1st Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

The instructional materials contain questions for both during and after reading; however, students are not asked to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across multiple texts. Text-based questions that lead students through the comprehension and main ideas of the text are only provided during the actual reading of the text.

There are very few tasks that ask students to demonstrate knowledge gained from a text or across multiple texts. Additionally, the major tasks are not always text-based. Students respond to their readings with self-to-text connections and write about topics without text support. Some questions involve higher-level analyzing skills, although the level of questioning varies greatly.

Examples of sequenced questions asked include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 2, students read, “What Can You Get With a Nickel?" in guided reading groups with the teacher. During the After-Reading Discussion, the teacher leads questioning to help determine the problem and solution in the story by asking, “Did Frits have a lot of choices of things he could buy for Doc?”, “Why not?”, “How was he able to get a nice gift?”, and “How else could Frits have solved his problem?”. These questions require students to analyze this text only.
• In Unit 3, Lesson 3, students use a Venn Diagram to compare two poems, “Super Scrub-a-matic” and “Super-Duper Golly”.  In Lesson 5, page 48, following the reading of “Taking Care of Zoo Animals”, the teacher asks students the following question, “Do you think Zoos are good places for animals? Why or why not?”  
• In Unit 4, Lesson 7, while reading, “It’s a Pickle” the teacher asks a coherently sequenced set of text dependent questions including, “What is Cass’s problem?”, “How does Cass feel about her problem?” and “How can you tell?”
• In Unit 9, Lesson 2, the teacher and students discuss characters. The teacher asks, “What does Doc’s list tell the Superkids?”, “What is Lily’s job?”, “What will Sal’s act be?”, “Why isn’t Ettabetta helping get ready for the show?”, “What does she do instead?, Use picture clues” and “How does it look like Ettabetta is feeling about being left off the list?”.
• In Unit 11, Lesson 7, the lesson focus is to teach drawing conclusions using a literary text. The teacher asks students, “What is silly about Hot Rod’s parents going on the Lucky Ducky?”, “Do you think his parents were upset to be on the ride? How can you tell?”, “Who gets dizzy?” and “Why do they get dizzy?”. To help students understand vocabulary, the teacher asks students, “If you go lickety-split, are you going very fast or slow? What makes you think that?”, “What other words tell how fast The Streak goes?”, “How do you think the kids feel riding The Streak? Why do you think that?”. To help students draw conclusions, the teacher asks, “Why are the kids yawning or sleeping?” and “Why do you think they will always remember this day?"
• In Unit 13, Lesson 7, to help students summarize using a Literary Text, the teacher asks students, “What happened in this chapter?”, “How did Sal and Carmen help save her family from a disaster?”, and “How do Carmen and Sal together help save Carmen’s family?”
• In Unit 15, Lesson 7, after reading, “That was Yesterday” the teacher asks students, “What do you think about how Frits and Alf behaved when they were playing tag?”, “Have you ever gotten into a fight with a friend?”, “How did it make you feel?”, and “What did you do to make up and be friends again?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.

Instructional materials provide year long vocabulary development. Specific vocabulary words are listed for each unit and Words to Know cards are provided with a picture and word for each vocabulary word. Attention is paid to vocabulary essential to understanding the text and to high value academic words. Often, different vocabulary words are emphasized in the Super Smart, Student Book and Library Book lessons within the same unit. Questioning associated with the vocabulary words help to build academic vocabulary, although academic vocabulary is not strengthened across multiple texts. Some guidance for the teacher to use the Student Readers to build vocabulary through discussion is provided during vocabulary introduction lessons before reading the text. Follow up lessons are provided for some vocabulary words. Some assessments do not include a vocabulary section.

Assessments with vocabulary sections do not cover the Words to Know or most of the story vocabulary, but is more focused on patterns such as adverbs, antonyms and synonyms. Vocabulary is repeated before texts, in texts, and after texts, but lacks support across multiple texts or units.  Reading and speaking support vocabulary learning, but most writing tasks do not explicitly support building vocabulary skills.

Examples of how vocabulary development is year-long, but lacks consistent instruction include, but are not limited to:

• Program Guide, page 9, Words to Know Cards feature important Tier II words used in the texts students read in the Superkids Program. The cards offer repeated exposure to key vocabulary words. Three to five Words to Know cards are in each unit and explicitly taught as vocabulary. The words are selected from: Super Smart, Super-Duper, or Reader stories read in the unit. The Words to Know for a unit are introduced in Lesson 1 using picture cards helping children understand and remember the meanings of the words. Lessons 5 and 10 review the words again through discussion and simple oral activities. In addition to the Words to Know, other vocabulary words and skills are taught as part of the instruction with different texts read in the program.
• In Unit 8, Lesson 1, the teacher introduces Unit 8 Words to Know using the Words to Know Cards. The teacher discusses the Words to Know Cards saying the word and having students repeat it. The teacher provides the definition and a context sentence, calling attention to these words when they are used or could be used in the classroom.
• In Unit 12, Lesson 1, Words to Know are puzzled, collapse, steep, system. On page 11, the Words to Know Cards are used and discussed. The teacher reads the word and students repeat it. The teacher provides a definition and a sentence using the word in context. The teacher and students talk about the picture and word calling attention to the words when each is used or could be used in the classroom. For example, the vocabulary word is puzzled. The teacher reads the definition and uses it in a sentence, “very confused, often because of some kind of problem: The girl was puzzled because her sock was not where she had left it.”. The teacher asks, “What the boy in the picture is doing and why he looks puzzled and explains that the boy is holding a VHS tape, which is something people used to use to record TV shows or movies. The teacher asks students if they would be puzzled if they saw a VHS tape.
• Unit 13, Lesson 4, during Small-Group Reading, the teacher introduces the text, and reads the title aloud with children. The teacher and students discuss what they know about robots. The teacher previews the Reading Warm-Up List and reads the Sound-Out Words with the students. The teacher reads each Story Word and students repeat it.
• In Unit 15, Lesson 4, the teacher uses the Challenging Library Book, “On the Root of the World.” The teacher previews the Reading Warm-Up List and reads the Sound-Out Words with students. The teacher reads each Story Word and has students repeat it. The teacher explains Nepal is the name of a country and discusses the meanings of gear, scale, slopes, and bitterly.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a year-long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts.

The instructional materials include writing instruction aligned to the standards for the grade level and writing instruction supports student growth over the school year. Materials include lesson plans with teacher modeling; however, protocols are not in place for teachers to implement and monitor students’ writing development. Student expectations are not explicit and are often inferred by the teacher.  Many lessons focus on conventions, rather than craft.

Writing rubrics lack detailed indicators to determine next steps in order to improve student writing development. Writing tasks do not always require students to reference the text, therefore, students do not gain a substantive understanding of texts through writing. Materials do include supports for students working above and below grade-level expectations.

Examples of how materials include instruction aligned to standards, but do not monitor writing development nor consistently require students to reference texts include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson 4, the final writing expectation is three sentences with a matching illustration about something students did. Using the writing rubric on page 11, a student is proficient if they “told about something child has done with some details.”
• In Unit 4, Lesson 7, the unit focuses on narrative writing, with student focus on daily narrative writing. A story planning chart graphic organizer is provided to help students organize their writing. The teacher reviews how to plan a story using the graphic organizer and students choose story topics. The teacher reminds students they should write about one time they did something. Students share their story plans in a small group. The teacher models writing the story using the planner and then the students begin writing their stories.
• In Unit 10, Lesson 4, the teacher models how to plan a how-to text using a graphic organizer. In Lesson 5, pages 55-56, the teacher models how to use the graphic organizer to write the rough draft, then students use the provided template to write their rough drafts. Students take turn sharing their writing so far. In Lesson 8, page 88, the teacher reviews editing and the students use the editing checklist to edit their writing.
• In Unit 11, Lesson 8, students add an opinion and reasons to their review. The teacher tells students to reread the book review they started in Lesson 6 and reminds them the beginning should tell the title of the text and what it is about. The teacher tells students to write their opinion of the text and at least two reasons why they like the text. The teacher reminds students to look at the reasons they marked on their web and copy words from those reasons. Students can also look at the teacher review to help them think of sentences they could write. If students do not finish writing all their reasons today, they will get more time in the next lesson to complete their writing.
• In Unit 13, Lesson 7, students revise their stories. The teacher provides tape and extra handwriting lines cut from resource page 14.  The teacher tells students to look over their stories and decide if they can add anything to the beginning, middle, or end to make their story better. Resource page 13 is displayed as a reminder of what students can add. The teacher explains they need to add at least one new sentence to their story. Students are told to write a sentence on extra handwriting lines and then tape the strip of paper to the outer edges of the draft, as the teacher modeled. If there’s room, students can write the new sentence above or below sentences in their drafts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to develop knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials.

While there is evidence to support a progression of writing projects that scaffold writing skills, encourage students to develop knowledge, and understanding of a topic, there is insufficient evidence of students engaging in shared research and writing projects utilizing texts and other source materials throughout the school year. Most tasks involve the use of one text, even though students may have options of multiple text from which to choose. The materials provide writing instruction, but there is a lack of evidence to support explicit writing instruction in shared research, writing skills, and tasks. No evidence was found to support research projects being built into contexts and culminating tasks. The materials do not provide opportunities for both short and long projects.

Examples of how research and writing projects use one text, are not culminating tasks, and lack support for teachers include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 7, the teacher models how to write a research question and then the students practice writing a research question. In Lesson 8, pages 78-79, the teacher writes the research questions on chart paper from the previous lesson and reads the nonfiction article, “Yaks”, modeling how to answer the research questions. A model is provided for teacher modeling. In lesson 9, pages 89-90, the teacher models how to write informative writing using the information they researched and writes two facts and draws a picture. Next, partners tell about the facts they will write. Finally, the students write facts about yaks and draw a picture.
• In Unit 7, Lesson 10, the students and teacher discuss a sequence of events from an informational text. The teacher uses Super-Duper Magazine Article, “Vroom!”. On a chart, the teacher writes, “What the drivers do First, Next, Then, and Last”. On page 106, the teacher discusses why sequence is important. The students do not complete a follow up task with this lesson. The writing lesson is writing an email, which is unrelated to the article.
• In Unit 10, Lesson 1, students are introduced to a how-to text by comparing a how-to text with a list of facts. In Lesson 2, the teacher models writing a how-to text. An example is provided for the teacher. In Lesson 3, the students brainstorm a list of things they know how to do and choose a topic for their how-to text. In Lesson 4, the teacher models planning a how-to text. In Lesson 5, the teacher models how to draft a how-to text based on a plan and then, students begin their how-to draft. In Lesson 6, the teacher models how to revise by adding details. The students revise their drafts. The teacher directs them to add at least one new detail to their directions. In Lesson 7, the teacher models how to add an ending and students talk about endings they could add to their writing. In Lesson 8, the teacher goes over the editing checklist. In Lesson 9, the teacher models how to illustrate each step in a how-to text, students then illustrate their texts.
• In Unit 11, Lesson 6, the teacher and students make a list of texts they have recently read or heard in class. The teacher discusses an example of a book review. Students decide which text they want to review and write one to two sentences to tell what the text is mostly about. In Lesson 7, students use Resource page 3 to complete a web about what they like about the text. In Lesson 8, students learn how to add an opinion and reasons to a book review. In Lesson 9, students write the ending. In Lesson 10, students edit their book reviews. This review requires the use of only one text from a list of texts they have read.
• In Unit 13, Lesson 9, students edit their books using the Editing Checklist. The teacher tells students to check their stories for each of the things on the checklist and make corrections as needed. Students complete the front cover by writing a title, and their name as the author and illustrator. Students talk with a partner if they need help coming up with a title. Once the cover is complete, students draw pictures on the inside pages to show the important parts of the story. In Lesson 10, students finish and then share their books. Students who are not finished editing and illustrating their books will complete this work and pair with another student when finished. Partners read their books aloud to each other and then write feedback on the back cover of their partner’s book. The teacher reminds students to use quotation marks around their words and include their name after their comments.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Grade 1 partially meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

Throughout the lessons, there is evidence to support independent reading. The instructional materials support independent reading and aid both teachers and students with occasional built in supports and scaffolding opportunities to foster independence; however, there is a lack of evidence to support students reading across a wide span of texts. Most texts are not organized with built in supports and scaffolds to foster independence. The materials lack opportunities to support a balance between in-class and out-of class time for independent reading. Procedures are not found in lessons for consistent independent reading besides an occasional mention of students reading Readers independently. There is not a system for the teacher or student to monitor and track independent reading.   

Examples of how materials do not include independent reading opportunities nor teacher supports include, but are not limited to:

• In the Superkids Program Guide, page 37, the publisher suggests “encouraging more independent reading” with the Library Books. “As an independent activity, children can read, reread, or listen to Library Books from previous units. Allow children to follow their interests and select books from any of the levels, regardless of their reading abilities.” On page 41, it suggests for independent activities, “children can reread the part of a Reader story or Super-Duper that they read in their small group, or finish reading their Library Book for the unit. They can also reread texts from previous units.” On page 60, it shows the online parent portal where students can reread the Interactive Library books from the week or any previous weeks, if the parent creates an account. This is an independent reading option at home, although there is no accountability measure in place.
• In Unit 4, Lesson 1, students reread “The Best Sandbox Ever” several times with a partner. Students can read, reread, or listen to the Library Books from previous units. Students can also play a game, read a story alone, or read with the narrator. During Small-Group Reading throughout Lessons 1–5, students read the story aloud with a partner as an Independent Activity and at home with their families using the Backpack Page. In Lesson 4, during Small-Group Reading the teacher monitors independent reading of the Library Book. Small groups started with a Unit 4 Library Book, appropriate for each group’s reading abilities. The teacher introduces the book, monitors student reading, and asks comprehension questions. The teacher will listen to each student read as others in the group read independently. If a group does not finish the book during small-group time, students will finish it as an Independent Activity.  After students have finished reading and while the teacher is meeting with other groups, students complete a Practice Page.
• In Unit 8, Lesson 1, students reread “Lily’s Little Boat” several times with a partner. During Small-Group Reading, the teacher guides fluency practice with a literary text using Reader pages 169–171. While the teacher meets with a group, students complete Independent Activities. Throughout Lessons 1–5, students practice reading the story aloud with a partner as an Independent Activity and at home with their families using the Backpack Page.
• In Unit 9, Lesson 9, students reread or listen to “Homer” after listening to the teacher read it aloud. Students can read, reread, or listen to Library Books from Unit 9 or previous units.
• In Unit 12, Lesson 4, during Small-Group Reading, the teacher monitors independent reading of the Library Books. The teacher listens to each student read as others in the group read independently. If a group doesn’t finish the book during small-group time, students will finish it as an Independent Activity. After students have finished reading and while the teacher is meeting with other groups, students complete a Practice Page for their book.
• In Unit 14, Lesson 6,  students read the story aloud with a partner as an Independent Activity and at home with their families using the Backpack Page.