Assessment Book, page v, provides general suggestions for helping students. The materials state, ”If students score below the cutoff for any Benchmark Assessment, use one or more of the following to help students get back on track:
Reteach students who need extra help.
Practice opportunities are available to students within the Skills Practice Workbooks, Leveled Readers (Approaching Level), eGames, and Language Arts Handbook
Differentiate Instruction during Workshop
Intervention should be assigned to students who need more intensive help.”
Indicator 2G.v
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress in fluency (as indicated by the program scope and sequence).
Materials provide multiple assessment opportunities for fluency as noted in the Unit Planner of each unit. In the Assessment Book, fluency in Units 7-12 is measured through reading passages noting reading prosody and rate. The Diagnostic Assessment can be used with an individual student or groups of students and measures how many high-frequency words a student correctly reads in one minute. The Benchmark Assessment is administered three times per year and measures both high-frequency word fluency and passage fluency. A Teacher Resource Book with interventions is provided but not cross-referenced with each assessment. There are also differentiated teaching ideas in the teacher edition but there is a lack of direct, explicit information on how to provide intervention based on each assessment.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly and systematically over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of fluency.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessment Book, there is an Oral Fluency Assessment for each unit beginning with Unit 7. The assessments score reading rate, accuracy, and prosody.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessment Book, the Diagnostic Assessment has an Oral Reading Fluency component. The Diagnostic Assessment can be used as an initial screener with an individual student or groups of students. The assessment does not measure passage reading but does measure how many high-frequency words a student correctly reads in one minute.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Assessment, Benchmark Assessment, is administered three times per year and measures both high-frequency word fluency and passage fluency.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information about students' current skills/level of understanding of fluency.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment, Performance Expectations: Oral Fluency Assessment, students must meet the following Words Per Minute (WPM) benchmarks to meet grade-level expectations: 59 (Unit 1), 65 (Unit 2), 71 (Unit 3), 77 (Unit 4), 84 (Unit 5), and 91 (Unit 6).
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Resource Library, Assessment Book, page vi, notes expected fluency (words correct per minute) for Units 7-12. The end-of-year expectation for students for prosody is four of five prosody elements in the average range.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Resource Library, Assessment, Benchmark Assessment, page iv, provides cutoff points for the three assessment periods for high-frequency word reading fluency and oral passage reading fluency. On page v, Diagnosis, it is noted that if a student falls below the cutoff score on the Oral Fluency assessments they should be considered for intervention and should be closely monitored.
Materials support teachers with limited instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in fluency.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Diagnostic Assessment, page iii, students who score below the expected level on any of the technical skill areas will need to remedy this through additional scaffolding and support provided in Intervention.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Resource Library, Assessment, Benchmark Assessment, page v, “If students score below the cutoff for any Benchmark Assessment, use one or more of the following to help students get back on track: Reteach, practice opportunities are available to students within the Skills Practice Workbooks, Leveled Readers, (Approaching Level), eGames, and Language Arts Handbook Differentiate Instruction during Workshop, Intervention should be assigned to students who need more intensive help. The Language Arts Handbook and Workshop guidance are not found in the OCR Foundational Skills Teacher Edition, Grade 1.
In Unit 5, Lesson, 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Fluency: Reading a Decodable Book, Building Fluency, Teacher Tip, the directions tell the teacher if students are not reading at an appropriate rate, point out the end punctuation and model appropriate phrasing.
Indicator 2H
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria for assessment materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment and assessment materials denote which standards are being emphasized.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1 does not include materials that specifically denote the standards assessed on formative or summative assessments. There is an alignment document that contains how lessons correlate to Common Core State Standards but does not include questions and tasks. When assessments are mentioned in the lesson, the directives suggest that the assessment aligns with the overall lesson standards; however, what is cited in the lesson is not consistently assessed on the assessment. The program overview indicates assessments are aligned with classroom instruction, though specific alignment documents are absent in the program. There is standards alignment information carried in the print version which is not carried in the digital version.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials include some denotations of the standards being assessed in the formative assessments.
In Unit 6, Lesson 2, Day 1, students read a decodable, and teachers monitor and check for accuracy. Standards are listed at the start of the section.
In Unit 9, Lesson 2, Day 4, Monitor Progress, Informal Assessment, students use Unit 9, eActivity, Lesson 2, Foundational Skills, High-Frequency Words, and Unit 9 eGame, Lesson 2, Foundational Skills to practice skills learned in the lesson. In the teacher edition, the standards for the lesson are noted as RF.1.3b, RF.1.4a, and RF.1.4b, but there is no indication which standards are in the eActivity or eGame, which serve as formative assessments.
Materials do not include denotations of standards being assessed in the summative assessments.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Assessment drop-down menu, indicates an ability for teachers to choose items to assess by the standard.
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 5, there is a formal assessment for Lesson 3 and a formal assessment for Unit 2. Neither assessment includes denotations to the standards either on the assessment or in the Teacher’s Edition.
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 5, there is a Benchmark Assessment but there are no denotations to the standards either on the assessment or in the teacher edition.
Alignment documentation provided for some tasks, questions, and assessment items.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, no evidence found for alignment documentation for assessment items.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Standards, documentation is provided for which standards are covered on which pages only for the printed Teacher Edition as it references page numbers. Standards are provided at the top of each lesson for the eTeacher Edition, and they are also listed next to the portion of the lesson they are linked with for tasks and questions. This evidence was found in the printed Teacher Edition. No evidence was found for this in the Digital Teacher Edition.
In Unit 7, Lesson 2, Day 2, five Foundational Skills standards and two Language Standards are listed at the top of the ePage and also next to each portion of the lesson they are covered including the tasks and questions.
There is no alignment documentation containing specific standards correlated to specific lessons.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, no alignment document to specific lessons found.
Indicator 2I
Differentiation for Instruction: Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding grade-level standards.
Indicator 2I.i
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials that regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
Materials include differentiated suggestions as well as a photo library to support language development and comprehension of vocabulary. English Language (EL) Tips are integrated throughout the lesson at the point of use. The materials also provide an EL Appendix and a Newcomers English Language Development Teacher’s Guide with eight board games to support those lessons.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide support for English Language Learner (ELL) students.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, English Learner Teacher’s Guide, Contrastive Analysis Chart for Speakers of Other Languages: Phonemes, there is a correlation chart that compares English phonemes to other languages.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher introduces the sound of the /ks/ spelled x. Materials provide an EL guide to the lesson indicating specific photo cards to use to support the lesson and routines and procedures according to language proficiency.
In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher introduces the sound of the long /o/ spelled oa. Materials provide an EL guide to the lesson indicating specific photo cards to use to support the lesson and routines and procedures according to language proficiency.
General statements about ELL students or strategies are noted at the beginning of a unit or at one place in the teacher edition are then implemented by the materials throughout the lessons.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, English Learner Appendix, provides information to teachers on contrastive analysis with students’ first language provided for 13 languages, visuals for forming consonant sounds, and explanation of routines and activities to guide students who are ELs.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Newcomers English Language Development Teacher’s Guide, provides guidance and activities for teachers to use for students who are newly arrived in the United States. Materials are used as a supplement or instead of other supplementary materials and include sentence stems, suggestions to pair students, and teacher tips for additional and independent work.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, English Learner, directions tell the teacher to point out the following Spanish cognates that align with the /ks/ spelled with x: saxo, seis, and mezclar.
In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics and Decoding, English Learner, directions tell the teacher to use EL Photo Library Cards 14, 53, 109, and 121 to cover the concept of compound words for students who may need extra practice due to compound words not existing in their native language.
Indicator 2I.ii
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade-level with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or at the OCR “Approaching Level”. Each digital lesson has a toggle that can be switched on for differentiation support strategies and lesson extensions/adaptations. These activities can also be found in the Differentiated Instruction Guide in the Resource Library. The Program Overview refers to small groups as part of Workshop time but there is no guidance in the Foundational Skills Kit that explains how or when to do Workshop small groups. Although the program overview indicates differentiated instruction occurs in small group settings, and differentiated instruction guides are provided in daily lessons, no mention of changing from the whole group to small group exists in the digital guide.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Program Overview, page 7, refers to Workshop time to allow for small groups, but there is no elaboration of this in the lessons.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Program Overview, page 21, indicates that differentiated instruction tips in the teacher guide should be used in small groups, but these do not show up in the lessons.
In Unit 4, Lesson 2, Day 2, Differentiated Instruction, the teacher works with small groups of students who need additional practice with words ending in /Ǝl/ spelled -al, -el, -il, and -le. The teacher says some words and students give a thumbs-up signal when they hear /Ǝl/ at the end of a word. The teacher uses the words: apple, cattle, travel, mend, store, settle, string, stencil.
In Unit 8, Lesson 3, Day 2, students read a decodable book. Materials include a differentiated instruction guide with suggestions for before and after reading.
Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level in extensive opportunities to learn foundational skills at the grade-level standards.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Intervention, Differentiated Instruction Guide, contains all of the leveled lesson differentiation that can be accessed individually in the Digital Teacher Edition including an “Approaching Level”.
In Unit 4, Lesson 2, Day 3, phonics and decoding section, the materials provide a differentiated instruction guide indicating that teachers should write pairs of words on the board and ask students to underline the /nk/ spelling.
In Unit 8, Lesson 3, Day 2, blending, the whole group lesson includes using whole-word blending and sentence blending routines; the differentiated instruction guide includes the additional closed and open syllable routine to guide students to blend multisyllabic words.
Indicator 2I.iii
Materials regularly provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade-level.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
Materials provide a Supplemental Word List in the Appendix found in the Resource Library to extend learning in the lesson. The Program Overview references lessons containing detailed suggestions for differentiated instruction for those Beyond Level. Although there is a toggle switch for differentiated learning in the digital teacher edition, differentiation for beyond level was noted in the printed teacher edition labeled as Beyond Level at the bottom margin. The differentiated activities for Beyond Level are only evident in the print Teacher Edition, not in the Digital Teacher Edition. Many of the above-grade-level activities are not seen as doing more than their classmates, but rather different activities based on skill level.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Materials provide multiple opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth.
In the OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Resource Library, Appendix, Supplemental Word List, can be used in several ways to extend the lessons. Words are listed by beginning sounds, ending sounds, and medial vowel sounds.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Resource Library, Program Overview, every lesson contains detailed suggestions for differentiating instruction for the following groups of students: Approaching Level, On Level, and Beyond Level This is seen in the print materials, but not on online materials.
In Unit 2 Lesson 1, Day 1, printed version, while on grade-level students generate words with /k/, students Beyond Level generate multisyllabic words with the sound of the /k/ and state the number of syllables in the word they generate.
In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 3, printed version, dictation, and spelling, students Beyond Level generate sentences and dictate sentences to partners.
There are few instances of advanced students simply doing more assignments than their classmates.
In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 4, Differentiated Instruction, High-Frequency Words, at Approaching Level, the students use the High-Frequency Flash Cards to practice reading the previously introduced high-frequency words, For On Level, students work in pairs to generate additional sentences containing various high-frequency words. For Beyond Level, students use index cards to make several sets of word cards, including high-frequency words. Students use the cards to build sentences.
In Unit 9, Lesson 3, Day 1, Phonics and Decoding, Beyond Level students use newspapers or magazines to search for words that have the following target sound/spelling: a_e, ai, and ay.
In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 3, Beyond Level students generate a sentence with words that contain /ī/ and /i/ and then dictate the sentence to a partner.
Criterion 2.4: Effective Technology Use and Visual Design
Materials are provided for both teachers and students through a digital means. ePresentation Resources found in the teacher edition can be projected along with other resources found in the Resource Library. Materials are compatible with many Internet browsers, follow universal programming style, and allow the use of the Android mobile device. Materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students through assigning specific tasks and assessments to the student-facing materials.
Indicator 2J
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 contain digital materials (either included as a supplement to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) that are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Fire\fox, Google Chrome.), “platform neutral” (i.e., are compatible with multiple operating systems such as Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform.), follow universal programming style and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, both teacher and student digital materials are web-based, compatible with many Internet browsers, follow universal programming style, and allow the use of my Android mobile device. It is somewhat difficult to get student pages on an iPhone.
Examples include but are not limited to:
Digital materials are compatible with desktop Windows 8.1 and 10 platforms.
Digital materials are compatible with the android phone, Samsung 9+. Both teacher and student digital materials are accessible on an Android phone.
ConnectEd Mobile App is available for all decodable texts. Texts can be downloaded on a student's device so they can be read without an Internet connection.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition is accessible with Safari (MacBook), Google Chrome, and Firefox browser on laptop and desktop devices.
In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 5, the lesson presents a digital book with optional automated read-aloud technology and is accessible with Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox browsers.
Indicator 2K
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 support effective use of technology and visual design to enhance student learning. Digital materials are accessible and available on multiple platforms.
Open Court Reading Grade 1 materials are provided for both teachers and students through a digital means. ePresentation Resources found in the Teacher Edition can be projected along with other resources found in the Resource Library. Student Skill Pages have a built-in reader that will read aloud the directions and words on the page to students. Students can write answers to questions or type answers using the tools in the Student Skill Pages.
Examples include but are not limited to:
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, each day’s teacher directions and resources are available digitally by clicking on the Unit, Lesson, and Day for access.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, word lists, sentences, big books, student skills pages, and decodable readers are available through the ePresentation Resources found linked in each day’s activities as needed based on the lesson. EL Photo Library Cards, High-Frequency Flash Cards, Sound Spelling cards, games, assessment resources, and teacher videos can all be found under the menu in the Digital Teacher Edition.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, a Student Edition is also available online. The teacher can push certain resources and assessments out to the whole class or certain students.
Indicator 2L
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 contain digital materials that include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1 includes opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students through assigning specific tasks and assessments to the student-facing materials.
Examples include but are not limited to:
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition includes options for teachers to assign individual content or lessons to students.
The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition Assessment drop-down menu includes options for teachers to assign individual assessments and the option to create individual assessments.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assignment Tracker, the teacher assigns specific decodable texts, eActivities, Sound Spelling Cards to specific students or groups of students.
In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Assessment, the teacher uses an item bank to create assessments to assign to students.
Indicator 2M
Some of the materials reviewed for Grade 1 can be easily customized for local use.
Open Court Reading Grade 1 materials provide the ability to customize assessment materials for local use. Although the option to assign individual skills practice, digital books, and activities to students exists, the content itself is not customizable.
Examples include but are not limited to:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Menu, Assessment, tests can be created by selecting questions from a question bank, question by standard, or question from a passage bank to meet the local curriculum scope and sequence for testing purposes.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Menu, Assignment Tracker, the teacher can choose certain materials and when to send them out to students digitally (e.g., EL Photo Library Cards, Activities, Core Decodables.). The materials can be sent to the whole class or selected students.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Assessment drop-down menu provides the option for teachers to create their assessments using a question bank, choose questions by standard, and create their assessment questions.
Indicator 2N
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 include a visual design (whether in print or digital) that is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1digital platform design allows for ease of student navigation and learning. These are not distracting or chaotic, but support students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Examples include but are not limited to:
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, print and digital materials are well-organized by units, lessons, and days.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition, pages in the Student Edition, Student Practice Pages, and decodable stories are an easy-to-read font size.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher and Student Edition, the use of color is not distracting.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, Core Decodables are laid out both through picture and word formatting in a way that is easy for the reader to utilize through digital means.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Teacher Edition, ePresentation resources of word lists and sentences are in color, font, and format that is readable through a digital and projectable means.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition, Student Skill pages are laid out in a way that is easy for students to understand the flow of questions and where answers are needed.
OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade 1, Student Edition, Activities, have a layout of Elkonin boxes, counters, and directions in a way that does not overwhelm students.