Kindergarten - Gateway 3

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten partially provide strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement. Information for families is found within the Family Letter (available in English and Spanish), and learning objective cards. There are limited strategies for informing all stakeholders about the program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievements. Examples include:

• Snappet Family Letter English, “Our class will be utilizing the Snappet Math resource for our classroom mathematics lessons. This resource includes a variety of opportunities for students to engage with mathematical concepts during teacher-led instruction and to practice those concepts using adaptive technology. We are encouraging parents to have their child login at home and share their progress with you. Below is a short description of how your child will login and navigate the program.”

• Snappet Family Letter English, Quality versus Quantity: Snappet is a very engaging program for children. There is sometimes a tendency to overdo the amount of practice on any given learning objective. It is recommended to complete 1-2 sets of adaptive practice on a specific learning objective at any given time and then allow us to evaluate their progress together. Based on their performance on the practice sets, no additional practice may be needed, additional practice may be necessary, or reteaching the concept may be required. We will work together to determine which path is best before proceeding.

• Unit 8: Measurement and Data, Learning objective cards, “Length and perimeter, Learn how objects are alike and different, Which is different? The pencils are alike, the pen is different.”

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten partially provide assessments which offer accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment.

Accommodations for formative and summative assessment items are limited. Formative assessment items are found within the Independent practice section of the lessons where the teacher has the ability to turn on/off and adjust the speed of the read out loud option. Students also have the option to click a button that will read out loud text for both formative and summative assessments. Assessments can be printed to provide students with additional space to work out the problem and its solution. 

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten provide varied approaches to learning tasks over time and variety in how students are expected to demonstrate their learning with opportunities for students to monitor their learning. According to the Snappet Teacher Manual, “Student discovery: Lessons begin with hands-on learning. Research supports that new concepts are best learned using manipulatives in real, informal situations. This learning serves as the basis for conceptual understanding.” As this is a computer software based program, the students' work is primarily dragging icons or typing into the computer. There are times when the guidance for teachers is to collect in person responses, such as showing fingers (kinesthetic) or explaining their thinking. Examples include:

• Unit 1: Numbers to 5, Lesson 1.6, Instruction & guided practice, Exercise 1c, Teacher Tip, “1. Divide the class into pairs. Give each pair a dot cube and 5 blocks per student. Point out that the blocks are the same size. 2. Ask: How do you know how tall to make your tower? [The tower should have the number of blocks that matches the number on the dot cube.] 3. Ask: If you match the number of blocks to the dot cube, are you finding an equal number? Explain. [Yes. The numbers are the same, so they are equal.].”

• Unit 5: Understand Addition Within 10, Lesson 5.1, Instruction & guided practice, Exercise 1d, Teacher Tip, “Say: Use your fingers to show two numbers together. Have students put up 3 fingers, then tell them to put up 1 more finger on the same hand. Ask: How many fingers are there? [4].”

• Unit 8: Measurement and Data, Lesson 8.4, Instruction & guided practice, Exercise 1c, Teacher Tip, “Have students look at the things on the table. Ask: Which do you think is the heaviest? Have students pick up two of the objects, one in each hand. Ask: Can you feel which is heavier? How can you tell which is heavier?” Items on the table include glue, scissors, a pencil, and a book.

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies. Grouping suggestions are provided for teachers within the Teacher Manual, Unit Overviews, and the Teacher Tips of lesson activities and include guidance for a variety of groupings, including whole group, small group, pairs, or individual. Examples include:

• Documentation, Teacher Manual, 4.3 Small Group Instruction, “Included in each lesson is an opportunity to support struggling students with small group instruction exercises. These exercises are designed to support students that are having difficulty reaching their target goals on a given learning objective. The program will identify the students that could benefit from small group instruction and provide the teacher with the reteaching lesson necessary to improve the learning of these struggling students.”

• Documentation, Unit Overviews, Unit 4 Overview: Numbers to 100, Grouping Strategies/ Routines, “Talk About It: Students share their different methods of solving a problem. Ask: Who thought about it a different way? (4.1); Think Pair Share: Students think individually about a topic or an answer to a question and share ideas with a partner. (4.2) “

• Unit 2: Numbers to 10, Lesson 2.5, Instruction & guided practice, Exercise 1c, Teacher Tip, “Have students work in pairs. One student chooses the number of fingers to model and then puts the same number of blocks down. Guide the partner to match the same amount using dot cubes. Then have them switch roles.”

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten provide a balance of images or information about people, representing various demographic and physical characteristics. Images of characters are included in the student facing materials when they connect to the problem tasks. These images represent different races and portray people in a positive, respectful manner, with no demographic bias for who achieves success based on the grade-level mathematics and problem circumstances. All pictures/graphics are in cartoon form, representing different skin color hues, with no actual people used. Some names include multi-cultural references such as Hector, Samira, Finn, and Zion. Problem settings vary from rural, to urban, and international locations. Additionally, lessons include a variety of problem contexts to interest students of various demographic and personal characteristics.

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten do not provide guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student home language to facilitate learning. Snappet Math provides a family letter in English and Spanish for teachers to use. The Snappet Teacher Manual does not include guidance for teachers to draw upon student home language. Unit Overviews include ELL supports under “English Learners (EL),” and are included in Teacher Tips, however there is no guidance to draw upon a students’ home language to facilitate learning.

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten do not provide guidance to encourage teachers to draw upon student cultural and social backgrounds to facilitate learning. Some problems could be considered interesting and motivating for some students. However, the materials are very generic and lack the cultural relevance to facilitate learning. Examples include but are not limited to:

• Instructional activities do not incorporate student cultural or social backgrounds. Images of people are mostly cartoon heads with no culturally significant outfits, context, etc. 

• Equity and access are not addressed and guidance is not provided.

• Unit 7: Addition and Subtraction Strategies, Lesson 7.5, Math practices, Exercise 4c given a cartoon drawn head shot of a boy with a baseball cap on, a cartoon drawn full body picture of a boy running wearing a baseball uniform, a cartoon drawn close up of a baseball with a 10 inside, and a drawn scoreboard with a 7 on one side and the other side blank, “Break apart 10. How does this problem break apart 10?” Teacher Tip, “This problem asks students to find the other addend when one addend (7) and the sum (10) Ask: How does this image resemble a number bond? [Sample answer: The baseball is like the total on top and each score on the scoreboard is like one of the parts, or addends.] Ask: What number did you select for the missing score? [3] Call on a student to share their answer to the question. [Sample answer: It shows 10 broken apart into 7 and 3.]” In this instance, there is no real connection to the game of baseball. Baseball is culturally relevant to many people.

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten provide supports for different reading levels to ensure accessibility for students. The Instruction and guided practice segment of the lessons include sections labeled, “Student discovery (in an actual situation or using manipulative),” “Apply in a concrete pictorial representation,” and “Apply in an abstract representation.” Each lesson also provides suggestions for English Learners that could be applied to support lower reading levels. The Kindergarten Snappet Math materials contain limited reading on each slide and include picture supports. Examples include:

• Unit 1: Numbers to 5, Lesson 1.4, Lesson Overview, English Learners (EL), Bridging/ Reaching, Reading: Show students the word bunnies and ask them what it means. Have students go on a “word hunt” and look for the word where it appears in the lesson.”

• Unit 5: Understand Addition Within 10, Lesson 5.7, Instruction & guided practice, Exercise 1j, presents visualizations of addition. Given a picture of an egg carton with 2 rows of 5 eggs, the first row filled, and 2 eggs outside, “Lu has 5 eggs. She gets 2 more. How many eggs does she have now? 5 + 2 = ___.” Students choose from the numbers 1-10 to drag to the answer box.

• Unit 6: Understand Subtraction Within 10, Lesson 6.4, Lesson Overview, English Learners (EL), “Bridging/Reaching, Reading: Review the word bought with students. Note the ou vowel combination and that the word is the past tense of buy. Have students work with a partner to find the word bought where it appears in the lesson.”

The materials for Snappet Math Kindergarten integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic mathematics software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable.

Documents that provide information related to integrated technology to engage students include the Teacher Manual and the Snappet Family Letter. Virtual manipulatives are available within lessons, when appropriate. Examples include:

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 1. Deeper Learning with Snappet Math, “Snappet is a K-5 blended core math program that balances hands-on learning using manipulatives and paper/pencil with digital resources that offer real-time feedback and adaptive practice technology. Each lesson embeds Conceptual Learning as the foundation and is designed to progress students along the learning path that begins with Student Discovery, transitions to Applying in Concrete pictorial representations, and then provides opportunities for Processing in Abstract representations. In Snappet, students will build understanding by problem solving using Models, Number Sentences, and Word Problems to develop mathematical fluency. The Learning Path, Student Discovery Lessons begin with hands-on learning. Research supports that new concepts are best learned using manipulatives in real, informal situations. This learning serves as the basis for conceptual understanding. Apply in Concrete, Actual situations are presented as a concrete representation using models and visuals. Students learn to establish the relationship between the actual situation and the concrete representation. Process in Abstract, Concrete situations are replaced with abstract mathematical symbols such as dashes, squares, or circles. Different schemas, models and step-by-step plans are often used for this. Learning takes place at a higher, more abstract level, preparing students for practicing procedural skills, developing fluency, and applying concepts flexibly to different situations. Lesson Design that promotes Conceptual Learning, Warm-up: Activating prior knowledge Hands-on: Student Discovery Lesson: Instruction with guided practice Practice and apply: On grade level and adaptive practice Intervention/Enrichment: Small group instruction.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 4.4 Independent and adaptive practice for enrichment or intervention, “Students who have demonstrated mastery on a learning objective can continue to work adaptively on other learning objectives the teacher has assigned. This allows teachers to offer enrichment exercises or intervention exercises based on the individual needs of the student. Teachers give students the opportunity to work adaptively in either of 2 ways: The student chooses from learning objectives the teacher has assigned, The teacher can select ‘Assignments’ (adaptive practice) from a list of learning objectives in the program for the entire class or for individual students. Assignments can be selected from lessons that have already been taught for students that need extra support or from lessons that have yet to be taught for students that are ready to work ahead. Assignments for assigned learning objectives are visible to the student on their personal dashboards. Students can work on any learning objective where the teacher has already taught the lesson or where the teacher has assigned a specific learning objective to the student. The student chooses from completed learning objectives, Students can practice adaptively on any learning objective from lessons that have been taught by the teacher. They simply choose from the list of learning objectives and the program will create a set of 10 adaptive practice exercises for students to complete. Students can also choose to randomize the set of 10 exercises from all the learning objectives in the list. The learning objectives on the student dashboard are grouped by subdomain, for example, meaning of numbers to 100, area, money, etc. The student’s progress is visible for each subdomain and for every learning objective that is tied to the subdomain. This allows a student to determine which learning objective under each subdomain needs additional practice.”

• Snappet Family Letter, “Quality versus Quantity: Snappet is a very engaging program for children and there is sometimes a tendency to overdo the amount of practice on any given learning objective. It is recommended to complete 1-2 sets of adaptive practice on a specific learning objective at any given time and then allow us to evaluate their progress together. Based on their performance on the practice sets, no additional practice may be needed, additional practice may be necessary, or reteaching the concept may be required. We will work together to determine which path is best before proceeding.”

• Unit 1: Numbers to 5, Lesson 1.9, Independent practice, Exercise 2c, students use a digital writing tool to practice writing numbers. Students are shown a large number 1. “Write the number 2 times.”

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten include or reference digital technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other, when applicable.

Snappet Math runs via an online site where teachers and students can collaborate on lessons, exercises and assessments. Through the online platform, teachers are given regular feedback on student work completed. The feedback allows the teacher and student to collaborate on the work that needs to be done to successfully master a standard at the current grade level. Examples include:

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 7.1 Organizing and and guiding ownership, “In Snappet, students can work effectively, safely, and independently on the learning objectives for which they have already had instruction. In the student edition, the student sees an overview of all the learning objectives, including their personal progress, skill level, and growth in each area. The student can always work on these learning objectives at their own level, even after the personal target level has been achieved. Deep learning activities are automatically deployed where appropriate. If a teacher prefers more control, they can assign Assignments as extra practice with one click. This ensures that teachers have the tools necessary to help with student ownership and overall growth.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 7.2 Feedback per lesson or learning objective, allows the teacher and student to meet about current lessons and objectives. “Each lesson starts with the introduction of the learning objective with a ‘learning objective card’. This is how the student knows what they are about to learn. During the whole group instruction, the teacher gradually introduces each new part. During the teacher-facilitated lesson, the student will know immediately after each question if a question was answered correctly. Each student’s answers (anonymously) are immediately visible on the dashboard and are conveniently grouped by error. This is how a teacher can know in real-time when mistakes are still being made and can give the most helpful feedback easily, directly and focused. Even during the independent practice, the student receives clear feedback about their own growth and progress. The student sees their personal target level for the learning objective and a bar that fills up as he or she progresses towards their own goal. ‘Have I already achieved the learning objective, or do I need to continue practicing?’ The visible aspect of this approach provides each student motivation to take ownership of their learning. In all lessons and learning objectives, the student sees the same feedback. This gives the student insight into their progress on lessons and learning objectives. ‘Have I already achieved the learning objective? Am I still making progress? This way the student can determine what is the best action to ultimately achieve learning objective success. For example, the student may decide to continue practicing independently or look for extra help. The student can – possibly together with the teacher – see which tasks for this learning objective have gone well and which one need more support.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 7.3 Weekly Feedback, provides the teacher another layer, and type, of collaboration with students. “In the lesson plan, the student sees what learning goals are available for that week. The current level, the target level, and the progress level are all available (if these are known). During the week, the student is able see to what extent they have already achieved the learning objectives. They can also view what learning objectives they still must work on to ultimately achieve all the objectives for the week.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 7.4 Feedback per semester or year, provides a wider overview of student success. “In the learning objective overview, the student sees which domains and learning objectives are available this school year on their device. Furthermore, the student also sees their last level per domain and learning objective. During the school year, the student progress is shown by subdomain. On which subdomains are the students doing well and which subdomains have room for growth? Inside each subdomain, the student sees which learning objectives have been accomplished, and which are still not mastered. Based on this information the student can determine which subdomains and learning objectives they still need to practice.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 7.5 Feedback after each assignment, offers more data and information to collaborate on. “During independent practice, students immediately see whether their answer is correct or not: they are shown a green symbol or a red symbol. With a green symbol the student immediately proceeds to the next task, or with a red dot the student returns to the current task where they can try again. If the answer is wrong for the second time, the student goes to the next exercise in the series. While creating assignments, the progress for the student is visible. As soon as there are sufficient responses that have been created for a score calculation (25 to 30 tasks), the skill level on the learning objective is becomes visible for making various determinations. A teacher can see, per assignment, what -if any- deterioration has occurred, by means of a plus or minus score. This score is always calculated in relation to their own level. The tasks are adaptive and measured at the level of the student.” The teacher can also assign adaptive exercises based on the success of the student in each lesson. 

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten have a visual design (whether in print or digital) that supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic.

Snappet Math provides a consistent design within units and lessons that supports student understanding of the mathematics. In the student digital format, each lesson has exercises for students to complete. Students see one problem at a time, and the teacher receives results for the work students complete within the program in order to inform instruction. Student materials, in printed consumable format, include appropriate font size, amount and placement of directions, and space on the page for students to show their mathematical thinking. The teacher digital format is easy to navigate and engaging. The digital format of each lesson is set up with tabs for Lesson Overview, Instruction & guided practice, Independent practice, Small group instruction, and Math practices. Assessments and exercises can be printed to use with students as needed. The teacher manual and lesson and unit overviews can be easily printed as well. Some spelling errors and grammatical errors have been found in the program. None have been found that impact the ability to use the program, but they are easily identified. Examples of material design include:

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 4. Lesson Structure, “Snappet lessons are organized by learning objective and focus on one learning objective per lesson. Each lesson consists of three parts: Instruction and guided practice, The teacher introduces the learning goal, activates prior knowledge, delivers the lesson, and monitors guided practice. Independent practice and adaptive practice, The students continue to work independently while receiving immediate feedback and are continuously challenged at their own level while working in adaptive practice. Small group instruction, The teacher can help students who need additional support with these extension exercises. Math Practices, The teacher can increase complexity by using these non-routine formative assessments at the end of the guided practice or after independent practice.” 

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 4.1 Instructional and guided practice, Learning Phases, “1. Introduce the learning objective so students know what they are going to learn, 2. Activate prior knowledge to connect learning with the current lesson, 3. Student discovery using manipulatives or in an actual situation, 4. Apply in a concrete pictorial representation, 5. Process in an abstract representation to work towards procedural skill, 6. Practice procedural skill, 7. Summarize the learning objective.”

The materials reviewed for Snappet Math Kindergarten provide teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable. The Snappet Teacher Manual provides guidance for using embedded technology to support and enhance student learning. Examples include:

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 4.1 Instruction and guided practice, “Interactive instruction on the Interactive Whiteboard: The students follow the instruction and guided practice on the whiteboard and on their own devices. The answers in the instructional statements are blurred and appear when the teacher clicks on the answer. In addition, the teacher can annotate and draw on the instruction screen with the exercise examples and on a blank screen. Some of the instruction and practice exercises contain interactive elements that the teacher and student can use to help understand the concepts. Some examples are calculators, moveable fractions, interactive clocks, clickable images or text, draggable elements, and draggable elements with a value.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 4.1 Instruction and guided practice, “Immediate feedback during the guided practice: When a student inputs an answer on their own device during guided practice, a colored response circle will immediately appear to the right of the example problem. Green is correct, red is incorrect, and the hybrid red-green circles indicates a student has corrected an incorrect response. The same incorrect answers are grouped together. Clicking on any circle will reveal the answer that was entered, which will give teachers the opportunity to do real-time error analysis during instruction. Answers are anonymous, but teachers will see the initials of students that have not provided a response.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 4.2 Independent and adaptive practice, “Real-time progress monitoring: While students are working on their practice problems, the teacher can monitor the progress of their class in real-time. If the teacher notices a student or groups of students struggling with the exercises, they can intervene and provide support targeted to the needs of the students. At the same time, students who are “getting it” can move directly into adaptive practice and receive more challenging practice problems customized to their skill levels.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 5.1 Student reports, “Overview of student progress: This report shows the growth, current skill, and progress for the entire subject. Growth: The growth indicates how the student is developing in their math skills compared to the population (all other students in the equivalent grade working with Snappet in that school year). Does the student grow faster than other students? If so, then he or she grows above average. This is reflected in the growth chart. The line will rise faster than the colored bands of the graph. If a student grows with the graph, then they have average growth. If the student’s line rises less rapidly than the colored bands of the graph, then the student is showing below average growth. Skill level: The skill level represents the student performance level relative to the rest of the population at the same grade level. A student’s skill level is based on the quintile range and is reflected as a number ranking 0-5. If a student has a skill level of 4 on a learning objective, then they outperform 60 percent of the rest of the population at their equivalent grade level. Learning progress: The progress bar for the learning objectives indicates how far the student has progressed for the school year in relation to their learning goals. The dark blue section is the area of the program where the student has achieved their goals. The light blue section is the area of the program where the student is still growing towards their goals. The yellow section is the area of the program where the student is not showing progress. Finally, the gray section indicates the area of the program where the student has not started working.  Exercises: This column indicates the number of exercises the student has completed in the selected time period. By using the Skill Level, Learning Progress, and number of Exercises completed, the teacher has a clear picture on how each student is doing at any given time during the school year. The teacher can also view what content has been completed and customize support for students that are struggling on specific subdomains.”

• Snappet Teacher Manual, 5.2 Class overview, “The class overview report is a summary of all the student reports in the roster. This gives the teacher the ability to view the progress of their entire class on one screen. Class overview of Math: With this overview, the teacher can immediately see how the class is developing, where learning is going well, and where more attention is needed. Above the student report is the summary of the entire class that includes the number of exercises attempted, the growth of the overall class, and a summary of the progress for the entire course. The growth of the class is summarized using a green and orange progress bar. The green area of the bar represents the students that are showing average or above average growth. The yellow and orange area of the bar represents students that are growing below average. The growth summary is an easy way for teachers to see how their class is performing. The Curriculum Progress bar shows how far the class has progressed in achieving their target goals for the school year. Dark blue: Target goals reached, Light blue: Growing towards target goals, Yellow: Students are stuck in their progress, Grey: Content has not been introduced.”