1st Grade - Gateway 1

The materials reviewed for Pathways to Reading Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials have frequent opportunities for students to engage in phonological awareness activities through Kindergarten and early Grade 1.

The "Flip and Assist" manual provides the teacher with a variety of phonological awareness activities to use with students. "Flip and Assist" activities are incorporated throughout the "Small Group and Large Group Manuals." "Phonological Awareness" activities located in the "Flip and Assist Manual," and the "Advanced Oral PA Development Manual" provide students with frequent opportunities in phonological awareness practice in both small and whole group activities with frequency.

Materials include a variety of activities for phonological awareness. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," page vi, the Table of Contents provides a list of multisyllable lessons which include: "Count and Identify Syllables (using fingers in a palm to count syllables)."
• In "Advanced Oral PA Development," Lesson 1," Two Syllable Compound Words Blend," the routine is as follows:
• "Teacher: Say...hot (R = response) Say dog (R).
• Teacher: Put hot and dog together. The new word is___.”
• In "Advanced Oral PA Development," Lesson 22, "Substitute 2nd C in cCvc Word," the following routine follows:
• "Teacher: Say (slip) (R).
• Teacher: Say (slip), but change the (l) to (k). What’s the new word?"
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 5, the "Freeze and Match" activity provides students practice repeating vowel sounds after the teacher. For example, “Now I’ll say the next 3: /ae/, /a/, /u/. (Hand under chin.) You say them.”

There are daily opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 43, students complete the "Freeze and Match" activity. “Now let’s freeze and match in sets. I’ll say a set of sounds and you say them. I’ll say them first. Are you ready? (Place your hand under your chin and say:) /ee/, /i/, /e/. You say them. (R)"
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 30, "Advanced Oral PA Development" is described for all 4 levels of lesson plans. “Provide Advanced Oral PA development during various times of the day- 5 minutes for each small group. Follow Advanced Oral PA booklet directions.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 52, "Vowel Practice," students complete the "Freeze and Match" activity. “Let’s Freeze and Match. I’ll say the first smile sound. I’ll freeze my mouth in that shape, you say the sound after me and freeze your mouth. Ready? Eyes up here.” Students continue to "Freeze and Match" with numerous vowel sounds including /ee/, /i/, /e/, /ae/, /a/, and /u/.
• In the "Small Group Folder," "Start Up" page 2, the materials state, "Advanced Oral PA is to be used to practice on Days 1-6 either in small group or at another time for a minimum of five minutes."

The materials reviewed for Pathways to Reading Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling.

Grade 1 materials provide teachers with sample dialogue to present explicit phonics instruction to students. Teachers are provided with instructions for teaching phonics and students have multiple practice opportunities with skills. Teacher Manuals continue to provide dialogue samples for repeated lessons or refer the teacher back to the introductory lesson. The online video library is referenced as a resource for teacher modeling in applicable lessons.

Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade level phonics standards. For example, the following is noted:

• Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs:
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 50, the teacher explains a trick students can use to remember the th spelling. “/th/ is spelled with two letters. Here’s a trick to help you remember. Look at the -t. Think of the little line at the top as the letter sticking out its tongue the way we have to stick out our tongue to say the /th/ sound. There are four sounds that are spelled with two letters and the second letter is an -h. We can think of these as the -h brothers. -t-h is the rude brother that is always sticking out his what?.....(R)”
• In the "Large Group Manual," pages 66-67, the teacher is given the following sample dialogue for the lesson steps, “Make the sound: /ch/. Feel the air. Does it explode or squeeze out of the mouth?”..../ch/ is a neat sound. It’s spelled with two letters -ch (show the letters). It’s one of the -h brothers. We have the -th brother sticking out his tongue. The -sh brother says ‘/sh.../ don’t wake the snake’. -ch is the sneezy brother. He’s always sneezing:/ch/, /ch/, /choo/.” The teacher is advised to trace the c quickly every time /ch/ is said.
• Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words:
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 146-148, the teacher shows how to decode words using the following steps:
• "ID the vowel sound.
• Blend the vowel to the end.
• Start again.
• Identify the word.
• Map (spell) the portion of the word requested.
• Read the phrase or short sentence."
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 14, the teacher states, “How many sounds do you think are in the word (bit)? Show me with your fingers. There are (three) sounds in the word (bit). (Student name) what’s the (first) sound?” The teacher is to respond to and fix errors, if necessary. Modeling is provided to ask about the remainder of the sounds in the word bit. In step two, “You heard the sound. Now you can spell it.” Students spell the word with magnetic letters on sound dots.
• Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds:
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 51, the teacher reviews -e at the end. “T: Hold up the letter -a. Place the letter -e after it. So if the letter -e comes up to this vowel what does he ask? (R: What’s your name.) T: What’s the name of this letter? (R: -a) T: So it would have to answer and say, “my name is /ae/.”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 129, the teacher instructs on ea, ai, ay, oa. The teacher states, “Look at the e-a. They’re walking together. The first one gets to do the talking. See. His mouth is open and the other vowel is listening. What does the first vowel say?”
• Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word:
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 145, during the multisyllable lesson “Eyeball Vowel Bump, Circle and Read”, the teacher is prompted to count and identify syllables in two words. The teacher tells students to "eyeball" vowels in the word. The teacher is directed to write faster on the board. “In your mind make the first vowel do the ‘vowel bump’. Did it bump into one or two consonants? Can your vowel have one of those consonants? Imagine you have a red pencil and you are drawing a circle around the first syllable.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 199, the teacher explains the importance of vowels in syllables. “Every word in the English language has a vowel sound in it. If there is just one vowel sound like in the word stay the word has just one syllable. A word with more than one vowel sound has more than one syllable. We call these words multi (write this on the board as you say it), syllable (write this as it is said.) words. Multi means more than one. So a multisyllable word is a word with more than one syllable. Just like every word has a vowel sound, every syllable will have a vowel sound.” The teacher then has students practice tapping out the number of syllables in words such as shadow and music. The teacher is provided with additional lists of two- and three-syllable words.
• Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables:
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 205-206, the teacher writes the word frozen (written as fro zen) on the board. The teacher explains that the word has two syllables. The teacher puts a space between the syllables. The teacher instructs students to read each syllable and then blend the syllables.
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 28, the teacher asks students, “What will you ask yourself first to help you figure out this word? (R: How many vowels.) What should you do next? (R: Do the ‘vowel bump’. Say each syllable. Look for instant syllables.) What will you ask yourself last? (R) Is it a word I know?”
• Read words with inflectional endings:
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 157, the teacher writes the word shouting, “Look at each word in this list. Can you instantly find the ending -ing?” The teacher is prompted to have students notice double consonants. Words used in the lesson include dropping, grabbing, strapping, filling, plodding, and dragging.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 224, the teacher shows students how to read words with -er. The teacher reviews the endings -ing, -y, -ly. The teacher puts up runner, supper, flutter, spatter, and dinner and asks students what they see in the words. The teacher asks what students know about the ending.

Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade-level phonics pattern. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 47, teachers “Review the concept of ‘What’s your name, -e as demonstrated in steps 4-6 on page 37.” Page 37 provided the teacher with sample dialogue, “Today we’re going to talk about how to spell these words. What are the names of the vowel letters in our alphabet?” “The letter -e is put at the end of vowels to make a vowel letter have a sound like its name.” The teacher reviews all of the long vowel sounds in the lesson and places letters next to each sound on the "Vowel Town Hill."
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 159, teachers are provided with strategies to use to help students practice reading multisyllable words, “Review multisyllable strategies for a couple of minutes each day. Find several decodable multisyllable words, double consonant words and words with the -ing ending from the "Think Aloud" or "Shared Reading" materials. Write these on the board. Think aloud to decode one from each category…..Apply this strategy to all reading materials encountered; social studies, magazines, leveled books, poetry, etc.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 133-134, the teacher says the word stray. The teacher goes through the sounds in the word and teaches there are three ways to spell /ae/. During "Segment and Write," the teacher helps students write the word stray.

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.

Pathways to Reading materials provide students with opportunities to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence during "Small Group Read in Context" lessons and through "Pathway to Spelling" lessons. Students read sentences each week on Day 2 of the spelling routine. The "Read in Context" routine provides students with frequent opportunities to read complete sentences. "Read in Context" sentences contain both decodable words and high-frequency words. Students complete a sentence strip reading center on a regular basis.

Materials provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 178-180, in Lesson 4 "Phrasing and Practice with Sentence Strips," the teacher models reading the way they talk. The teacher gives the students a new sentence strip to read. Students read it to themselves first and place a paper clip on words they are unsure of. “Use the word reading strategy: What’s the vowel sound? Blend sounds into a word. Is that a word you know?” The teacher is told to, “Refer to Flip and Assist” to help students with decoding errors reading words.
• In the "Spelling Manual," page 24, the teacher instructs on how to decode the spelling words. The teacher reads the first sentence of students Spelling Lesson 1, Day 2. The teacher informs students there are four spelling words in the sentence.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 187, the teacher guides students to complete a word sort activity with sentence strips. Students sort words from the sentence strips into two categories, “You have two categories of words. Screech words - words that aren’t spelled the way they sound, and one-letter vowel words.” The sentences that students sort words from are, “1. The pig got the cob from Ted.” and “The cat has a big cut. It has to go to the vet.”

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words in a sentence. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 170-197, materials outline the activities that students engage in to “read in context” during small group instruction using sentence strips:
• "1. Imagery-Students read the sentences and draw pictures or write descriptions about what they see.
• 2. Phrasing-Students highlight or cut sentences into phrases and practice reading the phrases.
• 3. Prosody with punctuation marks-Students read to each other using various punctuation.
• 4. Prosody with emotions-Students read sentence strips conveying different emotions.
• 5. Words Sort-Students choose a sentence strip and sort the words according to different phonics patterns."
• In the "Spelling Manual," page 16, the teacher is to, “1) Read new spelling words and sentences. 2) Segment and spell words using PowerPoint Lesson 1 Take Home page. 3) Tape ‘Screech’ words to classroom door entry.” The teacher uses the sentence strips, “The big man had a fat cat,” and “His hand got cut on the can.”
• In the "Reproducibles," there are 88 sentence strips provided for students’ weekly practice reading words in sentences. The words are aligned to the scope and sequence for the phonics continuum found in the "Large Group Manual."
• In the "Reproducibles, the sentence strips correspond to the targeted phonics for the week. For example, sentences 55-64 focus on -r vowels. Sentences include: 56. "The girl wore her blue dress to church,” and 59. "I saw a lark up in the tree at the park,” and 62. "Norm got a sharp thorn in his leg.”

The materials reviewed for Pathways to Reading Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell, and encode grade-level phonics, including common and newly-taught sound and sound patterns.

Students have frequent opportunities over the course of the school year to write and build new words. Phonics practice is completed in the "Small Group, Large Group, and Spelling Manuals." Students write words using markers or magnetic letters on their whiteboards. Teacher instructions for these routines are clear. Instructional routines are consistent throughout the school year.

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. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 114, "Segment and Write" lesson 14 c/e, i, y, the teacher places the letters c, e, n, t in random order. The sample dialogue for the lesson prompts the teacher to say, “There are four sounds in the word cent. The word that I’m thinking of means one penny or cent. (Sound leader’s name) what’s the first sound in cent?” Once the student responds, the teacher says, “(Speller’s name) you hear the sound. Look at the letters you have for the word cent. Which letter to you think you’ll use? That’s right. We’ll use the letter -c.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 83, during a "Segment and Write" lesson that focuses on the word deck, the teacher explains how to spell /k/ at the end of a word. “When the /k/ is at the end of a word, right after a one letter vowel the letter -c is added. Some students like to think of the letter -c as a defender. It comes to defend little one letter vowels. We’ll think of it as defender -c.” Students write deck on their boards.
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 142-143, during "Old/Word/New Word," students use magnetic letters to build bit, big, bag, bog.

Lessons provide students with daily opportunities to build/manipulate/spell, and encode words in isolation based on common and newly-taught phonics patterns. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," pages 128-130, in the "Segment and Write" lesson, students are introduced to "Two Vowels Go Walking" alternatives of ea, ai, ay, and oa for the sounds /ee/, /ae/, and /oe/. Days 2-5 on page 132 review "Two Vowels Go Walking" (ea, ai, ay, oa) with the "Screech" poster.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 90-92, students complete the "Segment and Write" routine for the words song and sang. After discussing the sounds in each word, students use a white board and marker to write the words.

The materials reviewed for Pathways to Reading Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials promote application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks. (mid K-Grade 2)

Materials provide explicit systematic teacher modeling and instruction for encoding of phonics from sounds to letters and words in writing tasks. Students practice writing individual words using "Segment and Write." The materials provide opportunities to apply phonics skills to encode words in sentences or phrases in Pathways to Spelling lessons.

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. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 114, students complete the "Segment and Write" routine for the word cent. As part of the lesson, the teacher tells students, “Screech has a big time cool thing to let you know about -c. He found the secret to when -c gets to sound like /s/. When the letter -c is followed by the vowel letters -e, -i or -y (point to these on the poster) the letter -c will always, always stand for the /s/ sound. Cool huh?”
• In the "Large Group Manual," pages 148-149, materials provide explicit instruction to help students encode sounds in words. “Place the letters -g, -e, -m, -s in random order above the sound dots...say, ‘There are four sounds in the word gems. What’s the first sound in gems? You heard the sound. Look at the letters you laid out for the word gems. Which letter do you think you’ll use?’ … ‘The letter -g is a lot like the letter -c. It can stand for two sounds. Here’s our Screech poster. (Hold up the g/e, i y poster. Point to the -g with the /g/ at the end.) The sound we usually think of for it is the /g/ sound. However, it can also stand for the /j/ sound. (Point to the -g with the /j/ at the end.)” Students continue by generating a list of /j/ words into two columns: g = /j/ and j =/j/.
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 14, during "Segment and Write" in Step 2, the teacher tells students they have heard the sounds in bit, now they can spell it. If there is no response, the teacher is to tell the student, “You spell /b/ with a -b.” If the vowel is incorrect the teacher is to ask, “Can you picture where /e/ is on the Vowel Hill? Can you picture how it is spelled?”

Lessons provide students with frequent 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. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Spelling Manual," pages 8-11, during the weekly spelling routine students are provided with opportunities to encode words in sentences and phrases:
• Day 1-Students read phrases that contain the week’s cheater words and then trace the cheater words.
• Day 2-Students complete a writing activity using the week’s sentences, 1) Copy each sentence, 2) Circle the spelling words in it, 3) Draw an image of the sentence, and 4) Write another sentence to describe what could happen next.
• Day 3-Instructions are provided for a "Picture My Sentence" activity. They generate a sentence using a spelling word or complete a starter sentence. They try to think of what they are seeing in their minds and then to use imagery words to describe it.
• In the "Spelling Manual," pages 93-94, students echo-read two sentences and then copy them into their "Screech and Me" workbooks. Students extend by adding another sentence.
• In the "Spelling Manual," page 117, the teacher reminds students that -qu and -x are "Copycat" spellings using the sentence, “The queen wore her cape and crown.” The teacher asks students to show how many sounds are in queen, has the class or a student segment the word, and tells the class or a student to spell the sound. The teacher is then to “Tell students to write -q,-u on the first two lines for the sounds of /k/ and /w/.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and practice opportunities of high-frequency words to develop automaticity.

The Pathways to Reading materials contain consistent and explicit instructions for introducing and teaching the words to students. In addition to the practice students complete in the "Spelling Manual," students practice reading sight words through the "Sight Word Olympics" routine and during class when coming and going from the classroom with words posted on the doorframe. Students are provided with 200 sight words to study over the course of the school year. The materials provide systematic instruction and opportunities for students to practice high-frequency words through "Read, Word and Spelling" activities.

Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of irregularly spelled words. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 14, teachers “Choose a few ‘cheater’ words to focus on each week. Preview materials to be read to the class. After doing a Think Aloud tell the students they are to help you find the sight words which they will study for several weeks. Have highlighting tape available to highlight the words as they are located. Pieces of highlighting tape may be made available and students can search in books on their own for the week’s sight words. Post the words on the frame to the classroom door. Read the words to the students as they enter and leave the room. Eventually ask students to read them for you.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 153, students are taken through the “Screech words (non-phonetic words)”, and practice identifying them. “This word has a Screech in the corner, do you know why? Well, Screech always shows up when we need some help with words. These words are tricky because one of the sounds in the word isn’t spelled the way you would think it should be...This word is ‘said’...what is the first sound in ‘said’? How is /s/ spelled? Look at this word. Is that how the first sound is spelled? What’s the 2nd sound in the word “said”? How is /e/ spelled? Is /e/ spelled with an -ed in the word, ‘said’? That’s the ‘cheater”’ part of this word. It isn’t spelled the way it should be. So it makes it harder for us to learn the word. What is this word again?”
• In the "Spelling Manual," page 37, students follow a consistent routine when learning new words. Using a PowerPoint presentation, the teacher introduces the word. Students count the number of sounds, segment/spell the sounds in the word, and write the word. Finally, the teacher is instructed to have the “Class say slowly, image and write in picture box.”
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 27, the teacher is given the sample dialogue, “You read that word just the way the letters should be read. But this word has a cheater part. The (a-i) doesn’t make the (/ae/) sound like you’d expect it to. The word is pronounced (/sed/). Let’s add that to the list of cheater words you’re learning.” The teacher is provided with the prompt, “Can you make the leap to the real words by thinking about how it’s used in the sentence?”

Materials include frequent opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of irregularly spelled words in isolation. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Spelling Manual," page 109, the teacher is instructed in the PowerPoint: “Teacher read words. Teacher read sentences. Students echo read.” The PowerPoint corresponds with the spelling lesson in which the teacher reads the words he, be, she, go, no, sold, find, and most.
• In the "Spelling Manual," pages 66-68, Days 1-5 include high frequency words what, who, which, and when. The lesson begins with the teacher asking students two ways to spell the /w/ sound (/w/ and /wh/). Students segment and write the word list. Then students analyze the ‘cheater’ part of the words in the list, for example the /u/ for a in what.
• In the "Spelling Manual," page 67, the teacher models how to segment and spell irregular words:
• "Click for meaning of the word. See sentences on PP notes.
• Class tells how many sounds in the word (PP click to C or C).
• Class (or sound leader) says the first sound. (segmenting practice).
• Class (or student) spells.
• Class writes spelling on sound dots. (PP click).
• Class says the word slowly and writes in the ‘picture box.’ (PP click)"

Students practice identifying and reading irregularly spelled words in isolation. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," page 154, student pairs work together through sets of Screech words:
• The “teacher” covers the small phonetic word on front. Ask the “student” to read the word without seeing the phonetic spelling.
• Then, the “teacher” uncovers the phonetic spelling and the “teacher” and “student” must agree that the word was read correctly.
• The “teacher” then covers the word and asks the mapping questions on the back.
• The “teacher” uncovers the word and the “teacher” and “student” check if the spelling provided was correct.
• The “student” then reads the phrase on the back.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 157, students play "Slow and Go" to independently read several "SNAP" words. Students flip over words (3-4) and think about the onset/rime strategy to read the word. If they think it’s read correctly, they place it on the “Green for Go” circle. If they aren’t sure, they place it on the “Yellow for Slow” circle, and the teacher provides assistance. The teacher takes notes on students progress.
• In the Reproducibles, "Sight Word Olympics," students practice sight words at home with parents, and at school with a partner. Students work towards reading their lists quickly and earn “medals” as they master each list.

Materials include a sufficient quantity of new grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words for students to make reading progress. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," Teacher Preparation Tab, pages 44-45, resources for "Single Word Reading" practice include a set of 200 high-frequency words ("SNAP" and "Map" cards). The words are sorted into sound pools: Pool 1-Short Vowels and Digraphs; Pool 2-Long Vowels; Pool 3 Buddy Vowels; Pool 4 -r Vowels; Pool 5-2 Vowels Walking; Multisyllables; Non-Phonetic.
• In the Reproducibles, "Sight Word Olympics," students study 50 words each quarter to total 200 words over the course of the school year.

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).

In Pathways to Reading, students have frequent opportunities over the course of the school year to read and write high-frequency words. High-frequency words are included on every weekly spelling test. Students practice writing high-frequency words both in isolation and in a sentence each week. Students have the opportunity to practice reading high-frequency words on the sentence strips that are used in different activities.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read grade level irregularly spelled words in a sentence. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 187-188, students find words in sentence strips and organize them into two categories of words: "Screech" words-words that aren’t spelled the way they sound, and one-letter vowel words. The sentences students use to complete this activity are, “The pig got the cob from Ted,” and “The cat has a big cut. It has to go to the vet.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 189, the teacher is prompted to “Each week place the directions to one of the Sentence Strip activities in the station. Rotate these activities every week, or every three days, as desired. “

Lessons provide students with frequent 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. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Spelling Manual," pages 66-68, students work with high-frequency words which, when, what, and who. Students practice their words for the week. The practice sentences are “What can I get when I shop?” and “Who can rush and shut the pen?”
• In the "Spelling Manual," page 95, when the words come and some are part of the list, students practice writing the words along with the rest of their spelling words. As part of the spelling practice, the teacher dictates the following two sentences, “Take some cake to the three men,” and “Will the lost cats come home?” The sentences for dictation are in PowerPoint Lesson 8, Day 3, Slide 3.
• In the "Spelling Manual," pages 109-110, students practice one letter long vowels “he, be, she, go , no, sold,” and "Cheater" words “find, and most”:
• Whole group:
• "Spell mystery word ‘told' and review one-letter long vowels.
• Echo read the sentences and words for the week.
• Co-create mental imagery related to one or both sentences.
• 'On the Spot' reading and spelling-Students read or spell Screech words as they enter or exit the classroom."
• Independent:
• "Copy sentences and circle spelling words.
• Add a sentence with an additional thought to one of the week’s sentences.
• Illustrate their images."

Materials provide repeated, 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). For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Spelling Manual," Appendix B, pages 40-41, "Take Home" Lesson 18, students practice their weekly words (girl, first, shirt, bird, third, twirl, write, change) using the repeated pattern:
• "Students read the word in the list.
• Spell each word by first identifying the number of 'sound dots' used by the word.
• After students spell the word, the parent asks, 'Did you spell it right?' and has students self-correct.
• If the word has a yellow letter (a tricky part) then the prompt is, 'This word has a tricky part. The word is _______. Picture the word in your mind and spell it for me.'
• Additional: Read or spell each sentence and explain what the sentence means and the image it creates in the student's mind."
• In the "Spelling Manual," pages 56-62, teachers are provided with high-frequency word flashcards. The teacher is instructed to, “Laminate and cut out. The cards are labeled by weeks. They are taped to the classroom doorway. Use the cards as directed each week.”
• In the "Reproducibles," "Sight Word Olympics Word Lists," students are provided with sight word lists to study for each quarter.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for materials explicitly teach word analysis strategies (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.

In Pathways to Reading, explicit instruction in word analysis is provided with sample dialogue. Students have frequent opportunities to analyze word endings and syllables.

Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis). For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 137, students play the "Name Hat Sound Hat" game to isolate and say each syllable in a two- or three-syllable word. “In multisyllable words if a vowel is spelled with one letter it gets to wear two hats. It might wear its sound hat like it usually does, or it might wear its special fancy name hat. When it wears its name hat, it doesn’t need an -e or another vowel to walk with it. Which hat is -o wearing in the word stony?”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 160, -ed is introduced on Day 2 and practiced on Days 3, 4, and 5.
• In the "Large Group Manual," pages 174-176, students are introduced to the suffix -tion. “The /sh/ sound is spelled with -t-i. The /e/ sound is spelled with -o.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 200, students practice counting and identifying the syllables in two- and three-syllable words. The teacher asks students questions such as, “T: Tap the syllables in the word____. (R) T: How many syllables are there? (R)” and, “T: If there are (two) syllables how many vowel sounds are there?”

Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," pages 151-153, students learn the sound /j/ at the end of a word is -dge when preceded by a short vowel. “But Screech found that we can protect the one letter vowel by putting in a defender. (Place the letter -d in front of the -ge on the same sound dot.).”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 183, teachers review how to “make the leap” with multisyllable “cheater” words:
• "First step: Read the way it looks.
• Second step: Search our brains to think what words have some of the same parts. What could the word really be?
• Third step: Think about how the word is used in a sentence or story."
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 147, the teacher introduces a word reading strategy to students, “1) Identify the vowel. 2) Read the vowel to the end. We call that the rime. 3) Start again. We go to the beginning of the word and add any consonants.”

Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," page 222, students practice reading words with the instant syllables -y and -ly such as: plainly, burly, envy, and shady.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page v, "Read Words" lessons are provided and practiced. The lessons include: "Reading Strategy with SNAP and Map Words," "Word Reading" lists, "Independent Word Reading" practice, "Vocabulary from Text Word Reading Practice," "Read and Hand Back," and the "Slow and Go Practice Routine."
• In the "Spelling Manual," page 208, students study two syllable words. Students practice dividing words into syllables. Words students study include: number, after, under, over, paper, never, mother, and water.

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.

In Pathways to Reading materials, students have frequent opportunities to practice automaticity and accuracy with reading single words. The teacher is provided with clear, explicit instructions in the "Flip and Assist Manual" for helping students with different errors they may make while reading words. The "Small Group Manual" contains a variety of activities for word reading practice. "Read in Context" lessons during "Large Group" instruction and "Small Group" instruction use sentence strips that include the daily/weekly phonics focus. Pathways to Spelling lessons include phonetic words, "Fry" words, and "Screech" words. Materials provide explicit modeling provided by the teacher and peer-to-peer feedback on accuracy to build towards automaticity.

Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 146-148, the teacher is provided with instructions for helping students read word lists. At the start of practice, students read the lists following the steps, “ID the vowel sound, read the rime, read the onset, read the word.” By the end of the lesson students are simply instructed to, “read the word.” The teacher provides specific feedback to each student to ensure accuracy.
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 176-177, the teacher models reading the way we talk using sentence strip 1 “The pig got the cob from Ted.” The teacher explains, “When we read the way we talk we clump groups of words together and say them a little faster.” The teacher uses a paper clip to create phrases. The teacher models reading in phrases, and students echo read. Students practice in the "Reading Club" using a paperclip to create phrases and read the sentence strip several times to a partner until they, “Then read it the way we talk.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 178-180, the teacher reviews the concept of reading the way we talk. The teacher reads some sentences with, and some without, phrasing, and the students respond by nodding either yes or no to indicate whether phrasing has been used correctly.

Materials provide opportunities for students in Kindergarten and Grade 1 to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," page 151, students practice reading word lists with a partner. Students take turns being the teacher and the student. The “teacher” asks, “1) What’s the vowel? 2) What’s the rime? 3) What’s the word?” As part of the lesson the teacher is instructed to, “Tell the students that they are going to practice together to read words correctly. Their goal is to learn to read lists of words accurately and quickly. They will test themselves by trying to read their list in less than one second per word.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 153, students engage in paired learning with "SNAP" and "Map" words by practicing with sets of words to develop accurate and automatic reading.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 156, students learn the "SNAP Read and Hand Back Practice Routine." In this routine students practice reading words quickly. Initially, students say the rime and then the word. Students progress to "eyeballing" the word and reading the whole word out loud.
• In the Small Group Folder, students complete "Read Words" practice in small groups: Level 2 Days 4, 5 and 6 and in Level 3, Days 1-6.