The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction for letter identification of all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). (K)

Open Court Reading (OCR) Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, provides instruction for all 26 uppercase and lowercase letters. Letter identification is explicitly taught in the Unit 1, Getting Started section, and continues in the Alphabetic Knowledge and Alphabetic Principle sections of Units 1 - 9, but is explicitly taught in Unit 1. Unit 1, including the Getting Started days, is completed in 25 days.

• Materials contain isolated, systematic and explicit instruction for all 26 letters (recognize and name uppercase and lowercase) 

  • Recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet

    • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Course Map, provides the sequence of letters. All 26 letters are initially presented in Unit 1. Initial identification lessons teach two to three letters in one lesson.

    • In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher displays the Aa and Bb sound cards. The lesson progresses from identifying uppercase and lowercase letters in student names, identifying differences in shapes between the uppercase and lowercase letter, and finding uppercase and lowercase letters Aa and Bb in an alphabet book.

    • In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 4, the teacher displays the Xx. Yy, and Zz sound cards. The lesson progresses from identifying uppercase and lowercase letters on the card, writing words on the board and having students identify the capital and lowercase letters, to students responding when they see an Xx, Yy, or Zz in the corresponding alphabet book text. 

• There is a defined sequence for letter instruction to be completed in a reasonable time frame over the school year. 

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Course Map, provides the sequence of instruction for letter names. All 26 letters are initially presented in Unit 1 in alphabetic order. Initial identification lessons teach two to three letters in one lesson. 

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Scope and Sequence for Sound and Spelling Introduction shows that letter instruction continues throughout Grade K in regard to the different positions the letter can be found in words. This can be found in the Alphabetic Knowledge section of Unit 1 and Unit 2 and then Alphabetic Principle section of Unit 3-Unit 9.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials engage students in sufficient practice of letter identification.

The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K includes both whole group and independent activities for students to identify, locate and name all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). During Warm Up, students identify letters on the Alphabet Sound Card and then look around the room to find labeled items that begin with their letter. There are Student Skill Practice pages for students to locate the letters of the day from the day’s learning. Students use The Alphabet Book to locate letters being taught for that day’s learning.

• Materials provide students with frequent opportunities to engage in practice identifying all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).

  • In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 1, Warm Up, Find the Words and Letters, the teacher assigns each student a letter and has the student identify their letter on the Alphabet Sound Card. Students look for and identify their letter on various classroom items. The teacher repeats the sequence for all letters Aa-Mm.

  • In Unit 1, Lesson1, Day 1, Warm Up, The Alphabet, the teacher tells the student to name the letters as the teacher points to the card. The teacher repeats the sequence for all letters Nn-Zz.

• Materials provide opportunities to engage in practice locating all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).

  • In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 4, Alphabetic Knowledge, Alphabet Book H, Skills Practice, students identify Gg by coloring them all one color and Hh by coloring them all a different color on a page full of boxes and letters.

  • In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Day 5, Warm Up, The Alphabet, students look for labels in the classroom that contain the letters Gg or Hh.

  • In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 4, Alphabetic Knowledge, Alphabet Book P, Skills Practice, students find and circle the letters Oo and Pp.

• Materials provide opportunities to engage in naming all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).

  • In Unit 1, Lesson1, Day 1, Warm Up, The Alphabet, the teacher tells the students to name letters as the teacher points to the card.

  • In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 2, Warm Up, Letter Recognition, the teacher points to a letter on an Alphabet Sound Card, and students name the letter and stand up if it is an uppercase letter and sit down if it is a lowercase letter.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials embed letter identification practice in meaningful print use.

The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, provides students with frequent opportunities to engage in practice identifying all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). The letter names are initially taught in Unit 1, Getting Started Unit. In Unit 1, students practice identifying letters by name. Student practice continues during Daily Warm Ups, Student Skill Practice Pages, The Alphabet Book, and a daily Secret Pass letter used as a way to reinforce recognition of a particular letter.

• Materials provide students with frequent opportunities to engage in practice identifying all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).

  • In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 2, Alphabetic Knowledge, Letter Names-Ss, Tt, and Uu, the lesson includes two sets of Letter Cards: one set with uppercase letters A through T and the other with the lowercase letters a through t. Each student is given one card with an uppercase letter. The teacher holds up a lowercase card in random order. The student who is holding a card with the matching uppercase letter stands and says the letter's name. This is continued until all letters have been identified, presenting lowercase t card last. The Alphabet Sound Cards Ss and Tt are shown, and students identify the upper- and lowercase letters, repeating the names aloud with the teacher.

  • In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 5, Alphabetic Knowledge, Reviewing Letter Names-Aa-Zz, students work with partners to play the Ordering Letters game, Qq through Zz. Each student is given a set of Letter Cards Qq through Zz. The teacher reminds students that they should arrange their cards, so that they show either all uppercase letters or all lowercase letters and that they should then give the set to their partner to check. Partners work together to match uppercase letters with lowercase letters. The students then read the letter names in order.

  • In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Day 1, Alphabetic Knowledge, How the Alphabet works, Letter Order Make a Word, students receive letter cards with one of the letters Ss, Mm, Tt, Pp. Students arrange themselves in letter order of the word written on the board. Students then spell the word orally using knowledge of the letters.

  • In Unit 7, Lesson 2, Day 3, Alphabet Book V, the teacher points to the title letters Vv and has the students say and name each of the letters, uppercase V and lowercase v.

• Materials provide opportunities to engage in practice locating all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).

  • In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 3, Alphabetic Knowledge, Letter Names - Mm and Nn. As part of the lesson, volunteers point to the uppercase M or the lowercase m on classroom labels, signs, or students’ Name Necklaces. The activity continues in the same way for uppercase N and lowercase n.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 2, Alphabetic Knowledge, Letter Names - Ss, Tt, and Uu, Alphabet Book-Ss, a rhyme is read aloud as the teacher points to each word. This is repeated but this time, the students say “stop!” when the teacher touches a word that begins with s.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction to print and to practice the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).

OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K includes clear directions and modeling of all 26 letters, including the teacher stating the strokes of the letters while demonstrating proper letter formation. Students have opportunities to practice writing all uppercase and lowercase letters, and students use multimodal methods during instruction.

• 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 many upper- and lowercase letters

    • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Resource Library, Penmanship, has 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.

    • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, 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 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher reviews how to form the capital S by demonstrating, saying how to form the strokes, and having students practice writing the capital S on a paper or a board. The process is repeated for the lowercase s.

    • In Unit 4, Lesson 3, Day 1, the teacher models how to form the uppercase I by demonstrating, saying how to form the strokes, repeating the letter name, and having students practice writing the capital I on a paper or a board. The process is repeated for the lowercase i.

    • In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 1, penmanship/handwriting activity, the teacher reviews how to form an uppercase and lowercase j and the students practice writing a row of uppercase Js and a row of lowercase js on their paper. 

    • In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 1, penmanship/handwriting activity, the teacher reviews how to form an uppercase and lowercase w, and the students practice writing a row of uppercase Ws and a row of lowercase ws on their paper. 

• Materials include frequent opportunities for students to practice forming all of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase)

  • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher leads students through guided practice of writing the uppercase and lowercase letter Ss on paper, circling their best formation. The lesson progresses to writing the uppercase and lowercase letter Ss underneath pictures that begin with the /s/ sound.

  • In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Day 2, guided practice, the teacher guides students in skills practice of naming each picture on the worksheet and writing the letter d in the correct location, either at the beginning or end of the word.

• Materials include frequent opportunities for students to practice forming letters using multimodal and/or multisensory methods. 

  • In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher uses Instructional Routine 2 to introduce sounds and letters. The teacher writes the letter Jj on the board and asks the students to make the letter in the air while the teacher writes it. Teacher writes the letter, and says, "Start here, and draw a short horizontal line across the top. Then go back, and draw a vertical line straight down.”

  • In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher uses Instructional Routine 2 to introduce sounds and letters. The teacher writes the letter Ww on the board and asks the students to make the letter in the air while the teacher writes it.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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).

The OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, provides explicit instructional support for general concepts of print, including print carries meaning, reading left to right, and words are made of letters. The materials include a variety of physical books that are suitable for the teaching of print concepts including Big Books, Pre-Decodable Books, Core Decodable Books, and Core Pre-Decodable and Decodable Takehome books.

• Materials include sufficient and explicit instruction for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing). 

  • Follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page.

    • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Resources, TE Routines, Routine 1, Reading a Pre-Decodable, students learn that a book is read without stopping with the teacher moving a finger beneath the words and rebuses to show the progression of print. Students follow along as the teacher reads.

    • In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 2, Print and Book Awareness, Pickled Peppers: “The Mulberry Bush”, the teacher displays the Big Book, Pickled Peppers, and reads with students, accentuating the repeated words and moving their finger from left to right and top to bottom. 

    • In Unit 1, Lesson 3, Day 1, Print and Book Awareness, “Peter Piper”, the teacher reads the rhyme slowly, accentuating the rhyming words and moving their finger from left to right under the words as they are read. The teacher reminds students to read from the left side of the page to the right side.

  • Recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.

    • In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 3, Environmental Print, The Alphabet, the teacher explains to students that words are made of letters. The teacher points to a few of the labeled items in the classroom and names the letters used to write the words. The teacher pronounces the entire word after naming the letters, moving a hand from left to right to track the text. 

    • In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 1, Alphabetic Knowledge, Letter Order: Make a Word, the teacher writes the word map on the board in large lowercase letters and says the word, map. The teacher asks students, “Do you have the first letter in the word map as your Special Letter?” The student with the Special Letter m comes up and stands in front of the m written on the board. The student holds their letter so the class can see it.. When students are in the correct order, the teacher says, “m-a-p spells map.” The students repeat spelling the word, m-a-p. The materials include a note to the teacher, “Though students have not yet attached the sound to their Special Letter, students can learn from this activity that the order of letters is very important to the spelling of words. Students will begin to understand how letters combine in a certain order to make words.” 

  • Understand that words are separated by spaces in print.

    • In Unit 2, Lesson 2, Day 5, Print and Book Awareness, Pickled Peppers, the teacher displays “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear” and reads it aloud. The teacher draws students' attention to the rhyme's first line and points out that the line is the same as the rhyme's title. The teacher reads the line aloud, alternating pointing to the words in the title and in the first line. The teacher asks the students how many words are in the line and then has students count the words aloud as they are pointed to. The teacher points to the spaces between the words in the line and explains that in print, words are separated by spaces. The students count the number of spaces in the first line.

    • In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Lesson 1, Print and Book Awareness, Pickled Peppers, while working with familiar rhymes, the teacher reminds the students that words are separated by spaces. The teacher calls on volunteers to point first to the words, and then to the spaces before and after each word. The number of words and spaces is counted in the first line.

• Materials include frequent and adequate lessons, tasks, and questions for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing). 

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Program Overview, page 12, “Teachers use Big Books in this program to make students aware that letters can be put together to form words, words can make up a sentence, and sentences can be added together to create paragraphs. Spaces appear between words to separate them from one another. In addition, students find out that sentences have some distinguishing characteristics: capital letters appear at the beginning of each separate sentence, and each sentence ends with some sort of punctuation, depending upon the type of sentence it is. Students also learn that paragraphs are usually indented, which is how they know when a new paragraph begins.”

  • In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 1, Warm Up, Name Necklaces, the teacher shows the student a Name Necklace and says the name, while moving a hand from left to right under the name.

  • In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 3, Environment and Print Awareness, students point to items and places labeled in the classroom. Each label is read, tracking the print from left to right as the teacher reads.

• Materials include a variety of physical books (teacher-guided, such as big books) that are suitable for the teaching of print concepts.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Resources, Big Books, includes the Alphabet Book and Pickled Peppers. The Alphabet Book has a poem for each letter of the alphabet. Pickled Peppers includes 15 familiar rhymes including “Jack and Jill”, “Hickory Dickory Dock”, and “Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear”.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Resources, Pre-Decodables, includes 14 Practice Pre-Decodable books and 14 Core Pre-Decodable Books. The books contain rebuses and words.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Resources, Core Decodables, includes 28 Core Decodable books

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Resources, Core Decodables, includes14 blackline masters for Core Pre-Decodable  and 28 Decodable Take Homes.

• Materials include sufficient and explicit instruction about the organization of print concepts (e.g., follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing) in the context of a book.

  • In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 2, Phonological and Phonemic Awareness, Identifying and Counting Words in Spoken Sentences, the teacher draws two connected boxes on the board and tells students to listen carefully as they say a sentence made of two one-syllable words, such as, Dogs bark. Students repeat the sentence with the teacher. The teacher points to the boxes, and tells students that each box represents a word in the sentence. Students count the boxes and identify which word is in each box. This is repeated with other examples of two-word sentences, such as, Cats meow. A third box is drawn on the board, and the teacher says a three-word sentence, such as, Meg likes dogs The sentence is repeated while the teacher points to a box, left to right, as each word is said. Students identify the number of words in the sentence. Volunteers say the first, middle, and last words in the sentence. 

  • In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 5, Reading a Decodable, the teacher points to the title on the cover, and discusses how readers follow the text from top to bottom and left to right. Students turn to page 3, and the teacher asks, "What is the first word on the page?” Students point to the word. Students track the text from left to right and identify the last word on the page.

• Materials consistently include opportunities for students to engage in authentic practice using print concepts in the context of student books.

  • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 4, Alphabetic Principle, Alphabet Book -/m/, the teacher tells the class that when they are ready to read the rhyme, they begin reading at the top and on the left of the rhyme with the word Monkey.

  • In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Day 3, Print and Book Awareness, Pickled Peppers, the Table of Contents of Pickled Peppers is displayed. The teacher points to the title “The Mulberry Bush” and has a volunteer run their hand under the title from left to right, leading to the page number. Students say the page number and turn to that page. A student tracks the title from left to right.. Another volunteer points to the first word in the poem. The teacher discusses how the size of this print is smaller than the title. Students point to the last word on the page. The teacher reminds students that when we read, we read the words from top to bottom and from left to right of the page.

• 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 4, Lesson 1, Day 2, Alphabetic Principle, Alphabet Book, the teacher reminds students that letters make up words and words are used to tell stories and share ideas. A volunteer points to a letter on page 18, and says its name. Another volunteer points to a word on the same page and says it aloud (with teacher help, if necessary)

  • In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 1, Penmanship/Handwriting, the teacher reviews how to form an uppercase B using the established procedure. The teacher places a pen at the starting point on the board and asks students to place their fingers in the air. While writing the letter, the teacher says, “Start at the top, and make a vertical line. Start at the top again, and go around to the middle, then around again to the bottom. Uppercase B.” Students make the letter in the air and say the letter’s sound. 

• Materials include students’ practice of previously learned print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation.

  • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 4, each student gets one set of building blocks and places the blocks in front of them. The teacher says a sentence, and students push a block forward each time they hear a word. The teacher reminds them that we read print from left to right, so the first block they move should be on their left. Students are called on to say the sentence after they have moved the blocks, pointing to each block that represents each word. Students tell how many words are in each sentence. The entire class repeats the sentence as everyone points to their blocks. This is continued with other three or four-word sentences.

  • In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 2, Alphabetic Principle, Guided Practice, students complete Skills Practice page 140 for additional practice in writing the letter Aa and identifying /ā/.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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 K, 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 as well as using Elkonin boxes to practice naming individual phonemes.

• Materials include a variety of activities for phonological awareness. 

  • In Unit 1 eActivity, Lesson 1, Foundational Skills Blending, the students listen to a word and drag a red marker for each sound they hear.

  • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonological Awareness, the teacher uses the provided lion puppet to guide students through orally blending words together. The puppet (teacher) says the first consonant sound(s) and then the ending of the word. The teacher asks students to orally blend the parts of the word (e.g.,/pl/..ay play).

  • In Unit 5, Lesson 2, Day 1, Phonological Awareness, the teacher uses the lion puppet to say the first part of a word, and the teacher says the final sound. The teacher asks the students to orally blend both parts of the word together. 

  • In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 2, Phoneme Matching: Initial Sounds use Pocket Chart Picture Cards 57—frog, 132—top, and 55—fish, the students say the name for each picture. The directions state, “Display the Pocket Chart Picture Cards in a row, and then ask a student to point to and say the names for the two pictures that begin with the same sound. Have the student hold up the two Pocket Chart Picture Cards that she or he has named. Have the class repeat the names and the sound. For the example cards, students should say frog, fish, /f/.”

• There are frequent opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Course Map, indicates that Phonological and Phonemic Awareness begins on the eleventh day of school in Unit 1, Week 1, Day 1 and continues in every lesson through the entire K level.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Unit 1-12, Unit Plan, every lesson begins with a phonological or phonemic awareness activity.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, through the menu, teachers can access the course map which shows what is taught during each day regarding skills.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction in phonological awareness through systematic modeling across the K-1 grade band.

Instructional materials provide teachers with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds, and spoken words. 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. 

  • Recognize and produce rhyming words.

    • In Unit 1, Getting Started, Day 2, Oral Language, the teacher explains that rhyming words are words with the same sounds at the end. Materials provide examples of rhyming words, such as blue and two. 

    • In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Day 1, the materials provide the teacher with pocket chart picture cards that rhyme including goose/juice, bee/tree, cat/hat, and the teacher displays the cards in the pocket chart and says a sentence with each rhyming pair.

  • Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.

    • In Unit 2, Lesson 2, Day 4, Phonemic Awareness, Word Part Blending, the teacher explains to students that as they learn to read and write they must learn to listen carefully to how words sound. The teacher tells them they will play a listening game. The teacher says a word in two parts and the students listen carefully and tell what the word is. Using the dinosaur puppet, the teacher says “dino...saur” “What’s the word”. Puppet: “dinosaur”.

    • In Unit 5, Day 1, Lesson 2, Warm Up, Syllable Segmentation, the teacher says a student’s name syllable by syllable and says the name again clapping out the syllables announcing the number of syllables in the name (ex. Madison- Mad...i...son - three, Jacob-Ja...cob, two. 

  • Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.

    • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonological Awareness, Orally Blend Onset and Rime, the teacher uses the Lion Puppet to tell students he wants to play a new blending game. Materials explain the game, “you will say the beginning of a word and the puppet will say the end. Tell students to listen carefully because sometimes the first part of the word will only be one sound. Teacher /s/, Puppet - ad. “What’s the word? Everyone- sad. Do this with the list of words provided.”

    • In Unit 4, Lesson 3, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, Oral Segmenting Onset and Rime, using the Lion Puppet, the teacher tells the students that they are going to play a new game. The materials explain that the puppet(teacher) will say a word, and the students will repeat the word. The teacher says the first part of the word and the students repeat the first part. Then the teacher says the last part of the word and the students repeat the last part.

      • Teacher/ Puppet:The word is sack

      • Everyone: sack

      • Teacher: The first part of the word is /s/

      • Everyone: /s/

      • Teacher: The last part of the word is ack

      • Everyone: ack. The teacher then uses the puppet to model and change the first part of the word and the students repeat the new word. 

  • Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.1 (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)

    • In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Matching/ Initial Sounds, the teacher tells the students they are going to play a game in which they try to find two words that begin with the same sound. “Explain that you want them to listen closely as you say pairs of words and to give a thumbs-up signal if a pair of words begin with the same sound and the thumbs-down signal if the words do not begin with the same sound. Then they should say the beginning sound if it is the same. Try these word pairs: happy, hurry /h/.”

    • In Unit 7, Lesson 2, Day 1. Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation- Final Sounds, the teacher says three words: laugh, half, proof. The teacher tells the students that these words end with the same /f/ sound. The teacher says the words again, stretching out the final sound. 

    • In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 2, Phonemic Awareness Phoneme Segmentation, the teacher is instructed to tape Pocket Chart Picture Card 58 (picture of a gate) onto the board. Materials state, “Beneath the picture, draw three connected boxes. Have ready several sticky notes. Point to each box, from left to right, and tell students each box stands for a sound in the word. Use the following procedure to isolate and pronounce each sound in the word: 

      • Teacher: What is the name of the picture?

      • Everyone: gate 

      • Teacher: What is the first sound you hear in the word gate?

      • Everyone: /g/. Place a sticky note in the first box as everyone says /g/. Continue the procedure guiding students to isolate and pronounce the medial vowel and final consonant sounds.”

  • Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

    • In Unit 9, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonemic Awareness Phoneme Substitution: Initial Sounds,the materials state that the Lion Puppet(Teacher) tells the students he wants to teach them something new. The puppet/teacher will say a word and a new beginning sound and he wants them to use the sound to make a new word from the old one. “Say the word hill. Have students repeat the word hill. Then say /m/, and ask students what word they make when they replace the first sound in hill with /m/. mill Continue changing the initial phonemes to /s/ and /p/, sill, and pill.”

    • In Unit 10, Lesson 2, Day 5, Phonemic Awareness Phoneme Addition: Internal Sounds,the materials state that the Lion Puppet (Teacher)tells students he wants to play a new game. He explains that for this game, students will add a sound to a word to make a new word. The lion/teacher says a word, and students repeat the word. The lion/teacher says a sound and tells where he wants the sound to be added to the word. Then, everyone says the new word.

• 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 K, through the menu, teachers have access to professional learning videos about phonological/phonemic awareness, phoneme manipulation, and medial sound. Teachers can watch a teacher utilizing the Lion Puppet with students to complete a section of the lesson.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, provides examples of each of the phonological/phonemic awareness lessons.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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. Materials include a variety of multimodal and multisensory approaches to student practice such as e-learning activities, magnetic boards, and oral practice.

Examples include but are not limited to:

• Materials provide ample opportunities for students to practice each new sound and sound pattern.

  • Recognize and produce rhyming words.

    • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Common Core Standards Correlation, there is a range of three to five opportunities per unit for student practice in Units 3-12. In Units 1-2, there are eight to twenty-six practice opportunities.

      • In Unit 2, Lesson 2, Day 2, Phonological and Phonemic Awareness, Substituting Words in Rhymes, students practice substituting words in rhymes.

      • In Unit 5, Lesson 3, Day 5, Warm Up, Oral Language, students practice producing rhyming words.

  • Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.

    • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Common Core Standards Correlation, there is a range of two to nine opportunities per unit for student practice in Units 2-9. 

      • In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Day 5, Phonological Awareness, Phoneme Blending: Final Sounds, students practice phoneme blending of final sounds.

      • In Unit 4, Lesson 1, Day 2, Warm Up, Syllable Segmentation, the teacher says a word and claps the syllables. Students tell how many syllables the word has.

      • In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 3, Pickled Peppers is displayed and turned to “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”. Students sing the song. The teacher says the words from the song and students clap out the syllables of each word and then tell how many syllables they heard. The class says the words again, stressing each syllable and repeating until they can blend the words smoothly.

      • In Unit 10, Lesson 2, Day 3, Warm Up, Phoneme Blending: Initial Sounds, students practice phoneme blending of initial sounds.

  • Blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.

    • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Common Core Standards Correlation, there is a range of one to seven opportunities per unit for student practice in Units 3-12.

      • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1-3, students practice oral blending of onset and rime.

      • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 2, the materials state that the teacher explains to the students that they will say the beginning of a word and the puppet will say the end. The teacher repeats the process for ten single-syllable words and has the students blend the onset and rime and say the whole word.

  • Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.1 (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)

    • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Common Core Standards Correlation, there is a range of three to five opportunities per unit for student practice in Units 3-12. The range in Units 1-2 is eight to twenty-six practice opportunities.

      • In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 2, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Matching: Initial Sounds, students practice phoneme segmentation of blending of initial sounds.

      • In Unit 6, Lesson 3, Day 4, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Segmentation: Final Sounds, students practice phoneme segmentation of blending of final sounds.

      • In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher draws boxes beneath picture cards, one box for each sound.  The teacher has the students “name the picture, and then pronounce the isolated initial, medial vowel, and final sounds” in three-phoneme words/pictures.

  • Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

    • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Common Core Standards Correlation, there is a range of seven to twenty opportunities per unit for student practice in Units 9-12. 

    • In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 2, Warm Up, Phoneme Manipulation: Initial Sounds, students practice phoneme manipulation of initial sounds.

    • In Unit 7, Lesson 3, Day 5, Phonemic Awareness, Phoneme Manipulation: Final Sounds, students practice phoneme manipulation of final sounds.

    • In Unit 11, Lesson 1, Day 1, Warm Up, the teacher uses the lion puppet to substitute medial vowel sounds by modeling with switching the /a/ in bake to /e/ and asks the students to substitute the medial vowel sound in four additional long vowels, single-syllable words. 

• Materials include a variety of multimodal/multisensory activities for student practice of phonological awareness. 

  • In Unit 1, eActivity Lesson 1, Foundational Skills, Blending, this interactive activity provides the student with the practice of how to use markers to represent sounds to then prepare for blending.

  • In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Day 4, the teacher leads students through pushing a block forward for each sound they hear in the word mad, starting on the left. The teacher asks the students to say the sounds in the word sound by sound and blend the word. The teacher continues having students practice with five additional three-phoneme words.

  • 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.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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, and Blending Sentences which are used frequently throughout the unit lessons. Sound/Letter cards are used for many activities. 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.

  • Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.

    • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 1 the teacher introduces the sound of s, explicitly stating “the sound of the letter sS is /s/. The word sausages starts with /s/.” The teacher continues the lesson by pointing to the alphabet card and saying /s/ repeatedly.

    • In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Day 3, the teacher introduces the sound of m, explicitly stating “the sound of the letter Mm is /m/. The word monkey starts with /m/” and points to the letter card Mm, repeatedly saying the sound /m/. 

    • In Unit 7, Lesson 2, Day 4, Alphabetic Principle, Listening for /kw/, each student gets Letter Card Qq. Students say /kw/ as they take their cards. The teacher says a word and students listen for /kw/ in the word. If they hear /kw/, they hold up the Qq card when given the signal. Words include quit, quake, package, carrot, lotion, queen, mission, quill, quaint, watch, quintet, quick.

  • Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

    • In Unit 4, Lesson 3, Day 4, Alphabetic Principle, Alphabet Sound Card Short /i/ is displayed. Students tell what they remember about Giggles the Pig. The teacher plays the sound, then the story. Students join in with “/i/ /i/ /i/ /i/ /i/.” 

    • In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 5, the teacher introduces blending long /a/ words that are spelled a_e. The teacher writes the word cap and guides students to blend the word. The teacher writes the word cape and asks students to blend the word, explicitly underscoring the a_e pattern in the word cape.

    • In Unit 8, Lesson 2, Day 5, the teacher introduces blending long /i/ words spelled i_e. The teacher writes the word hid and guides students to blend the word. The teacher writes the word hide and asks students to blend the word, explicitly underscoring the i_e pattern in the word hide.

    • In Unit 12, Lesson 2, Day 5, Phonics, the teacher uses Routine 6, the Whole-Word Blending Routine, and Routine 7, the Sentence Blending Routine, for this activity. Before working with the word lines, the teacher points to Alphabet Sound Cards Long Aa, Short Ee, Long Ee, Short Uu, Bb, Gg, Ll, Nn, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, Vv, and Ww and reviews the sound and the letter for each card. Students then blend these words and one sentence: beg, best, Steve, even, gave, brave, rewet, and replug; He gave Steve his best.

  • Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

    • In Unit 4, Lesson 2, Day 3, Alphabetic Principle, Blending, the students blend the word land using the sound-by-sound blending routine. Then, they change the l to s, making the word sand. The students blend and read the new word. The teacher focuses on each sound individually before helping students to blend the sounds. 

    • In Unit 5, Lesson 2, Day 3, Alphabetic Principle, Blending, the students blend the word rip using the sound-by-sound blending routine. Then, they change the r to s to make the word sip. The students blend and read the new word and use each word in a sentence to show the different meanings. This is continued with run/fun, load/road, rain/pain, night/right/, and peach/reach.

• 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 4, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher introduces the sound of the /h/. The teacher asks students to listen for the /h/ sound in a poem read aloud, The teacher asks the students to make the sound of the /h/ several times. The lesson progresses with the teacher saying a word and asking students to hold up their Hh card if they hear the word starts with the /h/. The teacher points to a pair of words, with only one starting with the letter h, and asks students which word starts with the sound /h/ and how they know it begins with the sound /h/. The teacher guides students in a workbook page, asking students to write the letter h if the picture begins with the sound /h/. 

  • In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher introduces the sound of the /j/. The teacher asks students to listen for the /j/ sound in a poem read aloud, The teacher asks the students to make the sound of the /j/ several times. The lesson progresses with the teacher saying a word and asking students to hold up their Jj card if they hear the word starts with the /j/. The teacher points to a pair of words, with only one starting with the letter j, and asks students which word starts with the sound /j/ and how they know it begins with the sound /j/. The teacher guides students in a workbook page, asking students to write the letter j if the picture begins with the sound /j/.

  • In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics, Building and Reading Words, each student is given the a, m, p, s (2), and t Letter Cards. They place all the cards in a row at the top of their desk. The teacher follows  Routine 5, the Word Building Routine, to complete this activity. The teacher says mats, and then uses it in a sentence. The students say the word and then tell the  first sound they hear in the word mats. The students check the Alphabet Sound Card and tell which letter says /m/. The teacher points to Alphabet Sound Card Mm. and has students pull down Letter Card m. The students tell what sound they hear next in mats. And then check the Alphabet Sound Card and tell which letter says /a/.  The teacher points to Alphabet Sound Card Short Aa and the  students pull down Letter Card a. The teacher uses the same procedure to have students identify the final two sounds in mats, checking the Alphabet Sound Cards, and then pulling down Letter Cards t and s. The teacher displays mats and has students proofread their word, correcting their spelling if necessary. 

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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 word-building routines, phoneme blending activities, and oral language warm-ups. There are numerous activities to decode words at the phoneme level and 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 Alphabet Sound Cards, letter cards, 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 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics Building and Reading Words, the teacher gives each student the a, m, p, s (2), and t Letter Cards. The teacher follows Instructional Routine 5, Word Building Routine, to complete this activity. The teacher says, “We sit on mats.” The students say the word and tell the first sound they hear in the word mats. /m/ They check the Alphabet Sound Card and tell which letter says /m/. Mm. Students then pull down Letter Card Mm and say what sound they hear next in mats. /a/ The teacher uses the same procedure to have students identify the final two sounds. 

  • In Unit 8, Lesson 1, Day 5, Alphabetic Principle, Blending Words with Long Aa, the students begin blending with /ā/ written a_e. The teacher writes a_e on the board and the word cap. Students blend the word using Routine 3, the Sound-by-Sound Blending Routine /k/ /a/ /p/ . The teacher writes the letter c next to cap. Students say the letter’s sound. The teacher writes a_e, making sure to underscore the blank between the letters a and e. The class says the sound of a_e. If necessary, the teacher reminds students that a_e says /ā/. The teacher blends the sounds with students and points to the blank between a and e, and tells students we need another letter to make a word. The teacher writes p in the blank. Students say the letter’s sound /p/, and then blend the word. Students read both words on the board (cap, cape). 

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics Blending, the teacher uses Instructional Routine 6, Whole-Word Blending Routine, and Instructional Routine 7, Sentence-Blending Routine, for this activity. The teacher points to Alphabet Sound Cards Cc, Gg, Jj, Ll, Mm, Nn, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, and Short Uu. They review the sound and the letter for each card. Using the ePresentation Resources, the teacher displays the word run. Students sound out /r/, then /u/, then /n/ and use the blending motion to blend all three sounds, and say the word run. The teacher repeats the routine with the words jump, plug, and plus. They repeat the routine with the words just and unjust. 

• 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 9, Lesson 3, Day 1, Alphabetic Principle, Building and Reading Words, students engage in the Word Building Routine in which they read the complete word they spelled and proofread for spelling.

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 3, Day 5, Phonics Blending, the teacher uses Instructional Routine 6, Whole-Word Blending Routine, and Instructional Routine 7, Sentence Blending Routine, for this activity. The teacher displays the word zap from the ePresentation Resources, and students sound out /z/, then /a/, then /p/. They use the blending motion to blend all three sounds, and students say the word zap. They repeat the routine with the words yap, yams, and flags. Students repeat the routing with the word size. They repeat the routine with the words nose, froze, and zone.

• Materials contain opportunities for students to review previously learned grade-level phonics.

  • In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 5, the teacher reviews the sounds of /w/ and /k/ introduced in prior lessons. Students hold up a letter card when they hear a word that begins with the sound of /w/ or /k/.

  • In Unit 9, Lesson 1, Day 2, Alphabetic Principle Reviewing the Sound of Long Uu, the teacher points to Alphabet Sound Card Long Uu and has a volunteer say the name of the letter. They remind students that vowels are special because every syllable or word needs a vowel. Students recite the rhyme for the sounds of Uu: Two sounds I use: Short /u/ in cub, Long /u/ in fuse.

  • In Unit 9, Lesson 3, Day 5, the teacher reviews the long and short /e/. Students hold up a letter card when they hear a word that contains the sound of the long or short /e/ sound. The teacher asks students to write Consonant Vowel Consonant (CVC) words that match pictures. 

• Materials contain a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade-level phonics.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Sounds cards are used to review letter names and sounds. 

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Alphabet books are used to review letter names and sounds.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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, PreDecodables, 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 Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 5, the teacher uses Instructional Routine 4 and guides students through reading a decodable book. The routine includes reminders about syllabication patterns with blending. Students read and re-read. The decodable includes the words Jim, grab, jam, pot, flip, among other decodable words read in complete sentences. 

  • In Unit 10, Lesson 2, Day 5, the teacher uses Instructional Routine 4 and guides students through reading a decodable book. The routine includes reminders about syllabication patterns with blending. Students read multiple times. The decodable includes the words cab, flat, get, gas, van among other decodable words read in complete sentences. 

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Day 3, Phonics Blending, the teacher uses Routine 6, the Whole-Word Blending Routine, and Routine 7, the Sentence Blending Routine, for this activity. The teacher displays the blending sentence, and students read the words cakes and case, using whole-word blending if necessary. The teacher points to the high-frequency word the. Students read the word and then spell the together. Students point to the other word the in the sentence. They repeat the procedure to identify the high-frequency words are and in. After all the words have been blended or read, students reread the sentence naturally.

• Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words in a sentence.

  • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, Instructional Routine 4, Reading a Decodable Routine, students read a page silently and then read the page aloud. Students apply their knowledge of spelling and syllabication patterns to blend decodable words. They refer to the Alphabet Sound Cards as necessary. They repeat this procedure for each page. After this reading, students respond to the story, by discussing unfamiliar words. retelling the story and responding to questions by pointing to the answers in the text.

  • In Unit 10, Lesson 3, Day 5, Reading the Decodable, students browse through the books and look at the illustrations, commenting on what they see and making predictions about the story. The teacher uses Instructional Routine 4, the Reading a Decodable Routine, for the remainder of the procedure for reading the decodable book.

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Day 2, Guided Practice, the students complete Skills Practice for additional practice in blending and writing words. They read aloud each sentence, and students blend each word as much as necessary. Students write the word on the line before moving on to the next word.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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 word-building routines.

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 9, Lesson 3, Day 1, the teacher’s materials guide the teacher in modeling how to build a word. The teacher gives the students letter cards and uses the Word Building Routine to model how to sound out and spell the word cap.

  • In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher uses the Word Building Routine. The materials include a video demonstrating how to use the Word Building Routine and how to organize materials for the instruction. Materials provide explicit instruction for the teacher to say the word mats, use it in a sentence, ask the student to find the sound card, and build the word. The teacher then writes the word and asks students to check their spelling. 

  • In Unit 11, Lesson 2, Day 2, Phonics, Building, and Reading Words, the teacher says each sound of the word. Students point to the Alphabet Card that corresponds with the sound and then pull the cards next to each other to spell the words stone, notes, nose, and tones.

• 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 9, Lesson 3, Day 1, the teacher gives the students individual letter cards and uses the Word Building Routine for the students to build the words cap and cape. 

  • In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 1, the teacher gives the students individual letter cards and uses the Word Building Routine for the students to build the words: mats, maps, taps, pats, and stamps. 

  • In Unit 11, Lesson 2, Day 3, Alphabetic Principle, Building and Reading Words, students engage in the Word Building Routine in which they use Alphabet Sound Cards to spell the words moles, mold, told, and lone.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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., phoneme/grapheme recognition) and some opportunities for explicit instruction and practice of word solving strategies (e.g., whole-word blending) 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 7, Lesson 1, Day 2, Alphabetic Principle, Alphabet Book, the teacher points to the letters Ww and has students say the name of each letter. Also, the teacher calls students’ attention to the book to point to words that have the letters Ww such as Walruses, Wildcats, and woof.

  • In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics Building and Reading Words, the teacher gives each student the a, m, p, s (2), and t Letter Cards. They place all the cards in a row at the top of their desk or table. The teacher follows Routine 5, the Word Building Routine, to complete this activity. The teacher says mats, and then uses it in a sentence. Students say the word. The teacher asks students each sound they hear in the word mats. /m/ Students proofread their words, correcting their spelling if necessary. Students repeat the process with the words maps, taps, pats, and stamps.

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Day 1, Phonics, Blending, the teacher points to Alphabet Sound Cards for Cc, Gg, Jj, Ll, Mm, Nn, Pp, Rr, Ss, Tt, and short Uu. The teacher reviews the sound and letter for each card.

• Materials contain explicit instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Scope and Sequence at the beginning of Units 10-12 Teacher Edition, the materials highlight phonics in each day’s activities, blending letters to read words and sentences from the ePresentation Resources.

  • OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, Teacher Edition, resources, Routine 5, Word Building Routine; Routine 6, Whole-Word Blending Routine; and Routine 7, Sentence-Blending Routine are utilized frequently when decoding.

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Day 5, Phonics, Blending, students engage in the Whole-Word Blending Routine to analyze the graphemes in the following words: hum, coups, squid, and humid. The directions state, “Display the word hum. Have students sound out /h/, then /u/, then /m/. Use the blending motion to blend all three sounds, and have students say the word hum.”

• Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies.

  • In Unit 7, Lesson 1, Day 2, Alphabetic Principle, Alphabet Book, students point to words in the book that have the letters Ww such as Walruses, Wildcats, and woof.

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Day 1, Student Edition, Guided Practice, the students complete the Skills Practice page  for additional practice blending and writing words. The teacher reads aloud each sentence and helps students blend each word as much as necessary.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials provide opportunities for students to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity in Kindergarten and Grade 1.

Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding through the use of Pre-Decodable and Decodable Books along with the use of the Pickled Pepper big book and Pocket Chart Word Cards. Students utilize Routine 4: Reading a Decodable when engaging in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity. The use of this routine is in Units 11 and 12 as the units before that focused on fluency and automaticity of letters, sounds, and phonological awareness skills based on the scope and sequence and kindergarten expectations.

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 K, Resource Library, Reading a Decodable Routine, Reread the Decodable has partner reading, choral reading, turn-taking, which are all used to build fluency.

  • In OCR Foundational Skills Kit, Grade K, 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 K, 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 11, Lesson 1, Day 1, Teacher Edition, Teacher Tip, Blending, if students find the whole-word blending difficult with the new blending sentences activity, they should drop back to sound-by-sound blending until they can blend with fluency.

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 3, Day 1, Warm Up, Reviewing Word Order, the teacher assigns the words in the top line of page 9 (the rhyme “Little Boy Blue” on pages 8–9 of Pickled Pepper) to individual students and gives them the corresponding Pocket Chart Word Card. They stand in a row, hold up their card, and repeat their words in order from left to right several times until they can do it with fluency.

• Materials provide opportunities for students in Kindergarten to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity.

  • In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Day 4, students use the whole-word blending routine for the following words: cut, nut, rut, run, and bun.

  • In Unit 11, Lesson 3, Day 2, Warm Up, Reviewing Word Order, page 20 of Pickled Peppers, “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep”, the teacher assigns the words in the first line to individual students and gives them the corresponding Pocket Chart Word Card. Students stand in a row, hold up their cards, and repeat their words in order from left to right several times until they can do it with fluency.

  • In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Day 1, students use the whole-word blending routine for the following words: run, cut, jump, plug, plus, uncut, just, and unjust.