Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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 that help answer the question, “What can we learn when we try new things?” In Week 1, the essential question is, “How can we get along with new friends?” Texts that are connected to this topic of friendship include, What about Bear? by Suzanne Bloom, “Can I?” (author not cited), and “I Can” (author not cited). 

• In Unit 3, students build knowledge about going to different places, and the overall unit question is, “What can you learn by going to different places?” In Week 1, students read texts about the topic “Rules to Go By,” and in Week 2, students read books about the topic “Sounds Around Us.” Then, in Week 3, students read books about the topic “The Places We Go.” The topics and texts each week build to help students understand the big idea of going places. 

• In Unit 5, students read and listen to texts that answer the question, “What kinds of things can you find growing in nature?” During Week 1, students read and listen to texts to answer the question, “How do living things change as they grow?” Texts include A Grand Old Tree by Mary Newell DePalma, “From a Seed to a Tree” (author not cited), and “The Pine Tree” (author not cited). Leveled Readers this week include The Tree, Many Trees, and Our Apple Tree (author not cited). 

• In Unit 7, students read and listen to texts about the Animal Kingdom. In Week 1, students read and listen to texts about baby animals. In Week 2, students read and listen to texts about types of animals that are pets, and in Week 3, students read and listen to texts about animal habitats. 

• In Unit 9, students read and listen to texts that answer the question, “How do things change?” In Week 3, students answer the essential question, “How can things in nature be used to make new things?” Texts during the week include Bread Comes to Life by George Levenson, “Nature’s Artists” (author not cited), and “Nature’s Art Fair” by Kathy Furgang. Leveled Readers include, Look Where it is From, What’s for Breakfast, and Nature at the Art Fair (authors not cited).

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria of 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. While not every text requires analysis of details and craft and structure, each text focuses on building a skill, such as understanding cause and effect or the moral of a story. 

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 1, Lesson 2, students reread the Literature Big Book, What About Bear? by Suzanne Bloom, and discuss details that make the story fictional. The teacher models before asking guiding questions to have students share details that show the story is made up. 

• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 1, students listen to the text Clang! Clang Keep Beep! by Robert Burleigh and are asked questions about the details, such as “How is this picture like the picture at the beginning of the story? How is this picture different?”

• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 1, students listen to An Orange in January by Dianna Hutts Aston and analyze the topic and details during the read-aloud. After the teacher models thinking about the topic and details, students are asked questions such as, “What happens to the baskets after they are full? What details of the orange’s journey do these pages tell about?” and “What happens to the orange in the end? What details in the text and illustrations let you know?” 

• In Unit 7, Week 2, Lesson 2, students listen to The Birthday Pet by Ellen Javernick and analyze the details. Questions include, “What details in the picture tell you how Danny feels about the bird?” and “How does Danny feel about his pet turtle?”

• In Unit 10, Week 3, Lesson 1, students listen to the Literature Big Book, Panda Kindergarten by Joanne Ryder. The teacher asks students questions about details such as, “What details did you learn from the text on pages 10-11? What does the photograph show? What happens to the pandas in nurseries?” Students are provided with a Topic and Details graphic organizer they may choose to use while reading this selection.

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

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 2, students reread the Literature Big Book, Pouch! by David Ezra Stein and are asked questions about author and illustrator craft, including, “How does the author let you know Joey is talking? What does Joey want to do?” After rereading page 34, students are also asked, “Why did the author have both baby kangaroos say ‘No Thanks’ at the same time?”

• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 1, students listen to Clang! Clang Beep Beep! by Robert Burleigh again and analyze the author’s craft. Questions include, “What do you think the word TING-A-LING-A-LING is shown curving around the alarm clock? How do the words look different from the TICK-TICK on page 5?”

• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 2, students listen to A Grand Old Tree by Mary Newell Depalma for a second time, and the teacher asks questions such as, “What words does the author use to make the tree seem like a person?” and “Why do you think the author placed the words this way?”

• In Unit 6, Week 2, Lesson 2, students reread Rain by Manya Stojic and analyze the author’s and illustrator’s craft on pages 12-13 and respond to the question, “How do the colors help you understand the weather in this part of the story?”

• In Unit 9, Week 1, Lesson 2, students listen to Peter’s Chair by Ezra Jack Keats and respond to questions such as, “How do the words and pictures help you know how Peter feels?” and “How did the author/illustrator help you understand how Peter feels?”

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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, the teacher asks questions that support students in comparing a text. Students also have opportunities to compare information regularly through tasks that prompt them to work with a partner to analyze information across multiple texts. 

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

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 1, students listen to Senses of the Seashore by Shelley Rotner and answer questions to build knowledge, such as “What is the lifeguard doing? What does the photo on page 29 show?” and “How does a fluffy towel feel?” After answering questions while listening to the text, students respond to the questions, “What are the five senses that we learned about in the book? What is a fact that you learned from the text?” 

• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 4, students listen to the paired selection “Sounds Are Everywhere” (author not cited) and respond to questions to build knowledge, such as, “What do the children hear? What clues help you know what a trumpet is?” and “How do musical instruments make sounds?” 

• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 4, students listen to “From a Seed to a Tree” (author not cited). Students look at an image from the book and discuss what they can learn about how apples grow from the picture. The teacher helps them read the diagram. Then the students underline the label for the seed and circle the parts of the plant that grow when the seed sprouts. Lastly, students discuss with a partner how an apple seed needs to grow. 

• In Unit 9, Week 3, Lesson 1, students listen to “Bread Comes to Life” (author not cited). Students answer questions that help build knowledge, such as “What is the baker doing? What happens after the seeds grow?” and “What ingredients does the baker use to make the dough?” 

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 work with partners to compare “how characters in ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ and ‘Pouch!’ move.” The teacher asks guiding questions such as, “Which animals in the stories move in the same way?” Before this, the teacher asks questions such as, “Tommy inched toward the tree. What does inched mean?” after reading “The Tortoise and the Hare.” After reading “Pouch!,” the teacher has partners discuss the animals in the text and how they move. 

• In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 3, students compare the texts “Timimoto,” a tale from Japan, and The Handiest Things in the World by Andrew Clements. Students discuss the ways these selections demonstrate how tools are used to help us explore. 

• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 3, students make connections between “Farms Around the World” (author not cited) and An Orange in January by Dianna Hutts Aston. They discuss how the texts are alike and how they are different. After reading An Orange in January, students discuss the sequence of events when an orange grows. After reading “Farms Around the World,” students discuss details about the kinds of foods that grow on farms. 

• In Unit 9, Week 2, Lesson 3, students discuss the characters in “The Little Red Hen” (author not cited) and Hen Hears Gossip by Megan McDonald and decide which hen is a better citizen at the beginning of the story. After reading “The Little Red Hen,” students work with a partner to discuss whether the characters are citizens. After listening to Hen Hears Gossip, students discuss what can happen when people do not listen carefully.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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 take knowledge from the various texts and tasks and integrate it to draw and/or write in response to a prompt. The writing prompt varies and includes tasks such as writing a recipe, writing a riddle, and making an animal puppet. 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 include two or more words from the Word Bank and use them correctly. 

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 learned about shapes.  Students discuss what they learned about the shapes they see around them, using their reader’s notebook and resources. Students then pretend they are builders and design a type of house, using geometric shapes and glue to create a collage of a house. Students list the shapes they used next to their house and are encouraged to use words they learned throughout the week to write about their house.

• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 5, students integrate what they learned throughout the week from texts about the ways they can make their community better.  Students use construction paper and draw one way they can make the community better. Students label their drawings to help others understand their ideas and are encouraged to use words they learned throughout the week to write about the way to make the community better.

• In Unit 7, Week 1, Lesson 5, students reflect on the texts from the week, thinking about how animals are alike and different. Then students choose one animal from the texts they read and make an animal puppet. Students draw and write about what makes the animal special. 

• In Unit 10, Week 2, Lesson 5, students integrate what they have learned throughout the week about how things are alike and different. Students look at objects on display and think about how they are alike and different, then students work with a partner to select a way to sort the items. Students draw a picture that shows how they sorted the items and use words they learned this week to write about how their items are alike and different. 

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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 extended process writing lessons; lessons also address editing and revising 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 view student examples as they learn. 

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 analyze an expert model and examine the specific genre characteristics. There are a variety of mini-lessons provided to support students 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, informative, and opinion writing. The majority of the explicit instruction is in narrative writing. Informative writing is also explicitly taught in Unit 2, and opinion writing is taught in Unit 10. Students have the opportunity to write in response to a text at least once a week. 

• Each unit includes five writing lessons each week. The materials provide daily writing lessons that follow the gradual release of responsibility to students. On Day 1, there is modeled writing, and on Day 2, there is interactive writing. On Day 3, there is independent writing before students revise on Day 4. On Day 5, students engage in a self-selected writing activity. Examples include:

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, students use the text What About Bears? by Suzanne Bloom as the model writing. Then in Lesson 2, students write a response to a prompt and use text evidence to write about the book with the teacher. In Lesson 3, students independently write about the Shared Read. In Lesson 4, students revise their writing, complete a peer review with a partner, edit their work, and write a final draft. On Day 5, students choose a writing activity, including journal writing or using digital tools.

  • In Unit 9, Week 2, Lesson 1, the teacher uses the Literature Big Book Hen Hears Gossip by Megan McDonald to model writing about the big book. Then In Lesson 2, students engage in interactive writing using the same book but with a different prompt. In this lesson, the students and teacher use evidence to tell how the message changes as it is retold in the story. Then in Lesson 3, students independently write about the Shared Read, “We Can Play” (author not cited), before revising, editing, and publishing in Lesson 4. Choice activities on Day 5 include a journal writing activity, storyboard, and 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 Kindergarten 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. First, students 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.

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 1, Week 3, Lesson 4, students complete a research and inquiry project on the five senses. The teacher models how to choose a sense to research and write a question to guide the research. 

  • In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 4, students complete a research and inquiry project on improving their school. The teacher models how to choose a topic, write a research question, and gather information through interviews. 

  • In Unit 6, Week 2, Lesson 4, students complete a research and inquiry project on different kinds of weather. The teacher models how to choose a topic, write a research question, and gather information from print and digital sources. 

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

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 4, students complete a research project on how baby animals move. The teacher models and helps students use books in the classroom or school library to help them complete their projects. 

• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 4, students develop knowledge of a place in their school by completing a research project on location in the building. 

• In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 4, students develop knowledge of different plant parts in a research project. Students use two plants to learn more about plant parts. 

• In Unit 7, Week 2, Lesson 4, students build knowledge on how to take care of different kinds of pets in a research project. 

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 books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 4, students do informal research on how to be a good friend. The teacher models how to choose a topic and write a question, and then students complete their own. Students choose a topic on how to be a good friend and ask questions to guide their research. 

  • In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 4, students explore different sounds they can make with classroom objects. First, the teacher models completing each step in the research process before students write a question about sounds, experiment with an object, and draw how they make sounds with their object. 

  • In Unit 9, Week 2, Lesson 4, students research ways that names are alike and different. After the teacher models the process, children work in small groups to write each others’ names on cards. Then they work independently to experiment with sorting names differently and write about them. 

  • In Unit 10, Week 1, Lesson 4, students complete a research and inquiry project on something they wish to improve in the classroom or school. Students work in small groups and choose a topic. Students in the group then interview their classmates, teacher, and other adults in the school. Individuals in the group each interview one person and write what they learned. Then, they create a group list. To present their work, the small group creates a class brochure, with each member working on part of the brochure. 

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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.