Kindergarten - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials reflecting the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards at each grade level.

The materials, including shared reading texts, leveled readers, and trade books, contain a variety of topics and are balanced between literary and informational texts throughout each unit. The materials include informational texts, narrative nonfiction texts, infographics, poems, dramas, realistic fiction texts, fairy tales, folktales, procedural texts, fables, and biographies.

Examples of literary texts include:

• Unit 1, Week 2:  Ben’s Blanket by Ruby Lee
• Unit 1, Week 2: At the Park by Ruby Lee
• Unit 1, Week 2: Too Many Places to Hide by Antonio Sacre
• Unit 1, Week 5: A Visit to the Art Store by Jerry Craft
• Unit 2, Week 5: Run, Jump, and Swim by Kimberly Feltes Taylor
• Unit 3, Week 1: How Anansi Got His Stories by Ibi Zoboi
• Unit 3, Week 3: Poetry Collection:  “Duck Meets the Moon”, “Humpty Dumpty”, “Hickory, Dickory Dock” by Celia Warren, and Traditional Nursery Rhymes
• Unit 3, Week 5: Time for a Story by David Booth
• Unit 4, Week 2: Uncovering the Past by Jennifer Torres
• Unit 4, Week 5: Tempera, Tempera by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
• Unit 5, Week 5: Who Likes Rain by Stephen Krensky
• Unit 5, Leveled Reader: Three Little Kittens by Lynn Brochu

Examples of informational texts include:

• Unit 1, Leveled Reader: I Ride by Ruby Lee
• Unit 1, Week 3: At the Library by Eric Braun
• Unit 2, Week 1: Animals on the Move by Ron and Fridell
• Unit 2, Trade Book: Foxes by Alma Flor Ada
• Unit 2, Week 4: Open Wide! by Ana Galan
• Unit 3, Week 3: A Play by Lee Choon-Yi
• Unit 3, Trade Book: Telling Stories by Angela Johnson
• Unit 3, Week 5: Our Elders by David Bouchard
• Unit 3, Leveled Reader: I Can Move by Deanna Yuen
• Unit 4, Week 1: Cars Are Always Changing by Gary Miller
• Unit 4, Week 4: Changing Laws, Changing Lives: Martin Luther King, Jr. by Lee Choon-Yi
• Unit 4, Leveled Reader: A Long Time Ago by Therese McNamara
• Unit 5, Week 2: A Desert in Bloom by Justin Scott Parr
• Unit 5, Leveled Reader: At Night by Kathleen Corrigan

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for texts (including read-aloud texts and some shared reading texts used to build knowledge and vocabulary) have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade level according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and a relationship to their associated student task. Read-aloud texts at K-2 are above the complexity levels of what most students can read independently. 

The texts included have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, and relationship to the associated student task. Anchor texts and shared reading texts are placed at the appropriate grade level according to the quantitative and qualitative analysis. The text complexity chart provides examples of places where students may need support through the qualitative measure. Texts that are above or below grade level quantitative bands have qualitative features and/or tasks that bring the text to the appropriate level for students to access the text. The Lexile ratings of the shared reading text begin at a Lexile of 200 and end the year at a Lexile of 400. 

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• A Visit to the Art Store, 230L: This anchor text includes photos that depict the things a person might find at an art store, supporting the author’s purpose of informing readers about the tools artists use to create art. The second-person narration is clear and explicit, following a pattern: "Look at all the pencils. You can make dark lines. You can make light lines. Look at all the markers." Many sentences refer to opposites to communicate the variety of supplies found in art stores: dark/ light, bright/dull, wide/thin. Art supplies described in the text should be familiar to most readers.
• From Nectar to Honey, 290L: This anchor text for Unit 2, Week 2 includes photos and diagrams that help explain the concepts of the informational text. The chronological text structure shows the steps in the process of bees visiting flowers to collect nectar for honey. Content is science-oriented, but the subject of flowers and bees is familiar.
• The Gingerbread Man, 340L: This anchor text for Unit 3, Week 2 functions as a paired text with “The Story of Cornbread Man.” The illustrations clarify the events and help students identify the characters. The dialogue is contemporary and familiar and should help students understand the playful mood of the story: “Ha-ha, he-he! You can’t catch me!” Most students will understand the fictional, fantasy environment of the story, with the gingerbread man coming to life and the dialogue between the gingerbread man and the fox.
• Changing Laws, Changing Lives: Martin Luther King, Jr., 390L: This anchor text for Unit 4, Week 4 uses a compare-and-contrast text structure that examines events before and after Dr. King’s activism. The text includes simple language, but the vocabulary may introduce complex concepts. The text’s topic requires some prior knowledge about race and racial inequality in the United States.
• A Desert in Bloom, 360L: This anchor text for Unit 5, Week 2 includes photos that make the informational text genre clear to the reader. Language is simple and clear, and descriptive words (cloudy, soaked, colorful, bloom, returns) help clarify the science content. The content is presented in an accessible way: How can desert flowers grow there? and Now you know how desert flowers grow!
• Blizzard Action Plan, 420L: This shared reading story for Unit 5, Week 4 is at the bottom of the Lexile Stretch Band for Grade 2 and is appropriate for a read aloud story at the end of Kindergarten. 
• Tempura, Tempera, 420L: The quantitative measures place this text in the Kindergarten complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with the following areas: Meaning: Significance of food to a culture and Knowledge Demands: Japanese and Portuguese cuisines. The meaning is implicitly shown through the unfolding of the story and interactions between characters. Students will need assistance recognizing the origin of cultural dishes, even if they are familiar with Japanese or Portuguese food or culture. The text’s topic assumes some prior knowledge that tempura is a traditional Japanese food. Some knowledge of where Portugal and Japan are located would also help students understand the story better. 
• So Many Stories, 400L-500L: The story is a read aloud, the sentences are short, and the story is one that students should be able to connect to or have background knowledge about (checking out books at the library).

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ literacy skills (comprehension) over the course of the school year through increasingly complex text to develop independence of grade level skills (leveled readers and series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels). 

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten contain the complexity of anchor texts and supporting texts to provide students with the opportunity to grow their comprehension skills throughout the school year. Series of texts are at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for the grade band. Skills build on one another, as well as the complexity of the texts to support thinking and literacy skills. The Teacher's Edition provides appropriate scaffolds to support both the teacher and the students. The Shared Reading texts and the leveled readers include a variety of complexity levels to help grow students’ literacy skills throughout the year. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Throughout the materials, students learn about setting:

• In the beginning of the year, the students work on identifying the setting of a story. During Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, Shared Read, the teacher models a think aloud to help students see the process of determining the setting of the story: “I wonder where this story takes place? Oh, there is a seesaw! I think that these children are at the playground or the park. This is usually where I see seesaws, swings, and other playground equipment. The children are playing at the park, but they are imagining that they are in a rocket ship. That looks like fun!” In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 1, during the small group conference time, the teacher asks students about the setting (“Where is the setting of the book?”) and to complete literacy activities in small groups (students draw the picture of the setting of their book).
• In the middle of the year, materials go into more detail of identifying setting. In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, during the Read Aloud of Goldilocks, students use a graphic organizer to identify the setting to help identify details about the story. In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 1, during the Weekly Launch in the Student Interactive, the teacher asks students, “Can you explain how the settings are different.” 
• In the end of the year, students are asked to use details in the story to identify the setting. In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, the teacher identifies a book from the reading library and guides students to describe the setting based on details in the picture. In Unit 5, Week 5, Reading Workshop, Leveled Readers, students justify how they know what the setting of the story is: “What is the setting? How do you know?”

Throughout the materials, students learn about characters:

• In the beginning of the year, the students identify characters in stories. In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, students identify the characters in the story from the Close Read. The teacher models using the pictures and what characters say to describe them. The Student Interactive asks them to name the characters from the story.
• In the middle of the year, students compare characters in texts. In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, students compare characters to help with understanding, they visualize the characters and recall their actions in order to compare. The students discuss with a classmate how they can compare a main character to other characters they have read about.
• By end of year, students are able to see characters come to life in drama. In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, students reference a play to identify the characters and how what they say and do adds meaning to the story. A character’s words, actions, and thoughts help to develop the plot and students identify main characters as they emerge in the story. The Student Interactive asks students to use what they know about the characters in the play to determine the main character.

Throughout the materials, students learn about plot and problem/solution:

• In the beginning of the year, students learn about the plot of a story and the problem and solution in fiction stories. In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, the teacher models finding the problem and the resolution in the text, Too Many Places to Hide. Students underline the problem and resolution in the story. Next, students draw the problem and solution in their Student Interactive.
• In the middle of the year, students learn about plot development, story events, and problem and solution. In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 3: Reading Workshop, Close Read, students do a close read of the text, Mosni Can Help, and look for the main events of the text. In their Student Interactive, students draw what happened at the beginning, middle, and end of the story. 
• By the end of the year,  the students are studying plot in a drama. In Unit 5, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Read Aloud, after reading, the teacher starts a list of events and students finish the list and then retell the story. Students focus on the actions of the characters to determine key events.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that anchor texts (including read-aloud texts in K-2) and the series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text complexity analysis.

Each unit contains a shared reading text which is accompanied by quantitative and qualitative analysis, as well as reader and task considerations. The publisher provides a text complexity analysis located in the Text Complexity Analysis Charts section of the instructional materials. In addition, there are additional considerations for English Language Learners, Intervention, and On Level and Advanced students. The Book Club guided reading books are also leveled to assist teachers in matching students to texts. The publisher provides information for the text rationale and placement in the Getting Started with myView Literacy page under Program Overview: “Texts were chosen based on criteria such as literary merit, author’s craft, themes, gender and cultural representations/experiences, insight, readability and diversity. Final text selections for inclusion in myView Literacy were subject to numerous professional reviews to confirm the literature meets Pearson’s requirements for quality, appropriateness, and sensitivity. In developing myView Literacy, we worked to integrate multicultural experiences so students see themselves as part of what is valued in the school curriculum.” 

Examples of instructional and text notes found in Kindergarten materials include the following:

• In Unit 1, Week 5, students read the informational text, A Visit to the Art Store by Jerry Craft, 280L. The quantitative measures place this text in the Grade K complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Identifying opposites and Knowledge Demands: Recognizing art supplies. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The author’s purpose is explicitly stated on the first page: "Do you want to be an artist? An art store has the tools you need." The images depict the things a person might find at an art store, supporting the author’s purpose of informing readers about the tools artists use to create art. The second-person narration is clear and explicit, following a pattern: "Look at all the pencils. You can make dark lines. You can make light lines. Look at all the markers." Students might need some assistance determining that the first and last pages show photos that were not taken in an art store. The text includes mostly simple sentences. Many sentences refer to opposites to communicate the variety of supplies found in art stores: dark/ light, bright/dull, wide/thin. Some students may need assistance recognizing that the concepts depict opposites. Art supplies described in the text should be familiar to most readers. Students may require assistance identifying some of the photos of art supplies, such as the large sheets of paper on shelves and the pencils and markers viewed inside bins with their tips facing out.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, students read the informational text, Open Wide! by Ana Galán, 250L. The quantitative measures place this text in the Grade K complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Pronoun usage and Knowledge Demands: Animal body parts. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The author’s purpose is explicitly stated on the first page: "Animals need food. What do they eat?" While it is clear that students will learn that different animals eat different foods, students may not realize right away that the text will teach them about body parts for eating. The repetitive text patterns identify the animal on each page, its body parts for eating, and what it eats: "This bear has a big mouth. What does it eat? It eats plants and meat. This shark has many teeth. What does it eat? It eats fish." Illustrations directly support an understanding of the text. Use of the pronouns "this" and "it" follows a repeating pattern, with the illustrations contributing to the reader’s understanding of the concepts. Some students may need support to understand what the pronouns refer to on each page. The text focuses on animals that will likely be familiar to most students. The text contains no references to other texts but some background knowledge of animal body parts (beak, tongue, teeth) and foods (plants, meat, fish, sweet nectar, tasty insects) will enhance understanding.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, students read the fairy tale, The Gingerbread Man by Pleasant DeSpain, 340L. The quantitative measures place this text in the Grade K complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Meaning: Comparing and contrasting stories and Knowledge Demands: Understanding fairy tales. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The theme is implied but easy to identify. Students may need some support to understand the end of the story (the fox tricks the gingerbread man and eats him). This story functions as a paired text with “The Story of Cornbread Man.” This fairy tale is clear, explicit, and organized in chronological order. The illustrations clarify the events and help students identify the characters. The frequent use of dialogue may require clarification to ensure students understand who is speaking on each page. The language is simple, using vocabulary that students may already be comfortable with. The dialogue is contemporary and familiar and should help students understand the playful mood of the story: “Ha-ha, he-he! You can’t catch me!” The story retells a classic tale, but students do not need to be familiar with it to understand the text. Most students will understand the fictional, fantasy environment of the story, with the gingerbread man coming to life and the dialogue between the gingerbread man and the fox.
• In Unit 4, Week 6, students read the information text, Weather Around the World by André Ngāpō, 410L. The quantitative measures place this text in the Grade K complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Use of the words "extreme" and "very" and Knowledge Demands: Differences in global regions. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The main idea is explicitly stated on the first page: "Many places in the world have extreme weather." The variety of climate situations can be understood through photos of housing, such as huts, tents, and research stations. The repeating pattern of sentences starting with a prepositional phrase creates a clear parallel between topics: "In Alaska, it is very cold.... In the desert, it is often very hot. In China, it can be very rainy.... In Antarctica, it is very windy." Most other sentences have a simple structure. Language is simple and clear, but some students may need help understanding adjectives in the context of the discussion of weather. The text’s topic does not require prior knowledge about locations around the world; however, some students may benefit from seeing each location on a map. They may also benefit from clarification that the weather in the places shown is typical for those areas of the world, even though it may be considered extreme.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, students read a Poetry Collection by Eric Gansworth. Quantitative measures are not generated for poetry and drama. The qualitative analysis provides support. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with Language: Words in Tuscarora, a Native American language and Knowledge Demands: Effects of weather on crops or plants. "Before reading the selection, use the Reader and Task Considerations to help you plan how to address various student populations." The theme of appreciating different kinds of weather is clear and consistent throughout both poems. The details in each stanza about how the speaker and the speaker’s friends feel and see the types of weather support the theme. Poems use a mostly regular rhythm and rhyme scheme. The text follows a predictable pattern. Each stanza begins with a Tuscarora words about seeing or feeling: "Wehh-dooj" or "Ees-aw-hah’ Ees-aeh." Illustrations help clarify concepts and illustrate text. While most of the lines are simple, the Tuscarora words will be unfamiliar and require support. Some words that describe nature (mound, shoots, and seep) may also require support. Each poem shifts from describing what “we” (the speaker and her friends) experience to describing what “they” (the plants) experience. Students may need support to understand this shift. The poems depict familiar experiences of being outside on rainy and sunny days, feeling raindrops, and looking at a rainbow. Some students may also be unfamiliar with some of the crops depicted in the poem, such as squash, or with the use of the words, three sisters, to describe three important crops.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that support materials for the core text(s) provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to support their reading at grade level by the end of the school year. 

The materials include several opportunities for students to engage in diverse literature and informational text in a day, week, and unit. Throughout the Reading Workshop, Reading-Writing Bridge, Writing Workshop in each week, and Project-Based Inquiry in each unit, students are exposed to texts in the form of Read Alouds, Shared Reading, Close Reads, Mentor Stacks, Guided Reading, and Independent Reading. Texts included in the materials span a variety of genres, complexity levels, and opportunities for students to work with diverse texts. Students also have the opportunity to engage with texts through small group guided reading. A Leveled Readers library, available in print and online, is also diverse in genre and complexity. Teaching support is provided in a separate guide that addresses each component to the guided reading with differentiation ideas and targeted support for ELLs, conversation prompts and Guided Writing. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, students listen to the realistic fiction Read Aloud, Jackie and Her Imagination. Next, using the Student Interactive, students complete a Read Together of the story in the same genre called Mission Accomplished! Students then complete a Close Read of the same text days later with support questions in the Student Interactive. Teachers then have 18 options ranging from Guided Reading Level A to Level D for small group texts. A Matching Texts to Learning resource is offered to teachers who choose to select other texts that match the instructional focus to provide additional texts that fit the weekly theme. 
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 1, students listen to a read-aloud of the fiction text, So Many Stories. During Shared Reading, students read and respond to The Best Story. During Close Reading, students identify the author’s purpose and make and confirm predictions of The Best Story. Students read the decodable books, Can You Help? and Lin, Sam and Jake.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, students are introduced to narrative nonfiction in the reading workshop with the read-aloud, Our Trip to the Beach, then a shared read, Uncovering the Past. The leveled readers are one narrative (I Can), two informational texts (Ready for School, A Long Time Ago) and three narrative nonfiction (Family Teachers, In the Museum, Rosh Hashanah).
• In Unit 5, Week 3, the weekly genre focus is poetry during Reader’s Workshop. To introduce the unit, students listen to “Weather Poems.” Next, the Read Aloud consists of two poems, “Winter Fun” and “The Storm.” After that, the Shared Read is “Poetry Collection.” These will also be revisited as a Close Reading on Days 3 and 4. The suggested leveled readers to go along with the weather theme of this week, consist of a variety of genres. For instance, At Night (informational text), What Will I Wear Today? (narrative nonfiction), The Wind (narrative nonfiction), I See a Sheep (narrative), The Storm (narrative), and Thunderbird (traditional). 

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-based, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text).

The materials contain text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics. Students are asked to analyze the author’s words and phrases as they interact with texts through questioning or by completing different tasks. The sequence of questions and tasks provide frequent opportunities for students to interact with texts by completing a Shared Read on Day 2 and a Close Read on Days 3 and 4 of the weekly cycle. Text-based questions, tasks, and assignments support students’ literacy growth over the course of the school year. The Teacher Materials provide support for planning and implementation of text-dependent writing, speaking, and activities. 

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, students answer the question, “How does the narrator find Poof?”, and support their answer by underlining the resolution to the story. 
• In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 4, Formative Assessment: Option 1, students complete the task: “Have the students draw pictures on p. 119 in the Student Interactive of two things from the text that provide evidence that a library is a special place.”
• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Listening Comprehension, students listen to a read-aloud of What is a Pond? To set the purpose, the teacher asks students, “What is the author trying to tell about or explain in this text?”
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Interact with Sources, students use the infographic, How Anteaters Eat, to learn about anteaters. Then students are asked to complete the following tasks: "Point to the picture that shows the anteater eating. Tell which body part the anteater uses to eat the food shown in the picture. What other body parts might help the anteater get or eat its food?"
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, Shared Read, after a shared reading of “How Anansi Got His Stories,” students highlight the word that “helps you picture how Anansi feels about his plan” and answer the question, “Why does Anansi want the stories?” and to “underline the words that tell you.”
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students learn how to find the main idea and supporting details in a text. After the teacher explains and models how to identify the main idea and supporting details, students are given two options: 1. After the teacher conducts a read aloud of Uncovering the Past, students complete page 80 of the Student Interactive to write the main idea and to circle the picture that goes along with the story. 2. Use a sticky note to mark the main idea in a narrative nonfiction text. Students will then write the main idea on a sticky note.
• In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 2, Shared Read, after a shared reading of the biography, “Eleanor Roosevelt,” students are asked to underline the main idea. 
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students learn to make connections between the ideas in two texts and draw pictures to represent the connections. Then students are asked to complete either of these tasks: 1. Complete page 42 of the Student Interactive Resource to draw a type of weather from Weather Around the World and a type of weather from another text. 2. Students will draw pictures that connect two independent reading texts.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 1, Shared Read, after a shared reading of “A Desert in Bloom,” students complete a close read and underline specific information in the text. Students learn about sequence writing and answer the questions, “What do these pages tell about how flowers grow? Underline the words that tell when the steps happen. What is the last thing that happens to flowers in the desert? Underline the words that tell when the last step happens.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials containing sets of high-quality sequences of text-based questions with activities that build to a culminating task which integrates skills to demonstrate understanding (as appropriate, may be drawing, dictating, writing, speaking, or a combination).

Materials include culminating tasks across a year’s worth of material. Culminating tasks are varied and provide opportunities for students to demonstrate what they know and are able to do in speaking and writing. Each unit ends with Week 6 as an Inquiry Project where students research a real world issue and are asked to consider what they have learned across the unit to further develop their skills. Additionally, materials include a Unit Essential Question and Weekly Essential Questions that students answer to reflect on their learning.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, the Unit Essential Question is, "What do living things need?" Each week, students read a text related to the unit theme and answer a weekly Essential Question during Reflect and Share and are asked to use what they learned from the week. At the end of the Unit, students answer the Unit Essential Question.
• Week 1 Essential Question: Why do some animals move from place to place?
• Week 2 Essential Question: How do some living things make what they need?
• Week 3 Essential Question: How do we know what we need?
• Week 4 Essential Question: How do different animals eat their food?
• Week 5 Essential Question: Why is exercise important?
• In Unit 5, the Unit Essential Question is, "What can we learn from the weather?" Each week, students read a text related to the unit theme and answer a weekly Essential Question during Reflect and Share and are asked to use what they learned from the week. At the end of the Unit, students answer the Unit Essential Question.
• Week 1 Essential Question: How have people learned to live in bad weather?
• Week 2 Essential Question: What helps plants live in hot climates?
• Week 3 Essential Question: How do we describe weather?
• Week 4 Essential Question: How can we protect ourselves in bad weather?
• Week 5 Essential Question: How can rainy weather protect earth?

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small groups, peer-to-peer, whole class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

The materials provide multiple opportunities for evidence-based discussions across the entire scope of instructional materials. The Small Group Guide contains protocols for teachers to teach, model, and practice with students when collaborating with their peers. For example, Small Group Guide protocols for Book Club state that students come to Book Club prepared, listen to what others have to say, and not interrupt each other. Most lessons provide discussion protocols for turn and talks, whole group discussions, and small group discussions. The teacher materials support evidence-based discussions and encourage modeling with a focus on using academic vocabulary and syntax. Students are provided with guidelines and objectives to engage in collaborative discussion. Students have the opportunity to share during each lesson and are asked to carry out discourse through several activities. 

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 6, Lesson 5, Celebrate and Reflect, students are taught to speak loudly and clearly when presenting their writings or drawings about whether they like history or art museums better with a partner. Listeners are taught the active listening routine:
• Look-Keep your eyes on the person who is talking. Keep your mouth closed and your hands still.
• Think-Think about what the person is sharing.
• Respond-Wait until the person is finished talking before asking a question.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 1, students use an infographic to ask and answer questions. “Encourage them to use the words first, next, and last. For instance, What happens first? First, the _____. Have students take turns retelling the events shown in the Anchor Chart using the words first, next, and last.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, students are asked to use context clues to read new words. In this Academic Vocabulary activity, students are asked to use illustrations and texts they are able to read or hear to learn or clarify word meanings. Students are also asked to respond to prompts using newly acquired vocabulary. On page 216 of the Teacher's Edition, there is a teacher model to exemplify to students how to use context to figure out a word. 
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 3, students discuss the story using the academic vocabulary words "character," "choose," and "explains." Teachers provide sentence starters with the vocabulary words: "The main character is _____. Both the lion and the leopard choose to ___? Anansi explains to the king that he visits the Sky King because _____.”
• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 1, students are asked to use academic vocabulary words (character, meaning, choose, explain) to discuss the story they have read. The teacher is directed to model and offer practice, followed by students drawing in the Student Interactive and then using a turn and talk to discuss peer to peer.
• Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 1, during the reading of “A Night at the Cogdells,” the teacher models by doing a think-aloud introducing academic vocabulary. For example, “after reading the eighth paragraph, say: 'In this story, the events all take place at the dinner table. Dalia is learning about some of Imari’s family traditions. This seems like the big idea of this story. Theme is a word that we can use to talk about a story’s big idea.'” 
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 1, students are introduced to drama. The Student Interactive has an opportunity for students to turn, talk, and share. Students discuss the main characters in the play and complete the activity, then share aloud. In Unit 5, Week 6, Lesson 4, Project-Based Inquiry, Collaborate and Discuss, students show or tell about their opinion regarding their favorite season and weather. Students work on page 217 in the Student Interactive. Then students turn and talk to support their opinion with details gathered during research.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading (or read aloud) and researching (shared projects) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

Speaking and listening instruction takes place regularly over the course of the school year and includes facilitation, monitoring, and instructional supports for teachers. The teacher regularly models using think alouds and facilitates the students talking about what they are listening to or reading throughout the year. Students regularly demonstrate what they are reading and researching through varied speaking and listening opportunities. Speaking and listening work requires students to marshall evidence from texts and sources. Students have the opportunity to speak about shared projects.  

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Reading Workshop, Genre and Theme, students listen to a read-aloud of Tim and Jan. While listening to the story, students learn about the features of realistic fiction. Then, students are asked to turn and talk with a partner about how they know this is a realistic fiction story. Partners share their ideas with the class.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Reading, students are asked a series of questions about the text, after the shared reading: “Which animals did you read about? What do these animals eat? How do they get their food?” 
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, Genre and Theme, students listen to Little Red Riding Hood. Then students are asked to turn and talk with a partner about the story, Little Red Riding Hood. Partners share with the class the reasons why they think it is a folktale.
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Compare Texts, students learn that after they read a text, they should think about what they learned about the characters and story, think about how those characters are alike and different from other stories they know, listen actively to others’ ideas and connect their ideas with their own, and ask and answer questions in complete sentences. Students listen to the read-aloud of The Best Story. Then students are asked to tell a partner what they like about the book they are reading independently and compare it to The Best Story.
• In Unit 3, Week 6, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, students work in pairs and use pictures in the Student Interactive “to talk about why they would want to read this story. Have them circle reasons why they would want to read this story.” Teacher instructions state, “If students struggle with talking about the story and circling reasons, guide them with sentence starters. For example, say:  This picture makes me think of ___. The reason I like this story is that___.”
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Read Aloud, “Our Trip to the Beach” under ELL Targeted Support, there are several options provided for the teacher to support listening and to check for understanding: “Provide sentence frames for students to summarize the events:  Lina and her family went to the _____. She found a _____. Then her mother _____. Stop after each paragraph or chunk of text and ask students to summarize the events.” 
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 2, Shared Reading, students listen to a read-aloud of Who Likes Rain. The teacher leads a class discussion about why rainy weather matters in the story by asking the following questions: “Why does it matter for the characters? Is rain good for Frank and Jenna, or is it bad for them?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials including a mix of on-demand and process writing grade-appropriate writing (e.g. grade-appropriate revision and editing) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

The materials include a mix of both on-demand and process writing, covering a year’s worth of instruction. Materials also include short and longer writing tasks and projects. Opportunities for students to revise and edit are provided and materials include digital resources where appropriate. The Steps to Writing Independently are outlined in the Launching Writing Workshop section of the Teacher’s Edition. This gradual release model guides teachers to present writing in a supported process, moving through a modeled writing, shared writing, guided writing, and ending with independent writing. Conference prompts are provided for the teacher to utilize when identifying additional supports for students. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 4, Reviewing Writer’s Craft, students become familiar with the process for the Writing Club. The objective of this task is to develop social communication and express needs and wants while participating in the Writing Club. On page 163 of the Student Interactive, norms for Writing Club are outlined and students are tasked with introducing themselves and discussing what they want to write about. Teachers are given a three-step process to guide students through this initial stage: modeled, shared, guided practices. During the Independent Writing time, students continue to write using the Stack Book chosen by the Writing Club members. 
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Writer’s Workshop, students learn that a list book tells a reader everything they need to know about a topic. It includes the main idea and details as well as infographics. Students then begin to create their own list books by using the Stack Books as models to identify a main idea and details and create infographics.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, students are encouraged to “Read like a Writer and Write for a Reader.” The objective is to discuss, with adult assistance, how the author uses words that help the reader visualize. On page 85 of the Student Interactive, students are asked to refer back to the Read Together text, From Nectar to Honey, and “Find a word in the text that helps you picture nectar. What word could you add to the text to help readers picture a bee?” In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 3, students revisit visualizing in the Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Reader’s Workshop, Read Together, students are asked to Develop Details for their writing using the Read Together text in Reader’s Workshop. Using a combination of dictation, drawing, and writing, students compose an informational text that has a topic and supply information about the topic. Using page 89 of the Student Interactive, students plan their writing through the graphic organizer. In Unit 4, Week 2, students develop elements to their writing by composing a setting. 
• In Unit 4, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Inquiry Unit, students complete a research project in which they interview an older family member about his or her life as a child. In the first Minilesson, students plan their project by thinking about who they will interview. In the second Minilesson, students conduct research by interviewing a family member. In the third Minilesson, students organize their notes about the person they interviewed. In the fourth Minilesson, students revise and edit their writing. In the fifth Minilesson, students share their research project with the class.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 5, Reader’s Workshop, Compare Text, students learn that they can compare two different texts. Then students use page 114 in the Student Interactive to write sentences about weather using what they learned from the poem, "Wehh-dooj, Ees-aw-hah Ees-aeh" and another text they read.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials including regular opportunities for evidence-based writing to support recall of information, opinions with reasons, and relevant information appropriate for the grade level.

The materials provide frequent and regular opportunities during the school year for students to learn, practice, and apply writing and respond to text using evidence. Writing opportunities are focused around student’s understanding of texts presented and ability to create, respond, and build upon the text. Each week the shared reading text is revisited on two additional days as a close read and students respond in their Student Interactive. The materials provide opportunities that build writing skills over the course of the school year. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 3, The Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge provides students the opportunity to use text evidence to support an appropriate writing response. Students are asked to Read Together the story, At the Library. Then on page 123 of the Student Interactive, students find words in the text that tells why the author thinks libraries are special. 
• In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 4, Close Read, students read At the Library. Students learn and practice identifying text evidence that supports the main idea of the text. Students are asked to complete one of the following tasks: 1. Students draw two pictures from the text on page 119 of the Student Interactive that prove the library is a special place. 2. Students explain the main idea using text evidence using the following sentence stems: The main idea of the text is ____. Evidence for this main idea is ____.
• In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, after reading Run, Jump, and Swim, students are asked to Respond and Analyze. In the Student Interactive, students use text evidence to complete the sentence, “One opinion the author gives is ____.”
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, after reading The Gingerbread Man and The Story of Cornbread Man, students are asked to compare the two texts. The ELL Targeted Support provides sentence frames to scaffold student writing. For example, “The Gingerbread Man and the Cornbread Man ____. The Gingerbread Man ____, but the Cornbread Man ____.”
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, after rereading A Desert in Bloom, students draw and write the most important details in the text in their Student Interactive. They previously highlighted details when rereading the text.
• In Unit 5, Week 6, students Compare Across Texts using the texts they read in Unit 5. With the unit theme, Outside My Door, students are exposed to a variety of weather-related texts of different genres. On page 212 of the Student Interactive, The Best Weather, students talk about the pictures and write their favorite weather based on the texts read throughout the unit. 
• In Unit 5, Weeks 1-5, students learn to write a question and answer book. In Week 1, students are introduced to question and answer books. In Week 2, students write detailed questions and answers. In Week 3, students organize their question and answer books and write an introduction and conclusion. In Week 4, students revise and edit their question and answer books. In Week 5, students publish and share their question and answer books.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials including explicit instruction of the grammar and conventions standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application both in and out of context. 

The materials include explicit instruction of all grammar and conventions standards for the grade level. The grammar and conventions lessons are presented primarily in Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, and the Reading-Writing Bridge. The Language Awareness Handbook has additional lessons and student applications for grammar and conventions. Opportunities to practice and apply skills throughout the year are evident as the systematic structure of the lessons allow for ongoing teacher instruction and student application through multiple contexts in worksheets and interactive digital tools.

Explicit instruction of all grammar and conventions standards are included for the grade levels, as well as opportunities for students to demonstrate application of skills both in- and out-of-context. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Students have opportunities to print many upper- and lowercase letters. 

• In the Letter Recognition Unit, Letter Recognition Instruction & Practice, the teacher introduces the ABC Rhyme Time poem and each letter pair (uppercase/lowercase). Student Practice for each letter of the alphabet is introduced in uppercase and lowercase letters with 1-2 practice pages that ask students to practice new skill. Letters are presented in alphabetical order.  
• In the Language Awareness Handbook, Letter Recognition Activity, page 91, students recognize letters, identify upper- and lowercase letters using picture cards/big books and write letters.
• In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, page 236, the teacher introduces Nn Minilesson with Model and Practice. The teacher is directed to point, name, trace, and say the sound while naming lower- and uppercase letters. Students complete a worksheet and writing upper- and lowercase Nn.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading and Writing Workshop Bridge, Handwriting, teachers model the upper- and lowercase letters Bb, then students practice writing the target letter.

Students have opportunities to use frequently occurring nouns and verbs. 

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Singular Nouns, the teacher introduces that nouns name places and things. Students orally name and sketch simple pictures under the appropriate noun heading for place or thing.
• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Singular Nouns, the teacher reviews the nouns on the student worksheet and explains the distinction between the singular noun and its corresponding plural noun, mouse and mice and bee and bees. Students circle the pictures of mouse and bee.
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Present Tense Verbs, the teacher is directed to read sentences with the students, then have students circle the verb in each sentence.
• In the Language Awareness Handbook Lesson, Noun Activities, teachers and students label items and pictures throughout the classroom that are nouns. Teachers are directed to model using nouns from classroom and students make sentences and draw/label nouns.

Students have opportunities to form regular plural nouns orally by adding -s or -es (e.g., dog, dogs; wish, wishes). 

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Singular and Plural Nouns, the teacher tells students that plural nouns name more than one person, place or thing. The teacher is directed to do a call and response activity where the teacher calls out a singular noun and students respond with the plural version of the noun. The teacher uses nouns with plural endings of -es.
• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Singular and Plural Nouns, the teacher explains that some nouns are made plural by adding -s and some are made plural by adding -es. The teacher states, "The girl opened the box. The girls opened the boxes." The teacher emphasizes girl/girls and box/boxes. Students edit sentences in Lesson 4.

Students have opportunities to understand and use question words (interrogatives) (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how).

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Ask and Answer Questions, page 128, the teacher is directed to explicitly tell students to ask questions before, during, and after reading to increase understanding. The teacher shares that questions begin with who, what, when, where, why, how.
• In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Question Words, the teacher identifies question words when and where as related to location and time. Students write words in sentence frames.

Students have opportunities to use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with). 

• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Prepositions, the teacher writes on the board, "I put my book in my bag." Students tell which word is the preposition. In Lesson 4, page 170, students identify, read, and write prepositions in the Student Interactive.
• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Prepositions, the teacher introduces students to to and from with a discussion about places they go to and from. The students practice using the prepositions in pairs by making list and using prepositions in sentences.
• In the Language Awareness Handbook, Reading-Writing Bridge, Language & Conventions Preposition, page 39, the teacher reviews before and after. Students practice using before and after to tell when things happen.

Students have opportunities to produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities. 

• In Unit 4, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Complete Sentences, the teacher is directed to explicitly share that sentences have a naming part (noun) and an action part (verb). In Lesson 4, students edit for complete sentences.
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Expand Sentences, the teacher reads sentences with students from a worksheet. Students expand sentences by adding a phrase and rewriting the new sentence on a line.

Students have opportunities to capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I. 

• In Unit 2, Week 4, Writing Workshop, Apply Edit for Capitalization, the teacher explicitly shares and models sentences beginning with a capital letter. For independent writing, students return to previous written work to edit their writing for capitalization.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, Capitalization, the teacher writes I and informs students that I is a special word and is always capitalized. The teacher reads a paragraph with multiple instances of I. Students stand when they hear a word that should be capitalized.

Students have opportunities to recognize and name end punctuation. 

• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Language & Conventions, End Punctuation, page 214, the teacher explicitly shares that different types of punctuation in a sentence are used for the purposes of telling, asking, or when something is exciting. Students share with a partner saying a telling sentence, asking a question, and making an exclamation.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 5, Reading-Writing Workshop, Language & Conventions, End Punctuation, the teacher reads sentences with students. Students identify ending punctuation in sentences by circling it and naming the type of mark. Students write an exclamation sentence on the lines.

Students have opportunities to write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes). 

• In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Introduce Kk, the teacher models the /k/ sound, then models how to write the upper and lower case on the interactive board. Students trace the target letter, then circle the picture that starts with the target sound. 
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 3, Word Work, Phonological Awareness, students practice the /l/ sound. The teacher shows the Alphabet Card Ll, points to the letters on the card, and tells students the name of the uppercase and lowercase Ll. Students trace the uppercase L and lowercase l.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Introduce Uu,  the teacher models the letter /u/ sound, then models how to write the upper- and lowercase on the board. Students trace the letters Uu on the tabletop. 

Students have opportunities to spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships. 

• In Unit 1 Week 6, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Word Families -in and -ip, page 378, students notice same sounds in word families at the end of the word. Students practice listening to word endings and then practice identifying -in or -ip based on pictures in Student Interactive.
• In Unit 4, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Spelling, Spell Words, the teacher explains that often the short /e/ sound is spelled with just a letter e in words with three letters. Students identify CVC words following this pattern, then write them down in the first column of their worksheet. The words that do not follow the target pattern are written in the second column.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks directly teach foundational skills to build reading acquisition by providing systematic and explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, letter-sound relationships, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness (K-1), and phonics (K-2) that demonstrate a transparent and research-based progression for application both in and out of context.

Over the course of a year, Kindergarten students receive instruction in phonemic awareness, phonological awareness, and phonics instruction in each unit. Lessons include a five-day focus with systematic and explicit instruction. Each lesson provides the teacher explicit instruction with a variety of activities that allow the students to practice skills to further their understanding in phonological awareness and phonics. 

Materials, questions, and tasks directly teaching foundational skills to build reading acquisition application in and out of context. Students have opportunities to learn and understand phonemes (e.g. produce rhyming words, segment syllables, blend onsets and rimes, pronounce vowels in CVC words, and substitute sounds to make new words). Examples include, but are not limited to:

Students have opportunities to recognize and produce rhyming words.

• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Rhyming Sort, page 140, the teacher utilizes picture cards to explain that rhyming words end with the same sounds, but have different beginning sounds. In the Student Interactive, page 84, students draw lines to match rhyming words (pictures are used). 
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 2, pages 210-211, Reading Writing Workshop Bridge, Rhyming Sort, the teacher explains that rhyming words have the same middle and end sound; students listen to the words tin and pin noticing the -in sound. In the Student Interactive, page 122, students practice naming and drawing rhyming words.

Students have opportunities to count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.

• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness, page 22, the teacher explains all words have syllables which is a word part that has one vowel sound that can be broken apart, or segmented; syllables can also be put back together or blended. In the Student Interactive, page 16, students identify syllables in each picture word and segment words into syllables, then blend syllables to say the words. Students circle picture words having more than one syllable. The teacher states, “How many times did we clap for jam? How many times did we clap for jaguar?”
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Syllables, page 98, the teacher explains more about syllables as a word part with putting words together and taking words apart. The teacher and student practice clapping syllables in words with segmenting and blending the sounds in the word elephant. In the Student Interactive, page 59, students practice naming and clapping words to determine how many syllables. Students segment and then blend the sounds.

Students have opportunities to blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words.

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Blend and Segment Onset and Rime, the teacher models making the /p/ sound with the children. The teacher models segmenting the word pat with student recognizing /p/ as the beginning sound. In the Student Interactive, page 92, students practice identifying words with /p/ as the beginning sound.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work: Phonological Awareness: Segment and Blend Onset and Rime, the teacher provides an explicit explanation of how words can have a beginning sound, or onset. The teacher then orally segments the onset and rime in a single syllable word. In the Student Interactive, page 130, students orally segment and blend onsets and rimes of single syllable words. Students draw lines to match picture words that begin with the same sound and segment and blend the onset and rime of each picture word and identify the beginning sound.

Students have opportunities to isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant or CVC) words. (This does not include CVCs ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.)

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Initial /m/, page 22, the teacher introduces the letter sound /m/ and demonstrates/models making the sound. In the Student Interactive, page 16, students identify words that begin with the /m/ sound (mop, man, mouse).
• In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Medial /i/, page 232, the teacher introduces the letter sound /i/ and allow model and practice for the students. Students practice saying CVC words with the middle /i/ sound. In the Student Interactive, page 130, students look at the picture of a pin and identify the middle sound as /i/. Students practice identifying other short /i/ words from the picture cues.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Initial and Final /d/, page 22, the teacher introduces a new sound of /d/ and explains how to make the sound. Using the Student Interactive, page 16, the teacher names each picture in the first row having students circle picture words with the initial sound /d/. The teacher repeats this process for picture words that end with the sound /d/ in the second row.

Students have opportunities to add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

• In Unit 3, Week 6, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness Medial /u/, page 378, the teacher reviews the /u/ sound and allows the student opportunity to practice making sound. The teacher displays the jug and tub picture card; the students will then notice the /u/ middle sound and practice thinking of their own CVC short /u/ words.
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness:  Substituting Phonemes, page 300, the teacher explains that by changing a sound in a word, a new word is made. The teacher says the sounds in the word sand and asks students what sounds are heard. The teacher then asks students to change the beginning sound from /s/ to /b/ to form a new word. The teacher says the new word with the students and leads them to change the middle sound to /e/. The teacher continues to model by changing the final sound in bend to /t/. Students say the word bent. The teacher shows students the sun picture card, has them name the picture, say the sounds in the word, and gives directions to substitute phonemes to make the words fun, fan, man, mat, met, set, sit.

Lessons and activities provide students opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills while decoding words (e.g. one-to-one correspondences, long and short sounds with common spellings, and distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying sounds of the letters). Examples include, but are not limited to: 

Students have opportunities to demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.

• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Review Hh and Ll, page 172, the teacher shows the picture card of a hat and model segmenting the sounds /h/ /a/ /t/ while writing it in the air. Students are shown additional picture cards and practice segmenting the sounds with hot, hit, ham, hop, hip, had.

Students have opportunities to associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Writing Workshop Bridge, Vowel Activity: Short and Long /i/, page 358, the teacher reminds the students with sample words the difference in short and long vowel /i/: “The word bit has a short i vowel sound. The word bite has a long i sound.” In the Student Interactive, page 206, students practice writing and drawing short and long vowel /i/ words. In the Apply Lesson, additional practice allows the student to practice drawing short and long vowel words that the teacher names orally under the appropriate short and long vowel /i/ word.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Read and Write Words with Short and Long /o/, page 28, the teacher shows two picture cards for mop and rope with the student noticing the /o/ sound. Students practice hearing the /o/ sound in words. The additional ELL Target for this lesson allows for a t-chart short and long o word sort. In the Student Interactive, page 22, students practice the /o/ vowel.
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Read and Write Words with Short and Long /a/, page 246, the teacher demonstrates the difference in short and long vowel /a/ using the word van and vane, saying the words and asking the student to spell the word orally. The teacher writes can and cane on the board and discuss the words with the students and the students identify which words have the short and long vowels.  
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Read and Write Words with Short and Long /u/, page 94, the teacher demonstrates the difference in short and long vowel /u/ using the words tub and tube, saying the words and asking the student to spell the word orally. The teacher and students practice spelling cub and cube by segmenting the sounds then blending. 
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Read and Write Words with Short and Long /e/, page 164, the teacher reviews the short /e/ sound and allows students to hear all the sounds in the word net. The teacher compares the short and long /e/ sound and introduce the word Steve as a long vowel and ask students to hear the different sounds the /e/ makes. In the Student Interactive, page 94, students practice with short and long /e/. 

Students have opportunities to distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Review Consonants Rr and Bb, the teacher provides an explicit review of the target letter sounds, then explains that a sound can be changed to a new sound to make a similarly spelled word. Students watch the teacher change a letter in a word (rip), then the students decode the new word (rib).
• In Unit 1, Week 6, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Word Families -in and -ip, page 378, the teacher models for the students the difference in the word endings -in and -ip with word examples for each as well as providing a visual of the word endings on the board. The students practice identifying from words read orally which end in the -in and -ip sounds and the students determine which word does not belong.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction to build toward application. For example, in Pearson myView, Table of Contents, Getting Started with myView, Planning Resources, Foundational Skills Scope and Sequence breaks down Grade K phonological awareness skills by unit. 

• Unit 1 skills include initial and final sounds, recognize alliteration, middle sounds, recognize alliteration, and blend and segment onset and rime.
• Unit 2 skills include initial and final sounds, segment and blend phonemes, alliteration, identify words, segment and blend onset and rime, final blends, rhyming words, and medial sounds.
• Unit 3 skills include syllables, final sounds, middle sounds, syllables, rhyming words, initial sounds, word count, and words with short /a/ and long /a/.
• Unit 4 skills include middle sounds, blend and segment sounds, identify words, syllables, identify and count words in sentences, recognize alliteration, identify and produce rhyming words, and add phonemes.
• Unit 5 skills include segment and blend phonemes, manipulate syllables, identify and count syllables, add phonemes, recognize alliteration, and substitute phonemes.

Materials have a cohesive sequence of phonics instruction to build toward application. For example, in Scope and Sequence, Phonics, Unit 1, page R22 indicates the following skills and sequence taught: Connect sounds and letters to consonants, know sound-letter relationships and match sounds to letters, generate sounds from letters and blend those sounds to decode (consonants, consonant blends, and consonant digraphs & short and long vowels & r-controlled vowels, vowel digraphs, and other common vowel patterns), decode multisyllabic words, and recognize common letter patterns and use them to decode syllables (CVC, VCCV, VCV, VCCCV).

• In Unit 1, the phonics skills include: consonants Mm /m/, Tt /t/, Pp /p/, Cc /k/, Nn /n/, Bb /b/, Rr /r/ and short /a/ and /i/. 
• In Unit 2, the phonics skills include: consonants Dd /d/, Kk /k/, Ff /f/, Hh /h/, Ll /l/, Gg /g/, Ww /w/ Yy /y/, short /o/ and /e/, initial and final consonant blends.
• In Unit 3, the phonics skills include: consonants Jj /j/, Xx /ks/, Vv /v/, Zz /z/, Qq /kw/ short and long /a/, short and long /i/.
• In Unit 4, the phonics skills include: short and long /o/, short and long /u/, short and long /e/, words for Pp /p/ and Yy /y/, words for short and long /i/, words for Dd /d/, Ff /f/, Vv /v/, and words for short /e/. 
• In Unit 5, the phonics skills include: words for Cc /c/, Tt /t/, Bb /b/, Jj /j/, Gg /g/ Qq /kw/, Kk /k/, Ss /s/, Ww /w/, Mm /m/, Ll /l/, Nn /n/, Rr /r/, Zz /z/, words for short and long /o/, words for short and long /a/, and initial and final blends.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks provide explicit instruction for and regular practice to address the acquisition of print concepts, including alphabetic knowledge and directionality (K-1), structures and features of text (1-2).

Print concepts are frequently taught during teacher Minilessons and are referenced multiple times over the course of the five units. Teacher modeling, guided practice, and questioning provide students with the opportunity to practice and master print concepts. Materials include a 66-page Kindergarten Letter Recognition Unit for the teacher that includes utilization of digital resources, an alphabet song, games, and student worksheets which support explicit instruction in teaching the letter-sound correspondences of the alphabet. Student activities include singing an alphabet song, identifying in print lowercase and uppercase letters, matching upper and lowercase letters on cards/tiles, and reviewing previously introduced letters. Students have opportunities to airwrite letters and all 52 lowercase and uppercase letters are addressed. 

Materials, questions, and tasks provide explicit instruction for and regular practice to address the acquisition of print concepts, including alphabetic knowledge and directionality. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Materials include lessons and activities for students to learn how to identify and produce letters.

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Introduce Pp, the teacher shows the students an alphabet card with a picture of a penguin. The teacher tells the students the target sound is spelled with the letter p. The teacher writes the lower and uppercase version of the letter p on the board. In the Student Interactive, page 93, students trace the target letters. 
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Handwriting: Letters Pp, the teacher models how to write the uppercase letter P, verbalizing actions while writing the letter. The teacher models how to write the lowercase letter p. Students airwrite the lowercase and uppercase letters in the air.
• In Kindergarten Letter Recognition Unit, Letters Aa activities include:
• Alphabet Song, the teacher explicitly teaches students to sing the alphabet song to the tune of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.
• ABC Rhyme Time, the teacher projects rhyme from the ABC Rhyme Time digital resource. Students locate examples of uppercase and lowercase A.
• Identify Aa, the teacher displays letters and shapes. Students identify uppercase letter A and lowercase letter a.
• Find-a-letter, students find upper and lowercase letters Aa in magazines and newspapers, cut them out, and glue onto construction paper.

Materials include tasks and questions about the organization of print concepts (e.g. follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing, upper- and lowercase letters). Examples include, but are not limited to:

Students have opportunities to follow words from left to right, top to bottom, and page by page. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Introduce to the Unit, Going Places, pages 12-13, Independent Reading, the teacher reads aloud to the student the skills of a good reader (choose a book, hold the book right side up, start on the cover, turn the pages carefully) from the Student Interactive, page 10. The students select a text and practice these skills.
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Introduce the Text, Print Awareness, the teacher explains to the students that there is a proper way to hold a book. The teacher models an incorrect way to hold a book. The teacher explains that pages are turned in order. Students identify text features in their books shown in the Student Interactive, including title/header and names of the author and illustrator.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Print Awareness, page 190, the teacher tells students when reading they move left to right and when getting to the end of a line, they go to the next line and continue reading. The teacher models reading left to right, top to bottom, returning with a sweep. Students follow along as the teacher reads “Meet the Illustrator” on page 114 of the Student Interactive.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Introduce the Text, Print Awareness, the teacher explains to the students that there is a proper way to handle and read a book. The teacher explains that people read books from the first page after the cover, in order, to the end of the book. The teacher explains that people read books by reading from top to bottom, left to right, then moving down to the next line, reading left to right again. Students use the Student Interactive to follow along with the teacher, pointing to where to start reading, and where to go next after reading a line.  
• Students have opportunities to recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters. For example, in Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read The Kid, page 30, students turn to page 23 of Student Interactive. The teacher points to the title, reads it, and reviews sounds of letters. The teacher reminds students of the week’s high frequency words, displays words, and has students chorally read words. Students will read story containing these words. 

Students have opportunities to understand that words are separated by spaces in print. For example: 

• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Introduce the Text, Print Awareness, page 330, the teacher guides the student to understand that words are separated by spaces and that sentences are made up of words that use spaces between. In the Student Interactive, page 190, students see the words as well as the sentence for word spacing.
• In Unit 5, Week 6, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Sentences I Can Read, page 368, the teacher reminds students that sentences are made up of words separated by spaces. In the Student Interactive, page 210 students point to spaces between words.

Students have opportunities to recognize and name all upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet. For example: 

• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Writing Workshop Bridge, Letter Sort, page 72, the teacher reminds students that letters come in upper- and lowercase forms and uses alphabet to review uppercase/lowercase differences. Students identify letters where upper- and lowercase letters are similar. In the Student Interactive, page 48 students draw a line matching lowercase to uppercase letters.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading-Writing Workshop Bridge, Letter Sort, the teacher reviews the letters of the alphabet with the students. Students name the letters. The teacher verbalizes how each letter has an upper- and lowercase form. The teacher tells the students when uppercase letters are often used.  The students verbalize the first letter of the item on a picture card, then write the lowercase letter.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are frequently built into the materials for students to practice and gain decoding automaticity and sight-based recognition of high-frequency words. This includes reading fluency in oral reading beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2.

Over the course of the school year, high-frequency word instruction, decodable readers, and emergent level texts are part of students’ weekly reading routine. Students practice reading with the teacher as the model. Students whisper read, partner read, and independent read. During phonics and word study Minilessons, which are included in each five-day sequence in each unit, students have the opportunity to read and write words with the high-frequency word focus. High-frequency words are introduced or reviewed on a daily basis. Students have multiple opportunities to develop automaticity of grade level words through multiple reads of decodable readers. After reading, students extend into activities in their Student Interactive that include underlining the text (words that were decoded or high frequency words) to reinforce the skills of a lesson. Materials include a range of early emergent and emergent level texts to use with students in small group instruction each week. Emergent texts contain a comprehensive teacher’s guide to provide purpose and direction.

Materials provide students practice to gain decoding automaticity and sight-based recognition of high-frequency words. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to purposefully read emergent-reader texts. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop Decodable Story, Read The Map, the teacher explicitly describes how the students will practice reading words in a story containing sounds they have been introduced to. Students practice reading the high-frequency words they learned during the previous week. Students orally read the high-frequency words he, is, and have with the teacher, then whisper read the story as the teacher listens. The students reread the story with a student partner.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, page 42, the teacher introduces vocabulary words for the first read of How Anansi Got His Stories. The teacher uses the First Read notes to help the student connect with the text and guide their understanding. Students share what they already know about the vocabulary words and look for the words while reading the story. Students use first read strategies (read, look, ask, talk), then read independently with a partner or as a class.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read Quin at Bat, the teacher explicitly describes how the students will practice reading words in a story containing sounds they have learned. Students practice reading the high-frequency words they learned during the previous week. Students orally read the high-frequency words down, her, and how with the teacher, then whisper read the story as the teacher listens. Students reread the story with a student partner.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Decodable Story, Read Who Am I?, the teacher explicitly describes how the students will practice reading words in a story containing sounds they have been learned. Students practice reading the high-frequency words they learned during the previous week. Students orally read the high-frequency words who, their and into with the teacher, then whisper read the story as the teacher listens. Students reread the story with a student partner. After the students read and reread the story, the teacher asks the students to identify words that contain letters or sounds that were part of the week's lessons, as well as the targeted high-frequency words.

Materials support students’ development of automaticity and accuracy of grade-level decodable words over the course of the year. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Teacher-Led Options, Independent/Collaborative, Decodable Book, page T121, students use the decodable book, I Am, from the previous week’s instruction. Pairs of students use letter-sound relationships to decode the text. Students read the entire text, switching readers after each page.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Lesson 4,  Reading Workshop, page 30, students read the decodable story, The Kid, in the Student Interactive, page 23. Students whisper read with the teacher listening, reread with a partner, and then discuss words in the story with the teacher. After reading, the teacher draws attention to the sounds /k/ and /d/, asking the students to identify the sounds in words. In the Student Interactive, pages 23-25, students practice underlining all the /k/ words and identifying the high frequency words they see within The Kid.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work: Phonics, Introduce Gg, the teacher shows an alphabet card with a picture representing the target letter-sound correspondence. The teacher tells the students the name of the picture and how the sound is spelled. The teacher then writes a word with the target letter-sound on the board and segments the onset and rime. The teacher asks the students to identify the letter-sound in the word. The teacher writes several words on the board and points to each one as she orally reads it. For each word with the target letter-sound, the students clap.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work: Phonics, Review Words for Gg, Qq, the teacher shows an alphabet card with a picture representing the target letter-sound correspondence. The teacher asks the students what sound they hear at the beginning of the word representing the picture. Students identify the sound, then the teacher tells the students what letter spells the sound. The teacher then writes additional words on the board containing the target sound. Students orally read the words.

Students have opportunities to read and practice high-frequency words. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, High-Frequency Words, page T237) the teacher reads the high frequency words my, we, make with the students from the Student Interactive. The teacher says one of the words, and the students point to the word. The teacher repeats the activity until they feel the students know the words.
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Foundational Skills, High-Frequency Words, page T167, the teacher introduces high-frequency words. Students read the words at the top of page 97 in the Student Interactive. As the teacher says each word, the students identify and point to the word. The teacher encourages students to use the words in a sentence. 
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Word Work, High-Frequency Words, page T175, the teacher reads the high-frequency words her, how, down with the students from the Student Interactive. The teacher says one of the words and the students point to the word. The teacher repeats the activity until students know the words. Students read sentences with the target words and underline the target words.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials supporting ongoing and frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills, including a clear and specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments will be supported.

The materials include formative and summative assessments in print concepts phonemic awareness, phonics, and high-frequency words. Materials include three teacher manuals to support the teacher in determining progress for students: Assessment Guide, Progress Check-Ups Teacher Manual, and Summative Assessments Teacher’s Manual. Within the manuals and the Teacher's Edition, there is weekly support for teachers in using assessment results to inform instruction and remediation. There is weekly support for adjusting instruction for students below and above grade level. There is weekly support for the teacher to adjust instruction or reteach concepts to English Language Learners. The Small Group Guide provides information about how to utilize assessment data to form groups and use data to drive instruction, and provides fluency strategies. Teachers are guided to assess students through observation and conferring, formal assessments, samples of student work, and informal progress checks. The assessment outline includes the Baseline Test given at the beginning of the year, progress check-ups for assessing weekly skills and monitoring progress to intervene, Middle-of-Year test for monitoring student progress on material taught in Units 1-3, and End-of-Year test that provides a summative view of students’ progress for the year.

Materials support ongoing frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of foundational skills. For example: 

• The Kindergarten Baseline, Middle-of-Year and End-of-Year Tests allow the student to show mastery and progress in phonological awareness, phonics, and high-frequency words. These tests contain eight questions for both phonological awareness and phonics and seven questions for high-frequency words on the 30 question assessment.  
• In Unit 1, Week 1, Progress Check-Ups, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, K, High-Frequency Words, page 20, the teacher administers a progress measure to assess students’ knowledge of recognizing high-frequency words taught that week. The teacher verbalizes a high-frequency word. The students visually identify the spoken word in a row of three printed words on a worksheet. Each student circles the word that matches the word spoken by the teacher.
• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Teacher-Led Options, Fluency, Oral Reading, page T52, students take turns reading aloud pages of the selection, Mission Accomplished!, with a partner. The teacher asks pairs to try to read all of the words correctly. The teacher listens to reading, offers feedback, and records each student’s performance using the Fluency Progress Chart to track progress.
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Formative Assessment Options, page 95, the student completes the Student Interactive, page 56, to decode, read, and write CVC short /o/ words. The teacher notices and assesses if the student can read short /o/ words and then decide if the student has understanding or struggles then move into the appropriate small group instruction.
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Progress Check-Ups, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, High Frequency Words, page 20, the teacher administers a progress measure to assess student knowledge of recognizing high-frequency words taught that week. The teacher verbalizes a high-frequency word. The students visually identify the spoken word in a row of three printed words on a worksheet. Each student circles the word that matches the word spoken by the teacher.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Progress Check-Ups, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, Phonics, page 60, the teacher administers a progress measure to assess student knowledge of recognizing sounds taught that week. The teacher verbalizes a previously introduced sound. The students look at pictures on a worksheet and circle the picture of a word with the sound in it.
• In Summative Assessments, Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles,  Phonics: Letter-Sound Correspondence (T, Short A, C, Short I, B), page 38, the teacher administers a summative measure to assess student knowledge of recognizing letter-sound correspondences taught that week. The teacher verbalizes a previously introduced sound and states the name associated with the sound by pointing to a picture of a word with the sound in it. The students look at a picture, then a row of letters on a worksheet. The students circle the letter associated with the sound the teacher verbalizes.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information of students’ current skills/level of understanding. For example: 

• In Assessment Guide, Early Literacy Behaviors Checklist, page 100, the teacher indicates on a teacher form the level of proficiency of a student related to 10 concepts of print, seven phonological/phonemic awareness skills, and six phonics and decoding skills. Rating descriptors include: Proficient, Developing, Emerging, and Not Yet.
• In Assessment Guide, Myself as a Learner (checklist), page 114, the teacher administers a survey to the students consisting of nine statements. The students indicate a "yes" or "no" rating in response to the statements. Example statements include, "I can figure out new words when I read" and "I know how to hold a book and turn pages."
• In myFocus Intervention Teacher’s Guide, Level A, Checkpoint, Assessment Lesson 1-2, Print Concepts, page T41, this checkpoint is used to assess students’ mastery of book, sentence, and word recognition. The teacher gives the student a book. Students hold up the book, point to the front cover, point to the back cover, open the book to the title page, and demonstrate how to turn the pages. The teacher gives students a sheet that is found on page T42. Students demonstrate the way to read the sentence by tracking and moving their hand. Students tell how many words are in the sentence. An overall score of 80% accuracy is typically considered mastery. If the students score below the benchmark, the teacher reviews the missed skills, going back to the lessons to reteach and scaffold as needed.
• In Unit 5, Online Test, there are 15 questions related to Foundational Skills. Phonological awareness has five questions with the student being assessed on syllables, identifying words with the same beginning sound, consonant substitution, and blending segmented sounds. Phonics has five questions with the student asked to choose the letter that makes sound in the beginning, medial, and ending position. High-frequency words has five questions with the student asked to choose the word from the list for the high frequency word heard.

Materials support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in foundational skills. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 4, Word Work, Formative Assessment Options, page T29 two options are given. Option 1 has students complete page 22 in the Student Interactive to identify and match the sound for Tt. Option 2 has students draw one picture of something that begins with /t/ and another of something that ends with /t/. Students then write Tt on top of the page. The Quick Check for writing Tt indicates that if students struggle, the teacher revisits instruction for writing Tt in small group on pages T60-T61. If students show understanding, the teacher extends instruction in small group on pages T60-T61.
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Formative Assessment Options, page 243, students complete the Student Interactive, page 140 as a Quick Check on the skill to read short and long vowel /a/ words. The Quick Check allows the teacher to “decide” if the student needs additional practice to revisit instruction in a small group or if the student shows understanding to extend into small group with additional short and long vowel /a/ work:
• Notice and Assess: Can students read short and long /a/?
• Decide: If students struggle, revisit instruction for short and long /a/ in Small Group on pages T268-T269. If students show understand, extend instruction for short and long /a/ in Small Group on pages T268-T269.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, ELL Targeted Support, the teacher provides an additional lesson to students identified as English Language Learners related to long /e/. The teacher states to the students how learning to spell common patterns in words will help build understanding for spelling words in English. Students write in letters on cards to make words with the long /e/. Additional teacher activities are included. For example, the teacher can also say words, then have the students orally identify the long vowel sound, then write the word on paper.
• In Summative Assessments, Kindergarten Teacher’s Manual with Student Reproducibles, Unit, Middle-of-Year and End-of-Year Assessments Item Analysis Charts, Kindergarten, Unit 1 Assessment, page T25 provides information for focus/skill for each item of the unit assessment along with the depth of knowledge level and common core state standard alignment.  myFOCUS Remediation opportunities are provided for each item number. Remediation for item number 1 is located in Lesson 21.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks providing high-quality lessons and activities that allow for differentiation of foundational skills, so all students achieve mastery of foundational skills.  

Differentiation opportunities are presented throughout the Kindergarten materials. There are numerous formats for small group instruction in every unit based on student needs. Example groupings include groups focused on leveled reader activities, one-on-one conferring groups, strategy groups, ELL Targeted Support groups, and intervention groups for students performing below grade level on learning objectives. For students below level, small group differentiated instruction occurs on a daily basis. For students at or above grade level, small group differentiated instruction occurs one to two times per week. The program materials include the Kindergarten myFocus Intervention Teacher’s Guide to target and address student intervention needs.

Instructional pacing of lessons is limited to 15 minutes per day, which is not sufficient in supporting students' mastery of grade-level foundational skills. 

Materials provide high-quality learning lessons and activities for every student to reach mastery of foundational skills. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Teacher-Led Options, Word Work Strategy Group, the teacher shows the small group of students an alphabet card (Bb), then models how the word for the picture begins with the target letter-sound correspondence. The teacher verbalizes additional words that begin with the target letter-sound correspondence. The students listen to the teacher, then write the target letter on paper.
• In Unit 2, Week 5, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonics: Read and Write Words with Ww and Yy, page T309, the teacher displays the Ww alphabet card and informs students that it is a picture of a watermelon and that the beginning sound is /w/. Students identify the letter w. The teacher writes the letters Ww on the board and leads students in writing them in the air. The teacher repeats this procedure for the letter Yy. The teacher points to the letters Ww and Yy on the board, displays the words wag and yet, tells students to listen carefully as they reads the words, and asks students which word includes the sound spelled with w. Student volunteers identify the word wag. The teacher asks which words includes the /y/ sound. Student volunteers identify the word yet. ELL Targeted Support section indicates the teacher points to the pictures on page 174 of the Student Interactive and explains the letters represent different sounds. Students in emerging/developing find pictures with the /w/ sound and practice saying the sound as they point to the letter w. Students in expanding/bridging practice saying words and identify whether each word includes the initial sound /w/ or /y/. 
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Teacher-Led Options, Fluency, the students take turns reading a decodable book with a partner. The teacher listens and records student performance in rate and accuracy on the Fluency Progress Chart. The teacher offers corrective feedback to students when they make errors.

Materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support each student’s needs. For example: 

• In Unit 1, Week 6, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Formative Assessment Options, Quick Check, Foundational Skills, page T379, the teacher is provided with two options for students. The first option directs the teacher to engage students struggling with short /i/ in an activity where they identify words with short /i/ in word families. The second option allows students who show understanding to engage in an activity where they extend their knowledge on identifying words with short /i/. The students in this group generate words in the -in and -ip word families 
• In the Language Awareness Handbook, K, Unit 2, Week 6, page 38, the teacher provides an additional lesson to learn the sound for short /o/ and review the sound for short /e/. The teacher uses Practice with Short Vowels sheet to help students read words with short vowels. The teacher uses hot and top with short /o/. The teacher uses More Practice with Short Vowels for students to have additional practice.
• In Unit 3, Leveled Reader, A Story for Leo, Teacher's Guide, Observe and Monitor, the teacher is provided with three guided responses to students based on their errors when orally whisper-reading for fluency skills: If students pause at the end of lines rather than using a fluent return sweep, teachers are directed to help them practice thinking about the next word; If students sound out new words letter by letter, teachers are directed to prompt them to use letter clusters and syllables; If students read in a phrased manner, teachers are directed to praise them for making their reading sound like talking.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Syllables, pages T22-T23, the teacher explains all words have syllables. ELL Targeted Support focuses on using syllable puzzles:
• Students (emerging) find classmates whose syllable puzzle piece completes their puzzle and then circle the picture words with more than one syllable. The groups then say their word and clap the number of syllables.
• Students (developing) work with a partner to put their puzzles together and use the word in a sentence.
• Students (expanding/bridging) create their own one, two, or three syllable puzzle pieces by drawing or pasting multisyllabic words on index cards and cutting them apart.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Word Work Strategy Group on initial and final blends, page 114, the teacher displays picture cards and the word spelling for mask, black, crab, desk, lamp, spider while the students must identify the blend and spell the blend in each word. This lesson leads into an ELL Targeted Support for students emergent, developing, and expanding providing the teacher options for reinforcing a specific skill:
• Students (emerging) are taught to repeat words with teacher feedback on producing final blends.
• Students (developing) are taught to self correct final blends with teacher monitoring.
• Students (expanding) are provided feedback to each other then find initial and final blends in books and say them with a partner.
• In the myFocus Intervention Teacher’s Guide, Level A, Practice and Assess, Lesson 9, Blend Onset and Rime, page 80, the teacher reminds students that words are made up of beginning sounds and ending sounds. By blending the onset and rime, a whole word is made. The teacher models by saying lap and elongating the /l/ sound and explicitly saying that /l/ is the onset. Students and the teacher practice lap together, elongating the /l/ sound and explicitly saying that /l/ is the onset. The teacher extends the practice and has students try lap on their own. This practice is continued with nap, fog, rip, vet and cut. 

Students have multiple practice opportunities with each grade level foundational skill component in order to reach mastery; however, little instructional time is included for students to practice to mastery.  For example: 

• In the Letter Recognition Unit, Letter Recognition Instruction and Practice, pages 1 and 2 includes activities for teaching letter recognition for upper- and lowercase letter A. Activities include the alphabet song, ABC Rhyme Time, Identify Aa using letter/shape strips, student’s name strips, Find-A-Letter activity using magazines, and a practice page located on page 2. Activities such as these are provided for every letter.
• In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Identify Words, the teacher models the new sound /h/, by saying it several times. The students practice saying the sound.
• In See and Say, the teacher names pictures in the Student Interactive.  Some of the words begin with the target sound /h/. The students circle the pictures that start with the sound /h/.
• In Word Work, Phonics: Introduce Hh, the teacher uses explicit instruction to introduce the letter-sound correspondence Hh by showing the students an alphabet card with a picture of a helicopter on it. The students say helicopter with the teacher. 
• In Phonics: Introduce Hh, the teacher models how to write the letters Hh. The students trace the letters Hh in their Student Interactive. The teacher says words, some of which with the initial letter sound /h/. The students trace the letter Hh when they hear a word that starts with an Hh. The teacher says the names of pictures in the Student Interactive. The students circle the pictures that start with Hh.
• In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 5, Reading Workshop, Word Work, Phonological Awareness: Identify and Count Syllables, page T320, the  teacher explains that syllables are word parts and each syllable has one vowel sound, displays the iguana picture card, introduces the word, claps the syllables, and explains how it is broken down. The teacher says other words. Students clap words and tell the number of syllables in each. Volunteers say their name as students clap the syllables, hold up their fingers to show how many syllables are in the name. This procedure continues until all students have said their names.
• In Unit 5, Week 2, Lesson 1, Word Work, High-Frequency Words, page T92, the teacher explains that they are going to work on high-frequency words. With the teacher, students read the words eat, soon, walk. Student identify words until they are familiar with each word. Students use the words in sentences.