Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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.

Texts are connected by a central topic that is appropriate for Kindergarten. Texts build students’ knowledge, vocabulary, and the ability to comprehend complex texts across the school year. The Student Interactive help to guide students through the close read process throughout the entire year. Over the five units, central topics include: Going Places, Living Together, Tell Me a Story, Then and Now, and Outside My Door. The units are designed to build knowledge and vocabulary and become more rigorous as the year progresses.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, the unit theme is Going Places. This unit focuses on places in the community. In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 2, students listen to Too Many Places to Hide, which is a realistic fiction story about places a cat hides. Leveled readers in Week 2 also relate to the topic. These include I Ride, a narrative nonfiction story about riding on a bus, and At the Park, a narrative story about doing things on a trip to the park.  
• In Unit 3, the unit theme is Tell Me a Story. This unit is focused on many different ways that stories are told. In Unit 3, Week 5, Lesson 1, the read-aloud How Rabbit Got Its Ears is a myth, introducing myths to the students as a fictional story with a plot.  Students also listen to Monsi Can Help, which is a story from Mexico. The unit provides a diverse set of stories that help build students’ knowledge of traditional storytelling.
• In Unit 4, the unit theme is Then and Now. Weeks 1-5 support building knowledge about the topic. The texts in the unit cover learning about how cars are changing, uncovering the past, a fictional text about differences in technology called Grandma’s Phone, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s impact on changing laws, and connections between cultures. 
• In Unit 5, the unit theme is Outside my Door and the Essential Question is, “What can we learn from the weather?”  The shared reading texts that follow that theme include: Week 1, Weather Around the World with the Weekly Question: “How have people learned to live in bad weather?”; Week 2, A Desert in Bloom with the Weekly Question: “What helps plants in hot climates?”; Week 3, Poetry Collection: “Wehh-dooj (It’s Raining)”; “‘Ees-aw-hah’ Eesaeh’ (The Sun Shining)” with the Weekly Question: “How do we describe weather?”; Week 4, Tornado Action Plan and Blizzard Action Plan with the Weekly Question: “How can we protect ourselves in bad weather?”; and Week 5, Who Likes Rain? With the Weekly Question: “How can rainy weather help Earth?” 

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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.

Over the course of the year, students analyze the author’s words and phrases, key ideas, details, craft, and structure as they interact, both individually and in large/small groups, with texts through questioning or by performing different tasks. Questions and tasks are sequenced to build students’ understanding gradually through each text and topic. By the end of each unit, questions and tasks become increasingly more complex and rigorous. 

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, students listen to the text Mission Accomplished! and answer a series of questions: "Who are the characters in the story? Which is a picture of a cube? Can you find things in our classroom that are shaped like a triangle? Is it flat or does it have mountains? How would you describe Rena and Christopher?"
• In Unit 1, Week 3, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, after reading At the Library, students draw a picture of what the text is mostly about to find the main/key idea or “[place] a sticky note on the sentence in their independent reading text that states the main, or central, idea in the text.”
• In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Genre and Theme, students learn that informational text can be organized by sequence of events. After the teacher models for students how to identify the organizational pattern of an informational text, students complete either of the following tasks: 1. Students observe the steps to a flower blooming from the Student Interactive page 66. Then, students turn and talk to a partner to retell the events in order. 2. Students look at other informational texts that show steps in a sequence and draw what happens first, next, and last.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Reading, students learn about the structures and features of poetry. The teacher reads aloud “Duck Meets the Moon,” “Humpty Dumpty,” and “Hickory Dickory Dock.” Then, students are asked the following questions: "What was similar about all three poems?Which poem did you like the best? What did you like about it?"
• In Unit 4, Week 4, Lesson 3, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students learn about different text features. The teacher models for students how to use a timeline from Changing Laws, Changing Lives: Martin Luther King, Jr. Then, students are asked to complete either of the following assignments: 1. Using the timeline from Changing Laws, Changing, Lives: Martin Luther King, Jr., students draw and write something from the timeline. 2. Students look through nonfiction text in the library and place sticky notes on text features.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students listen to the shared reading text, Weather Around the World. Students answer a series of questions: "How do people live in very cold and very hot places? Why do people in China wear hats when they work? What do you see when you look at these photographs? How do they help show that people in different parts of the world live with extreme weather? Why did the author choose this word? What does it tell about the main idea?"
• In Unit 5, Week 5, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Close Read, students learn how to synthesize (use what they read to come up with new ideas from the text). The teacher models how to synthesize by reading Who Likes Rain? Then, students complete either of the following assignments: 1. Students use page 191 from the Student Interactive to draw or write how Frank’s and Jenna’s feelings changed over the course of the play using the text Who Likes Rain? 2. Students draw pictures to represent contrasting parts of a text. Then the teacher will prompt them to say what the contrast shows about how characters’ feelings have changed, how the plot has progressed, or how an argument has unfolded. 

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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. 

The materials provide teachers guidance outlining a cohesive year-long vocabulary development component in the Reading Workshop and the Reading-Writing Bridge. The vocabulary taught in the Reading Workshop comes directly from the anchor text read for the week. The vocabulary taught in the Reading-Writing Bridge focuses on academic vocabulary, such as context clues, antonyms, and related words. Vocabulary is repeated in contexts (before texts, in texts) and across multiple texts. Attention is paid to vocabulary essential to understanding the text and to high value academic words. Students are supported to accelerate vocabulary learning with vocabulary in their reading, speaking, and writing tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, when discussing the Infographic, the teacher uses the weekly vocabulary words when questioning students about it. In Lessons 3 and 4, the vocabulary is discussed again through teacher questioning during the close reading of the shared reading text. During Lesson 5, Compare Texts, the teacher again provides oral practice of the vocabulary words during questioning when connecting to the Weekly Question.
• In Unit 1, Week 5, Lesson 1, Reading Writing Bridge Workshop, academic vocabulary words (map, move, land, special) are provided for the unit.  Student-friendly definitions of these words are in the Student Interactive glossary. Students are asked to use the words by orally telling sentences to a partner.  The Student Interactive asks students to connect to the words and illustrate a picture to show the meaning. Students then discuss the word by sharing about their picture.
• In Unit 1, Week 2, Lesson 2, Shared Reading, students read Too Many Places to Hide. Students learn that authors choose words carefully. The teacher identifies unpacks, plunks, peeks, and crawls and explains that these words talk about the problem and resolution in Too Many Places to Hide. Then the teacher tells students to read the word and sentence in which it was used, look for illustrations that help you understand the word, and think about how the word shows what happens in the story. Students then complete one of the following tasks: 1. Students practice developing vocabulary by completing page 78 in the Student Interactive. 2. Students find and list unfamiliar words that tell about the problems and resolutions and stories from their independent reading.
• In Unit 2, Week 4, Lesson 2, Shared Reading, students read Open Wide!. Students learn that authors use words that help to describe what animals eat and the body parts that help them eat it. The teacher then tell students to "Read- Look for words that tell more about words that are new to you or important for understanding the text. Think- Think about why the author chose to use the word. Ask- Ask questions about the word and the context, such as 'Why did the author choose to use this word? What does this word have to do with the big idea of the text?'" Students then are asked to complete one of the following tasks: 1. Students complete page 154 in the Student Interactive by circling the picture of the hummingbird with a green crayon and circling the picture of the  turtle with a yellow crayon. 2. Students write or draw an important word about an animal in an independent reading text.
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Shared Read, the teacher introduces and reinforces the story vocabulary words (octopus, jellyfish, creatures) before and during reading. Before reading, students look at pictures of the words in their Student Interactive and tell what it means. During reading, words are also defined in text boxes as students are reading to help with word meaning. After reading, students complete a vocabulary activity in their Student Interactive to check for understanding. 
• In Unit 4, Week 1, Lesson 2, Shared Reading, students read Cars are Always Changing. The teacher says that authors chose words that tell about cars, such as crank, radio, engine, and CD player. Knowing the meanings of key words like these helps readers understand the big ideas in a text. The teacher reminds students: "Think about words the author uses that tell something specific and important about the main idea. Look at the pictures in the text and see if there are clues to help them learn or clarify the meanings of these keywords. Look at the words around a new word to see if there is an explanation to help them understand these keywords better." Students then complete one of the following tasks: 1. Students complete page 40 in the Student Interactive by circling the word that matches the picture. 2. Students use sticky notes to mark new vocabulary words they find in books they read independently. Then students share how they learned the meaning of the new words.
• In Unit 4, Week 6, Lesson 1, Project-Based Inquiry, students use the above academic vocabulary as they prepare for the culminating project for this lesson. Students discuss the words as they relate to the unit theme of Then and Now. When using the Student Interactive pages in this lesson, students respond to questions using academic words.
• In Unit 5, Week 4, Reading Workshop, Leveled Readers, students preview the vocabulary words night and moon by turning to that page in the book. Students read the text independently. After reading, the teacher leads a discussion about the text, using the vocabulary words in her questions: “The photograph has changed. What do you see now? Is it night time?” The teacher then asks students to visualize details and “share with a partner what they see in the sky. Remind them to describe what it looks like. Tell them to describe what the moon looks like or if they can still see the sun.”
• In Unit 5, Weeks 1-6, Skills Overview for the Unit: Outside My Door, each week includes a vocabulary mini lesson. For example, in Unit 5, Week 2, the mini lesson for vocabulary is words that relate to plants in hot climates, such as desert, soil, ground, bloom.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials contain a year long, cohesive plan of writing instruction and tasks which support students in building and communicating substantive understanding of topics and texts. 

The materials contain well-designed lesson plans, models, writing rubrics, and protocols for teachers to implement and monitor students’ writing development. Students are supported through the writing process with mentor texts, models, and shared writing. Feedback is provided by peers, the teacher, and self-evaluations to ensure that students' writing skills are increasing throughout the year.  Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Writer’s Workshop, Week 1, students are introduced to different authors through mentor texts in the Mentor Stack and the procedures of how Writing Workshop works. During Week 2, students learn about the parts of a book and begin writing their books. In Week 3, students learn about types of books and drawing for meaning. In Week 4, students practice asking and answering questions, incorporate drawings in their books, and learn about Writing Club. In Week 5, students edit their books based on peer feedback, publish, celebrate, and assess writing.
• In Unit 2, Writing Workshop, students learn the elements of list books and write a list book (informational text). In Week 1, students are introduced to list books, generate ideas, and plan their list book. In Week 2, students learn how authors include the title, main idea and details, and apply these skills in their list books. In Week 3, students organize their ideas to begin writing and incorporate drawings in their list books. In Week 4, students edit their writing to make sure it makes sense. In Week 5, students present their published list books to the class to celebrate and assess their writing.
• In Unit 3, Writer’s Workshop, Week 1: Introduce and Immerse, students learn about the elements of fiction and plot and begin writing their stories. They use their Student Interactive to help generate ideas. In Week 2, students continue to write their fictional stories and learn about setting and characters. In Week 3, students work on writing a beginning and an ending to their stories. In Week 4, students work on writer’s craft and edit their writing pieces. In Week 5, students edit, publish, and share their writing. The Daily Plan is five to 10 minutes of Minilessons, 30-40 minutes of independent writing and conferences, and five to 10 minutes of share back focus.  
• In Unit 4, Writing Workshop, students learn the elements of narrative writing. In Week 1, students generate ideas, plan their personal narratives, and develop drafts orally or by drawing. In Week 2, students learn about the role of the narrator, compose a setting, and compose a problem and solution for their plot. In Week 3, students organize their personal narrative and conclude their personal narrative with a resolution. In Week 4, students learn about subjective and objective case pronouns, identify the naming part and action part of a sentence, and edit their personal narratives for punctuation marks. In Week 5, students edit for capitalization of names, edit for spelling, publish, assess, and celebrate their personal narratives. 
• In Unit 5, Writer’s Workshop, Week 1, students begin writing a question and answer book using a graphic organizer to plan. In Week 2, students learn how to write questions and answers for their book. In Week 3, students write an introduction and conclusion and organize their ideas. In Week 4, students practice grammar and continue writing their books. In Week 5, students add details and pictures and then publish and share their writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused, shared research and writing projects to encourage students to develop knowledge and understanding of a topic using texts and other source materials.

The materials include research projects that are sequenced across the school year.  Each unit ends with an Inquiry Project where students research a real-world issue and demonstrate their learning across the unit. The project requires that students demonstrate what they know and are able to do in speaking and writing. Research articles are provided on each topic at three different reading levels to support teachers and students in the research process.  Materials provide opportunities for both short and long writing projects. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Reading Workshop, Project-Based Inquiry, students “research art and history museums to determine which they would rather visit.” The teacher gathers magazines, museum brochures, and picture books and models how to get information from these resources. Students work in partners and choose a museum they would like to visit. They then draw what they would see in their museum in their Student Interactive, based on the research materials provided by the teacher. Students are provided with a sentence frame if needed: “I want to visit the (art/History) museum because _____.”  They “draw or write to tell why.” Students share their research projects with the class.
• In Unit 2, Week 6, Lesson 1, Inquiry Project, students work in pairs to choose a pet, research what it needs, and write an informational text about their pet. In Lesson 1, students narrow their list of pets by answering the following questions: “What are some pets you see in the picture? Does anyone have one of these pets? Do you think all of these pets have different needs?” In Lesson 2, students learn the characteristics and structure of informational text and how to conduct research in the library. In Lesson 3, students use a graphic organizer (web) to identify what pets need. In Lesson 4, students revise and edit their webs to include more details. In Lesson 5, students share their persuasive text with the class and reflect on their projects.
• In Unit 3, Week 6, Lessons 1-5, Reading Workshop, Project-Based Inquiry, students make “a research plan to do a project about their favorite story. Then they write a persuasive text that will make others want to read their favorite story.” The students are given the sentence starter, “My favorite story is…” The teacher models persuasive writing using examples from their Student Interactive. Students begin their research using the computer to find their favorite stories. The teacher models using a graphic organizer labeled beginning, middle, and end. The students take notes on their stories by drawing pictures of the main characters. The students draw or write about why people should read their story in their Student Interactive and then revise. On the final day, students present their writing/drawings to the class.
• In Unit 4, Week 6, Lesson 1, Inquiry Project, students interview an older family member about his or her life as a child to write a research project. In Lesson 1, students think about what was different for children in the past by answering the following questions: “What kinds of things do children do differently today than in the past? What do we have now that people in the past did not? How are children the same now as in the past?” In Lesson 2, students learn the characteristics and structure of informational text and create interview questions to their family member. In Lesson 3, students use a graphic organizer to record questions and answers from the interview. In Lesson 4, students revise and edit their writing to include more details. In Lesson 5, students share their informational text with the class and reflect on their projects.
• In Unit 5, Writer’s Workshop, Week 1, students begin writing a question and answer book using a graphic organizer to plan. In Week 2, students learn how to write questions and answers for their book. In Week 3, students write an introduction and conclusion and organize their ideas. In Week 4, students practice grammar and continue writing their books. In Week 5, students add details and pictures, then publish and share their writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Kindergarten 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.

The materials provide procedures for independent reading, including an independent reading log and tracking system in the Student Interactive. The weekly reading plan includes daily opportunities for independent reading during small group and as a formative assessment option. Students are provided a wide variety of guided reading text that span the grade level. The teacher regularly provides supports through guided reading groups. Students may reread these texts independently throughout the week. Example include, but are not limited to: 

• In Units 1-5, Teacher Overview, there is an independent reading section that provides guidance for teachers to follow for independent and collaborative reading. 
• In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Introduce the Unit, students learn about the independent reading log and how to be a good reader. Students are taught the procedures for independent reading in the Student Interactive on page 10. Students are taught to choose a book, hold it right side up, start at the front cover, and turn the pages carefully. On page 11 of the Student Interactive, there is a reading log for students to track their independent reading. In Week 5, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Making Connections, students have the option to make connections by telling how something they read independently helps them understand better or think a little differently about something in their own community. 
• In Unit 2, students are again taught the procedures for independent reading in the Student Interactive on page 10. Students are taught to choose a book, start at the front cover, turn the pages gently, and put the book back when they are finished. In Week 1, Lesson 4, Reading Workshop, Making Inferences, students have the option to draw a picture of an inference they make during independent reading. 
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Lesson 1: Reading Workshop, Assess & Differentiate, Small Group, while the teacher is conferring with students, there are several Independent/Collaborative suggestions for students. Under the heading Independent Reading students can read or listen to a previously read fairy tale, read a self-selected trade book, read their Book Club text. This is a similar format for Independent Reading under the Assess & Differentiate, Small Group weekly plan throughout the school year.
• In Unit 4, students are taught further procedures for independent reading in the Student Interactive on page 10. Students are taught to set a purpose for reading a text; practice making connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, or society while reading; and interact independently with the text to build stamina by reading a few more pages everyday. On page 11 of the Student Interactive, there is a reading log for students to track their independent reading. In Week 3, Lesson 2, Reading Workshop, Respond and Analyze, students have the option to draw a picture of a new word they learn while reading independently. 
• In Unit 5, Week 4, Lesson 1, Reading Workshop, Genre & Theme, students learn about informational texts. Under Formative Assessment Options, students are given a choice of texts to use to identify a sequence in an informational text. One option is to read any informational text from the classroom library during independent reading time. Students find clues that show it is an informational text using sticky notes.