Kindergarten - Gateway 1

The materials provide a defined scope and sequence for letter recognition instruction that can be completed in a reasonable time frame over the school year, which is located in Book 2. Materials contain isolated, systematic, and explicit instruction for students to learn all 26 upper and lowercase letters beginning in Unit 6. Letters are taught in clusters, typically containing three consonant letters and one vowel letter. The materials include four review weeks in Units 6-16.

There is a defined sequence for letter recognition instruction to be completed in a reasonable time frame over the school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 1, the materials state that students will learn the following letters:

  • Unit 6 - Cluster 1: m, t, p, a

  • Unit 7 - Cluster 2: s, h, c, i

  • Unit 8 - Cluster 3: d, f, r, o

  • Unit 9 - Review Clusters 1-3

  • Unit 10 - Cluster 4: g, l, n, u

  • Unit 11 - Cluster 5: b, k, v, e

  • Unit 12 - Review Clusters 1-5

  • Unit 13 - Cluster 6: j, w, z

  • Unit 14 - Cluster 7: qu, x, y

  • Unit 15 - Review Clusters 1-7

  • Unit 16 - Review Clusters 1-7

Materials contain isolated, systematic and explicit instruction for students to recognize all 26 lowercase and uppercase letters. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 7, Lesson 1, the teacher asks, “What is the first sound in soap?” Then, the teacher displays the uppercase and lowercase letter tiles. The teacher says, “Right, soap begins with /s/, and these letters say the sound, or spell, /s/. The name of the letter is S.”

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 8, Lesson 3, the teacher asks, “What is the first sound in fish? Remember, the sound /f/ is spelled with the letter f (while pointing to the letter tile f). What is the first sound in octopus? Remember, the sound /ŏ/ is spelled with the letter o (while pointing to the letter tile o).” The teacher continues with the words fireworks, football, olives, omelet, fire, feather, ox, October, fly, ostrich, foot, and otter, guiding students to sort words based on their initial sound.

In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 17, Lesson 1, the teacher says, “There are 26 letters in the alphabet.” The teacher displays all five vowel letter tiles: a, e, i, o, and u. The teacher shows each lowercase letter, and then students name the letters.

The materials include practice opportunities for students to recognize all 26 letters in lowercase and uppercase. The materials incorporate a variety of activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce alphabet knowledge in isolation and in the context of meaningful print through activities such as Letter-Sound Look, Think, Say!, This Letter or That?, Letter-Sound Review, Touch and Say, and through short stories. The materials also provide practice opportunities with cumulative review of previously learned letters. 

Materials include sufficient practice opportunities for students to recognize all 26 lowercase and uppercase letters accurately and automatically. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 9, Lesson 1, students review the letters m, t, p, a, s, h, c, i, d, f, r, and o in the activity Which Letter?. The teacher displays a picture of a ham and asks, “What is the first sound in ham?” The teacher displays letter tiles for the letters h, c, and r and asks, “Which of these letters spells /h/ like /h/, ham? Point to the letter tile that spells /h/ and say its name.” The teacher repeats this routine for the word sit and continues the activity using the words sad, rat, cat, pot, hat, map, hop, fit, dip, ram, rip, tap, fat, cot, sip, mad, him, and rot.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 12, Lesson 1, students identify the letter symbol that spells the first sound in a word by playing This Letter or That? During this activity, using the provided technology, two letter symbols alongside the corresponding guideword images appear at the top of the screen as headings and a new image appears at the bottom. Students isolate the initial sound of that new image and then determine which letter symbol produces the sound. The image is then sorted into one of two columns. For this lesson, students work with the letters g, k, u, and e.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 18, Lesson 1, students practice recognizing letters with the Look, Think, Say! routine. The lowercase letter is displayed, and students say the letter name, think about the sound, and say the sound. Students practice with six letters. 

Materials incorporate various activities and resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce (through cumulative review) alphabet knowledge. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, practice opportunities are built into the scope and sequence through review weeks. After learning new letters for three weeks in Units 6 through 8, a week is spent practicing the new letters in Unit 9. Subsequently, new letters are introduced for two weeks in Units 10 and 11, followed by a week of review in Unit 12. New letters are taught for two weeks in Units 13 and 14, followed by two weeks of review in Units 15 and 16. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 19, Lesson 1, the teacher uses the Launch online program for students to review six letters using the Look, Think, Say! routine. The teacher asks students what the letter name is and to spell the sound. Then, the teacher clicks the yellow dot and asks students to think about the sound. Finally, the teacher clicks again, and the students say the sound out loud with the teacher. 

The materials provide explicit instruction in letter formation for all 26 letters. Instruction for uppercase letters is found in Units 1-5. Lowercase letter formation is taught in Units 6-14. All letter formation routines contain similar, common language to provide consistent explanations for students. The materials include digital animations and teacher modeling of letter formation. The materials include ample opportunities for students to monitor their handwriting and progress, and teacher prompting for corrective feedback is included.

There is a defined sequence for letter formation, aligned to the scope and sequence of letter recognition, to be completed in a reasonable time frame over the school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, the Countdown to Really Great Handwriting Scope and Sequence begins in Unit 1. It has the sequence for teaching all uppercase and lowercase letters by Unit 14. In Units 15-28, students apply the handwriting skills within words and sentences. 

  • Upper Case Formation 

    • Unit 1: A 

    • Unit 2: M, S, L, N, E, F

    • Unit 3: R, V, Z, P, G, O

    • Unit 4: D, T, I, K, C, B, W

    • Unit 5: H, Qu, J, Y, X, U

  • Lower Case Formation 

    • Unit 6: m, t, p, a

    • Unit 7: s, h, i, c

    • Unit 8: d, f, r, o 

    • Unit 10: g, n, l, u

    • Unit 11: b, k, v, e

    • Unit 13: j, w, z

    • Unit 14: qu, x, y

Materials include clear directions for the teacher concerning how to explain and model how to correctly form each of the 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Countdown Online, Unit 3, Lesson 1, the teacher explains to students how to make the uppercase R. The teacher says, “What do we say to travel down? What do we do to make our rockets (pencils) travel in a diagonal line? What do we say to make our rockets travel around?” Then the teacher says, “Super, let’s put it all together and start our next mission with the training video on capital R.”

• In Countdown Online, Unit 4, Lesson 1, the online resource displays the formation for an uppercase D. The resource displays an image with arrows and steps listed for forming the letter. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Countdown to Really Great Handwriting Teacher Guide, the Units 6-10 Preview resource has a table for all uppercase and lowercase formation verbal pathways.

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Countdown to Really Great Handwriting Teacher Guide, the Units 1-5 preview document contains teacher guidance for handwriting instruction. One recommended routine is called Spot on Routine. The routine requires students to look at their letter formation and determine letters that are written correctly and those that need to be rewritten due to incorrect size, poor space, lined up incorrectly, not readable and makes you sad.  

In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Countdown to Really Great Handwriting Teacher Guide, Unit 2, Lesson 2,  materials prompt the teacher to use the Telescope routine to have students check their writing for errors. This routine provides specific errors to have students look for, including formation, spacing, and whether the letter is readable.

The materials provide daily practice opportunities for letter formation of all 26 uppercase and lowercase letters throughout the year. Every letter is practiced by Unit 15. The student workbook and unit resources have practice pages for students to practice letter formation. Materials also include weekly opportunities to practice and review previously taught letters and cumulative review opportunities to review clusters of letters.

Materials include frequent opportunities for students to practice forming all of the 26 uppercase and lowercase letters. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Countdown Online, Teacher Presentation Tool, Book 1, Unit 2, Lesson 2, students learn and practice M, S, L, N, F, and E. The resources include a practice page for letter formation for each letter. The Resource Guide lists that the Really Great Handwriting (RGH) Student Workbook, pages 6-12, also contains practice opportunities.  

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 3, students write uppercase letters D, T, L, B, K, C, W. In Unit 5, they practice writing H, Qu, J, Y, X, U. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Countdown to Really Great Handwriting Student Workbook, the workbook contains practice pages for Units 1-28 to practice letter formation for all uppercase and lowercase letters. 

Materials include cumulative review of previously learned letter formation. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Countdown to Really Great Handwriting Teacher Guide, Units 6-10, Unit 6, Lesson 1, focuses on tracing and learning the proper formation of lowercase m and t. Lesson 2 focuses on a and p. In Lessons 3, 4, and 5, students review and continue working on tracing and learning the proper formation of lowercase m, t, a, and p. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 9, Lesson 3, students work on reviewing writing lowercase letters m, t, p, a, s, h, l, c, d, f, r, o from Unit 7, where they practiced lowercase letters s, h, i, and c, and from unit Unit 6, where students learn m, t, p, and a. 

The materials include three benchmark assessments found at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. The assessments evaluate students’ letter knowledge of all uppercase and lowercase letters. Each assessment includes progressive benchmarks leading to mastery of at least 25 out of 26 letters to be considered on-track. Handwriting assessment is ongoing as materials indicate teachers check for proper formation and adjust review and practice based on need. There is information that supports whether students are low, emerging, or on track for the various times of the year. In addition, there is information teachers can use to support students’ learning depending on where students are at and what time of the year the assessment is given. 

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of letter recognition, and letter formation.  Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, Kindergarten Foundational Skills Surveys, surveys provided are given three times a year for students to be evaluated on letter knowledge. They are given at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. In the Beginning of the Year Assessment, students are evaluated on letter knowledge for lowercase letters a, m, b, v, f, h, j, t. In Sections 25-28, the survey assesses another four letters for students to identify: i, d, z, n. In Sections 29-32, students are evaluated on letters k, p, s, and r. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, Letter Knowledge Survey, Form A, students are assessed on the identification of all uppercase and lowercase letters at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. 

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, Kindergarten Foundational Skills Surveys, for uppercase and lowercase letter identification, it states at the beginning of the year, students receiving 0 - 6 are low, 7-18 are considered emerging, and 19-26 indicates they are on track. If the assessment is given in the middle of the year, 0 -10 is low, 11-19 is emerging, and 20 - 26 is on track. If it is the end of the year, 0 -16 is low, 17 - 24 is emerging, and 25 - 26 is on track.  

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Assessment and Grouping,  Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey and Countdown Guide, it indicates results on the beginning of year skills survey groups students into low (0-4), emerging (5-11), and on track (12-16) for letter identification. Each identified group includes instructional suggestions for supplemental lessons and practice.

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, Kindergarten Foundational Skills Surveys, page 79, the teacher is given the instructions to use additional activities for practice on page 200 of Countdown Book 1, focused on Alphabetic Principles. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey and Countdown, it states if a majority of students are low and receive 0-4 in this section at the beginning of the year, the teacher should proceed with the scope and sequence for Countdown, but teachers should also consider progress monitoring to ensure all students acquire the knowledge. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey Overview, it provides general recommendations after the assessment. Recommendations include, “If a smaller group of students score in the low or emerging range,” the teachers should plan differentiated lessons for the particular group, targeting the identified skill needed.

The materials include a scope and sequence for phonemic awareness instruction. Phonemic awareness instruction begins with initial phoneme isolation and then progresses to blending, segmenting, and addition and substitution of phonemes. Materials focus on activities that develop phonemic awareness skills and avoid spending excess time on phonological sensitivity tasks such as rhyming and alliteration. Phonemic awareness activities align to phonics skills. Materials provide an evidence-based explanation for the sequencing of phonemic awareness skills.

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Research, Notes on our Scope and Sequence, there is a graphic that illustrates a phonemic awareness continuum. It states the instruction intentionally moves along this continuum from the simplest skills of phoneme isolation, then moves to blending, segmentation, addition, deletion, and substitution, which is the most complex phonemic awareness skill. The phonemic awareness instruction is directly tied to written letters and words.  

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Research, Notes on Our Scope and Sequence, there is a clear explanation of the scope and sequence of phonemic awareness skills: “The instruction within Really Great Reading intentionally moves along a continuum from phoneme isolation, to blending, then segmentation, followed by addition and deletion. This continuum goes from simplest skills to most complex skills. The goal with phonemic awareness skill building exercise is to help students develop what’s commonly referred to as ‘Phonemic Proficiency.’ This is the instant, automatic access to phonemes in spoken words (Kilpatrick, 2015). There is emerging evidence that phonemic proficiency is critical to orthographic mapping, or reading words by sight, spelling words from memory, and acquiring vocabulary words from print.”

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Countdown Scope and Sequence, pages xv-xvii, the key on page xvi indicates that phonemic awareness activities are taught in the following order:

  • Units 2-5 - beginning sound isolation and blending

  • Units 6-7 - beginning sound isolation, blending, and segmenting

  • Units 8-11 - beginning sound isolation and segmenting

  • Unit 12 - blending and segmenting

  • Unit 13 - beginning sound isolation, blending, and segmenting

  • Unit 14 - beginning sound isolation, segmenting, and manipulation

  • Unit 15 - blending and manipulation

  • Unit 16 - manipulation

  • Units 17-28 - specific skills (vowel sounds, short/long vowels, two-sound blends, blending syllables)

  • Unit 18 - Introduce long vowel sounds

  • Unit 19 - Short a vs. long a 

  • Unit 20 - Short i vs. long i

  • Unit 21 - Short u vs. long u

  • Unit 22 - Short o vs. long o

  • Unit 23 - Short e vs. long e

  • Unit 24 - Review all short and long vowels 

  • Unit 25 - Sound buddies, with 2 sound blends

  • Unit 26 - Sound Buddies, with 2 sound blends

  • Unit 27 - Introduce blending syllables 

  • Unit 28 - Review blending syllables 

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Teacher Resources, Home Connection & Other, Countdown Scope and Sequence, the scope and sequence contains Countdown Units 1-28. The scope and sequence has every activity for each unit color-coded by the skill focus. The phonemic awareness skills listed are phonemic awareness: beginning sound isolation, blending, segmenting, and manipulation. Phonemic awareness tasks of beginning sound isolation and blending begin in Unit 2. Phonemic awareness instruction is included in every unit from Unit 2 to Unit 28.   

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 10, Lesson 1, the phonemic awareness and phonics focus is on the letters g, l, n, and u. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 19, Lesson 2, the phonemic awareness and phonics focus is on short a vs long a. 

The materials include systematic and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness skills with repeated teacher modeling. The materials also include teacher guidance on corrective feedback through Positive Error Correction teacher tips and additional guidance in the margins or at the end of lessons. 

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

• Isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words.

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 1, Appendix, page 196, under the topic Environmental Activities, Activity #4, First Sound Fun, students isolate the beginning sounds in students’ names (/j/ John, /a/ Asia, /d/ Devon, /s/ Sebastian), activities (/k/ calendar time, /s/ circle time, /r/ recess, /l/ lunch), and places (/p/ playground, /t/ table, /k/ carpet, /d/ desks, /k/ cafeteria). 

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 6, Lesson 1, in the activity Peel and Say, students are instructed to “peel the first sound off” of words. The teacher clicks the presentation to display images for the words up, umbrella, and oven. Teachers name the words as they point to each image, and students repeat after the teacher. The materials prompt the teacher to ask, “What’s the first sound in up, umbrella, and oven?” The students respond, “/u/.” The process is repeated for sheep, shorts, and shadow (/sh/). Then, students practice the skill with 18 other sets of words.

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 2, the teacher displays an image for the word cut. The teacher models finger stretching or segmenting the phonemes. The teacher isolates the vowel sound /u/. The students finger stretch the words mug, hush, nut, shut, duck, cub, and tub. The teacher asks students to isolate the medial vowel sound /u/.  

• Blend and segment words with two and three phonemes. 

  • Throughout the Countdown lessons, the activity “Stretch Those Sounds” includes segmenting the initial, medial, and final sounds in words. The teacher says a word aloud and models how to segment the sounds using finger-stretching. Then, students repeat the word and the segmenting. For example:

    • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 9, Lesson 2, in the activity Stretch Those Sounds, the teacher guides students in separating the word duck to identify all of the sounds in it. The teacher models making a fist while saying duck, extending the thumb while saying /d/, extending the pointer finger while saying /ŭ/, and extending the middle finger while saying /k/. Students practice segmenting duck with the teacher and then continue to practice segmenting the words chess, cube, peas, pig, run, thumb, yawn, yes, worm, van, box, sit.

    • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 18, Lesson 3, the teacher displays the sounds/a/ and /t/. The teacher reminds students that when they see a vowel-consonant vowel, it spells short a. The teacher then models blending the word /b/ /aaa/ /t/. The teacher points to each letter tile and models blending the word bat.

• Add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 14, Lesson 3, the students add a sound to the beginning of words in the activity Add That Sound. The materials prompt the teacher to say, “Today, we are going to add a sound to the beginning of some words.” The teacher says the word ape and then clicks to add a color tile for each sound. The teacher adds a new sound, /t/, and clicks for a new color tile. The words used to add a beginning sound are edge/ledge, at/bat, ache/take, oat/boat, an/fan, ax/tax, itch/rich, egg/beg, eat/seat, ate/date, on/Ron, ice/nice, in/pin, etch/fetch, use/fuse, add/mad, ill/fill, at/hat. 

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 16, Lesson 2, in the activity Sound Swap, the teacher guides students to identify the beginning sound in the word can and separate it from the rest of the word /ăn/. Then, the teacher guides students to change the /c/ to /p/, asking them what word they have created, pan. The teacher completes another example with students, changing the word mix to six. Students continue to practice with the words chin/win, bug/rug, and goat/boat. 

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 1, the teacher explains that students will learn how to peel off a sound. The teacher points to the picture of a duck and a fish. The teacher says duck, /d/ duck, and then repeats this process with the word fish. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 7, Lesson 1, the teacher explains that students will separate all the sounds in some words. The teacher demonstrates saying the sounds in hug. The teacher continues modeling using the words nose, duck, lime, six, feet, man, worm, shark, toes, leaf, jam, bike. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 3, the materials state, “the digraph th is a consonant digraph phoneme that is produced by placing the end of your tongue between your teeth and blowing air across the top of your tongue. Some students confuse this phoneme with the /f/ phoneme, saying ‘teef,’ instead of ‘teeth.’ The digraph th has an unvoiced phoneme (the vocal chords [sic] are not used), as in thumb, and a voiced phoneme (the vocal chords [sic] are used), as in that.”

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 4, Lesson 2, the teacher is to review the Articulation Videos with students if students are struggling with letter sound articulation. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 23, Lesson 2, in the activity Short e vs. Long e, the materials state, “If your students are still struggling to stretch the sounds in words with short e, you may wish to use some of the You Dos as We Dos to provide more guided practice.”

The materials include daily lessons in phonemic awareness that correlate to the phonics portion of the lesson. The materials include Articulation Videos and Guidewords, Movement, and Proper Articulation of Sounds document, which includes examples for instruction in phoneme articulation.

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Unit 8, Lesson 1, the teacher asks students what the picture is and then asks for the first sound, /d/. The teacher clicks to display the upper and lowercase letters Dd. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Unit 9, Lesson 1, the teacher asks students to name the first sound in the word hammer. In Part 3 of the lesson, the teacher displays _am, and students choose from the letters h, c, or r, to complete the spelling for the word ham. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Unit 13, Lesson 2, the teacher uses the This Letter or That routine to ask students the first sound in words that begin with /j/, /z/, w/, or /h/. In Part 3, the teacher asks for the first sound in jam and then asks which letter spells /j/, giving three choices: j, k, or z. The lesson continues in the same routine with eighteen additional CVC words. 

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Unit 7, Lesson 1, the teacher tells students they are going to spell the first letter of some words. The teacher asks what the first sound in the word hat is. The teacher then displays three letter tiles and points to the letter tile that spells /h/.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Unit 12, Lesson 1, the teacher asks students what the first sound in goat is. Then, the teacher reminds students that the sound /g/ is spelled with the letter g, while pointing to the tile g.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Unit 14, Lesson 1, the teacher uses the routine Name that Sound. The teacher says the /kw/ and /ks/ sounds and displays the upper and lowercase letter tiles for Qu and X.

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

• In Countdown Online, Instructional Resources, there are articulation videos, including the video “/z/as in Zebra,” which provides an example of how to pronounce the /z/ sound. The instructor in the video states, “When you make this sound, your lips are spread wide, the sides of your tongue are lifted, and the tip points slightly up. Your voice is turned on, and as your breath flows over the middle of your tongue, it hits the back of your teeth and leaks out in a skinny stream. /z/.”

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Unit 21, Lesson 3, the materials state, “the digraph th is a consonant digraph phoneme that is produced by placing the end of your tongue between your teeth and blowing air across the top of your tongue. Some students confuse this phoneme with the /f/ phoneme, saying ‘teef,’ instead of ‘teeth.’ The digraph th has an unvoiced phoneme (the vocal cords [sic] are not used), as in thumb, and a voiced phoneme (the vocal cords [sic] are used), as in that.”

The materials offer systematic assessment opportunities to evaluate students’ understanding of phonemic awareness. Materials include benchmark and progress monitoring assessments throughout the course of the year with recommendations. Materials also include digital games within the Reading Playground that provide data regarding specific skills correlating to each unit. Assessment resources are available both digitally and in print. 

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence in phonemic awareness. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, the 1st Grade Foundational Skills Survey contains beginning, middle, and end-of-year assessments, which include phonemic awareness. 

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, there is a Phonological Awareness Survey and a Phonemic Awareness Survey. The assessment includes blending three and four phonemes, segmenting three and four phonemes, and adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes. The recommended assessment timeline indicates the survey occurs at the beginning, middle, and end of year.

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, three Reading Playground games for each unit can be used as formative assessments that provide real-time data.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonemic awareness. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Formative Assessment, Blast Formative Assessment Guide, Unit 13, Game 3, How Many Phonemes indicates students are nearing proficiency with greater than 80%, need practice if scoring 60-79%, and need reteaching if scoring below 60%.

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, Phonological Awareness Survey, the Phonemic Awareness portion states at the beginning of the year, a student is considered low if they score 0-12. In the middle of the year, 0-17 is low, and 0-19 is low at the end of the year. For emerging, at the beginning of the year, the score is 13-22, 18-26 for the middle of the year, and 20-29 for the end of the year. For on track, students who score 23 - 31 is the beginning of the year, 27 - 31 for the middle of the year, and 30-31at the end of the year.

• In Blast Online, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, the 1st Grade Foundational Skills Survey states at the beginning of the year, if a student scores 0-17, they are low; 18-23, they are emerging; and 24 - 31, they are on track. In the middle of the year, 0-19 is low, 20-26 is emerging, and 27 - 31 is on track. While for the end of the year, 0 - 21 is low, emerging is 22 - 28, and 29 - 31 is on track. 

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

• In the Blast Foundations Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 3, Lesson 5, after doing the wrap-up formative assessment, teachers use the Progress Monitoring Assessment 1 for students to complete and use the data from the Reading Playground to support students. 

• In the Blast Foundations Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 6, Lesson 5, the teacher leads students through a review with the Spell It! routine. The margin notes tell teachers to use the data from the Reading Playground game to assess and drive instruction. 

• In Online Blast, Supply Room, Assessments and Grouping, a BOY Path for Assessment and Intervention is provided, which provides guidance on using results of the FSS1 BOYb for use in grouping, progress monitoring, and providing instruction based on students’ decoding level.

The materials provide a clear, evidence-based explanation for the order of the phonics scope and sequence. The scope and sequence is intentionally ordered from simpler to more complex skills. Phonics instruction is based on high utility patterns and common phonics generalizations. Instruction starts with letters and corresponding sounds, VCV, digraphs, blends, and two-syllable words with closed syllables.

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Research, Notes on Phonics Suite Scope and Sequences, the materials cite evidence from Hannah (1966), Hodges (1989), Fry (2004), and Kearns (2017). They explain that phonics instruction moves from most frequent to most predictable. They further state that the program teaches 97%  of the teachable, predictable patterns in the English code. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Research, in the article, “Bringing Research to Practice with Foundational Reading Skills Instruction for Beginning Readers,” under “Alphabetic Principle,” the article states, “Really Great Reading’s Countdown lessons first introduce the alphabetic principle to kindergarteners explicitly and systematically. Children learn to isolate and pronounce the short vowel and most common consonant sounds of the English language first. Then, they are systematically introduced to the symbols that represent those sounds. In this way, children are taught how to ‘break the code’ of the English language. In Countdown, letters are introduced in clusters of three or four, allowing children to move quickly to decoding words and reading connected text.”

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Research, Notes on Scope and Sequence, a clear research-based explanation is provided for the order of the phonics sequence: “Really Great Reading phonics scope and sequence is designed around well-documented word-level statistics related to the frequency of spelling and pronunciation patterns in English (Hannah, 1966, Hodges, 1989, Fry 2004, Kearns, 2017). These statistics make it clear not all phonics knowledge is equally impactful. We concentrate our instruction time on the most impactful, most predictable, most teachable patterns in our English code. The phonics sequence moves from most frequent and most predictable to the exceptions. Really Great Reading concentrates instructional time on the more common spellings and chooses not to divert precious instructional time to rare/obscure spellings.” 

Materials clearly delineate a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction, from simpler to more complex skills, and practice to build toward the application of skills. The scope and sequence is as follows:

• Units 1-5 -Word on Alphabetic Principle

• Unit 6-Cluster m, t, p, a

• Unit 7-Cluster s, h, c, i

• Unit 8-Cluster d, f, r, o

• Unit 9-Review Clusters t, p, a, s, h, c, i, d, f, r, o

• Unit 10-Cluster g, l, n, u

• Unit 11-Cluster b, k, v, e

• Unit 12-Cluster Review

• Unit 13-Cluster J, w, y, z

• Unit 14-Cluster qu, x, y

• Unit 15-Cluster review

• Unit 16 -Cluster review units 1-7

• Unit 17 -Review short vowel sounds and motions 

   Review finger-stretching phonemes 

• Unit 18 -Introduce Vowel-Consonant Pattern (closed syllables)

• Unit 19-Introduce phrases and sentences to read

• Unit 20-Digraph sh-Reading and Spelling with all short vowels 

• Unit 21-Digraph th

  Reading and spelling with all short vowels 

• Unit 22-Review Digraphs sh and th

  Reading and spelling with all short vowels 

• Unit 23-Digraphs ch and wh

  Reading and spelling with all short vowels

• Unit 24-Digraph ck

  Reading and spelling with all short vowels

• Unit 25-Chunk all and digraph review 

  Reading and spelling with all short vowels

• Unit 26-2- sound blends (initial and final)

• Unit 27-Introduce terms “Syllable and Closed Syllable”

  Reading two-syllable words with Closed Syllables 

• Unit 28-More reading two-syllable words with closed syllables

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 20, Lessons 3, 4, and 5, the phonics focus is digraph sh. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lessons 3, 4, and 5, the phonics focus is digraph th.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 23, Lessons 3, 4, and 5, the phonics focus is ch and wh. 

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

The materials provide appropriate pacing of phonics skills, which are taught daily in 20-30 minute teacher-led whole group lessons, 20-30 minutes daily in small group lessons, and 30-40 minutes of independent practice time each week. Practice activities are provided with one optional activity. There is a weekly cumulative review of the phonics skills for the week on Day 5. Materials review individual sounds and letter names of all letters, and lessons include both decoding and encoding through whole-group instruction and small-group practice on a regular basis.  

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

• Students generally spend a week on phonics skills, with frequent cumulative reviews. For example:

  • In Units 1-5, students learn the alphabetic principle. 

  • In Units 6-17, students learn and practice consonant and vowel sounds and letters in clusters. Students spend 17 weeks learning and applying consonant and vowel sounds with frequent review. Students practice reading CVC closed syllable types in Units 18-19.

  • In Units 20-25, students learn and practice digraphs. 

  • In Units 26-28, students work with blends and two-syllable words. 

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 2, Lesson 2, students practice decoding CVC words, identifying the letter representing the beginning sound of an orally stated word, and encoding by building an orally stated word. Whole-group instruction lasts 20-30 minutes, small-group instruction lasts 20-30 minutes, and instruction includes additional practice of whole-group activities. Independent practice includes a review by playing Unit 9 games for 10 minutes and practicing new words with Unit 10 games for 10 minutes.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 7, there are 20-30 minutes of direct instruction in the whole group daily, 5-10 minutes of mastery of skill practice, 20-30 minutes of small group instruction, and 30-40 minutes weekly allocated for independent practice. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 25, Lesson 3, in the You Do portion of the lesson, practice time is allocated for students to build real words with digraphs. There are 20-30 minutes of allotted time for whole group, which includes 5-10 minutes of student practice. On Day 4, students review and practice the skill during the 20-30 minutes of student practice time.

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 9, Lesson 1, instruction focuses on /a/, /m/ /c/, and /d/; Lesson 2 focuses /c/, /a/, and /t/; Lesson 4 focuses on /i/; and Lesson 5 focuses on /p/, /t/, /i/, /p/, /m/ /a/, and /o/. In Unit 10, Lesson 1, students practice spelling Unit 9 spelling words as a review. Words include map, fit, and cod. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 17, Lesson 1, students review vowel sounds, the information that every word has a vowel, and the letter names for each vowel. They then proceed to review every vowel by sound and letter name. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 20, Lesson 5, students are introduced to the sh digraph and practice with /sh/ using sound tiles. Students review words with sh, w, and p in with Wrap-Up and Show What You Know activities, where students read short phrases and sentences and count sounds. 

The materials include systematic and explicit instruction in phonics with repeated teacher modeling. Lessons provide explicit instruction in blending and segmenting words using consistent routines. In addition, the materials include phrases and sentences that the teacher can use for dictation. The appendix provides guidance to teachers on providing corrective feedback to students. 

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

• 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 the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 6, Lesson 3, the teacher displays two columns with the headings p and a. The teacher then says the sound for /p/ in popcorn and reminds students the sound /p/ is spelled with the letter p. 

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 7, Lesson 2, the teacher reminds students to remember the sound /s/ is spelled with the letter s while pointing to the letter tile s. Then the teacher says to remember the sound /k/ is spelled with the letter c (while pointing to the letter c tile). 

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 12, Lesson 1, the teacher has two columns with the letter g, /g/ for goat, and k /k/ for key. The materials state, “Remember the sound /g/ is spelled with the letter g.” 

• Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 18, Lesson 2, using the Long Vowel Poster, the teacher says the long a sounds like saying the letter’s name, so the long a sound is /ā/. This is repeated with each of the long vowel sounds. 

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 20, Lesson 2, the teacher tells students they are going to finger stretch some words that have a long i sound. The materials state, “Listen while I say the sounds in bike, as in ‘I love to ride my bike to the park.’ bike.” The teacher then tells students that bike has three sounds and explains that he/she hears the name of the letter i in bike, so the vowel sound is long.

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 2, the teacher reviews the short u, /ŭ/, in isolation and within words such as up, mug, and cut. Then the teacher reviews long u, and students identify the /ū/ in the words huge, mute, use, mule, and cute. The teacher reminds students that the long u is the first phoneme in the word unicorn. The teacher then tells students that the symbol for the long u is /yoo/. The teacher models the long u movement and then stretches the sound for the word cube.

• Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ.

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 25, Lesson 2, students sound out the word mass, touching the letter tiles as they say the sounds. Then, the teacher adds the letter k to the end to create the word mask. Students touch the tiles while saying the sounds and then discuss how the letters have their own sounds. The activity continues with the words den/dent/tent, jump/bump, fast/last, and bend/send.

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 26, Lesson 2, the teacher finger-stretches the word lap and builds the word with letter tiles. Then, the teacher adds the/k/ sound at the beginning and adds the letter tile c to build the word clap. The activity continues with the words lash/flash.  

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 15, Lesson 2, the teacher displays an image of jam with the letter tiles m, j, a. The teacher says jam and stretches the sounds in jam. Then, the teacher clicks on the letter tiles to move each letter tile in the correct position, as the teacher and students say /j/ /a/ /m/. The following words/images are used for the activity: mug, nap, rug, six, rat, van, yes, pig, bug, bed, jet, can, fox, and hug.  

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 17, Lesson 4, the teacher models finger-stretching the word cat and displaying a letter tile for each sound while saying the phonemes /k/ /a/ /t/. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 19, Lesson 2, the teacher models how to segment the word sap, and then students segment the word cat along with the teacher. The teacher then models segmenting the words gate and tape. Students segment the word wave with the teacher and then segment the words game, ape, shape, vase, whale, and ace on their own. 

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

• In Countdown Online, Spelling, Dictation, and Writing, the Dictation Phrases and Routine resource provides teachers with ten dictation phrases for all Units 10-16 and three dictation sentences for all Units 19-28.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 3, students build words with the digraph th. The teacher displays an image of a word, dictates the word, and students build the word independently with letter tiles. Students build the words path, thin, thud, and math. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 24, Lesson 5, students practice spelling words with sound-spelling patterns learned in the workbook activity Spell It! The teacher says the word neck and uses it in the sentence, Uncle Jim wore a tie around his neck. The students then write the word. This process is completed with the following words: lick, back, sick, and duck.  

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Appendices, Routines and Procedures, Positive Error Correction procedures are provided for Build a Word, Touch and Say, Reading Multisyllabic Words Using SyllaBoards, Student Practice, Detective Work, Read It!, and Responding to Self Corrections. The routine for Touch and Say is listed below: 

• Positive Error Correction for Touch and Say: If a student reads a word incorrectly using Touch and Say, provide the following Positive Error Correction.

  • Tell student which sounds were said correctly.

  • Prompt student to: 1. Touch the tile that represents the sound that was incorrect and try to say the sound again. 2. Touch each tile again while saying each sound. Then, have the student blend the sounds into a word. 

  • If necessary, you or other students use Touch & Say to read the word. Then, have the student repeat.

  • Prompt student to independently use Touch & Say to read the word correctly. 

  • Always finish with the student independently using Touch and  Say to read the word. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 18, Lesson 3, it says that the teacher should use Positive Error Correction. They should identify the sounds the student spelled correctly, repeat the word, have the student repeat, and listen for the misspelled sound. Then, have the student independently use Touch and Say to read the word correctly. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 4, the materials state, “Be sure to use Positive Error Correction if students misread any words in Read It! Positive Error Correction steps can be found on p. 106.”

The materials include opportunities for students to decode phonetically spelled words in lessons throughout the units. Decoding practice focuses on both automaticity and accuracy. In addition, students have opportunities to encode in each unit, which involves segmenting sounds using sound-spelling patterns. Encoding routines include using letter tiles to build words.

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 10, Lesson 2, students continue practicing decoding gum, fan, run, and nine additional CVC words. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 11, Lesson 2, the teacher displays letter tiles n, v, a, and rearranges them to spell van, and asks students to decode the word. The teacher continues the routine by asking students to decode bed, leg, bat, and eleven additional CVC words. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 15, Lesson 2, the teacher displays letter tiles, m, j, a, and says the word jam. The teacher and students stretch the sounds out and arrange the letter tiles to spell jam. The teacher and students continue this routine with fourteen additional words.

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 16, Lesson 4, the teacher and students build the word wax with letter tiles. This practice continues with the words zip, net, hot, bag, mug, pan, yes, sit, and elf.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 18, Lesson 3, students practice building vowel consonant patterns. The teacher models with the word bat, and then students spell the words net, hip, cup, mop, on, us. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 3, students build words with the digraph th. The words they build are path, thin, thud, math.

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 20, Lesson 3, teachers build the word /r/ /a/ /sh and use Touch and  Say to read rash. The students and teacher build and read the word ship in the We Do portion. Students continue with the You Do portion of the lesson, where they spell and read the words dish, hush, dash, shed.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 4, the teacher uses a routine to underline letter sounds and then read whole words. The teacher displays the word math, clicks to underline /m/, /a/, /th/ sounds, and then reads the whole word; the teacher repeats the process for eleven additional words. Students are called on one at a time to read words from a list.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide Book 3, Unit 26, Lesson 2, the teacher has students touch each tile for the word lap. Then, students add a /k/ to the word lap, making the new word clap. Students say the new word. 

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

• In Countdown Online, Teacher Presentation Tool, Unit 18, Lesson 3, Small Group Instruction, students read a decodable passage, “Tim and Ted,” recording their accuracy percentage on a chart.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 4, individual students decode a word, and classmates and the teacher give the Reader a “thumbs-up” if they read the word correctly and a “thumbs-to-the-side” if the student needs to try to reread the word.

The materials contain spelling rules and generalizations aligned to the phonics scope and sequence, and these generalizations are taught in conjunction with reading words that follow these rules. There are in-depth explanations of how words follow these generalizations, and students have sufficient opportunities to practice these rules. The weekly spelling lists correspond to these rules or generalizations. Students also have the opportunity to practice spelling words with various activities, including building words with letter tiles, and in small-group spelling practice on Lesson 5 each week during the “Spell It!” routine. 

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 6, the focus is on the letters m, t, p, a, concentrating only on the short vowel sound for a. The spelling words for Unit 6 include the words tam, map, tap, tamp, and apt.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 14, the focus is on the letters qu, x, y. The spelling words for Unit 14 include the words quiz, yum, mix, yet, pod, quest, swim.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 20, Lesson 3, students learn the digraph sh. In Lesson 5, students spell words with sh, including ship, shut, dish, rash, shot. 

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 23, Lesson 3, the phonics focus is on the digraphs ch and wh. The materials state digraph ch spells the sound /ch/, the digraph wh spells the sound /w/, and wh is generally used only at the beginning of words or syllables in compound words. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 25, Lesson 3, after reviewing the /ŏl/ sound, the teacher states, “Let’s say the sounds in all together: /ŏl/. All is a special word. Even though it also follows our Vowel-Consonant pattern with one vowel and consonants after the vowel, the letter a makes a different sound. When we see a-l-l together, it always spells /ŏl/, so instead of using three letter tiles, we put all three letters on one tile, and we call it a ‘chunk.’ Now we are going to build a few real words with the letters a-l and the chunk a-l-l.” Students practice building the words call, pal, ball, tall, gal, fall throughout the lesson.

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 14, Lesson 2, students practice identifying the letter symbol that spells the first or last sound in a word. The students practice with words such as mix, ax, six, ox, vacuum, van, Max, vase, fox, volcano, wax, vehicle. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 18, Lesson 5, students spell words with vowel-consonant patterns and closed syllables during the Spell It! Routine. The words that students spell are pat, run, pit, log, bed, and optional challenge words ax, elf, kid, act, zap.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 20, Lesson 5, students spell words with the digraph sh during the Spell It! Routine. The words that students spell include ship, shut, dish, rash, and shot, and optional challenge words shed, wax, cap, hush, and bed.

The materials contain decodable texts with phonics aligned to the phonics scope and sequence. The decodable texts begin in Unit 8, with one every week until the final unit. The phonics skill is taught on Day 3, and the decodable text is used on Days 4 and 5. Students have opportunities to practice with the decodable text in Practice-to-Mastery and Small Group Instruction. The majority of repeated rereadings occur during small-group instruction. 

Decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 1, Unit 15, students review all letter sounds and short vowels. The decodable passage “The Vet” features words with all consonants and short vowel sounds. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 18, students read the decodable text “Tim and Ted.” The phonics skill for the week is closed syllables. Words from the text include Tim, ten, six, fun, sun, quit, and hat.  

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, students practice reading the passage “The Rush Down the Path.” The phonics patterns in the passage align with the phonics skills being taught, which include short u and long u and digraph th. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 24, students learn the phonics concept digraph ck and read the decodable text “Tick Tock.”

Materials include detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address acquisition of phonics skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 9, Lesson 3, students read the decodable passage “The Map.” In Lesson 4, in Practice-to-Mastery, the teacher and students do a scaffolded reading of “The Map,” and then later, in small groups, students practice reading “The Map” again. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 13, Lesson 3, students read the decodable text “The Pet Bat” as a cold read during small group instruction. In Lesson 4, students read “The Pet Bat” again during the Practice-to-Mastery portion of the lesson. In Lesson 5, students read the decodable text during small group instruction.  

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 3, students complete a cold read of the decodable passage “The Rush Down the Path.” In Lesson 4, in Practice-to-Mastery, the teacher and students do a scaffolded reading of “The Rush Down the Path,” and later, in small groups, students practice reading “The Rush Down the Path” again. In Lesson 5, in Practice-to-Mastery and during small groups, students have another opportunity to read the passage. 

Reading practice occurs in decodable texts (i.e., an absence of predictable) until students can accurately decode single-syllable words. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Instructional Resources, Alternative Start, Passages, & Book Reading, the Countdown Decodable Passages (with Fluency Instruction) contain the decodable passages for the units in Countdown along with a scaffolded decodable passage reading lesson plan to use with the current unit’s decodable passage. The passages include:

  • Unit 8: “Tom and Cat” 

  • Unit 9: “The Map” 

  • Unit 10: “Nat and Dog” 

  • Unit 11: “Gus” 

  • Unit 12: “A Big Red Bug” 

  • Unit 13: “The Pet Bat” 

  • Unit 14: “The Red Van” 

  • Unit 15: “The Vet” 

  • Unit 16: “The Cat in the Box” 

  • Unit 17: “Max and Sam” 

  • Unit 18: “Tim and Ted” 

  • Unit 19: “Kim the Pig” 

  • Unit 20: “On the Ship”

  • Unit 21: “The Rush Down the Path” 

  • Unit 22: “A Pet Dog” 

  • Unit 23: “A Hen and a Pig” 

  • Unit 24: “Tick Tock” 

  • Unit 25: “The Fall” 

  • Unit 26: “Our Land” 

  • Unit 27: “The Potluck” 

  • Unit 28: “The Attic” 

The materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessments over the course of the school year where students’ progress in phonics can be measured. The Reading Playground, an online tool, has assessment opportunities for each lesson in a game format for the students. There are also additional assessment resources found in the online teacher resources, including the Letter Knowledge Survey, which provides diagnostic assessment data about each student’s letter sound and name knowledge. Teachers and students are provided with information on students’ skill levels and mastery and understanding of phonics skills. Instructional materials provide teachers with suggestions for reteaching based on assessment results.

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence in phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Countdown Online, Teacher Resources, the Recommended Assessment Timeline and Flowcharts outlines the assessments that should be given over the course of the year and the timeline in which they should be given. The assessment schedule is as follows:

• Fall Benchmark: 

  • Countdown Beginning of Program Baseline Assessment in the Countdown Reading Playground (with 1:1 oral decoding) 

  • Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey, Form BOYKa

• Fall Progress Monitor:  

  • See the “Using the Countdown Reading Playground as Formative Assessment” document for formative assessment options and instructional recommendations. 

  • Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey, Form BOYKb

• Winter Benchmark:  

  • Countdown Middle of Program Mid-Interval Assessment in the Countdown Reading Playground (with 1:1 oral decoding) 

  • Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey, Form MOYKa

• Winter Progress Monitor:  

  • See the “Using the Countdown Reading Playground as Formative Assessment” document for formative assessment options and instructional recommendations. 

  • Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey, Form MOYKb

• Spring Benchmark: 

  • Countdown End of Program Summative Assessment in the Countdown Reading Playground (with 1:1 oral decoding) 

  • Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey, Form EOYKa

• Assessments are given regularly after each unit. For example:

  • In The Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 19, Lesson 5, students are given a spelling assessment on short vowels /a/, /i/, /e/, /o/, and /u/.

  • In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 24, Lesson 5, students spell words on the spelling assessment with digraph ck. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Instructional Resources, Spelling, Dictation & Writing, Countdown Spelling Lists and Resources, a resource contains a list of words for Units 6-28. The resource lists different ways the teacher can use the Countdown Spelling Lists with students, including a spelling test at the end of the unit. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Formative Assessment, the materials contain a resource called Countdown Formative Assessment Guide that explains how to use Reading Playground as a formative assessment. Three Reading Playground games from each unit can be utilized as formative assessments. The goal of these games is not to provide a grade but to inform the teacher of the most appropriate next steps for each student.

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Teacher Resources, Assessment and Grouping, Grouping Matrix Decoding Levels, information is provided about how The Grouping Matrix places students into the following decoding levels: At or Above Expectations/Strong Decoder, Slow Reading Rate, Specific Decoding Deficits, Slightly Below Expectations, or Mild Decoding Deficits, Moderately Below Expectations, or Moderate Decoding Deficits, Significantly Below Expectations, or Significant Decoding Deficits, Severely Below Expectations, and Emergent Readers. Decoding level descriptions are listed for all of the different levels that students are placed in. For example, the description of the specific decoding deficits group states, “This student exhibits strengths with basic decoding skills (short vowels, closed syllables, digraphs, blends) yet has deficits in reading words with advanced vowels and/or words with multiple syllables. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Formative Assessment section, information is provided on the Reading Playground. The Countdown Formative Assessment Guide lists the standard(s) the game assesses and states scores of ≥80% are nearing proficiency, scores of 60%-79% mean needing practice, and scores below  ≤59% mean students need to be retaught the material.

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Teacher Resources, Assessment and Grouping, a resource called the Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey Overview gives an overview of the Kindergarten Foundations Skills Survey. Once the teacher administers the Kindergarten Foundation Skills Survey, they can determine the next steps for grouping, diagnostic assessing, and instructional support. Students are placed into one of three skill levels: low, emerging, or on track. 

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Formative Assessment, the Formative Assessments in the Reading Playground video provides a guided tour of the formative assessment supports on the Teacher Dashboard for the Reading Playground. In the Countdown Formative Assessment Guide, there is a chart with information for each unit that includes the unit numbers, game numbers and names for each unit, benchmark scores for each proficiency level, and lesson reviews and Practical recommendations with information such as additional activities and games to practice and specific workbook pages. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Teacher Resources, Assessment and Grouping, the Intervention Flowcharts provide more guidance on how to group students based on intervention data. Each skill is categorized as low, emerging, or on track, to help the teacher determine which students may need additional support.  

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Teacher Resources, Assessment and Grouping, the Kindergarten Foundational Skills Survey Overview gives an overview of the Kindergarten Foundations Skills Survey and Countdown. In the overview, it explains that “If the majority of your class scores LOW in letter knowledge at the beginning of the year, proceed with the standard Countdown Scope and Sequence, but consider progress monitoring to ensure all students’ acquisition of all letter names and sounds.”

The materials provide systematic and explicit instruction of Heart Words (high-frequency words) with consistent and explicit instructional routines repeated each week for Units 8-16 and 18-28. The materials include videos that contain explicit instruction in spelling the Heart Words while connecting the phonemes to the graphemes. Teacher guidance provides instructions on how to model reading the Heart Words. Materials provide explicit steps for the teacher to model connecting the phonemes to graphemes and discuss the irregular part of the word. Beginning in Unit 8, three Heart Words are taught each week for Units 8-16 and 18-28. Unit 17 does not include Heart Words. There are a total of 60 Heart Words taught throughout the year. 

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

• In Countdown Online, Heart Word Magic, Heart Word Magic Compilations by Unit, there are video links for Units 8-16 and Units 18-28. Each video introduces the Heart Words for that particular week and explains the pronunciations and tricky parts of each word. The videos are consistent from week to week and are explicit in instruction.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 8, Lesson 1, the teacher tells students they will learn some Heart Words and will be able to say them right away. The teacher uses Heart Word Magic and the Look, Think, Say! routine.

• In Countdown Online, Teacher Presentation Tool, Unit 11, Lesson 1, students watch the Heart Word Magic video to learn the words and, at, and go. The first word and is sounded out while showing the letters and placing a rectangle to represent each phoneme. The explanation is that students can use their phonics knowledge to sound out the word and. The next word at is sounded out while showing the letters and placing a rectangle to represent each phoneme. The explanation for this word is that students can use their phonics knowledge to sound it out. The last word go is sounded out, and then a heart is placed over the letter o because that is the tricky part of the word. The first sound is represented with a grapheme students know based on learned phonics skills but for the letter o, the students only know the short vowel sound. All three words are placed on the screen again with a heart over the o in the word go. The video is 1:38 in length. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 19, in Lesson 1, Heart Word Look, Think, Say!, the teacher says, “Now, we are going to learn to read some new Heart Words.” The teacher displays the Heart Word say, and says, “Remember, this red dot tells us to stop what we are doing so we can listen to the word. The word is say, as in, ‘We say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.’ Say the word with me, say.” The teacher repeats the routine with the words now and have. 

• In Countdown Online, Countdown Heart Words, Countdown Heart Word Magic Cards. There are word cards for all words instructed each week, beginning with Unit 8 (Unit 17 does not have Heart Words). The word cards for each unit can be distributed to students after the initial instruction on Day 1 of the unit. The format of the cards matches the format students see in the Heart Word Magic videos. Hearts appear above the tricky parts of the Heart Words. If a sound-spelling has not been taught by the unit in which the Heart Word is introduced, it is marked with a heart. Color tiles represent expected sound-spelling correspondence. The word is given in a contextual decodable phrase or a sentence.

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Heart Word Magic, Heart Word Magic Spelling, the materials contain teacher directions for an activity for students to phoneme-grapheme map the Heart Words. There is an explicit sample teacher script attached for the words said, have, from, and the. The sample teacher scripting begins with the following: 

  • This is the word said 

  • Said rhymes with head and bed 

  • Said has three sounds (teacher fills in three dots while saying the sounds /s/ /e/ /d/)

  • Touch the dots and say the say the sounds (/s/ /e/ /d/) blend together and say the word said  

  • The first sound I hear in said is /s/, the next sound I hear is /e/, and finally I hear the /d/

  • We all know that /s/ is spelled with the letter s and /d/ is spelled with the letter d. Now let’s take a look at the letters that are spelling /e/. It is not an e that is spelling /e/, it is ai. That is the part we must know by heart. Let’s touch and say together…

  • Now, let’s review the word said. 

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

• The Countdown Online, Heart Word Magic, the Countdown Heart Words by Unit outlines the Heart Words in the Countdown Program. Beginning in Unit 8, there are three Heart Words taught each week for Units 8-28, with the exception of Unit 17.

• In HD Word Online, Supply Room, Heart Word Magic, HD Word Heart Words, a resource lists the heart words for each unit in HD Word. The words are:

  • Unit 8: the, in, my

  • Unit 9: a, is, for

  • Unit 10: I, am, here 

  • Unit 11: and, at, go

  • Unit 12: it, like, be

  • Unit 13: to, not, can

  • Unit 14: you, are, do

  • Unit 15: did, too, will 

  • Unit 16: with, all, me

  • Unit 18: was, no, so

  • Unit 19: say, now, have 

  • Unit 20: said, come, down

  • Unit 21: they, that, this

  • Unit 22: ate, our, who 

  • Unit 23: where, what, must 

  • Unit 24: we, he, she

  • Unit 25: but, want, there

  • Unit 26: saw, own, please 

  • Unit 27: make, good, new 

  • Unit 28: out, one, two

The materials provide opportunities for students to read high-frequency words in isolation through the Heart Word Magic Videos and practice activities, including Look, Think, Say!, Pop-Up, 3-Up, and Read a Row. The materials provide decodable texts containing high-frequency words, which provide opportunities for students to read the words in context. The students have a template to write Heart Words and to mark the irregularly spelled part of the word. The units contain dictation sentences that include Heart Words. Materials also include sentences containing Heart Words previously taught.

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

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 8, Lesson 3, students use the Look, Think, Say! routine for the Heart Words the, in, and my. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 13, Lesson 3, students use the Look, Think, Say! routine for the Heart Words to, not, and my. For the routine, the teacher has the students say each phoneme for the grapheme in the word.  

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 18, Lesson 1, Heart Word Pop-Up, students read the Heart Words: no, so, and was, which are the words for the unit. Students also read words all and am. The words are read in isolation. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 22, Lesson 1, Heart Words Pop-Up, students read the Heart Words ate, out, who, they, that, and this. The words are read in isolation. 

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

• In Countdown Online, Teacher Presentation Tool, Unit 19, Instructional Resources, the decodable text “Kim the Pig” contains the Heart Word was four times. The Heart Word was is one of the three Heart Words explicitly taught in Unit 18. 

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 19, Lesson 5, students read phrases and sentences that contain the Heart Words say, now, and have.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 3, Unit 21, Lesson 5, students read phrases and sentences containing the Heart Words they, that, and this.

• In Countdown Online, Teacher Presentation Tool, Unit 24, Instructional Resources, the decodable text “Tick Tock” contains the Heart Word he three times, which is explicitly taught in Unit 23. 

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

• In Countdown Online, Heart Word Magic, Heart Word Magic Dissect a Word, the PDF document provides suggested directions for the teacher in guiding students to spell Heart Words. The materials state that the activity allows students to practice dissecting Heart Words (high-frequency words) with irregular letter-sound relationships by listening to the individual phonemes in a word and then filling in the corresponding spellings. Students fill in a heart above the irregular part of the word that must be learned “by heart” and write that tricky part again.

• In Countdown Online, Teacher Presentation Tool, Unit 24, Lesson 5, students write the Unit 24 dictation sentences. The three sentences are: Pack the red mug., Jog up to the dock., and Thad will lock the shed. The sentences contain the Heart Words: the, to, and will. The Heart Words explicitly taught in this unit are he, she, and we. The Heart Words in the three practice sentences were taught in previous units. 

The materials provide regular assessment opportunities, both formative and summative, at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. The materials also include a Sight Word Assessment to be given at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. The materials provide the teacher with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis.

Materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition and analysis. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Teacher Resources, the materials provide a map of games, their purpose, and what skills they measure. In Unit 27, Game 1 provides students with practice and the teacher with a formative assessment of syllable segmentation and syllable counting. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Teacher Resources, there are Sight Word Surveys. The directions say to give the sight word assessments to all Kindergarten and Grade 1 students who you expect are not making progress.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Book 2, Unit 20, Lesson 4, students read a row of words out loud, and the teacher and students listen for accuracy. The teacher provides error correction if the student reads incorrectly.

• In Countdown Online, Book 3, Unit 19, Lesson 1, students practice reading Heart Words, which is used to measure how well students acquire letter-sound and Heart Word Fluency.

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Grouping Matrix Decoding Levels, the teacher is instructed to use the Grouping Matrix Student Scores Report and click on a specific column heading, such as Short Vowels, Digraphs, or Blends. The matrix indicates if the student is proficient, nearing proficiency, or well below expectations.

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Formative Assessment, and Countdown Formative Assessment Guide, materials indicate that Unit 16, Games 2 and 3 assess open syllables. Students scoring less than 60% need re-teaching, students scoring between 60 and 79% need practice, and students scoring 80% or above are proficient.

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Sight Word Skill Level states that students in the middle of the year for Kindergarten when reading pre-primer sight word lists are low, emerging is 45-75%, and greater than 75% is on track. 

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, the Foundational Skills Survey provides the following information about decoding for Kindergarten students at the end of the year: if they score 0-5, they are low; 6-11 is emerging; and 12-16 is on track.

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

• In Countdown Online, Supply Room, Reading Playground, Formative Assessment, Countdown Formative Assessment Guide, materials indicate Unit 16, Games 2 and 3 assess open syllables and provide instructional reteach suggestions, including Unit 16, Lesson 3 and Unit 16, Games 6 and 8 in the Reading Playground.

• In the Countdown Teacher Guide, Appendices, page 211, materials advise the teacher to use game mapping guides and whole group activities to determine students’ mastery.