The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 without a suggested 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:

• In Unit 1, Week 2, the text is Exploring Space with an Astronaut by Patricia J. Murphy. The main selection is engaging for second grade students and worthy of careful and repeated readings. The text includes several grade-level domain- and academic specific vocabulary words (ascend, descend, launch) to help students build knowledge within context. The photographs bolster the text and provide visual support to accompany the vocabulary. The qualitative structure of this expository text has an unconventional chronology and assumes students have no prior knowledge of the content.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, the text is Soil by Sally M. Walker. This text is engaging for Grade 2 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 second graders in this main text include discovery, transform, landscape, and texture.
• In Unit 4, Week 5, the text is The First Tortilla by Rudolfo Anaya. The main selection is worthy of careful and repeated readings. This literary main selection introduces students to a legend and includes opportunities for students to engage with figurative language and personification. There are references to another culture that are worthy of careful reading to build knowledge.

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:

• In Unit 3, Week 4, Day 1, the read-aloud text is The Heavy Cart. This Grade 2 read-aloud text is not worthy of student’s careful listening. This text is simplistic and would not hold a listener's attention.
• In Unit 2, Week 3, the main text is Scarcity by Janeen R. Adil. This text may be less engaging for Grade 2 students. Scarcity is an abstract concept that may not be of interest to this age group. It is not connected to other content in the unit and therefore will be a difficult concept.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 text and a variety of genres, but do not meet the requirement for text distribution.

The main and paired reading selections are grouped into six units with a total of 32 texts (24 literary and 8 informational). Each unit has a science or social studies goal built into the unit, along with one poem or a set of poems as a paired text, though not as a main selection. Overall, the units are somewhat balanced between literary and informational texts, with four of the six units containing at least two informational texts, though two of the units contain no informational texts. Paired reading selections for the unit's main selections include a balance of literary and informational text. Although the time spent on the informational selections is less than the time spent on the literary reading selections, there are a good variety of different types of informational selections. There are eight Social Studies texts, four of which are main selections, and seven science texts, four of which are main selections. There are only two texts on technical subjects, both of which are paired reading selections.

The majority of leveled readers are informational texts. These are to be used in small group reading instruction and not as a main selection. Therefore, not all students will not be exposed to the high level of informational texts available in this format.

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

• Unit 1
  • The Twin Club (Realistic Fiction)
  • Exploring Space with an Astronaut (Expository Text)
  • Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night (Realistic Fiction)
  • A Walk in the Desert (Expository Text)
  • The Strongest One (Drama)
• Unit 3
  • Pearl and Wagner: Two Good Friends (Fantasy)
  • Dear Juno (Realistic Fiction)
  • Anansi Goes Fishing (Folk Tale)
  • Rosa and Blanca (Realistic Fiction)
  • A Weed Is a Flower (Biography)
• Unit 5
  • Fire Fighter! (Literary Nonfiction)
  • Carl the Complainer (Realistic Fiction)
  • Bad Dog, Dodger (Realistic Fiction)
  • Horace and Morris but mostly Dolores (Fantasy)
  • The Signmaker’s Assistant (Humorous Fiction)

The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet 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.

The materials include quantitative, qualitative, and reader and task information for each main selection on a “Text Based Comprehension” page. Appropriate rigor is evident in some main texts, while others are less challenging for Grade 2 or beyond the Lexile band appropriate for this grade. Some texts fall into the appropriate grade level band for quantitative measures, but there is variation in meeting the qualitative measures. 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.

For some texts, the quantitative measures of are beyond the grade-level band for Grade 2; however, the qualitative measures and reader and task measures bring the level of complexity to an appropriate level for Grade 2 students. Some representative examples include, but are not limited to the following:

Unit 3, Week 5: A Weed is a Flower (Biography)

• Quantitative: Lexile 710
• Qualitative: The organization of this text is more complex because it is written as a biography. Language features are moderately complex as the language is a mix of fact and fiction. Some of the sentences are more complex such as, “His teachers and friends soon realized that this earnest young man was bursting with talents.” There is one level of meaning and the theme is not obvious.
• Reader and Task: The Lexile and qualitative measures of complexity maybe too complex for the third unit of second grade. Teachers may need to plan scaffolds to support struggling learners. Additional supports and background knowledge around biographies will also benefit students.

Unit 4, Week 1: A Froggy Fable (Fable)

• Quantitative: 640L
• Qualitative: As this is a fable, there are multiple layers of meaning in this text. Additionally, there are examples of figurative language and personification. Some sentences include complex syntax for second grade such as, “To the poor frog’s bewilderment, a jar came down on top of him…and he was whisked away in the hands of a young boy.”
• Reader and Task: Students may need supporting determining the moral of the fable. However, the graphic illustrations support the text. This text meets the complexity measures for second grade.

Some texts have qualitative or quantitative features that do not fully support students' growing literacy skills according to the demands of the standards for Grade 2. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

Unit 1, Week 3: Henry and Mudge and the Starry Night (Realistic Fiction)

• Quantitative: Lexile 430, This text measures below the Grade 2-3 band.
• Qualitative: Students use context clues and illustrations to support comprehension. A Table of Contents is included and this may be unfamiliar for students. The vocabulary is conversational with a few words that are unfamiliar.
• Reader and Task: Grade 2 students will relate well to Henry’s character and action within the story. However, if students were not exposed to camping some of the words in the text may need further support. Due to a low quantitative level and minimal qualitative text complexity measures, this story is not appropriately placed in second grade.

The Sleuth readers also partially meet the text complexity demands. In the first unit, the Sleuth texts range from 500-540 and give students multiple opportunities to work with grade level text. However, the third unit of Sleuth readers has a much larger range of Lexile levels with texts falling both below and above the Grade 2 band with texts ranging from 370-710 Lexile measures.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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). Many of the main selections fall within the stretch grade-level band in terms of quantitative measures (420-820), but some mail selections fall outside the Lexile grade band. The materials do not support students' ability to read increasingly complex texts across the school year with appropriate support from the teacher, according to the quantitative and qualitative measures. Two days of guidance and scaffolded support from the teacher is suggested regardless of the text complexity of the main selection.

For a Grade 2 reader, most of the main selections in Unit 1 have a slightly complex structure with texts falling on the low end of the Lexile band. In Unit 4, four of the five selections are very complex because three selections contain informational text and a text with Spanish vocabulary. Students may need more scaffolded support to access these texts besides two days of reading the text. Unit 6 includes main selections with Lexiles that begin at 950L with Just Like Josh, but then drop to 480L with Red, White, and Blue: The Story of the American Flag. With large gaps and jumps in Lexile text complexity students are unable to read increasingly complex text and develop independence of grade level skills.

The Sleuth paired readings cluster the text complexity by keeping the Lexiles within a close range. The first unit of Sleuth readings have a Lexile Range of 500-540L which would give students practice within that band. Qualitatively, the Sleuth readings are minimally complex with simplistic language and syntax.

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 Grade 2 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 have a "Text Based Comprehension" page that covers quantitative, qualitative, and reader and task measures and a general recommended placement statement, though minimal rationale for the recommendations is provided.

Quantitative metrics are provided for each anchor text in three categories: Lexile level, average sentence length, and word frequency. Qualitative measures are provided for each anchor 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: “The quantitative measures suggest this text might be slightly below the Grade 2-3 complexity band. The use of multiple levels of meaning and the trickster elements make the content more challenging and appropriate for this level.”

An explicit rationale explaining complexity and placement of specific texts within the sequence of instruction is not provided beyond reference to being in the 2-3 grade text complexity band. For anchor texts falling within the Grade 2-3 text complexity band, minimal text-specific explanations are provided, such as the one provided for A Weed is a Flower: "Both the qualitative and quantitative measures suggest this text should be placed in the Grade 2-3 text band, which is where both the Common Core State Standards and Scott Foresman Reading Street have placed it.”

There is no reference to research-based or evidence-based best practices for increasing students’ reading skills through appropriate sequencing of text complexity. An explicit rationale explaining why main selections are paired with the selected Sleuth pair passage is not provided. For example, in Unit 3, the theme of the unit is Creative Ideas. Students read A Weed is a Flower and a paired Sleuth passage called A Sweet Treat, Plus a Whole Lot More. There is no explanation for why these two passages are paired together and how A Weed is a Flower fits into the Creative Idea theme. Another example is, in Unit 5, the theme of the unit is Responsability. Students read Horace and Morris but Mostly Dolores and a paired Sleuth passage called Stretch my Pet Giraffe. There is no explanation for why these two passages are paired together and how Stretch my Pet Giraffe fits into the Responsability theme.

The paired texts and 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 Grade 2 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.

Students read the main selection, paired selection, Sleuth, and leveled readers with teacher guidance. Examples teacher direction from the main selection include:

• Model: First, have students track the print as you read.
• Guide Practice: Then have students read along with you.
• Corrective feedback: Have the class read aloud without you. Monitor progress and provide feedback.

Students have opportunities to reread texts, which exposes students to more opportunities to learn new vocabulary in context as well as practice fluency. For example, in Abraham Lincoln, there are many opportunities for teachers to read aloud while students listen from the Read-Aloud Anthology. For example, on Day 2 the Teacher Edition states, “Read aloud the story and have children listen for the word scour.” and Day 3 it states, “Read aloud the story and have children listen for the Amazing Word, ingenious.”

The Trade Book Library is available for teacher and student use online, however, the teacher materials lack explicit directions for implementing this resource.

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 as a part of the independent reading station for advanced readers. It is not explicitly stated whether students should be reading texts independently, with partners, orally, or silently.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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. Many phonics and words recognition lessons contain a review of phonics standards from previous grade levels.

Lessons and activities provide students opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills. Examples include:

• Unit 2, Week 5, the phonics lesson is focused on vowel patterns a, ai, ay. The students practice blending words with this vowel pattern in the Student Edition.
• Unit 6, Week 4, the phonics lesson is focused on suffixes -ness, -less, -able, -ible. The students practice blending words with these suffixes in the Student Edition.
• Students receive decoding lessons with text to help students build understanding of letters and sounds toward reading standards.
  • The decodable readers reinforce the current day’s phonemic and phonics lesson. For example:
    • Unit 4, Week 1, the decodable reader The Lunch Table reinforces final syllable -le.
    • Unit 5, Week 1, the decodable reader Browny the Clown reinforces diphthongs ou and ow.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonics instruction to build toward application although many lessons contain review of previous grade level standards. Examples include:

• Unit 1:
  • Distinguish Medial Phonemes
  • Segment and Blend Phonemes
  • Short vowels and consonants
  • Long vowels CVe
  • Consonant Blends
  • Inflected Endings
  • Consonant Digraphs
• Unit 2:
  • Substitute Initial Phonemes
  • Segment and Count Phonemes
  • Substitute Final Phonemes
  • r-controlled ar, or, ore, oar
  • contractions
  • r-controlled er, ir, ur
  • plurals
  • vowel patterns a, ai, ay (also taught in the Grade 1 materials)
• Unit 3:
  • Substitute Medial Phonemes
  • Segment and Count Phonemes
  • Substitute Final Phonemes
  • Blend and Segment Phonemes
  • Phonics:
  • Vowel patterns e, ee, ea, y, o, oa, ow, I, ie, igh, y
  • Compound words
  • Comparative endings –er, -est
• Unit 4:
  • Final Syllable –ie
  • Vowel Patterns oo, u (also taught in the Grade 1 materials)
  • Diphthongs ou, ow, oi, oy (also taught in the Grade 1 materials)
  • Syllable patterns
  • Digraphs oo, ue, ew, ui (also taught in the Grade 1 materials)
• Unit 5:
  • Suffixes –ly, -ful, -er, -or, ish
  • Prefixes un-, re-, pre-, dis-
  • Consonant patterns kn, wr, gn, ph, gh, ck (also taught in the Grade 1 materials)
  • Vowel patterns aw, au, au/gh, ai (also taught in the Grade 1 materials)
• Unit 6:
  • Inflected Endings
  • Abbreviations
  • Final Syllables –tion, -ture, -ion
  • Suffixes –ness, -less, -able, -ible
  • Prefixes mis-, mid-, micro-, non-

Phonemic Awareness lessons are present Day 1 for each week of Units 1-3 even though there are no phonemic awareness standards for Grade 2. Lessons are similar to those found in Grade 1 and review Grade 1 standards. These lessons are not marked as review and are presented as new material for Grade 2 students. For example:

• In Unit 3, Week 1, on Day 1, Substitute Final Phonemes
  • INTRODUCE Read together the bulleted points in the Student Edition. What kind of birds are standing in front of the table? (geese) I hear long e in geese. Continue with sweep, cheese, sheet, and seat.
  • MODEL Team has the sounds /t/, long e, /m/. Let’s change /m/ in team to /ch/: /t/ /e/ /ch/, teach. Guide children as they substitute final phonemes in other words they identified in the picture: sweep to sweet, cheese to cheek, feet to feed.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations that instructional 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.There are missed opportunities to help students gain fluency skills since many teacher directions lack specifics as to how to inform and explain fluency skills to students.

Materials provide students some opportunities to purposefully read on-level text in core materials over the course of a year. The directions do not always state the purpose of the reading of the text. Examples include:

• Unit 1, Week 4, on Day 2, students read the main selection for the first time. Before students read they preview the pictures, predict what the story is about. “Explain that when readers want to understand or remember what they read, they think about the most important ideas.”
• Unit 3 Week 2, the Teacher Edition states during the decodable reader section, “Have children identify and read the title and preview the story. Tell them they will decode words with vowel patterns o, oa, ow.”
• Unit 5, Week 4, during small group reading, the Teacher Edition states, “Have children read ”Laughs with a Friend” silently. Then have children take turns reading aloud. After reading, have children recall the two most important ideas of the selection using details from the text.” No purpose is stated.
• Unit 6, Week 3, on Day 3, students read the main selection for the second time. The teacher reviews cause and effect and then reminds children that realistic fiction is a made up story. Children recall parts of the selection that could happen in real life. Children then reread the main selection. No purpose for reading is set, although questions about the reading are included for the teacher and students on the think critically page. No directions are given to stop throughout reading to answer questions.

Materials provide students the opportunity to demonstrate sufficient accuracy, rate, and expression in oral reading with on-level text and grade level decodable words. Examples include:

• Unit 1, Week 1, on Day 3, students work on Fluency: Appropriate Rate, the Teacher Edition states, “Have children read the pages with you. Then have them reread the pages as a group without you until they read with no hesitation and no mistakes. If children have difficulty reading at the appropriate rate, then prompt: Which word is a problem? Let’s read it together. Read the sentence again to be sure you understand it. Tell me the sentence. Now read it as if you are speaking it to me.”
• Unit 1, Week 3, students read the decodable reader On Stage. The Teacher Edition states that children, “decode the title and preview the story. Tell them they will decode words with consonant blends.”
• Unit 3, Week 5, on Day 4 students work on Fluency:Expression and Intonation, the Teacher Edition states, “Have children follow along as you read the pages at a with expression and intonation. Have the class read with you and then reread the pages as a group until they read with no hesitation and no mistakes. To provide additional fluency practice, pair non-fluent readers with fluent readers.”
• Unit 4, Week 4, on Day 4, the Teacher Edition states,“Have children follow along as you read the pages accurately and at an appropriate rate with expression. Have the class read the pages with you and then reread the pages as a group without you until they read with accuracy at an appropriate rate with expression.”

Materials support the reading of texts with attention to reading strategies such as rereading, self-correction, and the use of context clues. Examples include:

• Unit 1, Week 1, during Text Based Comprehension the Teacher Edition states, “Explain that readers monitor their comprehension and clarify what they do not understand by asking questions and rereading.”
• Unit 4, Week 1, on Day 2, students read “Life in a Pond” then the teacher explains, “...some words have more than one meaning. Explain how using context clues can help them figure out which is the relevant meaning of the multiple-meaning word in the sentence they are reading.” The teacher does a think aloud to figure out the meaning of the word clearing in this sentence, “The settlers built their cabin in a clearing.” Then the teacher writes, “The tree crashed onto the power lines during the storm.” and asks students to determine the meaning of crashed. Students then go back to the reading they did and use context clues to help determine the meaning of the selection vocabulary.
• Unit 6, Week 4, during Vocabulary Skills the Teacher Edition states, “Explain that readers sometimes come across words that they don’t know. Discuss how readers use context clues - the words and sentences around a word - to decide the meaning that is relevant in a particular sentence.”

The Teacher Edition lists self-correct as Foundational Skills 4.c in the margins of several pages, but does not prompt the teacher to discuss self-correcting with the students. The Teacher Edition recommends that the teacher have students reread for understanding but does not have the teacher explain to students that it is a reading strategy. For example in Unit 4, Week 1, on Day 2 “Routine Read for Understanding Deepen understanding by reading the selection multiple times.”

Students have opportunities to practice and read irregularly spelled words. Examples include:

• In Unit 2, Week 3, students learn above, ago, enough, toward, whole, word. The directions to the teacher states, “Remind children that there are some words we learn by remembering the letters, rather than saying the sounds.” Students select two words and create a sentence with the words used properly.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, students read high-frequency words in the context of sentences such as, “Juno got an ___ in the mail from faraway. (envelope).” Then students practice writing words in cloze sentences in the Reader’s and Writer’s Notebook, p. 215.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, students read high-frequency words in context such as, “Father baked the warm apple pie that is on the table.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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 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 and tasks.

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

• Unit 1, Week 4, students use the Student Edition to decode words with inflected endings.
• Unit 2, Week 2, students use the Decodable Practice Readers to practice contractions during the Decode and Read portions of the phonics lesson. The Teacher Edition states, “Chorally read the story along with children. Have children identify contractions in the story.”
• Unit 4, Week 5, on Day 3, during Vocabulary, the Teacher Edition states, “Remind children that when they come to a word they don’t know, they can look for word parts, such as prefixes. They can use the meaning of the prefix and the base word to determine the meaning of the word. A prefix is a word part that is added to the beginning of a word. On prefix is dis- it means ‘not’ or ‘the opposite of .’ Remember, we read the word dislike in Hector and the Scarecrow on page 161. What does dislike mean? not like.)” Teacher repeats with uncover, refill, unlike, reread and others.
• Unit 5, Week 1, students learn suffixes -ly, -ful, -er, -or, -ish. Students read Decodable Reader: Restful Hobbies and main selection: Firefighter! The main selection includes (tightly, suddenly, rubber, computer, quickly) and provides opportunity for students to apply word recognition and analysis skills with a connected text.
• Unit 6, Week 5, on Day 1, students learn prefixes mis-, mid-, non-, micro-. The Teacher Edition states, “MODEL: Write misjudge. When I see a word with the prefix mis-, I divide the word after the prefix to find the base word. Cover the prefix and read the base word. Uncover the prefix and read the word: misjudge. The prefix mis- means ‘not’ or ‘wrong,’ so misjudge means ‘to judge wrongly.’ Repeat this procedure.”

Materials provide opportunities to read irregularly spelled words in connected text and tasks. Examples include:

• Unit 2, Week 4, students read high-frequency words and selection words in isolation, then in the context of sentences, and lastly students write the words in cloze passage.
• Unit 3, Week 1, student read high-frequency words displayed in isolation. Students read guess, pretty, science, shoe, village, watch, won. These high-frequency words appear in the main selection, Pearl and Wagner: Two Good Friends.

There is limited explicit instruction provided for students to practice grade-level word recognition and analysis skills while encoding (writing) in context and decoding words (reading) in a connected text. Opportunities for writing are available.

• Every day during the week there is spelling practice that corresponds with the phonics skill being taught. This writing is done out of context. For example:
  • Unit 3, Week 1, students write words with the vowel pattern ee, ea, y.
  • Unit 4, Week 4, students write words with syllable patterns
  • After learning r-controlled vowels and vowel patterns, students practice writing words with r-controlled vowels on a worksheet. The student directions read, “Write a list word that rhymes with each word.”
  • After practicing the phonics vowel patterns of o, oa, ow in Unit 3, Week 3, students write words with those patterns on a worksheet. The student directions read, “Write the word from the box that rhymes with each word below.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 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.
  • Begin the year
    • A Baseline Group Test that will help with “...initial grouping decisions and to differentiate instruction based no ability levels.”
    • Online Assessment
  • Every day corrective feedback and monitor progress
    • Unit 2, Week 2, Monitor Progress all days, Monday: Check Word Reading, Tuesday: Check High-Frequency Words, Wednesday: Check Retelling, Thursday: Fluency Check, Friday: Check Oral Vocabulary.
      • Example: Unit 2, Week 2, Day 2, Check High-Frequency Words “Point to these words on the Word Wall and have the class read them. Listen for children who miss words during the reading. Call on those children to read some of the words individually. Second, you’re, either, laugh, worst…” “if children cannot read these words, then use the Non Decodable Words Routine on p. 223, to reteach the words. Monitor children’s fluency with these words during reading and provide additional practice.” The Teacher Edition suggests using the same lesson to reteach the high-Frequency words that students were not successful with the first time. There are no explicit instructions for the teacher as to how to monitor “progress toward their progress” or what “additional practice” to provide.
  • Every week
    • “Weekly Assessments on Day 5 to check phonics, high-frequency words, and comprehension.”
      • Example: Unit 3, Week 2, Day 5, Many assessments are listed. There are no directions for the teacher whether all or some of the assessments should be completed. A written assessment for vowel patterns o, oa, ow; high-frequency words; and drawing conclusions can be found in Weekly Test 12 pages 67-72. SENTENCE READING Using a reproducible page children are asked to read words in context. “Call on children to read two sentences aloud. Start over with sentence one if necessary.” No instructions are given whether this should be done individually or not. FLUENCY “Take a one-minute sample of children’s oral reading. Have children read the fluency passage on page 417f.” There is also a comprehension assessment that appears to be done one-on-one, but no explicit instructions are given to the teacher.” All scores should be recorded using the Sentence Reading Chart and recording the number of words read correctly per minute on their Fluency Progress Chart in First Stop.
      • A Fluency Assessment Plan is included in the materials and instructs teachers to formally assess fluency with 8-10 children every week. Assess 4 to 5 children on Day 4 and 4 to 5 children on Day 5.
  • End of Year
    • “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. The assessments lack explicit instructions/guidance on how to address the skills students are missing in order to demonstrate mastery in foundational skills. Examples include:

• Each week on Day 5, there is an Assessment section to monitor progress on the skills taught during the week. For example:
  • Unit 1, Week 2, Day 5, the Assessment section has teachers assess students on sentence reading, fluency, comprehension, and monitor accuracy. Sentence Reading: “Use the following reproducible to assess children’s ability to read words in context. Call on children to read two sentences aloud. Begin over with sentence one if necessary.” Fluency: “ Take a one-minute sample of children’s oral reading. Have children read the fluency passage on p. 81f.” Monitor Accuracy: “Have children monitor their accuracy by recording scores using the Sentence Reading Chart and by recording the number of words read correctly per minute on their Fluency Progress Chart in First Stop.” No further guidance to the teacher is provided.

• Throughout the Teacher Edition, there are sections labeled “Monitor Progress” that provide formative assessment on the current skills being taught. For example:
  • Unit 2, Week 5, students read the decodable reader and practice in their Reader’s and Writer’s Notebook. Monitor Progress Vowel Patterns a, ai, ay “Write the following words and have the class read them. Notice which words children miss during the group reading. Call on individuals to read some of the words: strain, gray, flake, state, spray…” “If children cannot blend words with the vowel sounds of y at this point, then use the Small Group Time Strategic Intervention lesson, p. SG.75, to reteach Vowel Patterns a, ai, ay. Continue to monitor children’s progress using other instructional opportunities during the week.” No instructions are given to the teacher about how to collect and monitor students. Assessing students during a whole group reading lesson can be very challenging and teachers may miss students who need help. “Other instructional opportunities’ is not defined in the teacher’s edition.

• Unit 3, Week 4, Monitor Progress: Vowel Patterns i, ie, igh, y “Write the following words and have the class read them. Notice which words children miss during the group reading. Call on individuals to read some of the words. Bind, wildcat, diehard, supply, twilight, squint, splinter, surprise, himself, skydive, circus, chirping, stirrup, thirteen, birdbath. If children cannot blend words with vowel patterns i, ie, igh, y at this point, then use the Small Group Time Strategic Intervention lesson, p SG5, to reteach vowel patterns i, ie, igh, y. Continue to monitor children’s progress using other instructional opportunities during the week. See the Skills Trace on p.454-455.

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 Grade 2 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. Examples include:

• Unit 4, Week 1, Day 1, students read Decodable Reader 20A:
  • DECODE WORDS IN ISOLATION: Have children turn to page 73 in Decodable Practice Readers 2.2 and decode each word.
  • REVIEW HIGH-FREQUENCY WORDS: Have children identify and read the high-frequency words eyes, moon, another, picture, single, only, and thought on the first page.
  • PREVIEW DECODABLE READER: Have children read the title and preview the story. Tell them they will decode words with vowel digraphs oo, ue, ew, and ui.
  • DECODE WORDS IN CONTEXT: Pair children for reading and listen carefully as they decode. One child begins Children read the entire story, switching readers after each page. Partners reread the story. This time the other child begins.
  • CHECK DECODING AND COMPREHENSION: Have children retell the story in include characters, setting, and events. Then have children find words with the vowel digraphs oo, ue, ew, and ui in the story. Children should supply Sue, true, moo, flew, moon, clue, too, proof, drew, suit, grew, soon, and zoomed.” Common vowel pairs are a Grade 1 standard, so differentiation for students who have mastered this standard in this lesson is not provided.
• Unit 5, Week 1, Day 1, students learn suffixes -ly, -ful, -er, -or, -ish. In Teach/Model, the teacher uses the words flagged and skating to call attention to the spelling changes. The teacher uses Sound-Spelling Cards of the suffixes and models reading words with the suffixes in context. During group practice, students identify the suffix, base word, any spelling change, and word meaning. In Guide Practice, the students blend words from the Student Edition.
  • For corrective feedback: “If... children cannot read words with suffixes, then... model reading and combining word parts, and ask children to read the word with you.” This differentiation has few specifics for a teacher.

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 ELL levels. However, there are no specific lesson plans for ELL as there are for the other three groups. The program recommends placing ELLs in a group that “corresponds to their reading ability.” Very brief recommendations are made on each level page to support ELLs. Example: In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 1 Phonemic Awareness and Phonics, then use Phonics Transition Lessons on pp. 213-309 in the ELL Handbook. No specific lesson recommendations are made.
• Small Groups are set up to Day 1 Differentiate Phonics, Differentiate Comprehension, Differentiate Close Reading, Differentiate Vocabulary, Differentiate Reteaching.
• Unit 5, Week 2, Day 4 Decodable Reader 22C In the margins recommendations for ELLs are made for Beginning, Intermediate, and Advanced readers. “Beginning: Write each prefix on a self-stick note. Then preview An Unhappy Spaceman. Call attention to the words with prefixes, matching the prefix on the note to the prefix of the word. Say the word and have children repeat it. Intermediate: ON the board, write ‘word equations’ for story words that begin with prefixes, for example, pre + flight = _________. Have pairs of children build and read words that begin with prefixes. Advanced: Choose sentences from An Unhappy Spaceman to read aloud as children follow in their readers. For example, Jack does a preflight check of the ship. Have children identify the word that begins with prefix and tell its meaning.” All the recommendations for ELLs are to give oral instruction or use another resource from SuccessNet.

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

• Using review of phonemic awareness, phonics, and spelling week to week there is an attempt to teach to mastery.
  • Unit 2, Week 1, Days 1-3 teaches Phonics, Spelling, and decodable reader of r-controlled vowels. The same sounds are reviewed in Phonics and Spelling on Days 4 & 5, as well as a decodable reader on Day 4. They are also reviewed in Phonics/Spelling Week 2, Day 4. General recommendations for reteaching:
    • Day 1 corrective feedback: “If... children have difficulty blending a word, then... model blending the word, and then ask children to blend it with you.” 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 the second week.
  • Unit 5, Week 5, Day 1-3 teaches Phonics, Spelling, and decodable reader of aw, au, au(gh), al. The same sounds are reviewed in Phonics and Spelling on Days 4 & 5, as well as a decodable reader on Day 4. Phonics and Spelling are reviewed Unit 5, Week 6 and Unit 6, Week 1. General recommendations are provided for reteaching:
    • Day 1 corrective feedback: “If... children have difficulty blending a word, then... model blending the word, and then ask children to blend it with you.”