1st Grade - Gateway 1

The materials contain a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected sequence for teaching phonemic awareness skills that is aligned with phonics instruction. The materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction based on the expected hierarchy to build toward students’ application of the skills. 

Materials contain a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected sequence for teaching phonemic awareness skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Background, the materials state, “An important element of phonemic awareness instruction is that, in addition to breaking down the sounds of spoken language, attention should be focused on mapping individual sounds to printed letters (Foorman et al., 2016).”

• In Background, the materials state, “Although phonemic awareness instruction can be accomplished without print, it tends to be more effective for both developing phonemic awareness and transferring to decoding and encoding skills when it includes letters (Hoh & Ehri, 1983; NRP, 2000).”

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction based on the expected hierarchy to build toward students’ immediate application of the skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Scope & Sequence At-A-Glance: All Concepts (K-2), the sequence for phonemic awareness instruction includes: 

  • Lesson 35: Short A Review (incl. Nasalized A)

  • Lesson 36: Short I Review 

  • Lesson 37: Short O Review 

  • Lesson 39: Short U Review 

  • Lesson 40: Short E Review 

  • Lesson 43: -all, -oll, -ull

  • Lesson 44: ck /k/ 

  • Lesson 45: sh /sh 

  • Lesson 46: Voiced th /th/

  • Lesson 47: Unvoiced th /th/ 

  • Lesson 48: ch /ch/ 

  • Lesson 50: wh /w/, ph /f/ 

  • Lesson 51: ng /ŋ/

  • Lesson 52: n /ŋ/ (as in nk) 

  • Lesson 54: a_e /ā/

  • Lesson 55: i_e /ī/ 

  • Lesson 56: o_e /ō/

  • Lesson 58: u_e /ū/, /yū/

  • Lesson 63: -es

  • Lesson 64: -ed

  • Lesson 65: -ing

  • Lesson 69: tch /ch/ 

  • Lesson 70: -dge /j/ 

  • Lesson 73: y /ī/ 

  • Lesson 74: y /ē/

  • Lesson 75: -le

  • Lesson 77: ar /ar/ 

  • Lesson 78: or, ore /or/

  • Lesson 80: er /er/ 

  • Lesson 81: ir, ur /er/ 

  • Lesson 82: Spelling /er/: er, ir, ur, w + or

  • Lesson 84: ai, ay /ā/

  • Lesson 85: ee, ea, ey /ē/

  • Lesson 86: oa, ow, oe /ō/

  • Lesson 87: ie, igh /ī/ 

  • Lesson 89: oo, u /oo/ 

  • Lesson 90: oo/ū/ 

  • Lesson 91: ew, ui, ue /ū/

  • Lesson 93: au, aw, augh /aw/

  • Lesson 94: ea /ĕ/, a /ŏ/

  • Lesson 95: oi, oy /oi/

  • Lesson 96: ou, ow /ow/ 

  • Lesson 98: kn /n/, wr /r/, mb /m/

  • Lesson 99: -s/-es

  • Lesson 100: -er/-est 

  • Lesson 101:-ly

  • Lesson 103: -un

Materials attend to developing phonemic awareness skills and avoid spending excess time on phonological sensitivity tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Background, the materials state, “In UFLI Foundations lessons, we include activities to build phonemic awareness, rather than phonological awareness. Phonological awareness is an umbrella term that includes awareness of phonemes but also the capacity to attend to and manipulate larger units of sound, including skills such as rhyming and segmenting syllables. Although these skills typically develop before phoneme-level skills, research demonstrates that they are not essential for word reading and spelling (e.g., Ukrainetz et al., 2011; Yeh & Connell, 2008).”

• In Background, the materials state there are many skills associated with phonemic awareness; only blending and segmentation are essential for reading and spelling words.

Materials contain a phonemic awareness sequence of instruction and practice aligned to the phonics scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Instructional Materials, Lesson 76, Step 1: Phonological Awareness is blending and segmenting using phonemes /m/, /ō/, /l/, /d/ (mold), /w/, /ī/, /l/, /d/ (wild), /f/, /ŭ/, /z/ (fuzz), /ē/ (y), child /ch/, /ī/ /l/ /d/. Step 2: Visual Drill and Step 3: Auditory Drill use the following grapheme-phonemes: dge(/j/), g(/g/ /j/), tch(/ch/), ch(/ch/), -ed(/t//d//ɘd/), c(/k//s/), a(/ă//ā/), i(/ĭ//ī/), o(/ŏ//ō/), e(/ĕ//ē/), u(/ŭ//ū//yū/), nk(/ŋk/), ng(/ŋg/), wh(/w/), ph(/f/), th(/th/, /th/), sh(/sh/), ck(/k/), /j/ (j, g, dge), /ch/ (ch, tch), /t/ (t, -ed), /d/ (d, -ed), /s/ (s, ss, c), /ā/ (a), /ō/ (o). Step 4: Blending Drill includes the following words: king, wing, win, wit, wick, quick, quit, quite, quote, vote, vite, vice, vine, vane, pane, plane, plan, plant, and plants. 

• In Instructional Materials, Lesson 94, Step 1: Phonological Awareness is blending and segmenting using phonemes /r/, /ĕ/,/d/ (read), /m/, /ĕ/, /n/, /t/ (ment), /w/, /ŏ/, /ch/ (watch), /s/, /p/, /r/ /ĕ/ /d/ (spread), head (/h/ /ĕ/ /d/), want (/w/ /ŏ/ /n/ /t/), swap (/s/ /w/ /ŏ/ /p/), and tread (/t/ /r/ /ĕ/ /d/). Step 2: Visual Drill and Step 3: Auditory Drill use the following grapheme-phonemes: aw(/aw/), au(/aw/), augh(/aw/), ew(/ū/), ui(/ū/), ue(/ū/), oo(/oo//ū/), igh(/ī/), oa(/ō/), ow(/ō/), oe(/ō/), ee(/ē/), ey(/ē/), ea(/ē/), ai(/ā/), ay(/ā/), ir(/er/), ur(/er/), er(/er/), or(/or//er/), ar(/ar/), /aw/ (aw, au, augh), /ū/ (u, oo, ew, ui, ue), /oo/ (u, oo), /ī/ (i, y, ie, igh), /ō/ (o, oa, ow, oe), /ē/ (e, y, ee, ea, ey), /ā/ (a, ai, ay), /er/ (er, ir, ur, or), /or/ (or, ore), /ar/ (ar). Step 4: Blending Drill includes the following words: pause, cause, case, cane, can, fan, fawn, yawn, dawn, drain, rain, ran, rat, rate, race.

The materials include systematic and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness with repeated teacher modeling. Instruction includes blending, segmenting, isolating, and manipulation individual phonemes across lessons. Students practice distinguishing Short and Long vowel sounds, isolating phonemes in all positions, and segmenting full sound sequences. Materials provide teacher-facing articulation guidance, scripting, and a structured corrective feedback routine using an I Do, We Do, You Do model. 

Materials provide the teacher with systematic, explicit instruction in sounds (phonemes). Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Distinguish Long from Short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 41a, Step 1: Phonological Awareness, students blend and segment spoken CVC words with Short vowels, including fin (/f/ /ĭ/ /n/), log (/l/ /ŏ/ /g/), sum /s/ /ŭ/ /m/), men (/m/ /ĕ/ /n/), and hit (/h/ /ĭ/ /t/). The focus of the lesson is on reviewing Short vowel sounds in single-syllable words. 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 72, Step 1: Phonological Awareness, students blend and segment single-syllable words with Long vowels due to vowel-consonant-consonant (VCC) spelling patterns. Examples include most (/m/ /ō/ /s/ /t/), fold (/f/ /ō/ /l/ /d/), mind (/m/ /ī/ /n/ /d/), and kind (/k/ /ī/ /n/ /d/). These lessons provide opportunities for students to distinguish Long from Short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words. 

• Orally produce single-syllable words by blending sounds (phonemes), including consonant blends.

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 35b, Step 1: Phonological Awareness, the teacher orally segments a word into individual phonemes, and the class chorally blends the phonemes to form a word. The teacher says the sounds one at a time, modeling blending the sounds by holding up a finger to represent each sound. After saying the sounds, the teacher signals the students to blend the words chorally. The teacher models articulating the phonemes for the words mad, sag, lap, and rat.  

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 77, Step 1: Phonological Awareness, the teacher orally segments a word into individual phonemes, and the class chorally blends the phonemes to form a word. The teacher says the sounds one at a time, modeling blending the sounds by holding up a finger to represent each sound. After saying the sounds, the teacher signals the students to blend the words chorally. The teacher models articulating the phonemes for the words far, star, mark, and start.  

• Isolate and pronounce initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in spoken single-syllable words.

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 62, Step 1: Phonemic Awareness, students isolate and pronounce initial, medial, and final phonemes in spoken single-syllable words through blending and segmenting activities. Examples including blending rice /r/ /ī/ /s/ (rice), /l/ /ā/ /s/ (lace), and /l/ /ī/ /v/ (live), as well as segmenting give (/g/ /ĭ/ /v/), done (/d/ /ŭ/ /n/), and twice (/t/ /w/ /ī/ /s/). 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 57, Step 1: Phonemic Awareness, students isolate and pronounce initial, medial, and final phonemes in single-syllable words through blending and segmenting. Examples include /f/ /ī/ /n/ (fine), /th/ /ē/ /z/ (these), and /s/ /k/ /ā/ /t/ (skate), and segmenting eve (/ē/ /v/), code (/k/ /ō/ /d/), and shine (/sh/ /ī/ /n/).  

• Segment spoken single-syllable words into their complete sequence of individual sounds (phonemes).

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 57, the teacher provides a word that the class chorally segments into individual phonemes using fingers to count the sounds as they are said to support segmentation. If students struggle, the teacher uses the following sample script: “The sounds in stop are /s//t//o//p/. Say the sounds in stop with me: /s//t//o//p/. Your turn.” The words used in this lesson are eve, gave, code, shine.

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 66, the teacher provides a word that the class chorally segments into individual phonemes using fingers to count the sounds as they are said to support segmentation. The students then practice with the words hi, him, go, and got.

Materials provide the teacher with examples for instruction in sounds (phonemes). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 44, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “To make the /k/ sounds, you have to put the back of your tongue to the very back of your mouth. Your voice is off for this sound. The /k/ sound is a stop sound that can’t be stretched out.”

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 57, Step 5: New Concept, Introduction Articulatory Gestures, and Sound Wall, the teacher says: “Today we will review long vowel sounds in words with silent E. Remember, vowels make their long sound, or say their name, when there is silent E at the end of a word (you can use the terms “magic E” or “bossy E” to describe the silent E.)... The long sound for A is /ā/ as in acorn. Watch me /ā/. You try (/ā/) A makes its long sound in words with silent E, like make and fame. (Sound wall: Add or refer to a_e under /ā/).”

Materials include teacher guidance for corrective feedback when needed for students. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Implementation Guidance, the materials state that if any students respond incorrectly, conduct the correction procedure in the table above with the whole group. The table contains an I do, We do, You do procedure to follow with any errors. 

  • For example, the correction procedure for Step 2, Visual Drill is as follows: 

    • Step I Do- Model the correct response- A spells /ă/.

    • Step We Do- Guide all the students in saying the correct response- Say it with me: A spells /ă/. (A spells /ă/)

    • Step You Do- Ask students for a choral response without teacher support- Your turn. (A spells /ă/)

The materials include opportunities for students to practice phonemic awareness daily. Each daily lesson begins with two phonemic awareness activities that consistently correlate with the phonics focus for the day. The materials include specific directions to the teacher for demonstrating how to articulate and pronounce each phoneme. In addition to scripted articulation practice, the materials provide teachers with mouth formation pictures, which are included on each phoneme card.

Daily phonemic awareness instruction correlates to the phonics portion of the lesson (phoneme-grapheme correspondence). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Implementation Guidance, the materials state that the purpose of Steps 1-4 is to “serve as a warm-up and review of previously taught concepts. Students begin by practicing blending phonemes into words and segmenting words into phonemes (Step 1). Next, they build automaticity with grapheme-phoneme correspondences (Steps 2-3). Finally, they connect these phonemic awareness skills with their grapheme-phoneme knowledge to practice decoding words and building decoding automaticity (Step 4).” 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 50, Step 5: New Concept, the lesson focus is wh /w/, ph /f/. The students blend the words whim, whiff, white, and phase. The students segment the words which, when, graph, and phone. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 84, Step 5: New Concept, the lesson focus is /a/ spelled with ai and ay. The students blend the words may, sway, wait, and stain. The students segment the words pay, gray, braid, and grain.  

Materials include opportunities for students to practice connecting sounds to letters. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 50, Step 3: Auditory Drill, the teacher says the phoneme, and the students echo the phoneme and connect the grapheme that the phoneme represents. For example, the teacher says /ch/, and students echo /ch/ is ch. Additional practice includes /th/ (th), /th/ (th), /sh/ (sh), /k/ (c k ck), /ŭ/ (u), /ĕ/ (e), /ĭ/ (i), /ŏ/ (o), /ă/ (a), /f/ (f, ff), /l/ (l, ll), /s/ (s, ss), /z/ (s, z, zz).   

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 68, Step 3: Auditory Drill, the teacher says the phoneme, and the students echo the phoneme and connect the grapheme that the phoneme represents. For example, the teacher says /t/, and students echo /t/ is t. Additional practice includes /d/ (d, -ed), /j/ (j, g), /s/ (s, ss, c),  /ā/ (a),  /ī/ (i), /ō/ (o), /ē/ (e), /ū/ (u), /yū/ (u).  

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 107, Step 3: Auditory Drill, the teacher says the phoneme and the students echo the phoneme and connect the grapheme that the phoneme represents. For example, the teacher says /ā/, and students echo /ā/ is a ai ay. Additional practice includes /ē/ (e, y, ea, ee, ey), /er/ (er, ir, ur, or), /s/ (s, ss, c), /z/ (s, z), /n/ (n, kn), /r/ (r, wr), /m/ (m, mb), /ow/ (ou ow), /oi/ (oi, oy), /ĕ/ (e, ea). 

Materials include directions to the teacher for demonstrating how to pronounce each phoneme (articulation/mouth formation). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 50, Step 5: New Concept, Articulatory Gesture, the teacher reviews the sound /w/. The materials state, “To make the /w/ sound, round your lips tight like this (model) and turn your voice on. The /w/ sound is a continuous sound that can be stretched out. Watch me /w/, you try /w/.”  

• In Instructional Materials, Lesson 81, Step 5: New Concept, Articulatory Gesture, the lesson focuses on r-controlled vowels -ir and -ur. The materials include the following explanation for articulation: “We begin with our lips pulled forward for the /u/ part, but then our tongue pulls back, and the sides of the tongue are raised up for the /r/ part of the sound. Your voice is on. Listen /er/. The /er/ sound is a continuous sound that can be stretched out (use continuous hand motion). Watch me /er/. You try /er/.”

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 96, Step 5: New Concept, Articulatory Gesture, the teacher introduces the /ow/ sound as in cow. The materials state, “Open your mouth and keep your tongue low and then round your lips and pull the back of your tongue toward the roof of your mouth like this (model). Be sure your voice is on. Like all vowels, /ow/ is a continuous sound that can be stretched out. Watch me /ow/. You try /ow/.”

The materials include weekly spelling assessments aligned to the scope and sequence that assess phonemic awareness through grapheme-phoneme correspondences, decodable word spelling, irregular word spelling, and sentence dictation. These assessments provide ongoing opportunities to monitor students’ ability to segment, blend, and manipulate phonemes in increasingly complex word structures. Teachers receive guidance for interpreting results and identifying which students require additional support. The materials include small-group planning recommendations and targeted resources, such as word chains and word lists, to support instruction based on assessment outcomes. 

Materials provide a variety of assessment opportunities throughout the year (e.g., at least three times per year or aligned to key instructional benchmarks) to monitor student progress in phonemic awareness. Assessment types may include oral tasks, encoding assessments, decoding activities requiring phoneme manipulation, and teacher observations.

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, materials steps, “monitoring students’ growth is an essential part of skill development. Effective progress monitoring allows you to see exactly which students need extra support on which skills and when they need it.” 

  • The materials recommend administering spelling assessments weekly as an ongoing progress monitoring tool aligned to the UFLI Foundations scope and sequence. 

  • Assessment types include: 

    • Grapheme-phoneme correspondences (GPCs): Teachers pronounce phoneme, and students write the associated grapheme. 

    • Regular words: Students spell decodable words based on taught grapheme-phoneme correspondences. 

    • Irregular words: Students spell high-frequency words learned using the “heart word” method. 

    • Sentence dictation: Students apply newly learned sound-symbol relationships and irregular words in connected text. 

Assessment materials provide teachers-and, when appropriate, caregivers-with clear information about students’ current skill levels in phonemic awareness. 

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, weekly assessments provide concept-specific performance data. 

  • The manual explains how each type of item (GPCs, regular words, irregular words, and sentences) maps onto specific skills. 

  • Teachers are instructed to assess which students need substantial, minimal, or no additional support. 

Materials support teachers with instructional suggestions or next steps based on assessment results to support student progress toward mastery. 

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, a sample “Data Planning for Small Group Support” chart outlines how to group students based on assessment results. 

  • Grouping recommendations include: which concept to reteach, how many minutes per day, and how many days per week. For example, students may be grouped based on mastery of a concept, with recommended small-group time allocations ranging from 4-12 minutes daily across 1-5 days per week. 

  • Teachers are directed to use word chains and word lists from the core lesson resources for targeted support.

The materials include a clear, research-based scope and sequence that delineates a sequence in which phonics skills are taught. Phonics skills in the scope and sequence move from simple to complex, including high-utility phonics patterns and generalizations.

Materials have a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Background, the materials state, “The sequence of instruction in grapheme-phoneme correspondences should be systematic. It makes sense for early instruction to include higher-frequency letters (A, M, S, T) before lower-frequency letters (Q, W). Graphemes with more regular phoneme correspondence (M, T, SH) are more appropriate for early instruction than those with less regular correspondences (C, G, EA). However, including common multi-letter graphemes (e.g., digraphs) in early instruction may enhance learning, even in kindergarten (Vadasy & Sanders, 2021).”

• In Background, the materials state that “a carefully designed scope and sequence of skills is essential for systematic phonics instruction (Earle & Sayeski, 2017). The consistency and frequency of grapheme-phoneme correspondences are important considerations, as are concepts’ relative complexity. The following guidelines were used in the development of the UFLI Foundations Scope and Sequence:

  • “High-frequency graphemes (e.g., S, M, A, SH) should be taught before lesson common graphemes (e.g., Q, Z, AUGH).

  • The most common phoneme associated with a grapheme should be taught before less common sounds.

  • Visually similar letters should be separated to lessen confusion.

  • Continuous sounds are easier to blend than stop sounds, so they should be taught early.

  • Consonants tend to be easier to learn because most consonant letters represent only one sound, so they should be taught early.

  • Short vowel sounds are more consistent, so they should be taught before long vowel sounds.

  • Begin with simple combinations of consonants and vowels (VC, CVC) and move to more complex combinations (CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC).”

Materials clearly delineate a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction, from simpler to more complex skills, and practice to build toward the application of skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The UFLI Foundations Scope and Sequence is organized to ensure that (a) students build all the necessary skills for proficient reading, (b) the skills build on one another, and (c) sufficient practice is provided to build mastery. The sequence for Grade 1 is as follows: 

  • Lesson 35: Short A Review (incl. Nasalized A)

  • Lesson 36: Short I Review 

  • Lesson 37: Short O Review 

  • Lesson 39: Short U Review 

  • Lesson 40: Short E Review 

  • Lesson 41: Short Vowels Review (all) 

  • Lesson 42: FLSZ Spelling Rule (ff, ll, ss, zz)

  • Lesson 43: -all, -oll, -ull

  • Lesson 44: ck /k/ 

  • Lesson 45: sh /sh 

  • Lesson 46: Voiced th /th/

  • Lesson 47: Unvoiced th /th/ 

  • Lesson 48: ch /ch/ 

  • Lesson 49: Digraphs Review 1

  • Lesson 50: wh /w/, ph /f/ 

  • Lesson 51: ng /ŋ/

  • Lesson 52: n /ŋ/ (as in nk) 

  • Lesson 53: Digraphs Review 2 (incl. CCCVC) 

  • Lesson 54: a_e /ā/

  • Lesson 55: i_e /ī/ 

  • Lesson 56: o_e /ō/

  • Lesson 57: VCe Review 1, e_e /ē/

  • Lesson 58: u_e /ū/, /yū/

  • Lesson 59: VCe Review 2 (all)

  • Lesson 60: _ce /s/

  • Lesson 61: _ge /j/

  • Lesson 62: VCe Review 3, VCe Exceptions  

  • Lesson 63: -es

  • Lesson 64: -ed

  • Lesson 65: -ing

  • Lesson 66: Closed & Open Syllables 

  • Lesson 67: Closed/Closed

  • Lesson 68: Open/Closed 

  • Lesson 69: tch /ch/ 

  • Lesson 70: -dge /j/ 

  • Lesson 72: Long VCC (-ild, -old, -ind, -olt, -ost)

  • Lesson 73: y /ī/ 

  • Lesson 74: y /ē/

  • Lesson 75: -le

  • Lesson 76: Ending Patterns Review 

  • Lesson 77: ar /ar/ 

  • Lesson 78: or, ore /or/

  • Lesson 80: er /er/ 

  • Lesson 81: ir, ur /er/ 

  • Lesson 82: Spelling /er/: er, ir, ur, w + or

  • Lesson 83: R-Controlled Vowels Review 

  • Lesson 84: ai, ay /ā/

  • Lesson 85: ee, ea, ey /ē/

  • Lesson 86: oa, ow, oe /ō/

  • Lesson 87: ie, igh /ī/ 

  • Lesson 89: oo, u /oo/ 

  • Lesson 90: oo/ū/ 

  • Lesson 91: ew, ui, ue /ū/

  • Lesson 93: au, aw, augh /aw/

  • Lesson 94: ea /ĕ/, a /ŏ/

  • Lesson 95: oi, oy /oi/

  • Lesson 96: ou, ow /ow/ 

  • Lesson 98: kn /n/, wr /r/, mb /m/

  • Lesson 99: -s/-es

  • Lesson 100: -er/-est 

  • Lesson 101:-ly

  • Lesson 103: -un

  • Lesson 107: Doubling Rule -ed, -ing 

  • Lesson 108: Doubling Rule -er, -est

  • Lesson 109: Drop -e Rule

  • Lesson 110: -y to i Rule

Phonics instruction is based on high utility patterns and/or specific phonics generalizations. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Implementation Guidance, the materials state that students learn common grapheme-phoneme correspondences while learning the alphabet, then phonemes are attached to digraphs and trigraphs and other spelling variations such as /ā/ spelled a, a_e, ai and ay. Spelling patterns for affixes and roots are introduced beginning with Lesson 99. 

• In the Scope and Sequence, the materials show that the program is organized using high utility patterns and specific phonics generalizations. Lessons 35-41 review the alphabet and longer words, including CVC, CCVC, CVCC, CCVCC, and CCCVC. Lessons 42-53 review digraphs. Lessons 54-59 review VCe.  Lessons 63-68 review reading longer words, including adding the suffixes -s, -ed, -ing, along with multisyllabic words containing open and closed syllables. Lessons 69-76 introduce ending spelling patterns. Lessons 77-83 introduce r-controlled vowels. Lessons 84-87 introduce long vowel teams. Lessons 89-94 introduce other vowel teams. Lessons 95-96 introduce diphthongs. Lesson 98 introduces silent letters. Lessons 99-103 introduce suffixes and prefixes. Lessons 107-110 introduce suffix spelling changes. 

• In Instructional Materials, Lesson 42, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Let’s look at some letters we already know. F spells /f/, L spells /l/, S spells /s/, and Z spells /z/. Something tricky happens when these sounds come after a short vowel. When we hear /f/, /l/, /s/, and /z/ at the end of a word after a short vowel sound, we use the double letters or the same letter two times to spell that sound.”

• In Instructional Materials, Lesson 109, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Today we will learn another spelling rule for adding suffixes -er, -est, -est, and -ing to words. If the words end with a silent e, we drop or take away the e before adding the suffix.”

The materials do not contain lessons or resources that include the three-cueing system.

Materials do not contain elements of instruction that are based on the three-cueing system for teaching decoding.

• Materials do not contain elements of instruction that are based on the three-cueing system.

The materials, questions, and tasks provide reasonable pacing where phonics skills are taught one at a time and allot time where phonics skills are practiced to automaticity, with cumulative review. The materials provide ample practice and review opportunities in a reasonably paced manner. Each lesson spans two days and provides opportunities for students to practice the most recently learned skill and other previously taught skills embedded in the lesson to ensure mastery.  

Materials include reasonable pacing of newly taught phonics skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Resources, Detailed Scope and Sequence, the phonics skills pacing focuses on spelling patterns and reviews previous skills before introducing new skills. An example of the pacing is as follows: 

  • In Lessons 54-62, the materials teach students how to decode and encode VCe patterns. 

  • In Lessons 77-83, the materials teach students R-Controlled Vowels, including ar, or, ore, ar, er, ir.

  • In Lessons 84-88, the materials teach students Long Vowel Teams ai, ay, ee, ea, ey, oa, ow, oe, ie, igh.

The lesson plan design allots time to include sufficient student practice to work towards automaticity. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 50, Step 6: Word Work, students use a Word Work Mat or magnetic letters to manipulate graphemes to spell the first word and then make subsequent onset-rime and phoneme level changes at the teacher’s direction. The teacher directs the students to decode a new word. Then, the teacher provides the word, and asks the students to spell it, alternating between decoding and encoding. The teacher says, “Begin with mat. Change mat to sat. Change S to an F. Now tell me what word you have? Change fat to fit. Change F to an S. What word is that? What letter do you need to change to change sit to lit? Now add S to the beginning of lit. What word do you get?” For this lesson, the sequence is as follows: whip, whips, hips, ship, hip, him, whim, whiz, which. During Step 8: Connected Text, the students practice reading one or more of the following sentences: When will we have lunch? Would the moth munch on the cloth? Ralph should what the ball with his bat. Then they will spell one or more of the following sentences: Steph is a whiz at math! When should we be back? Phil whips up lunch on a whim. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 75, Step 6: Word Work, students use a Word Work Mat or magnetic letters to manipulate graphemes to spell the first word and then make subsequent onset-rime and phoneme level changes at the teacher’s direction. The teacher directs the students to decode a new word, and then the teacher provides the word, and asks the students to spell it, alternating between decoding and encoding. For this lesson, the sequence is as follows: able, cable, fable, table, stable, staple, taple (NSW), maple. During Step 8: Connected Text, the students practice reading one or more of the following sentences: My uncle is so kind and funny! Many people see the bubbles go by. There are forty people on the shuttle. Then they will spell one or more of the following sentences: All four apples fell! Seven people sit at the table. The tiny baby is resting in the cradle. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 87, Step 6: Word Work, students use a Word Work Mat or magnetic letters to manipulate graphemes to spell the first word and then make subsequent onset-rime and phoneme level changes at the teacher’s direction. The teacher directs the students to decode a new word. The teacher provides the word and asks the students to spell it, alternating between decoding and encoding. For this lesson, the sequence is as follows: pie, tie, die, lie, ligh (NSW), light, might, sight, slight, flight, fright, bright, right, night. During Step 8, Connected Text, the students practice reading one or more of the following sentences: Do you always fight for the last slice of pie? We are almost done fixing the bright lights. She tried to help because it was the right thing to do. Then they will spell one or more of the following sentences: They were up almost all night. He always tries with all his might! It is dark because the light is off. 

Materials contain distributed, cumulative, and interleaved opportunities for students to practice and review all previously learned grade-level phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 54, Step 5: New Concept, the students are introduced to the VCe spelling with a_e. Lesson 55 reviews a_e and introduces i_e. Lesson 56 reviews a_e and i_e, and introduces o_e. Lesson 57 reviews a_e, i_e, and o_e and introduces i_e. This pattern continues until all VCe patterns have been introduced and reviewed, up and through Lesson 62.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 77, Step 5: New Concept, the students are introduced to the /ar/ sound. Lesson 78 reviews /ar/ and introduces /or/. Lesson 79 reviews /ar/ and /or/. This pattern continues until ore, er, and ir are introduced.

The materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of newly taught phonics patterns with blending and segmenting of words and sentences. The lesson structure includes teacher scripts for explicit instruction with consistent routines for teacher modeling for all grade-level phonics standards. The materials include clear, research-based guidance for providing corrective feedback when students respond incorrectly. This includes modeling the correct response, choral practice routines, and sample language to support student accuracy and reinforce phonics learning.  

Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of newly-taught phonics patterns. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• RF.1.3a Know the spelling-sound correspondences for common consonant digraphs. 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 46, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Remember, a consonant digraph is two consonants that come together to make one sound. You have already learned about the consonant digraphs ck and sh. Another consonant digraph is th. The voiced th spells /th/ like at the beginning of the word this. Voiced /th/ comes at the beginning of a word, such as the words them and that.” 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 49, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “A consonant digraph is when two consonants come together to make one sound. Today, we will review the consonant digraphs -ck, sh, th, and ch.”

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 51, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “The sound /ŋ/ is usually represented by the letters ng, like at the end of the word ring. The letters ng for the sound /ŋ/ only come at the end of a word, such as the words king and long.” 

• RF.1.3b Decode regularly spelled one-syllable words.  

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 41b, Step 4: Blending Drill the teacher models decoding regularly spelled one-syllable words by pointing to each grapheme and saying each sound, holding it out until starting the next sound. Then, the teacher swipes a finger across the graphemes and says the whole word. The teacher models with the words spit, slit, slid, slip, lip, lap, clap, flap, flag, lag, rag, rags, rats, rots, pots, plots, slots, and spots.

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 72, Step 4: Blending Drill, the teacher models decoding by pointing to each grapheme, saying each sound, and holding it out until starting the next sound. Then, the teacher swipes a finger across the graphemes while saying the whole word. The teacher models with the words fridge, bridge, ridge, rid, ride, hide, hid, hi, hit, hitch, hatch, patch, pat, pot, got, go, no, not, and notch.

• RF.1.3c Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds. 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 54, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “A spells /ā/ when there is a silent e at the end of a word like in the words made and tape. The silent e makes the vowels say their names or long vowel sounds.”

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 59, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “The long sound for e is /ē/ as in eagle. Watch me /ē/. You try (/ē/). E makes its long sound in words with silent e, like eve and theme. In words with the e_e pattern, the first e says its name, and the last e is silent.”   

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 85, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “The vowel team ee spells /ē/. EE usually comes in the middle of a word, like in need and feet. EE can also come at the end of a word, like in see and tree. EE sometimes comes at the beginning of a word like in eel.” 

• RF.1.3d Use knowledge that every syllable must have a vowel sound to determine the number of syllables in a printed word. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 66, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “A syllable is a word or part of a word with one vowel sound. A syllable can be pushed out in one breath. Your chin will usually drop slightly as you say each syllable in a word. Let’s practice.” The materials also direct teachers to have students practice counting syllables for the following words: robot, octopus, macaroni, shoe, umbrella, watermelon, zebra, helicopter. 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 67a, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “A syllable is a word or part of a word with one vowel sound. A syllable can be pushed out in one breath. Your chin will usually drop slightly as you say each syllable in a word.”

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 107, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Remember, words with one vowel followed by a consonant are closed syllables and closed syllables always make a Short vowel sound. When we are spelling, we want to add -ed or -ing to a word, we can write the word first and then check to see if it has one vowel and one final consonant to tell if we need to double the consonant before adding the -ed or -ing ending.”

• RF.1.3e Decode two-syllable words following basic patterns by breaking the words into syllables. 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 67a, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Let’s practice reading compound words. The first part of the word is sun. The next part of the word is set. If you put them together, you get the compound word sunset. What is the word (sunset)? The compound word sunset has two smaller words that are closed syllables, sun and set. When reading compound words with two closed syllables, first we read the first word or syllable. Then, we read the second word or syllables. Last, we blend the two words or syllables together to read the word.” 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 67b, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “When we put closed syllables together, we can make longer words. We have learned about compound words that are made up of two smaller words, like in the word sunset. Let’s practice reading longer words that are not compound words. The first part of this word is den. The next part of this word is tist. If you put them together, you get the word dentist. What is the word? (dentist). The word dentist has two closed syllables, den and tist.”

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 68, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Met is a closed syllable. An open syllable has one vowel that makes a long sound and ends with that vowel. Me is an open syllable. We can combine open and closed syllables to make longer words. The first part of this word is be. Be is an open syllable. The next part of this word is yond. Yond is a closed syllable. If you put them together, you get the word beyond. What is the word? (beyond). The word beyond has an open syllable, be, and a closed syllable, yond.” The teacher repeats this process with the following words: ra-ven, si-lent, da-ta, mu-sic, to-ken, pro-gram, cu-bic, pre-fix, se-cret, si-nus. 

• RF.1.3f Read words with inflectional endings.

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 99, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Morphemes are word parts that change a word’s meaning. A suffix is a morpheme we add to the end of a word. We already know a few suffixes: -S and -ES. When we add -S/-ES to nouns, the noun changes from singular to plural (e.g., cat, cats).”  

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 100, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Morphemes are word parts that change a word’s meaning. A suffix is a morpheme we add to the end of a word. We can add the suffixes -ER and -EST to adjectives when we are making comparisons.” Students go on to read the following words: smallest, sharper, softer, tallest, shortest, longest, newer, hardest, shorter. 

  • In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 107, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Remember, words with one vowel followed by a consonant are closed syllables and closed syllables always make a short vowel sound. When we are spelling, we want to add -ED or -ING to a word, we can write the word first and then check to see if it has one vowel and one final consonant to tell if we need to double the consonant before adding the -ED or -ING ending.” 

Lessons include blending and segmenting practice using structured, consistent blending routines with teacher modeling. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Implementation Guidance, Read and Spell Words, the materials state, “For this activity, you will model reading a word with the grapheme (I do) and then have your students practice reading several more together (we do) and independently (you do). Modeling is particularly important to promote correct practice. Here is an example of teacher modeling from a lesson on a new grapheme (sh). ‘I see SH /sh/ in this word. I am going to say each sound and then blend the sounds together: /sh/ /e/ /d/, shed.’ Here is an example of teacher modeling from a lesson on reading multisyllabic words: ‘When reading words with more than one syllable, first we read the first syllable (/do/). Then, we read the second syllable (/nut/). Last, we blend the two syllables together to read the word (donut).’ After modeling, guide your students in reading each word.” For example:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 45, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher models blending and segmenting the words shed and ship. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 86, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher models blending and segmenting the words road, grow, toe, window, coat, and blow. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 99, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher models blending and segmenting the words classes, grows, girls, and fixes. 

Lessons include dictation of words and phrases using the newly taught phonics pattern(s). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 45, Step 8: Connected Text, the lesson focus is grapheme SH spells /sh/. The teacher dictates the sentences We went on a ship., Will you shut the trash can lid?, and She grabs a snack from the shelf.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 48, Step 8: Connected Text, the lesson focus is grapheme CH spells /ch/. The teacher dictates the words chin, much, chick, and punch. The students write the sentences I munch on the chips., Did they walk on the path?, and Chad walks to the bench.  

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 58, Step 8: Connected Text, the lesson focus is the u-e vowel pattern. The teacher dictates the following words: cube, mule, flute. The students write the following sentences: That cat is so cute!, The phone is on mute., and Would you sing a tune?

Materials include teacher guidance for corrective feedback when needed for students. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Implementation Guidance, the materials provide the guidance for Step 4: Blending Drill. This includes modeling and additional practice when students make a mistake such as modeling the correct response, “That word is /kwwwiiik/ ‘quick,’” guiding all the students in saying the correct response, “Say it with me: /kwwwiiik/ ‘quick,’” and asking the students for a choral response without teacher support - “Your turn.”

• In Background,the manual states: “To ensure that students understand which responses are correct and which are incorrect, it is important for the teacher to provide behavior-specific praise after correct responses (Royer et al., 2019) and immediate corrective feedback after incorrect responses (Archer & Hughes, 2011; Black & Wiliam, 1998).” The materials explain that corrective feedback should be “quick, routine, matter-of-fact, non-judgmental, and worded in a way that elicits practice of the correct response,” such as “That sound is /ŏ/. What sound?” The guidance emphasizes modeling and immediate response correction to support student accuracy.

The materials include consistent instructional routines that allow students to practice decoding and encoding words using common and newly taught sound and spelling patterns. The materials indicate that different parts of the lesson focus on decoding and encoding instruction at the I Do, We Do, and You Do levels. Online materials provide independent practice for word-level decoding towards accuracy and automaticity.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words with taught phonics patterns. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 11, Step 5: New Concept, students decode the following words: am, Sam, Pam, an, man, fan, pan, tan.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 39b, Step 5: New Concept, students decode the following words: us, but, sun, cut, hugs, runs, plug, must, jump, hunt.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 52, Step 5: New Concept, students decode the following words: sank, pink, stink, think, drink, frank, trunk, prank.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to encode words with taught phonics patterns. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 24, Step 5: New Concept, students encode the following words: rat, red, runs, rest. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 38a and 38b, Step 5: New Concept, students encode a variety of words that include short vowels, blends, and digraphs. In Lesson 38a, students encode: am, an, sad, it, did, on, hot. In Lesson 38b, students encode: plan, fast, twin, list, drop, spot.  

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 49, Step 5: New Concept, students encode the following words: this, chest, shift, moths.

Student-guided practice and independent practice of blending sounds using the sound-spelling pattern(s) is varied and frequent. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In UFLI Foundations Toolbox, Lesson 13, the materials provide Roll and Read for independent practice with d /d/. Students roll a die and then read a word from the column under the picture of the number rolled. The following words are used for independent practice: ad, dam, nod, dot, mad, sod, dip, dim, pad, dad, fad, sad, mod, pod, tad, did, mid.  

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 36a, Step 8: Word Work Chains follows the Connected Text and are available after the lesson for additional practice  with Short i words. One of the word chains provided is rid, lid, kid, hid, bid. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 44, Step 8: Word Lists appear after the Connected Text and are included for additional practice with the digraph ck. A word list containing the rime -ack is provided: back, black, clack, crack, hack, lack, pack, quack, rack, sack, slack, smack, snack, stack, tack, track. 

• In UFLI Foundations Toolbox, Lesson 51, the materials provide Roll and Read for independent practice with ng /ŋ/. The following words are used for independent practice: clang, cling, zing, clung, fang, sting, sling, bang, ding, gong, swung, flung, bring, long, gang, swing, fling, hung, thing, wing, king, lung, hang, rung, sing, pang, sang, ping, slung, rang, song, ring, stung, slang, sung.  

Materials provide opportunities for students to engage in word-level decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 12, Step 4: Blending Drill, students blend the following words to build decoding automaticity: am, Sam, fam, Pam, pat, pit, pin, pan, an, fan, man, Nan, tan.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 24, Step 4: Blending Drill, students blend the following words to build decoding automaticity: hit, hint, hunt, hut, hub, sub, stub, snub, snug, smug, mug, hug, hum, hem, ham, him, Kim.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 36, Step 4: Blending Drill, students blend the following words to build decoding automaticity: mad, sad,  sat, at, am, an, fan, ran, tan, tap, nap, snap, slap, lap, laps, maps.

The materials teach spelling rules and generalizations at a reasonable pace. The materials contain spelling rules and generalizations that align with the phonics scope and sequence. Explanations for spelling specific words or spelling rules are included throughout the program, and the instructional teacher’s notes and lesson plans explain the rules in detail. Students practice the new skill throughout multiple steps of the lesson plan sequence. 

Spelling rules and generalizations are aligned to the phonics scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 45, the Scope and Sequence indicates a phonics focus on the grapheme sh. Students spell words with sh, including the words shin, shock, wish, and brush.   

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 70, the Scope and Sequence indicates a phonics focus on the grapheme -dge. Students spell words with -dge including the words edge, hedge, bridge, and fridge.  

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 98, the Scope and Sequence indicates a phonics focus on silent letters kn, wr, mb. Students spell words with kn, wr, mb, including write, know, knee, and lamb. 

Materials include explanations for spelling of specific words or spelling rules. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 41a, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher reviews how to spell with different vowels. For example, when going over U/u/, the teacher explains “the Short vowel u spells /ŭ/ like in the beginning of the word up. U can come in the middle of a word, like in trust and slump, or at the beginning of a word, like in up and us.”

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 61, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “We have learned that it is important to notice when there is an E at the end of the word because it will tell us to say the Long vowel sound, or the vowel’s name. Remember that this E does not make a sound, it is a silent E. You have already learned that G spells /g/. The letter G can also spell /j/ when it is followed by a silent E, such as the word cage.”  

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 90, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “We have learned that the vowel team OO can spell the sound /oo/ as in book. OO can also spell the sound /ū/ as in spoon. OO spells /ū/ in the middle of a word like soon and food. OO can also spell /ū/ at the beginning of a word like oops and ooze.”

Students have sufficient opportunities to practice spelling rules and generalizations. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 43, Step 6: Word Work, students practice spelling -all, -oll, -ull. Words spelled include all, ball, bull, full, pull, poll, roll, troll, toll, tall, fall, call, mall, and small. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 91, Step 6: Word Work, students practice spelling ew, ui, ue /ū/. Words spelled include threw, brew, grew, crew, drew, dew, due, sue, glue, blue, and clue. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 107, Step 6: Word Work, students practicespelling with the Doubling Rule -ed, -ing. Words spelled include shopping, shopped, hopped, hopping, hugging, hugged, bugged.

The materials include weekly spelling assessments aligned to the scope and sequence that measure phonics skills through grapheme-phoneme correspondences, regular word encoding, irregular word spelling, and sentence dictation. Assessment results provide concept-specific data on student performance, including point values and skill-type breakdowns. Teachers are supported with grouping templates, differentiated time recommendations, and lesson-aligned resources such as word chains and word lists to plan small-group instruction based on assessment outcomes. 

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to monitor students’ progress toward mastery in phonics. Assessments are aligned to the scope and sequence and occur weekly. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, the materials state, “Frequent progress monitoring can help you track the individual needs of your students. To make progress monitoring data collection quick and easy, UFLI Foundations includes spelling assessment items for each concept. Encoding skills are an excellent indicator of decoding skills, and spelling assessments are easy to administer to an entire class at once. Children who can spell a word can almost always read the word, but the opposite is not necessarily true.” For each concept in the scope and sequence, a set of words and sentences is provided in the Resources section to be used as the spelling assessment. 

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, Lesson 54, the students are assessed on the following skills:

  • Concepts- a_e/ā/

  • Grapheme-phoneme correspondences- name, made, late

  • Irregular words- who

  • Sentences- Should we bake a big cake?

  • New Concept Points- 5

  • Total Points- 10

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, Lesson 77, the students are assessed on the following skills:

  • Concepts- ar/ar/

  • Grapheme-phoneme correspondences- car, part, hard

  • Irregular words- pretty

  • Sentences- We got to the farm at four.

  • New Concept Points- 4

  • Total Points- 11

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, Lesson 95, the students are assessed on the following skills:

  • Concepts- oi, oy /oi/

  • Grapheme-phoneme correspondences- soil, point, boy

  • Irregular words- February

  • Sentences- I hope the milk did not spoil.

  • New Concept Points- 4

  • Total Points- 11

Assessment materials provide teachers with concept-specific information about students’ phonics skills. Scoring guidance helps teachers identify who has mastered a concept and who needs additional support. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessments, the materials state, “Use data from assessment of each concept to identify which children still need substantial support, who needs minimal support, and who has already mastered the concept. Based on this information, you can decide who will receive small-group support the following week and how much support they will need. Use the supplemental resources (e.g., word chains and word lists) from the lesson plans for the assessed concepts to plan the content of your small-group lessons.” 

Materials support teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in phonics.   Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, the following was provided as a ‘Data-Based Planning for Small Group Support.”

  • Students A-D working on concepts 0-1 work for 10-12 minutes daily

  • Students E-K working on concepts 2-3 work for 5-8 minutes, 2-3 days

  • Students L-Q working on concept 4 work for 4-5 minutes, 1-2 days

  • Students R-U-not needing small-group instruction

• In the Implementation Guidance, Differentiation, during small group instruction, the materials state, “Even when the teacher provides differentiated support during the whole-class lesson, in most classrooms, there will be some students who still need more support. For these students, supplemental small-group lessons may meet their needs. We recommend you use a flexible grouping plan based on your progress monitoring assessment to plan the content and time for your small-group sessions. Each lesson plan includes additional resources beyond the lesson steps. These word chains and word lists are ideal for small-group lessons. In addition, you can use any sentences you were unable to include in the whole-class lesson or you can reuse lesson content during small-group sessions.” 

• In the Implementation Guidance, there is a chart titled, “Sample Planning for Small-Group Supplemental Support,” which outlines a weekly plan with sample students, skills needed, and activities. Instructional guidance is provided in a flexible format that applies across concepts, rather than being repeated for each individual lesson.

The materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words through an explicit and consistent instructional routine with teacher modeling that includes connecting phoneme-grapheme correspondences and a sufficient quantity of high-frequency words for students to make reading progress. 

Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words with an explicit and consistent instructional routine. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 55, Step 7: Irregular Words, the teacher introduces the new words, by and my. The teacher presents each word initially with just symbols (i.e., heart and boxes) covered up. The teacher begins by showing the students the word and saying the word aloud. The students read the word, and then the teacher and the students find the irregular part together by matching the phoneme in the word with the grapheme and identifying the irregular grapheme-phoneme correspondence. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 63, Step 7: Irregular Words, the teacher introduces the new words, does and two. The teacher presents each word initially with just symbols (i.e., heart and boxes) covered up. The teacher begins by showing the students the word and saying the word aloud. The students read the word, and then the teacher and the students find the irregular part together by matching the phoneme in the word with the grapheme and identifying the irregular grapheme-phoneme correspondence. 

Materials include teacher modeling of the spelling and reading of high-frequency words that includes connecting the phonemes to the graphemes. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 46, Step 7: Irregular Words, according to Implementation Guidance, the teacher asks the students to say the sounds in the word together with them, including the sound that is represented by an irregular grapheme, and then blend the sounds together to form the word. The students write the word while saying each sound. The teacher writes the word while saying the sounds two to four times by writing it big, small, fast, or slow to make it engaging. The words for this lesson are they and their.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 65, Step 7: Irregular Words, according to Implementation Guidance, the teacher asks the students to say the sounds in the word together with them, including the sound that is represented by an irregular grapheme, and then blend the sounds together to form the word. The students write the word while saying each sound. The teacher writes the word while saying the sounds two to four times by writing it big, small, fast, or slow to make it engaging. The words for this lesson are been and into.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 83, Step 7: Irregular Words, according to Implementation Guidance, the teacher asks the students to say the sounds in the word together with them, including the sound that is represented by an irregular grapheme, and then blend the sounds together to form the word. The students write the word while saying each sound. The teacher writes the word while saying the sounds two to four times by writing it big, small, fast, or slow to make it engaging. The words for this lesson are father and water.

Materials include a sufficient quantity of high-frequency words for students to make reading progress. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Implementation Guidance, Detailed Scope and Sequence: All Concepts, the materials include 155 high-frequency words for Grade 1. High-frequency word instruction takes place in lessons 42-52, 54-70, 72-78, 80-87, 89-91, 93-96, 98, 103, and 110. The materials designate lessons 35a-c, 36a-b, 37a-b, 39a-b, 40a-b, 41a-c, 53, 59-61, 69-71, 76, 83, 92, 95, 99-101,107-109 as review weeks.

The materials provide students with frequent opportunities to decode high-frequency words in isolation. Throughout the materials, students have the opportunity to decode high-frequency words in context in decodable texts. In addition, students have frequent opportunities to encode high-frequency words in sentences, to promote the automaticity of high-frequency words.

Students practice decoding high-frequency words in isolation. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 36a, Step 7: Irregular Words, students begin with a quick review of previously taught irregular words. The students read and write the words to, do, of, see

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 66, Step 7: Irregular Words, students begin with a quick review of previously taught irregular words. The students read and write the words two, does, many, any, been, into.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 96, Step 7: Irregular Words, students begin with a quick review of previously taught irregular words. The students read and write the words Monday, Wednesday, February.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode high-frequency words in context. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, Lesson 51, students read the decodable text “King and Ash Sing.” This text includes the high-frequency words song, sing, for, long, bring.

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, Lesson 54, students read the decodable text “Cave in the Maze.” This text includes the high-frequency words of, the, to, is, can, said, they, see, look, in.

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, Lesson 73, students read the decodable text “Plan Race.” This text includes the high-frequency words and, they, to, see, them will, one, well, four, said, was, can, try.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to encode high-frequency words in tasks, such as sentences, in order to promote automaticity of high-frequency words. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 55, Step 8: Connected Text, students use the grapheme-phoneme correspondences (/a/, / ā/, /ŋk/, / ŋg/, /w/, /ph/, /ch/, /th/, /sh/, /f/, /l/, /s/, /z/, /i/, /o/, /u/, /e/) irregular words (where, for), and high-frequency words (my, like) learned to write complete sentences. The teacher dictates the sentences: We drive for six miles., The five kids are not on time!, and This is where my mom likes to dine.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 65, Step 8: Connected Text, students use the grapheme-phoneme correspondences (-ed/t//d//ed/, /g//j/, /k//s/, /a/, / ā/, /ī//ĭ/, /ŏ//ō/, /ē//ĕ/, /ū//ŭ/,/ŋk/, /ŋg/, /w/, /f/, /ch/, /th/, /w/, /sh/, /z/)  the irregular words (been), and high-frequency words (been, by, you) learned to write complete sentences. The teacher dictates the sentences: I love helping you!, Have you been walking?, and We were standing by the stage.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 68, Step 8: Connected Text, the students use the grapheme-phoneme correspondences (-ed/t//d//ed/, /g//j/, /k//s/, /a/, / ā/, /ī//ĭ/, /ŏ//ō/, /ē//ĕ/, /ū//ŭ/,/ŋk/, /ŋg/, /w/, /f/, /ch/, /th/, /w/, /sh/, /z/), the irregular words (many), and high-frequency words (many) learned to write complete sentences. The teacher dictates the sentences: It has been humid., Do you have many items in your bag?, We should get two donuts and one drink.

The materials contain explicit instruction of syllable types, routines for syllable division, and morpheme analysis that promote decoding and encoding of words. Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies.

Materials contain frequent explicit instruction of syllable types and routines for syllable division that promote decoding and encoding of words. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 68, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “We have been learning about closed and open syllables. A closed syllable has one vowel that makes a short sound and ends with a consonant. Met is a closed syllable. An open syllable has one vowel that makes a long sound and ends with that vowel. Me is an open syllable. We can combine open and closed syllables to make longer words. The first part of this word is be. Be is an open syllable. The next part of this word is yond. Yond is a closed syllable. If you put them together, you get the word beyond.” The teacher models decoding the words basic and froze and encoding the word began. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 75, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “Remember, a syllable is a word or part of a word with one vowel sound. We have been learning about different types of syllables, which helps us read and spell big words. Remember, closed syllables end in one or more consonants and the vowel sound is short. Open syllables end in a vowel and the vowel sound is long. Another type of syllable is called a final stable syllable. The name helps us remember what it is: Final means last, so it’s the last syllable in a word. Stable means stays the same, so the sound is always the same. One common final stable syllable is consonant + LE. The LE spells the /l/ sound like at the end of apple and puzzle. Remember, the /l/ sound is a continuous sound that can be stretched out. Watch me /l/. You try /l/. To decode words with the consonant + LE pattern, we can cover up the last three letters and look at the first syllable. We can figure out if the first syllable is open or closed so we know what sound the vowel will make. Then we read each syllable and blend it together. Watch me:  I’m going to cover up the last three letters, -BLE, so now I have TA-. That’s an open syllable so I say /tā/. Now I read the next syllable: -BLE spells /bl/. Now I blend it together: table.” The teacher models decoding the words little and puddle and encoding the words middle and title. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 84, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “The Long A sound is /ā/ as in acorn. Today, we will learn new ways to spell the long A sound. We have already learned that A spells /ā/ in silent E words like cake. We have also learned that A spells /ā/ in open syllables like /bā/ in baby. Vowel teams are two or more letters that work together to make one vowel sound. ai /ā/: The vowel team AI spells /ā/. AI usually comes in the middle of a word, like in bait and mail. AI sometimes comes at the beginning of a word, like in aim and aid. ay /ā/: The vowel team AY also spells /ā/. AY always comes at the end of a word, like in may and say.” The teacher models decoding the words rain, say, and away and encoding the words say and trail. 

Materials contain frequent explicit instruction in morpheme analysis to decode unfamiliar words. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 99, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “We already know a few suffixes: -s and -es. When we add -s/-es to nouns, the noun changes from singular to plural (e.g., cat, cats). The suffixes -s/-es can also be added to verbs. The rule for adding -es is the same for verbs as it is for nouns. We add -es to verbs that end in ch, sh, s, x, or z: wishes, fixes, passes.” The teacher models decoding the words classes and grows and encoding the words girls and fixes. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 100, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “We can add the suffixes -er and -est to adjectives when we are making comparisons.  

  • -er: the suffix =er is pronounced /er/ like in the word taller. -er means more than. For example, in the sentence, ‘Mae is taller than Jaime,’ taller describes Mae’s height by comparing it to Jaime’s.  

  • -est: the suffix -est is pronounced /əst/ with the E making a schwa sound, like in the word fastest.  -EST means the most. For example, in the sentence, ‘Ty is the fastest person on the team,’ fastest is an adjective used to describe Ty by comparing him to the rest of the team. It tells us nobody is faster than Ty.” The teacher models decoding the word highest and encoding the word smaller. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 101, Step 5: New Concept, the teacher says, “We will learn a new suffix -ly. -LY is pronounced /le/ with the Y making the long E sound, like in the word slowly. -LY means like or manner of. Words that end in -LY are usually adverbs. Adverbs are words that describe actions or things that are happening. For example, in the sentence, ‘Tom drives slowly,’ slowly tells us how Tom drives.”

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, the following:

• In the Instructional Manual, Lesson 62, Step 8: Connected Text, the lesson focus is VCe Review. Students read the following sentences: Steve and Jane have to race home!, Did June give you these for a nice price?, Kate and Luke live close to the huge lake. The students spell the following sentences: Mike must live by the rules!, Did Nate give you ice for your drink?, I like to have a snack when I come home. Students spell the following sentences: Mike must live by the rules!, Did Nate give you ice for your drink?, I like to have a snack when I come home.

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 76, Step 8: Connected Text, the lesson focuses on ending patterns review. The students read the following sentences: Many people like candy apples., Does the little pony have a bridle?, The lady holds the baby while walking. The students spell the following sentences: Can I hold the little puppy?, Betsy is a kind friend to me. Sammy was cold while at the race. The students spell the following sentences: Can I hold the little puppy?, Betsy is a kind friend to me., Sammy was cold while at the race. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 107, Step 8: Connected Text, the lesson focus is the doubling rule for -ed and -ing. The students read the following sentences: The kids were skipping and running on the playground., We were busy shopping and chatting. She stopped jogging and fanned herself. The students spell the following sentences: The team hugged after winning the game., They begged to go swimming., They chatted while sipping tea. The students spell the following sentences: The team hugged after winning the game., They begged to go swimming., They chatted while sipping tea.

The materials include weekly assessments aligned to the scope and sequence that measure word recognition and analysis through regular decodable words, irregular (heart) words, and sentence dictation. Additional decodable fluency passages are provided at designated points in the year. Assessment results provide teachers with concept-specific data on student progress. The materials support data-driven small-group instruction through grouping templates and targeted lesson resources such as word chains and word lists aligned to assessed concepts. 

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 and analysis.   Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

•  In the Implementation Guidance, the text explains how progress monitoring is used within UFLI Foundations by stating that “frequent progress monitoring can help you track the individual needs of your students. To make progress monitoring data collection quickly and easy, UFLI Foundations includes spelling assessment items for each concept. Encoding skills are an excellent indicator of decoding skills, and spelling assessments are easy to administer to an entire class at once. Children who can spell a word can almost always read the word, but the opposite is not necessarily true.” 

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, the UFLI Foundations Fluency Checks explains, "A dedicated fluency assessment passage is provided for each unit in the first and second-grade scope and sequence to measure text-level automaticity. The fluency check passages are designed to measure oral reading fluency (ORF) using decodable passages that include concepts the student has learned so far. These can be used to track student progress and plan small group support.”

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, a fluency check is to be completed after Lesson 53. This fluency check is for Lessons 42-53. The fluency check includes a passage called The Rock Band. The passage is decodable and assesses the student’s fluency with words containing digraphs.

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, a fluency check is to be completed after Lesson 68. This fluency check is for Lessons 63-68. The fluency check includes a passage called Math Class. The passage is decodable and assesses the student’s fluency of reading multisyllabic words with closed and open syllables. 

Assessment materials provide the teacher and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition and word analysis.  Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, Lesson 68, the students are assessed on the following skills: 

  • Concepts- open/closed syllable types

  • Grapheme-phoneme correspondences- even, begin, silent

  • Irregular words- 

  • Sentences- That item is on your list. 

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, Lesson 80, the students are assessed on the following skills: 

  • Concepts- er /er/

  • Grapheme-phoneme correspondences- her, term, under

  • Irregular words- other, another

  • Sentences- The woman has a pretty fern. 

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, Lesson 95, the students are assessed on the following skills: 

  • Concepts- oi, oy /oi/

  • Grapheme-phoneme correspondences- soil, point, boy

  • Irregular words- February

  • Sentences- I hope the milk did not spoil.

Materials support the teacher 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, the following:

• In the  Implementation Guidance, the manual provides differentiation and small-group instruction planning tips by stating, “We recommend you use a flexible grouping plan based on your progress monitoring assessment to plan the content and time for your small-group sessions. Each lesson plan includes additional resources beyond the lesson steps. These word chains and word lists are ideal for small-group lessons. In addition, you can use any sentences you were unable to include in the whole-group lesson, or you can reuse lesson content during small-group sessions. Small-group sessions can follow a standard lesson format, but we recommend tailoring the activities to the group's specific needs.” For example in Lesson 80, Step 8: Connected Text, Word Work Chains, there is a word work chain containing 11 words with er /er/.  There is a word list of 16 single syllable words containing er /er/ and a word list of 16 multisyllabic words containing er /er/.  

• In Resources, Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, it states, “We recommend that you administer spelling assessments weekly. Weekly assessments provide data that you can use to base your decisions about the next week’s small-group supplemental support. Use data from the assessment of each concept to identify which children need substantial support, who needs minimal support, and who has already mastered the concept. Based on this information, you can decide who will receive small-group support the following week and how much support they will need. Use the supplement resources (e.g., word chains and word lists) from the lesson plans for the assessed concept to plan the content of your small-group lesson.” 

• In Resources Progress Monitoring: Spelling Assessment, a “Data-Based Planning for Small Group Support” chart is provided to support the educator in small group instruction planning. The chart has the educator list each students’ name, score on the Concept 1 assessment, and the corresponding amount of small group instructional time. The lower the student’s score, the more instructional time is recommended. According to the chart, students who receive a perfect score may not need additional small group support.

The materials provide opportunities for students to hear fluent reading modeled through choral, echo, and partner reading. There is evidence of explicit and systematic instruction as outlined in the Sample Dialogue for Developing Choral Reading Skills. The dialogue includes accuracy and prosody practice opportunities for oral reading fluency of words, sentences, and decodable passages. Oral Reading Fluency is found throughout the lesson steps leading up to Step 8, Connected Text. Modeling and practicing of oral reading fluency skills are completed at the sentence and text level. 

Materials include frequent opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in automaticity, accuracy, and prosody using grade-level decodable connected text (e.g. decodable texts, poetry, readers’ theater, paired reading). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Implementation Guidance, the materials state, “During the final portion of each UFLI Foundations lesson, the student will read a decodable book or passage for the purpose of developing fluency and comprehension. This component emphasizes the development of word-level and text-level automaticity, and it can be an opportunity to introduce basic comprehension strategies.” 

• In the Implementation Guidance, the materials states, “To allow for a gradual release of responsibility, you can use a range of strategies for reading the decodable text. These strategies are arranged from most to least supportive: 

  • Echo reading employs an ‘I read, then you read’ sequence. You model accurate and prosodic reading (read a line of text while pointing), and then the students ‘echo’ your model (i.e., read the same text while pointing).

  • In partner reading, two students are paired to read the same text aloud, and the readers take turns reading. If you pair a more capable reader with a less capable reader; the more capable reader provides a model and offers support and feedback. 

  • During choral reading, groups of children read the same text aloud. This approach maximizes the amount of reading each child accomplishes in a lesson. Struggling readers have the support of stronger readers, which can build confidence in struggling readers.” 

• In the Implementation Guidance, teachers use the Decodable Text Guide on the UFLI website to find appropriate book(s) and/or passages for each lesson. The teachers model reading or allow for students to partner read. The materials indicate that as an option, students can use the same books or passages repeatedly at school or at home for additional practice. The focus of this portion of this step is to develop the student’s word-level automaticity, text-level automaticity, and prosody, while maintaining a high degree of accuracy. 

Materials provide opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of grade-level text by a model reader. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 42, Step 8: Connected Text, Decodable Text, the decodable text “Buzz Sells Milk,” which focuses on ff, ll, ss, zz spelling patterns and the irregular word want, provides students with opportunities to hear fluent reading. The teacher can have students engage in echo reading, partner reading, and choral reading. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 57, Step 8: Connected Text, Decodable Text, the decodable text “Five Mile Hike,” which focuses on VCe spelling patterns and various irregular words, provides students with opportunities to hear fluent reading. The teacher can have students engage in echo reading, partner reading, and choral reading. 

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 72, Step 8: Connected Text, Decodable text, the decodable text “Gold Rush,” which focuses on -ild, -old, -ind, -olt, -ost spelling patterns and the irregular word both, provides students with opportunities to hear fluent reading. The teacher can have students engage in echo reading, partner reading, and choral reading. 

Materials include a variety of resources for explicit instruction in oral reading fluency. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials, Step 8: Connected Text, of the lesson plan, students will practice reading one or more sentences that contain regularly and irregularly spelled words they have learned to read. Next, they will read a decodable book or passage.

Materials contain varied, frequent opportunities over the year to gain automaticity and prosody. The materials contain daily instruction in decoding, focusing on automaticity by working at the grapheme, word, sentence, and text level for each new skill taught. The materials provide practice opportunities for word reading fluency in various settings as outlined in the Implementation Guidance section of the teacher manual which is expected to be applied in each lesson during Step 8: Connected Text practice at sentence level and Decodable Passage reading. Students read words in isolation, sentences, and passages to develop automaticity and prosody with decodable words and familiar spelling patterns. The materials provide practice opportunities for word reading fluency in various settings. Materials provide guidance for teacher-led corrective feedback, including modeling and rereading when students make errors while reading connected text. 

Varied, frequent opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to gain automaticity and prosody. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Instructional Materials Lesson 70, Step 8: Connected Text, the students practice oral reading fluency at the text level by reading “The Lodge” after practicing decoding and encoding at the grapheme, word, and sentence level with the trigraph -dge. Words addressed include edge, wedge, hedge, ledge, pledge, sledge, sludge, smudge, Mudge, nudge, and judge. Sentences include Has Midge been your friend for a long time?

• In the Instructional Materials, Lesson 83, Step 8: Connected Text, the students practice oral reading fluency at the text level by reading “Fishing at the Port” after practicing decoding and encoding at the grapheme, word, and sentence level with the R-Controlled patterns including ar, or, er, ir, and ur. Words addressed include mark, park, perk, per, her, herd, hard, harm, arm, mar, far, fur, furl, curl, curb, carb, and card. Sentences include The shark started to swim to shore!

Materials provide practice opportunities for oral reading fluency in a variety of settings (e.g., repeated readings, diad or partner reading, continuous reading).  Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, Fluency Support Guide, the materials state, “During independent work time, students can practice fluency with peers. Teachers can pair students up to read passages together. Student pairs can take turns reading and listening. Teachers can pair a more proficient reader with a less proficient reader so that the more proficient reader can provide a model and offer support and feedback. However, avoid pairing children who are too far apart in their reading fluency. A wide gap in proficiency can lead to frustration for both partners. Instead, pair up students who have slight differences in text-level automaticity… Three to four repetitions per text would be sufficient practice. Reader’s Theater is another opportunity for repeated reading practice that some students may find more engaging. In Reader’s Theater, students read scripts together and act them out”. 

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, the Fluency Support Guide states, “When students are in the earliest stages of reading development and know very few grapheme-phoneme correspondences, it is helpful to have ample opportunities to independently read highly controlled text. This means the text only includes concepts that students have already learned. This allows students to build an initial understanding of the alphabetic code or the systematic relationship between graphemes and phonemes. Decodable passages are an example of highly controlled text.” 

• In the  Implementation Guidance, a sample dialogue is provided to illustrate how to scaffold students through the choral reading of sentences, reading one portion of the sentence at a time and then rereading what has been read so far. The text states that “this process builds the habit of reconstructing the sentence after stopping to decode, which is helpful for maintaining meaning.” The Sample Dialogue for Developing Choral Reading Skills models how teachers explicitly teach accuracy and prosody by pointing underneath each word while reading. Teachers should start by reading one word at a time and then go back and read those words as a phrase (The…dog…. The dog.) This is continued until the entire sentence has been read. 

Materials include guidance and corrective feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Implementation Guidance, contains teacher directions for providing corrective feedback for when students make an error at the word level. The manual has teachers follow the I do, We do, You do approach. During “I do” the teacher models the correct response while pointing to each letter and swiping underneath the word to read the word as a whole. During the “We do,” teachers guide all the students in saying the correct response by having the class/student say the word with the teacher by blending the sounds as modeled during the “I do” phase. During the “You do,” the teacher asks the students for a choral response without teacher support where students blend the sounds together to then read the whole word.

• In the Implementation Guidance, the materials outline a range of strategies for reading decodable text, ordered from most to least supportive, to allow for a gradual release of responsibility. These include:

  • Echo reading: The teacher reads a line while modeling accurate and prosodic reading and pointing to the words; students then echo the same text.

  • Partner reading: Students are paired to take turns reading; more capable readers can provide a model and support for less fluent peers.

  • Choral reading: Groups of children read the same text aloud together. This maximizes practice opportunities and allows struggling readers to build fluency alongside stronger peers.

• In the Implementation Guidance, the materials provide a corrective feedback procedure for reading connected text: “If students make errors while reading, provide a model of correct reading and have them reread.”

The materials provide regular and systematic assessment opportunities for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery of oral reading fluency with information about current level of understanding and materials to support the teacher with instructional adjustments. Assessments include Fluency Checks, and the Hasbrouck and Tindal ORF Norms are used to determine students’ progress toward grade-level fluency.

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided regularly and systematically over the course of the year for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of oral reading fluency. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the UFLI Foundations Online Toolbox, UFLI Foundations Unit Assessments: Fluency Checks, the materials state, “Fluency checks are intended to be used as a one-minute timing of student oral reading. They are administered individually. Each fluency check includes a teacher form and a student form.” Examples include:

  • In the UFLI Foundations Fluency Check, Alphabet Review Unit, Lessons 35-42, the text is “Plants Have Stems.” Teachers administer the assessment, and the materials recommend they use the Hasbrouck and Tindal (2017) ORF norms for first grade. 

  • In the UFLI Foundations Fluency Check, Digraph Unit, Lessons 42-53, the text is “The Rock Band.” Teachers administer the assessment, and the materials recommend they use the Hasbrouck and Tindal (2017) ORF norms for first grade. 

Assessment materials provide the teacher and students with information about students’ current skills/level of understanding of oral reading fluency. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Resources, Alphabet Review & Longer Words Unit Resources (Lessons 35-41), the End of Unit Fluency Check guides teachers to ”calculate how many words the student read correctly in the one-minute timing. This is the student’s words correct per minute (WCPM) score.” The materials also state, “Until we have had the opportunity to develop our own criteria, we recommend using the Hasbrouck and Tindal (2017) ORF norms for first and second grade (see table).”

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, Foundations Fluency Check, the Using Fluency Data section states, “We recommend using fluency data to inform instructional decisions. We do not recommend using fluency scores as grades, and for this reason, we do not provide benchmark or mastery criteria.”

Materials support the teacher with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in oral reading fluency. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, the Supporting the Development of Reading Fluency document states, “When students struggle with fluency, it is important to identify the root cause of that struggle. If students have not yet achieved word-level accuracy and automaticity, they first need support with these skills. Development of these skills will support fluency (Metasala & David, 2022).” 

• In The UFLI Decodable Text Guide, there are links to many resources for decodable texts. It states that some students may benefit from supplemental opportunities for fluency practice during small-group instruction.

• In the UFLI Foundations Toolbox, the  Supporting the Development of Reading Fluency document states, “During independent work time, students can practice fluency with peers. Teachers can pair students up to read passages together. Student pairs can take turns reading and listening. Teachers can pair a more proficient reader with a less proficient reader so that the more proficient reader can provide a model and offer support and feedback. However, avoid pairing children who are too far apart in their reading fluency. A wide gap in proficiency can lead to frustration for both partners. Instead, pair up students who have slight differences in text-level automaticity.”