Kindergarten - Gateway 1

The materials reviewed for 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).

In the Fountas & Pinnell materials, there are eight lessons with explicit instruction on the organization of Kindergarten print concepts. Cumulative review of concepts is embedded in the Early Learning Concepts and Letter Knowledge lessons with letter identification and printing of letters reviewed throughout the Master Lesson Guide (#1-#100) until #78. Early Learning Concepts, which includes print concepts, is only taught until #46; therefore, some print concepts are not reviewed and practiced after #46. While there are lesson plans for the use of physical books to teach and model in the lesson plans, the physical books are not included in the instructional materials for instruction and student practice.

Materials 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). For example:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 3, pages 83-86, the teacher teaches left to right progression in reading pocket-chart cards from the Ready Resources and other online resources.
• The teacher writes the words on cards as the students say them and places the cards on the pocket chart. The teacher indicates that a space should be left between each word in the sentence and continues until each word in the sentence is placed in the chart. The teacher places a period at the end of the sentence.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts  4, pages 87-90, the teacher facilitates a discussion to generate ideas for written sentences. The teacher writes the sentences on pocket-chart cards word by word and places them in the chart. The teacher models looking for the word read. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 7, page 100, the teacher models reading left-to-right and top-to-bottom reading. 
• The teacher displays a child’s name. The teacher asks students what is the first letter in the child’s name? The teacher states: “The first letter is on the left. It is at the beginning of the word.” The teacher asks students to identify the last letter in the child’s name. The teacher states: “The last letter is at the end of the word, on the right.” The teacher moves the pointer left to right to show how to read the child’s name.
• The teacher shows multiple sentences and states: "This is a sentence. How many words does this sentence have? There are five words in this sentence." Next the teacher discusses first and last. “What is the first letter in this word? What is the last letter? In a sentence, we know that the first word is on the left, and the last word is before the period. This first part of a story is at the top. The last part is at the bottom.” 

Materials include adequate 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). For example: 

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 3, pages 83-86, the students count the words in the sentence in the reading pocket-chart cards. After the teacher mixes up the words, students put the words in the correct sequence on the pocket-chart.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 4, page 89, students share what they learned about how spaces before and after a word help you to see the word. Students locate spaces on the pocket chart.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 7, page 100, students point out that the first word in a sentence has a capital letter. Students practice finding the first and last word in the sentence. 

Materials do not include a variety of physical books (teacher-guided, such as big books) lesson plans that are suitable for teaching print concepts. The included materials are poems from Sing a Song of Poetry.

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 1, page 78, there are two recommended Interactive Read-Aloud alphabet books for students to practice letter recognition: Alphabet Under Construction and B is for Bulldozer. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 4, page 90, during Shared Reading, the teacher can use “Good Morning” or “Apples, Peaches” from Sing a Song of Poetry to point out spaces.

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:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 3, page 86, during Shared Reading, the teacher can use “Jerry Hall” or “Go to Bed” from Sing a Song of Poetry to teach students to read word-by-word.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Early Literacy Concepts 7, page 102, during Shared Reading, the teacher can use “Jack and Jill” or “Little Bo Peep” from Sing a Song of Poetry to teach students to locate known words by predicting the first letter. 

Materials consistently include opportunities for students to engage in authentic practice using print concepts in the context of student books. For example: 

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter Knowledge 4, page 230, students read the poem, “Wee Willie Winkie.” The teacher has students use highlighter tape to locate and name letters. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter Knowledge 14, page 270, students read “Roses are Red” from Sing a Song of Poetry and students use highlighter tape to find letters in the text that the teacher is making in the air while stating the verbal path.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials have frequent opportunities for students to engage in phonological awareness activities through Kindergarten and early 1st grade.

The Fountas & Pinnell phonological awareness lessons contain oral practice activities for demonstrating understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds. Although there are a variety of practice activities, there are only 26 phonological awareness lessons.

Examples of materials that include phonological awareness practice activities include but are not limited to the following:

• Materials include a variety of activities for phonological awareness. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 7, page 134, students say a familiar chant and clap out the syllables in the word as they say the chant. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 8, page 137, students show understanding of spoken words, syllables, and sounds (phonemes) by clapping parts of words. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 9, page 142, students count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words when the teacher breaks down a word and the students say what word the teacher is saying. The teacher has students play Lotto, where students take a picture card, blend the picture’s sounds and then cover the syllable number. 
• Students have opportunities to blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words. For example: 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 19, page 183, students blend and segment onsets and rimes of single-syllable spoken words by playing the game, Follow the Path. The student rolls the dice, moves the piece and states the word that represents the picture. Students say the first and last part of the word.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 20, page 186, students practice blending onset and rime. The teacher states the first part and last part of the word. Once the students have identified the word, they go up and put the picture in the word chart.
• There are limited opportunities for students to practice phonological awareness.
• Students have opportunities to recognize and produce rhyming words. For example: In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 4, page 122, students recognize and produce rhyming words. The teacher reads rhyming stories. Students practice identifying rhyming words in the poem and use picture cards to play the game concentration for rhyming words.
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• Students have opportunities to isolate and pronounce the initial, medial vowel, and final sounds (phonemes) in three-phoneme (consonant-vowel-consonant, or CVC) words. For example:
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 13, page 159, students have a pile of 20 picture cards to use with a partner. Students take turns drawing a card, saying the name of the picture, and saying the last sound in the word. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 16, page 170, students say the word ran and identify the first sound. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 17, page 174, students listen for the sounds in the middle of a word. The teacher says the word hat and asks what sound students hear in the middle of the word. 
• Students have opportunities to add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in simple, one-syllable words to make new words. For example: In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Phonological Awareness 16, page 171, students add or substitute individual sounds (phonemes) in one-syllable words. Partners take turns choosing a picture card, saying the word the picture represents and then change the first sound to make new words.

The materials reviewed for 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 Fountas & Pinnell materials contain opportunities for students to decode letter sounds during eight Letter-Sound Relationships lessons. Students decode phonetically-based words during seven Spelling Patterns lessons, which contain decoding instruction and practice of phonograms. The materials do not contain a deliberate, systematic opportunities for students to review previously learned phonics skills.

Examples of materials that include some practice opportunities for students to read words based in phonics include but are not limited to the following:

• Lessons provide students with opportunities to decode (phonemes, onset and rime, and/or syllables) phonetically spelled words. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 1 page 349, students write CVC words and then read the CVC words to a peer.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 2, page 353, students use magnetic letters, letter tiles, and lowercase letter cards to make new words with the spelling pattern -an. Students write the list of words and read the -an words to a partner. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 5, page 365, students use magnetic letters, or letter cards to make words with -ake in them. They write the list, and they share with their partner. 
• Lessons provide students with opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught phonics skills. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 3, page 357, students use magnetic letters, letter tiles and lowercase letter cards to make new words with the spelling pattern -at. Students write the list of words and read the -at words to a partner. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 4, page 361, students use magnetic letters, letter tiles and lowercase letter cards to make new words with the spelling pattern -ay. Students write the list of words and read the -ay words to a partner. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 6, page 369, students use magnetic letters, letter tiles and lowercase letter cards to make new words with the spelling pattern -ine. Students write the list of words and read the -ine words to a partner. 

Materials do not contain systematic opportunities for students to review previously learned phonics skills. While Generative Lesson plans contain a structure for teachers to present similar content or concepts to teach a variety of spelling patterns, the intention is not for systematic, explicit review phonics skills with a variety of methods to promote students’ practice of previously taught grade-level phonics. For example:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 1, page 347, the generative lesson suggestion is:"A generative lesson has a simple structure that you can use to present similar content and concepts. You can use this lesson structure to teach children a variety of CVC spelling patterns with a variety of words."
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 7, page 371, the generative lesson suggestion is: "A generative lesson has a simple structure that you can use to present similar content and concepts. You can use this lesson structure to teach children to recognize letter patterns in a variety of words."

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.

The Fountas & Pinnell Kindergarten materials provide opportunities for students to read decodable words in sentences when students read poems during Teach and/or Shared Reading. There are some opportunities for students to explicitly and systematically read phonetically regular words during Word-Solving Actions lessons, but this practice is not consistent throughout the 100 lessons.

Materials provide few explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving Actions 5, page 474, students read “Little Red Apple” and “Who Stole the Cookies?” from Sing a Song of Poetry. Students say the words slowly, thinking about the sounds they are saying. Students check the letters to see if they are right. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving Actions 6, page 476, the teacher helps students read the poem, “After a Bath.” The teacher asks, “What is the first word? You know the word after. Let’s read the first line about what happens after a bath.” The teacher teacher points and reads After, but stops reading aloud with the students, because students should be able to read my and bath.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving Actions 7, the teacher helps students read a poem called “Here Is a House.” The teacher states, “Let’s look at the first line of the poem. The first words in this line are the same words as the title. Let’s read the first line together.” The teacher points and reads the first line with students. 

Lessons provide students with some opportunities to decode words in a sentence based in phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K book, Letter-Sound Relationships 5, page 330, students read the lines in the poem, “Jelly on the Plate.”
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 7, page 403, students read the poem, “Pat-a-Cake.”
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving Actions 2, page 461, students cut up the class letter in sentence strips. Students put the letter back together including the sentences that were added. Students point under every word as they read the letter.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics, including common and newly-taught sounds and sound patterns.

The Fountas & Pinnell materials contain some opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and write words based in phonics patterns. Opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode are provided during Teach and Apply within lessons.

Examples of materials that include limited opportunities for student learning in building/manipulating/spelling and encoding using sound and spelling patterns include but are not limited to the following:

• The materials contain teacher-level instruction/modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 3, page 356, the teacher writes words that end in -at on chart paper, and the teacher has students read the words aloud. The teacher and students discuss the pattern in the word. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 4, page 361, the teacher writes the words ending with -ay on chart paper and children read them aloud. The teacher discusses what children notice about the words. The teacher points out that students are going to make -ay words on their own. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 6, page 368, the teacher shows students a few words ending in -ine that students know, such as line and nine. The teacher writes the words on chart paper and then talks about what students notice about the letters. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word Structure Lesson 4, pages 449-452, the teacher models the writing of plural words by adding -s to the ending and emphasizes if the word has a /s/ or /z/ sound.
• Lessons provide students with some opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words in isolation based in common and newly taught phonics patterns.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 1, page 349, students use magnetic letters, tiles, or lowercase letter cards to build CVC words. Students write the words on a list sheet.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 3, page 357, students use magnetic letters, tiles, or lowercase letter cards to build -at words. They write the words on a sheet of paper and during the share part of the lesson they share one -at word with the group.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 5, page 365, students use magnetic letters, letter tiles, or letter cards to make spelling pattern words with -ake.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 6, page 369, students use magnetic letters, tiles, or lowercase letter cards to make spelling pattern words with -ine. 

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

The Fountas & Pinnell materials provide students with limited opportunities to encode phonetically-based words in activities and tasks during Interactive Writing and Independent Writing of Letter-Sound Relationships, Spelling Patterns, and Word-Solving Actions lessons. There are missed opportunities for the teacher to consistently and explicitly teach and/or model encoding phonics in activities and tasks.

Materials include some explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of teacher modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Letter-Sound Relationships Lesson 5, page 332, in both the Interactive Writing and Independent Writing sections, the teacher has the students say a word slowly and think about what the first letter is likely to be and then write the first letter. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 5, page 366, during Interactive Writing, the instructions are to “invite children to help you write words with the -ake pattern, or have them use a known word that contains -ake to write a new word. Revisit pieces of interactive writing to hunt for, identify, and highlight known patterns.” During Independent Writing, the instructions say to “encourage children to use their knowledge of spelling patterns as a resource to write words. When children are writing rhyming texts, remind them to make use of the spelling pattern charts.” 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 2, during Interactive Writing, the teacher has students help write words with -an or use a known word with -an to write a new word. During Independent Writing, the teacher is to encourage students to use their knowledge of spelling patterns as a resource to write words. 

Lessons provide students with limited activities and tasks to promote application of phonics as they encode words in sentences or in phrases based on common and newly taught grade-level phonics patterns. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 2, during Independent Writing, students are to use their knowledge of spelling patterns as a resource to write words. When students are writing rhyming texts, the teacher is to remind students to use the spelling pattern charts.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 3, during Independent Writing, students are to use their knowledge of spelling patterns as a resource to write words. When students are writing rhyming texts, the teacher is to remind students to use the spelling pattern charts.
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 4, during Independent Writing, students are to use their knowledge of spelling patterns as a resource to write words. When students are writing rhyming texts, the teacher is to remind students to use the spelling pattern charts.

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

Fountas & Pinnell Kindergarten materials contain seven High-Frequency Word Lessons. Since all seven lessons are generative lessons, the materials suggest the teacher repeat the lesson several times, and the teacher selects which words to teach from either the 25 High-Frequency Words List or 50 High-Frequency Words List. The program does not specify an exact sequence of instruction or exactly how many of the high-frequency words should be mastered at any specific point over the Kindergarten year. High-frequency word lessons are not frequently addressed over the course of the year with lessons occurring in #26, #53, #82, #83, #84, and #85 of the Master Lesson Guide. Each lesson suggests the use of the Words to Know Instructional Procedure, which contains five steps including explicit instruction by the teacher and opportunities for students to understand the principle. 

Examples of materials that include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and practice opportunities for students include but are not limited to the following:

• Materials include some systematic and explicit instruction of high-frequency words (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, the Words to Know Instructional Routine is described with 5 steps:
• 1. Show a group of high-frequency words, reading each one while running your pointer finger under it, left to right. 
• 2. Children look at each word to see if they recognize it. 
• 3. Help children understand the principle. 
• 4. Children work with high-frequency words to apply the principle.
• 5. Summarize the learning by restating the principle. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 1, page 378, the teacher places the following word cards on the magnetic whiteboard: to, a, it, me, and I. The teacher holds up the word and says “What is this word? You read it. What are the two letters in this word? Spell it from left to right.”  The teacher makes the words using letter tiles. The teacher writes the word. The class reads all three examples of the word. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 3, pages 385-388, the teacher starts the lesson by asking, “What word is this?” The teacher asks the students to match word cards with the words on a wall chart. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency 4, pages 389-392, the instruction begins with an explicit model, “The first word is like. You read it. What are the four letters in like?”
• Materials include some opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of high-frequency words in isolation. Examples include, but are not limited to:
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 2, page 382, the teacher tells students they are going to read, make and write high-frequency words. The teacher models finding the letters, making sure they are in the correct order, going across to read, and making and writing on the board to ensure all words are correctly spelled.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 4, page 390, Teach, the teacher says, “The first word is like. You read it.” The teacher builds the word going letter by letter using magnetic tiles and demonstrates that every letter is in the correct order. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words, 5, page 394, the teacher makes the high-frequency word by demonstrating how to find the letter tiles and placing it on the magnetic board and checking to make sure the letters are in the right order. 
• Students have practice identifying and reading high-frequency words in isolation. Examples include, but are not limited to:
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 1, the students work on reading, making, and writing the newly learned high-frequency words. Students first read the word on a word card, make the word with magnetic tiles, and then write the word independently.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 4, page 391, students practice reading, making, and writing the following words with word cards and magnetic letters: like, when, not, look. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 5, page 395, students practice reading, making and writing the words using the read-make-write sheets with the words: from, what, your, she. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 383, students read, make and write the high frequency words the, and, is, and can on their read-make-write sheets. 
• Materials include an insufficient quantity of grade-appropriate high-frequency words for students to make reading progress. The Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K presents 25 high-frequency words for students to learn throughout their Kindergarten year. On page 377, it says “You will make sure that children know as many as twenty-five high-frequency words in detail and teach them a procedure for learning and remembering words by sight.”

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).

In the Fountas & Pinnell materials, Kindergarten students have opportunities to hear and read high-frequency words in the context of sentences during Teach and/or Shared Reading of the High-Frequency Word  and Word-Solving Actions lessons. The teacher models reading poems that contain high-frequency words from Sing a Song of Poetry, and students are encouraged to join the teacher after one or two repetitions. During Interactive Writing, students have opportunities for writing words in isolation and checking their spelling on the word wall, but there is no systematic practice on writing high-frequency words in sentences. In some of the Independent Writing sections, the teacher encourages students to recall words they know by sight and write them quickly, checking them for accuracy against words posted on the word wall, but does not provide systematic practice on writing that day’s high-frequency words in context. 

Lessons provide students with some opportunities to read grade level high-frequency words in a sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lesson Grade K, High-Frequency Words 1, page 380, the teacher presents a shared reading poem and has children use highlighter tape to locate one-, two-, and three- letter high-frequency words after reading 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Grade K, High-Frequency Word Lesson 7, pages 401-404, the teacher presents a poem from Sing a Song of Poetry during Teach. After reading the text, the students are asked to locate the high-frequency words and highlight them within the text. 
• This activity is extended into Apply, and students continue to identify high-frequency words within context. 
• In Shared Reading, the teacher is to enlarge “Little Red Apple” or “I Clap my Hands” for reading with students. Students use highlighter tape to locate and identify high-frequency words.
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word-Solving Actions 2, page 460, students read the class letter, that has some high-frequency words in it.  
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 462, during the interactive read-out loud it is encouraged to have the students to read some of the words, particularly on the second and third reading.

Lessons provide students with few 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. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 1, during Interactive Writing, students write high-frequency words quickly while others locate the word on the word wall. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 6, page 400, during Independent Writing, the teacher is to “encourage the children to recognize that they have known some words really well. They can write them quickly as they write stories. Have them check their spelling.”

Materials provide some 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).

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, page 23, there is an explanation of putting up a word wall and what should be on it, as well as the purpose. The teacher can “refer to it during interactive read-aloud, small-group guided reading, and phonics instruction.”
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 4, page 392, during Interactive Writing, students write a high frequency word while others locate it on the word wall. 
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 7, page 404, during Interactive Writing, the teacher reminds students of words they can write quickly because they have seen them before. The teacher is to “remind children of these words on the word wall and in the poems, rhymes, songs, and chants that they have encountered in shared reading.”

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials provide opportunities for students to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity in K and Grade 1.

The Fountas & Pinnell Kindergarten materials contain some opportunities for students to be explicitly instructed in how to decode with automaticity and accuracy during Teach. In some lessons, the teacher explains the phonics concept but does not model reading words with automaticity and accuracy prior to asking students to read the words. The materials contain some opportunities for students to engage in decoding practice during Teach and Apply. 

Materials provide systematic and explicit instruction in fluency by focusing on accuracy and automaticity in decoding. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 2, the teacher models words ending in -an and states, “Each of these words has the letters -an in it. The word an is a word by itself, but you also see these letters at the end of other words.” The teacher shows students how to read -an words. Students reread the list of words and the teacher states, “You can look for and use spelling patterns, such as -an, to help you read and write words.”
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Spelling Patterns 5, the teacher writes -ake words on chart paper. The teacher states, “You can look at this spelling pattern to read each word.” The teacher writes more words with -ake and has students to reread the list of words.

Materials provide some opportunities for students in Kindergarten to engage in decoding practice focused on accuracy and automaticity. Examples include, but are not limited to:

• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 4, pages 389-392, students are instructed to read their list of high-frequency words to a partner and to read each word quickly. The teacher is asked to “Notice whether children are able to recognize high-frequency words with three or more letters quickly when reading.”
• In Phonics, Spelling and Word Study Lessons Grade K, High-Frequency Words 5, page 395, students use the read, make, and write model for the following high-frequency words: from, what, your, she. Students check with a partner to make sure they are reading the words correctly. 
• In Phonics, Spelling, and Word Study Lessons Grade K, Word Solving Actions 2, pages 459-462, the lesson focus is to recognize and read known words quickly. Students practice reading a letter together with coaching from the teacher. Individual students are asked to read a line word-by-word while the other students check whether the child reads accurately. Students go back and read the salutation and first two lines together again quickly. The teacher adds two more lines to the letter and repeats the tasks using the new lines.