1st Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria of Indicator 2a.

The texts are connected by a topic. Each unit provides students with the opportunity to read and listen to texts while simultaneously building knowledge. While unit topics are broad, each week is guided by an essential question related to the unit topic, which contributes to students’ knowledge-building of the overall unit topic. It is important to note that in some units, texts are connected each week, but weekly topics loosely connect to the overall topic of the unit. While knowledge is built each week in these units, knowledge is not built across the entire unit. 

Texts are connected by a grade-appropriate cohesive topic/line of inquiry. Texts build knowledge and the ability to read/listen and comprehend complex texts across a school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1, students read and listen to texts around the topic of “Getting to Know Us.” In Week 1, students read and listen to texts that answer the essential question, “What do you do at your school?” Texts include, This School Year Will be the Best! by Kay Winters, “School Around the World” (author not cited), “Rules at School” (author not cited), and Nat and Sam by Pat Cummings. Leveled Readers also are connected to this topic and include A Fun Day, We Like to Share, and Class Party (authors not cited). 

• In Unit 3, students read and listen to texts around the topic of “Changes Over Time.” The Big Idea is “what can happen over time.” In Week 1, students read texts to answer the essential question, “How do we measure time?” Texts connected to this topic include “Nate the Snake is Late” (author not cited), On My Way to School by Wong Herbert Yee, and “It’s About Time” (author not cited). 

• In Unit 5, students read about the broad topic “figure it out,” and each week presents a different idea about ways to figure things out. However, while texts each week are cohesive and build knowledge, the texts across the three weeks do not build knowledge of a single topic. In Week 1, texts are all about sorting, and in Week 2, texts are all about things you can see in the sky. In Week 3, texts are about inventions. 

• In Unit 6, students read and listen to texts around the topic of “Together We Can.” In the unit, students read and listen to texts to help answer the essential question, “How can we work together to make our lives better?” Texts in the unit include “The Cat’s Bell” (author not cited), “Super Tools” (author not cited), Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type (author not cited), and “Be a Volunteer!” (author not cited). Leveled Readers that connect to the topic include, Two Hungry Elephants, What a Feast! and Beware of the Lion (no authors cited). 

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria of Indicator 2b.

Throughout the materials, while students are reading or listening to a text, and after reading or listening to a text, students respond to questions that require them to analyze key ideas and details and/or craft and structure. 

For most texts (read-aloud texts K–1 and anchor texts Grade 2), students analyze key ideas and details (according to grade-level standards). For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 2, students reread “Toss! Kick! Hop!” (author not cited) and discuss the key ideas and details. The teacher explains what a topic is and then writes the topic in a graphic organizer. Then, students work with a partner to identify the details. The teacher asks guiding questions such as, “What is a relevant detail about what kids are doing?” on page 133. 

• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 2, students reread “Go Wild!” (author not cited) and fill in the Topic and Relevant Details anchor chart. The teacher models adding information in the detail box. Students then work with a partner to analyze page 91 and discuss the question, “What do frogs eat?” Students add this information to the chart, then analyze pages 94–95 to determine what bears eat and include it on the chart. Students tell why this detail is important. 

• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 3, students read Kitten’s First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes and focus on the cause and effect by analyzing the important ideas and details in the story. The teacher asks guiding questions such as, “On page 164, we read that Kitten thinks the full moon is a bowl of milk. Why does she want it?” and “What happens now? The moon is still there. What does this cause Kitten to do?” 

For most texts, students analyze craft and structure (according to grade-level standards). For example: 

• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 4, students read “Kids Can Help?” (author not cited) and analyze the author’s craft in the Reading/Writing Companion on page 139.  Students identify the words that tell what kids can do to help in the neighborhood. Then, students work with a partner on the question in the text. They discuss the question, “Why does the author ask this question?”

• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 4, students read “How Plants Grow” (author not cited)  and respond to questions about the author’s craft, such as “What word in the selection helps you understand what blossoms are? What words in the selection tell what flowers do?” and “Why do you think the author included them on this page?” 

• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 3, students read Vulture View by April Pulley Sayre and analyze the author’s craft with a partner. Partners discuss the illustration on pages 90-91 and write clues about how it feels inside and outside the mouse’s house.  Students respond to questions such as, “How does the illustration help you understand the poem’s setting? (Talk with a partner about the beats in the poem. Clap the rhythm you hear in lines 1 and 2, and write the beats.) How does the rhythm make you feel? How do you know the poet cares about the mouse?” 

• In Unit 6, Week 2, Lesson 4, students read “Abuelita’s Lap” (author not cited) and analyze the author’s craft. Students are asked questions such as, “Why does the poet repeat words in the poem? Why does the poet use rhyming words? How does the use of sense words help you know how the speaker feels?”

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria of Indicator 2c.

Materials ask students a series of questions after each text that help build knowledge within individual texts and across multiple texts. In Lesson 3 of every week, students compare two texts to integrate knowledge and ideas. When students initially listen to the texts, teachers ask questions that support students in comparing the two texts and also ask guiding questions to support students with the comparison. 

Most sets of questions and tasks support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 3, students read the At a Pond by Nancy Finton. Students answer questions to build knowledge, such as, “What do frogs do at the pond?” What do frogs eat? What do the photos show? What did you learn from the text? Who is in the eggs?” and “Why does the fish come up?”

• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 3, students read Animal Teams by Rachel Mann. Students answer questions to build knowledge, such as, “How do the text and photos help you understand how the animals work as a team? Why does the author show many different animal teams? What does the anemone do to the fish that get too close?” and “Why does the anemone leave the clown fish alone?” 

• In Unit 6, Week 5, Lesson 3, students read “Happy Birthday, U.S.A.!” (author not cited). Students answer questions to build knowledge, such as, “Does a nation have a birthday?”How did the king react? What does the Declaration of Independence declare people should be? Why does the author use dates in the text? Why did the colonies want to split away from England?” and “How did the people in the colonies let the king know what they wanted?”

Sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze across multiple texts as well as within single texts. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 3, students compare and contrast two stories across the week. The teacher begins by thinking aloud about what life is like for one character in the city and how another character experiences life on the farm from “Six Kids” (author not cited). Then, the students identify other ways that Pip in Go Pip! by Tomek Bogacki and the chick’s experiences are the same or different. Students discuss the individual characters and where they live before comparing and contrasting the two characters. 

• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 3, students read the paired selection “How Plants Grow” (author not cited). Before reading, students “think about how these plants are like the yuca in The Big Yuca Plant.” Before answering this question, students talk about how the plant in each play changes as it grows.  

• In Unit 6, Week 5, Lesson 3, students compare celebrations for each holiday using the prompt, “How are the Fourth of July celebrations in Happy Birthday, U.S.A.! the same or different from Thanksgiving celebrations in ‘Share the Harvest and Give Thanks’?” Students work with a partner to discuss the celebrations. Students may use a Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria of Indicator 2d.

At the end of each week, students engage in a Show Your Knowledge activity. This culminating task requires students to integrate what they learned from the week’s texts, Build Knowledge Anchor Chart, and vocabulary words. Students begin by discussing the topic of the week and reviewing their notes on the topic. Then students engage in an independent writing task about the topic. Each writing task must include text evidence and vocabulary from the week. The writing tasks vary and include opinion pieces, advice to characters, and describing activities done with partners about the topic from the week. The materials include a Show Your Knowledge Rubric. For students to receive a 4/4, they must synthesize ideas from two or more texts, fully support their ideas with text evidence, and correctly use two or more words from the Word Bank. 

Culminating tasks are evident and varied across the year and they are multifaceted, requiring students to demonstrate mastery of several different standards (reading, writing, speaking, listening) at the appropriate grade level, and comprehension and knowledge of a topic or topics through integrated skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 5, students integrate what they have learned throughout the week about buildings. Students review their reader’s notebooks and discuss with a partner what they learned about different buildings. Students choose two buildings they read about and write what they are made of, making sure to use text evidence and two vocabulary words from the Word Bank. Students draw a picture to support their writing.  

• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 5, students integrate what they have learned about how animals survive in nature to write a science article and create a diagram telling how three animals they learned about survived in nature. Students are to use text evidence and two vocabulary words from the Word Bank.

• In Unit 6, Week 3, Lesson 5, students integrate what they have learned about weather to create a safety weather chart. Students choose two types of weather they read about and write about how to stay safe in each type of weather. Students are to use text evidence and two vocabulary words from the Word Bank.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria of Indicator 2e.

Throughout the year, materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to achieve grade-level writing proficiency. Students have numerous opportunities to learn and practice various writing skills. In addition to regularly responding to a text with the teacher, a partner, or independently, students receive explicit instruction in narrative, opinion, and expository writing through process writing lessons; lessons also address editing and revising writing, and students have the opportunity to share and evaluate their writing. The materials include a variety of mini-lessons for the teacher to choose from to meet the needs of students. In addition, there are rubrics and checklists for each type of writing, and students can see student exemplars as they are learning. 

Materials include writing instruction aligned to the standards for the grade level and supports students’ growth in writing skills over the course of the school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• According to the Instructional Handbook, students have weekly opportunities to write in response to what they read, engage in research and inquiry, learn about and practice genre writing, and write to multiple sources. 

• Throughout the year, students engage in various one- or two-week process writing tasks. Students learn to analyze an expert model and examine the specific genre characteristics. There are a variety of mini-lessons provided for the teacher to support them as they engage in planning, drafting, and revision. 

• According to the Instructional Handbook, students “write about what they read. They read texts closely and use text evidence to support their ideas and conclusions about the text.” 

• Students receive explicit instruction in narrative, opinion, and instructional writing; however, most of that instruction is in narrative writing, with one unit focused on expository writing and one unit focused on opinion writing. 

• Each week of writing instruction follows a similar model. On Day 1, the teacher models, and on Day 2, students engage in interactive writing. On Day 3, students engage in independent writing before revising on Day 4. On Day 5, students can self-select a writing activity. For example: 

  • In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 1, students watch the teacher model using the Literature Big Book “Good Job Ben!” (author not cited) to respond to a prompt and use evidence from the text to tell if they would recommend the story to a friend. Then in Lesson 3, students write about the Shared Read text, The Red Hat by Eva Torres, and focus on finding text evidence to include in their draft. In Lesson 4, the students revise their writing, complete a peer review with a partner, edit, and write a final draft.

  • In Unit 6, Week 1, Lesson 1, the teacher models writing about the Big Book, and in Lesson 2, the students and teacher complete an interactive writing activity about the Shared Read by writing a letter to a character at the end of the story. In Lesson 3, students write a letter to one of the characters from the anchor text. In Lesson 4, students review their work and publish before Lesson 5, where they can choose between letter writing, comic strip, book review, or using digital tools. 

Instructional materials include a variety of well-designed lesson plans, models, and protocols for teachers to implement and monitor students’ writing development. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• There are a variety of digital tools to support students in writing, such as graphic organizers, student models, checklists for editing and peer conferencing, and videos for writing skills. 

• Students write in response to what they read regularly. There is an Analytical Writing Routine to support students with this. Students begin by analyzing the prompt, then they discuss the prompt and use sentence starters, if appropriate, to create a topic or opinion. Students then go back into the text to find evidence to support their ideas. 

• For each writing process assignment, the materials include a rubric. Teachers are expected to review the rubric and use a student model or an anchor paper to analyze the rubric. Then students use the rubric and student model or anchor paper while drafting, editing, and revising their pieces. Lastly, the teacher uses the rubric to evaluate student writing.

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria of Indicator 2f.

Students engage in a Research and Inquiry project in the fourth lesson of every week. Each project follows the same five steps. The first step is to choose a topic and then write a question. Next, students find information before drawing what they learned. Finally, students choose a way to present their research. For each lesson, the teacher begins by modeling and reviewing each of the steps before students complete the project on their own. The teacher is available to assist students, especially with finding information. Each project takes one day. The materials also include a Research Process Checklist to help students decide whether they have completed all the necessary parts of the research process. 

Research projects are sequenced across a school year to include a progression of research skills that build to mastery of the grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

  • In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 4, the teacher models the five steps of the interview process: selecting a person to interview, writing three questions, interviewing the individual, writing what they learned, and selecting how to present the information. 

  • In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 4, the teacher models how to create a research plan on pages 78–79 in the Reading/Writing Companion. 

  • In Unit 6, Week 1, Lesson 4, the teacher models how students can gather information by polling classmates about their favorite way to help make their school or classroom better. 

Materials support teachers in employing projects that develop students’ knowledge on a topic. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 4, students research buildings. First, students select a type of building to research, and then they identify questions they need to answer through their research. Students research using books in the classroom and use the Table of Contents or index to find the information they are looking for. Students write and draw what they have learned and present their work. 

• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 4, students research an animal team. First, students choose a team of animals to research. Then, students find information using books in the classroom or the library. Students write and draw what they have learned and present their work. 

• In Unit 6, Week 3, Lesson 4, students research the weather in their state. First, students determine what they want to know about the weather in their state. Then, students find information using books and the internet to research the weather in their state. Text features, such as the table of contents, should be utilized. Students write and draw what they have learned and present their work. 

Materials include shared research projects to help develop students’ research skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of “how-to” books on a given topic and use them to write a sequence of instructions).

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 4, students take a poll to gather information about school. The teacher first models filling in the steps of the research process before students complete it. The teacher guides students on how they are going to poll their classmates. Then students work with a partner to discuss what they learned. The teacher also helps students use the Research Process Checklist. 

  • In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 4, students interview classmates to gather information about their day. The teacher begins by modeling the steps of the research process. They first pick a classmate to interview and then write a question. Then, the teacher interviews the person and writes down in the provided chart what they learned about the student. Then the teacher models choosing how to present the information before students complete the project on their own. The teacher guides students through the process as they complete it independently. 

  • In Unit 6, Week 4, Lesson 4, students work with a partner to research family traditions. The partners interview each other about one of their family traditions. Students determine questions to help them learn about a specific tradition and interview their partner. Students write and draw what they have learned and present their work. 

The materials reviewed for Grade 1 meet the criteria of Indicator 2g.

In the materials, students learn, engage, and are assessed in reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Foundational skills are also addressed each day. Materials include explicit instruction that spends the majority of instructional time on content that falls within grade-level aligned instruction. The majority of lessons in reading, writing, and small group instruction address a large number of the reading, writing, and speaking and listening standards. The units include opportunities to revisit these standards across the year. Instruction is also coherently sequenced, preparing students to respond to standards-aligned, analytical questions and tasks based on complex texts. Questions and tasks align to the standards and are coherently sequenced to prepare students to demonstrate their learning through the Share Your Knowledge culminating activities.    

Over the course of each unit, the majority of instruction is aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• The CCSS ELA Standards Correlation document illustrates the coverage of each standard strand. In the Teacher’s Edition, Reading/Writing Companion, and ELL Small Group Guide, materials address the majority of Reading: Literature, Reading: Informational Text, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language standards. The document identifies specifically where each standard is covered. 

Over the course of each unit, the majority of questions and tasks are aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• As students closely read and analyze complex texts, they respond to standards-aligned, text-based questions. Questions and tasks require students to cite textual evidence and draw upon the text to infer what is not explicitly stated. Questions and tasks build to and prepare students for the end-of-week Share Your Knowledge activity. The Essential Question for each text, which is revisited regularly, helps students to build knowledge while addressing the grade-level standard. 

Over the course of each unit, the majority of assessment questions are aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Assessments, writing samples, and Share Your Knowledge activities align to grade-level standards. Each lesson includes standards-aligned explicit instruction, as well as questions and tasks, that prepare students for the corresponding assessment. 

By the end of the academic year,  standards are repeatedly addressed within and across units to ensure students master the full intent of the standard. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Each lesson in the week follows a systematic approach to addressing the reading, writing, and speaking and listening standards. Each lesson and unit addresses many of the Reading: Literature and Informational Text, Writing, Speaking & Listening, and Language standards. The pacing guide outlines 120 minutes of instruction, focusing on the reading, writing, and speaking and listening standards that are repeatedly addressed.