Kindergarten - Gateway 1

The materials reviewed for Pathways to Reading Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction for letter identification of all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase). (K)

Although all letters are used in the "ABC Point and Sing Practice" for letter identification, q and x are not explicitly taught in the Kindergarten materials provided. While the instruction for letter identification for 24 letters is isolated, systematic, and explicit, and includes making the associated sounds, describing the lips and tongue while making the sound, choosing a picture of the mouth shape, spelling the sound (to create one-to-one correspondence), and assigning the sound to a group type (explosive, squeezer, special sound), it is not clear if both lowercase and uppercase letters are included in instruction. The letters with explicit instruction provided are introduced and reviewed within a 31-week timeframe.

Materials do not contain isolated, systematic and explicit instruction for all 26 letters (recognize and name uppercase and lowercase).

• Students have opportunities to recognize and name most upper- and lowercase letters of the alphabet.
• In the "Large Group Manual," Table of Contents, pages xii-xiii, the order of consonant introduction is provided for the teacher. The letters q and x are not listed on these pages.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 17, the materials recommend the teacher “utilize common letter/sound activities found in basal programs and other teacher resources using the letter -m.”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 134, students learn about the /z/ sound. As part of the lesson the teacher tells students, “The letter we need for /z/ is the letter -z. I need a helper sitting up straight and tall with eyes up here to point and sing to -z on our ABC chart. (Have a student point and sing to -z, then choose the letter -z from the three letters and place it under the picture.).”
• In the Kindergarten "Reproducibles Manual," although there is one page that provides a visual for an uppercase and lowercase Yy, all other lists of letters and materials include lowercase letters and no uppercase letters.

There is a defined sequence for letter instruction to be completed in a reasonable time frame over the school year. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," pages xii-xiii, the Table of Contents outlines which consonants and vowels are taught.
• In the "Flip & Assist," page 4, letters are introduced in pools: Pool 1 includes m, n, f, v, p, b, a; Pool 2 includes t, d, c, k, g, i; Pool 3 includes s, z, j, u; Pool 4 includes l, r, o; Pool 5 includes w, h, y, e.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 48, the materials state, “PTR introduces the consonant and vowel sounds in five ‘sound pools’:"
• M, n, f, v, p, b, a.
• T, d, c, k, g, i.
• S, z, j, u.
• L, r, o.
• W, h, y, e.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 48, the teacher is directed to, “Weigh moving on at a quicker pace against a slower one in which mastery and ‘over-learning’ to the point of automaticity occurs. This solid foundation can prevent confusions.”

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials engage students in sufficient practice of letter identification.

The Kindergarten Pathways to Reading materials provide students with opportunities to practice letter identification. Letter sounds and names are practiced daily during Weeks 1-31. Routines such as "ABC Point and Sing" are used consistently during Weeks 1-26. "Letters in a Cup," "Wild Horses," and "Cross the River" are utilized throughout the program. Although x and q are incorporated into the "ABC Point and Sing" routine, the letters x and q are not the focus of any lessons. While students have practice identifying and naming x and q during the "ABC Point and Sing" routine, there are no other opportunities to practice identifying these letters in isolation.

Materials provide students with frequent opportunities to engage in practice identifying all 26 letters; however, practice identifying uppercase letters is limited. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," pages 2-6, letters q and x are not listed in the "Quarterly Literacy Plan." Letters q and x are in the pool of words in the Kindergarten "Reproducibles-Letter Naming Cards.” It is not clear when students learn how to identify these letters.
• In the"Large Group Manual,"page 51, students learn about the /p/ sound. As part of the lesson the teacher tells students, “The letter we need for /p/ is the letter -p. I need a helper sitting up straight and tall with eyes up here to point and sing our way to -p on our ABC chart.”

Materials provide opportunities to engage in practice locating all 26 letters; however, practice locating uppercase letters is limited. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 11, students locate letters during the “ABC Point and Sing” routine. The routine is used during Weeks 1-26.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 48, it states, “When a letter is reviewed or used in a phonics activity have the students in addition to the letter’s sound and letter name also describe the mouth action and point to its picture."

Materials provide opportunities to engage in naming all 26 letters; however, naming uppercase letters is limited.

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 164, when completing the "ABC Point and Sing" routine, the teacher is prompted to “Vary use of the lower and upper case sides. Review the name of R and L and one other consonant of choice.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 59, students play “Prove It.” Student #1 picks a letter from the cup and tells Student #2 the name of the letter. Student #2 finds the letter on the ABC chart, places a marker on the chart, and states, “Prove It.” Student #2 says the ABCs while moving the letter along with the marker. If the letter is correct, the student circles the letter with crayon.
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 57-58, during "Letter Naming Lesson 2," the teacher places letters m, n, f, v, p, b, and a in random order on the segment and white board, and students name the letters as quickly as they can, “I want you to name each of these letters as quickly as you can. Let’s pretend they’re a bridge across a river. Let’s see if you can get to the other side. The rest of you watch and listen, because I’m going to ask you to name them too. Everybody ready with their eyes?”

The materials reviewed for Pathways to Reading Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials provide instructional support for general concepts of print and connect learning of print concepts to books (K-1), and provide cumulative review of print concepts, letter identification, and printing letters (K-early Grade 1).

Lessons include minimal lessons about print concepts. Although decodable books and leveled books are recommended, specific lessons providing a connection between books and print concepts are not provided in the materials. There are no teacher or student books included in the materials. The materials provide cumulative reviews of letter identification during "ABC Point and Sing." Cumulative reviews of print concepts and printing letters are not included.

Materials do not include sufficient and explicit instruction for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing):

• Students have limited opportunities to recognize that spoken words are represented in written language by specific sequences of letters.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 98, students practice spelling the word vat. “(Sound leader’s name) you’re our sound leader. What’s the first sound in the word ‘vat’?” “Can you put the letter that’s needed for the /v/ sound on the first sound dot?”
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 17, the teacher uses an arrow that has a green circle and a red triangle as its end points to illustrate where a word begins and ends. “Tell the student that when you make the first sound of the word your mouth will be over the green circle. When you make the last sound of the word your mouth will be over the red triangle.”

Materials do not include lessons, tasks, and questions for all students about the organization of print concepts (e.g., follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing).

Materials do not include a variety of physical books (e.g., teacher-guided, such as big books) that are suitable for the teaching of print concepts:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 57, the materials state that students should read from “decodables or carefully chosen trade books.”

Materials do not include sufficient and explicit instruction about the organization of print concepts (e.g., follow words left to right, spoken words correlate sequences of letters, letter spacing) in the context of a book. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," page 179, students begin learning about reading in context on sentence strips and with decodable texts. Although the materials do not include student books, a thumbnail view of the eight page decodable text "Pam and Nan" is located on page 228 of the "Small Group Manual."
• In the "Small Group Folder," page 2, the materials provide a list of books that align to the targeted letter or sounds in a week. The books are not included with the materials.

Materials do not include opportunities for students to engage in authentic practice using print concepts in the context of student books. No student books are present in the materials reviewed. The teacher is referred to outside sources for student books.

Materials contain periodic cumulative review opportunities for letter identification. Materials do not contain periodic cumulative review of print concepts or letter formation:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 98, students review the sound/letter association for the letters t, d, c, and k during Week 15.

Materials include students’ practice of previously learned print concepts, letter identification, and letter formation.

• In the "Large Group manual," pages 2-5, the materials outline lessons for the vowels and consonants a, b, c, d, e, f, i, k, m, n, o, p, t, u, and v. All listed letters have 2 or more lessons listed. The consonants g, h, j, l, r, s, w, y, and z have one lesson, each, for identification and practice. Instruction for consonants q and x does not appear in the materials.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 164, the materials indicate the teacher should use "ABC Point and Sing" for Days 1, 2, and 5 as needed. The teacher is to, “Vary use of lower and upper case sides” to review the names of R, L and another letter of teacher choice.

The materials reviewed for Pathways to Reading Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials provide explicit instruction in phonological awareness through systematic modeling across the K-1 grade band.

Kindergarten materials provide activities with explicit instruction for phonological awareness activities in the "Flip and Assist Manual" and in the "Advanced Oral PA Development Manual." Teacher instructions include a script that the teacher can read aloud to students to model new activities. The teacher is provided with examples of each skill and word lists to use when completing activities with students. Explicit instruction of counting syllables is not evident.

Materials provide the teacher with systematic, explicit modeling for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words. For example, the following is noted:

• Materials include explicit instruction for students to recognize and produce rhyming words:
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 29, the teacher models rhyming the words sat and fat, “When two words end with the same chunk of sounds like /sat/ and /fat/ we say they are rhyming words. You grab and punch with me and notice how the words sound alike at the end when we punch.”
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," pages 18-21, four activities for rhyming are listed: "Nursery Rhymes," "Grab and Punch," "Two by Two to the Zoo," and "Names that Sound the Same."
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 18, the teacher explains key concepts about rhyming, “Words rhyme when their ending rimes are composed of the same order of phonemes (not necessarily letters). For example the rime in float is /ote/ The rime in wrote is /ote/.”
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 21, the materials provide rhyming words to use in rhyming activities.
• Materials include explicit instruction for students to pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words. Opportunities for counting syllables are missed:
• In the "Large Group Manual," pages 9-10, during the "Martian Talk" for blending, students segment and blend sounds in words, the teacher instructions include physical movements, “Hold up three fingers close together and brush your other hand over the tops for the fingers as you say ‘dog’,” as well as verbal prompts, “...say by squishing the sounds he says back into a word.”
• In the "Advanced Oral PA Development," page 5, students blend two syllable compound words. Words to segment, blend, and pronounce include: toothache, treetop, wishbone, barnyard, and bluebird.
• Materials include explicit instruction for students to blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words:
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 29, the teacher models completing the "Grab and Punch Rhyming Activity." “My word is ‘sat’. I’m going to grab the first part of the word (Reach one hand out in front of you, make a grabbing motion as you say /s/ and pull the hand back to the chest) then punch the hand forward and say the ending of the word /at/! Ask the class to grab and punch with you.”
• In the "Advanced Oral PA Development Manual," page 13, the teacher is given the following routine to follow, “Teacher: say s. (R) Bold underlined letter indicates to give the sound not the letter name. Teacher: Add am. (R) Teacher: When you say s with am what’s the word? (R)" The teacher is provided with 18 different word lists to use to complete this activity.
• In the "Advanced Oral PA Development Manual," page 13, teacher directions include specific ways to model how to blend rime units with initial consonant sounds to form CVC words. “We will create small words by putting sounds together and you figure out the word. Tchr: Say /s/. (Place a 1 in. square.)...now say /at/. (Place a 3 in. square to right). Put them together (push two squares together). What’s the word?”
• Materials include explicit instruction for students to isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words. This does not include CVC words ending with /l/, /r/, or /x/.
• In the "Advanced Oral Language PA Development Manual," page 13, the teacher isolates /s/ and models adding /am/.
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 16, during the "Snail Chomp" activity the teacher explains to students that the snail wants to chomp off the last letter of the word hat because its yummy. The teacher is to model, “My snail friend is going to chomp and chew that last sound. Listen: stretch again. Segment off /t/. Say: /t/. Yummy, yummy /t/t. Gulp.”
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 14, during "Head, Shoulders, Waist, and Clap," the teacher isolates each sound while doing a body motion for initial, medial, and vowel sounds. The teacher model states the following:
• Teacher: We’re going to say the little sounds in words. There are 3 sounds in the word dog. Watch me. (Say /d/ and place your hands on your head. Say /o/ and place your hands on your shoulders. Say /g/ and place your hands on your waist.”
• Materials include explicit instruction for students to substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 168, students practice changing sounds in words when completing "Old Word/New Word." “Let’s change this old word (man) into the new word (pan). Don’t make any changes yet. I’d like you to think aloud with me. Think about the new word (pan). (Student name) what’s the first sound in the new word (pan)? (R) ”
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 40, the activity “Old Word/New Word” outlines six (6) steps for teachers to help students compare the phonemes in two words to identify the one different sound. For example, Step 4 on page 41: “(Student name) what sound went out? (Student name) what sound came in? Student assist: “If student can’t remember, ‘That’s ok. The old word was (bit) the new word is (bat). Which sound (went away/came in)?’”
• In the "Advanced Oral PA Development Manual," pages 13-14, students are prompted to add a sound to make a new word: “Say /s/. Add /am/. What’s the word?”

Materials provide the teacher with examples for instruction in syllables, sounds (phonemes), and spoken words called for in grade-level standards. Opportunities to count syllables are missed.

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 76, when completing the "Martian Talk" activity, teachers are given the following example to use, “Our word is ‘fat’. The cat ate a lot and got fat. We say ‘fat’, but the sounds fall apart when our Martian friend tries to say them. Class, let’s say fat slowly for (student name) so (she) can notice the first sound that our Martian friend would say. (Lead the class or call on a student to stretch the word /f…...a…...t/).”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 83, during the consonant review, the teacher is prompted to “point to the mouth picture for -t and -d. Have the students make the sounds and describe the mouth action. Have a student identify the loud and whispery sounds. Say the words attached to the mouth pictures. Segment off the beginning sounds and have the students repeat after you. Example: /t/, /t/, /toe/. /d/, /d/, /dog/.”
• In the "Advanced Oral PA Development Manual," page 5, the teacher models blending two syllable words into compound words:
• Teacher: Say...hot (R = response) Say dog. (R)
• Teacher: Put hot and dog together. The new word is.

The materials reviewed for Pathways to Reading Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.

The materials provide opportunities to practice decoding skills over the course of the instructional sequence during "Large Group" and "Small Group" instruction for students' current level of foundational skills instruction; however, during "Large Group" instruction of grade-level decoding skills, all students may not be provided the opportunity to practice applying phonics skills. Since a student may be working in a small group that is not at grade-level, there is no guarantee that all students will have opportunities to apply grade-level phonics skills. Students practice reading different words with similar spellings. As the year progresses, sentence strips are utilized for students to practice reading complete words in sentences. Activities and games are repeated consistently throughout the manual and provide opportunities for students to practice and apply what they are learning.

Lessons provide students with some daily opportunities to decode (phonemes, onset and rime, and/or syllables) phonetically spelled words. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 135, students practice reading single words. While the teacher is instructed to have Level 4 students read the words, the teacher is reminded to “Involve more students by asking one student to point to and say the vowel sound. Ask a second student to say the rime, a third to say the word. (/a/, /ap, /map/.) Model this as often as needed.”
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 22, students engage in “Freeze & Match Vowel Hill” which asks them to select a short and long vowel letter (e.g., a, e, and a_e, ee) from a pile. Students then answer with one of the following responses:
• “Can this vowel say its name?”
• “Why (or Why not?)?”
• “What is its sound?”
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 135-138, students practice reading words from a "Word Reading List" (WRL). Students read three words independently and if the student needs to fix an error, there are notes for the student to follow.

Lessons provide students with daily opportunities for some students to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills during "Large Group" and "Small Group" instruction. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 102, students practice reading sentence strips. The teacher is instructed to, “Choose a sentence strip. Call on a student to read the sentence strip.” The teacher is provided with numerous sentence strips to use when completing this activity. For example, “1. The man can nab the van.” “5. Pam has found a pan.”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 125, during the "Read in Context" activity, students read by applying decoding skills. The teacher calls on a student to read a sentence strip assisting the student if the student has difficulty by asking, “What’s the vowel sound? What’s the word? What will you ask yourself to help you figure out this word?”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 131, during the "Old Word/New Word" activity, students use sound dots and letters to read words, substitute letters, and create new words. Words used for Days 2 and 4 are gab, tab, tub, sub, tag, tub, cub, and sub.

Materials contain daily opportunities for students to review previously learned grade-level phonics. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 3, the "Quarterly Literacy Plan" for the Second Quarter indicates that students "Point and Sing" to the "ABC Chart" in Week 14 with a focus on c, k. Students practice letter sound mouth actions for c, k, and complete "Segment and Write" activities with Pool 1 and c, k letters. Students practice "Old Word/New Word" with Pool 1 letters.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 41, students review the consonants m, n and f by playing the game "Wild Horses." In this game, students try to say the consonant names as quickly as they can. If the student says the letters/sounds, “horses” are then caught. If the student does not say the letter/sound quickly enough, it is a free “horse.”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 124, students review vowel letters and sounds. The teacher tells students, “I need someone sitting up straight and tall with eyes up here to tell the class the names of the five letters that are vowel letters.” After the vowel letters have been named, the teacher is instructed to tell students, “I need someone sitting up straight and tall to say those five sounds for us.”

Materials contain a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade level phonics. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 4, included in the "Third Quarter Overview," materials state Consonant letters s, z, and j are introduced during Weeks 20-22 and reviewed in Weeks 23 and 24. "Segment and Write," "Old Word/New Word," "Read Words," and "Read in Context" activities include practice with the letters.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 129, teachers are instructed to complete a vowel review on Days 1-5 of the week. Materials provide four possible activities to use to complete the vowel review. One of these activities is "Say on Own" in which the teacher is instructed to “Call on an individual to say the vowel hill sounds independently. Assist as needed. (Refer to Flip and Assist/Say on own).”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 142, students independently decode words from the "Word Reading Cards." Students begin by reading the rime, then saying the word. When students correctly read the word, they are handed their word and practice reading the words as quickly as possible.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials promote application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks (mid K-Grade 2).

The Pathways to Reading Kindergarten materials provide explicit systematic teacher modeling and instruction encoding of phonics from sounds to letters and words in writing tasks. While students frequently complete "Segment and Write" activities with single words, the application of phonics to activities where students write phrases or complete sentences is not evident in the materials.

Materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of teacher modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," "Teacher Preparation Tab," page 38, the teacher tells students there are three sounds in the word bit. The students give the teacher each sound and then are asked to write it. The teacher tells students how to spell the word if needed, “You spell the sound /b/ with a (-b).”
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 116-117, students complete a "Segment and Write" lesson with the word sweet. As part of the lesson the teacher explains, “Two ee’s stick together,” “Screech is screeching and hollering, because the English language is so tricky. He wants you to know, that we are so right that -e almost always goes to the end of the word. But the two -ees are an exception. They are like identical twins. Identical twins are two kids that look exactly alike. They really like to stick together and do things together. So most of the time, the two -e’s will stay together on one sound dot. Sometimes they split up, but most of the time they will stick together.” Students then practice identifying and writing the sounds in the word sweet.

Lessons do not provide students with frequent activities and tasks to promote application of phonics as they encode words in sentences or in phrases based on common and newly taught phonics patterns.

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 159, students engage in "Segment and Write" during whole group instruction. Students practice with an -l emphasis. Words include: log, lap (Day 1); lid, lug (Day 3); and lot, lip (Day 5). While directions do call for, “two new students to again segment and this time write the word”, there is no evidence of activities where students are writing sentences or phrases.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and practice opportunities of high-frequency words to develop automaticity.

In the Pathways to Reading "Large Group Manual Overview," 25 of the first 100 "Fry Words" are introduced. Explicit teacher modeling of the spelling of each high-frequency word is not included in the materials. Teachers are instructed to conduct a “Think Aloud”; however, materials do not provide guidance for the "Think Aloud." Students have frequent opportunities to practice high-frequency words over the course of the school year. High-frequency words are practiced on a daily basis and include a home to school connection. Students are provided with 25 high-frequency words to study over the course of the year.

Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual,"page 143, the teacher is prompted to “Choose a new word to highlight in read aloud stories. Add it to the door frame. Have students read the sight words when they go in and out of the door. Keep up the Olympics theme, invite coaches to practice and decide when to have judges visit. Coaches continue to work with a student and words 1-6 and 7-12 until they’re mastered and then begin words 13-18. Plan award ceremonies for each list learned. Use words in stations.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 139, during the "Introduction to Screech Words," which is used with "Snap and Map" card sets (i.e., first 100 high-frequency words), the teacher tells students the first word is a "Screech" word because it is tricky and not spelled the way it sounds. “This word is ‘of’. Who can tell us the sounds in the word ‘of’?” The teacher has students spell the word as it sounds then tells students it is a two-part cheater word. The teacher asks mapping questions, “What is the first letter of this word?” Then student reads the phrase, “(Student name) read the phrase with our Screech word.”

Materials include frequent opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of high-frequency words in isolation. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 24, teachers are provided with instructions for teaching sight words:
• First six most frequently used sight words: the, of, and, a, to, in.
• Preview materials to be read to the class. After doing a "Think Aloud," tell the students they are to help you find the sight words which they will study for several weeks. Each day tell them a new word. Have highlighting tape available to highlight the words as they are located. Pieces of highlighting tape may be made available and students can search on their own for the week’s sight words.
• Post the words on the frame to the classroom door. Read the words to the students as they enter and leave the room. Eventually ask students to read them for you.
• Introduce an activity called "Sight Word Olympics." This is an at-home connection used to motivate students to practice sight words. See "Reproducibles/Consonants."
• If desired, add up to five additional words determined by your school, district or grade level.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 33, the teacher is referred to the introductory page 24 as they are to highlight words in literature, post practice words around the door, and engage in "Sight Word Olympics."

Students practice identifying and reading high-frequency words in isolation. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 24, teachers are provided with instructions for completing "Sight Word Olympics." The game is repeated both at home and at school. The activity is repeated numerous times throughout the school year. Teachers are instructed to have parents and older students help students learn their words. Some of the ideas teachers are provided with for practice include, “a. Students try to locate their words in books that they are ‘reading’ or that are being read to them. b. Students bring in things with their words highlighted. (Cereal boxes, children’s books, etc.) c. Students read their words to their coaches.“
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 137, during the "Paired Learning for Independent Word Reading Practice," either a "Word Reading List" (which includes some high-frequency words) or "SNAP" cards (consisting of the first 100 "Fry Words") are used. Students work in groups of two playing the roles of a "teacher" and a "student" and use a timer to quickly read the words. Student pairs use the following questions: “What’s the vowel? What’s the rime? What’s the word?” The "teacher" must agree with the "student." If the students do not agree, the word is placed in a red circle.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 142, students work independently to decode words and to read words accurately. The first time the teacher shows the student a word, the student reads the rime and says the word. The teacher hands the student the card back, and then the student is to "eyeball" the rime and read the word. The teacher says, “SNAP and hand back!” The student reads each word and hands the word card back to the teacher as quickly as possible.

Materials do not include a sufficient quantity of grade-appropriate, high-frequency words for students to make reading progress. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Small Group Manual," page 141, teachers are provided with a list of 100 "Fry Words." These words however, are not required to be mastered, “Ensure students master the 25 words with asterisks. Consider student independent decoding abilities in determining how much time to devote to learning the full 100. They will be much easier to learn in first grade when students have more phonics information.”
• In the "Reproducibles," "Sight Word Olympics," materials contain four word lists for students to study. The 25 words identified for Kindergarten include the following:
• Word List #1-and, of, in, the, to, a
• Word List #2-that, you, he, it, is, was
• Word List #3-his, are, with, for, on, as
• Word List #4-this, they, be, at, have, from, I

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials provide frequent practice opportunities to read and write high-frequency words in context (sentences).

Pathways to Reading Kindergarten materials provide students with frequent opportunities for reading high-frequency words in context; however, opportunities for students to write high-frequency words are not evident.

Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read grade-level high-frequency words in a sentence. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 102, on Days 2 and 4 students practice reading sentence strips. The teacher is prompted to “Choose a sentence strip. Call on a student to read the sentence strip.” Examples of sentences students may read include “2. Is the man in the van?” “5. Pam has a fan and a pan.” “21. Dan and I have a dip.”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 131, students read a sentence strip from sentence strips 51-63. The teacher calls on a student to read the sentence strip. Sentence strips 51-63 include the high-frequency words: is, in, the, and, on, with, you, that, it, I, as, into, for, did.

Lessons do not provide students with frequent opportunities to write grade level high-frequency words in tasks, such as sentences, in order to promote automaticity in writing grade-appropriate, high-frequency words.

Materials provide repeated, explicit instruction in how to use student-friendly reference materials and resources, and reading high-frequency words (e.g., word cards, word lists, word ladders, student dictionaries). For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 77, teachers are instructed to write sight words on cards and post them by the door, then, “Have students read the sight words when they go in and out of the door.”
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 174-175, students read sentence strips and categorize words by sorting them and placing them on the "Word Find Template." If the word is not spelled as it sounds, “It’s not playing fair!” and gets placed under Screech words. If the word is spelled phonetically, it is written under the corresponding vowel letter. “Complete the sentence reading, word-by-word.”
• In the "Reproducibles," "Sight Word Olympics," four words lists are included for students to practice their sight words. Students read the word list three times with the words in a different order each time.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials provide teacher guidance to support students as they confirm or self-correct errors and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding.

The Pathways to Reading materials provide teachers with guidance to assist students with confirmation reading or self-correct errors in the "Flip and Assist Manual," Limited opportunities are provided to read emergent-level texts for purpose and understanding. Materials include 18 Reinforcement Readers that are decodable text. While students have opportunities to read these texts, lessons are vague and do not explicitly prompt students to read with purpose and understanding. Since objectives are not consistently provided, the purpose for lessons is not always clear. The steps the teacher follows for having students imagine the sentences are repetitive and do not vary throughout the school year. The emergent reading practice that is included with the program consists of sentence strips which are used in "Read in Context" lessons in both "Small Group" and "Large Group."

Some opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to read emergent-reader texts for purpose and understanding. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 151, the two objectives listed for the lesson are, “Objective 1: Students apply decoding strategies to words forming a sentence. Objective 2: Students demonstrate the ability to image the meaning of a sentence.”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 151, in a "Read in Context" lesson that uses sentence strips, the teacher helps students with imagery, “Ask students to describe their own images. “What do these words make you see?” Check that students are imaging by helping them to verbalize the image.”
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 162, objectives are not provided for the "Read in Context" lesson. Other instances of unclear purpose of the "Read in Context" Lesson include the following:
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 169, no objectives are listed for the lesson.
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 202, no objectives are listed for the lesson.
• In the "Large Group Manual," "Teacher Preparation Tab," page 60, student texts to be used include the following:
• A large number and variety of sentence strips are included in the "Reproducibles" and "WebFile."
• "Reinforcement Readers"-available for purchase on the website
• Suggested texts from an outside vendor available as an online subscription.
• In the "Small Group Manual," page 171, in the "Read in Context: Prosody" lesson, the objectives state “Students learn that the context may convey emotions. Students learn how to convey emotions when reading orally by changing the voice.” Students work with sentence strips in this lesson.

Materials contain explicit directions and/or think-alouds for the teacher to model how to engage with a text to emphasize reading for purpose and understanding. For example, the following is noted:

• In the "Large Group Manual," page 102, in a "Read in Context" lesson that uses sentence strips, the teacher models using imagery, ‘“These words make a picture in my mind. I see a man. He’s taller than me and he’s dressed in black. The words ‘can nab the van’ make me picture him running to the van, looking around like he’s being sneaky, jumping in the van and driving off fast.”’
• In the "Large Group Manual," page 102, during "Read in Context," Days 2 and 4, the teacher uses sentence strips from the "Kindergarten Reproducibles" to ask students to verbalize what the sentence makes them see in their minds. Help students learn to use words that describe mental images:
• What, size, shape, color? (e.g., It’s a fat, yellow duck about as big as a beagle.)
• What’s the background you imagine? (e.g., grass and tees, walls and carpet, etc.)
• How are you looking at the image: from the side, above, front, etc.? (e.g., The horse is walking away from me, and I see his tail and back legs.).
• In the "Small Group Manual," pages 158-160, the lesson focuses on imagery using the sentence, “Pam has a fan and a pan.” The teacher models describing the image she has created in her mind, “I see a little girl about kindergarten age. She has black hair and is wearing red pants and a green shirt. She is holding a purple fan in her hand, one that you spread open and cool yourself with. She put her purple fan in a little silver pan and put it on her play stove.”
• In the "Flip and Assist Manual," page 43, during "Read Words," one of the goals is for students to self-correct blending and phonics errors. There are three degrees of "Assists" provided if a student pauses on a word:
• *Most assistance: “What’s the vowel sound? (R) Read the vowel to the end (We call that the rime) (R). Start again. Add the consonant/s before the vowel (onset). Is that a word you know?”
• *Moderate assistance: “What will you ask yourself first to help you figure out this word? (R: The vowel and rime.) What should you do next? Pull the sounds apart or push them together? What will you ask yourself last?”
• *Least assistance: “I saw you stop and figure out that word. What were you thinking? How did you do that?”