1st Grade - Gateway 1
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Standards and Research-Based Practices
Alignment to Standards and Research-Based Practices for Foundational Skills InstructionGateway 1 - Partially Meets Expectations | 76% |
|---|---|
Criterion 1.1: Print Concepts and Letter Recognition (Alphabet Knowledge) | 1 / 4 |
Criterion 1.2: Phonological Awareness | 12 / 12 |
Criterion 1.3: Phonics | 18 / 20 |
Criterion 1.4: Word Recognition and Word Analysis | 7 / 8 |
Criterion 1.5: Decoding Accuracy, Decoding Automaticity and Fluency | 8 / 16 |
The Really Great Reading materials, Blast, partially meet the expectations for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. The materials do not contain explicit instruction and practice in letter formation. The materials contain print concept instruction in ten lessons. However, print concepts instruction does not connect to books. Materials contain explicit instruction in phonological awareness. The materials have ample opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness. The materials have explicit, systematic instruction in decoding and encoding phonics skills in isolation. There are student opportunities for decoding and encoding words in isolation and connected tasks. However, there is no explicit modeling of encoding sound-spellings in connected tasks. The materials have explicit instruction in word analysis skills and high-frequency words. Materials have opportunities for students to read and write high-frequency words in isolation and connected text. The materials do not contain explicit rate, accuracy, or expression instruction. The materials provide decoding opportunities for students to practice automaticity and accuracy with decodable passages. The materials contain opportunities for students to read decodable text with purpose and understanding.
Criterion 1.1: Print Concepts and Letter Recognition (Alphabet Knowledge)
This criterion is non-negotiable. Materials must achieve a specified minimum score in this criterion to advance to the next gateway.
Materials and instruction provide embedded support with general concepts of print, and systematic and explicit instruction and practice for letter recognition.
The Really Great Reading materials, Blast, the materials do not have explicit instruction or practice in forming the 26 upper- and lowercase letters. There are ten concepts of print lessons. However, the lessons do not support authentic print concept practice with books.
Indicator 1a
Letter Identification
Indicator 1a.iv
Materials provide explicit instruction to print and to practice forming the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).(K-1)
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria for explicit instruction to print and practice the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).
In the Blast materials, students write letters. However, there are missed opportunities for explicit instruction and modeling to print the 26 upper- and lowercase letters. Additionally, there is no explicit student practice on writing and forming the 26 upper- and lowercase letters.
Materials do not include clear directions for the teacher concerning how to explain and model how to correctly form each of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).
Print all upper- and lowercase letters.
In Blast, Supplemental Resource, PDF Resources, Printable Student Worksheets, Upper/Lower Case Letter Blast Off Activity, students complete a worksheet where they write words in lowercase letters after being presented with them in uppercase letters. There is no explicit instruction in letter formation in this practice.
In Blast, Supplemental Resource, PDF Resources, Printable Student Worksheets, Lower/Upper Case Letter Blast Off Activity, students complete a worksheet where they write words in uppercase letters after being presented with them in lowercase letters. There is no explicit instruction in letter formation in this practice.
Materials do not include frequent opportunities for students to practice forming all of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).
In Blast, Supplemental Resource, PDF Resources, Printable Student Worksheets, Upper/Lower Case Letter Blast Off Activity, students complete a worksheet where they write words in lowercase letters after being presented with them in uppercase letters. There is no explicit instruction in letter formation in this practice.
In Blast, Supplemental Resource, PDF Resources, Printable Student Worksheets, Lower/Upper Case Letter Blast Off Activity, students complete a worksheet where they write words in uppercase letters after being presented with them in lowercase letters. There is no explicit instruction in letter formation in this practice. This is a supplemental activity with no explicit instruction in letter formation.
Materials do not include frequent opportunities for students to practice forming letters using multimodal and/or multisensory methods.
No evidence
Indicator 1b
Materials provide instructional support for general concepts of print and connect learning of print concepts to books (K-1) and provide cumulative review of print concepts, letter identification, and printing letters. (K-early Grade 1)
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1b. (K-early Grade 1).
The Blast materials contain 10 concepts of print lessons in Blast Online Supplemental Resources. There are missed opportunities for instructional support in the authentic practice of print concepts in connection to books. Although the Grade 1 materials include words, phrases, sentences, and passages for students to read, the teachers are encouraged to use self-selected books from their classroom libraries to teach selected concepts of print lessons. No physical books are provided within the materials. Although the materials contain the practice of previously learned and cumulative reviews of letter identification, there are missed opportunities for practice of previously learned and cumulative reviews of concepts of print and letter formation.
Materials include some explicit instruction for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., recognize features of a sentence).
Recognize the distinguishing features of a sentence (e.g., first word, capitalization, ending punctuation).
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Concepts of Print, Lessons 8, pages 10-11, Features of a Sentence, the teacher addresses capitalization and ending punctuation in a sentence. The teacher asks students if they see capital letters in a sentence. “Yes, there is always a capital letter at the beginning of a new sentence. The first word in the sentence begins with a capital letter. That is another way we can tell where a new sentence begins.” The teacher asks students if they see anything at the end of the sentence. The teacher tells students there will always be a punctuation mark at the end of a sentence.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Concepts of Print, Lessons 9, pages 12-13, Concepts of Book Reading 1, the teacher asks students what they see at the beginning of each sentence with the response listed as, “a capital letter”. The teacher selects students to point to the first word of a sentence in the book. The teacher asks the students what they see at the end of a sentence responding with “a punctuation mark, like a period”.
Materials include some adequate lessons, tasks, and questions for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., recognize features of a sentence).
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, Concepts of Print Lessons, Lesson 8, Features of a Sentence, page 10, the teacher states, “When we read words on a page there are spaces between each word. We can easily count the words in a sentence because the spaces tell us where one word ends and the next begins.”
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Concepts of Print, pages 14-15, Lessons 10, Concepts of Book Reading 2, the teacher asks students if they remember what they see at the beginning of each sentence with the answer listed as, “a capital letter”. The teacher selects students to point to capital letters in the book. The teacher asks students if they remember how they know when a sentence ends, with an answer of, “a punctuation mark”. The teacher selects students to find punctuation marks in the book.
Materials do not include a variety of physical books (teacher-guided, such as big books) that are suitable for the teaching of print concepts.
The materials do not contain physical books.
Materials do not include sufficient and explicit instruction about the organization of print concepts (e.g., recognize features of a sentence) in the context of a book.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Concepts of Print, Lessons 9 and 10, pages 12-15, the concepts of print lessons contain 10 lessons. Lesson 9 is Concepts of Book Reading 1. Lesson 10 is Concepts of Book Reading 2, which advises the teacher to select a book from their classroom libraries to give the lessons. Physical books are not provided for these lessons in the materials.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, page vii, Introduction, Alignment with the Common Core State Standards, the information states that Blast does not teach Print Concepts explicitly within the first section of Foundational Skills. According to the materials, students do practice reading sentences with proper structure and conventions in most units.
Materials do not consistently include opportunities for students to engage in authentic practice using print concepts in the context of student books.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, Concepts of Print Lessons, Lesson 9, page 12, Book Reading Lesson 1, the teacher uses any book “that includes pictures and words” to teach the lesson. Physical books are not provided for these lessons in the materials.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, Concepts of Print Lessons, Lesson 10, Book Reading Lesson 2, page 14, the teacher uses any book “that includes pictures and words” to teach the lesson. Books are not provided. These are the only two lessons focused on developing concepts of print in the context of student books.
Materials contain some periodic cumulative review opportunities during which the teacher reminds students about previously learned grade level print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, page xxiv, Introduction, Blast Foundations Scope and Sequence in Unit 3, Lesson 2, the teacher introduces short /a/ and long /a/. In Unit 4, Lesson 2, the teacher introduces short /i/ and long /i/. In Unit 8, Lesson 2, the teacher reviews short and long /a/ and /i/ with lowercase letters.
Materials include some students’ practice of previously learned print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 1, Lesson 5, Part 2, page 36, Review Consonant Letter Names and Phonemes, students practice the letter names and sounds for all consonants.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 5, Lesson 5, Part 1, page 176, What you Need to Know, instructions state, “Lesson 5 is a wrap up lesson. The wrap up reviews and cumulatively practices the concepts taught in this unit (and previously taught units).”
Criterion 1.2: Phonological Awareness
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonological awareness.
The Really Great Reading materials, Blast, provide various multimodal/multisensory activities for students to practice phonological and phonemic awareness. The materials contain explicit instruction in phonological and phonemic awareness. The materials provide ample opportunities to practice phonological and phonemic awareness.
Indicator 1c
Materials have frequent opportunities for students to engage in phonological awareness activities during Kindergarten and early Grade 1.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1c.
The Blast materials provide students daily and ongoing learning activities with frequent practice opportunities to engage in multisensory phonological awareness activities throughout all 25 units of the program. The Blast program contains a variety of multisensory phonological activities, including finger stretching for segmenting and blending words, Stomp It Out! for segmenting and blending syllables in words, and Whale Talk, where students talk slowly to sound out syllables in spoken words. Students have frequent opportunities to engage in and practice multisensory phonological awareness skills daily in Grade 1 activities.
Materials include a variety of activities for phonological awareness.
In Blast Teacher Resource Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Part 5, page 126, Segment Words-Identify Short I and Long I Phonemes, students repeat the word chip with their fists at their chests. Students segment the phonemes beginning with the thumb. Students identify the number of phonemes they hear, the vowel phoneme, and whether it is a short or long /i/.
In Blast Teacher Resource Guide Book 1, Unit 14, Lesson 2, Part 2, pages 444-445, Introduce Whale Talk, students sound out syllables in spoken words using Whale Talk, where students say words slowly.
There are frequent opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Parts 1-5, pages 85-89, Short A and Long A Phonemes, students practice finger stretching words focusing on short /a/ and long /a/ phonemes.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Part 4, pages 124-125, Review Phoneme i long /i/, students participate and practice in the We Do and You Do section of the lesson in which they finger stretch with words that contain long /i/ in which they discuss how many phonemes are in the word.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 12, Lesson 2, Part 5, pages 386-387, Blend Words with Short or Long Vowel Phonemes, students hold up a finger for each sound beginning with their thumb and then pull their fingers into a fist to create the words. In the You Do section, the students blend the phonemes for practice words: back, shack, shut, cube, met.
Indicator 1d
Materials provide explicit instruction in phonological awareness through systematic modeling across the K-1 grade band.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1d.
The Blast materials provide teachers with explicit instruction in phonological awareness through systematic modeling throughout all 28 units. All phonological awareness lessons provide scripting for teacher use and explicit teacher modeling for actions and gestures needed to deliver each lesson. The materials provide the teacher with detailed examples for each activity within lessons and practice sets for students. There is explicit and systematic modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds, and spoken words.
Materials provide the teacher with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words.
Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Parts 1-5, pages 85-89, Short A and Long A Phonemes, the teacher tells students they will finger stretch words with short /a/ and long /a/ phonemes. In Part 3, the teacher reviews the short /a/ phoneme movement using the initial sound from /a/ apple. They do a finger stretch, sounding out each phoneme with the word bath, emphasizing the short /a/ in bath. The students practice finger-stretching words with short /a/. In Part 4 of the lesson, the teacher reviews the long /a/ phoneme making the long /a/ movement. The teacher does finger stretching with the word wake, sounding out all of the phonemes, emphasizing the long /a/. The students practice finger-stretching words with long /a/. In Part 5, the teacher has students finger-stretch words with both short /a/ and long /a/, asking students, “What is the vowel phoneme?”
In Blast Teacher Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Part 3, pages 123-124, the Review Short i Phoneme -/i/, the teacher introduces short /i/ and long /i/ using the finger-stretch routine. The teacher models finger stretch short /i/ words: pit, limb. Students practice finger stretching phonemes in the following words: kid, wig, dip, pin, sick, if. Next, the teacher reviews the long /i/ sound by stretching out the /i/ sound in the words itch and mine. The teacher reminds students to reference the long /i/ on the classroom poster.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 7, Lesson 2, Parts 1-5, pages 218-220, Short E and Long E Phonemes, the teacher tells students they will finger stretch words with short /e/ and long /e/ phonemes. In Part 3, the teacher reviews the short /e/ phoneme movement using the initial sound from /e/ edge. The teacher does finger stretches, sounding out each phoneme with the word met, emphasizing the short /e/ in met. The students practice finger-stretching words with short /e/. In Part 4 of the lesson, the teacher reviews the long /e/ phoneme making the long /e/ movement. The teacher does finger stretching with the word beet, sounding out all of the phonemes, emphasizing the long /e/. The students practice finger-stretching words with long /e/. In Part 5, students finger-stretch words with both short /e/ and long /e/. The teacher asks, “What is the vowel phoneme? Is that long or short?”
Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Introduction page ix, instructions state that “students are explicitly taught a functional strategy to segment (stretch) and blend phonemes in given words.” The Guide Book states that lessons are found in Units 4-5, 7-10, 12, and 17-25 in Lesson 2 of each unit.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 2, Lesson 2, Part 3, pages 52-54, Teach Stretching Phonemes in Words, the teacher explains that phonemes are sounds, not letters. The teacher models stretching the phonemes /k/ /a/ /t/ and pulling (blending) the phonemes together while saying cat. The teacher tells students, “This is called ‘stretching phonemes.’ The teacher models the phonemes in bat. In the You Do section of the lesson, students use color tiles to listen to a word and identify phonemes, including consonants in a single syllable word. Students practice using the following words: mat, sack, sit, rack, stash.
In Blast Teacher Resource Guide Book 1, Unit 10, Lesson 2, Part 4, page 317, Phoneme Blending Activity, the teacher tells students they will have to be great listeners as they are given phonemes to create a real word. The teacher tells students to listen closely as they show how to blend phonemes into words. The teacher models with the word brush, “(pause between each phoneme) /b//r//u//sh/.” In the We Do section, the teacher tells students to try them together and gives phonemes for the word fresh /f//r//e//sh/, and asks students, “What is the word?”
In Blast Teacher Resource Guide Book 1, Unit 12, Lesson 2, Part 5, pages 386-387, Blend Words with Short or Long Vowel Phonemes, the teacher gives students the phonemes /h//i//p/ and holds up a finger for each sound beginning with their thumb then pull their fingers into a fist to create the word hip. In the We Do portion, the teacher provides the phonemes /t//u//f/ and asks students to listen to the phonemes closely to create the word tough. In the You Do section, the students blend the phonemes for practice words provided: back, shack, shut, cube, met.
Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
In Blast Teacher Resource Guide Book 1, Unit 6, Lesson 2, Part 5, page 190, Segment Words: Identify Short O and Long O Phonemes, in the We Do section of the lesson, the teacher says, “Let’s stretch out a few words together. The first word is pop.” Students place their closed fist on their chest, then the teacher and students stretch a finger with each phoneme in pop beginning with their thumbs /p//o//p/. The teacher asks, “How many phonemes did you hear? What is the vowel phoneme?”
In Blast Teacher Resource Guide Book 1, Unit 13, Lesson 2, Part 3, page 417, 2-Sound Blends, the teacher models finger stretching the word bend. The teacher begins with their fist on their chest and holds up a finder for each phoneme in bend, beginning with their thumbs /b//e//n//d/. The teacher tells students bend has four phonemes and has the short /e/ sound, due to sounding like short /e/ in edge. The teacher explains, “The last two sounds in bend are /n//d/. These are both consonant sounds. The /n/ and /d/ phonemes are right next to each other in words.”
Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Introduction page x, instructions state that “students are explicitly taught a functional strategy to segment (stretch) phonemes in spoken words.” The Guide Book states that lessons are found in Units 2-13 and 17-25 in Lesson 2 of each unit.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Part 3, pages 123-124, Review Short I Phoneme /i/, students listen to a single syllable word that includes either the long or short /i/. The teacher models the activity. In the We Do Finger Stretch section, the students segment the word limb into the complete sequence of individual sounds. In the You Do section, students practice using the following words: nice, side, bid, sip, dine, my, tie, sit, in, night, hid, kite, time, bike, rid, Tim, white, dice, whine, type, hi, ditch.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 8, Lesson 2, Part 5, page 255, Phoneme Blending Activity, the teacher tells students they will have to be great listeners as they are given three phoneme sounds to create a real word. The teacher tells students to listen closely as they show how to blend phonemes into words. There is teacher modeling to pause between each phoneme as they give students phonemes /m//e//t/ to create the word met. The teacher practices blending the phonemes in the word page with students in the We Do section. There are practice words for the We Do section. There are the following words: kick, knit, fat, cab, cape. There are challenge words: spill, trap, steak, blast.
Materials provide the teacher with examples for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words called for in grade level standards.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 2, Lesson 2, pages 49-50, What You Need to Know, Definition of a Phoneme and Introduce Finger-Stretching Phonemes, there is guidance about phonemes and the steps in Finger Stretching Phonemes Routine.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Parts 1-3, pages 121-122, What You Need to Know, there is background information and explicit examples for instruction in syllables, sounds, and spoken words called for in grade level standards. In Part 1, Start Teaching, the explicit script is provided: “‘Next we are going to review the long i phoneme. A long vowel phoneme is just like saying the name of the letter, so the long i phoneme is /iiii/.’ Prompt students to repeat the phoneme /iiii/. Say, ‘To help us remember this is the phoneme we make the long i movement while saying the phoneme/iiii/’.”
In Blast Teacher Resource Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Part 5, page 126, Segment Words-Identify Short I and Long I Phonemes, the teacher models finger stretching the words chip and line. The teacher tells students they will stretch words together beginning with the word chip. Students repeat the word chip with their fists at their chests, then, “Teacher and students stretch phonemes /ch//i//p/, beginning with the thumb.”
In Blast Teacher Resource Guide Book 1, Unit 14, Lesson 2, Part 2, pages 444-445, Introduce Whale Talk, the teacher explains to students that they must sound out syllables in spoken words to read and write them. There is scripting to explain Whale Talk. There is modeling on how to say the word using Whale Talk and scripting using the word table: “There are two syllables in table, ta-ble. I know there are two syllables because there were two pushes of breath when I said the word using Whale Talk.”
Indicator 1e
Materials provide practice of each newly taught sound (phoneme) and sound pattern across the K-1 band.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1e.
The Grade 1 Blast materials provide ample initial, ongoing, and review opportunities for students to practice newly taught sounds and sound patterns daily in phonemic awareness lessons taught throughout all units of the program. The materials include a variety of multimodal/multisensory activities for student practice of phonological awareness through body movements in activities such as finger-stretching and Syllable Stomp.
Materials provide ample opportunities for students to practice each new sound and sound pattern.
Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 2, Parts 1-5, pages 85-89, Short A and Long A Phonemes, students practice finger stretching words focusing on short /a/ and long /a/ phonemes.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Part 3, Review Short i Phoneme, page 123-124, Finger-Stretch Activity, students practice segmenting and blending words with the short /i/ sound. Students identify the number of phonemes, identify the vowel phoneme, identify if the vowel phoneme is short or long, and justify their answer for short or long sounds.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Part 5, page126, Segment Words-Identify Short I and Long I Phonemes, students repeat the word chip with their fists at their chests, then segment the phonemes beginning with the thumb. Students identify the number of phonemes they hear, the vowel phoneme, and whether it is a short or long /i/. Students practice making the short/i/ itch movement found in the word chip.
Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, Part 4, Review Long i Phoneme, page 124-126, Finger-Stretch Activity, students practice segmenting and blending words with the long//i/ sound. Students produce single-syllable words by blending phonemes, including consonant blends. Words include bike, pass, hit, dime, cash, light, mice, rake, pie, dim, cape, and pitch.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 5, Lesson 2, Part 4, pages 157-158, Review Short U Phoneme, the teacher uses the Finger Stretch Routine to have students listen and then orally produce singe-syllable words by blending phonemes, including consonant blends. Words include dust, chuck, stub, and fuss.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 10, Lesson 2, Part 4, page 317, Phoneme Blending Activity, students blend phonemes to create a word. Practice words provided include dream, sweet, mask, and grape.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 12, Lesson 2, Part 5, pages 386-387, Blend Words with Short or Long Vowel Phonemes, students hold up a finger for each sound beginning with their thumb then pull their fingers into a fist to create the words. Then, students blend the phonemes for practice words, including back, shack, shut, cube, and met.
Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 5 Lesson 2, Part 4, pages 157-158, Review Long o Phoneme, students practice using the finger-stretch routine to isolate and pronounce initial, medial, and final sounds in the following words: note, rose, toad, joke, comb, oad, stone, toast, globe, drove.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 7, Lesson 2, Parts 1-5, pages 220-223, Short E and Long E Phonemes, students finger stretch words with short /e/ and long /e/ phonemes where they sound out each phoneme with the word bath with emphasis on the medial vowel sound.
Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 2, Lesson 2, Part 3, pages 52-53, Teach Stretching Phonemes in Words, the teacher asks individual students to stretch phonemes in words, and students provide the number of phonemes the word contains. Practice words include rack and stash.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 11, Lesson 2, Part 5, pages 353-353, Segment Words with Short of Long Vowel Phonemes, students segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual phonemes using the finger-stretch routine with the following words: heat tug, sight, boat, bet, ship, mop, sat, bake, laugh, cute, shell.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 13, Lesson 2, Part 3, pages 417-418, 2-Sound Blends, students practice finger stretching words with two sound blends. For example, students finger stretch the word dust as /d//u//s//t/.
Materials include a variety of multimodal/multisensory activities for student practice of phonological awareness.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book, Introduction, page ix-xi, in the Chart under Examples, students use finger-stretching to segment single-syllable spoken words.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1 Introduction, Blast Foundations, page xvii, Blast Student Kit, students use manipulatives such as color tiles and SyllaBoards to practice phonological awareness skills.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 12, Lesson 2, Part 5, pages 386-387, Blend Words with Short or Long Vowel Phonemes, students hold up a finger for each sound beginning with their thumb then pull their fingers into a fist to create the words. Then, students blend the phonemes for practice words, including back, shack, shut, cube, and met.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 14, Lesson 2, Part 2, pages 444-445, Introduce Whale Talk, students sound out syllables in spoken words using Whale Talk, where students say words slowly.
Criterion 1.3: Phonics
This criterion is non-negotiable. Materials must achieve a specified minimum score in this criterion to advance to the next gateway.
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonics.
The Really Great Reading materials, Blast, provide explicit, systematic phonics instruction for phonics standards. The materials contain frequent opportunities to decode phonics patterns in isolation and in connected text. The materials contain student practice opportunities for encoding sound-spelling patterns in isolation and in connected text. While the materials have explicit modeling of encoding sound-spelling patterns in isolation, the materials do not contain explicit modeling of sound-spelling patterns in writing tasks.
Indicator 1f
Materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1f.
The Blast Grade 1 materials contain explicit, systematic phonics instruction. There is teacher scripting and repeated teacher modeling of all grade level phonics standards throughout all 25 units. There is explicit modeling for teacher tasks with the projections of the lesson materials. Blast Phonics lessons provide the teacher with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade level phonics pattern.
Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade level phonics standards.
Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 3, Part 2, page 130, Teach Digraph Sh, the teacher introduces the digraph sh: “Some phonemes are spelled with two letters. These are called digraphs.” The teacher posts the definition of digraph, as noted in the materials, on the board: “A digraph is two letters that spell one sound.” The teacher introduces the digraph sh as they use a forefinger to their mouth as if to ask a person to be quiet. Students repeat the movement while saying the phoneme sh. The teacher places the letter tile for sh on the board.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 6, Lesson 3, Part 2, pages 194, Start Teaching Digraph th, the teacher leads students through an explicit direct instruction lesson by first reviewing the digraph sh, and explaining that th is an unvoiced sound represented by the letters th. The teacher models the word thin.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 12, Lesson 3, Part 2, page 393, Review Short Vowel Spelling Rule With Digraph CK, the teacher reminds students, “Remember, the two letters ck together are called a digraph. A digraph is two letters together that spell one phoneme.” The teacher tells students ck is not used at the beginning of words.
Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 3, Part 3, page 92-93,
Explain Concept of Nonsense Words, the teacher explains that nonsense words can be read and spelled, but they have no meaning. The teacher shows students four nonsense words beginning with the word cac. Teacher instructions state: “Explain that this word has a consonant letter following the one vowel letter, so it is a Closed Syllable with a short vowel sound.” The teacher reads the word and displays nonsense words ban, tus, and dit as they ask students if the words contain open or closed syllables and short or long vowel sounds.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 6, Lesson 4, Part 2, pages 202-203, Detective Work-Mark It! the teacher says, "Watch as I underline letters while saying their phonemes then read the whole word." The teacher models using the word hot; saying /h/ as they underline the letter h, saying /o/ as they underline the letter o, and saying /t/ as they underline the letter t. The teacher reads/says the word hot.
Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 19, Lesson 1, Part 2, pages 138-140, Introduce Vowel-Consonant-E, the teacher places the letter tile e at the end of the word at and explains that it changes the word to ate. The teacher points to both letter tiles a and e at the same time saying, “The letter a and e work together to spell the sound /a/. The letter e is not silent because it works with letter a to spell the long /a/ sound.” Later in the lesson, the teacher tells students, “The vowel-consonant-e pattern is not just for long a. Any vowel letter can follow the Vowel-Consonant-e pattern if a consonant and an e come right after it.” The teacher models with the word eve.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 20, Lesson 4, Part 2, page 197, Detective Work, the teacher models how to read words with a vowel-consonant-e syllable, one word at a time. The teacher models how to underline all of the vowel letters in the word and how to look for a vowel-consonant-e in the word. The teacher explains that when they see a vowel-consonant-e, they will connect the vowel and the e with a curved line to show that they work together to spell the long vowel sound.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 21, Lesson 1, Part 2, pages 214-216, Introduce Long E Vowel Teams EE and EA, the teacher explains they will be learning two new ways to spell the long e sound. The teacher explains the ee in the word free is a vowel team and shows students the motion for vowel teams. The teacher uses Touch and Say to touch the word teeth, says the sounds in the word, and says the word again. The teacher introduces the word beach, “In the word beach, the letters ea work together to spell the long e vowel sound. Just like the vowel team ee, ea is also a vowel team. The vowel letter e and a work together, like a team, to spell the long e sound.”
Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 2, Lesson 3, Part 3, pages 60-61, Teach Definition of a Closed Syllable, the teacher tells students, “A syllable is a word part. All words have at least one syllable. All the syllables that you will read will have at least one vowel.” The teacher discusses closed syllables, “Closed syllables have one vowel letter, and only one vowel letter, with one or more consonant letters after the vowel.”
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 16, Lesson 3, Part 2, pages 40-41, Introduce Open Syllables, the teacher removes the letter tile t from got to spell the word go and asks a student to read the word. The teacher asks all students if the vowel in go is long or short. The teacher explains, “Go is an Open Syllable. An Open Syllable occurs when a single vowel letter is at the end of a syllable. There are no consonant letters following the vowel letter in the syllable.” The teacher tells the students the vowel sounds in open syllables are usually long.
Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 14, Lesson 3, Part 2, pages 452-453, Teach Reading Two-Syllable Words, the teacher tells students that they will be looking at longer words that will contain two closed syllables and that they will learn a motion to help remember closed syllables have short vowel sounds. The teacher explains to students, “There is a special way to look at unfamiliar long words to help us read them accurately. It involves looking for the vowels.” The teacher reminds students that every syllable has a vowel and tells students that this word has two syllables because it has two vowels that are not next to each other. The teacher models using the word sunset.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 20, Lesson 1, Part 3, pages 175-176, Introduce Vowel-Consonant-e in Two Syllable Words, the teacher displays and reads the word locate. The teacher tells students, “The word has a vowel-consonant-e in the second syllable.” Students look for vowels in the word and underline all three vowels. The teacher tells students that the a and e work together to spell the long vowel sound, so they stay in the same syllable: “This word must have two syllables. The o is in the first syllable because it is apart from the other vowels. The a and e are in the second syllable. They stay together because they are the vowel letters in the Vowel-Consonant-e pattern.”
Read words with inflectional endings.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 23, Lesson 3, Part 4, pages 317, Teach When Suffix -ed Adds a Syllable or a Sound, the teacher reminds students they learned in Lesson 1 that when -ed is added to the end of a word sometimes, it adds a syllable; other times, it adds only a sound. The teacher provides the rules, “The suffix -ed always adds an extra syllable /ed/ when the last letter in the base word is a t or a d. The suffix -ed only adds one sound, /d/ or /t/, when the last letter in the base word is not t or d.”
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 24, Lesson 1, Part 3, page 345, Introduce Inflectional Endings -er, -s, and -es, the teacher points to the word helper on the board. The teacher tells students, “The special ending in this word is -er. When we add an -er to a word, it often turns an action word, or a verb, into a noun. A noun is a person, place or thing.” The teacher does Whale Talk and Syllable Stomp for the entire word helper, explaining that there are two syllables due to the added syllable in -er.
Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade level phonics pattern.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 5, Lesson 3, Part 4, page 165, Build Real Words With Short U, the teacher explains to students they are building words with short /u/. The teacher says the word nut, then stretches the phonemes in /n//u//t/ and places one color tile for each phoneme. The teacher places a letter tile for each color tile as they say each phoneme. The teacher uses Touch and Say to read the word nut. The teacher and students repeat the same procedures for the word gum.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 11, Lesson 5, Part 2, pages 375-377, Sentences to Read, the teacher calls on individual students to read sentences one by one from workbook page 51. A sentence on the workbook page is, “Did you make a big mess in the long hall?” In Part 3, Spell It!, the teacher tells students they will hear five words read aloud, and they are to listen for the number of phonemes in the word and place a dot for each phoneme in boxes. The teacher begins with the word mess. Teacher instructions state, “Remind students that because mess has three phonemes, it will also have three graphemes.” Students repeat each sound and write down the corresponding graphemes in the boxes provided.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 23, Lesson 2, Part 3, pages 315-316, Review of the Concept of Other Vowels, the teacher says, ”We have already learned that there are five short vowel phonemes, five long vowel phonemes and three r-controlled phonemes. Remember that in English there are some vowel phonemes that are not long, short or r-controlled; these are called ‘other vowels’. We have already learned about two other vowel phonemes, /oo/ and /oi/.” The teacher points to the other Vowels Poster and tells the students that they will learn about the /ou/ phoneme.
Indicator 1g
Materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1g.
The Blast Grade 1 materials provide students with frequent opportunities to decode phonetically spelled words. The Blast materials provide students with frequent opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills. The materials allow students to review previously learned grade-level phonics in various methods, including decoding words with Whale Talk, Syllable Stomp, and Word Sorts.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode (phonemes, onset and rime, and/or syllables) phonetically spelled words.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 4, Part 2, page 138, Detective Work-Mark It!, students practice decoding words with the digraph sh in workbook page 10. Students underline letters and say the corresponding phonemes. The students blend the phonemes to read the words. Practice words are rash, smash, and fish.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 14, Lesson 3, Part 2, page 455, Teach Reading Two-Syllable Words, students practice reading two-syllable words using Syllaboards to break the words into syllables. Words are unzip, cobweb, insect, contest, and pumpkin.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 21, Lesson 2, Part 5, page 227, You Do: Finger Stretching Words with Other Vowel Phoneme /oo/, students stretch phonemes then count phonemes and look for long or short vowels to decode words, such as zoom, hoop, blue, new, shoe, and goose.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 23, Lesson 3, Part 4, page 317, Teach When Suffix -ed Adds a Syllable or a Sound, students practice reading words with -ed using Whale Talk and sorting words with -ed into categories of one and two-syllable words. Words included in the activity are dreamed, landed, blended, and played.
Materials contain opportunities for students to review previously learned grade-level phonics.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Introduction, pages xxiv-xxv, Blast Foundations Scope and Sequence, students learn digraphs in Units 6 (th), 8 (ch and wh), 9 (ck), and 12 (ck).
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Introduction, pages xxiv-xxv, Blast Foundations Scope and Sequence, students learn to read words with vowel-consonant-e in Units 19 and 20.
Materials contain a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade level phonics.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 7, Lesson 4, Part 4, page 238, Word Sort-Do You See a Digraph? What is a Vowel Phoneme?, students complete a word sort in their workbook pages. They begin with the words nut and wet.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 9, Lesson 1, Parts 4-5, pages 280-281, Look and Say, students watch letters appear on the screen. The students review and practice the individual sounds of the letters. Students review and practice saying grouped letter tiles and corresponding sounds in Pop-Up Letter-Sounds Review with Look, Think and Say!. In Read A Row Game to Practice Letter Sounds, students read a row of letter sounds aloud while the other students read to themselves and serve as “checkers”.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 14, Lesson 4, Parts 3-5, pages 18-21, Detective Work - Read it!, students produce the phoneme for each grapheme and subsequently blend the graphemes to produce real words with two syllables. In Word Sort- How Many Syllables?, students use their workbooks to read real words, identify the number of syllables, and categorize the vowel phoneme according to the vowel sound (/o/ or /i/). In Phrases to Read, students practice reading phrases that contain previously taught phonemes combinations.
Indicator 1h
Materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1h.
The Blast Grade 1 materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in sentences with Phrases to Read, Sentences to Read, and Decodable Passages. There are opportunities for explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence when students read Sentences to Read in Units 3-25, Lesson 5 and when students read Decodable Passages in Lessons 3-5.
Materials provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 4, page 98, the directions for Phrases and Sentences to Read Overview state, “In this lesson, students are asked to read simple sentences. In subsequent lessons, students will follow the same procedures and guidelines to read controlled sentences.”
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 13, Lesson 5, Part 2, page 435, Activity Sentences to Read, students take turns reading a sentence aloud from the student workbook. Sentences contain decodable words and previously-taught heart words marked with a heart. While one student reads aloud, the other students read silently as checkers and give non-verbal feedback on accuracy.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 20, Lesson 5, Part 2, page 206, Activity Sentences to Read, students take turns reading a sentence aloud from the student workbook. Sentences contain decodable words and previously-taught heart words marked with a heart. While one student reads aloud, the other students read silently as checkers and give non-verbal feedback on accuracy.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words in a sentence.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Scope and Sequence, pages xx-xxi, the materials indicate that Units 3-25 contain a weekly wrap-up activity that asks students to decode words in sentences.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 14, Lesson 5, Part 2, page 467, Sentences to Read, students read sentences from the workbook page 69. The sentences provide students with practice decoding words based on the phonics concepts taught within the unit, reading two-syllable words, and reading two-syllable words with closed syllables. Practice sentences include: She said we can chit chat by the cabin.; Did you like the fabric?
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 25, Lesson 5, Part 2, page 412, Sentences to Read, students read sentences from the workbook page 64. The sentences provide students with practice decoding words based on the phonics concepts taught within the unit, cumulative review with two-syllable words with open, closed vowel-consonant-e, and vowel team syllables. Practice sentences include: The teacher does not like kids eating in class.; Tommy went sailing in the tugboat with Joan.
Indicator 1i
Materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics, including common and newly-taught sound and sound patterns.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1i.
The Blast Grade 1 materials contain lessons for students to build, manipulate, spell, and encode words using common and newly taught phonics sound and spelling patterns. The Blast lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words using letter tiles and activities such as Touch and Say, Build Words, and Spell It! to practice common and newly-taught sound and spelling phonics patterns.
The materials contain teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns of phonics.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 12, Lesson 3, Part 3, page 3, Build Real Words with Digraph sh, the teacher says the word rash, and finger stretches the phonemes in the word using three color tiles. The teacher adds a letter to each color tile to spell the word rash and then uses Touch and Say to read rash.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 13, Lesson 3, Part 2, page 422, Teach 2-Sound Blends, the teacher tells students they will build a word for them using the word trap. The teacher explicitly models building trap using the finger stretch routine, stretching out the phonemes and placing a color tile down for each phoneme. The teacher spells each sound, placing a letter under each color tile for the word trap. After spelling the word, the teacher uses Touch and Say to read trap.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 24, Lesson 3, Part 3, pages 365-366, Read Two-Syllable Real Words with Inflectional Endings, the teacher models breaking the word patches into two syllables by manipulating the letters in the word onto two SyllaBoards. The teacher begins by finding the vowels and placing an a on the first SyllaBoard and e on the second SyllaBoard. They place the vowels and fill in the rest of the two SyllaBoards with the consonants in the word.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns of phonics.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 5, Lesson 3, Part 4 and 5, page 165, 168, Build Real Words With Short U, the teacher explains to students they will be building words with short /u/ and modeling. The students stretch the phonemes in real and nonsense words and place one color tile for each phoneme. Then students place letter tiles for each color tile and then read the words using Touch and Say. Real words include bun, hush, fun, cub, cut, and rush. Nonsense words include fum, lud, and zush.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 10, Lesson 5, Parts 2 and 3, pages 341-342, students practice encoding building and spelling words. Students open workbooks to page 45 and read teacher-selected sentences: Put that in the ditch.; Put it on the edge of the hutch. In Part 3, Spell It!, the teacher tells students they will hear five words read aloud, and they are to listen for the number of phonemes in the word and place a dot for each phoneme in the boxes provided. Students repeat each sound and write down the corresponding graphemes in the boxes with dots. Practice words include fetch, catch, pitch, ridge, and edge.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 15, Lesson 5, Part 4, pages 25-26, Sentences to Read, students read sentences in the workbook that contain phonemes to be practiced and spelling patterns. In Part 3, Spell It!, students practice spelling words first by listening for syllables and dividing words into syllables for each two-syllable word the teacher provides. Students stretch the parts of each syllable in the word out by phonemes placing a dot in each square on their worksheet for the first and then second syllable in each word. After students place dots on their worksheets per syllable, they add letters for each dot.
Indicator 1j
Materials provide application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks. (mid K-Grade 2)
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1j. (mid K-Grade 2)
In the Blast Grade 1 materials, there are missed opportunities for the teacher to explicitly and systematically teach phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks. Blast Grade 1 materials have the application for students to encode words in phrases and sentences based on common and newly taught phonics patterns through activities and tasks. The materials provide opportunities to encode words in activities or tasks at the phrase or sentence level. There are three Blast Dictation Sentences for Units 3-25 within the Supplemental Resources.
Materials do not include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of teacher modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks.
No evidence.
Lessons provide students with frequent activities and tasks to promote the application of phonics as they encode words in sentences or in phrases based on common and newly taught phonics patterns.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Spelling Lists and Resources, there are Blast Dictation Sentences. There are three dictation sentences for Units 3-25. In Unit 5, students encode, The cub dug up a bug.; Our hut was in the sun.; He can run to the cat.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Spelling Lists and Resources, there are Blast Dictation Sentences. In Unit 14, students encode, We want relish on our hotdog.; The catfish is our class mascot.; Twist the plastic cap to shut it.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Spelling Lists and Resources, there are Blast Dictation Sentences. In Unit 22, students encode, He will coast on the highway.; I can read right before I sleep.; Mike drove the boat down the road.
Criterion 1.4: Word Recognition and Word Analysis
Materials and instruction support students in learning and practicing regularly and irregularly spelled high-frequency words.
The Really Great Reading materials, Blast, provide explicit and systematic instruction in high-frequency words. While the materials allow students to read and write high-frequency words in isolation and connected text, there is no explicit instruction or practice in using student-friendly reference materials and resources. The materials have explicit instruction in word analysis and student practice of word analysis.
Indicator 1k
Materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and opportunities to practice reading of high-frequency words to develop automaticity.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1k.
The Grade 1 Blast materials contain systematic and explicit instruction of irregularly spelled words through Heart Word videos. The materials include teacher modeling of spelling and reading high-frequency words in isolation. Students practice reading and identifying high-frequency words in isolation with activities such as Where’s That Heart Word and Heart Word Pop-Up. Students are exposed to a sufficient quantity of 110 grade-level appropriate high-frequency words throughout Units 3-24 to make reading progress.
Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words.
Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
In Blast Online, Unit 8, Lesson 1, the Heart Word Magic video explains that the word one has two tricky parts: the /u/ sound is spelled with the letter o, and the letter e does not spell any sound in the word. The teacher in the video models reading Heart Words, including words one and by.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 9, Lesson 1, Part 6, page 281, the teacher guides students through the Look, Think, Say process to introduce what, all, were, we, and when.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 23, Lesson 1, Page 312, Look, Think, Say, the teacher guides students through the Look, Think, Say process to introduce the words goes, always, because, own, and only.
Materials include frequent opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of high-frequency words in isolation.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 1, Part 5, page 83, Pop-Up Heart Word Practice with Look and Say!, opportunities are included for the teacher to use systematic and explicit instruction to model the spelling and reading of five irregularly spelled words (Heart Words): the, of, you, and, and to.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 21, Lesson 1, Part 4, pages 219-220, Introduce Long A Vowel Teams ai and ay, the teacher models spelling and reading the words day and way.
In Blast Online, Unit 24, Lesson 1, the teacher in the Heart Word Magic video explains the word write has two tricky parts: the w does not make a sound, and the wr makes the / r/ sound. The teacher explains the i-e is also a tricky part. The teacher models spelling and reading the word.
Students practice identifying and reading high-frequency words in isolation.
Materials include a sufficient quantity of grade-appropriate high-frequency words for students to make reading progress.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Introduction, page xii, Common Core Alignment chart, the materials state that five high-frequency words are taught explicitly in Units 3-24. In Unit 10, the Heart Words your, can, said, there, and down are taught.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Introduction, pages xxiv-xxv, in the Blast Foundations Scope and Sequence, there are 110 Heart Words listed within Units 3-24. Irregularly spelled words included within the units are you, is, they, be, by, said, were, down, their, these, make, look, old, every, because, and write.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 8, Lesson 5, page 274, Heart Word 3-Up, students practice identifying and reading three Heart Words in a row. Words include be, by, and or.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 13, Lesson 1, Part 5, page 411, the teacher guides students through the Heart Word Read a Row activity. A student reads a row of Heart Words aloud, and the other students read the words silently to monitor accuracy. The students use a thumbs up or thumbs to the side to provide feedback on accuracy.
In Blast Online, Unit 25, Lesson 1, Heart Word Pop-Up, students practice reading Heart Words in isolation, including make, like, them, and would.
Indicator 1l
Materials provide frequent practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences).
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1l.
The Grade 1 Blast materials provide students with frequent opportunities to read grade-level high-frequency words or Heart Words in sentences. Students have opportunities for writing grade-level high-frequency words. However, there is no repeated, explicit instruction in using student-friendly reference materials and resources. Dictation sentences with grade-level high-frequency words (Heart Words) are in the Supplemental Resources.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read grade-level high-frequency words in a sentence.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 5, Part 2, pages 108-109, Introduce Phrases and Sentences to Read, the teacher calls on individual students to read Heart Words in phrases and sentences. The remainder of the students are checkers as the individual student reads the sentences. The teacher expects Individual students to read the sentences accurately, and the checkers show a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to agree or disagree accordingly.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 10, Lesson 5, Part 2, page 341, Sentences to Read, students practice reading irregularly spelled words in sentences. Words included in sentences are that, this, said, he, with, and your.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 22, Lesson 5, Part 2, page 292, Sentences to Read, students practice reading irregularly spelled words in sentences. Words in the sentences are might, fight, your, when, again, and down.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to write grade-level high-frequency words in tasks (such as sentences) in order to promote automaticity in writing grade-appropriate high-frequency words.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Spelling Lists and Resources, Blast Dictation Sentences, three dictation sentences are provided for Units 3-25. Sentences in Unit 12 include Jill will want the hot fudge.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Spelling Lists and Resources, Blast Dictation Sentences, three dictation sentences are provided for Units 3-25. Sentences in Unit 21 include Our team will stay and play. Gail had a stain on her dress.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Spelling Lists and Resources, Blast Dictation Sentences, three dictation sentences are provided for Units 3-25. Sentences in Unit 24 include Give mashed peaches to the baby. She teaches them how to be singers.
Materials do not provide repeated, explicit instruction in how to use student-friendly reference materials and resources and reading high-frequency words (e.g., word cards, word lists, word ladders, student dictionaries).
No evidence.
Indicator 1m
Materials explicitly teach word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis) based on the requirements of the standards and provide students with frequent practice opportunities to apply word analysis strategies.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1m.
The Blast Grade 1 materials provide lessons that explicitly teach word analysis strategies. There is teacher scripting and modeling and student practice opportunities in Lessons 3-5 of each unit, which include phonics lessons, student practice, and lesson wrap-ups. The Blast materials provide multiple and varied opportunities over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies through Blast Online video animations and teacher modeling in I Do, You Do, and We Do lesson formats along with student activities such as Touch & Say, Detective Work, Word Sorts, Nonsense Words, and Phrase Reading.
Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis).
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 4, Part 3, page 139, Activity Detective Work, the teacher tells students they will underline letters and say the phonemes the letters make, then blend the phonemes to read the word. The teacher reminds students to keep the digraph sh together. The teacher models the Mark It activity, underlining letters in the word ash and saying the sounds each letter or digraph makes, then reading the word ash. Students repeat in their workbooks. The teacher and students repeat with the following words: fig, if, dish, fish, hat, dash, flat, mist, rash, flash, smash.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 16, Lesson 3, Part 3, pages 40-43, in Introduce Open Syllables, the teacher displays the word got and removes the t to leave the word go and has a student read the word. The teacher asks students if the vowel sound in go is long or short and explains that go is an open syllable word because the vowel o is not followed by a consonant. The teacher explains that the vowel sound in an open syllable is usually long. The teacher models beginning with closed syllables then taking away the last consonant to create open syllable words. They model with met taking away the t to make the word me and shed taking away d to generate the word she.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 21, Lesson 1, Part 1, page 214, Activity Long E and Long A Vowel Teams, the teacher displays the word free and explains that ee is a vowel team. The teacher shows students the hand motion for vowel teams, index and middle fingers touching. The teacher guides students to use the Touch & Say routine to say each sound in the word free, using two fingers and one sound for the vowel team ee, then read the word as a whole. The teacher and students repeat the process with teeth, beach, and tea.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 24, Lesson 3, Part 2, pages 360-364, Review Inflectional Endings -er, -ed, -s, -es, and -ing, the teacher reminds students, “The special endings we are learning about are parts of a word that we add to the end of a base word. These endings change the meaning of the base word.” The teacher projects the words rent, rented, and -ed and reads the word rented. The teacher uses Whale Talk to sound out the two syllables in rented. The teacher asks students what the base word is in rented and what syllable the suffix -ed adds to rented. For the inflectional endings -er, -s, and -es, there are words to model and scripting to read the words and Whale Talk the syllables. The teacher asks students how many syllables the word has and the root word in each word. The teacher explains how the inflectional endings impact the meaning and syllabication of the words.
Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 14, Lesson 3, Part 2, page 452, Activity Reading Two-Syllable Words with Closed Syllables, the teacher reminds students of the definition of a closed syllable and shows them the hand motion for closed syllable, a closed fist. The teacher tells students they will be using Syllaboards to decode two-syllable words with closed syllables. The teacher displays the word sunset and underlines the two vowels in the word. The teacher displays a Syllaboard under each syllable and models recording each vowel on a Syllaboard. The teacher adds the consonants to each Syllaboard to close each syllable. The teacher guides students to use the closed syllable gesture and reminds them that closed syllables have short vowel sounds. The teacher points to and reads each syllable, then sweeps their hand under and reads the word. The teacher guides students to repeat the process with the word catfish. Students practice with the words unzip, cobweb, pumpkin, insect, and contest.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 17, Lesson 3, Part 2, page 72, Review Closed Syllables, the teacher opens Blast Online to Unit 17, Lesson 3 Closed and Open Syllables. The video reviews open and closed syllables. The video explains that open and closed syllables have a single vowel letter and that open syllables usually have long vowel sounds and closed syllables have short vowel sounds. They model reading the word motel and then dissecting it into syllables using Syllaboards. First, they look for vowels placing them in the appropriate Syllaboard then placing consonants in each Syllaboard. The video models analyzing words began and habit, breaking them into syllables using Syllaboards with questions: “How many vowels do you see? Are they together or apart?” They read the words flexing the middle consonant to see which part of the word is an open or closed syllable beg/an or be/gan or ha/bit or hab/it to pronounce the word correctly.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 20, Lesson 3, Part 3, pages 191-192, Read Two-Syllable Real Words with Vowel-Consonant-E in the I Do portion of the lesson, there is teacher models writing the word mistake on the board, breaking the word into syllables using Syllaboards and reading the word. The teacher explains to the students that they read two-syllable words with vowel-consonant-e like they read one-syllable words with vowel-consonant-e: “We look for a vowel letter e and an e with a consonant letter in between them. The vowel letter and the e will work together to spell a long vowel sound.” The teacher first identifies the three vowels noting that they are all apart and noticing the vowel-consonant-e pattern: “When I see the Vowel-Consonant-e pattern, I know that the vowel, the consonant, and the final e will be on the same Syllaboard.”
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 24, Lesson 3, Part 3, page 365, Activity Read Two-Syllable Real Words with Inflectional Endings, the teacher displays the word patches. The teacher underlines the vowels in the word. The teacher shows a Syllaboard under each syllable and models recording each vowel on a Syllaboard. The teacher adds the consonants to the Syllaboard to close the first syllable and adds -s to the second syllable, noting that it is one of the special word endings. The teacher points to and reads each syllable, then sweeps their hand under and reads the word. The teacher guides students to repeat the process with the words painter and floating, modeling keeping vowel teams together in a syllable. Students practice with the words raining, raincoats, peaches, flashlights, witches, toaster, tested, and dreamer.
Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 11, Lesson 4, Part 4, page 370, Activity Word Sort, the teacher tells students that in this sort, they will determine if each word follows the Double Trouble spelling rule, then identify the vowel phoneme in the word. The teacher models with the first word, chin, as students follow along. The teacher models checking for double consonants and checks the No Double Rule box. The teacher guides students to identify the vowel sound and phoneme and checks the box under the corresponding image, itch. The teacher repeats modeling with the word fuss. Students independently complete the word sort with the following words: toss, much, get, back, swell, path, puff, patch, smell, dress.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 15, Lesson 4, Part 5, page 22, Activity Phrase Reading, students read phrases that contain both Heart Words and decodable words. Individual students read at least two phrases while the other students read silently as checkers and provide nonverbal feedback on accuracy.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 23, Lessons 3, Part 5, pages 319-323, Read One and Two-Syllable Real Words with Suffix -ed, the teacher models reading tested for students. The teacher models looking for vowels, breaking the words into syllables, and writing them on Syllaboards. The teacher explains that sometimes the suffix -ed adds a syllable to a word. Other times it will just add a sound. The teacher tells students they break the word into syllables and decide if they need just one Syllaboard or two depending on how many syllables the word has. The teacher tells students that this word will have two syllables because t is the last letter before the suffix -ed. The teacher places the appropriate letters on the Syllaboards then reads the word. Then, the teacher and students analyze the words roasted and cleaned using the same procedures, Students practice using the same procedures with the words seated, stayed, munched, loaded, and sanded.
Criterion 1.5: Decoding Accuracy, Decoding Automaticity and Fluency
This criterion is non-negotiable. Materials must achieve a specified minimum score in this criterion to advance to the next gateway.
Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding in K and 1, and rate, expression, and accuracy in mid-to-late 1st and 2nd grade. Materials for 2nd grade fluency practice should vary (decodables and grade-level texts).
The Really Great Reading materials, Blast, provide systematic, explicit instruction and practice in decoding accuracy and automaticity. The materials do not contain explicit instruction in rate, accuracy, and expression. The materials contain Blast Passages for students to practice reading fluently with purpose and understanding. While the materials contain instructions on confirming or self-correcting errors, students do not practice confirming and self-correcting independently.
Indicator 1n
Materials provide opportunities for students to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity in K and Grade 1.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1n. (K-1)
The Blast Grade 1 materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice with fluency by focusing on accuracy with Phrases and Sentences to Read using the Positive Error Correction instructions. The materials contain systematic and explicit instruction for automaticity in decoding at the word level. The materials allow students to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy at the word and sentence levels in You Do portions of lessons and Sentences to Read activities. Blast Online references Blast Decodable Passages, where students can track their accuracy percentage of reads.
Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Part 1, Page 2, Activity Explain the Purpose of Blast Foundations Lessons, the teacher tells students that fluent reading is when a person reads smoothly and sounds natural. The teacher tells students that accurate reading is when a person pays attention to all the letters and words on the page while reading. The teacher tells students they will study phonics to become accurate readers.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Part 2, Page 3, Activity Explain the Importance of Reading Correctly, the teacher defines accurate reading, then reads aloud the following sentences: “The horse was very hot.” “The house was very hot.” Students discuss the differences in words and meaning. The teacher points out that the difference between the two sentences is just one letter and stresses the importance of accuracy. The teacher repeats the process with the sentences, “The horse got a cold. The horse got cold.” The teacher tells students that accuracy is more important than speed because accuracy helps readers understand the meaning.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 2, Unit 18, Lesson 3, Part 3, pages 116-121, Teach Reading Two-Syllable Words with Schwa in the You Do portion of the lesson, the teacher reminds students that each syllable has a vowel and, “You may need help from Super Schwa to ‘flex’ one of the vowels to the schwa sound so the word makes sense.” Students practice reading seven words by breaking the practice words into syllables by looking for vowels in the word, then placing them on Syllaboards, and then reading each of the words. Students underline the vowel sound that spells the schwa sound in each word. The teacher helps students remember if the word is not making sense to “flex” one of the vowels using the schwa sound.
Materials provide opportunities for students in Kindergarten and Grade 1 to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 5, Part 2, Page 147, Activity Phrases and Sentences to Read, the teacher explains the purpose of the activity, telling students that the goal is to read phrases and sentences accurately, without making mistakes. Students take turns reading a phrase or sentence aloud. Other students read silently as checkers, providing nonverbal feedback on accuracy. If a student misreads a word, the student rereads the word with more accuracy.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book 1, Unit 13, Lesson 5, Part 2, pages 435-436, Sentences to Read, the teacher reminds students the goal is to read sentences accurately the first time. The teacher selects students to read a sentence or two aloud or has students select two sentences to practice before reading them aloud.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Blast Passages, “With the Blast Passages, students extend their practice to longer sections of text. As students develop mastery and automaticity with the skills taught in Blast, the Blast Passages can be used to reinforce these skills, to provide opportunities for practice, and, ideally, to build fluency. Students will also gain confidence as readers.”
Indicator 1o
Instructional opportunities are built into the materials for systematic, evidence-based, explicit instruction in fluency. (Grades 1-2)
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria for 1o. (Grades 1-2)
In Blast Grade 1 materials, there are missed opportunities for frequent explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements using grade-level texts and successive student practice for fluency and accuracy. The Supplemental materials include Blast Decodable Passages, Blast Differentiated Decodable Passages, and Blast Oral Reading Fluency Passages. The Blast Oral Reading Fluency Passages include instructions for calculating accuracy.
Materials do not include frequent opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements using grade-level text.
RF.1.4.B Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
No evidence.
Materials provide opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of grade-level text by a model reader. Students hear a model reader during Blast Decodable Passages.
In Blast Foundations Passages, page v, instructions state, “...then model fluent reading by reading the passage aloud to them. After modeling what it sounds like when the passage is read fluently, ask the students to read the passage aloud again, trying to make their reading sound like yours.”
Materials include a variety of resources for fluency. However, explicit instruction is not provided.
There are Blast Decodable Passages in the Supplemental Resources, Blast Differentiated Decodable Passages, and Blast Fluency Passages. In Blast Decodable Passages and Blast Differentiated Decodable Passages, there are limited directions for building fluency using explicit instruction. “To begin working on fluency, ask the students to read the passage out loud; then model fluent reading by reading the passage aloud to them. After modeling what it sounds like when the passage is read fluently, ask the students to read the passage aloud again, trying to make their reading sound like yours.”
Indicator 1p
Varied and frequent opportunities are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2 (once accuracy is secure).
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1p.
In Blast Grade 1 materials, there are opportunities for students to gain oral reading fluency. The materials contain core opportunities for students to engage in repeated reading. There are missed opportunities for feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency. While each unit contains a Phrases and/or Sentences to Read activity that focuses on accuracy and offers a positive feedback procedure, individual students read one or two phrases or sentences weekly in this activity. There are Blast Decodable Passages in the Supplemental Resources, Blast Differentiated Decodable Passages, and Blast Oral Reading Fluency Passages. Teacher guidance to support student gains in oral reading fluency is general and minimal.
Varied, frequent opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to gain oral reading fluency.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, there are Decodable Passages starting in Unit 4. To build fluency, “students should reread the passages multiple times over the course of several days. It is important to note that students should be reading accurately before they begin working on reading faster. A quick, informal way to check for accuracy is to have the student read the passage aloud to you. If the student can read the passage with three or fewer errors, he or she can use that passage to work on building his or her reading rate.”
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, there are additional differentiated passages. In Units 4-6, there are differentiated passages for Heart Words, Dolch Words, and phonics features. There are differentiated passages for strictly controlled consonants. In Units 7-25, there are differentiated passages for Heart Words, Dolch Words, and phonics features.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, there are Oral Reading Fluency passages. Students use the passages to conduct one-minute cold reads. Throughout the week, students do practice reads. At the end of the week, students do warm reads.
Materials contain opportunities for students to participate in repeated readings of a grade-level text to practice oral reading fluency.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Blast Passages, the materials outline procedures for teachers to calculate student accuracy and suggest a procedure of teacher modeling and student repetition in repeat readings of the passages.
Materials include minimal guidance and feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, there are optional Blast Decodable Passages with information on Building Fluency. Students are to track cold and warm reads for an accuracy percentage. However, teachers have no guidance or feedback suggestions to support student gains in oral reading fluency.
Indicator 1q
Materials provide teacher guidance to support students as they confirm or self-correct errors (Grades 1-2) and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding.
Grade 1 Score + Rationale + Evidence:
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1q.
There are opportunities in the Blast Grade 1 materials for explicit instruction from the teacher and peers on confirming or self-correction in fluency. Students use Positive Error Correction to correct each other’s errors. However, students do not use context to confirm or self-correct errors in their own fluency. There are opportunities for students to read on-level texts for purpose and understanding over the course of the year when they read Decodable Passages. There are comprehension questions associated with the Decodable Passages.
Materials provide explicit lessons for the teacher in confirming and self-correcting errors in fluency.
Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
In Blast Appendix, the materials have a routine for Positive Error Correction for Phrases and Sentences to Read. The routine is:
If a Reader misreads any of the words in a phrase or sentence, provide Positive Error Correction.
Tell students how many words were read correctly.
Prompt a Checker to identify which word was misread by giving the position of the word in the phrase or sentence without saying the word itself.
Prompt Rader to use Touch & Say to read the word again. If the Reader reads the word accurately, the Reader then reads the entire phrase or sentence again. If the Reader reads the entire phrase accurately this time, you and all the Checkers congratulate the Reader.
Materials provide opportunities for students to practice using confirmation or self-correction of errors of peers. Students do not practice using confirmation or self-correct of their own errors without peers.
In Blast Teacher Guide Book, Unit 9, Lesson 4, students act as Checkers while classmates read phrases. Direct Checkers give a thumbs-up if the reader reads all the words correctly, and they give thumbs-to-the-side if students misread a word. The Checker names the position of the word. If the Reader misreads the word again, the Checkers read the sentence correctly.
Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to read on-level texts (Grades 1-2) for purpose and understanding.
Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Blast Passages, students read “A New Dog”. There are comprehension questions to check students’ understanding. In Unit 6, questions include, What color is the dog Thad wished for? Why do you think the dog will want a nap?
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Blast Passages, students read “The Puppet Show”. There are comprehension questions to check students’ understanding. In Unit 18, questions include, What time is the second puppet show? Why do you think the piglet puppet doesn’t get to eat the cricket?
In Blast Online, Supplemental Resources, PDF Resources, Blast Passages, students read “Trick or Treat”. There are comprehension questions to check students’ understanding. In Unit 22, questions include, Why does Randy go trick-or-treating with Betsy even though he is scared? What is the lady in the green dress holding in her hand?