Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten do not meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students knowledge and vocabulary which will over time support and help grow students’ ability to comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

Each unit is organized around a central theme with a theme introduction entitled Build Theme Connections provided at the beginning rather than around topics. This section introduces the big idea or theme, and includes a poem and brief discussion. Unit themes are broad and do not focus on specific vocabulary or knowledge across daily lessons. Students are not supported in accessing texts and build conceptual knowledge throughout the five-week theme. The series of texts in each lesson are sometimes cohesive and related to the central theme, but there are limited opportunities embedded for students to build expertise on specific topics so that they can increase their knowledge and vocabulary.

Materials do not provide teachers with guidance to help connect the texts to broader concepts. Sufficient time is not always allotted for students to refine their knowledge in order to access and comprehend future complex texts proficiently.

Each Teacher’s Edition is divided into Themes, such as “All About Me,” “Families,” “Friends at School,” “On the Farm,” “Let’s Play,” “In the Neighborhood,” “Jobs People Do,” “Animals around the World,” and “On the Go.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten do not meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts in order to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.

Texts contain some questions requiring students to analyze key ideas and details, but do not provide students with frequent opportunity to study craft, structure and language. Students are asked questions during whole group instruction as the teacher monitors comprehension. Throughout the materials, students independently and as a whole group complete questions and tasks that require analysis of individual texts. Kindergarten comprehension skills and strategies include, but are not limited to, previewing the story, determining main idea, identifying events in the beginning, middle, and ending of a story, drawing conclusions, and characters. Questions are not presented in a coherent sequence that would require students to analzye to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.

• In Theme 3, Lesson 7, page T31, students preview the book. Students predict what the book will be about. Students are asked to examine the front cover and answer questions based on the cover illustration.
• In Theme 4, Lesson 10, page T259, the children reflect on the story. They respond to the following: What do you like most about the story? How is the beginning of the story different from the end of the story? Then, students draw conclusions by answering the following: Why does it get quiet on the farm at night?
• In Theme 7, Lesson 20, page T35, students answer questions about Pet Show! Then, students assist in building a problem/solution chart based on the text.
• In Theme 4, Lesson 10, page T267, students practice and apply their knowledge of drawing conclusions. The teacher reads aloud pages 6-7 of Down on the Farm. The class discusses the pictures. The students inform the teacher about whether they think the kid is a good little goat or a little goat that likes to get in trouble. Students list the clues that helped them to draw their conclusions.
• In Theme 8, Lesson 23, page T353, students work on main idea. After watching and listening as the teacher models identifying a main idea, the students look at an illustration and answer the following questions: “Who does the teacher teach on this page? Does that go along with the main idea?"

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten do not meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

Although text based questions do appear in the materials throughout the themes and lessons, there is lack of evidence that supports text-dependent questions systematically guiding students in extracting key meanings or ideas in the texts. The sequence of questions is sporadic and does not build towards a more coherent understanding and analysis.

Questions do not require the students to interact with the text supporting the student’s analysis of knowledge and ideas. Materials do not consistently guide teachers to support students’ literacy skills through complex text and building knowledge. There is a lack of text dependent questions as the questions require generalizations, predictions, and checks for comprehension.

The following questions do not require an analysis of ideas to complete:

• In Volume 5, Lesson 28, Comprehension Day 1, p. T265, the teacher asks, “What do you see on the front cover? Who is flying the plane?”
• In Volume 5, Lesson 28, Comprehension, Day 2, p. T277, the teachers asks, “What parts are realistic and what parts are make-believe.”
• Volume 5, Lesson 28, Comprehension Day 3, p. T291, the teacher is directed to “Have children ask questions about what is happening in the story.”
• In Volume 2, Lesson 8, Respond to Literature: Reflect on the Story, Page T109, the teacher asks, “How are you like the children in the story?”
• In Volume 4, Lesson 7, Page T146, the Day at a Glance includes the following: phonemic awareness, high frequency words, reading decodable books, comprehension, robust vocabulary, and writing.
• In Theme 2, Lesson 4, Page T281, Generate Questions, Comprehension, Practice and Apply, During Reading, While reading What Will Mommy Do When I’m at School?, teachers are directed to use the Monitor Comprehension questions on pages T282-T289 and pause periodically for students to ask questions about the story.
• In Theme 8, Lesson 23, Page T384, Main Idea, Comprehension, Practice and Apply, During Reading, as the teacher reads the story aloud, he or she invites students to compare and contrast the illustrations of city and apartment life with their own neighborhood and family experiences. After reading, the class discusses the story and answers the following questions: “Would you like to be a child in Maurice’s family? Why or why not? What is this story mostly about? Sometimes, people in an audience clap and yell Bravo! after a singer has finished singing. How is Bravo, Maurice! A good title for this story?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten do not meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

Each Theme has a big idea that aims to tie the unit together. Texts and discussions, directly or loosely, connect to the big idea. Each Theme also includes a Theme Project. Theme Projects do not consistently integrate reading, writing, speaking, and listening, nor do they require close reading and comprehension of the texts read. Question sets that accompany texts within the Theme do not support students in integrating skills required for the Theme Project. For example:

• In Theme 4, Theme Wrap-Up and Review, Page T456, the theme wrap-up and review centers on celebrate on the farm, teacher self-evaluation, and a theme project. Within the theme project, students name the farm animals on their mobiles, and demonstrate the sound that each animal makes. Students tell what they know about some of the animals, and tell why they chose to include the animals in their mobile. There is no connection to the writing completed in the theme. The project does not require an integration of writing, speaking, and reading skills.
• Assessment tasks for the Theme do not relate to one another or build toward a culminating task.
  • In K, Volume 5, Theme 9, Lesson 25, Week at A Glance, p. T14, the Teacher’s Edition states that the tested skills for the unit are as follows: Phonemic Awareness: Identity, Categorization, Blending, Segmentation; Phonics: Short Vowel /u/u; High-Frequency Words: and, there; and Comprehension: Details and Use Graphic Organizers.
  • In K Volume 5, Theme 9, Lesson 25, Week at A Glance, p. T14, the Teacher’s Edition states that the writing for the week will be focused on “Friendly Letter.”
  • In K, Volume 5, Assessment Tab, P. 1 behind the tab in the green box, it states that “At the end of each theme, or book at Grade 1, assess students’ mastery of the standards you have been teaching.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten do not meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.

Some vocabulary is repeated in various contexts (before texts, in texts, etc.) and across multiple texts. Some attention is paid to vocabulary essential to understanding the text and to high value academic words, but the teacher will need to rework some lessons to assure this happening over the school year. Materials do not provide teacher guidance outlining a cohesive, year-long vocabulary development component. Some examples of vocabulary work in the materials include:

• For example, Theme 4 Vocabulary practice demonstrates repeated student practice to master vocabulary for that theme but that there does not exist a standard protocol for practicing and mastering vocabulary in a year-long approach:
  • In the Teacher’s Edition, Volume 4, Theme 7, Theme Wrap Up, Page T471, students complete an activity of High Frequency Word Cards.
  • In the Teacher’s Edition, Volume 4, Theme 7, Theme Project, Page T243, there is a lack of vocabulary activities present within the text.
  • In the Teacher’s Edition, Volume 2, Theme 3, Page T10, Friends at School Theme Review, the Theme at a Glance features Robust Vocabulary for each lesson.
  • In the Teacher’s Edition, Volume 2, Theme 3, Lesson 7, Page T35, Focus on Vocabulary, the teacher points to the word while saying it on page 18 with a focus on numbers. Then, the teacher rereads the story and students raise their hand when they hear an ordinal number.

• In Theme 3, Lesson 8, Page T148, Build Robust Vocabulary, Listening/Speaking: Words from the Library Book, Review, Use Vocabulary in Different Contexts, the teacher reminds students of the Student-Friendly Explanations for “gasped,” “glum,” and “whisper.” Then, they discuss each word, using the following examples:
  • Gasped - Teachers ask the following questions: “Would you gasp if you saw a pencil on your teacher’s desk? Why or why not? When would you be more likely to gasp, when you are surprised or sleepy? What might you say if you heard someone gasp?”
  • Glum - Teachers ask the following questions: “Would getting a gift make you glum? Why or why not? Would someone be more likely to be glum if he were sick in bed or at a party? Tell why. Do people usually smile when they are glum? Tell why or why not.”
  • Whimper - Teachers ask the following questions: “Which is louder, a whimper or a shout? Tell why. Would a person whimper if someone said something nice about her? Tell why or why not.”
• In Theme 4, Lesson 11, Build Robust Vocabulary, Listening/Speaking: Words from the Read Aloud, Review, Use Vocabulary in Different Contexts, the teacher reminds students of the Student-Friendly Explanations of “anxious,” “huddle,” and “moans.” Then, they discuss each word, using the following examples:
  • Anxious - Teachers provides the following directive: “If any of the things I say might be an example of a person who is anxious, say ‘anxious.’ If not, don’t say anything.” Examples include:
    • A child brushing his teeth
    • A girl going to her first day of school
    • A boy who is playing his first T-ball game
    • A woman who is going to the grocery store
  • The teacher asks the following questions to the class: “When is a time that you have felt anxious? Why?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten do not meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

Opportunities for independent reading exist, but they are minimal and do not build students’ reading abilities or their knowledge base and vocabulary. Throughout the lessons, there is evidence of students reading with recordings and reading and responding in literacy centers. Students are expected to develop fluency by listening to familiar stories and reading them aloud. Documentation of student reading is not evident.

• In Theme 8, Lesson 23, Page T334, Literacy Centers, Listening/Speaking, Listen for Rhymes, Literacy Center Kit, Card 111, the student objective is to listen to a story and name rhyming words.
• In Theme 8, Lesson 24, Page T412, Literacy Centers, Listening/Speaking, Listen and Share, Literacy Center Kit, Card 116, the student objective is to listen to and respond to a song.
• In Theme 9, Lesson 26, Page T102, Literacy Centers, Listening/Speaking, Listen and Retell, Literacy Center Kit, Card 126, the student objective is to listen to and retell a story.
• In Theme 9, Lesson 27, Page 182, Literacy Centers, Listening/Speaking, Listen for Information, Literacy Center Kit, Card 131, the student objective is to listen to a story and give details from it.
• Themes 1 and 2 are listed in the At-a-Glance fold out in the front of the book for each week. There are three books for each week: a big book, library book, and a read-along anthology. These books align with the Theme.