Kindergarten - Gateway 3

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.

The lessons and pacing throughout the program are both academically and developmentally appropriate. Students are given multiple opportunities to engage with a text, discuss with peers and teachers, learn new vocabulary words, and improve their writing. Opportunities for reteaching are also included. In the program, there are three forty-five minute blocks of instruction. One 45-minute block is used for whole-class shared reading, known as Dialogic Reading in Kindergarten. Each day, students participate in 15 minutes of oral language focused dialogic reading, 15 minutes of poem or word study, and 5-10 minutes of concepts of print. The second block is used for English Language Arts instruction. In this block of time, students spend time with interactive read alouds, summaries and story mapping, vocabulary instruction, sentence composing, shared written response, and drawing and writing. It is noted that read-alouds are 2-3 days a week and shared writing is 2-3 days a week. The third block is used for differentiated instruction to develop foundational skills based on data. The program allows for three groups to meet with the teacher for 15 minutes a day, while other students practice their handwriting and engage in self-selected "pretend reading". Within the three blocks of time, the program suggests time for movement and song break.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that the teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.

The Bookworms materials for both Shared Reading and English Language Arts is broken into 36 weeks and five lessons a week, which equals exactly 180 days. In addition, because the differentiated period can be used for reteaching, review, extension work, and additional exposure to print through independent reading time, the pacing allows for maximum student understanding. While this material covers the entire course of a typical school year, it is important to note that if schools have interruptions to a typical learning day or do not start the lessons on day 1 of school, then teachers will not finish the entire program.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (eg. visuals, maps, etc.).

The student resources included in the program include clear directions and explanations and correct labeling of reference aids. However, it is important to note that there are very few student resources included because schools need to purchase the texts separately. The materials that are available include graphic organizers, sentence checklists, editing checklists, book review text(s), descriptive writing, narrative, opinion, and book review checklists. Not all of the downloads have a set of directions, but they are easy to interpret, well-labeled, and explained in the lesson plans on how to use. Student workbooks are also included for foundational skills including handwriting practice. These include the labeling of text titles and days of the week.  The handwriting workbooks include explicit handwriting instruction and plenty of practice opportunities with clear directions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.

The publisher provides Common Core Standards alignment tables that are organized by Shared Reading and English Language Arts lessons by week. There is also an assessment alignment table in Unit 3 and Unit 4 for Word Study. In addition, in each lesson plan, each portion of the lesson identifies the related standards alignment.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials contain a teacher’s edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.

The materials contain a Teacher Manual for each grade level that provides information on the rationale behind each instructional method, the purpose of the design of the curriculum, and a breakdown of each lesson in English Language Arts, Shared Reading, and Differentiated Instruction. The design of the program is intentionally structured with repetitive routines to make it easier to use in real time, according to the publisher.  The daily lesson plans include information on the Common Core State Standards being addressed, the texts being used, and plannings notes that offer suggestions on how to use additional resources to enhance lessons. For example, in Week 12, ELA, the note is that the teacher may want to show a map of the Virginia colony to show how it was much larger than it is today. Each lesson provides a script for the teacher to follow in order to lead students in their learning. In addition, there is guidance on which sections to review, how to design charts and model responses.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.

The materials include a Teacher Manual that breaks down the Literacy block into Shared Reading, English Language Arts, and Differentiated Instruction. Within each section, there are explicit explanations and guidance for each method that is mentioned, ranging from word study, fluency, comprehension, writing, and vocabulary. The Teacher Manual explains the process involved for every section and often details why approach was included in the program. The identification of research-based strategies are present, and books and articles are referred to for teachers to learn more about the specific approaches and strategies.

Some specific explanations and research-based practices include:

• The Teacher Manual states why they chose a specific writing prompt. It states that the prompt is the most important kind of writing students will do, is closely tied to the comprehension strategies of determining the relative importance of ideas, and provides a sharing activity that sets up the new days’ text segment by reviewing recent events.
• The teacher’s manual states that the goal for the fluency portion of the Shared Reading routine is to build the skills for students to move from a teacher-supported choral reading to an independent partner reading.
• For vocabulary, the teacher’s manual explains that while there are many evidence-based routines for vocabulary instruction, they have chosen just a few to make sure teachers and students are accustomed to the routines.
• The Teacher Manual encourages teachers to engage in a Semantic Feature Analysis in Shared Reading and in interactive read-alouds, whenever new concepts are a part of a larger overarching category, and can be compared and contrasted on the basis of a set of features.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.

The program includes opportunities for regular and systematic assessments. Beginning in Week 21, the curriculum includes weekly Word Study tests. Bookworms also requires the use of letter name and sound inventories. In Weeks 1-18, there are non-graded formative assessments in letters and sounds. Additionally, there are longer, fully processed writing tasks included to assess comprehension and mechanics during the fourth nine weeks. Standards-based rubrics are provided for the evaluation of compositions.

In addition, Bookworms recommends assessing student progress in external transfer tasks using periodic holistic assessments, though these assessments are not included with the program. For example, it recommends two specific Achieve the Core, Kindergarten writing performance assessments.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

The evaluation enhancements section of the Bookworms Curriculum, "Evaluating Student Progress", includes a summary of all Kindergarten assessment opportunities within each unit as well as the standard alignment. The assessments are in letters, sounds, genre writing, and shared reading.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

Within the program, the publisher includes an "Evaluating Student Progress" document that includes a summary of all Kindergarten assessment opportunities within each unit, along with each assessment’s standards alignment. This is a separate document though, and not in the Teacher Manual. There is no highlight of the Word Study or genre writing assessments within the manual, but the information is found in this separate document.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.

In the program, one of the three blocks of instruction is the Differentiation block that offers instruction to different small groups of learners. This time allows the teacher to instruct and monitor students to ensure they are understanding the content, while offering opportunities for reteaching, practice, review, and other scaffolding techniques, based on the students’ need.

The program does not create small group instruction based on reading levels, but instead uses diagnostic data to place students in groups, which is outlined in the book How to Plan Differentiated Reading Instruction (sold separately). The groups all focus on Tier I decoding instruction to complement the whole group word study spelling instruction. The publisher reports that there is an opportunity for more intensive instruction during this block if students need it, which prevents them from missing Shared Reading and English Language Arts instruction. Each of the groups engage in three-week or six-week cycles, with progress-monitoring assessments used to help teachers know when to reteach the lessons, move to the next set of lessons, or regroup students. When students are not working with the teacher during this time, they are engaged in a written response from Shared Reading or engaged in self-selected reading.

In addition, differentiation is recommended for in-class and push-in supports during Shared Reading and English Language Arts instruction. Some examples of in-class supports include targeting simpler phonological tasks during the poem and word study, providing physical assistance for concepts about print, or providing strategic support for composition so that all students are ready to move to sentence writing at the same time. Examples of push-in support include providing chances for students to echo adult oral responses during phonological tasks and during concepts of print, and allow access to assistive technology or transcription for students with disabilities.

Differentiation is provided for both weak readers and strong readers. For weaker readers, it is recommended that teachers provide oral sentence frames. Parallel teaching is also suggested. It is recommended that more complex questions are asked of students with stronger oral languages. For stronger writers, students can write about their picture while their peers are still drawing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.

The Teacher Manual has a section that addresses English Language Learners. It provides a routine with built-in supports for English Language Learners in a traditional classroom setting, and they also identify additional supports that could be added to a classroom for more assistance in accessing the curriculum. In addition, the Differentiation section provides different levels of scaffolding that an English Language Learner may need, and it offers recommendations depending on the specific needs of the students. It is recommended that English Language Learners always meet with the teacher for 15 minutes a day during this block of time. The Teacher Manual also gives suggestions such as replacing English Language Arts if students require more intensive speaking and listening instruction in English.

Some examples of built-in English Language Learner supports include:

• Repetition across the week to support students to memorize a piece of text with its syntax intact
• The use of pictures as responses to allow students to participate fully
• The teacher writing a brief summary of the text meaning every day

Some examples of additional supports include:

• Teachers can review old texts to engage English Language Learners to practice their oral language
• Delaying labeling and/or writing if necessary, or using transcription for spelling
• Substituting a listening center or adding additional practice with foundational skills on a computer
• During Dialogic Reading, teachers can use a retelling frame

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.

Bookworms provides extension tasks, scaffolding, and explicit instruction for teachers on how to teach their above grade level students. Bookworms identifies the need for teachers to identify the strengths of the strong students and to scaffold their learning so that the content is meaningful and engaging. During the Differentiation block, all students receive differentiated content based on the assessment data collected throughout the year. Additionally, Bookworms provides a chart for teachers of ways to add more advanced opportunities in Shared Reading and English Language Arts.

Specific opportunities for extensions for above grade-level students include:

• Writing the whole word, while the other students may be working on phonetic spelling
• Being placed in dictated spelling groups, with more complex spelling patterns
• Writing about their pictures while their peers may be drawing and labeling their pictures
• Helping the teacher generate the language that is transcribed on the anchor charts in English Language Arts

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

The materials provide a guideline for 45 minutes of Differentiated Instruction per day, which allows for a variety of group work for students that includes reaching, review, and practice of concepts that they may be struggling with. Students are placed into one of three groups during this time. Students meet with the teacher for 15 minutes, and then spend 30 minutes completing their written response to Shared Reading, and engaging in self-selected reading. During Shared Reading, students often partner read or chorally read as a whole class, and during English Language Arts, students often share responses with peers.

Some specific examples of the opportunities for different grouping strategies include:

• During Week 16 of ELA, students are placed into pairs in order to make a five-page book about how to make a road.
• During Week 21 of Shared Reading, students chorally read a poem during whole-group instruction, and then students turn and talk to a partner about the meaning of the poem.
• During Week 26 of ELA, students meet with a partner to share what they wrote on the previous day.