The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the expectations for materials supporting students’ literacy skills (comprehension) over the course of the school year through increasingly complex text to develop independence of grade level skills (leveled readers and series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels).

Each Theme has a separate skills focus. In Volume 1, the text complexity of student texts is appropriate for the beginning of the school year. Students focus on the skills of making predictions and characters. Students hear a Read Aloud Big Book connected to the theme, read and discuss the Library Book selection, and then a Read Aloud Anthology selection. In each selection, the focus skills of the theme are discussed. In Volume 3, the text complexity is appropriate for mid-year Kindergarten. Students focus on the skills of details, drawing conclusions, and setting. Students hear a Read Aloud Big Book connected to the theme, read and discuss the Library Book selection, and then a Read Aloud Anthology selection. In each selection, the focus skills of the theme are discussed. In Volume 5 the text complexity of student texts are appropriate for the end of Kindergarten. Students focus on the review skills of main idea, details, and drawing conclusions. Students hear a Read Aloud Big Book connected to the theme, read and discuss the Library Book selection, and then a Read Aloud Anthology selection. In each selection the focus skills of the theme are discussed. Focus skills are not revisited during the year. Though questions and practice become more complex through each individual theme, there is not a clear progression of the focus skills as they become more complex over the course of the school year.

The materials partially support students' ability to read increasingly complex texts across the school year with appropriate support from the teacher according to the quantitative and qualitative measures. However, two days of guidance and scaffolded support from the teacher is suggested regardless of the complexity of the main selection text. Although scaffolded activities are provided throughout the materials, every text is allocated the same amount of time for reading and analysis. More complex texts may not get more instructional time focused on understanding and analyzing them since there are fixed routines in place every week for close reading and rereading.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria that anchor and supporting texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a broad range of text types and disciplines as well as a volume of reading to achieve grade level reading proficiency.

In each lesson, students interact with a getting started story, a read-aloud, a whole-group vocabulary selection, an anchor text, paired text read, big books, decodable books, and a self-selected text read during center work. Leveled readers are provided for small-group, differentiated work.

There are opportunities for students to read a range and volume of texts. The materials provide some experiences with independent reading. Teacher materials lack explicit directions to help students build their skills to read on grade level independently by the end of the year, and weekly lessons have minimal time dedicated to students reading independently.

Reading Adventure Magazine is used for supplemental lessons to extend the Common Core. Additional texts related to the themes are provided as leveled reading selections. These selections are suggested in the Resources section of the Teacher Edition.

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

Over the course of a year, students receive phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and phonics instruction in each theme. Lessons within each theme include a five-day focus with systematic and explicit instruction. Students are engaged in a variety of activities that allow them to interact the instruction of phonemic awareness and phonics. Multimodal examples of instruction include segmenting and blending activities using manipulatives and cards to sound out letters and sounds. Additional activities allow students to make new words by substituting and deleting letters. While most phonemic awareness and phonics standards are addressed in the instructional materials, the materials do not include the opportunity for students to learn long vowel sounds with common spellings.

Students have frequent and adequate opportunities to learn and understand phonemes (e.g. produce rhyming words, segment syllables, blend onsets and rimes, pronounce vowels in CVC words, and substitute sounds to make new words). For example:

• In Theme 1, Lesson 3, Day 3, students learn syllable segmentation and deletion. The teacher reviews how to break a word into syllables and provides an example: “Building. Say the word with me. Now let’s say the parts of the word, build-ing.” In Practice/Apply, students repeat words after the teacher and break each word its word parts. Then students say the word without one of parts such as sunny (sun-ny) and sun.
• In Theme 2, Lesson 5, Day 1, Word Work, students learn to recognize rhyming words. “I am going to say two words: friend, bend. I hear the same sounds at the end of each word-/end/. That’s how I know that the word rhyme.” During Practice/Apply, students listen to the teacher say two words, and students raise their hands if the two words rhyme. Examples of pairs of words are: dig/pig, try/pie, get/bet, sound/club.
• In Theme 3, Lesson 7, Day 4, Spiral Review, students are reminded that words are made of word parts. “Here are the parts of a word: pa-per. The word has two word parts. Now I am going to blend the word parts together to say the word: paper.” The students count syllables and blend the syllables together.
• In Theme 3, Lesson 8, Day 4, Word Work, students learn to blend onset and rime. The teacher informs students that they will play a game. The teacher will say two parts and students will blend the parts together. “I am thinking of a word. It begins with /d/. It ends with /ot/. What is the word?” During Practice/Apply, students play the game with various onset and rimes: /j/-/am, /r/-ug, and /t/-ed.
• In Theme 4, Lesson 10, Day 1, Word Work, students name the sound they hear at the beginning of words. In Theme 4, Lesson 11, Day 1, Word Work, students name the sound they hear at the end of words. In Theme 4, Lesson 12, Day 1, Word Work, students name the sound they hear in the middle of words.
• In Theme 6, Lesson 16, Day 4, Word Word, students identify the final phoneme in words. The teacher states three words such as leg, hop, dig. Students tell which sound is the same and name the sound.
• In Theme 7, Lesson 21, Day 5, Word Work, students learn to blending phonemes through a teacher-led rhyme. The teacher states, “Say these sounds 1, 2, 3, Then blend the sounds you hear for me: /n/ /e/ /t/. What is the word?” Students use this rhyme to blend bud, tin, sad, cot, red, nut, him, mop, cat.
• In Theme 9, Lesson 27, Day 1, Word Work, students learn to substitute initial sounds in words. In Teach/Model, the teacher says, “Fan. I can change the /f/ in fan to /t/. The new word is tan.” In Practice/Apply, students orally change initial sounds in nine different words such as “Say run. Now change the /r/ to /s/.”

Lessons and activities provide students adequate opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills while decoding words (e.g. one-to-one correspondences, and distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying sounds of the letters). However, materials do not include instruction in long vowel sounds with the common spelling. For example:

• In Theme 1, Lesson 1, Day 2, Word Work, students learn Mm and how it relates to /m/. The teacher starts with a phonemic awareness activity that includes stating milk and map. Students repeat the words. Students are directed to say /m/ several times. In Teach/Model, the teacher displays the Spelling/Sound Card Mm and states, “What is the name of of this letter? The letter m can stand for the /m/ sound, the sound at the beginning of mat. Say /m/.” The teacher plays the /m/ from the Sounds of Letters CD. Students repeat a rhyme that contains /m/ words.
• In Theme 2, Lesson 4, Day 4, Word Work, students learn Pp and how it relates to /p/. The teacher starts with a phonemic awareness activity that includes stating picture and park. Students repeat the words. Students are directed to say /p/ several times. In Teach/Model, the teacher displays the Spelling/Sound Card Pp and states, “What is the name of this letter? The letter p stands for /p/, the sound at the beginning of pear. Say /p/.” The teacher plays /p/ from the Sounds of Letters CD. Students repeat a rhyme that contains Pp words.
• In Theme 2, Lesson 6, Day 2, Word Work, students learn a and /a/. In Teach/Model, students learn that the letter Aa says the short /a/. In Theme 4, Lesson 10, Day 2, Word Work, students learn that the letter Ii says the short /i/. In Theme 5, Lesson 15, Day 2, Word Work, students learn that the letter Oo says the short /o/. In Theme 7, Lesson 20, Day 2, Word Word, students learn that the letter Ee says the short /e/. In Theme 9, Lesson 25, Day 2, Word Work, students learn that the letter Uu says the short /u/.
  • Example of a lesson: In Theme 9, Lesson 25, Day 2, Word Work, students learn Uu and how it relates to /u/. The teacher starts with a phonemic awareness activity that includes stating up and under. Students repeat the words. Students are directed to say /u/ several times. In Teach/Model, the teacher displays the Spelling/Sound Card Uu and states, “What is the name of of this letter? The letter u can stand for the /u/ sound, the sound at the beginning of umbrella. Say /u/.” Students learn to discriminate the sound and learn that /u/ can be in the middle of words.
• In Theme 4, Lesson 10, Day 2, Word Work, students learn Ii and how it relates to short /i/. The teacher starts with a phonemic activity that includes stating itch and in. Students repeat the words. Students are directed to say /i/ several times. In Teach/Model, the teacher displays the Spelling/Sound Card Ii and states, “ What is the name of this letter? The letter i can sometimes stand for the /i/ sound, the sound at the beginning of igloo. Say /i/.” The teacher states words and if a word begins with /i/, students are to hold up their letter card i to show that the word begins with /i/.
• In Theme 6, Lesson 16, Day 2, Word Work, students learn Ll and how it relates to /l/. The teacher starts with a phonemic awareness activity that includes stating lock and lunch. Students repeat the words. Students are directed to say /l/ several times. In Teach/Model, the teacher displays the Spelling/Sound Card Ll and states, “What is the name of of this letter? The letter l can stand for the /l/ sound, the sound at the beginning of lemon. Say /l/.” The teacher says words and if a word begins with /l/, students are to hold up their letter card l to show that the word begins with /l/.
• In Theme 7, Lesson 19, Day 2, Word Work, students learn to understand that as letters in words change, the sounds of the letters change. In Review, the teacher models word building and states, “I made the word mop with m, o, and p. Now if I take away the m and put h in its place, I have made the word hop. Blend the sounds with me, /h/ /o/ /p/, hop.” In Practice/Apply, students practice changing out letters in their Word Builder starting with hop.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction to build toward application. For example:

• In Theme 1, in Lessons 1-3, the phonemic awareness focus includes: segmenting words into a sentence, syllable blending, syllable segmentation and deletion.
• In Theme 2, in Lessons 4-6, the phonemic awareness focus includes: word segmentation, syllable blending, syllable segmentation, rhyming words, alliteration.
• In Theme 3, in Lessons 7-9, the phonemic awareness focus includes: review rhyme recognition and production, onset/rime blending, and a review of onset/rime blending.
• In Theme 4, in Lessons 10-12, the phonemic awareness focus includes: phoneme isolation of initial sound, final sound and medial sound.
• In Theme 5, in Lessons 13-15, the phonemic awareness focus includes: a review of phoneme isolation for initial, medial, and final, phoneme identity for initial and phoneme categorization for initial.
• In Theme 6, in Lessons 16-18, the phonemic awareness focus includes: phoneme identity for final, phoneme categorization for final, phoneme identity for medial.
• In Theme 7, in Lessons 19-21, the phonemic awareness focus includes: phoneme categorization for medial, review of phoneme isolation and identity, phoneme blending.
• In Theme 8, in Lessons 22-24, the phonemic awareness focus includes: phoneme blending, phoneme segmentation.
• In Theme 9, in Lessons 25-27, the phonemic awareness focus includes: a review of phoneme isolation and identity, phoneme deletion and phoneme substitution.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonics instruction to build toward application. As students learn phonemes and graphemes, students have opportunities to apply their learning in decodables and independent tasks. For example:

• In Theme 1, in Lessons 1-3, students relate letters to sound for Mm, Ss, Rr, Tt.
• In Theme 2, in Lessons 4-6, students relate letters to sound for Nn, Pp, Cc, and Aa.
• In Theme 3, in Lessons 7-9, students relate Dd to /d/, and participate in word building with -am, -at, -an and -ap.
• In Theme 4, in Lessons 10-12, students relate letters to sound for Ii, Gg, Ff, and participate in word building with -it, -ip.
• In Theme 5, in Lessons 13-15, students relate letters to sound for Bb, Kk, Oo and participate in word blending and word building with -in and -ig.
• In Theme 6, in Lessons 16-18, students relate letters to sound for Ll, Hh, Ww, Xx and participate in word blending and word building for -ot and -op.
• In Theme 7, in Lessons 19-21, students relate Ee to /e/ and participate in word building with -ox, -ix, -ed, and -en.
• In Theme 8, in Lessons 22-24, students relate letters to sound for Vv, Jj, Yy and Zz and participate in word building for -et and -eg.
• In Theme 9, in Lessons 25-27, students relate letters to sound for Uu, Qq and participate in word building with -un and -ut.
• In Theme 10, in Lesson 28, students participate in -ug and -up.

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

In each theme of the instructional materials, students participate in identifying alphabetic letters and practice writing these letters. Concepts About Print include recognizing letters versus words, the title of a book, front cover, back cover, author and illustrator. Directionality is covered through modeled tracking of print by the teacher. While the teacher models how to follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page, students do not get to practice attempting to track print. Additionally, opportunities are missed for instructional materials to include precise wording such as directionality. The recognition of spoken words as represented in written language in a specific sequence of letters is not taught explicitly and thoroughly.

Materials include lessons and activities for students to learn how to identify and produce letters. For example:

• In Theme 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, Handwriting, the teacher shows students how to make M and m. The teacher uses ‘Letter Talk’ while tracing the uppercase M. The teacher does the same with the lowercase m. Students learn to make D’Nealian handwriting. Students finger-write the letter, write the letter on Write-on/Wipe-off Boards and write the letters on drawing paper.
• In Theme 5, Lesson 13, Day 3, Handwriting, the teacher shows an uppercase and lowercase k on the board. The teacher asks: “What is the name of this letter?” The teacher uses ‘Letter Talk’ while writing Kk. Students finger-write the uppercase K in the air as the teacher repeats the Letter Talk. The process is repeated for lowercase k. Students then print Kk. The teacher has them identify the uppercase K and the lowercase k on the page.

Materials include tasks and questions about the organization of print concepts (e.g. follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing, upper- and lowercase letters). However, materials do not provide opportunities for all students to practice tracking print. For example:

• In Theme 1, Lesson 1, Day 1, Skills and Comprehension, students hear and see the teacher model fluent reading of From Head to Toe while the teacher tracks the print from left to right and top to bottom.

• In Theme 1, Lesson 2, Day 2, Read and Respond, the teacher is to show students that written words are separated by spaces. Students are to point out the spaces between words in the Big Book.
• In Theme 2, Lesson 5, Day 1, there is a focus on Print Awareness with the text, Bee-bim Bop!. The teachers reads the refrain “Hungry hungry hungry for some BEE-BIM BOP!” and the students repeat the refrain. The teacher tracks the print on the page as the class reads the same words aloud.
• In Theme 5, Lesson 13, Day 1, the teacher reads aloud the questions from the Modeled Writing task. The teacher does the tracking of the print. The children identify uppercase and lowercase letters.
• In Theme 10, Lesson 28, Day 3, the lesson contains Focus on Print Awareness. The teacher is to remind students that spaces between words helps know where a word ends and where another word begins. The teacher displays The Kite Festival and has volunteers point to a word and a space between words.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials supporting ongoing and frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills, including a clear and specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments will be supported.

In Grade K, there are Benchmark Assessments that are administered three times a year. Theme tests are available at the end of each theme to assess students’ mastery of the standards they have been taught. There are reteach lessons contained in the Small Group Instruction section of the Teacher’s Manual that give instructional options for students Below-Level, On-Level and Advanced. Theme Tests assess phonemic awareness, phonics, and high-frequency words. There are specific resources that teachers are directed to use based on students results on these assessments that are in addition to the core instruction. The resources are for students that perform in the Below-Level, On-Level and Advanced category based on the Theme Test. Materials provide teachers and students with information of students’ current skills/level of understanding.

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of foundational skills.

• In Theme 3/4, page A1 under the assessment tab, it explains that there are benchmark assessments that are administered 3 times a year. Theme tests are administered at the end of each theme and assess students’ mastery of the standards that have been taught. Monitor Progress notes are available on a daily basis to help the teacher check for understanding and reteach or extend instruction.
• In Assessment Tab, page A2, Theme 3 Test assesses phonemic awareness, phonics and the high-frequency words from the theme.
• Phonemic awareness: rhyming words, blend onset and rimes
• Phonics: short vowel /a/a and phonograms -am, -at,-ap, -an, /d/d
• High-frequency words: to, like, he

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information of students’ current skills/level of understanding. The materials contain the following sentence: “To determine whether children need even more support, use your district-approved diagnostic and screening assessments.” The materials do not contain complete diagnostic and screening assessments to help teacher know students’ current levels.

Materials support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in foundational skills.

• In Grade K, Theme 4, Lesson 20 in the Small-Group Instruction section (follow up lessons based on student performance on the Theme Test), page S8, students identify and isolate the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in groups of words and identify the word that has a different beginning, middle or ending sound. Below Level students identify the sounds at the beginning of yes, time, kite, and more after the teacher models how to listen to and identify the beginning sound in jam. After the teacher models how to listen to and identify the middle and ending sound in a word the students practice this skill as well. On-Level students listen to a group of words. If all the words beginning with the same sound, the students stand up and say the sound. The students follow a similar procedure to listen for and identify the middle sounds in sets of words and the ending sounds in groups of words. Advanced students generate words that begin with the same sound as a given word. A similar procedure is followed for students to generate a word with the same middle sound and then the same ending sound as a give word. Students are also asked to give a word with a different sound than a given word pair has at the beginning, middle or end. If after small-group instruction are unable to isolate and identify the beginning, middle, and ending sounds in words or are unable to discriminate the beginning, middle, and ending sound that is different in a group of words the teacher is directed to provide additional small-group practice with skill using the Strategic Intervention Resource Kit.
• In Theme 4, Small Group Instruction Lesson 20 for High-Frequency Words, S10 in the Small Group Instruction section student read high-frequency words. Below Level students are reintroduced to the words we and want. Students hold up the appropriate cards as they read the sentence frame: We want ______. And students fill in answer orally. On-Level students reinforce the skill by participating in ‘Rapid Word Naming”. Students read we and want as the teacher holds up each of the cards. The teacher randomly displays the word card: we and want, along with other words the students have already learned. The students name each word and then write each word on the board, on chart paper, or in their notebook. Advanced level students ‘Play Concentration’ with the word cards for we, want, see, for, here, you.