1st Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

The materials provide opportunities for students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas in individual texts; however, opportunities across multiple texts are limited. Most questions found within units focus on building comprehension of the text, instead of the topic. Question types primarily include retelling, author’s purpose, and identifying main idea and details.

Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 4, students learn about the state of Arizona prior to reading the shared reading of a postcard from Arizona. The comprehension questions ask recall questions: “What is this selection about?” The only evidence of students integrating ideas across multiple texts is when students are asked how the setting of the postcard is similar to the setting of the text, Papa and Me, but this does not help to build knowledge.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, students read two animal fantasies. The knowledge gained in this unit is about the genre versus a topic. Some comprehension questions help build knowledge of the story, but not of a science or social studies topic: "What do Marcel’s actions say about him? What details are important on these pages?" On Day 3, students answer how the story, Ruby in Her Own Time, is similar to the story, Farfallina & Marcel, though this does not require an analysis of the integration of knowledge.
• In Unit 7, Week 2, students learn about outer space, but a limited number of questions help students analyze the integration of knowledge across both individual and multiple texts. Prior to reading Life in Outer Space, students are reminded that they previously read the blog, My Space Adventures. Few comprehension questions to help build knowledge are found in the week but include: "Where will astronauts use the inventions Constance make?" The majority of the questions during the week help students identify main idea and details and identifying author’s purpose instead of building knowledge.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

At the end of each unit in Grade 1, students complete Unit Projects. Students have a choice of three different projects that they can choose from. However, only some of the projects require students to demonstrate knowledge of a topic though integrated skills, and because students have a choice in which project they complete, some students may elect the projects that do not require any knowledge from the unit.

For example:

• In Unit 1, the Big Question is what makes a family. Students explore things that families do together. While the projects are all about family, students can, for the most part, do the projects without having read the unit texts or discussing them. The project choices include:
• Working in a group to make a chart called Family Sizes. Students write their names on the left of the chart and draw the number of people in their family on the right and then compare family sizes.
• In a group, students plan a family trip. They make a list of where they would go and what they would do there, and how they would get there. They then locate the places on a map.
• Students trace their hand on a piece of paper and write one way they help out at home on each finger.
• In Unit 3, students learn about how we get things that we need. The projects involve thinking about things we need, but do not require students to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic. The project choices include:
• Making a chart about things we buy and things that are free and listing things in each chart. While students may use what they learned from the week to do this project, others will be able to do it from background knowledge.
• Students read a poem and then each person in the group adds to the poem. They must say a want or a need that rhymes with the previous line.
• Students cut pictures out of magazines of things they want or need and then label them.
• In Unit 5, learn about different animals and think about how animals are different. In this unit, students do have options in which they have to demonstrate their knowledge through an integration of skills. The project choices include:
• Students draw their favorite animal from the unit, label the animal’s body parts, and then write a sentence about the animal.
• Students interview a partner and ask questions about how the animals look and move.
• Students pretend they are animals, make a mask to represent that animal, and then act out how the animal moves.
• In Unit 7, students study the difference between then and now. They learn about how things were different in the past compared to the present. Some of the project choices require students to integrate skills to demonstrate knowledge, but this is not consistent with all project choices. Project choices include:
• Students write a list of the key words from the unit and put them in alphabetical order. Then students use three of the words to write about things they learned about the past.
• Students pretend they are a time traveler and live in the past. They interview each other asking questions about the past. They then do it again but this time, pretending they are from the future.
• Students make a telephone, using two cans and a string. The students talk in the telephone, which requires no integration of skills or knowledge.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a year-long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts.

Materials include multiple and varied opportunities for both on-demand and process writing tasks that span the year’s worth of instruction. Students write daily through varied opportunities such as one minute power writing, writing about what they read, and writing to improve grammar.  Students also write on Day 5 of small group reading time. Students also participate in a week-long writing project each week. However, not all writing tasks increase in complexity from the beginning to the end of the school year. Week-long writing projects are introduced during the fourth week of every unit; however, the same instructional routines occur each week, with only a difference in the writing prompt. Each writing project begins with students studying a model, prewriting and completing a RAFT, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.

Students have opportunities to write daily, but the progression of writing lessons do not increase in complexity, and at times the skills do not connect across the days to support students independently demonstrating grade-level proficiency by the end of the year. While the topics remain relatively consistent to help build knowledge, the complexity of writing prompts and tasks do not increase significantly across the year.

Examples include:

• In Unit 2, Week 1, students begin the week writing about living and non living things. Students use words in a box to help write their sentences and they illustrate their sentences on Day 1. On Day 2, students use sentence frames to describe something that is living or nonliving and how it looks, feels, or smells. Then on Day 3, students write about living things by drawing a living thing and adding a caption, but on Day 4, students write a verse for the song they read about, which does not align to the writing or the topic for the week. On Day 5, students write how they live by completing sentence frames.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, students write about animals on Day 1 by filling in a main idea sentence frame and then writing two to three details to support the main idea. On Day 2, students write a few sentences about artist’s craft, and then on Day 3, students write about how butterflies are born by using Key Words and completing sentences. Students write about butterflies on Day 4 and, on Day 5, students write a numbered list. Students practice different writing skills almost everyday about different topics.
• In Unit 6, Week 4, students begin on Day 1 with writing a question for Tim Samaras after reading his interview. On Day 2, students work in pairs to write questions and answers about the most extreme weather they have ever seen or read. On Day 3, students write two sentences about hurricanes using the sentence frames provided if necessary. On Day 4, students revisit texts they have read and write a sentence about what they learned. On the final day, students write one to two sentences to describe a picture they drew of the wildest weather they ever experienced.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

Independent reading is mentioned in this program, but a plan for how it is implemented and a system for accountability for how students will engage in a volume of independent reading both inside and outside of the classroom does not exist. While all the information for independent reading is found in the Small Group Reading Guide, it does not explain when this should occur in or outside of the classroom nor for how long each day. There is no recording device provided nor accountability for how much students read or how well students read.

The Teacher's Edition provides a basic independent reading routine but is not specific. It suggests that teachers select topics and provide a rich collection of books to choose from, though teachers need to select these books. Recommended Books for each unit are listed in the Teacher's Edition and are identified by fiction and nonfiction, and are connected to the overall unit and topic/theme. It is suggested that the books include known texts, classroom favorites, and picture books. Students should be supported in selecting their books of interest for independent reading according to the Teacher’s Edition, but how a teacher should do this is not explicitly stated. After independent reading, students should share their reading experiences and summarize what they read. Teachers are encouraged to extend the independent reading by giving extension activities, such as drawing a picture related to the book or writing a short play based on the book.