Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability: The Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study System | ELA
ELA K-2
This report is for a supplementary foundational skills program intended for use alongside a comprehensive core English Language Arts program.
The Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 materials reviewed partially meet the criteria for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. The instructional materials use an analytic approach to phonics. Materials include a limited scope and sequence that delineates the sequence in which phonological awareness and phonics skills are to be taught. The program does not present a research-based or evidence-based explanation for the teaching of these skills or for the particular hierarchy in which the skills are presented. Materials provide limited instructional support for general concepts of print. Materials provide explicit instruction in phonological awareness and phonics through systematic modeling; however, materials include 26 phonological awareness lessons with limited frequent opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness activities. Materials do not include systematic opportunities for students to review previously learned phonics skills. Materials include limited systematic instruction of high-frequency words and limited opportunities to practice reading of high-frequency words to develop automaticity. The teacher reads aloud poetry from Sing a Song of Poetry; however, materials do not contain resources for frequent explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements and students do not read text with a focus on fluent reading. Decodable texts include poems from Sing a Song of Poetry that do not consistently align to the program’s scope and sequence for phonics and high-frequency word instruction and do not consistently provide practice of the decodable elements from the lesson.
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 2nd Grade
Alignment Summary
The Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 materials reviewed partially meet the criteria for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. Materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling; however, students have limited practice opportunities to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns. Students have limited opportunities to decode phonetically regular words in a sentence and limited opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics. Instructional materials include nine generative lessons for high-frequency words. Materials provide limited practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences). The teacher reads aloud poetry from Sing a Song of Poetry; however, materials do not contain resources for frequent explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements and students do not read text with a focus on fluent reading.
2nd Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1)
Usability (Gateway 2)
Overview of Gateway 1
Alignment to Standards and Research-Based Practices for Foundational Skills Instruction
The Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 materials reviewed partially meet the criteria for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. Materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling; however, students have limited practice opportunities to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns. Students have limited opportunities to decode phonetically regular words in a sentence and limited opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics. Instructional materials include nine generative lessons for high-frequency words. Materials provide limited practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences). The teacher reads aloud poetry from Sing a Song of Poetry; however, materials do not contain resources for frequent explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements and students do not read text with a focus on fluent reading.
Criterion 1.1: Phonics
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonics.
The instructional materials reviewed meet the criteria for materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling; however, students have limited practice opportunities 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. Students have limited opportunities to decode phonetically regular words in a sentence and limited opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics.
Indicator 1F
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling.
The Fountas and Pinnell materials contain lessons which provide the teachers with instruction and repeated modeling of most grade-level phonics standards. Students have practice in listening, speaking, writing and reading the phonics skills they are learning through a variety of activities. The students complete sorts, and the teacher uses magnetic letters during whole group teaching in order for students to get systematic and repeated modeling of the skills.
Materials include explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics standards. For example:
- Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 8, page 108, the teacher shows words with long and short vowels in a pocket chart. The teacher models sorting words.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 18, page 148, the teacher uses a pocket chart to display words with long a, long e, and long o. The teacher explains, “All of the words have the long a sound. In more words, the vowel a and the consonant y together stand for the long a sound.” The teacher also explains vowel situations to get long a and long o.
- Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sounds 6, page 100, the teacher instructs on vowel sounds and students talk about what vowel patterns they notice, such as VCe and vowel teams.
- Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 21, page 392, the teacher explains “The y in cry is changed to i before -es and -ed are added. When a word ends with a consonant and y, usually change the y to i and add the suffix.” The teacher models the new learning on magnetic boards. Students use magnetic letters to form words with suffixes using the idea that y in cry is changed to i before -es is added.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 28, page 420, the teacher shows happy in magnetic letters. The teacher adds the prefix un- to happy. The teacher engages students in a discussion about how un- changes the meaning of the word.
- Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 13, page 360, the teacher builds words with -ed on the magnetic whiteboard. The teacher has students read the words and asks them about what they notice about the ending sounds. The teacher guides students to recognize that -ed sounds like /d/ /ed/ and /t/ depending on the word.
Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade-level phonics pattern. For example:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 8, page 108, students play Concentration and make matches of words with short vowels and long vowels. Students read their matches.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 22, page 164, students learn about the following patterns: ie and ow. Students read aloud the matches they formed in Concentration for a partner to hear.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 2, page 179, students read their list sheets and letter cards or magnetic letters. The other students listen to the students read the list of words that are short vowel one-syllable words.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 15, page 231, students make words with -ay and -old spelling patterns with one-syllable words and then write the list of words that they make on their sort.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 15, page 231, students write words with the following spelling patterns: -ay, -eam, -ight, -old, -ue.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 21, page 393, students make a list of ten sets of words with suffixes -s and -ed. The students say the list to a partner.
Indicator 1G
Materials include daily 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 2 partially meet the criteria for 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 Fountas & Pinnell materials contain opportunities for students to decode letter sounds and phonetically based words during 23 Letter-Sound Relationships lessons, 17 Spelling Patterns lessons, 28 Word Structure lessons, and 16 Word-Solving Actions lessons. Since Letter-Sound Relationships, Spelling Patterns, Word Structure, and Word-Solving Actions lessons do not occur daily, students do not have daily opportunities to practice decoding sounds and spelling patterns. The materials do not contain a deliberate, systematic review of previously introduced grade-level phonics skills.
Examples of materials that include some daily practice opportunities for students to read words based in phonics include but are not limited to the following:
- Lessons provide students with opportunities to decode (phonemes, onset and rime, and/or syllables) phonetically spelled words.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 2, page 85, students play a matching word game with phonetically-based words. One student takes two cards from the deck. Without showing the words, the student reads the cards.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 1, page 175, students read the words they make with -ap, -eg, -ix, -op and -ug words from their sort.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 2, page 317, students work with partners to say and sort word cards according to the number of syllables they contain. A student reads a word and the partner claps the syllable or parts of the word.
- Lessons provide students with opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 6, page 101, students make different words with -eat, -ake, -ike, -ee, -ide, -ight words and practice reading the word list.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns, page 211, students say and sort the word cards on the 4 way sort. After sorting the words, students read the list of words to a partner. The words are -are -ath, -end, -ick and -unk phonograms.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 11, page 353, students select twenty words with -ed. Students take a card, say the word, write the word on the list sheet, and add -ed.
- Lessons provide students with opportunities to decode (phonemes, onset and rime, and/or syllables) words using newly taught grade-level phonics pattern.
- Each of the 100 lessons that comprise Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons book Grade 2, provides opportunities for the students to decode words using the newly taught phonics pattern during either the Apply or Shared Reading sections of the lesson.
- Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons book Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships Lesson 23, pages 167-170, the Apply section has students practice reading words with r-controlled vowels by playing a game called Follow the Path.
- During the Shared Reading section, using poems from the correlated Sing a Song of Poetry book, students identify words from the poem that have an r-influenced vowel. This is followed by reading a Fountas & Pinnell Classroom book selection, Stone Soup: An Old Tale.
Materials do not contain systematic opportunities for students to review previously learned phonics skills. While Generative Lesson plans contain a structure for teachers to present similar content or concepts to teach a variety of spelling patterns, the intention is not for systematic, explicit review phonics skills with a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade-level phonics. For example:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 7, page 103, the generative lesson suggestion is: "A generative lesson has a simple structure that you can use to present similar content and concepts. Use this lesson structure to teach children a variety of long vowel sounds in words with silent e."
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 3, page 319, the generative lesson suggestion is:"A generative lesson has a simple structure that you can use to present similar content and concepts. Use this lesson structure to teach children a variety of words with three or more syllables."
Indicator 1H
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
The Fountas & Pinnell Grade 2 materials provide opportunities for students to read decodable words in sentences when students read poems during Teach and/or Shared Reading. There are some opportunities for students to explicitly and systematically read phonetically regular words during Word-Solving Actions lessons, but this practice is not consistent throughout the 100 lessons.
Materials provide some explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Meaning/Vocabulary 4, page 294, the teacher writes sentences on the board with homophones and the students read the sentences.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 4, the teacher tells students that they will learn how to use what they know about sounds and letters to check their reading. The teacher guides the students in reading a poem called “Two Little Feet” and helps students decode unfamiliar words throughout the poem. Afterwards, the students apply the knowledge they have learned by reading an additional poem and working through unfamiliar words with a partner.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 11, page 466, the teacher displays “The Greedy Man” or a poem from Sing a Song of Poetry. The teacher reads the poem to students. The teacher points to gobbles. The teacher says, “Let’s say that you don’t know this word. What are some ways you can solve this word?”
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words in a sentence based in phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 2, page 180, students read the poem, “Milkman, Milkman.” The poem contains words with short vowels.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 11, page 216, students read the poem, “There was a Young Farmer of Leeds.” Students read words with the following patterns: -eep, -eed, -eet.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 12, page 220, students read the poem, “Good Morning, Merry Sunshine” or “The Moon.” Both poems contain words with oo.
Indicator 1I
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics, including common and newly-taught sounds and sound patterns.
The Fountas & Pinnell materials contain some opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and write words based on phonics patterns. Opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode are provided during Teach and Apply within lessons.
Examples of materials that include regular opportunities for student learning in building/manipulating/spelling and encoding using sound and spelling patterns include but are not limited to the following:
- The materials contain teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 10, page 116, the teacher writes words with ch, sh and th on chart paper. The teacher says the word and the students tell the teacher what column the word goes in.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 1, page 174, the teacher models writing a list of words that end with the same spelling pattern, such as flap, map, snap, tap, and clap.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 3 page 182, the teacher writes the words: hop, cane, kit, can, hope, cub, kite and cube on the whiteboard.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure, 26, page 413, the teacher writes the following words on chart paper: baby, motor, tiny, open, secret. The teacher breaks the words into syllables by saying each word and clapping the number of syllables. The teacher guides students with rewriting the word with a dash to show the syllable division (e.g., ba-by).
- Lessons provide students with some opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words in isolation based in common and newly taught phonics patterns.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 16, page 141, students complete two different sorts based on beginning consonant sounds: a two-way sort of words that begin with c and a three-way sort with words that begin with ch. After sorting words, students write examples of the words.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 1, page 175, students make words by matching word cards with beginning consonants and rime cards with ending spelling patterns. Students write twenty of the words on a list sheet.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 1, students help build double consonant words on a magnetic board. Next, students put together word parts to make a whole word such as dol + lar is dollar. After making a real word with two word parts, students write the word on a list sheet.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, students practice taking apart and putting together words with prefixes. Students write a word in big letters on a word strip. Then students break the word into prefix and base word by cutting up the word into pieces. Students trade cut-up words with a peer and reassemble the words they receive.
Indicator 1J
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials provide application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks. (mid K-Grade 2)
The Fountas & Pinnell materials provide students with limited opportunities to encode phonetically-based words in activities and tasks during Interactive Writing and Independent Writing of Letter-Sound Relationships, Spelling Patterns, and Word-Solving Actions lessons. There are some opportunities to practice encoding phonetically based words during Apply in lessons. There are missed opportunities for the teacher to consistently and explicitly teach and/or model encoding phonics in activities and tasks.
Materials include some explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of teacher modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 7, page 200, during Interactive Writing, the instructions are to “invite children to help you write words that end in -ass, -ell, -ess, -ill, and -uff, or have them use a known word containing one of these patterns to write a new word.” In Independent Writing, the instructions say “when conferring with children, help them spell words by using their knowledge of patterns, such as -ass, -ell, -ess, -ill, and -uff.”
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 13, page 224, during Interactive Writing, the instructions say, “When children want to include a word with the VVC pattern, invite the child to contribute either the beginning letters or the ending spelling pattern.” In Independent Writing, the instructions say to “Draw children’s attention to the VVC words that they have spelled accurately. Encourage children to talk about what they knew and what they did that helped them write the word.”
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 232, the teacher writes a summary of five long-vowel patterns on chart paper for students to review, think, and compare. The teacher begins by writing two or three word endings, -ay, -eam, -ight, -old and -ue. In the Interactive Writing, the teacher guides students to use spelling patterns they know to help them write an unknown word. The teacher is asked to “Revisit completed pieces to search for words containing specific patterns that you are reviewing.”
Lessons provide students with limited 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. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 16, page 236, during Independent Writing, the teacher points out words with -ar, -ark, -arm, -art to help students notice when a word they want to write as a pattern that appears also in another word they know.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Meaning/Vocabulary 6, page 303, during Apply, students select lesson word cards of homographs. Students write and illustrate four pairs of sentences. Some words are phonetically-based.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Meaning/Vocabulary 7, page 307, during Apply, students select four word cards and then write and illustrate a sentence for the meaning of the word. Some words are phonetically-based.
Criterion 1.2: Word Recognition and Word Analysis
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and opportunities to practice reading of high-frequency words to develop automaticity. Instructional materials include nine generative lessons for high-frequency words. Materials provide limited practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences). Materials contain instruction and practice in word analysis strategies during Letter-Sound Relationships, Word Structure, Word Solving Actions, and Spelling Patterns.
Indicator 1K
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and opportunities to practice reading of high-frequency words to develop automaticity.
The Fountas & Pinnell Grade 2 materials contain nine High-Frequency Word Lessons. Since all nine lessons are generative lessons, the materials suggest that the teacher repeat the lesson several times with new words selected by the teacher. The program does not specify an exact sequence of instruction. In the Master Lesson Guide, Lesson #43 (High-Frequency Word Lesson 2), it indicates the goal for Grade 2 is instant recognition of 200 high-frequency words. High-frequency lessons are not frequently addressed over the course of the year with lessons occurring in #42, #43, #44, #45, #46, #64, #65, #66, and #67 of the Master Lesson Guide. Each lesson suggests the use of the Words to Know Instructional Procedure, which contains five steps including explicit instruction by the teacher and opportunities for students to understand the principle.
Examples of materials that include systematic instruction of irregularly spelled words and practice opportunities for students include but are not limited to the following:
- Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of irregularly spelled words.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Words to Know Instructional Routine is described with 5 steps
- 1. Show a group of high-frequency words, reading each one while running your pointer finger under it, left to right.
- 2. Children look at each word to see if they recognize it.
- 3. Help children understand the principle.
- 4. Children work with high-frequency words to apply the principle.
- 5. Summarize the learning by restating the principle.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 7, page 267, the teacher uses letter boxes to help students learn about high-frequency words (moon, name, made, end, every). The teacher says the word, has the students say the word, then draws four letter boxes on paper. The teacher tells students to think about how it looks. The teacher goes letter by letter, saying the sounds to write the word.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 1, page 244, the teacher holds up a word card and modeling for students, “This word is anything. Say anything. What do you notice about the word anything? This word combines two words, any and thing. Let’s use anything in a sentence: I don’t want anything to eat. Now you say the sentence.”
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 9, page 276, the teacher is prompted to select high-frequency words that are challenging. The teacher makes the first word using magnetic letters and then talks to students about what they notice. The teacher writes the word using word boxes.
- Materials include frequent opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of irregularly spelled words in isolation.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 2, High-Frequency Words 3, page 252, the teacher makes a word (become) using magnetic tiles. The teacher does this same procedure with wrong, happy, everything, almost, take, seen, gave, good, enough, begin, does.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 4, page 256, the teacher builds the following words: come, would, there, where using magnetic tiles. The teacher says the word in a sentence.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Grade 2, High-Frequency Word 5, page 260, the teacher places a high-frequency word in the pocket-chart, asks the students to say the word, then asks the students what they notice about the word about (e.g., it has two parts, it has the word out in it, etc.) The teacher demonstrates writing and checking the word, each time enunciating the word and providing an example sentence. No review practice of words introduced here is incorporated into other lessons.
- Students practice identifying and reading irregularly spelled words in isolation.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 5, page 260, the teacher introduces close, how, each, happy, should in isolation during Teach and then students practice reading, making, and writing the words during Apply.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Grade 2, High-Frequency Word 7, pages 267-271, the students are instructed to read the high-frequency word aloud and then use the letter boxes to write the word.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 9, page 277, students are provided copies of the letter boxes sheet and the lesson’s word cards. The first student reads the word out loud and the second student writes the word in the word boxes.
- Materials include a sufficient quantity of new grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words for students to make reading progress.
- There are a total of nine high-frequency lessons in the Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2. There is a high-frequency word list in Ready resources with the 200 words on it. While the teacher is provided a list of high-frequency words, the program does not specify an exact sequence of introduction or exactly how many of the words should be mastered at any specific point in time.
- The Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 book advises teachers to “select some more challenging words that most children in the class do not know, and also include a couple of words that are more familiar to the children.”
Indicator 1L
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials provide frequent practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences).
In the Fountas & Pinnell materials, Grade 2 students have opportunities to hear and read high-frequency words in the context of sentences during Teach and/or Shared Reading of the High-Frequency Word lessons. The teacher models reading poems that contain high-frequency words from Sing a Song of Poetry, and students are encouraged to join the teacher after one or two repetitions. During Interactive Writing, there are various opportunities for students to write high-frequency words out of context in order to check their spelling on the word wall, but there is no systematic practice on writing high-frequency words in sentences. In some of the Independent Writing sections, the teacher encourages students to use the high-frequency words list from their Writing Workshop folders to check the spelling of words when they write independently.
Lessons provide students with some opportunities to read grade level irregularly spelled words in a sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 1, page 246, during Shared Reading, students read the poem, “Cradle Song,” from Sing a Song of Poetry, The students locate high-frequency words while they are reading the text.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 3, page 254, during Shared Reading, students read the poem, “The Secret,” from Sing a Song of Poetry. Students use highlighter tape to locate high-frequency words they’re currently studying.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 5, page 262, during Shared Reading, students read the poem, “My Shadow,” from Sing a Song of Poetry. The students use highlighter tape to highlight high-frequency words.
Lessons provide students with few opportunities to write grade-level irregularly spelled words in tasks (such as sentences) in order to promote automaticity in writing grade-level irregularly spelled words. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 1, during Interactive Writing, students write sentences with the teacher, and the teacher strategically chooses newly learned high-frequency words, while pointing out that these are words that the children have studied.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 1, during Independent Writing, as students are writing, they are encouraged to write high-frequency words quickly rather than copying them from somewhere. Students can use their high-frequency word lists from their Writing Workshop folders to check the spelling.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 5, page 262, during Independent Writing, students write high-frequency words and use their Writing Workshop folders to check spelling.
Materials provide some instruction in how to use student-friendly reference materials and resources and reading irregularly spelled words (e.g., word cards, word lists, word ladders, student dictionaries). One example of this practice is found in Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 1, page 246, during Independent Writing, students write high-frequency words in their sentences and use their Writing Workshop folders with high-frequency words to check for spelling.
Indicator 1M
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials explicitly teach word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis) based on the requirements of the standards and provide frequent practice opportunities for students to apply word analysis strategies.
The Fountas & Pinnell Grade 2 materials contain instruction and practice in word analysis strategies during Letter-Sound Relationships, Word Structure, Word Solving Actions, and Spelling Patterns. The skills introduced are explicitly taught, and students are provided both guided and independent practice activities that include word sorts, games, poems, and other reading selections.
Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g. phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis). Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 1, page 312, the teacher uses magnetic letters to build words with double consonants. The teacher says the words and students clap to tell where the syllables are in the words.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Solving Actions 10, page 462, the teacher displays the word shin with magnetic letters. The teacher asks what the word is and then the teacher removes the digraph sh from the beginning of the word. The teacher talks with students about what they notice. The process is repeated with words: bleach/each, plant/ant, charm/arm.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 25, pages 407-410, there is a generative lesson designed to teach students to recognize and use the suffixes -er,-or, -ar, -ist to form a noun. The teacher writes a list of words in a column (i.e., sing, jog, fly) and then writes the same words with the -er ending. Instructions are to read the words and then the teacher asks, “What do you notice about these words?” The teacher explicitly tells the students that, “You add -er to a word to name a person or thing that does something. When you have the letter y, you sometimes drop the y and add the letter i before adding the ending.”
Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of word solving strategies (graphophonic and syntactic) to decode unfamiliar words. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 1, page 426, the teacher writes the word bush on the chart paper. The word is read for students emphasizing the final sound. The teacher writes a second word ending in -sh. The teacher points out that students have made a connection between the words if they notice that the second word ends in the same letters as bush. Students use this connection to read the second word.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 2, page 430, students are told they are going to learn about the order of letters and sounds to read words. The teacher uses magnetic letters to build the word fast at the top of the magnetic word board. The teacher says the word slowly and students listen for all of the sounds in the words. The students say the sounds, accentuating the four individual sounds. Then students talk about how many sounds were heard in the word. This procedure is repeated for the words felt, land, held.
Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure, page 313, students have a collection of word cards. Each student takes one card, then combines the parts of the word and writes it down. For example, a student gets ten and then another student gets the part nis. The students then draw a horizontal line when they are writing the word where the break in the word is.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 2, page 431, students get a copy of the sound and letter box sheets and a copy of word cards and magnetic letters as a pair. The students say the word together, then one student says the sounds in order while moving the related magnetic letters into the boxes from left to right. The student says the words again blending the sounds.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 5, page 443, students highlight the last part of each word and then sort the words into groups by last parts. The students read the words to partners. The words have -ell, -ow, -ck endings.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 10, page 463, students get 15 - 20 word cards. They choose 10 words and then write them on a pair sheet. They make each word using magnetic letters, removing letters from the beginning or end of the word to make a new word. The new word is written on a sheet of paper.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 8, the teacher reads the word and claps the syllables as they are said. The students identify how many syllables they heard. The teacher cuts the word card into two parts and explains that one is the base and the other is a prefix (i.e., re-, -play). The teacher slides the word together and has the students read the word smoothly. During Apply, the teacher reminds students that each syllable has one vowel sound.
Criterion 1.3: Decoding Accuracy, Decoding Automaticity and Fluency
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 contain some opportunities for students to be explicitly instructed in how to decode with automaticity and accuracy during Teach. The teacher reads aloud poetry from Sing a Song of Poetry; however, materials do not contain resources for frequent explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements and students do not read text with a focus on fluent reading. Materials do not provide teacher guidance to support students as they confirm or self-correct errors and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding.
Indicator 1O
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are built into the materials for systematic, evidence-based, explicit instruction in fluency (Grades 1-2).
The Fountas & Pinnell Grade 2 materials do not contain resources for frequent explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements. Students do have opportunities to hear the teacher read some grade-level text during Shared Reading and Interactive Reading of Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2. The teacher reads aloud poetry from Sing a Song of Poetry.
Materials provide some opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of grade-level text by a model reader. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 1, page 82, students hear the teacher read “My Father Is Extremely Tall” or “Miss Polly Had a Dolly” from Sing a Song of Poetry.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Meaning/Vocabulary 2, page 284, students hear the teacher read the poem, “The House That Jack Built,” “I Like Silver,” or “Seasons” from Sing a Song of Poetry.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 304, students listen to the teacher read the poem, “Clouds” or “ I Live in the City” from Sing a Song of Poetry.
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 2 do not meet the criteria for 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).
In Fountas & Pinnell Grade 2 materials, students do not read text with a focus on fluent reading. While students read aloud poetry with the teacher from Sing a Song of Poetry, the practice is not designed to build students’ skills in rate, accuracy, and expression. Students participate in the reading of poetry to practice decoding automaticity.
Indicator 1Q
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for materials provide teacher guidance to support students as they confirm or self-correct errors and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding.
Materials do not provide students with opportunities to read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
The Fountas & Pinnell Grade 2 materials do not contain explicit lessons for the teacher to teach students how to confirm or self-correct errors; therefore, students do not have opportunities to practice confirming or self-correcting errors. Within the lessons, students read poems from Sing a Song of Poetry, but teachers do not have specific guidance in teaching students to read the poems with purpose and understanding.
Overview of Gateway 2
Implementation, Support Materials & Assessment
The Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 materials reviewed partially meet the criteria for Implementation, Support Materials, and Assesment. Materials contain a teacher edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. Materials partially meet the criteria for scope and sequence clearly delineate the sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear, evidence-based explanation for the sequence of phonics. The program does not present a research-based or evidence-based explanation for the teaching of these skills or for the particular hierarchy in which the skills are presented. Decodable texts include poems from Sing a Song of Poetry that do not consistently align to the program’s scope and sequence for phonics and high-frequency word instruction and do not consistently provide practice of the decodable element from the lesson. Materials provide inconsistent assessment opportunities that measure student progress through mastery of phonics and word recognition and analysis. Materials do not include assessment opportunities that measure student progress in fluency. Materials include a publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards with limited information pertaining to documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessments. The visual design is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Criterion 2.1: Guidance for Implementation, Including Scope and Sequence
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 contain a teacher edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. The Fountas & Pinnell materials include several resources for teacher use with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. Materials contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary. Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 provides foundational skills lessons that are highly structured, provide adequate resources for teaching the concepts, and provide recommendations for extended learning opportunities. Materials partially meet the criteria for scope and sequence clearly delineate the sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear, evidence-based explanation for the sequence of phonics. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the Foundational Skills program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Indicator 2A
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials contain a teacher edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
The Fountas & Pinnell materials include several resources for teacher use with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. The books include: The Fountas & Pinnell Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Guide, Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons, Online Resources, and Sing a Song of Poetry: A Teaching Resource for Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and Fluency.
Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 provides an in-depth overview of the areas of literacy instruction, including definitions and rationale,100 lessons for teaching them and a detailed instructional sequence for integrating lessons from each of the areas. It includes useful suggestions for how to organize the classroom and incorporate the literacy instruction into the daily schedule, as well as instructional interventions for ELL students. Sing a Song of Poetry provides an overview and rationale for the teaching of oral language through songs and poetry and each selection provided in this book is referenced in one of the 100 lessons. Each lesson is consistently organized and all materials needed to teach are clearly referenced. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning. Each lesson guide also provides an online resource code to access resources online. By visiting www.resources.fountasandpinnell.com, entering the product code inside the front cover of the lesson book, and registering, the teacher can access lesson resources, general resources, and assessment guides for each grade level. The Grade 2 kit also provides an organizational structure for the lessons and materials used on a daily, as well as, monthly basis.
Examples of materials that include a teacher edition with useful annotations, suggestions for content presentation and embedded technology include but are not limited to the following:
- Materials provide a well-defined, teacher resource (teacher edition, manual) for content presentation.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 40-75, provide the recommended scope and sequence for lessons in each of the nine areas of literacy learning included in the program, along with lesson by lesson suggestions for extended learning.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 157, letter-sound relationships are mapped out, as well as how to apply, share, and assess students knowledge of the key concept.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Plan, Consider your Children, page 217, provides an explanation of what students are doing in the lesson, which is recognizing double oo sounds. There is further explanation of how this helps students recognize words quickly.
- The teacher resource contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills content (i.e. phonics, irregularly spelled words, word analysis, fluency).
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 32, the See and Say routine explains how students look for visual patterns when learning CVC and CVCe words.
- Sing a Song of Poetry Grade 2 provides a rationale and overview for the use of poetry and songs for enhancing oral language and literacy skills, along with specific selections for use with the lessons. For example, in the Connected Learning Across Contexts under the Shared Reading section, the lessons reference the Sing a Song of Poetry book selections that provide extension activities related to poems and songs.
- Any technology pieces included provide support and guidance for the teacher and do not create an additional layer of complication around the materials.
- The online materials contain under PWS: Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Grade 2, contain a gamemaker tab where there are explanations on how the teacher can create games based on the lessons the students are working on for centers.
- Online learning resources are referenced in each lesson, including the online assessment guide and specific assessment forms related to that lesson. Teachers are provided lesson folders to assist in organizing these materials as they are downloaded.
Indicator 2B
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
Materials in the program include The Fountas & Pinnell Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Guide, and the Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons. Both books contain information about the “Nine Areas of Learning About Phonics, Spelling and Word Study,” providing in-depth definitions and explicit examples of early literacy concepts, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, letter-sound relationships, spelling patterns, high-frequency words, word meaning/vocabulary, word structure, and word-solving actions. The Comprehensive, Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide K-8th, contains information on various topics, such as interactive read-aloud and literature discussions, writing, phonics, spelling and word study, and guided reading. In the Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study section, the book highlights, early literacy concepts, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, letter-sound relationship, spelling patterns, high-frequency words, word meaning/vocabulary, word structure, and word-solving actions that each kindergarten student would need to know. There are full adult-level explanations of the key foundational skills, including phonics, homophones, letter-sound correspondence, and high-frequency words. There is also a glossary of terms that helps to explain what terms are. Under each of these headings are the skills that encompass that skill. Additionally, the Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons provides “Essential Literacy Concepts Every Kindergartener Should Know,” outlining the specific foundational skills in Grade 2 with a detailed explanation and rationale for their inclusion. The Sing a Song of Poetry book provides an additional overview of skills incorporated into poetry and the rationale for the inclusion of poetry into the 100 literacy lessons provided.
Examples of opportunities for full, adult-level explanations and examples of foundational skills concepts to improve teacher content knowledge include but are not limited to the following:
- Complete, detailed adult-level explanations are provided for each foundational skill taught at the grade level.
- Comprehensive, Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide K-8th, page 40, there is an explanation of high-frequency words and why they are important for students to be able to read efficiently.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 489-499, there is a glossary of terms to help explain different concepts to teachers. For example, "closed syllable", is defined as a syllable that ends in a consonant: eg. lem-on.
- Sing a Song of Poetry Grade 2, pages 3-4, provides teachers with an explanation of the values and goals of including poetry in second-grade classrooms. It includes descriptions of the language and literacy features of poetry and how the use of poetry contributes to literacy learning.
- Detailed examples of the grade level foundational skill concepts are provided for the teacher.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 79, under the section, Consider your Children, there is an explanation on one- and two-syllable words that have double consonant letters, short vowel sounds, and high-frequency words. There is a suggestion about what else the teacher can do in order to enhance learning, if the students have already worked consistently with that vowel pair.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 260, in the Teach section, the students are working with high- frequency words. There are examples of what high- frequency words the teacher should use, and the materials reinforce the principle that it is important for students to be able to read high-frequency words.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 92, students are working on initial consonant clusters and digraphs. There is a suggestion that if students are able to identify the pattern in the middle of the word, the teacher should accept and highlight those also.
Indicator 2C
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for foundational skills lessons are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Content can reasonably be completed within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 provides foundational skills lessons that are highly structured, provide adequate resources for teaching the concepts, and provide recommendations for extended learning opportunities. The lessons are well-organized and reasonably calculated to be completed within an academic year. The program provides an in-depth overview for providing the various instructional contexts (i.e., read-aloud lessons, word study lessons, reading mini-lessons, small and whole group instruction) in a coherent, two and a half hour daily instructional block. The Grade 2 materials provide 100 lesson plans that utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction. There is a clear structure that is used in order to outline the phonics lessons with students that includes a teach, apply, share, and assess model for each lesson. They utilize a research design where they target nine areas of learning across the year, and each skill is built on what students need at the early, middle, or late part of the year.
Examples of well designed and effective foundational skills lessons with carefully organized structure, include but are not limited to the following:
- Lesson plans utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction.
- Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, page 84, the lesson outline is teach, apply, share, assess.
- Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, page 129, students have whole group practice with the concept, in which the teacher completes examples of beginning consonant clusters. The students move on to an activity where they apply the knowledge of the concept. Then they share their knowledge with the teacher, a peer, or the class. There is also a brief assessment piece that helps the teacher gauge how much information the students learned.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Meaning/Vocabulary Lesson 2, pages 285-288, teaches the principle of recognizing and using synonyms. In the Teach section, students are explicitly taught that words that mean the same or almost the same are called synonyms. They apply this knowledge by identifying pairs of words that mean the same or almost the same and can be classified as synonyms and play the game Concentration for additional practice with identifying synonyms. The teacher is provided an assessment tool to measure student mastery of the concept and to determine the need for further teaching. The Connected Learning Across Contexts section of the lesson provides recommendations for interactive read-along books, a Shared Reading activity incorporating selections from Sing a Song of Poetry, and suggested writing activities. Extended Learning activities are linked to the use of the pocket-chart cards in Ready Resources and the use of Gamemaker in the Online Resources.
- The effective lesson design structure includes both whole group and small group instruction.
- Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, page 39, there is a Fitting it all Together guide that states that the teacher should meet with three Guided Reading groups each day.
- The pacing of each component of daily lessons plans is clear and appropriate.
- Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, page 39, there is a guide that talks about the timeline of when the activities should happen. They suggest 5 minutes for a group reading, 15 minutes for an interactive read-aloud, 10 minutes for Shared Reading, and 30 minutes for the Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study lesson.
- The suggested amount of time and expectations for maximum student understanding of all foundational skill content (i.e. phonological awareness, print concepts, letters, phonics, high-frequency words, word analysis, decoding) can reasonably be completed in one school year and should not require modifications.
- Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, there are 23 lessons on letter-sound relationships, 17 lessons on spelling patterns that include double consonants, single syllable words and phonograms. There are nine high- frequency words lessons and seven word meaning lessons that include students learning about antonyms, homographs, and multiple meaning words. There are 28 word structure lessons, and there are 16 word solving lessons.
- Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, Spelling Patterns Lesson 14, pages 225-228, is designed to teach students to recognize and use phonograms with vowel combinations (VVC). It introduces three vowel patterns, ai, oa, and ea; however, the lesson can be repeated to teach other double-vowel patterns with different vowel sounds, such as -oi, -ee, and -ou.
- For those materials on the borderline (e.g. approximately 130 days on the low end or 200 days on the high end), evidence clearly explains how students would be able to master ALL the grade level standards within one school year.
- With the use of the Assessment Guide and forms provided in the online resources, teachers should be able to adequately determine if a concept needs to be retaught or if certain lessons might be omitted, in order to adequately complete all lessons within the school year.
- Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, there are 100 phonics lessons contained in the text. Some of the lessons can be repeated based on whether students understood the concept or not.
Indicator 2D
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.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for 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.
Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 delineates a suggested intentional sequence for the teaching of phonics skills. The Master Lesson Guide explains the order in which phonics lessons should be taught. The teacher references The Fountas and Pinnell in Literacy Continuum for specific Letter-Sound relationships, Spelling Patterns (which include phonogram patterns such as: VC, VCe, VCC patterns; vowel phonogram patterns in single syllable words; double consonant patterns in multisyllabic words), Word Structure, and Word Solving Actions. Although Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 cites studies supporting explicit teaching of phonics skills, the program does not present a research-based or evidence-based explanation for the sequence of phonics.
Materials clearly delineate a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction and practice to build toward application of skills.
- Comprehensive Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Guide Grades PreK-8, it identifies a progression for teaching Letter-Sound Relationships (LSR), Spelling Relationships (SP), Word Structure (WS), Word-Solving Actions (WSA) in Grade 2. On pages 26-83, the progression is sequenced on an instructional chart as the following: consonants, vowels, and letter-sound representations. Within each of the categories of phonics, behaviors and instructional language is provided to pinpoint specific standards and expectations.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 48-50, #1-9, there are nine LSR lessons. Students learn to:
- Recognize and use ending consonant sounds sometimes represented by double consonant letters.
- Recognize and use medial consonant sounds and the letters that represent them.
- Recognize and say consonant clusters that blend two or three consonant sounds.
- Hear and identify long vowel sounds in words and the letters that represent them.
- Recognize and use long vowel sounds in words with silent e.
- Contrast short and long vowel sounds in words.
- Recognize and use y as a vowel sound.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 50-52, #10-17, there are eight SP lessons. Students learn to recognize and use phonograms with a VC pattern, a short vowel sound in single-syllable words, a VCe pattern, ending with a double consonant, and ending with VCC.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 52-56, #18-31, there are 14 WSA lessons. Students learn to:
- Use a study routine to spell a word.
- Use known words to spell an unknown word.
- Attempt to spell an unknown word.
- Identify words that end the same and use them to solve unknown words.
- Recognize the sequence of sounds to read a word or word part.
- Use knowledge of letter-sound relationships to monitor word-solving accuracy.
- Recognize and use onsets and rimes to read words.
- Identify words that have the same letter pattern and use them to solve an unknown word.
- Break a word into syllables to decode manageable units.
- Add or remove consonant clusters or digraphs to the beginning or end of words.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 56-57, #32-36, there are four WS lessons. Students learn to identify syllables in words with three or more syllables and to recognize and use compound words.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 61-62, #47-52, there are six SP lessons. Students learn to recognize and use phonograms with ending consonant clusters, with double vowel, and with vowel combinations.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 62-65, #53-63, there are 11 WS lessons. Students learn to recognize and use ending -s, -ed, and -es.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 66-68, #68-76, there are nine LSR lessons. Students learn to:
- Recognize and use two consonant letters that usually represent one sound at the end of a word and that represent one sound in the middle of a word.
- Recognize and use middle consonant sounds sometimes represented by double consonant letters.
- Recognize and use consonant clusters at the end of a word.
- Recognize and use consonant letters that represent two or more different sounds at the beginning of a word.
- Recognize and use letter combinations that represent long vowel sounds.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 68-71, #77-86, there are 10 WS lessons. Students learn to:
- Recognize and use plurals that add -s to words that end with a vowel and y.
- Recognize and use plurals that add -es to words that end with a consonant and y.
- Recognize and use plurals that add -es to words after changing the final f or fe to v.
- Recognize and use irregular plurals that change the spelling of a word.
- Recognize and use the suffixes -er and -est to show comparison.
- Recognize and use the suffixes -er, -or, -ar, and -ist to form a noun.
- Recognize and use open and closed syllables.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 71-72, #87-90, there are four LSR lessons. Students learn to recognize and use letter combinations that represent long vowel sounds, that represent unique vowel sounds, and that represent two different vowel sounds.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 72-73, #91-93, there are three SP lessons. Students learn to recognize and use phonogram patterns with a long vowel sound in single-syllable words and with vowels and r in single-syllable words. Students learn to understand that some two-syllable words have a double consonant in the middle or at the end.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 73, #94, there is one LSR lesson. Students learn to recognize and use vowel sounds with r.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 75, #99-100, there are two WS lessons. Students learn to recognize and use closed syllables and prefixes.
Materials do not contain a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence.
- Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 3, states, “We have identified nine areas of learning about phonics, spelling, and word study; for each area of learning, lessons are provided in this book. The continuum is based on research in language and literacy learning; we have asked linguists, researchers on literacy education, and many teachers to provide feedback on the phonics and word study section. We found surprising agreement on the knowledge needed to become an expert word solver.”
- Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, pages 2-3, the materials generally cite researchers to support the need for explicit teaching of phonics skills identified in the nine areas of learning about phonics, spelling, and word study.
Phonics instruction is based in high utility patterns and/or common phonics generalizations. For example, Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, students learn phonograms that end with a double consonant, and phonograms with VCC, consonant clusters or consonant digraphs.
Patterns and generalizations are carefully selected to provide a meaningful and manageable number of phonics patterns and common generalizations for students to learn deeply. For example, Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, students learn VCC, closed and open syllables, common letter combinations for long vowel sounds and different vowel sounds.
Indicator 2E
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the Foundational Skills program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 provides suggestions on each lesson for connecting what students are doing in the classroom to their home environments. These resources are located within the daily lesson plans under Extend Learning and are specifically labeled Connect with Home. These suggestions involve taking home copies of the poems or games practiced. Although this resource offers opportunities for teachers to connect with families in relation to the day’s lesson, the information provided is not very explicit nor does it offer parent-friendly letters or communication. None of the activities provide written resources that inform stakeholders about the foundational skills that are taught in the program or the progress that students are making towards mastering these foundational skills. The materials direct the students to explain the foundational skills they are learning to their families and explain what they should do with the activity that is sent home.
Examples of strategies for informing stakeholders about the program include but are not limited to the following:
- No evidence was found that materials contain jargon-free resources and processes to inform all stakeholders about foundational skills taught at school.
- Materials provide stakeholders with strategies and activities for practicing phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency, and print concepts that will support students in progress towards and achievement of grade-level foundational skills standards.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, page 110, the teacher sends home a deck of concentration cards for children to play with their family.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide, Connect with Home, page 126, teachers are directed to send Follow the Path game boards home so that children can play the game with family members.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, page 142, students have word cards sent home in order to sort words with family members.
- Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Guide Grade 2, page 314, children are prompted to look for words with double consonants (e.g., dollar, mitten, button) in newspapers or magazines and bring back five to share with the class.
Criterion 2.2: Decodable Texts
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with phonics and high-frequency words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings. Decodable texts include poems from Sing a Song of Poetry that do not consistently align to the program’s scope and sequence for phonics and high-frequency word instruction and do not consistently provide practice of the decodable element from the lesson
Indicator 2F
Indicator 2F.i
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with phonics aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings.
The Fountas & Pinnell materials contain poems from Sing a Song of Poetry Grade 2 for students to read during Shared Reading in lessons of the Nine Areas of Learning about Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study. Poems are suggested in each lesson, but the poems are not consistently aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and do not consistently provide practice of the decodable element from the lesson. Poems are not necessarily used for repeated readings.
Materials include decodable texts to address securing phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 2, page 177-180, students to recognize and use phonogram patterns with a short vowel sound in single-syllable words. The lesson uses poems, “Milkman, Milkman” and “One Bottle of Pop” from Sing a Song of Poetry, as texts for practicing decoding words with the CVC pattern.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 2, students are using highlighter tape to highlight words with two-, three-, and four- syllables in the poems “A, My Name is Alice” or “Fuzzy Little Caterpillar.”
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 2, students read the poem, “The Goat,” with the purpose of finding unfamiliar words and using knowledge of letter-sound order to solve the words.
Decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 15, page 232, students read the poem, “The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night” with the purpose of identifying words with the long-vowel sound pattern.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 6, page 334, students read the poem “Going on a Bear Hunt” with the purpose of locating contractions.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 436, Word-Solving Actions 3, students read the poem, “Over in the Meadow” with the purpose of finding unfamiliar words and using knowledge of letter-sound order to solve the words.
Materials include some detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing phonics skills.
- In Sing a Song of Poetry, page 14, there is a grid to help teachers think about how to use five poems as a text to revisit.
- A teacher could revisit “At the Seaside” to focus on:
- Phonogram Patterns: -en, -own, -ide, -ood, -ade, -ave, -ig, -and, -ore, -ole, -ike, -up, -in, -ame, -ill, -it, -ome
- Letter-Sound Beginning wh, wd, b, th, s, sp, g, t, m, sh, h, l, c, n.
- Letter-Sound Ending n, s, d, v, g, r, k, p, l, m, t, d.
- Rhyming words.
- Two-syllable words.
- A teacher could revisit “Betty Botter” to focus on:
- Phonogram Patterns: -ome, -ut, -aid, -it, -in, -ill, -ake, -an, -and.
- Letter-Sound Beginning b, s, sh, th, p, m, w, h, tw.
- Letter-Sound Ending t, r, m, d, s, f, n, l, k.
- Rhyming words.
- Two-syllable words.
Indicator 2F.ii
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with high frequency words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings.
The Fountas & Pinnell materials include poems with high-frequency words for students to read during Shared Reading in the High-Frequency Words Lessons. The decodable texts/poems align to the scope and sequence of the Master Lesson Guide. While there are poems for high-frequency word reading in decodable texts, there are a limited number of prepared lesson plans for repeated readings of the poems.
Materials include decodable texts that utilize high-frequency words. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 1, students read a poem called “River.” Students are to locate a few high-frequency words in the poem.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 2, page 250, students read “Afternoon on a Hill,” which contains high-frequency words for students to underline.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 9, page 278, students read the poem, “Mr. Nobody” and underline the high-frequency words in the poem. The words that the poem contains that are high frequency are: I, as, who, that, was.
Decodable texts contain some grade-level high-frequency/irregularly spelled words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 5, page 262, students read the poems, “My Shadow,” and “Sing Your Way Home.” The high-frequency words students learn in the lesson are: close, how, each, happy, should. The high-frequency words in the text are: have, I, the, like.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 7, page 270, students read the poem, “Terrific Toes.” The poem has the following high-frequency words: I, have, they, goes, what.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 8, page 274, students read the poem, “Porridge is Bubbling.” The poem contains no high-frequency words from the lesson.
Materials include some detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing reading high-frequency words/irregularly spelled words in context. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Sing a Song of Poetry, page 14, there is a grid to help teachers think about how to use five poems as a text to revisit.
- A teacher could revisit “Golden Slumbers” to focus on high-frequency words: your, you, when, baby, do, not, and, I, will, a, then, is, are, must.
- A teacher could revisit “Make New Friends” to focus on high-frequency words: make, new, friends, but, the, one, is, and.
- A teacher could revisit “Miss Mary Mack” to focus on high-frequency w
- ords: all, in, with, down, her, back, she, mother, for, to, see, the, they, so, and, some, of.
Criterion 2.3: Assessment and Differentiation
Materials partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress through mastery of phonics word recognition and analysis. Materials do not include assessment opportunities that measure student progress in fluency. Materials partially meet the criteria for assessment materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized. In the Fountas and Pinnell materials, standards alignment documentation is not available for formative and summative assessments. Materials 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; however, materials do not meet the criteria for 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 2G
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)
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
In Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 materials, there are opportunities to assess students’ skills in phonological awareness during Assess of the Letter-Sound Relationships, Spelling Patterns, and Word-Solving Actions Lessons. There are curriculum-based assessment protocols provided in the online resources, which are directly correlated to the nine areas of literacy instruction included in the program. Each assessment explains what is being tested, why it is important, and how to complete the assessment. These opportunities provide the teacher with information about students’ skills; however, there is no guidance or next steps based on assessment results provided for the teacher once the teacher has conducted the assessment. There are Extend learning sections the teacher can use if a student has mastered a content area or if a student needs reteaching.
Materials provide resources and tools to collect ongoing data about students’ progress in phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Throughout the Letter-Sound Relationships (LSR), the following assessment opportunities are provided within the Online Resources: Assessment A: Saying and Identifying Beginning and Ending Consonant Sounds in Words, Assessment B: Matching Beginning Consonant Cluster Sounds with the Letters that Represent them, Assessment C: Matching Ending Consonant Cluster Sounds with the Letters that Represent Them, Assessment D: Matching Ending Consonant Digraph Sounds with the Letters that Represent Them, Assessment E: Matching Long Vowel Sounds with the Letters that Represent Them, Assessment F: Matching Short Vowel Sounds with the Letters that Represent Them, Assessment G: Comparing and Identifying Long and Short Vowel Sounds, Assessment H: Recognizing and Using Vowel Combinations, Assessment I: Individual Record (Beginning and Ending Consonant Sounds), Assessment J: Individual Record, Assessment K: Class Record (Beginning Consonant Clusters), Assessment L: Class Record (Ending Consonant Clusters), Assessment M: Class Record (Beginning and Ending Consonant Digraphs), and Assessment N: Class Record (Vowel Sounds).
- Throughout the Sound Patterns (SP), the following assessment opportunities are provided within the Online Resources: Assessment A: Reading Words with Phonogram Patterns, Assessment B: Writing Words with Phonogram Patterns, Assessment C: Reading and Writing Names, Assessment D: Individual Record (Reading), Assessment E: Individual Record (Writing), and Assessment F: Individual Record (Reading and Writing Names).
- Throughout the Word-Solving Actions (WSA) set of lessons, the following assessment opportunities are provided within the Online Resources: Assessment A: Sorting Names, Assessment B: Sorting Words, Assessment C: Using Known Words to Solve New Words, Assessment D: Solving Unknown Words and Monitoring Reading, Assessment E: Adding or Removing Consonant Clusters or Digraphs, Assessment F: Individual Record (Word-Solving Actions), and Assessment G: Individual Record (Reading Text).
Materials offer some assessment opportunities to determine students’ progress in phonics that are implemented systematically. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships, Connect to Assessment, the text states, “See related [optional] LSR Assessment tasks in Online Resources.”
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 1, during Assess, the text states, “You may wish to use Letter-Sound Relationships Assessment A, I, or J.”
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns, Connect to Assessment, the text states, “See related [optional] SP Assessment tasks in Online Resources.”
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 1, during Assess, the text states, “You may wish to use Word-Solving Actions Assessment A, B, C, D, F, or G.”
Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence with phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 16, page 141, during Assess, the teacher checks whether students are spelling words with c and ch conventionally in their writing.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 8, page 203, the teacher notices if students can sort words by the VCC pattern.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 3, page 435, the teacher writes a word students are unlikely to know and have the students read the word. The teacher is to listen for the correct sounds in the correct order.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with some information of students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 23, page 169, during Assess, the lesson lists assessment opportunities:
- During shared reading and guided reading, notice whether children can quickly locate and read words with vowels followed by the letter r.
- Examine children’s writing for evidence that they are beginning to represent r-influenced vowels accurately.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 17, during Assess, the lesson lists three assessment opportunities:
- Notice whether children use what they know about the sounds associated with the double consonant pattern to solve words when they are reading.
- Dictate a few words with the double consonant pattern for children to write.
- You may wish to use Spelling Patterns Assessment A, B, C, D, E, or F.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word-Solving Actions 5, page 443, during Assess, the lesson lists three assessment opportunities:
- Notice children’s ability to take words apart while reading text.
- Show children a list of four or five new words and observe their ability to separate them into onset and rime and then to read the whole word.
- You may wish to use Word-Solving Actions Assessment C, D, F, or G.
Materials do not genuinely measure students’ progress to support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in phonics.
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)
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for 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)
The Fountas & Pinnell Grade 2 materials contain assessments for word recognition and analysis in the Online Resources as well as assessments in the 100 lessons. Assessments within the lessons are administered at the end of lessons. Throughout the High-Frequency Words lessons, the following assessment opportunities are provided within the Online Resources to use over the course of the year: Assessment A (Reading High-Frequency Words) and Assessment B (Writing High-Frequency Words). For word analysis, there are Word-Solving Action assessments provided such as Assessment A (Sorting Names), Assessment B (Sorting Words), Assessment C (Using Known Words to Solve New Words), Assessment D (Solving Unknown Words and Monitoring Reading) and Assessment E (Adding or Removing Consonant Clusters or Digraphs). Each assessment provides recommendations for what teachers should analyze once the assessment has been administered. However, there are missed opportunities for assessments to provide the teacher with instructional guidance about next steps for all students.
Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition (high-frequency words or irregularly spelled words) and analysis. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 1, during Assess, the text lists three assessment opportunities:
- Notice how quickly the student can recognize high-frequency words when they are reading.
- Observe the extent to which the student can independently write high-frequency words quickly and accurately
- The teacher may wish to use High-Frequency Words Assessment A, B, or C.
- In the Word-Solving Actions Online Assessment C, the teacher selects five to ten words from the Word List. The student reads each word or attempts to read each word. The teacher asks the student to say what helped the student read the word. The teacher notes what letters, letter clusters, and word parts the child represents.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 1, page 245, during Assess, the teacher is asked to notice how quickly students can recognize high-frequency words when they are reading. The teacher observes to the extent that students can independently write the words. It is suggested that the teacher might want to give online assessment A, B or C.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, High-Frequency Words 4, page 257, during Assess, it is recommended that the teacher notices how quickly a student recognizes high-frequency words when s/he is reading.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition and word analysis. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the online Ready Resources: Assessment: High-Frequency Words Grade 2, the text suggests selecting the second 200 high-frequency words list and working up to the 500 high-frequency words list, asking the children to read the list of words the teacher has selected. The teacher is to notice the number of high-frequency words read accurately.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 1, pages 311-314, during Assess, the text recommends that teachers use Word Structure Assessment A, B or J to assess students' ability to recognize and use syllables in words with double consonants. In this example, the teacher is asked to analyze the number of words in which the child can hear and identify syllables, particularly one-, two-, three-, or four-syllable words the child can segment into the correct number of syllables.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, there are three curriculum-based protocols for assessing Spelling Patterns: reading words with phonogram patterns, writing words with phonogram patterns, and reading and writing names.
- In Spelling Patterns 12, pages 217-220, the text suggests that the teacher may want to use the Spelling Assessment Patterns A, B, C, D, E or F.
- After administering the assessment, the text recommends that the teacher analyze the student’s:
- number of patterns located
- specific patterns located
- number of patterns written accurately
- specific spelling patterns written
- number of spelling patterns read accurately
- knowledge of letter-sound relationships
- patterns partially known
Materials do not support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the online Ready Resources: Assessment: High-Frequency Words Grade 2, advice is provided in the Why Use It section of the assessment. It says: “This assessment will tell you the extent of the children’s knowledge of high-frequency words as well as the particular words they know. Their substitutions will tell you what word parts they notice.”
Indicator 2G.v
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress in fluency (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (1-2)
The Fountas & Pinnell Grade 2 materials do not provide regular and systematic assessment opportunities of students’ current skills in fluency. Although Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 provides curriculum-based assessment measures in each of the nine areas of phonics instruction, fluency is not included in the nine areas.
Indicator 2H
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for assessment materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
In the Fountas and Pinnell materials, standards alignment documentation is not available for formative and summative assessments. The assessments are aligned to the topics listed in the Nine Areas of Learning about Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study. There is limited documentation or correlation provided for specific lessons to indicate how the lessons align with standards. The documentation provided includes some example lessons that correlate to the foundational skills standards.
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.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for 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.
The Fountas & Pinnell materials provide daily support for students who read, speak, or listen in a language other than English. Each lesson is introduced with a section entitled Working with English Language Learners, which provides additional suggestions provided for addressing the instructional needs of this population.
Materials provide support for ELL students. At the beginning of each lesson, information is provided to the teacher for working with English Language Learners. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, page 87, the text suggests that the teacher uses physical actions for students to understand the meaning behind the lesson that is being taught.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 22, page 163, it is recommended that the teacher gives several examples of the letter combinations ie and ow and take time to demonstrate each vowel sound.
- In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure Lesson 3, page 319, the text states, “Being able to break down words into syllables is very helpful to English language learners as they develop their ability to pronounce words. Multi-syllabic words will not be so daunting when children know how to look for the parts. Have them work with cut-up words that they put together and take apart. Be sure the children understand the meaning of the words you select.”
General statements about ELL students or few strategies note at the beginning of a unit or at one place in the teacher edition are then implemented by the materials throughout the curriculum.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lesson Book Grade 2, What Are Some Ways of Working Effectively with English Language Learners?, pages 19-25, states, “You are likely to have many children in your class who not only can speak one language but are learning a second or even third language.” It is suggested that the teacher adjust their teaching to make sure that English language learners have access to the teaching of sounds, letters, and words. Suggestions are provided for Oral Language, Reading, Writing, Phonics and Word Study. For example:
- Oral language: “Use pictures and objects that children understand and that connect to their homes and neighborhoods. At the same time, avoid examples that may be completely strange to children and to which they have difficulty bringing meaning."
- Reading: "Provide an extensive collection of simple alphabet books so that children can encounter the same letters in the same sequence, with picture examples in different texts."
- Writing: "Accept spellings that reflect the child’s own pronunciation of words, even if it varies from standard pronunciation. Notice the strengths in the child’s attempts to relate letters and sounds. Show that you value attempts rather than correcting everything the child writes."
- Phonics and Word Study: "Use many hands-on activities so that children have the chance to manipulate magnetic letters and tiles, move pictures around and work with word cards and name cards."
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.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for 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.
The Fountas & Pinnell Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 lessons consistently include Teach, Apply, and Share. Teach is a whole-class lesson. Apply is hands-on practice and the teacher may have students work in a small group at a literacy center. Share is a whole-class meeting for students to share their phonics, spelling, and word study lessons. Within Teach, Apply, and Share, there are no opportunities or explicit instruction in re-teaching when a student is performing below grade level to receive extensive opportunities for learning and practice. While some of the lesson plans are generative and a teacher can reteach the generative lesson repeatedly, guidance is not provided to the teacher as to how to scaffold students performing below grade level. The materials suggest Book Club as small-group instruction; however, Book Club materials are not included in Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade 2.
Materials suggest small group teaching, but do not provide lesson plans and explicit instruction for reteaching students performing below grade level.
Materials do not provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level in extensive opportunities to learn foundational skills at the 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.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
In the Fountas & Pinnell materials, all students participate in Teach, Apply, and Share for instruction and practice. No advanced opportunities are provided for students to work on while the teacher is providing reteaching to students who have not acquired the skills being taught. Each lesson contains Extend opportunities, which can provide advanced students with the opportunity to learn grade-level foundational skills at greater depth. In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Lessons Grade 2, page 30, the materials describe Extend as “If children need more experience, you can repeat the lesson format using these suggestions for variation, different examples, or more challenging activities.”
Materials provide some opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Lessons Grade 2, Letter-Sound Relationships 6, page 102, during Extend, there are two opportunities listed:
- Add spellings of long vowel sounds to reinforce the principle: e.g., ay (gray, stray), ow (show, flow), and ui (fruit, bruise).
- Ask each child to choose one long-vowel pattern. Throughout the day, have children look for words with the pattern they chose and write them on a list sheet or in their word study notebook. Encourage children to share their findings during a group share at the end of the day.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Lessons Grade 2, Spelling Patterns 3, page 184, during Extend, materials suggest students play Concentration by matching CVC or VCe word pairs.
- In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Lessons Grade 2, Word Structure 1, page 314, during Extend, materials recommend the teacher repeat the lesson with other words that have a double consonant in the middle or to post a chart for children to list words that fit the pattern. Students should have a goal of finding 50 or 100 of the words.
There are no instances of advanced students simply doing more assignments than their classmates. Activities presented as challenge activities are all additional assignments located in the Extend Learning section of each lesson plan.
Criterion 2.4: Effective Technology Use and Visual Design
The instructional materials reviewed include web-based resources, compatible with multiple Internet browsers, are platform neutral, follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices. Materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning. Materials can be easily customized for local use. Materials do not include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations. The visual design is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Indicator 2J
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for digital materials (either included as a supplement to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.), “platform neutral” (i.e., are compatible with multiple operating systems such as Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform), follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
A teacher can login to www.fountasandpinnell.com using many web browsers, such as, but not limited to, Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari. The materials can be viewed on an iPad, but are not accessible on a cellphone.
The materials include “access to Online Resources, which includes lesson-specific materials for application activities, extending learning, and formal assessment.”
Indicator 2K
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning.
The online materials are for teacher use and not student use. The teacher is able to print materials, such as word cards, to use in the classroom. There are printable online assessments the teacher can use to support student learning.
Indicator 2L
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations.
There are on-line resources provided for the teacher to enhance instruction, but the materials cannot be personalized for students. The word cards and other digital resources cannot be edited.
Indicator 2M
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials can be easily customized for local use.
In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, each lesson begins with a Consider Your Children. This provides the teacher the opportunity to customize the lesson based on the group of students. Within each lesson, during Interactive Read-Aloud and Shared Reading, a teacher is provided options for texts to read-aloud or share with students. The teacher may select the text that works best for that particular group of students. When selecting poems to use from Sing a Song of Poetry, the teacher may select from a suggested list.
During Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2, Assess, the teacher can pick and choose which online assessments they would like to use. For example, in High-Frequency Words 6, a teacher may “wish to use High-Frequency Words Assessment A, B, or C.”
Indicator 2N
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for the visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject. The lines are clean, there is not too much information or items on a page and they have large pictures that are easy for students to see.
The Fountas and Pinnell teacher materials are printed in understandable formats in the Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade 2 book. The lessons are organized in the Nine Areas of Learning, and each lesson contains headings to clearly mark each part of the lesson. The beginning of the book provides an Introduction and an in-depth, clear chart of the Grade 2 foundational skills plan.
The Fountas and Pinnell student materials contain word cards with clear font and sound cards with clear images. Worksheets for students have clear font for students to read. The size of the font on student materials is easy for students to see. Most materials are black and white.