1st Grade - Gateway 2

The materials provide a well-defined teacher resource for content presentation, including a Table of Contents sectioned by Unit, Lesson, and Appendix. There are three teacher guides provided for the Blast materials. The Introductory and Appendix sections are well organized to display the content for easy navigation. In addition, each unit begins with a Unit Planner that outlines the parts of the lesson, time limits, instructional resources, and more. The Introduction, Appendix, and Lesson materials provide detailed information and instructional routines that help teachers implement all foundational skills content effectively. The online materials in the Supply Room contain additional resources and instructional materials for teachers to utilize. 

Materials provide a well-defined, teacher resource for content presentation. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Introduction, the Unit Planners Overview & Design resource provides guidance about the Unit Planners, which are found at the beginning of every Blast unit. Each component found in the Unit Planner is available in the Teacher Guides, Blast Online, and/or in the Reading/Vocabulary Playgrounds. This resource describes each part of the unit lessons and resources. This includes information on Direct Instruction, Handwriting, Resources of ELs, Practice to Mastery, Small Group Instruction, Independent Practice, and Spanish Resources. 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, a Unit Planner is provided on the first page of each new unit. Teachers can easily see the five-day lesson plan, expectations for direct instruction, practice to mastery, small group instruction, independent practice, and Spanish resources. A time frame is given for each teaching component, as well as details and page numbers on where to find instructional resources. 

• In Blast Online, Heart Word Magic, the Blast Heart Words by Unit resource outlines the Heart Words in the Blast Foundations Program. 

The teacher resource contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills content (i.e., alphabetic knowledge, phonemic awareness, phonics, irregularly spelled words, word analysis). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 1, the teacher manual provides a section called What You Need to Know. This section contains information about the Unit. For example, in this unit, the guidance states, “When a consonant letter makes multiple sounds, we teach the most common sound first. For instance, the consonant letter c can make both a hard and a soft sound, /k/ and /s/.” 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 22, Lesson 2, in the activity Teach Other Vowel /oi/, What You Need to Know, guidance is provided on how to make the /oi/ sound. The manual states, “The vowel phoneme /oi/ is a diphthong. When a diphthong is articulated, the mouth moves when one sound of the vowel glides into the other. If you put your fingers at the corners of your mouth while saying /oi/, you can feel the corners of your mouth move. Contrast this with long e, in which the corners of your mouth do not change position as long e is articulated.”

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Appendices, Phonemic and Phonological Awareness, Important Reminders, it lists important information. Phonemic Awareness important reminders include, “A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in a word; A phoneme is a sound, not a letter; In Blast, phonemes are represented by letters between two slashes; The two slashes are called a sound box; When letters are in a sound box, say the phoneme (sound), not the letter name; The letters you see inside the slashes will often be different from the letters you see in the word because most phonemes can be spelled more than one way. For example, the sounds in chef are /sh/ /e/ /f/. The letters ch spell the digraph /sh/.”

The materials contain detailed, adult-level explanations of foundational skills concepts. The Countdown materials provide detailed examples of the foundational skill concepts for the teacher within the Teacher Guide lesson plans, Appendices, and Supply Room resources.

Complete, detailed adult-level explanations are provided for each foundational skill taught at the grade level. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Appendix A, Phonemic and Phonological Awareness, there are detailed explanations of blending phonemes, manipulating phonemes, and substituting phonemes. 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 2, Lesson 1, the What You Need to Know section provides detailed adult-level explanations of Letter-Sound Relationships and Grapheme-Phoneme Relationships. The lesson states that a phoneme is “the smallest unit of sound in a spoken word. A Phoneme is a sound, not a letter. Spoken words are made up of one or more phonemes. When written, phonemes are represented by letters inside two slashes, such as /k/, /m/, /ch/, /a/, and /ow/. In Blast Foundations, the two slashes are called a sound box. When a letter is in a sound box, say the sound, not the letter name.”

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 8, Lesson 3, the beginning of the lesson contains a section, What You Need to Know, which provides information such as the letters wh spell the phoneme /w/. In standard American English, there is no difference between the phoneme made by the letter w and the digraph wh. It also explains digraph wh is generally used only at the beginning of words or syllables in compound words. 

Detailed examples of the grade-level foundational skill concepts are provided for the teacher. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Appendix A, Phonemic and Phonological Awareness lists important reminders about phonemic awareness and contains the following example: “The letters you see inside the slashes will often be different from the letters you see in the word because most phonemes can be spelled more than one way. For example, the sounds in chef are /sh/ /e/ /f/. The letters ch spell the /sh/ phoneme.”  

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 2, Lesson 2, a detailed example of finger-stretching is provided. The lesson guides teachers to model the movement and sequence of stretching: “Raise thumb, index finger, and middle finger in a sequence while counting one, two, three. The students practice this movement, as well.” 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 18, Lesson 1, the teacher introduces students to the super Schwa poster. There are examples of words for student practice.

The materials include a research-based lesson plan design that provides whole group and small group instructional minutes that support practice to mastery. Lesson pacing is designed to be completed within a year. The lesson plan design consistently follows an I Do, We Do, You Do lesson structure. The planner for each unit follows a structured weekly routine and indicates the amount of time for explicit instruction, practice to mastery, small group instruction, and independent practice.

Lesson plans utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, the “Really Great Reading Instructional Block” document states that it is based on a 90-minute reading block that was influenced by research with the National Research Council (1998). 

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, the “Really Great Reading Instructional Block” document states that the instructional block should integrate principles from Gough and Tunmer’s Simple View of Reading model (1986) and Scarborough’s Reading Rope (2001), while also incorporating the National Reading Panel (2000). 

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Research and Timing for Blast Instruction, it indicates a portion of the reading block design stems from Shanahan (2019) and Reading Rockets’ recommendation to enhance comprehension through building vocabulary and practicing writing.

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Blast Scope and Sequence, each unit outlines the lesson progression that builds on letter-sound fluency, phonemic awareness, and ends with phonics instruction and practice of decoding and encoding. 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, pg. xx Lesson Design, eight components are outlined that include a concept overview, a list of student and teacher materials, background knowledge for the teacher, an online lesson introduction that is teacher-led through Blast Online, teacher sidebar notes, student workbooks to practice skills, lessons that follow I Do, We Do, You Do and unit planner guidance with additional resources that include visuals, notes, and next steps for practice to master, small group, and independent practice. 

The effective lesson design structure includes both whole group and small group instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 1, Lesson 5, includes 20-30 minutes of whole group direct instruction and 20-30 minutes of small group instruction.

• The Blast Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 16, Lesson 2, incorporates whole group instruction for 20-30 minutes, which includes phonemic awareness and handwriting application for the cumulative review of graphemes and sentence writing. Then, there are 20-30 minutes daily for small group support using additional examples from the Teacher Guide.

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 22, Lesson 1, students spend 20-30 minutes in a whole group doing grapheme-phoneme work and Heart Word fluency activities. There are also 20-30 minutes of small group instruction in Unit 21 decodable passage, “The Beach,” for five-10 minutes on a cold read and five-10 minutes for Heart Words.

The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans is clear and appropriate. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, the Flexible Scheduling document explains that Blast Foundation lessons are designed to be delivered in 15-20 minutes of teacher-led phonemic awareness and phonics instruction.

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Teacher Planner, a schedule for daily teacher-led instruction, small group instruction, and independent practice is provided for each unit, and all five daily lessons within each unit. 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 6, Day 4, the instructional sequence includes 20-30 minutes of whole group instruction, five-10 minutes of whole group Practice to Mastery, five-10 minutes each for three small group instruction activities, and 10 minutes of independent practice with digital games. The lesson planner includes specific minutes allocated to each activity. 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 25, Lesson 4 contains 20-30 minutes of teacher-led instruction of phonics and sentence dictation, 5-10 minutes of Practice to Mastery including scaffolded reading of the Unit 25 decodable passage, 20-30 minutes of small group instruction including passage reading practice of, “My Siblings,” five-10 minutes of Unit 25 Spelling Words practice, and five minutes is allotted for Syllaboards for word practice. 

The suggested amount of time and expectations for maximum student understanding of all foundational skills content can reasonably be completed in one school year and should not require modifications. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Introduction, there are 16-25 weeks of instruction with 25 units of five weekly lessons, which equates to 125 days of instruction. 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Introduction, there are 75-100 weekly minutes of explicit foundational skills instruction if taught all five days. 

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, the weekly unit structure includes five daily instructional blocks that include high-frequency words, phonemic and phonological awareness, letter-sound knowledge/letter formation, and phonics, including decoding and encoding, and fluency. 

For those materials on the borderline (e.g., approximately 130 days on the low end or 200 days on the high end), evidence clearly explains how students would be able to master ALL the grade-level foundational skills standards within one school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The materials include 125 days of instruction, with four additional optional units.

The materials provide an alignment document for formative and summative assessments and an extensive alignment document for all foundational skills tasks. The Reading Playground Blast Formative Assessment Guide notes the foundational skills being assessed and the standards to which they are aligned. The Program Assessment Document for the Beginning, Middle, and End of the Year denotes each skill that is being assessed and the standards to which they are aligned. The Program Assessment notes routines and lessons and the standards to which they are aligned. 

Materials include denotations of the foundational skills standards being assessed in the formative assessments. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground Blast Formative Assessment Guide, Unit 3, Game 4 assesses standards RF.1.2 and RF.1.3. Students are assessed on CVC words with short a and short i.

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground Blast Formative Assessment Guide, Unit 7, Game 7 assesses standard RF.1.2.a. Students are assessed on short vowels e and i. 

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, in the Baseline Assessment, Game 7 includes phonics, short vowels, digraphs, and two-sound blends, which are aligned to standards RF.1.2.d, RF.1.3, and RF.1.3.a.

Materials include denotations of foundational skills standards being assessed in the summative assessments. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Beginning, Middle, and End of Year Program Assessments in the Blast Reading Playground, students are assessed on phoneme substitution, which are standards RF.1.2, RF.1.2.c, and RF.1.2d.

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Beginning, Middle, and End of Year program, in Game 4, students are assessed on phonemic awareness, specifically blending phonemes, which aligns with standards RF.1.2.b.

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Beginning, Middle and End of Year Program Assessments, Mid-interval Assessment Content and Standard Alignment, Game 9 assesses identification of short vowels and trigraphs and aligns with standards RF.1.2.d, RF.1.3, RF.1.3.b.

Alignment documentation is provided for all tasks, questions, and assessment items. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials include various alignment documentation for all tasks, questions, and assessment items. For example: 

  • The Blast Game Mapping document includes alignment information for tasks and questions. In Unit 4, Game 5, students practice phoneme segmentation, encoding, and decoding. It states this is aligned with standards RF.1.2, RF.1.3 and RF.1.3.a.

  • The Blast Formative Assessment Guide provides alignment for assessment items. In Unit 2, students are assesssed on closed and open syllables. It states this is aligned with standards RF1.3 and RF1.3.d.

Alignment documentation contains specific foundational skills standards correlated to specific lessons. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Standards Alignment Blast, Unit 19, Lesson 3, students learn and practice skills for vowel-consonant syllable e and vowel team conventions for spelling long vowel sounds. The Standards Alignment for this lesson indicates it is aligned to standard RF.1.3.

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Standards Alignment Blast, Unit 24, Lesson 1, students read words with inflectional endings. The Standards Alignment for this lesson indicates it is aligned to standard RF.1.3.

The materials provide opportunities for small group instruction daily in a 25-30 minute small group block. The materials provide guidance to the teacher for scaffolding and adapting lessons found in the Supply Room and in the Teacher Guides, with supports embedded within the lessons or in the margins. The Teacher Guide contains a Differentiation Option that includes information for scaffolding and adapting lessons to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level.

Materials provide opportunities for small group reteaching. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 4, the following guidance is found in the small group instruction area on the Unit Planner: 

  • Day 1 - Additional high-frequency word practice as necessary using Heart Word Magic activities

  • Day 2 - Use additional examples from the Teacher Guide with your small group

  • Day 3 - Unit 4 decodable passage “On the Ship” cold read, Unit 4 Spelling Words practice using the Spell It! Template

  • Day 4 - Unit 4 decodable passage “On the Ship” practice read, Unit 4 spelling words practice, Unit 4 challenge words practice using the color and letter tiles

  • Day 5 - Unit 4 decodable passage “On the Ship” warm read, Unit 4 spelling words practice, and (optional) test, Unit 4 dictation sentences

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 17, the following guidance is found in the small group instruction area on the Unit Planner:

  • Day 1 - Review Unit 16 decodable passage “The Picnic” cold read, additional high-frequency word practice as necessary using Heart Word Magic activities

  • Day 2 - Use additional examples from the Teacher Guide with your small group

  • Day 3 - Unit 17 decodable passage “Robots” cold read, Unit 17 Spelling Words practice using the Spell It! Template

  • Day 4 - Unit 17 decodable passage “Robots” practice read, Unit 17 spelling words practice, Unit 17 challenge words practice using Syllaboards

  • Day 5 - Unit 17 decodable passage “Robots” warm read, Unit 17 spelling words practice and (optional) test, Unit 17 dictation sentences  

Materials provide guidance to the teacher for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level in extensive opportunities to learn grade-level foundational skills standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 5, in the margin of the book, there is a box entitled “Ways to Differentiate” that states, “If you want to have students Build a Word with letter tiles and color tiles prior to putting pencil to paper, it may increase their understanding of the spelling concept.”

• In the Blast Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 8, Lesson 4, in the margin of the book, there is a box that states, “If time permits, provide each student with the opportunity to read at least one phrase. In small groups, you might consider letting each student read two phrases. Students who struggle should be given additional phrases for more practice.”

• In the Blast Online Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 15, Lesson 3, there is a box that states if students are not yet fluent in handwriting, and the teacher feels it would be easier and faster, have students spell the syllables with letter tiles, to replace the writing with the letter tiles. It also states it might be necessary to use color tiles.  

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Differentiation Resources, there are resources that support students who read, write, speak, and listen below grade level. The following resources are available: 

  • Really Great Reading for Students with Dyslexia

  • Blast for Students with Special Needs

  • Really Great Reading for English Language Learners

  • Phonics Suite Small Group Instruction