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Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: Saxon Phonics & Spelling | ELA
Kindergarten
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
1st Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
2nd Grade
View Full ReportEdReports reviews of foundational skills supplements determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to research-based practices and college and career ready standards. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Materials must meet or partially meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating encompasses all grades covered in the program.
Usability (Gateway 2)
Report for 1st Grade
Alignment Summary
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials do not meet the expectations for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. Materials contain some explicit instruction of print concepts with limited student practice opportunities. Materials contain explicit instruction and practice of letter recognition, however, the letter formation materials are optional. Materials contain some explicit instruction and multimodal/multisensory practice phonological and phonemic awareness standards. Materials contain some explicit phonics instruction with limited teacher modeling of decoding. Materials contain some student practice of decoding words in isolation and in-context. Although the materials do provide students with opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode when students use Letter Tiles and worksheets, materials contain limited teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding of words. Materials include limited explicit instruction of high-frequency words and word analysis skills as the materials require students to view the high–frequency words and memorize the spellings. Materials contain opportunities for students to read and write high-frequency words in sentences. Materials contain limited explicit instruction and student practice in word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. Materials do not contain explicit fluency instruction and practice, however, optional materials address rate, accuracy, and expression.
1st Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Usability (Gateway 2)
Overview of Gateway 1
Alignment to Standards and Research-Based Practices for Foundational Skills Instruction
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials do not meet the expectations for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. The letter formation materials are optional. There is some explicit instruction of print concepts, however, there are limited student practice opportunities and limited meaningful application of print concepts. The materials do not include explicit instruction of all phonological and phonemic awareness standards. After Lesson 69, phonological and phonemic awareness instruction is listed only for support, remediation, or extension. The materials provide multimodal/multisensory activities for students to practice phonological and phonemic awareness. The phonics lessons have some explicit instruction with limited teacher modeling of decoding. The materials provide students with some opportunities to decode words in isolation and in-context. . Although materials provide students with frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode when students use Letter Tiles and worksheets, the materials contain limited teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding of words. Although the materials have a sufficient number of high-frequency words, there is limited explicit instruction of high-frequency words and word analysis skills as the materials require students to view the high–frequency words and memorize the spellings. The materials contain opportunities for students to read and write high-frequency words in-context. There is limited explicit instruction and student practice in word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. There are some decoding opportunities for students to practice automaticity and accuracy when students read Decodable Readers or participate in the Daily Letter and Sound Review. The materials do not contain explicit fluency instruction because optional materials address rate, accuracy, and expression. The materials do not contain opportunities for students to engage in fluency practice. There are no materials for explicitly teaching students to self-correct or confirm.
Criterion 1.1: Print Concepts and Letter Recognition (Alphabet Knowledge)
The Grade 1 Saxon materials have explicit instruction of letter identification and some print concepts, however, the materials have limited student practice opportunities. There is limited meaningful application of print concepts. The letter formation materials are optional.
Indicator 1A
Indicator 1A.iv
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for the criteria for 1a.iv. (K-1)
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials include directions for the teacher for how to explain and model the correct formation of each of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). While there is guidance for informing the teacher on how to explain and model forming each letter, it is not mandatory that the teacher use it as it is just a suggestion of a method to follow. When students practice skywriting letter formation, students do not verbalize the formation directions. When the teacher introduces letter formation, the teacher draws lines on the board to model letter formation. This does not include the letter-writing mascots per the guidance line. Skywriting is the primary multisensory way to practice letter formation. In the Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Resources for Differentiation, there is a list of multisensory methods for students to practice letter formation.
Materials 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 Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Handwriting Instruction, it provides an Overview of handwriting instruction, which states that some handwriting masters feature mascots. This technique assists students in orienting their pencils on their papers as they form each letter. The first mascot, Max the Bear, indicates where students should place their fingers or pencils to begin forming letters. There are two more mascots, Leo the Lion and Wriley the Raccoon, which show the second and third steps in letter formation.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Letter Talk Through Instructions, gives the teacher explicit directions on how to teach writing upper- and lowercase letters.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 6, The Letter I, it states for the teacher to “Write a capital I on the board in the handwriting you want children to learn. (Specific handwriting strokes are described in the Handwriting Instruction booklet, should you choose to follow that method of handwriting instruction).”
Materials include some opportunities for students to practice forming all of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase).
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 3, page 10, School/Home Reinforcement, students use Worksheet 3 to practice writing uppercase O.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 4, The Letter T, it has optional handwriting practice through Handwriting Master 20 for the letter T.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 9, students practice skywriting and writing Zz naming the letter as they write it. There is an optional Handwriting Practice master #26 for additional practice in the classroom or homework.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Resource, Volume 1, Lessons 1-53, the Handwriting Section, students practice writing all 26 letters of the alphabet in upper- and lowercase.
Materials include opportunities for students to practice forming letters using multimodal and/or multisensory methods.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 3, Options for Differentiation, page 9, the teacher writes the letter Oo on the board. The teacher demonstrates skywriting the letter using talk-throughs. Students skywrite several times. An optional extension includes having students use flashlights to skywrite the letters in the dark.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 11, students practice skywriting upper and lowercase Ss.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Resources for Differentiation, provides multisensory methods for students to practice letter formation, including Sensory Tracing, Constructing Letter, Tray-cing, skywriting, and trace and erase.
Indicator 1B
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1b. (K-early Grade 1).
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials provide some explicit instruction, practice, and review pertaining to print concepts. The materials contain Decodable Readers, Fluency Readers (optional), and printed sentences for teaching print concepts. The program teaches print concepts by writing sentences from the Decodable Reader on the board; however, lessons do not direct the teacher to connect the sentence(s) to the Decodable Reader. Students can review letter formation with worksheets; however, the lessons do not indicate when teachers review 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 Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 12, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher writes a sentence on the board, asks students to count the number of words in the sentence, then tells students that a sentence ends in a punctuation mark.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 12, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the students count the number of words in a sentence written on the board. The teacher tells the students that sentences end with a punctuation mark.
Materials include some lessons, tasks, and questions 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 Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 29, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher writes a sentence on the board and asks students why the sentence begins with an uppercase letter.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 52, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher writes three sentences on the board. Each sentence ends with a different punctuation mark. The teacher asks students to name the punctuation mark.
Materials include some physical books (teacher-guided, such as big books) that are suitable for the teaching of print concepts.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling K, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Instructional Overview, indicates students receive 52 Decodable Readers during the year. There are optional leveled Fluency Readers (26 at each of the three levels) included with the materials.
Materials include limited explicit instruction about the organization of print concepts (e.g., recognize features of a sentence) in the context of a book.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 52, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher writes three sentences on the board and asks students to name the question mark, point to the period and exclamation mark. As students read the sentences, the teacher points to each word as it is read.
Materials include some opportunities for students to engage in authentic practice using print concepts in the context of student books.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 37, Decodable Reader, the students have the reader in front of them while the teacher says, “Point to the capital A in “At.” “Why do we use a capital letter here?”
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 67, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher asks students to name the punctuation mark at the end of the sentence on page 6 of Decodable Reader 23.
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 Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 10, Daily Letter and Sound Review, the teacher uses Letter Cards 1-8 to ask students to name each letter.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 53, Spelling Review, the teacher has the option of using the Spelling Deck to review letter sounds. Students echo the sound, name the letter, and write the corresponding letter on Worksheet 53.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 57, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher writes two sentences on the board and asks students to determine why the letter I is capitalized.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 74, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher writes three sentences on the board and asks students about the punctuation at the end of each sentence.
Materials include students’ practice of some previously learned print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 6, The Letter I, Lesson Warm-up, Alphabet Activity, students review the alphabet strip by saying each letter’s letter names.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 41, Daily Letter and Sound Review, instructs the teacher to use Worksheet 41 for students to review spelling sounds and letter formation. The teacher says a sound and students echo the sound, name the letter, and write the corresponding letter(s) using Worksheet 41.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 70, Daily Letter and Sound Review, instructs the teacher to review the Letter, Affix, Picture, and Sight Word Decks. Students say the letter name and sound for each card in the Letter Deck.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 102, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher writes a sentence on the board and asks individual students to underline the capital letters in the sentence.
Criterion 1.2: Phonological Awareness
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonological awareness.
The Grade 1 Saxon materials do not include explicit instruction of all phonological and phonemic awareness standards. After Lesson 69, phonological and phonemic awareness instruction is listed only for support, remediation, or extension. The materials provide multimodal/multi-sensory activities for students 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 partially meet the criteria for 1c.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials include various activities for phonological awareness with assorted ways for students to respond, including a verbal yes/no, providing a word, clapping, raising a hand, standing and sitting, holding up fingers, tally marks, and rolling a ball. Daily phonological/phonemic awareness activities during the Warm Up are listed for Lessons 1-69 in the scope and sequence. However, after lesson 69, phonological awareness is only addressed as an option for support, reinforcement, and to extend as a recommended differentiation activity. Some lessons identified as Phonological/Phonemic Awareness are connected to print, such as students using their letter tiles during this time. The materials do not provide time allocations for the Phonological/Phonemic Awareness section of each lesson.
Materials include a variety of activities for phonological awareness.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 10, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the teacher says two words, and students give a thumbs up or thumbs down if they have the same sound in the middle. This is repeated with several examples: night/line, mane/fate, loaf/soap, bun/ten, pig/lag, had/tape, sit/rig, cute/can, pet/beg.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 17, page 2, students hold up their fingers to count the sounds in words. Next, students take turns segmenting words into individual sounds. The teacher says a word, and students echo the word and then say each of the phonemes aloud while counting the sounds on their fingers.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 24, page 2, students listen for the number of syllables in words the teacher says. Students say the word and clap the syllable together. Students hold up fingers to show how many parts or syllables.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 45, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, students stand if the words they hear are different and sit if the words are the same.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 52, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, students use their fingers to show the accented syllable sound for a word.
There are frequent opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness until Lesson 69. However, after Lesson 69, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness are optional.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Scope and Sequence, students practice phonological awareness daily through Lesson 69 in each lesson’s Phonological/Phonemic Awareness section.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 14, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, students practice saying the blend in the initial position of the words: play, plop, plant, plug, and then repeat with the /sn/, /sl/, /sp/, and /st/ blends.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 19, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, students practice echoing the sounds to blend words like grass, drip, spot, try, frog, stay.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 55, page, 2 Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, students practice phonological awareness daily. Students practice identifying and deleting the final syllable in a word, harvest.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 63, page 2, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, students practice echo blending. The teacher says the sound, and students echo with onsets and rimes.
Indicator 1D
Materials provide explicit instruction in phonological awareness through systematic modeling across the K-1 grade band.
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1d.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials do not consistently provide the teacher with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in each phonological awareness standard. There is minimal instruction for distinguishing long and short vowel sounds, segmenting spoken single-syllable words, and blending phonemes to produce single-syllable words. There are three lessons in the program dedicated to blending phonemes to produce single-syllable words orally. Of the three lessons, one lesson provides a model of blending phonemes. There is no evidence that the teacher explicitly models isolating and pronouncing initial, medial vowel, or final sounds in spoken single-syllable words. Phonological awareness lessons include some examples for the teacher to use in the tasks. Some phonological awareness lessons include printed letter tiles, which is not phonological awareness.
Materials provide the teacher with some systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words.
Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 67, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the teacher models with the word bat through identifying the vowel sound and then changing the vowel sound in bat from the short /a/ to the long /a/ to make the new word bait.
Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 18, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, the teacher has students echo /ĭ/ and /t/. The teacher repeats the sounds closer together until they form the word it. Students echo the teacher as the teacher repeats the sounds. There are nine additional words for student practice.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 19, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the teacher models how to blend sounds to make words that include consonant blends. The teacher models with the word fly and then practices with students with the words grass, drip, spot, try, frog, and stay.
Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 4, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, the teacher shares words with the same initial sound, and students are to raise their hand to tell the initial/beginning sound of the word. The message on the border to the left in the Teacher’s Manual tells the teacher to have students isolate and produce initial sounds in words without any explicit modeling for instruction.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 9, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, the teacher shares words with the same final sound, and students raise their hand to tell the final/ending sound of the word. The message on the border to the left in the Teacher’s Manual tells the teacher to have students isolate and produce final sounds in words without explicit modeling for instruction.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 10, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the teacher says two words, and students give a thumbs up if both of them have the same medial sound. The teacher points to their mouth and stresses the final sounds as they say red and let. The teacher continues this activity with nine more pairs of words.
Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 16, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, the teacher tells students to listen to the words to determine how many sounds we hear. The message on the border to the left in the Teacher’s Manual tells the teacher to unblend and count the number of sounds in words without explicit modeling for instruction.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 17, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the teacher says words, and students listen to determine how many sounds they hear in the word. The teacher uses the word late as an example and identifies three sounds in the word. The teacher continues with six more words.
Materials provide the teacher with examples for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words called for in grade level standards.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 4, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, the teacher shares words with the same sound, and students raise their hand to tell the initial/beginning sound of the word. The example tells the teacher to repeat the sound several times until most students begin to raise their hand. The initial examples of words are side, suds, sands, and other words such as tap, turn, toss and pat, part, picnic.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 8, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the teacher says words that end with the same sound and asks students to say the final sound. The teacher points to their mouth as they say the words rub, tab, bib and then slowly repeats the words. The teacher repeats the process with the words snap, flip, hop; staff, puff, off; rim, arm, ham; and read, bed, glad.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 21, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the teacher reviews that words are made up of parts of words that are called syllables. The teacher claps as they say each syllable in the word napkin. The teacher tells students that every syllable has a vowel sound and emphasizes both syllables equally when modeling. The teacher repeats the process with the word teacher and eraser.
Indicator 1E
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1e.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials provide some, but not ample, opportunities for practice with all Grade 1 Phonological Awareness standards. For example, there is limited exposure and practice for distinguishing long from short vowel sounds. Students have the opportunity to practice phonological awareness skills using various responses, including oral responses, clapping, counting using their fingers, raising their hand, giving a thumbs up, or standing and sitting.
Materials provide some opportunities for students to practice each new sound and sound pattern.
Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 67, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, students practice changing the long vowel sound to the short vowel sound or the short vowel sound to the long vowel sound in the words best, steep, hop, sell, kite, slope, cap, mitt.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 70, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, students echo the word fit, determine if the vowel sound is long or short, then change the vowel sound. Students say the word fight. The teacher poses additional words and asks students to determine if the vowel sound is long or short. The words are stripe, hold, cut, best, aim, man, bump, kite, cute, pod, bit, screen.
Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 18, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, students echo individual phonemes and blend them to form a word. Students blend /i/ and /t/ to form it, /o/ and /n/ to form on, /ă/ and /t/ to form at, /t/ /ŏ/ /p/ to form top, /p/ /ĭ/ /n/ to form pin, /m/ /ă/ /t/ to form mat, /h/ /ō/ /p/ to form hope, /l/ /ā/ /t/ to form late, /s/ /ĕ/ /t/ to form set, and /k/ /ē/ /p/ to form keep.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 19, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, students practice blending sounds to make words. Example: g/ /r/ /ă/ /s/ (grass) /s/ /p/ /ŏ/ /t/ (spot) /d/ /r/ /ĭ/ /p/ (drip) /t/ /r/ /ī/ (try) /f/ /r/ /ŏ/ /g/ (frog) /s/ /p/ /r/ /ā/ (stay).
Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 3, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, the teacher poses three words and asks students to say the initial sound. The teacher poses lip, lost, lemon for /l/, zipper, zoo, zero for /z/, ostrich, often, otter for /o/, table, too, timber for /t/, chip, chair, cheese for /ch/, ship, share, she for /sh/, and think, thank, thumb for /th/.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 8, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, students identify if rub, tab, and bib have the same final sound. They practice with the following groups of words: (snap, flip, hop), (staff, puff, off), (rim, arm, ham), and (read, bed, glad).
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 10, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the students practice identifying if red and let have the same middle sounds. Students share words that have the medial sound short /ĕ/. They repeat the activity with the following words to see if they have the same middle vowel sound: night/line, mane/fate, loaf/soap, bun/ten, pig/lag, had/tape, sit/rig, cute/can, pet/beg.
Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 16, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, students listen to words to determine how many sounds they hear with words as pan (3), tip (3), in (2), list (4), sand (4), and rag (3).
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 17, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, students count the sounds they hear in the word late. They repeat this activity with the words same, host, cool, must, side, peak.
Materials include a variety of multimodal/multisensory activities for student practice of phonological awareness.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 7, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, page 2, students give a thumbs up/thumbs down to indicate whether a pair of spoken words have the same or different final sound.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 6, Lesson Warm-up, Phonological/Phonemic Awareness, the teacher says two words, and students give a thumbs up or thumbs down if they have the same final sound. This is repeated with several examples: fill/smell, too/zoo, team/eat, sit/hose, fan/tin, tape/hang, less/moss, happy/funny, sick/pack.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Supporting Struggling Readers, Tap Out the Sounds, page 41, students segment words into sounds and blend sounds into spoken words. Students finger blend using their index finger to their thumb and middle finger, touching a finger for each represented sound.
Criterion 1.3: Phonics
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonics.
The Grade 1 Saxon lessons have some explicit instruction of phonics skills. There is limited teacher modeling. The materials provide students with limited opportunities to decode words in isolation and in-context. Students have opportunities to review previously learned grade-level phonics. The materials contain limited teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words. Students have frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode when students use Letter Tiles and worksheets. The materials do not include directions for the teacher to model encoding words. Students have some opportunities to encode words in sentences, and they have frequent opportunities to encode single words on worksheets.
Indicator 1F
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1f.
In the Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 lessons, some, but not all lessons, contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics standards. Many lessons do not have repeated teacher modeling over time. Several lessons only have the teacher model an example, and students practice with a few words/sounds, and then students move to worksheet practice. Many lessons do not have repeated teacher modeling over time. Some lessons ask the students to figure out the letter-sound patterns rather than the teacher explicitly teaching the letter-sound patterns.
Materials contain some explicit instructions for systematic and limited repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics standards.
Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 28, New Increment: Digraph ck, page 4, the teacher introduces the term digraph when teaching about ck. After echoing and unblending words with the final ck, the teacher leads students to notice that c and k make one sound. “This is called a ‘digraph.’ ‘Di’ means two, and ‘graph’ means letter.” The teacher says the following definition with the hand signals: “A digraph is two letters …” (Hold up one finger on each hand with your hands apart.) “… that come together …” (Slowly bring the two fingers together.) “… and make one sound.” (Hold up only one finger.) The students repeat the definitions and hand signals with the teacher. The teacher points to the words pack, rock, and stick and asks, “What two letters do you see that might make the /k/ sound? We code digraphs by underlining them. This reminds us that the two letters make only one sound.” The teacher underlines the ck digraphs. The teacher then says, “Let’s cross out the c’s to remind us that ck makes just one sound. We call this a consonant digraph because it makes a consonant sound.”
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 72, New Increment: Digraph ch, the teacher says the words chart, bench, chimp and asks students to identify the sound they hear that is the same in each of the words. The teacher directs students to touch their throats to determine that /ch/ is an unvoiced sound.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 108, New Increment: Digraph ph, page 3, the teacher poses the words phone, phonics, and phrase and asks students to echo the words. Next, the teacher asks students to pronounce the sound in the initial position of the words. Then, the teacher writes the words on the board, tells students two letters representing the /f/ sound in words, and asks students to guess the letters representing the /f/ sound. Next, the teacher codes the digraphs by underlining them.
Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 51, New Increment, page 4, the teacher poses the words jet, jump, and joke then asks students to echo the words. The teacher asks students to pronounce the initial sound in words. Next, the teacher writes the words on the board and invites students to identify the letter representing the /j/ sound. The teacher selects individual students to code, read, and use the words in sentences.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 122, New Increment: a before l, pages 3-4, students echo the words tall, fall, and small. The teacher writes the words in a column and asks students to guess what letter might make the /ö/sound. The teacher tells students that when the letter a comes before an I, it often sounds like a short /o/. The teacher shows students how to code as that sounds like short os with two dots. The teacher codes the as in words. The teacher selects students to read the words and use them in sentences.
Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 41, New Increment, page 3, the teacher poses the words sale, cane, and gate and asks students to echo the words. Next, the teacher asks students to pronounce the medial vowel sound in words. Then, the teacher introduces the Sneaky E by engaging two students in a skit. Next, the teacher writes the words sale, cane, and gate on the board and models coding the words sale with the Sneaky E. The teacher selects students to help them code the remaining words and uses Vowel Rule Wall Card 3 to reinforce Sneaky E.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 68, New Increment, page 3, the teacher poses the words aim, braid, and train. The teacher asks students to echo the words and identify the common sound in words. Next, the teacher writes the words on the board and invites students to guess the letters representing the long /a/ sound. The teacher uses the digraph hand signal to remind students that the letters representing the long /a/ sound are digraphs. The teacher codes the words and asks individual students to read the words and use the words in sentences.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 86, pages 2- 3, New Increment: Digraph ea, Part 1, students echo the words seal, peach, and bean and tell what sound they hear in the medial position. The teacher writes the words on the board and says, “There are two letters making the /e/ sound. Can you guess what they are?” (e and a) “What do we call two letters that come together to make one sound?” (digraph) “Do you think digraph ea is a vowel digraph or a consonant digraph?”(vowel digraph) “How do we code digraphs?” (underline them). The teacher points to the word seal and says, “The letter a is silent in this digraph, so we cross it out. The sound we hear is the long sound of e. How do we code long vowels?” (with macrons). The teacher codes the digraphs and finishes coding the words. The teacher selects students to read the words and use them in sentences.
Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 36, New Increment: The Rule vc’/cv, pages 3-5, the teacher writes can and napkin on the board and asks students how the two words are alike and different. The teacher helps students to notice that one word has one vowel and the other has two. The teacher says, “When a word has more than one vowel sound, it has more than one syllable. You hear a syllable every time you hear a vowel sound. Let’s listen for the syllables in some words. Echo these words and clap each time you hear a vowel sound.” This is continued with the words bandit, sunshine, mat, and can. The teacher codes the a and c and asks how many vowel sounds are in the word can. The teacher says, “So how many syllables does it have?” (one) “Let’s see how many syllables are in ‘napkin.’” (napkin)(clap twice) “When a word has more than one vowel sound, we must separate the word into syllables. This is called ‘syllable division.’”
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 81, New Increment, page 3, the teacher asks students to echo the words wafer and gravy and identify a similar sound in both words. Next, the teacher writes the words on the board and leads students through coding the words. After identifying the vowels in the word wafer, the teacher guides students in noting that two vowels indicate more than one syllable.
Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 39, New Increment: The Rule vc/ce, pages 3-4, students turn to page 52 in their reference booklet, and the teacher shows Syllable Division Wall Card 2 and says, “This shows us both of the ‘vccv’ syllable division patterns we will use this year. Dividing big words makes them easier to read.” The Wall Card is posted where children can see it, and they are encouraged to refer to the Wall Card or their reference booklets when they need help.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 82, New Increment, page 2, the teacher writes the words fiber, minus, and fever on the board and guides students in coding the first word. After noting the word follows the VCV syllable pattern, the teacher asks students to use page 53 of the Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet to determine how to divide the word. Next, the teacher codes each syllable and asks individual students to read the word and use it in a sentence.
Read words with inflectional endings.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 12, New Increment: Suffix -s, the teacher writes the words snap and snaps on the board and asks students the difference between the words and what they think the s means. The teacher tells students that snaps is the plural of the word snap. The teacher continues the lesson by putting a box around the letter s and explaining that suffix -s can make a voiced or unvoiced sound.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 96, New Increment: Suffix -es, pages 2-7, the teacher provides explicit instruction to students about how to add an -es suffix to words, pronounce and code them. The students read the words dishes, branches, fizzes, boxes, and messes.
Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade-level phonics pattern.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 28, New Increment: Digraph ck, pages 3-5, the lesson begins with the teacher saying, “Echo these words and listen for the sound that’s the same in the final position. Raise your hand when you know the sound, but don’t say it out loud.” The teacher points to their mouth as they say track, block, click. The teacher says, “What sound do you hear in the final position?” The teacher tells students to touch their throats to remind them that /k/ is an unvoiced sound. Next, the teacher writes pack, rack, stick on the board, and says, “Let’s unblend the first word: /p/-/ă/-/k/. How many sounds do you hear in ‘pack’? How many letters are in the word ‘pack’?” This is repeated with rock and stick. The teacher asks, “If there are more letters than sounds, what do you think is happening in these words?” During Application and Continual Review on pages 5 & 6, the students read and spell the words pack, stick, and crack.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 37, New Increment, page 3, the teacher asks students to echo the words up, under, and umpire and identify and pronounce the sound in the initial position of the words. The teacher writes the words rust, run, and bug on the board and asks students to code the words, read the words, and use them in a sentence. Later, in Application and Continual Review on page 6, students spell the words up and bug using Worksheet 37. Later, in Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story on page 7, the teacher asks individual students to read pages from Decodable Reader 11.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 78, New Increment, page 3, the teacher asks students to echo the words cent, circus, and cycle, and identify and pronounce the sound that is the same in each word. The teacher writes the words on the board, asks students to identify the letter representing the /s/ sound, and codes each word. The teacher uses Spelling Rule Wall Card 1 to reinforce the coding rule before asking individual students to read the words cent, circus, and cycle and then use them in a sentence. Later, in Application and Continual Review on page 8, students write the words ice, face, and nice using Worksheet 78.
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 partially meet the criteria for 1g.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials provide students with limited opportunities to decode and read phonetically spelled words during New Increment Lessons, Application and Continual Review Lessons, and the Classroom Practice Lessons. In many lessons, the teacher asks a limited number of students a few words to decode for the class. Students have the opportunity to practice reading complete words using the Reading Practice sheets and in the Classroom Practice section of lessons. However, lessons do not guide support and feedback for the teacher to monitor and correct students’ reading of the words. For example, the lessons suggest that the teacher check off a student’s reading of recently introduced words before sending home the Worksheet. Yet, the materials do not guide a teacher to successfully plan for this task with each student. The materials contain opportunities for students to review previously learned grade-level phonics during Daily Letter and Sound Review and Spelling Sound Review. Various methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade-level phonics are provided, including Kid Cards, worksheets, Decodable Readers, and games such as Twenty Questions.
Lessons provide students with limited opportunities to decode (phonemes, onset and rime, and/or syllables) phonetically spelled words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 18, Application and Review, pages 6-7, the teacher and students blend and code tags, spill, go.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 42, New Increment, Spelling with Letter Tiles, page 5, students use letter tiles to spell the words more, came, make. This is the only opportunity all students have to build VCe words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 63, Application and Review, page 6, the teacher and students divide, code, and read foggy, sky, copper, tools, he’s, singing.
Lessons provide students with some opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 28, Application and Continual Review, Boardwork, page 6, the teacher writes the words tracks, me, and sniff on the board and asks individual students to code each word. The teacher asks individual students to read the word.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 43, Application and Continual Review, Worksheet, page 7, students use Worksheet 43 to code and read the words here, like, theme, dime, ripe. These five words align with the content in the New Increment section of the lesson.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 82, page 5, Application and Continual Review, the teacher selects students to divide, code, and read words and phrases written on the board (scorch, firetruck, acquainted, crisis, “meter shows thirty amps”).
Materials contain opportunities for students to review previously learned grade-level phonics.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 28, Daily Letter and Sound Review, page 2, students review affixes using the Affix Deck.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 36, page 2, Daily Letter and Sound Review, the teacher quickly reviews the Letter, Affix, Picture, and Sight Word Decks.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 92, page 2, Daily Letter and Sound Review, the class quickly reviews the retired Letter, Picture, and Sight Word Decks.
Materials contain a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade-level phonics.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 39, page 2, Letter and Sound Review, the objective is to practice letter recognition, affixes, letter sounds, and sight words. The class plays Twenty Questions. The teacher chooses a card, and students try to guess it by asking the teacher yes/no questions. The teacher may suggest questions: “Is it a letter card? Is it a vowel? Is it a digraph?”
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 52, Application and Continual Review, Boardwork, page 6, students work in teams to spell and code the words miss, moss, gill, tell, staff, off.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 63, Worksheet, page 6, students use Worksheet 63 to code and read the words shy, noon, being, less, I’ll. These five words align with previously taught content.
Indicator 1H
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1h.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials do not provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. Students first code a single sentence during Boardwork in Lesson 16. Throughout the 140 lessons, students have 38 sentences presented during Boardwork time to code or watch being coded. Of the 50 lessons in Volume 1, there are 15 sentences during Boardwork for selected student(s) to code and read. Of the 90 lessons in Volume 2, there are 23 sentences during Boardwork for selected student(s) to code and read. Students have frequent opportunities to read sentences in their Decodable Readers, but there is no evidence that they are encouraged to use decoding skills while reading. Students have the first opportunity to read an optional Fluency Reader in Lesson 15. There are 26 Fluency Readers for each of the three levels in the program.
Materials do not provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 19, Boardwork, page 7, the teacher writes a sentence on the board, asks students to code the words in the sentence, and reads the sentence with students.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 61, Application and Continual Review, page 6, Boardwork, the teacher writes sentences on the board and selects students to code and read the sentences: “Shoot skeet. Try running cable.”
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 72, Application and Continual Review, page 4, Boardwork, the teacher selects students to code, read, and turn into sentences the phrases written on the board: harvesting Chase’s grain, fuzzy pickle, master lock.
Lessons provide students with some opportunities to decode words in a sentence.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 27, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, page 7, all students read page 1 of Decodable Reader 7 before the teacher asks a comprehension question. The teacher selects individual students to read pages 2-4 before asking additional comprehension questions. Students read the rest of Decodable Reader 7 together before the teacher asks additional comprehension questions.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling K, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 79, Boardwork, page 4, the teacher writes two sentences on the board and asks students to code and read the sentences.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 127, Application and Continual Review, page 6, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher selects a student to read the sentence written on the board. There is a possibility the student may use decoding skills to read the sentence, but the teacher does not request that decoding be used: “He saw Fox cooking a panful of fish—eight in all.”
Indicator 1I
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1i.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials contain limited teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns during New Increments and Spelling Review. The lessons include guidance for the teacher in the script, but guidance is student-focused instead of teacher-focused. The lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and phonics during Application and Continual Review. Students use worksheets, letter tiles, and Spelling tests for review and practice.
Materials contain limited teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns of phonics.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 37, New Increment-the Letter U, Spelling Tiles, it provides the teacher with instructions to tell students the new Letter Tile e is the same as their other e tile, and it uses both to spell words with more than one e.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 57, New Increment: Final, Stable Syllables -fle, -ple, -dle, Spelling with Stable Syllables -fle, -ple, -dle, it provides instructions for the teacher to explain to students how to apply the phonics rule with spelling tiles and modeling with the word huddle on the board.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 91, pages 2-3, New Increment: Spelling with oi and oy, students share what they remember about the /oi/ sound, and the teacher reviews learned facts about the /oi/ sound. The teacher writes the words oil and toy on the board, and the teacher says, “Today we’ll talk about spelling with diphthong oi and diphthong oy. They make the same sound, so it can be confusing to know which one to write. What is our Spelling Deck response for the /oi/ sound?” (diphthong oi , final diphthong oy). The teacher writes oi ll oy on the boards to remind students that oi is used in initial and medial positions and oy is used in the final position. The teacher writes enj___on the board and asks how /oi/ should be spelled and why. Students volunteer to read the word. The activity continues in the same way with the words broil, spoiled, annoying, royal.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 26, Spelling with Letter Tiles, page 5, students use Letter Tiles to build the words mop, man, can.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 24, page 7, Worksheet 24, students practice spelling and writing /b/ words: big, bag, blond.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 92, page 5, Spelling with Letter Tiles, students use tiles to spell boy, point, open, timed.
Indicator 1J
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1j.
Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials do not include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction with teacher modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in a sufficient amount of writing tasks. The materials ask teachers to model coding letters so students can decode words, however the materials do not ask teachers to model encoding words. Students can apply phonics knowledge by encoding words in sentences during the Application and Continual Review section of lessons using the accompanying Spelling List worksheet. Students have the first opportunity in Lesson 16, and the opportunity repeats every five lessons for a total of 25 opportunities in the program. Students have almost daily opportunities to encode three words during the Application and Continual Review section of lessons using the corresponding Worksheet.
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.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 34, New Increment, page 3, the teacher asks students to echo the words teeth, beet, keep before asking students to identify the medial vowel sound. The teacher writes the words on the board, underlines the digraphs, and selects students to help code the words. Individual students read and use the words in a sentence. The materials do not direct the teacher to model writing words with digraph ee.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 84, Lesson Warm-Up, page 2, Spelling Review, the teacher tells students to spell and write the word paid. The teacher reminds students that the /ā/ sound in this word is spelled with the digraph ai. The students write the word say, but there is no reminder from the teacher about using the digraph ay.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 108, New Increment, page 3, the teacher asks students to echo the words phone, phonics, phrase before asking students to identify the initial sound in words. The teacher writes the words on the board, underlines the digraphs, and selects students to help code the words. Individual students read and use the words in a sentence. The materials do not direct the teacher to model writing words with digraph ph.
Lessons provide students with some activities and tasks to promote application of phonics as they encode words in sentences or in phrases based on common and newly taught phonics patterns.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 26, Application and Continual Review, Spelling List, page 8, students write two sentences dictated by the teacher using Spelling List 3.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 70, Spelling Test, the teacher says the following sentences, “The fish had a hook stuck in its gill. The deck is next to their pool.” Students write the sentences on the handwriting lines on the back of their papers.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 81, Application and Continual Review, page 7, Spelling List, students write one to three sentences dictated by the teacher: “My little dog likes to nap with me. He snores and cuddles on my lap. After he wakes up, he wants to run.” Students check their work, and the teacher circles the sentences they should practice before bringing the worksheet home to practice for their upcoming Spelling Test.
Criterion 1.4: Word Recognition and Word Analysis
The Grade 1 Saxon materials contain a sufficient number of high-frequency words. There is limited explicit instruction in high-frequency words and word analysis skills as the materials require students to view the high–frequency words and memorize the spellings. The materials contain opportunities for students to read high-frequency words in Decodable Readers and during the Broadwalk section of lessons. Students have opportunities to write high-frequency words in sentences. There is limited explicit instruction and student practice in word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words.
Indicator 1K
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1k.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials include inconsistent and limited instruction of high-frequency words. In several, but not all, lessons, when a new word is introduced, the teacher writes the word on the board and tells students what it is. Students are shown the word on a card and read the word. There is no explicit spelling of the new word. Some, but not all, lessons for high-frequency words require students to place a checkmark next to the irregularly spelled word in their Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet. Students practice identifying and reading high-frequency words in isolation when written on the board, when the teacher uses the Sight Word and High Frequency Word Card decks, and on worksheets. It is optional for the teacher to have students individually read the High Frequency Words on the worksheet. The program includes 52 Decodable Readers. Occasionally, the teacher tells students to circle the sight word if they see it in a Decodable Reader. The materials include a sufficient amount of grade-appropriate high-frequency words for students to make reading progress. There are 88 sight words in the Sight Word Card deck. Of the 88 words, 21 words also appear in the Saxon Phonics and Spelling K Sight Word Deck, resulting in 67 new sight words introduced in Grade 1.
Materials include limited systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words.
Recognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 37, New Increment, page 3, the teacher introduces the new sight word put. Students place a checkmark next to the word on page 33 of the Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet. Later, in the New Deck Cards section of the lesson on page 6, the teacher shows students Sight Word Card 22 with the word put and asks students to read the word.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 49, New Increment: Digraph oo, page 5, the teacher introduces the sight word school and asks students to use it in a sentence. Students turn to page 33 in their reference booklets and check off the word. In New Deck Cards for Digraph oo, page 5, the teacher shows Sight Word Card 39 and has students read the word.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 68, New Increment, page 4, the lesson instructs the teacher to introduce the sight word were but does not specify how the teacher should introduce the word. Students place a checkmark next to the word on page 34 of the Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet. Later, in the New Deck Cards section of the lesson on page 5, the teacher shows Sight Word Card 58 with the word were and asks students to read the word. The scripted directions that follow do not relate to Sight Word Card 58.
Materials do not include opportunities for the teacher to model the explicit spelling and reading of high-frequency words in isolation.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 101, New Increment: Digraph au, pages 3 and 4, after introducing and working with the digraph au, the teacher introduces the sight word because and asks students to use it in a sentence. Students turn to page 31 in their reference booklets and check off the word.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 39, New Sight Word Deck Card, page 4, the teacher shows Sight Word Card 25, where, and students read the word. The teacher adds the card to the Sight Word Deck.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 97, New Increment: Diphthongs ou, ow, page 6, the teacher shows Sight Word Card 74, four, and students read the word.
Students practice identifying and reading high-frequency words in isolation.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 19, Homework, page 9, students circle the sight word said in the second sentence on Homework 19. Students read the sentence as part of their homework task.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 41, Daily Letter and Sound Review, page 2, students read words from the Sight Word Deck as the teacher presents the deck to the class.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 78, Application and Continual Review, Worksheet, page 8, students may have the opportunity to read the words once, were, sentence, answer, place, and work to the teacher if the teacher asks individual students to read the words to them from the High Frequency Word Box of Homework 78.
Materials include a sufficient quantity of grade-appropriate high-frequency words for students to make reading progress.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Review Deck, Sight Word Deck, includes 88 cards corresponding to sight word lessons in the program. Students learn the first word in Lesson 12 and the last word in Lesson 126. Of the 88 words, 21 words also appear in the Saxon Phonics and Spelling K Sight Word Deck, resulting in 67 new sight words introduced in Grade 1.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Reading Word List, beginning on page 3, the program includes sight words in its word list and denotes them using bold font.
Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Spelling Word List, page 33, includes an alphabetized list of all sight words the program teaches.
Indicator 1L
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria for 1l.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials provide 52 Decodable Readers, optional fluency readers and passages, and some sentences written on the board for students to read grade-level irregularly spelled words in a sentence. Students have the opportunity to read sight words in a sentence during the Boardwork section of five lessons in the program. Starting in Lesson 16, students write sight words in sentences during the Spelling List section of lessons when given a dictation sentence using the Spelling List worksheet. This opportunity occurs every five lessons until Lesson 36. Students do not have the opportunity to write every Grade 1 sight word in a dictated sentence. The Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet is the student-friendly reference material in the program. Lesson 2 introduces the Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet. Lesson 12 introduces the Sight Words section of the booklet. The teacher does not explicitly instruct on how to use this section of the booklet after Lesson 12.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read grade-level high-frequency words in a sentence.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 17, Application and Continual Review, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, page 8, the teacher writes the sentence “Is his hat off?” on the board. After pointing out the beginning capital letter and the question mark, the teacher reads the sentence with expression as the teacher points to the words. Students chorally re-read the sentence. The words off, his, and is are high-frequency words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 22, Application and Continual Review, Boardwork, page 7, the teacher writes two sentences on the board and selects individual students to read the sentences. Two sentences include the word color, and one sentence includes the words who and the.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 74, Application and Continual Review, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, page 6, Decodable Reader 26, a student reads the title aloud. Students independently read page 1. The teacher selects students to read pages 2-6 aloud. The teacher is to finish reading the book with the students. There are no instructions on how to read it aloud. The lesson follows with Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, page 7. The teacher writes sentences on the board: “Thunder cracks and booms! Rain fills the ponds and lakes. Will this storm be short or long?” The teacher selects students to read the sentences aloud. After discussing the ending punctuation, students read their Decodable Reader independently.
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. However, not all sight words are practiced.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 76, Application and Continual Review, Spelling List, page 5, students write a dictation sentence using Spelling List 13. The dictation sentence includes the word goes, which is specific to Grade 1.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 81, Application and Continual Review, Spelling List, page 7, the teacher dictates three sentences: “My little dog likes to nap with me. He snores and cuddles on my lap. After he wakes up, he wants to run.” Sight words include to, want, and, on, he, me, run, with, like, little, my, after.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 91, Application and Continual Review, Spelling List, page 5, students use Worksheet 91 to write these dictated sentences: “1. Six friends came to my slumber party. 2. We stayed up until three. 3. Mom made plum tarts for us. 4. The sweet crust was tender and good.”
Materials provide some 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).
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Instructional Overview, page 22, each student receives a Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet to use as an at-desk resource. The booklet is divided into four sections. The first is a spelling dictionary, an alphabetized list of words frequently used for writing or spelling activities. The booklet’s remaining three sections contain a list of irregular spelling words organized by sound; a pronunciation guide with an alphabetized sight word list and information from the Numbers and Colors Posters; and the vowel, spelling, and syllable division rules. Students use their booklets at any time, even during spelling tests and assessments.
Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 12, New Increment, page 4, it includes the Sight Words section of the Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet. Lesson 12 is the first lesson that asks students to reference this section of the booklet. The teacher asks students to turn to page 31 of the booklet to look at the list of sight words and place a checkmark next to the word the because it is the sight word in the lesson.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 104, New Increment: Digraph oa, page 4, the lesson ends with a note for the teacher stating that if time permits, students should examine the list of irregular spelling words in the Student Spelling Dictionary and Reference Booklet. Words spelled with the digraph oa are on page 22. The teacher says, “A few words use digraph oe to spell the /ō/ sound. This digraph isn’t used very often, but if you’ve looked everywhere else for a word that says /o¯/ in the final position, try checking here.”
Indicator 1M
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1m.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials contain some explicit instruction of word analysis strategies. Some lessons introduce a skill, explicitly teach the skill using one example, and then ask students to apply the skill. There is limited explicit instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words. For decoding unfamiliar words, the teacher states the unfamiliar word before writing it. Therefore students do not have the opportunity to apply word analysis strategies to decode unfamiliar words. Students have multiple and varied opportunities over the course of the year to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies during Boardwork, Worksheets, and Decodable Readers and other Application and Continual Review activities or Warm-Up activities.
Materials contain some explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis).
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 28, New Increment: Digraph ck, page 3, the teacher states the words track, block, and click and asks students to echo the words. The teacher asks students to pronounce the sound in the final position of the words. The teacher writes pack, rock, and stick on the board, asks students to identify the number of sounds and letters in the first word, and defines digraphs. The teacher asks students which letters represent the /k/ sound in the words on the board and codes the digraphs by underlining them.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 81, New Increment, page 3, the teacher asks students to echo the words wafer and gravy before identifying the common vowel sound. The teacher writes both words on the board and codes the word wafer following the VCV division rule. The teacher asks one student to read the word, asks another student to use the word in a sentence, then shows Syllable Division Wall Card 3 to reinforce the rule. The teacher repeats the coding and syllable division process with the word gravy.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 128, New Increment: Prefix un–, students echo the words unhappy, unfold, and unzip and tell what they hear at the beginning of the words. The teacher writes the words on the board, asks what the words have in common, and invites students to connect to prior learning of suffixes. The teacher says, “The letters ‘un’ are called a ‘prefix.’ Prefixes are similar to suffixes, except they’re added to the beginning of words. In fact, ‘pre’ means ‘before,’ so ‘prefixes’ are simply letters that come before the root words and change their meanings. What do you think the prefix un– means?” After discussing the meaning, the teacher shows students how to code prefixes with a box and code the remaining vowels, consonants, and accents. The teacher selects students to use the words in sentences.
Materials contain limited explicit instruction of word solving strategies to decode unfamiliar words.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 31, New Increment: Digraph th, the teacher instructs students to underline the th blend and cross it off because it is voiced and code the vowel this, than, throb, thrill.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 41, New Increment, page 3, the teacher says and asks students to echo the words sale, cane, and gate. The teacher asks students to pronounce the medial vowel sound in words before engaging two students in the Sneaky E skit. Next, the teacher writes the words sale, cane, and gate on the board and models coding the word sale with the Sneaky E. The teacher selects students to help them code the remaining words and uses Vowel Rule Wall Card 3 to reinforce Sneaky E.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 78, New Increment, page 3, the teacher asks students to echo the words cent, circus, and cycle, then identify and pronounce the sound that is the same in each word. The teacher writes the words on the board, asks students to identify the letter representing the /s/ sound, and codes each word. The teacher uses Spelling Rule Wall Card 1 to reinforce the coding rule before asking individual students to read cent, circus, and cycle, then use them in a sentence.
Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 33, Spelling Review, page 2, students play bingo using Activity Sheet 33 to practice phoneme/grapheme recognition.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 52, Decodable Reader, page 8, students apply word analysis strategies to Decodable Reader 17. Students independently read selected pages from the reader before the teacher asks comprehension questions.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 121, Application and Continual Review, page 5, Boardwork, students use Worksheet 121 to code the words in response to questions posed by the teacher: “Do you see any suffixes? [suffix –y, suffix –ing] What about final, stable syllables? [–tle] Do you see any digraphs? [ee, ai, ch, ea, oo, ck, ue, ie] Trigraphs? [dge] Combinations? [wh, ir] Diphthongs? [no] Any other obvious coding we haven’t talked about? [silent e] Do you see any compound words? [gluestick, whirlpool, wheelchair].”
Criterion 1.5: Decoding Accuracy, Decoding Automaticity and Fluency
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 Grade 1 Saxon materials provide some decoding opportunities for students to practice automaticity and accuracy when students read Decodable Readers or participate in the Daily Letter and Sound Review section of the lessons. The materials do not contain explicit instruction in the core materials for fluency. Optional materials address rate, accuracy, and expression. The materials do not contain opportunities for students to engage in fluency practice. There are no materials for explicitly teaching students to self-correct or confirm.
Indicator 1N
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 partially meet the criteria for 1n. (K-1)
In the Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials, there is no evidence in the primary materials or optional Fluency Readers that systematically and/or explicitly focus on accuracy and automaticity in decoding words in a text. The Fluency Instruction manual in Volume 1 provides a script for the teacher to use to model fluent reading; however, the manual and the lessons do not indicate when the teacher should use the script. Lessons limit modeling to the Fluency Reader: Print Awareness section of lessons focusing on expression. According to the materials, the Fluency Practice section of lessons is optional. Students have the opportunity to engage in practice focused on accuracy and automaticity during the Daily Letter and Sound Review section of lessons when the teacher presents the Review Deck Cards. Students have opportunities to reread Decodable Readers and optional Fluency Readers, but no information is provided to the teacher to focus on accuracy or automaticity, nor are strategies supplied for them to utilize should they choose to focus on fluency with the Decodable Readers.
Materials do not provide systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Instructional Overview, page 9, Reading Fluency is addressed only through Fluency Readers and Fluency Masters. The Instructional Overview notes: “The Fluency Instruction booklet guides teaching fluency, including modeling fluent reading, guiding children through repeated readings, and providing opportunities for independent reading. Finally, tips for at-home support are provided.” Fluency instruction is optional.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Fluency Instruction, Modeling Fluent Reading, page 12, provides an example of a script for the teacher to use to model fluent reading.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 72, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, the teacher writes sentences on the board: “Terry jumped off the bench. ‘I still say ants have charm,’ she said.” The teacher reads the sentences aloud with the students and highlights quotation marks and commas.
Materials provide opportunities for students in Kindergarten and Grade 1 to engage in decoding practice. However, the opportunities are not focused on accuracy and automaticity.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 19, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, students read pages 1-3 of Decodable Reader 4.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 32, Application and Continual Review, page 9, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, the teacher selects a student to read the title. The directions say, “have children read pages 1-3”. It is unclear if this is independently, chorally, or selected students. The teacher selects students to read pages 4-5 and then the book is finished by reading together. Then, students read the book independently.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 89, Lesson Warm-Up, Daily Letter and Sound Review, page 2, the teacher quickly reviews the active Letter, Affix, Picture, and Sight Word Decks.
Indicator 1O
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria for 1o. (Grades 1-2)
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials do not provide frequent opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in all fluency elements using grade-level text in the materials. There are opportunities for reading with expression in the optional Fluency Practice materials. However, there are minimal opportunities in the Decodable Readers and some boardwork but only with selected sentences. The materials sometimes provide explicit instruction for the fluency element of accuracy by coding selected sentences before reading, but no strategies are noted for what students should do when they encounter an unfamiliar word when reading independently. There is no evidence of instruction addressing the reading rate. The Saxon Phonics and Spelling ©2022 correlated to the Common Core State Standards Initiative for English Language Arts (2010) document provided with the materials only lists the optional fluency reader materials for accuracy, rate, and expression (RF.1.4.B). The teacher sometimes reads aloud a few pages to students from Decodable Texts and, at times, the teacher reads one or two sentences written on the board for students to echo. There is no evidence that the teacher fluently reads an entire book, passage, or poem to students in the materials.
Materials do not include frequent opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements using grade-level text.
Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 109, Application and Continual Review, page 7, Decodable Reader: Print Awareness, these sentences are written on the board: “The gerbil cage is open! Phil runs out and goes away. But where will Phil go?” The teacher points to the exclamation point and asks what it is called and how voices sound when they read a sentence with an exclamation point [excited]. This is repeated for the period and question marks, but no suggested student responses are included.
Materials do not provide frequent opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of a grade-level text.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 17, Decodable Readers: Print Awareness, page 8, the lesson instructs the teacher to model reading one sentence from Decodable Reader 3. The sentence ends with a question mark. The teacher reads the sentence once to model reading with a question mark then asks students to read the question together.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 24, Application and Continual Review, page 9, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, students read pages 1-3 (no indication of whether this is silently or aloud). Selected students read pages 4-5, the class reads together to the end. Print Awareness follows. After completing the Print Awareness lesson on quotation marks, students read the story independently and color the pictures.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Fluency Instruction, pages 12 and 14, Modeling Fluent Reading, provides the teacher with an example of excerpts for reading fluently. An example is: “Look at the first sentence. Did you notice how I read the question that Simon asks? We know he asks a question because there is a question mark.” The teacher points to the question mark. “When we ask a question, our voices go up at the end. Listen to how I make my voice go up at the end of the question.” The teacher rereads the question, pointing to the words and question mark. “Now it’s your turn to read the question in the same way.” Students read the question expressively as the teacher points to the words and question mark. “Good! Now I’ll read the entire sentence, ending with ‘asked Simon.’ These two words are part of the sentence and are said together quickly.” The teacher rereads the sentence expressively as they point to the words. “Now read the entire sentence with me.” Fluency instruction is optional.
Materials do not include a variety of resources for explicit instruction in fluency. Fluency materials are optional.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Instructional Overview, page 9, Reading Fluency is addressed only through the optional Fluency Readers and Fluency Masters. The Instructional Overview notes: “In addition, the Fluency Instruction booklet provides guidance for teaching fluency, including modeling fluent reading, guiding children through repeated readings, and providing opportunities for independent reading. Finally, tips for at-home support are provided.” Fluency instruction is optional.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Fluency Instruction, page 7, Using the Fluency Word Lists and Passages, instructions note: “The blackline-master format allows you to make as many copies as necessary for use in a variety of ways: • one-on-one or group instruction guided by the teacher in using text clues to practice fluency • partner or small-group reading (timed or untimed) • paired activities in which more experienced readers mentor less experienced readers • at-home practice that also fosters parental involvement.”
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 do not meet the criteria for 1p.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Instructional Overview, notes that Reading Fluency is addressed only through the optional Fluency Readers and Fluency Masters. While students can participate in repeated readings of grade-level text through the Decodable Readers, the materials do not include practicing oral reading fluency as a goal of the repeated readings. Although the materials suggest the teacher provide guidance and feedback to support students’ gains in oral reading fluency, the materials only give the teacher two examples of feedback. Both examples are in the Echo Reading section of the Fluency Instruction Booklet, and both examples are related to reading with expression.
Varied, frequent opportunities are not provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to gain oral reading fluency.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Fluency Instruction, page 5, there is a description of the purpose of Fluency Readers, Fluency Word Lists, and Fluency Passages. The Fluency Practice section of lessons is optional.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 17, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, Reminder, page 9, the lesson instructs the teacher to have students keep the Decodable Reader at school for additional practice. The lesson does not specify the purpose of reading for additional practice.
Materials do not contain opportunities for students to participate in repeated readings of a grade-level text to practice oral reading fluency.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Fluency Instruction, Repeated Oral Readings, page 14, there is a script for Echo Reading, Choral Reading, Recording-Assisted Reading, Partner Reading, and Reader’s Theater. These scripts connect to the Fluency Readers in the Fluency Practice (optional).
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 12, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, page 9, the lesson instructs the teacher to have students keep Decodable Reader 1 at school for additional practice. The lesson does not specify the purpose of reading for additional practice.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 107, Application and Continual Review, page 7, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, students read Decodable Reader 39, independently and then answer oral comprehension questions. During the Print Awareness section, the teacher reviews the period and exclamation point by having students read the second and fourth sentences and discuss the punctuation. There is a reminder to keep the reader at school for practice and send it home when it can be read easily. There is no indication that the independent reading is done orally.
Materials include minimal guidance and feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Fluency Instruction, Repeated Oral Readings, page 14, the manual suggests a teacher provide guidance and feedback to students, so repeated readings are effective.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Fluency Instruction, Echo Reading, page 14, the manual provides two feedback examples. Both examples are related to reading with expression.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Instructional Overview, pages 19-20, Monitoring Oral Reading, it is noted: “Teachers can monitor children’s fluency development by frequently observing their reading of the fluency readers and other texts. In addition, Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 provides two kinds of blackline masters—fluency word lists and fluency passages—that may be photocopied and used for further practice.” Note that the fluency word lists and passages are not part of the core curriculum.
Indicator 1Q
The materials reviewed for Grade 1 do not meet the criteria for 1q.
The Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1 materials provide some lessons for the teacher to confirm and self-correct errors in words written on the board, but lessons about confirming and self-correcting are not in fluency practice with a text. While there are notes in the margins of some lessons instructing the teacher to encourage students to self-correct and self-monitor, the materials offer limited teacher explicit modeling. The materials provide opportunities for students to practice reading on-level texts with repetitions of the Decodable Readers and optional Fluency Readers, but there is nothing in the lessons to support using confirmation or self-correction of errors if they are encountered. Lessons are included for reading Decodable Readers for understanding but not purpose.
Materials do not 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 Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 114, New Increment: The Rule v/cv´ with e, i, o, u, pages 4-5, the class codes the word event with short /e/ and the first syllable accented (ev’ ent). The teacher asks: “Does ‘ev´ent’ sound right? What’s the other way we learned to divide a ‘vcv’ word?” The teacher recodes the word correctly and says, “Now this e is open and unaccented, but it will still be long. The letters e, o, and u can be long even when they are not accented, as long as they are in open syllables. These letters may also make /schwa/ sounds in open, unaccented syllables. Always try the long sound first, though.” There is a note for the teacher in the margin. “Encourage children to self-monitor and, if necessary, to self-correct by trying both long and /schwa/ vowel sounds in open, unaccented syllables.”
Materials provide limited opportunities for students to practice using confirmation or self-correction of errors.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 31, New Increment: Digraph th, page 4, the lesson discusses the voiced and unvoiced sounds of digraph th. There is a note in the margin for the teacher: “Encourage children to self-monitor and, if necessary, to self-correct by trying both sounds of digraph th.”
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 39, New Increment, page 4, the lesson tells the teacher to ensure students self-correct when coding accented syllables.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 87, New Increment, page 6, the lesson tells the teacher to ensure students self-monitor and self-correct when they encounter digraph ea. This note is in the margin of the lesson, and it is unclear how the teacher supports students to self-monitor and self-correct for digraph ea.
Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to read on-level texts (Grades 1-2) understanding. However, lessons do not emphasize purpose.
Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 1, Lesson 19, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, students read pages 1-3 and then answer the following understanding questions: “What fell on the grass? How can you tell that Frog likes the fig? Who tells Frog to get a rod? How do we know who said, ‘Go into your log’?” The lesson does not set a purpose for reading.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 72, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, students read the text independently and then answer, “What kind of bugs are on Terry’s lunch bag? Why isn’t Terry upset that the ants are on her lunch bag? Why does Terry think that ants are amazing? Where did the ant trail start?” The lesson does not set a purpose for reading.
In Saxon Phonics and Spelling 1, Teacher’s Manual, Volume 2, Lesson 82, Application and Continual Review, page 9, Decodable Reader: Understanding the Story, page 7, the teacher selects a student to read the title. Students read the story independently. The teacher asks the five comprehension questions that the class answers orally: “What does an acorn grow to be? Do all plants need a lot of rain to grow? Do most plants need dirt? Explain. How does a Venus’s-flytrap get its food? How are plants the same and different?” In the Decodable Reader, there are also different Understanding the Story questions at the end of the story to be read by a teacher or parent.
Overview of Gateway 2
Implementation, Support Materials & Assessment
Criterion 2.1: Guidance for Implementation, Including Scope and Sequence
Indicator 2A
Indicator 2B
Indicator 2C
Indicator 2D
Indicator 2D.i
Scope and sequence clearly delineate the sequence in which phonological awareness skills are to be taught, with a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy of phonemic awareness competence. (K-1)
Indicator 2D.ii
Scope and sequence clearly delineate an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence.
Indicator 2E
Criterion 2.2: Decodable Texts
Indicator 2F
Indicator 2F.i
Indicator 2F.ii
Criterion 2.3: Assessment and Differentiation
Indicator 2G
Indicator 2G.i
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress through mastery of print concepts (K-1), letter recognition (K only), and printing letters (as indicated by the program scope and sequence) (K-1).
Indicator 2G.ii
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonological awareness (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-1)
Indicator 2G.iii
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics in- and out-of-context (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
Indicator 2G.iv
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
Indicator 2G.v
Indicator 2H
Indicator 2I
Differentiation for Instruction: Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding grade-level standards.
Indicator 2I.i
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
Indicator 2I.ii
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade-level with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
Indicator 2I.iii
Materials regularly provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade-level.