Kindergarten - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that anchor texts (including read aloud texts in K-2 and shared reading texts in Grade 2 used to build knowledge and vocabulary) are of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading/listening and consider a range of student interests.

Anchor texts, such as the Super Smart digital read-alouds, are high quality, including rich language and engaging content. Accompanying illustrations are also high quality, supporting students' understanding and comprehension of the associated text. However, some anchor texts, such as the Student Books, are not of publishable quality. The Student Books used for whole group are used for skills-based instruction and are decodable stories with students reading aloud with the teacher. 

Examples of anchor texts that are rich and high quality include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson 2, the teacher uses the Super Smart digital read-aloud, “How Food Grows” by Judy Woodburn. This text is interactive and includes videos to engage students. It also includes high-interest photographs of children planting seeds. The text contains strong content and academic vocabulary.
• In Unit 5, Lesson 3, the teacher uses the Super Smart digital read-aloud, “A House for Muffin” by Charman Simon. The text is engaging, worthy of reading, age-appropriate, and contains vibrant illustrations.
• In Unit 18, Lesson 2, the teacher uses the story, “The Odd Picnic” (no author listed). The short story contains some rich vocabulary including words like "gulp," "lug," and "stump." Illustrations are appealing and the story is age-appropriate.

Example of Student Books that are not of publishable quality include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 3, Lesson 6, the teacher uses the text, “Gregory’s Green Goggles” by Diane Chapman. This is a teacher read-aloud. The text contains some rich vocabulary, but does not contain illustrations.
• In Unit 8, Lesson 4, the teacher uses the story, “Icky” (no author listed). The short story is used to identify the title and track print. The story consists of basic language and no academic vocabulary.
• In Unit 10, Lesson 3, the teacher uses the text, “Frits” (no author listed). This is a story from the Meet the Superkids Student Book. It has low-quality illustrations with 1-2 short, basic sentences for each illustration. The text provides no rich content or academic vocabulary.
• In Unit 15, Lesson 3, the story “Let’s Get Set” (no author listed) is used. This is a short story which is used to build reading fluency. The text contains basic language and no academic vocabulary.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that texts (including read-aloud texts and some shared reading texts used to build knowledge and vocabulary) have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade level according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and a relationship to their associated student task.

The Meet the Superkids Library Books used in Units 1-13 range from "non measured" wordless picture books and Beginning Reader (BR) Lexile to 290L. These are typically used as a whole class read-alouds with students reading with the teacher and are at a level below what is appropriate use for Kindergarten students. The program guides recommends using these books in small groups beginning in Unit 9; however, that is not indicated clearly within the daily lesson plans. 

The Superkids' Club Library Books used in Units 14-24 for small group reading have the following median Lexile scores: Easy level median of 80, On-level median of 250, and Challenging level median of 350. These are at an appropriate level for Kindergarten students as they are used.

Super Smart Digital Read-Alouds are at a level appropriate for their use. However, there is no quantitative information provided for these.

Student Books are decodable stories often used in the program for whole group skills-based instruction. These are not at an appropriate level when used as core anchor texts. 

Examples of texts that are above grade level and appropriate include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Super Smart, “The Odd Ostrich”
• Quantitative: unknown
• Qualitative: The text includes vibrant photographs with several lines of text on each page. There are multiple text features such as, a bar graph and a comparison of dinosaurs and ostriches using pictures to compare. The text makes many comparisons and supports the reader with strong picture cues.
• Reader and Task: The teacher guides students through answering text-dependent questions on each page of the digital read-aloud. Questions include vocabulary, cause/effect, graphic features, compare/contrast, and draw conclusions. Students complete Super Smart practice pages during the Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins to make a mini book used for retelling.
• In Unit 8, Super Smart, “Information About Insects”
• Quantitative: unknown
• Qualitative: The read-aloud contains rich vocabulary including words like “buzz” and “creep.” The photographs are vibrant and include important text features with a diagram and labels.
• Reader and Task: The teacher guides students through answering text-dependent questions on each page of the digital read-aloud. Questions include: vocabulary, text features, figurative language, compare/contrast, summarize, main idea and details. The teacher guides students to complete Super Smart practice pages during the Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins to make a mini book used for retelling.

Example of anchor texts that are below grade level include:

• In Unit 6, Student Book Reader, “Sal”
• Quantitative: unknown
• Qualitative: The reader contains no sentences, rather a series of pictures accompanied by one word.
• Reader and Task: The text is used for print awareness, phonemic awareness of initial and final /s/, phonics to associate Ss with /s/, vocabulary, and to teach nouns and verbs. The teacher guides students through answering text-dependent questions and completing student book pages. While this text is appropriate as a decodable, it is below appropriate level as an anchor read-aloud text.
  
  
• In Unit 8, Student Book Reader, “Icky”
• Quantitative: unknown
• Qualitative: The short story is used to listen to the story, identify the title, and track print. The story consists of basic language and no academic vocabulary.
• Reader and Task: This text is also used for print awareness, phonemic awareness of initial /i/, phonics to associate Ii with /i/, vocabulary, and to teach nouns and verbs. The teacher guides students through answering text-dependent questions and completing student book pages. While this text is appropriate as a decodable, it is below appropriate level as an anchor read-aloud text.
  

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials supporting students’ literacy skills (comprehension) over the course of the school year through increasingly complex text to develop independence of grade level skills (leveled readers and series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels).

The instructional materials provide opportunities for students to increase their literacy skills by using Super Smart Digital Read Alouds for each Unit, decodable Student Book Stories, Superkids’ Club Leveled Library texts for Units 1-4 and Units 5-13 and Superkids’ Club Informational Library texts starting in Unit 14. Most lessons in the Teacher's Guide contains explicit instruction for teachers to guide students’ comprehension growth. Lessons do not include appropriate scaffolds for students to become more involved in questioning and participating in discussions.

Questioning sequences are similar throughout the year and do not have a consistent increase in rigor. Additional time and questions are not provided when using more complex texts. Questioning is teacher-led and lacks both depth of knowledge and text-based questions throughout the year's worth of instruction.

Examples of how materials partially support literacy growth include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 8, the teacher uses the text, “Oswald’s Special Surprise,” to help students generate questions and make predictions. The teacher models a Think Aloud by saying, “As I read, I ask myself questions about what might happen next. Right now I’m wondering how the animals will know which way to go. I ask myself, What has happened in the story so far? Can this help me understand what will happen next? Earlier when the friends had to choose which way to go, they heard /o/-/o/-/o/ and went toward the sound. I think they might hear /o/-o/-/o/ again and turn that way.”
• In Unit 6, Lesson 6, the teacher uses the text, “Four Seasons for Sports,” to helps students determine the main idea. The teacher models a Think Aloud by saying, “When I read something that has a lot of information, I ask myself questions to help me figure out what the most important ideas are. I ask, What is this part about? What did I learn? The part I just read is about winter. I learned that winter has short days and cold weather. It can have snow and ice, so people like to ice skate, ski, and sled.”
• In Unit 7, Lesson 3, students listen to the teacher read, “Loving Care” twice. The teacher asks comparing and contrasting questions, “What do we find out on this page and page 1 about how a human infant and a lion cub are alike? How is the safe place for lion cubs different from the safe place for an infant?” To help students understand vocabulary and retell details, the teacher says, “Helpless means not able to do things for yourself. What do we find out on this page about how an infant is helpless? What do we find out on this page about how a lion cub is helpless?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that anchor texts and series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement in the grade level.  

The publisher provides qualitative information for the Super Smart Digital Informational Read-Alouds including text structure, text features, and key vocabulary; however, no quantitative analysis is provided. For the Superkids Library, the publisher provides quantitative analysis that includes word count, Guided Reading Levels, and Lexile Levels. The publisher documents are located in the Materials Resources tab; however, no information is provided for Student Books, which are a part of small group lessons. Additionally, qualitative features are inconsistently provided within the lesson plans, also no rationale for placement within lessons is consistently provided.

Examples of how the materials provide inconsistent text complexity analysis and rationale include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson 8, students listen to, “How Food Grows” to learn and discuss how food grows. The publisher provides the following information: Text structures include Sequential (time) order; Text Features include Labels (food names), Diagram (plant parts), Time-lapse videos (plant growth); and Key Vocabulary includes soil, seeds, roots, stem, leaves, seedling. No quantitative analysis is provided.
• In Unit 8, the teacher is provided key vocabulary, text structure of the article, text features, and key science concepts. Teacher directions state: “Step 1: introduce the test and Step 2: guide listening and comprehension.” A general rationale is given in the introduction to the Super Smart Teacher Guide: “Teaching the lessons can help you develop children’s listening comprehension skills with more complex texts that they can read themselves [and] build children’s content knowledge and vocabulary.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small groups, peer-to-peer, whole class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

While the materials provide frequent opportunities for students to discuss the texts that are being read aloud to them, there is a lack of guidance or protocols for discussions. The Daily Read-Aloud Routine contains a list of comprehension questions to ask students for fiction and informational texts; however, this guide does not contain explicit protocols for students to engage in discussions in small groups or in pairs. Most discussions occur as the teacher asks questions and the students respond as individuals within a whole group.

The Teacher Guide provides comprehension questions within each unit for the teacher to ask students who typically respond orally to these questions when they are called upon by the teacher. Opportunities are missed for students to engage in evidence-based discussions with peers or within small groups using protocols to guide discussions. The Pleasant’s Pointers sidebars that show up in some lessons provide occasional examples of desired speaking and listening behaviors. However, these behaviors are not practiced or revisited as a part of future lessons.

Examples of how students engage in speaking and listening work include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson 4, the teacher reads the read-aloud story three times. During reading, questions are asked to develop vocabulary. Students practice using context clues, “Fruits and vegetables grow ‘in the dirt or soil’. What is soil?”. Students are asked about parts of a plant, “What part of the plant takes in water from the soil? What part carries water to the leaves? What does it mean that the stem works like a straw?”. The teacher conducts a think aloud about picture 8b to determine word meaning using context clues. Teacher language is provided for modeling responses; however, there are no protocols to support students as they respond. No opportunity is provided for students to discuss the vocabulary or lesson together. In the same lesson, the Pleasant’s Pointers sidebar reads, “At the beginning of the school year, establish guidelines for classroom discussions. Model and discuss good listening and speaking behaviors. Point out that good listeners pay attention to the speaker, wait for their turn to speak, and ask questions if they are confused or curious. Good speakers speak clearly and loud enough to be heard by everyone. They stay on topic and are respectful of others’ ideas.” These guidelines/pointers are not practiced or reinforced anywhere else in the lesson.
• In Unit 5, Lesson 6, students read the text ,“Doc,” and discuss the vocabulary multiple times: photo album, younger, older, and changed. Students build background knowledge before reading the book. The teacher is directed to, “explain that in this story, Doc looks at a photo album, a book that is full of photos, or photographs, showing family and friends. Discuss what a photograph is (a picture you take with a camera or mobile device) and why people make photo albums. (The photos remind them of special times.) Have children describe any photos they’ve seen of themselves when they were younger, either a baby or a few years old.” These lessons do not include protocols or directions to support students in engaging in discussions with classmates or as a part of the group.
• In Unit 7, Lesson 6, the teacher sets a purpose for listening by asking students to listen to the nursery rhyme to find out what the ladybug is supposed to do. The teacher pauses to ask comprehension questions and model strategies. The teacher reads the nursery rhyme once straight through so students can enjoy its rhythm and rhyme. During the second read, the teacher pauses to ask questions and model the think aloud shown under the nursery rhyme. Students respond orally to questions to demonstrate they recognize text structure and can determine main ideas.
• In Unit 10, Lesson 6, the teacher introduces key vocabulary before reading. The teacher explains how some fish live in the ocean and asks students to name other places where fish might live. As a whole group, the teacher and students discuss gills, what they are used for. The teacher displays a picture card pointing out where gills are located asks students to name other parts of a fish, such as scales. During and after reading, the teacher develops vocabulary by questioning, “What are baby fish called? What is a big group of fish called?” The teacher asks about multiple meanings, “What is another meaning of the word fry? What is another meaning of the word school?” Students are not given a protocol to follow as they respond to the questions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials support students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading (or read aloud) and researching (shared projects) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

Before, during, and after reading, students respond to both text-dependent and text-independent questions. Over the course of the year, students interact more with the teacher in a listening/speaking format than with other students.  Opportunities are missed for students to share ideas with each other regarding texts they read or listen to. Some speaking and listening work requires students to use evidence from texts and sources. 

Examples of how materials partially support students' listening and speaking include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 4, Lesson 6, pages 28-30, the teacher asks students to listen to and discuss a multimedia text. The teacher reads, “Campout!” twice and discusses it with the students. The teacher asks the whole class, “What does the author think about camping? What are these boys bringing camping? What do the red and blue arrows point to?”
• In Unit 5, Lesson 6, the teacher reads, “A House for Muffin.” In the after-reading discussion, the teacher asks, “Do you think it would be hard to build a doghouse? Why or why not?”. The lesson indicates the answers should be supported with reasons based on information from the text.
• In Unit 20, Lesson 3, students listen to an audio recording of “Lily and the Wagwags.” Students read in a small group with the teacher. The teacher leads the questioning and discussions with students throughout the reading and models a Think aloud to generating questions. Support is provided for the teacher in the Teacher Guide to do the Think Aloud activity.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials include a mix of on-demand and process writing grade-appropriate writing (e.g. grade-appropriate revision and editing) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

Materials include on-demand and process writing that covers a year’s worth of instruction as well as short and longer writing tasks and projects; however, opportunities are missed for students to revise and edit with explicit instruction and guidance. With guidance and support, students respond to questions and suggestions from peers, but do not add details and revise or edit to strengthen their writing. Instructional materials include the use of some digital resources, where appropriate, beginning in Unit 14. The writing experiences do partially support students in beginning to build writing skills, but the teacher will need to supplement to begin building students' abilities in early revision and production practice.

Examples of a mix of writing that does not include editing and revising opportunities include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 3, Lessons 4 and 5, the teacher uses Resource Page 4 to model how to draw favorite things and then students draw their favorite things. The next day, the teacher models how to draw a favorite character and then students draw their favorite character.
• In Unit 8, Lesson 1, students work together to make a list of things they learned about insects from reading the Super Smart,  Information About Insects by Judy Woodburn. Students contribute facts about insects and the teacher lists them on chart paper.
• In Unit 11, Lesson 2, the teacher reminds students they can share information about how something looks or feels by telling about its size, shape, color, or texture. In this lesson, students draw and write about a gift they would like to give Ettabetta. The teacher asks students what kind of gift Ettabetta got in the mail and can they imagine giving Ettabetta any other gift that begins with a letter and letter-sound they have been taught. Students draw and write to describe a gift. The teacher distributes Resource Page 11 and tells students to draw the gift they want to give Ettabetta on the bottom half of the page. On the handwriting lines, students write words to describe and name the gift.
• In Unit 13, Lesson 5, students draw and write about their favorite Superkid. Instructions state, “Use Draw-and-Write Paper and the Superkids Chart. On Draw-and-Write Paper, draw yourself doing something fun with a favorite Superkid. Label the drawing with your name and the Superkid’s name. On the handwriting lines, write a few words to tell what you and the Superkid are doing together.” The teacher models and students practice.
• In Unit 15, Lesson 1, students help the teacher generate a list of class events. In Lesson 2, page 12, students help the teacher generate a personal list of events. Then the students discuss events with a partner. In Lesson 3, pages 13-14, the teacher models picking one event to write about and draws a picture and writes a sentence about the event. The students do the same. In Lesson 4, pages 15-16, students add more to their previous writing. In Lesson 5, page 17, students edit and share their finished writing. This writing task is one week long.
• In Unit 17, Lesson 5, the teacher teaches writing an e-mail message. Students contribute to the email message the teacher types by generating ideas for the e-mail message. The teacher models writing the e-mail message and then reads the message back to the class and sends the message.
• In Unit 22, Lessons 1-3, students work on opinion writing for a book review. In Lesson 1, the teacher asks students to choose one of four books they liked and has students discuss what they liked about the book. In Lesson 2, students begin writing their book review using the sentence frame, “This book is about ________.” In Lesson 3, students continue the writing project by adding what they think about the book and why. Students are provided the sentence frame, “I think this book is ______ because ______.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials provide opportunities for students to address different text types of writing (year long) that reflect the distribution required by the standards.

In the Materials and Resources for Teachers, Writing Instruction Overview, Kindergarten writing lessons cover: Informative/Explanatory, Opinion, and Narrative Writing. The Kindergarten curriculum focuses on Informative/Explanatory, Opinion, and  Narrative. Materials provide informal opportunities for students and teachers to monitor progress in writing skills, but few formal opportunities are present to monitor progress in writing skills to assure students can complete the text type.  Teachers will need to supplement to assure all text types are introduced and practiced and to assure that students are meeting the goals of each writing type, as inclusion of rubrics and guidance for monitoring is inconsistent.

Examples of opportunities to practice different writing types include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 1, the teacher makes a shared list of “Things We Like to Do” and students contribute to the shared list. In Lesson 2, the teacher models drawing something he or she likes to do. An example for the teacher is provided. Students draw their own picture showing something they like to do.
• In Unit 7, Lesson 3, students draw and write about something that makes them glad. The teacher tells students to talk with a partner about what they will draw to show something that makes them glad. The teacher distributes Draw-and-Write Paper and reminds students that they should draw their picture in the box, include themselves in their drawings and make their faces show they are glad. When students finish, the teacher tells them to write the word “glad” on the handwriting lines, reminding them to say the word slowly, listen for the sounds, and write the letter that stands for each sound.
• In Unit 8, Lesson 1, teachers guide students while listing facts about insects. A reference is made to learning a lot about insects from “Super Smart Information About Insects.” The teacher and students work together to create the list on chart paper. If students need help recalling facts, they are instructed to look back through the text again and discuss the information on the pages.
• In Unit 10, Lesson 2, students draw a picture of the pond after the teacher thinks aloud and draws a pond. In Lesson 3, page 44, students complete a sentence together with the teacher about what happens at a pond. Students write about an animal or something else in their drawing.
• In Unit 15, Lesson 1, students help the teacher generate a list of class events unsupported by a text. In Lesson 2, page 12, students help the teacher generate a personal list of events, then the students discuss events with a partner.  In Lesson 3, pages 13-14, the teacher models picking one event to write about, draws a picture, and writes a sentence about the event. Following the modeling, the students do the same. In Lesson 4, pages 15-16, the students add more to the previous writing. In Lesson 5, page 17, students edit and share their finished writing.
• In Unit 20, Lesson 2, students brainstorm possible headings for an informational animal book. The teacher writes headings on board in a sentence frame format to support student writing, for example, “Where _____ Live” and “What ___ Eat”. This is informational writing, however no research is done to verify information.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials include regular opportunities for evidence-based writing to support recall of information, opinions with reasons, and relevant information appropriate for the grade level.

Frequent writing opportunities are presented to learn, practice and apply writing types, but do not always require using text-based evidence. Writing opportunities do not require students’ recall of information to develop opinions from reading closely and working with evidence from texts and sources.

Writing opportunities are rarely connected to texts and/or text sets either as prompts, models, anchors, or supports. The teacher will have to supplement to provide students practice in writing work related to texts.

Examples that are present in the materials include, but are not limited to the following; however, note that the majority of writing work is not connected to texts students are working with: 

• In Unit 8, Lesson 1, students draw and write to tell about themselves. The teacher explains they can also draw and write to teach others things they know about. The teacher points out they learned a lot about insects from the Super Smart,  Information About Insects by Judy Woodburn, and in this lesson, they will work together to make of list of things they learned about insects.
• In Unit 12, Lesson 1, the teacher explains the character Hot Rod from the Student Book, "Hot Rod" likes to go fast in his car. Together the teacher and students make a list of things that go fast, separating by categories: land, air, and water. In Lesson 2, students are asked to draw something that goes fast.
• In Unit 13, Lesson 5, students draw and write about their favorite Superkid, “Use Draw-and-Write Paper and the Superkids Chart. On Draw-and-Write Paper, draw yourself doing something fun with a favorite Superkid. Label the drawing with your name and the Superkid’s name. On the handwriting lines, write a few words to tell what you and the Superkid are doing together.”
• In Unit 22, Lessons 1-3, students work on an opinion writing for a book review. In Lesson 1, students choose one of four books they liked and discuss what they liked about the book. In Lesson 2, students begin writing their book review using the following sentence frame, “This book is about ________.” In Lesson 3, students continue writing what they think about the book and why. Again students are provided with a sentence frame, “I think this book is ______ because ______.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials include explicit instruction of the grammar and conventions standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application both in and out of context.

The materials include instruction in grammar and conventions standards over the course of the year. Printing upper and lowercase letters is included throughout each of the 24 units, as a letter is the focus of every unit. In many cases, the teacher presents and models information; however, independent student practice and application is limited. Practice is often limited to out-of-context opportunities. Limited instruction and practice on capitalizing the first word in a sentence is included. Beyond printing many upper and lowercase letters, language standards are not increasingly complex and do not provide adequate repeated instruction for student mastery.

Students have opportunities to print many upper and lowercase letters. A new letter is taught in each unit. For example:

• In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Word Work, the teacher displays the Ice Cream Paper on the whiteboard and writes upper case C and uppercase G on the lines; students identify the letters. There is discussion about why the two letters are different. The teacher demonstrates the formation of uppercase G. Students are instructed to touch below the strawberry line, circle back, ending at the vanilla line and slide left. Students then trace and write uppercase G in the student book.

Students have opportunities to use frequently occurring nouns and verbs. For example:

• In Unit 6, Lesson 1, Reading, students look at page 1 of the student book. The teacher tells students words that name people, places, or things are called nouns. The teacher tells students other words tell actions that someone or something does. The teacher asks what the person on the paper is doing. Students name other actions the character is doing. The teacher tells students action words are called verbs. The teacher generates words for people, places, things, and actions. Students explain if the words are nouns or verbs and why.

Students have opportunities to form regular plural nouns orally by adding /s/ or /es/ (e.g., dog, dogs; wish, wishes). For example:

• In Unit 14, Lesson 3, Word Work, the teacher instructs plurals with -s endings. The teacher introduces plurals by drawing one dot and writing the word dot on the board. The teacher adds dots to the board and adds -s to dot and reads the word dots. The teacher discusses what adding the letter -s to the end of dot does to the meaning of the word (makes it mean more than one dot). The teacher explains that -s can be added to the end of other words to make the word mean more than one.

Students have opportunities to understand and use question words (interrogatives) (e.g., who, what, where, when, why, how). For example:

• In Unit 12,  Lesson 6, Reading, students generate questions to make predictions about, “Hot Rod’s Sharing Solution” by Valerie Tripp.

Students have opportunities to use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with). For example:

• In Unit 13, Lesson 1, Word Work, the teacher uses position words to describe the location of some of the Superkids in the pyramid, “Golly is at the top of the pyramid. Golly is standing over Oswald and Doc. Oswald is next to Doc. Icky is in the middle of the bottom row. Tic is on the left side and Ettabetta is on the right side.” The teacher uses position words to play a riddle game about the Superkids.

Students have opportunities to produce and expand complete sentences in shared language activities. For example:

• In Unit 24, Lesson 8, Writing, students use action words in sentences they write about themselves in their Student Book (p. 32) describing themselves as a Superkid. The teacher explains the words given, “I like to,” are the beginnings of sentences. The teacher instructs students to complete each sentence using one of the action words from the list or another action word they know. The teacher encourages students to include other words in their sentences telling more about the actions. The teacher reminds students to put a period or an exclamation mark at the end of each sentence.

Students have opportunities to capitalize the first word in a sentence and the pronoun I. For example:

• In Unit 9, Lesson 5, Word Work, the teacher has students look at the first sentence in a story. The teacher reminds them the uppercase letter at the beginning and the period at the end show the group of words as a whole, is a sentence. Students count how many sentences are in the story.

Students have opportunities to recognize and name end punctuation. For example:

• In Unit 10, Lesson 4, Word Work, the teachers instructs students about different types of sentences. The teacher reviews declarative sentences and periods. The teacher instructs about interrogative sentences and the use of question marks. The teacher writes two sentences about a worm, "Is it flat/It is flat". Students distinguish between interrogative and declarative sentences. The teacher asks what mark belongs at the end of the interrogative sentence (question mark) and what mark belongs at the end of the declarative sentence (period).

Students have opportunities to write a letter or letters for most consonant and short-vowel sounds (phonemes). For example:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 4, Word Work, students encode Cc for /k/ and Oo for short /o/. Using Student Book p. 8, students trace C for camel, O for ostrich, C for canary, C for caterpillar, O for ox, and O for otter. The teacher names the animal in the picture and has children trace the letter matching the sound at the beginning of the animal name.

Students have opportunities to spell simple words phonetically, drawing on knowledge of sound-letter relationships. For example:

• In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Word Work, the teacher says a word, gives a context sentence, and students write the word (4 words are provided).
• In Unit 11, Lesson 3, Word Work, students encode letters for initial sounds and blend sounds to decode secret words on Student Book, page 7. Students write initial letters of picture names to form these words: elf, leg, sled, gift. Then students cut apart and glue pictures next to matching written words.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials, questions, and tasks directly teach foundational skills to build reading acquisition by providing systematic and explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle, letter-sound relationships, phonemic awareness, and phonological awareness (K-1), and phonics (K-2) that demonstrate a transparent and research-based progression for application both in and out of context.

In the instructional materials, students have opportunities to learn phonological awareness, phonemic awareness, and phonics. The opportunities occur during Daily Routines, Word Work, and Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins. However, limited opportunities are provided for students to receive explicit instruction in each of these skills. Students have opportunities to practice rhyming words in the Daily Routines (e.g. produce rhyming words, blend onsets and rimes, pronounce vowels in CVC words, and substitute sounds to make new words). Daily practice of blending and segmenting onsets and rimes begins in Unit 3. One-to-one letter correspondence is taught, modeled, and practiced in each unit and focuses on one letter a week. Additionally, students have opportunities to practice letter-sound relationships with one sound/letter per week, with long vowels not being taught until Unit 24. Students are provided practice in: identifying a letter in writing, writing the letter, identifying the sound orally, and identifying the pictures of words starting with the given letter. However, opportunities are missed for students to demonstrate their understanding of syllables through being able to produce, blend, or segment syllables in spoken words.

Examples of adequate opportunities to learn and understand phonemes, but limited opportunities to learn how to segment syllables include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson 2, Daily Routines, when the teacher says a word that has the initial sound of /k/, students take a step forward.
• In Unit 1, Lesson 5, Word Work, the teacher explains some of the words in the poem rhyme and words that rhyme sound the same at the end. The teacher states the words "tall" and "fall" from the poem and asks if the words sound the same at the end. Students are asked to name other words rhyming with "tall" and "fall" (ball, call, hall). The teacher reads word pairs from the poem, and students give a thumbs up for pairs that rhyme and thumbs down for pairs that do not rhyme (6 pairs).
• In Unit 2, Lesson 1, Daily Routines, students practice counting syllables. The teacher says two words and asks which is longer (6 pairs of words). The teacher repeats each word slowly. The teacher claps once for each syllable. Students repeat each word and clap with the teacher. The lesson plan notes teachers can provide additional practice using auditory discrimination and phonological awareness activities in Building Blocks of Reading.
• In Unit 3, Lesson 1, Daily Routines, students practice isolating phonemes. The teacher says a word and asks students to say each sound in the word separately. The teacher models explaining the sounds in "cat" are c-a-t. Students practice with 8 words.
• In Unit 5, Lesson 5, Work Work, students are guided to blend words. The teacher explicitly tells students to put their finger under the D of "Dog" and slide their finger from the left to right as they blend the sounds and read the word.
• In Unit 7, Lesson 4, Ten-Minute Tuck-In, students create a flip book for -ad words. Students are instructed to put letters l, d, and s on separate half index cards and -ad on a full index card. Students create a flip book to practice blending.
• In Unit 8, Lesson 6, Daily Routines, the teacher uses letter cards to create the word "did" in a pocket chart. The teacher changes one letter at a time to create new words and students read each new word.
• In Unit 11, Lesson 5, Daily Routines, students have opportunities to substitute individual phonemes to make new words. The teacher uses letter cards to make words. Students blend the sounds to read the words. The teacher changes letters in the middle of each word. Students blend the sounds in the new word.
• In Unit 13, Lesson 2, Daily Routines, students hold up their arms in the U shape if the teacher says a word that begins with the /u/ sound, as in up.

Examples of opportunities to learn grade-level phonics skills while decoding words (e.g. one-to-one correspondences, long and short sounds with common spellings, and distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying sounds of the letters) include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 2, Word Work, the teacher reviews the letter O and asks students to say the sound the letter O makes. Students find the word beginning with the uppercase O in the title. The teacher asks if the words "Oswald" and "odd" have the same beginning sound. Students circle pictures with names beginning with O.
• In Unit 5, Lesson 5, Daily Routines, students write the last letter they hear the teacher say (hug, had, mud, bag, frog, wood).
• In Unit 9, Lesson 3, Word Work, the teacher guides students to write the missing medial vowels on the "Toc, Tac, or Tic" worksheet. The teacher emphasizes the medial sound when identifying the character the picture shows.
• In Unit 10, Lesson 1, Word Work, the teacher introduces students to the letter F. The teacher says the words, "Frits" and "fish." The teacher asks what sound students hear at the beginning of the word and what letter matches the sound. Students identify the letters in the box next to the picture. The teacher explains the letter F stands for the /f/ sound. Students identify each picture on the page and circle pictures of words starting with F.
• In Unit 13, Lesson 5, Daily Routines, the teacher says, hat, hit, hot, and hut in the context of a sentence while the students write down each word. The teacher then has students identify what sounds make each word different.
• In Unit 24, Lesson 4, Word Work, the teacher reviews short /a/. The teacher explains each vowel has a short sound and a long sound. The teacher says, "apple" and "apron" and asks students if the sounds at the beginning are the same. The teacher explicitly points out the letter name A on the letter card is the same. The teacher reviews the long /a/ sound in the initial and medial position and reviews words.

Examples of cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness and phonics instruction to build toward application include, but are not limited to:

• Students receive phonemic awareness and phonics lessons daily through Skills Lessons and Daily Routines. Students practice identifying rhyming words and blending to decode words. A new letter is introduced each week, from Unit 1-24, with a focus on letter-sound relationships. Long vowels sounds are addressed in Unit 24.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials supporting ongoing and frequent assessment to determine student mastery and inform meaningful differentiation of foundational skills, including a clear and specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments will be supported.

Assessment opportunities are included in the instructional materials. A readiness assessment is included for the beginning of the year. Six progress tests for the Meet the Superkids section and five progress tests for Superkids’ Club section are included. Progress tests include letter recognition, letter identification, and letter-sound correspondence questions for the Meet the Superkids section. Progress Tests for the Superkids’ Club section include: questions about letter recognition, letter identification, letter-sound correspondence, comprehension, and writing. The progress tests align to content taught throughout the Superkids materials. Daily lessons include multiple opportunities for informal assessment through: Daily Routines, completion of student skill work from Student Books, Practice Pages, independent activities and observation during Ten-Minute Tuck-ins. While there are reinforcement and extension provided for differentiation at the end of most lessons, there is not a clear or specific protocol as to how students performing below standard on these assessments should be supported. Assessments are used to identify students struggling in foundational skills, but next steps for instruction are not provided. Also, instructional materials do not provide opportunities to assess high-frequency words in formal assessments.

Examples of how multiple assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of foundational skills, but are missing opportunities for assessment of high-frequency words include, but are not limited to:

• After Unit 3, the formal summative Progress Test 1 is given from the online Assessment materials or the Assessment Book. Part 1 includes phonemic awareness knowledge acquisition. Students identify initial sounds /k/, /o/, /g/, by pointing to the picture beginning with the same sound as the word the teacher says. Part two includes letter recognition knowledge acquisition. Students identify letters Cc, Oo, Gg by circling the letter the teacher names for each “upper” or “lower” case letter. Part three includes phonics knowledge acquisition. Students identify initial letter-sound correspondences c/k/, o/o/, g/g/. Students are instructed to say the name of the object in a picture to themselves and listen to the sound at the beginning of the word. Then, students look at the letters below the picture. Students must point to the letter that makes the sound they hear at the beginning of word identifying the picture beginning with c/k/, o/o/, g/g/.
• After Unit 11, formal summative Progress Test 5 is given from the online Assessment materials or the Assessment Book. Part one includes phonemic awareness knowledge acquisition. Students identify initial sounds /f/, /e/, by pointing to the picture beginning with the same sound as the word the teacher says. Part two includes letter recognition knowledge acquisition. Students identify letters  Ff, Ee, by circling the letter the teacher names for each “upper” or “lower” case letter. Part three includes phonics knowledge acquisition. Students identify the medial vowel-sound correspondences a/a/, e/e/, i/i/, o/o/. Students are instructed to say the word for a picture that has a medial vowel of a/a/, e/e/, i/i/, o/o/ to themselves and listen to the sound in the middle of the word. Then, students look at the letters below the picture. Students must point to the letter that makes the sound they hear in the middle of the word with a medial vowel of a/a/, e/e/, i/i/, o/o/ and circle it to confirm.
• After Unit 13, formal summative Progress Test 6 is given from the online Assessment materials or the Assessment Book. Part one includes phonemic awareness knowledge acquisition. Students identify initial sounds /h/, /u/, by pointing to the picture beginning with the same sound as the word the teacher says. Part two includes letter recognition knowledge acquisition. Students identify letters Hh, Uu, by circling the letter the teacher names for each “upper” or “lower” case letter. Part three includes phonics knowledge acquisition. Students identify initial letter-sound correspondences h/h/, u/u/. Students are instructed to say the name of the object in a picture to themselves and listen to the sound at the beginning of the word. Then, students look at the letters below the picture. Students must point to the letter making the sound they hear at the beginning of word identifying the picture beginning with h/h/, u/u/.
• After Units 1-13 have been taught, the formal summative Benchmark Test is given from the online Assessment materials or the Assessment Book. It assesses students’ mastery of the objectives taught in Meet the Superkids. The test is given to progress monitor students’ skills and to confirm placement of students who might be ready to work above their grade level. The test is divided into five parts, each covering a different skill.
• In Unit 2, Lesson 3, Daily Routines, materials provide opportunities for an informal assessment in phonemic awareness and handwriting.
• In Unit 5, Lesson 6, Word Work, materials provide opportunities for an informal assessment that can be completed during the student encoding practice.
• In Unit 13, Lesson 3, Word Work, materials provide opportunities for an informal assessment that can be completed during the student decoding practice.

Examples of assessment materials providing teachers and students with information of students’ current skills/level of understanding include, but are not limited to:

• Materials provide a Class Record Form for teachers to track student performance on: Progress Assessment, Beginning of the Year Test, and End of the Year Test.
• Materials provide a record form for individual student informal assessments. Informal assessments can be recorded when working one-on-one with students, in small group instruction, or in whole class instruction. The informal assessment chart lists general skills to be assessed for each area of core instruction.
• In the Materials section, formal assessments are available online or in the Assessment Book. A formal screening assessment called a Readiness Test is given at the beginning of the school year to assess students’ early literacy skills. The test is divided into sections including: Kindergarten concepts, assessing fine motor skills, shapes, position words, and descriptive words; Phonemic Awareness concepts, assessing word distinction and sound distinction; Listening Comprehension; and Letter Recognition, assessing letter identification and letter matching.
• In the Materials section, formal assessments are available online or in the Assessment Book. The Progress Tests help measure students’ mastery of specific objectives and plan for reinforcement activities. There are six tests, each covering objectives taught in the previous units’ lessons.

The instructional materials reviewed for Superkids Kindergarten partially meet the expectation that materials, questions, and tasks provide high-quality lessons and activities that allow for differentiation of foundational skills, so all students achieve mastery of foundational skills.  

Suggestions for differentiation are included for English Learners, students performing below grade level, and students performing above grade level. Superkids materials include Ten-Minute Tuck-Ins with every lesson, which provide instructional support to students who have not yet mastered the skill taught in the lesson. Superkids Skill Building Book provides additional practice for students. Gradual release of responsibility is used within the instructional plans for teachers; however, lessons do not include consistent, targeted opportunities for foundational skill differentiation specifically for students lacking previous foundational skills. While differentiation opportunities can provide differentiation of learning, some opportunities are accommodations or additional practice opportunities. For example, in the Program Guide, for differentiating Work Work, it states: “...work with struggling students individually or in a small group to complete the page. Read words and sentences on the page aloud with children.” Acceleration opportunities and teacher guidance for acceleration are limited. For example, in the Program Guide, for differentiating Work Work, it states: “If above-level students finish Student Book pages quickly, before the rest of the class is ready to move on, make sure they have meaningful work they can do when they finish, such as reading Superkids’ Library Books.”

Examples of how materials provide limited high-quality learning lessons and activities for every student to reach mastery of foundational skills include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson 1, Ten-Minute Tuck-In, a phonics reinforcement for the initial Cc /k/ is provided for students needing additional instruction. Using picture cards and a pocket chart, the teacher shows students a picture of Cass and tells them what sound they hear at the beginning of her name (/k/). Teachers continue to add more pictures of cards with the same initial letter and sound having students identify the beginning letter and sound. Finally, students tell how the picture names are alike, they begin with the sound /k/ and the letter c.
• In Unit 10, Lesson 5, Word Work, students practice letter recognition by playing a game called Four in a Row. The top part of the game includes boxes with upper and lowercase letters. The bottom includes hooks, which are the game pieces. The teacher has the students identify each letter in the boxes and then reads aloud a list of words. Students are to cover the letter they hear, using the hooks, at the beginning of each word (apple, turtle, lid, farm, igloo, tent, grass, fun, goat, ladder, ant, itch).
• In Unit 11, Lesson 3, Ten-Minute Tuck-In, the teacher helps students with decoding and encoding. The teacher first helps students name the pictures (elf, glasses, grapes) and points to each picture while the students identify the initial sounds and letter of each one. Once finished, they read the secret word (egg). The same process is repeated for the second row (gum, lemon, apple, star, sock). After the students identify the secret words, they cut apart the pictures on the right and glue them to the matching box (egg, glass, fist).
• In Unit 12, Lesson 2, Ten-Minute Tuck-In, a phonemic awareness reinforcement for initial h/h/ is provided for students needing additional instruction. Students stand in a circle and play a version of Simon Says called Hot Rod Says. When the teacher says an action that begins with the sound /h/, students do the action. When the teacher says an action that does not begin with /h/, students stand still.

Examples of how materials provide guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support each student’s needs include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 7, Lesson 4, Word Work, an opportunity for differentiation or support for below-level students is included. Suggestions include teachers to use the third Ten-Minute Tuck-In on page 22 to reinforce the students’ understanding of the -ad family.
• In Unit 11, Lesson 1, Word Work, support for ELL students is included. The ELL support section tells teachers most students will be successful with the sound for short e, they might struggle with distinguishing between short e and long a. It is suggested that the teacher gets ahead of this concern by focusing on proper articulation of short e starting with this unit.
• In Unit 17, Lesson 3, Reading, the differentiation tip provides a suggestion for students performing below-level. The teacher tells students that words that are jagged and yellow in boxes that look handwritten are to help show part of Cast’s list.
• In Unit 20, Lesson 3, Reading, the differentiation tip for small group includes reviewing the Memory Words (of, for, and no). Students find the words and underline them in their Student Books on page 28-32 before reading the entire story.

Examples of instructional materials providing high-quality learning lessons and activities for every student to reach mastery of foundational skills include, but are not limited to:

• In Unit 3, Lesson 2, Ten-Minute Tuck-In, a spelling reinforcement lesson to encode ng words in letter-sound boxes is provided for students needing additional instruction.
• In Unit 5, Lesson 1, Reading, during small-group reading, students who need additional support in fluency receive opportunities to practice with a literary text.
• In Unit 7, Lesson 2, Daily Routine, students practice phonemic awareness with the teacher by making a hand motion when they hear a word that begins with /l/.
• In Unit 22, Lesson 3, Daily Routine, the teacher reads a word, uses the word in a sentence, and the students write the word. Students are to identify the rhyming word (rob, job, lump, jump).