The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectations for anchor texts (including read-aloud texts in K-2 and shared reading texts in Grade 2 used to build knowledge and vocabulary) are of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading/listening and consider a range of student interests. Texts are grouped into thematic units with a main text as the anchor text. There are six texts in each theme along with a paired selection.

Examples of texts that are content-rich and accompanied by quality illustrations and photographs include, but are not limited to:

• Unit 2, Week 1, the text is Flowers by Vijaya Khisty Bodach. This text is engaging for Kindergarten students and is worthy of careful and repeated readings. The text includes several grade-level domain-specific vocabulary words (pollen, buds, stem, seeds) to help students build knowledge. The photographs bolster the text and provide visual support to accompany the vocabulary.
• Unit 3, Week 5, the text is Then and Now by Tracy Sato. This text is of high interest for Kindergarten students and is worthy of careful and repeated readings. The text includes several grade-level academic vocabulary words (popular, grid, stumbling, structures) that would require repeated readings to support learning. Plus, the illustrations are rich in detail and would support oral language in comparing students’ lives then and now.
• Unit 4, Week 5, the text is If You Could Go to Antarctica by Fay Robinson. This text is engaging for Kindergarten students and is worthy of careful and repeated readings. This informational main selection has text features, vocabulary, and facts that would warrant multiple readings to build knowledge. Some of the vocabulary for Kindergarten in this main text include blubber, icebergs, ice shelf, and continent.

Examples of texts that lack rich and engaging language and could not be examined multiple times for multiple purposes include, but are not limited to:

• Unit 2, Week 2, the text is Nature Spy by Shelley Rotner and Ken Kreisler. This text is less engaging for Kindergarten students. While the photos are engaging and the close-up photos may hold students’ interests, the book only has short sentences and phrases on each page.
• Unit 5, Week 5, the text is On the Move by Donna Lantham. This text is very simplistic and would not hold students’ attention. It has a rhyming structure that may make it difficult for students to learn about the different types of transportation mentioned in the text. Photos are generic and do not add to the understanding of the text.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectations for reflecting the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards. Unit main selections and paired selections include a mix of informational text and literary texts with a variety of genres, but do not meet the requirement for text distribution.

The main reading selections are grouped into six units with a total of 23 literary and 13 informational texts. The units lack variety, as only one unit includes a balance of literary and informational text as required by the standards. The other units are predominately literature. For example, Units 1 and 5 contain only one informational text, with the balance being literary texts. Benchmark readers are also included and are all literature based. The leveled readers are spread across multiple genres but are not balanced (69% literary and 31% informational texts). Therefore, even with the inclusion of the paired readings, benchmark readers, and leveled texts, students will be engaging with literary texts the majority of the time.

Examples of text types and genres represented include but are not limited to:

• Unit 1:
  • The Little School Bus (Animal Fantasy)
  • We Are So Proud (Realistic Fiction)
  • Plaidypus (Realistic Fiction)
  • Miss Bindergarten Takes a Field Trip with Kindergarten (Animal Fantasy)
  • Smash! Crash! (Fantasy)
  • Dig Dig Digging (Informational)
• Unit 3:
  • Little Panda (Informational)
  • Little Quack (Animal Fantasy)
    • George Washington Visits (Historical Fiction)
    • Farfallina and Marcel (Animal Fantasy)
    • Then and Now (Informational)
    • The Lion and the Mouse (Classic Fable)
• Unit 5:
• • Max Takes the Train (Animal Fantasy)
  • Mayday! Mayday! (Informational)
  • Trucks Roll! (Rhyming Informational)
  • The Little Engine That Could (Classic Fantasy)
  • On the Move! (Informational)
  • This is the Way We Go to School (Informational Fiction)

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for texts (including read-aloud texts and some shared reading texts used to build knowledge and vocabulary) having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade level according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and a relationship to their associated student task. Read-aloud texts are above the complexity levels of what most students can read independently.

For all Kindergarten main selection texts, the quantitative measures are not included within the materials; however, the qualitative measures and reader and task measures are included. Appropriate rigor is evident in some main texts according to qualitative and reader and task measures for Kindergarten. To fully comprehend some texts and complete the associated tasks, students will need background knowledge, as the overall rigor of many texts and associated task is above grade level.

Some representative examples of texts that are at the appropriate level of complexity include but are not limited to the following:

Unit 2, Week 3: Animal Babies in Grasslands (Expository Text)

• Quantitative: Not provided
• Qualitative: Figurative language and personification add to the complexity of this read-aloud text. The text structure includes repeated sentences with predictable structure. Domain specific vocabulary includes calf, joey, pup, foal, and grassland. Students may need help understanding the figurative language and vocabulary in this read-aloud. The photographs are moderately complex and support the text.
• Reader and Task: While there is not a Lexile level for this book, Kindergarten students will mostly likely be curious to learn about the animals in the text. However, if students have had little experience with expository text, the format will be difficult for them to understand. This text is appropriately placed.

Unit 2, Week 3, Day 1: A Growing Foal (Teacher Read-Aloud – Expository Text)

• Quantitative: Not provided. The Lexile 550L (Within the Grade 2-3 band) was found using Lexile Analyzer.
• Qualitative: While the organization may seem simple, the quantity of information and facts in this read-aloud is complex for Kindergarten students. The passage includes several domain specific vocabulary words.
• Reader and Task: This read-aloud will help to build students’ knowledge within the Animal Babies in Grasslands text. The text complexity is within the grade 2-3 band and teachers may want to provide additional supports for learners.

Unit 4, Week 6: Abuela (Fantasy)

• Quantitative: Not provided
• Qualitative: The organization of this text is complex because there are elements of fantasy and symbolism. The events in this text happen in chronological order and include a glossary to support student learning. Language features are moderately complex as the language includes both Spanish and English. There are references to other cultural experience which may be complex for Kindergarten students. The illustrations are rich with detail and warrant time to investigate details.
• Reader and Task: Students will need to learn about the structure and purpose of a glossary to support reading. Background knowledge of different cultures and languages would be helpful for students. This text is appropriately placed.

Some texts have qualitative or quantitative features that do not fully support students' growing literacy skills according to the demands of the standards for Kindergarten. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

Unit 3, Week 1: Little Panda (Nonfiction)

• Quantitative: Not provided, Lexile 900 (according to Lexile.com)
• Qualitative: Students may have trouble understanding the complex sentence structures, including many commas in a series and ellipses. Factual presentation of the panda’s story along with lengthy captions for the pictures may make it difficult for students to understand the story. The illustrations are moderately complex and support the text.
• Reader and Task: The Lexile level of this text is very high for the Kindergarten grade band. Students may relate to the baby panda growing up, but the structure will be difficult, even as a read-aloud.

Unit 6, Week 5: The House That Tony Lives In (Informational Fiction)

• Quantitative: Not provided

• Qualitative: While this text has a predictable structure, it may not hold students’ interest, at this point in the school year. The predictable structure of the text is a low qualitative quality. The illustrations are moderately complex and support the text.
• Reader and Task: Students who are not familiar with construction may have trouble with pages that describe building sequence such as, “These are the electricians who install the wire…” This would be a difficult passage for Kindergarten students to read independently and is not worthy of spending time on for a read-aloud.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectations for materials supporting students’ literacy skills (comprehension) over the course of the school year through increasingly complex text to develop independence of grade level skills (leveled readers and series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels). The main selections in the Kindergarten materials are not accompanied by a qualitative measurement. The Kindergarten materials do not fully support students' ability to read and listen to increasingly complex texts across the school year, due to a lack of instructions for the teacher. Two days of guidance and scaffolded support from the teacher is suggested regardless of the text complexity of the main selection. Teacher directions lack explicit instructions and amount of time that should be spent on texts that have very complex elements and demands.

For a Kindergarten reader, most of the main selections in the Unit 1 have a slightly complex structure while one selection, Dig Dig Digging, in Unit 1, Week 6, is moderately complex with expository text that includes complex sentence structure.

Unit 2 includes all moderately complex texts. For example, A Bed for Winter, builds on students’ experience with expository text by including text features, complex photographs, and detailed sentence structure. Detailed sentences include, “A queen wasp sleeps under an oak stump,” and “She has squeezed through a crack in the rotten wood.”

By Unit 5, the materials partially build knowledge through the theme of “Going Places.” The quantity of text increases with longer and more sentences on each page. The informational text Mayday! Mayday! includes diagrams with labels, academic language, and factual information. However, students would need more scaffolded support to access these texts beyond the two days allotted for reading the text.

Suggestions throughout the materials are present to assist the teacher in supporting students who are struggling with the main selections, however there is minimal specificity within the suggestions. As the complexity level increases, more scaffolding for students is not provided. Explicit directions for the teacher on how to scaffold the text is not provided, and additional days may be needed to provide this scaffolding, which, as suggested above, may extend beyond the two days currently allotted for the main selections.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that anchor texts and series of connected texts are accompanied by a text complexity analysis and rationale for educational purpose and placement in the grade level.

The main selections include a "Text Based Comprehension" page that covers qualitative and reader and task measures and a general recommended placement statement, though no rationale for the recommendations is provided. There is no quantitative measurement provided for any of the Kindergarten main texts.

Qualitative measures are provided for each main selection text in four categories: levels of meaning, structure, language of conventionality and clarity, theme, and knowledge demands. Metrics provided for qualitative measures are in narrative form only and do not state the complexity level. A general explanation is provided: “This text is appropriate for placement as a read-aloud at this level due to the qualitative elements of the selection.”

There is no reference to research-based or evidence-based best practices for increasing students’ reading skills through appropriate sequencing of text complexity. The materials do not include a rationale to support why each text was specifically chosen in the unit as well as a reason why each of the reading selections were paired together within the unit. For example, Look at Us! is the theme of the unit. Students listen to and read Bear Snores On and Jack and the Beanstalk. There is not an explanation as to why these two passages are paired together in this unit and how they relate to the Look at Us! theme. Another example-- the theme of Unit 4 is Let’s Go Exploring. Students listen to and read Goldilocks and the Three Bears and One Little Mouse. There is not an explanation as to why these two passages are paired together in this unit or how they relate to the Let’s Go Exploring theme.

The teacher read-aloud selections do not include a breakdown of quantitative, qualitative, and reader and task measures as well as a rationale for the paired texts and the teacher read-aloud.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectations that support materials for the core texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to achieve grade level reading proficiency. Materials provide some opportunities for reading to achieve grade level reading proficiency, however, teacher materials often lack explicit directions for implementation.

The main selections, in the form of big books, are read aloud to students. After the main selection, there is a short teacher read-aloud. Instructional time is not listed for activities such as reading of the main selection, small group reading, reading of decodable texts, or time to be spent in the Read-Aloud Anthology.

There are decodable texts and optional readers available with each main selection for students to engage in a range and volume of reading. Independent reading is suggested during the use of stations. For example, in Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1: Independent Reading the materials direct the teacher to help students choose complex texts, so that they can engage in paired and group reading and writing activities every day before, during, and after school. Suggestions for this week’s independent reading: Fran’s Flower and One Little Seed.

Materials provide decodable books with routines for students to engage in. The routine includes:

• Read Silently: Have children whisper read the story page by page as you listen in.
• Model Fluent Reading: Have children finger point as you read a page.
• Read Chorally: Have children finger point as they chorally read a page.
• Read Individually: Have children take turns reading a page aloud.
• Reread and monitor progress.
• Reread with a partner.

Students have opportunities to reread texts which exposes students to more new vocabulary in context. There are many opportunities for students to listen to the teacher read from the Read-Aloud Anthology. For example, on Day 2, the Teacher Edition states, “Read aloud the story and have students listen for the words seeds and fruits,” and on Day 3 it states, “Read aloud the story and have students listen for the Amazing Word, ingenious.” Opportunity for students to read independently is provided in the Small Group Time with the paired decodable texts.

More challenging text is suggested through the use of the leveled readers (supplemental resource) as a part of the independent reading station for advanced readers. The Teacher’s Edition does not always explicitly state whether students should be reading texts independently, with partners, orally, or silently.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials, questions, and tasks directly teach foundational skills to build reading acquisition by providing systematic and explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, letter-sound relationships, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness (K-1), and phonics (K-2) that demonstrate a transparent and research-based progression with opportunities for application both in and out of context.

Students have frequent opportunities to learn and understand phonemes. In each unit, there are phonemic awareness activities provided everyday. However, no time allocation is listed for the lessons. Practice beyond the whole-group lesson is not provided.

• In Unit 2, Week 2, the lesson structure for each day are as follows:
  • Day 1- Initial /s/, on Day 2- Final /s/, on Day 3- Initial and Final /s/, on Day 4- Initial and medial /a/, on Day 5- Review /s/.
  • Teacher directions from Unit 2, Week 2, on Day 4- Initial and medial /a/: “PRACTICE: Display the apple Picture Card. This is an apple. Apple begins with /a/. What sound does apple begin with? Continue the routine with astronaut, alligator, and ant Picture Cards. Then display the bat Picture Card. This is a bat Where do you hear /a/ in the word bat? Continue the routine with the jam and man Picture Cards. I am going to say two words. Tell me which word has /a/ in the middle. Let’s listen for the first one together: cap, cup. Let’s say the sounds in each word: /k/ /a/ /p/, cap; /k/ /u/ /p/, cup. Which word has /a/ in the middle? Cap has /a/ in the middle. Continue the routine with these word pairs: fan, fun; men, man; sat, set; hot, hat; map, mop; bag, bug; cab, cub.”
• In Unit 3, Week 1, at the end of the phonemic awareness section, the Teacher Edition states: “Listen to this word: bin, /b/ /i/ /n/. Say it with me: /b/ /i/ /n/, bin. I can make a new word by changing the last sound in bin to /b/. Listen: /b/ /i/ /b/, bib. Say it with me as I blend the new sounds: /b/ /i/ /b/, bib. Continue substituting final sounds with these words: can, cab; tab, ten.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, at the end of the phonemic awareness section, there is a lesson to review sound substitution: Listen to the sounds in the word fun : /f/ /u/ /n/. Say them with me : /f/ /u/ /n/ , fun. Now change the middle sound to /a/: /f/ /a/ /n/. What new word did we make? The new word is fan. Continue the activity, changing fan to fin. Then repeat the routine with the following sets of words: big, bug, bag, beg; bud, bed, bad, bid.

Lessons and activities provide students adequate opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills.

Examples include:

• The Foundational Skills section of the Teacher Edition contains phonics activities for each day of each week and decoding activities for the Day 2 and Day 4 of each week.

• In Unit 1, Week 5, on Day 1, the phonics lesson is: Teach/Model /m/ Spelled Mm INTRODUCE Display the Mm Alphabet card. Motorcycle begins with /m/ spelled m. Now point to the letters Mm on the card. The sound for this letter is /m/. The names of these letters are uppercase m and lowercase m. What is the sound for this letter? What are the names of these letters? Explain that the letter m is a consonant. MODEL Write Mr. Malcolm Monkey on the board. Point to the first M. When I see this letter, I think of the sound /m/. The first word is Mr. - /m/, Mr. Point to Malcolm. The next word begins with M too. I know that when I see an m, the sound will be /m/. The second word is Malcolm. Repeat with the word Monkey. The song we will sing is ‘Mr. Malcolm Monkey.’ GROUP PRACTICE Display Phonics Songs and Rhymes Chart 5. Teach children the song ‘Mr. Malcolm Monkey’ sung to the tune of ‘I’m a Little Teapot.’ Play the CD and sing the song several times. I hear many words that begin with/m/. When you hear a word that begins with /m/ clap your hands. As you sing the song, point to the words that begin with m. ON THEIR OWN Play ‘I Spy.’ Model the game for students. I spy an uppercase M on the calendar. I say /m/. Point to the M. Have students take turns spying and pointing out examples of uppercase M and lowercase m that they find in the classroom. When they point to M or m, have them say /m/.”
• In Unit 4, Week 6, the phonics section has a guided lesson on short and long “e”.The Teacher Edition states: “Write met on the board. Have students read the word with you. The letter e stands for /e/, or the short e sound, in met. Circle e. Then write meet and have students read the word with you. Point out that the middle sound in meet is /e/. The letters ee stand for /e/, or the long e sound, in meet. Circle ee. Have students say met and meet several times, emphasizing and comparing the middle sounds. Continue the routine with bet / beat, fed / feed, and ben / bean.”

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

• Unit 1: Letter sounds m and t
• Unit 2: Letter sounds a, s, p, k, i
• Unit 3: Letter sounds b, n, i, r, d, k, f, o
• Unit 4, Letter sounds h, i, g, e
• Unit 5, Letter sounds j, w, x, u, v, z, y, q
• Unit 6, Review short vowels

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

Materials include lessons for students to learn how to identify and produce letters. Lessons are limited to Unit 1 and lessons do not include multimodal aspects. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Weeks 1-4, there are daily lessons on letter recognition. Letter practice is presented the same way each day and no additional practice is indicated for remediation.
• The first lesson in Unit 1 introduces the letter Aa. The introduction of the lesson states, “Display the Aa alphabet card. Point to uppercase A. ‘This is uppercase A. What is this letter?’ Point to lowercase a. ‘This is lowercase letter a. What is this letter?’ Explain that the letter a is the first letter of the alphabet.” When students are on their own the Teacher Edition states, “Have students look around the room and find examples of uppercase A and lowercase a. As each letter is found, have the group say the name of the letter.”

Materials include tasks and questions about the organization of print concepts. The lessons on print concepts become less explicit. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 5, on Day 1, Teacher Instructions are included. Some of the directions to students are, “Pick up your copy of the book and hold it right side up. Make sure you are holding it correctly. Is the word Mouse right side up?” and “These are the pages of our story. We turn the pages from right to left...now turn the pages from right to left.”
• Daily Handwriting provides practice with writing uppercase and lowercase letters and discusses letter spacing. Handwriting is always presented the same way and no additional practice is provided.
• Unit 1, Week 6, on Day 2, “This is the word Tom. I use an uppercase T for the first letter in Tom because it is a name. Watch me make an uppercase T.”
• Unit 2, Week 1, on Day 2, “Have students write Ava and am on their Write-On Boards. Remind them to use proper left-to-right and top-to-bottom progression and proper spacing between letters when writing A and a.”
• Unit 4, Week 5: During small group reading there is a section titled “Concepts of Print”. The Teacher Edition states: “Display Decodable Reader 23 in My Skills Buddy. Show students the illustrations and read aloud the title. What do you think the story is about?”

After Unit 1, Week 5, there are not consistent instructions on print concepts during decodable reading time. The lessons are less frequent, and these questions are labeled CONCEPTS OF PRINT. For example, Unit 3, Week 2, on Day 2, “The title of the story is Rip with Rap. What is the title? … What does the author do? … How does the illustrator help tell the story?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet opportunities are frequently built into the materials for students to practice and gain decoding automaticity and sight-based recognition of high-frequency words. This includes reading fluency in oral reading beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2. Materials do not contain multiple opportunities over the course of the year in core materials to purposefully read emergent-reader texts. The materials are not of quality and do not provide sufficient practice for students.

Students have the opportunity to read and practice 40 high-frequency words. Each week there is a set of high-frequency words. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Weeks 1 and 2, the high-frequency words are: I, am. In Weeks 3 and 4, the high-frequency words are: the, little. In Weeks 5 and 6, the high-frequency words are: a, to.
  • In Unit 1, Week 2, on Day 1, the Teacher Edition states, “INTRODUCE: Use the routine below to review high-frequency words I and am. Routine Non Decodable Words: 1. Say and Spell: Some words we must learn by remembering the letters rather than saying the sounds. We will say and spell the words to help learn them. Write am on the board. This is the word am. It has two letter. The letters in am are a and m. Have students say and spell the word, first with you and then without you. 2. Demonstrate Meaning: I can use the word am in lots of sentences Here is one sentence: I am at school. Now you use the word in a sentence. Repeat the routine with the word I.”
  • In Unit 1, Week 1, The class reads Decodable Reader 1. The Teacher Edition begins the lesson with a Review: “Review this week's high frequency words. Have students read each word as you point to it on the word wall: I, am.”
• In Unit 2, Weeks 1 and 2, the high-frequency words are: have, is. In Weeks 3 and 4, the high-frequency words are: we, my, like. In Weeks 5 and 6, the high-frequency words are: he, for.
• In Unit 3, Weeks 1 and 2, the high-frequency words are: me, with, she. In Weeks 3 and 4, the high-frequency words are: see, look. In Weeks 5 and 6, the high-frequency words are: they, you, of.
  • In Unit 3, Week 3, the Teacher Edition states, “Have children turn to p. 57. Read the high-frequency words see and look together. Then have children point to each word and read it.”
• In Unit 4, Weeks 1 and 2, the high-frequency words are: are, that, do. In Weeks 3 and 4, the high-frequency words are: one, two, three, four, five. In Weeks 5 and 6, the high-frequency words are: here, go from.
• In Unit 5, Weeks 1 and 2, the high-frequency words are: yellow, blue, green. In Weeks 3 and 4, the high-frequency words are: what, said, was. In Weeks 5 and 6, the high-frequency words are: where, come.
  • Unit 5, Week 4, on Day 2, the Teacher Edition states, “READ WORDS: Have children turn to p. 77 of My Skills Buddy. Read the high-frequency words, what, said, and was together. Then have children point to each word and read it themselves. READ SENTENCES: Read the sentences on the My Skills Buddy page together to read the new high-frequency words in context. Pair children and have them take turns reading each of the sentences aloud. ON THEIR OWN: Use Reader’s and Writer’s Notebook p. 361, for additional practice with this week’s high-frequency words.” This practice page has children write the words into a cloze sentence.
• In Unit 6, previously learned high-frequency words are reviewed.

Materials support the development of students’ automaticity and accuracy of grade-level decodable words over the course of the year. Examples include:

• In Unit 2, Week 4, on Day 3, students read Tam in the Garden. “TEACH REBUS WORDS: Write the word hat on the board. This is the word hat. Name the letters with me: h, a, t. Look for the word hat in the story we read today. A picture above the word will help you read it. Continue with the words red and garden.” The teacher displays the book and tells the title, author and illustrator. Using the routine for Decodable books, children begin whisper reading. The second step of the routine states, “Model Fluent Reading Have children point as you read a page. Then have them reread the page with you.” The phonemic awareness and phonics for the week focus on initial /a/ however this book includes the word hat with a medial /a/. With rebus text the students are not using their decoding skills as much as practicing high-frequency words and naming the pictures.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, on Day 1, the phonics lesson provides practice for decoding CVC words such as nap, Nan, Nat, can, sat, am, nip, cat.
• Unit 4, Week 4: During guided practice, students are asked to open My Skills Buddy to p. 76. Put your finger on the red arrow below the g in got. Say the sound that g stands for. Continue with o and t. Trace the blue arrow as you blend the sounds and read the word. Have partners blend the other words.
• In Unit 6, Week 5, Lesson 6, students practice decoding words. The teacher writes sun on the board. “Point to each letter. What is this letter? What is the sound for this letter? Now help me blend this word. Say the sound as I point to each letter: /s/ /u/ /n/. What is the word? Continue the decoding routine with Jen, kick, lug, wig, not, and sat.

Students have opportunities to purposefully read emergent-reader texts over the course of a year. Examples include:

• Decodables are located in the students’ Reader’s and Writer’s Notebook. Unit 1, Week 5, on Day 1: The teacher instructions say, “Tear out Decodable Story Little Mouse on pp. 51-52… Then fold the pages to form a book. Repeat this process with each child’s....” The words in the decodable that the teacher is supposed to go over are mouse, walk, school, and moose. While two of these words begin with /m/ which is the focus, none of the words are decodable for a beginning reader. Teachers would need to supplement with other materials that are decodable.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, during small group reading, students are asked to read a decodable reader “quietly as you listen to them. Then have them take turns reading aloud one page at a time.
• In Unit 6, Week 3, on Day 3, of the Student Reader students read Max and Jane: A Busy Day. The teacher reviews high-frequency words and teaches the rebus words racoon, owls, and baker. Teacher goes over the title, author, and illustrator of the book then starts the routine to read decodable books.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet expectations that materials, questions, and tasks provide systematic and explicit instruction in and practice of word recognition and analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected texts and tasks. There are missed opportunities for explicit directions to the teacher as well as modeling for the students in the reading and writing of words in connected texts and tasks.

Materials partially support students’ development to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills in connected text and tasks. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 3, the Teacher Edition has students practice syllable blending outside of texts. Connect: Say the word robot. “Robot has two sound parts, or syllables: ro-bot. When we blend these syllables together, we say the word robot. Today we are going to learn how to blend syllables together to make words. Model: Tell children you are going to say a word with two syllables. “The first syllable is pud-.” Children echo you. “The next syllable is -dle.” Children echo again. Tell children you are going to blend the two syllable together to say the word. “When I put the two syllables pud-dle together, I say puddle. We blend the syllables pud-dle to make the word puddle. Guided practice: “We are going to practice more words. Remember, I will say each syllable and you will repeat it. Then you will put the syllables together to say the word.
• In Unit 3, Week 4, on Day 5, student review Phonics Review /f/ Spelled Ff . The teacher shows the Ff alphabet card, reviews high-frequency words see and look. “APPLY PHONICS: Have children reread one of the books specific to the target letter sound. You may wish to review the decodable words and high-frequency words that appear in each book prior to rereading” No modeling or direction for teacher or students is given beyond what is written above.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, on Day 1, during Small Group On-Level the Teacher Edition states,“LISTEN FOR /l/: I am going to tell you story that begins with /l/, clap your hand and say the word. Tell the following story, emphasizing and pausing after each /l/ word. Lucy likes lemons. She loves to lick lots of lemons by the lake. With a little luck, she can lick lemons her entire life. Lucy really likes lemons! MATCH /L/ TO Ll. Give children each a note card and ask them to write the letter l on it. Retell the story and have children raise their l card when they hear a word that begins with /l/.”
• After learning /y/ with Picture Cards the teacher leads, “SEGMENT: Listen to the sounds in yet: /y/, /e/, /t/. Say them with me: /y/, /e/, /t/. How many sounds do you hear? There are three sounds in yet. Let’s try some more words. Continue the routine with yarn, yes, yum, and yip…” “BLEND: Remind children that they know how to blend sounds together to say a word. I am going to say some sounds, and I want you to blend them to say a word. Listen carefully: /y/, /e/, /s/. Now say the sounds with me: /y/, /e/, /s/. The word is yes. Continue practice with yet, yam, quit, and Quinn.”

Materials partially provide frequent opportunities to read high-frequency words in connected text and tasks. Examples include:

• Practice words that are not connected to text include in Unit 2, Week 2, on Day 1, during the High-Frequency Words, Routine for Non Decodable Words the Teacher Edition states,“1. Say and Spell Some words we must learn by remembering the letters rather than saying the sounds. We will say and spell the words to help learn them. Write have on the board. This is the word have. It has four letters. The letters in have are h, a, v, e. Have children say and spell the word, first with you and then without you. 2. Demonstrate Meaning: I can use the word have in lots of sentences. Here is one sentence: I have a red wagon. Now you use the word in a sentence.”
• Practice words connected to text include when students read Decodable Story 8 which contains the word have. The text reads, “I have a sock, I have a sack”
• In Unit 2, Week 3, before students read the decodable reader, the Teacher Edition states, “Review the previously taught high-frequency words. Have children read each word as you point to it on the word wall.”
• Practice words not connected to text in Unit 4, Week 2, on Day 2, include My Skills Buddy p. 37. Students read the words are, that, and do chorally then point to each word and read it themselves. Students then read sentences together and then in pairs. “1. That man is my dad. 2. We are on the hill. 3 Do you hop a lot?”
• Practice words connected to text include when students then read Decodable Reader 20 which contains the words are, that, and do. The text reads, “ Tab sat on a lap. Kit did not. Lil lit it. Do you see tab? Lil had a doll. Kit can bat it...”
• In Unit 5, Week 5, before students read the decodable reader, the Teacher Edition states, “Review the previously taught high-frequency words. Have children read each word as you point to it on the word wall.”

Lessons and activities partially provide students many opportunities to learn grade-level word recognition and analysis skills while encoding (writing). Examples include:

• In Unit 3, Week 4, students are asked to segment words and then spell them on a piece of paper. The Teacher Edition states, “This time I am going to say a word. I want you to write it on your paper. Remember, first say the word slowly in your head, and then write the letter for each sound. Listen carefully. Write the word fit.” This is done out of context.In Unit 4, Week 3, the lesson has the teacher explain the difference between numerals and number words. During guided practice students “write” numerals in the air. During independent practice, students “use
• Reader’s and Writer’s Notebook p. 265, for additional practice with numerals and number words.” This is done out of context.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectations that materials support ongoing and frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills, including a clear and specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments will be supported. There are many assessments, but teacher guidance or direct instructions are limited.

Multiple assessment documents are available in core materials allowing students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of foundational skills. Examples include:

• On the Assessment page of the Unit Overview of each unit, the Teacher Edition mentions:
  • A baseline test that will help with “...initial grouping decisions and to differentiate instruction based no ability levels.”

• Every day corrective feedback and monitor progress:
  • Unit 3, Week 2, Monitor Progress all days, Monday: Phonemic Awareness, Tuesday: Check Sound-Spelling, Wednesday: Check Word Reading High-Frequency Words, Thursday: Check Phonological or Phonemic Awareness, Friday: Check Oral Vocabulary and Check Word and Sentence Reading

• During the Check Phonemic Awareness Words with Initial /r/, Formative Assessment the Teacher Edition states, “Say rug and man. Have children identify the word that begins with /r/. Continue with rain, snow; rice, cheese; real, fake; rich, money; and ring, sound. If children cannot discriminate initial /r/ words, then use the small-group Strategic Intervention lesson, p. SG.25, to reteach /r/.” No plan for recording or monitoring a whole class of students is provided.

• Every Week
  • The Teacher Edition states,“Weekly Assessments on Day 5 to check phonics, high-frequency words, and comprehension.”
    • For example, during the: Review /u/ Spelled Uu, the Teacher Edition states,“WHOLE CLASS: Give children a sheet of paper folded in fourths. Have them draw a picture of something that begins with /u/ or something that has a medial /u/ in each section. Have them label the pictures with the word or the letter u.” Suggestions follow for reteaching, if necessary. Such as, ONE-ON-ONE, “To facilitate individual progress monitoring, assess some children on Day 4 and the rest on Day 5. While individual children are being assessed, the rest of the class can reread this week’s books and look for words with /u/” There are also word and sentence reading assessments that need to be administered one-on-one. It is suggested that the scores be recorded in First Stop.
• Every Unit
  • The Teacher Edition States, “Unit Benchmark Assessments assess mastery of unit skills: phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, high-frequency words, and writing.”
• End of Year
  • The Teacher Edition States, “End-of-Year Assessments measure student mastery of skills covered in all six units with options for performance-based assessment.”

Assessment materials partially provide teachers and students with information on students’ current skills/level of understanding and support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward foundational skills. The assessments and progress checks are generic. Assessments lack explicit instructions/guidance on how to address the skills students are missing in order to demonstrate mastery in foundational skills. Examples include:

• Unit 1, Week 4, At the end of the phonemic awareness section, teachers have the opportunity to give a formative assessment. The Teacher Edition suggests the teacher say a set of three words, then have the student identify the word that begins with a different initial sound. Ex: “Say fox, fan, and cat. Have children identify the word that begins with a different initial sound. Continue with paint, neck, purse; five, six, seven; bear, moose, boat.” The Teacher Edition does not explicitly say if this should be done whole group or one on one.
• Unit 3, Week 5, on Day 4, during Check Phonemic Awareness, the Teacher Edition states, “After I say a word, I want you to say the word slowly and then tell me each sound in the word: can, mop, top, tip...” No model is provided for students. The Teacher Edition aslo states,“If children cannot segment the sounds in words, then provide practice segmenting the words in chunks, /m/ op. Continue to monitor children’s progress during the week so that children can be successful with the Day 5 Assessment. See the Skills Trace on p. 418.” No specific guidance is given to the teacher for remediation or reteaching beyond more practice with the same skill. The Skills Trace simply tells where the skill is practiced throughout the unit.
• Unit 4, Week 2, At the end of the phonics section, teachers have the opportunity to give a formative assessment. The Teacher Edition directs teachers to give each child a blank card and have children write Ll on the card. The Teacher Edition states, “I will read some words. When you hear a word that begins with /l/, Hold up your Ll card. Say: lady, man, back, lucky, lamb, road, mom, large, lost, coat, foot.”

There are many assessments, but little direction for teachers. Teachers may not be able to determine how many assessments to do each week and what to do with the data once it has been collected.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectations that materials, questions, and tasks provide high-quality lessons and activities that allow for differentiation of foundational skills. Students have limited opportunities with each grade level foundational skill component in order to reach mastery.

Materials partially provide high-quality learning lessons and activities for every student to reach mastery of foundational skills. Lessons do not always provide differentiation opportunities. Examples include:

• In Unit 3, Week 2, Day 2, students read the Decodable Reader 14:
  • Read Rip with Rap
    • REVIEW: Review the previously taught high-frequency words. Have children read each word as you point to it on the Word Wall: the, a, she, with, me, is.
    • CONCEPTS OF PRINT: Have children turn to Decodable Reader 14, Rip with Rap, on p. 38 of My Skills Buddy. Today we will read a story about a rat named Rip. Point to the title of the story. The title of the story is Rip with Rap. What is the title? Point to the name of the author. The author’s name is Peggy Lee. What does the author do? The illustrator is Lucy Smythe. How does the illustrator help the tell the story? Whe will read many /r/ words in this book.
    • READ: Use the routine for reading decodable books to read Decodable Reader 14.”
    • All students read the same decodable.

• In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 4, Phonics, Review /a/ Spelled Aa, /i/ Spelled Ii “PRACTICE: Display the Aa Alphabet Car. This is an astronaut, Astronaut begins with /a/. What letter spells the sound /a/? Yes, the letter a. Repeat the routine with the Ii Alphabet Card. Write the word pat on the board. Help me blend this word .Listen as I say each sound: /p/ /a/ /t/. Now let’s blend the sounds together to read the word: /p/ /a/ /t/, pat. What is the word? (pat) Let’s try more. Repeat the routine with pit, tap, and tip.” No additional practice materials are included in this lesson. No differentiation is suggested.

Materials partially provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support each student’s needs. Examples include:

• The Table of Contents and the Access for All tab of each unit show Teacher-Led Small Group Lesson Plans for each day of the week at On Level, Strategic Intervention, Advanced, and English Language Learners (ELL) levels. However, there are no specific lesson plans for ELL as there are for the other three groups. There are notes on the Strategic Intervention in the margins for ELL support.
  • In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 1, Small Group Time, Strategic Intervention, the lesson has sections that include:
    • LISTEN FOR INITIAL SOUNDS
    • RECOGNIZE LETTERS: Teacher writes the Oo and points out that it is the shape of a circle and says “This is an uppercase O. This is a lowercase o.”
    • A decodable story 3 Little Me which includes review of high-frequency words the and little and review the words I and am.
    • Reread for Fluency, Reread the decodable story for fluency, children reread the story chorally then several times individually.
  • The note for ELL in the margins is “If children need more scaffolding and practice with phonemic awareness and letter recognition, then use the Phonics Transition lessons beginning on p. 447 in the ELL Handbook.” There are no explicit directions about how to assess students or what materials in the ELL Handbook to use.
  • Opportunities for students to practice are limited. The materials often suggest orally reteaching skills.

Students have limited practice opportunities with each grade level foundational skill component in order to reach mastery. Examples include:

• Using review of phonemic awareness and phonics sounds and letters week to week, there is a start to teach the foundational skills to mastery.
  • In Unit 3, Week 1, Days 1-3, teach phonemic awareness, phonics, and handwriting of /n/ and /b/. The same sounds are taught in Spelling on Day 4 and reviewed in phonemic awareness and phonics Day 5. The sounds are also reviewed in phonemic awareness and phonics in Week 2, on Day 4.
    • General recommendations for reteaching the above are given for each concept. Example: “If children cannot discriminate /b/ then have them say /b/ several times. When you say /b/ you put your lips together, and then push air the sound as you open your lips. Have children practice saying /b/” The same type of directions are given for /n/. An attempt is made at teaching to mastery, however, there are no additional materials or explicit instructions provided for teacher if students have not mastered the sounds by this week.
  • During Unit 4, Week 5, Day 2, is the first introduction to Medial /e/. Phonemic Awareness Lesson after reviewing initial /e/ with the elephant card, “MODEL MEDIAL /e/ The sound /e/ can be in the middle of a word too. Display the jet Picture Card. This is a jet. Listen as I say the sounds: /j/ /e/ /t/, jet. I hear /e/ in the middle of the word: /j/ /e/ /t/. Say it with me: /j/ /e/ /t/, jet. Let’s try some more. Continue with the following words: ten, pet, Ben, wet, Ted, den, shed, set.”
    • After practice in My Skills Buddy p. 92 & 93, “If children cannot discriminate medial /e/, then have them enunciate /e/ as they segment words with medial /e/. Listen as I segment a word: /g/ /e/ /t/. Say it with me /g/ /e/ /t/. What sound do you hear in the middle? I hear /e/ in the middle. Continue with the following words: bet, pen, tell.” These directions are identical to the directions from the lesson above. There are not additional materials or activities suggested.