Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten partially meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students' knowledge and vocabulary which will over time support and help grow students’ ability to comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

Within the units of Making Meaning the instructional materials are organized around literary and informational texts and the teaching of reading comprehension strategies. Texts are not consistently organized by topic and students have limited opportunities to build knowledge and vocabulary about topics consistently. Examples include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, the title of the unit is Making Connections: Fiction. Students listen to the texts When Sophie Gets Angry--Really, Really Angry… by Molly Bang, I Was So Mad by Mercer Mayer, and Say Hello by Jack Foreman. Students focus on the skills of making text-to-self connections, identifying key details and important ideas in a story, compare and contrast characters in a story, answer questions to understand the story.
• In Unit 3, the title of the unit is Retelling: Fiction. Students listen to the texts Pumpkin Pumpkin by Jeanne Titherington (wordless picture book), Maisy’s Pool by Lucy Cousins, and “Charlie Needs a Cloak” by Tomie dePaola. Students focus on the skills of making text-to-self connections, retell the sequence of events in a story, and answer questions to understand the story. While this text work may support story comprehension, these texts do not provide access to support students in building knowledge about a topic.
• In Unit 5, the title of the unit is Wondering: Fiction and Narrative Nonfiction. Students listen to Brave Bear by Kathy Mallat, A Letter to Amy by Ezra Jack Keats, and Brave Norman: A True Story by Andrew Clements. Students focus on the skills of using wondering to help them understand a story and retell part of a story.
• In Unit 8, the title of the unit is Using Text Features: Expository Nonfiction. Students listen to Getting Around By Plane by Cassie Mayer, The Moon by Martha E.H. Rustad, The Sun by Charlotte Guillain, and Dolphins by Kate Riggs. Students focus on the skills of using text features to better understand expository nonfiction, identify the main topic and retell key details in a nonfiction book, make connections to help them understand the nonfiction book, use wondering to help them understand a nonfiction book, and explore text features of expository nonfiction. Students will have practice with these text features, but these texts do not collectively support students’ growing knowledge of a topic during the unit.

In Being a Writer, the units are focused on the writing process and writing genres. In the Writing Community, students hear texts about growing up. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Week 2, one is a text about attending kindergarten called I Love School!
• In Week 3, students hear a text about outshining siblings called Titch.
• In Week 4, they hear a text about getting bigger called When I Get Bigger.

Though these texts are somewhat connected, they do not work together to build knowledge of a topic.

The materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten partially meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language (words/phrases), key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts to make meaning and build understanding of texts and topics.

Most texts include evidence-based questions that focus on identifying key ideas and details, but few questions focus on analyzing key ideas, details, language, craft, and text structure. The majority of questions asked are ones that require the student to think critically about the text and how it applies to their life and/or surroundings. The questions do not become more complex as the year goes on. However, within a short unit there was minimal evidence to show an expansion of knowledge. The concepts that are covered are big picture concepts such as inferencing/wondering, key ideas, but the curriculum lacks more detailed concepts such as looking at the craft, structure, or the why behind the text. Most questions are recall questions that do not become more complex as the year progresses and rarely require analysis. These components are not embedded in students’ work rather than taught directly, and teachers are not given the opportunity to know from student work if students understand the definitions and concepts of the components in each unit (i.e., compare and contrast, illustrations within a text, etc.).

In Unit 2, Week 3, Making Meaning, The teacher reads aloud Say Hello. The teacher is instructed to stop at key points to ask, “What has happened in the story so far?” and “What do you think will happen next?” After reading, students work on selecting a book to read. The focus of the text was making text to self connections, but no questions were asked prompting students to think about their daily lives and how it relates to the text.

In Unit 5, Week 2, Making Meaning, The teacher reads aloud A Letter to Amy. After reading a portion of the story the teacher is prompted to stop and ask, “What has happened in the story so far?” After the story, the teacher’s questions become a little more complex “Why do you think Peter doesn’t want Amy to see the letter?” and “What did you wonder as you listened to the story?” No modeling in regards to the skill of wondering was evident within this lesson (this is the 3rd lesson in) and that was the only question that focused around the targeted skill for the unit of wondering.

In Unit 8, Week 4, Making Meaning, The teacher reads aloud Dolphins stopping at key points to inquire, “What have you learned about dolphins so far?” One the story was complete, the teacher prompts, “What did you learn about dolphins that surprised you?” and concluding with “What are you still wondering about dolphins?” A brief mini lesson on the glossary sums up the lesson with the teacher modeling how to locate one word and the students locating another. The questions provided in this lesson did not increase with complexity and no direct teaching of non-fiction skills embedded into the text were evident as students were only taught how to find one word in the glossary that was not directly derived from a text conversation, but rather after the fact.

In Making Meaning, the majority of the questions ask students to recall basic ideas and details from the story. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 1, Week 6, Day 1, while listening to Whistle for Willie students are asked, "What has happened so far in the story?" and "What do you think will happen next?"
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Day 2, while listening to Maisy’s Pool students are asked what had just happened in certain parts of the story.
• In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 2, students are asked what they learned about zookeepers after hearing the book A Day in the Life of a ZooKeeper.
• In Unit 9, Week 1, Day 1, students are asked why Fluffy doesn't mind being named Fluffy anymore, which requires the students to analyze the details.

In Being a Reader, the students are often asked to recall what they remember about the story. For example in Week 4, Day 3 of the shared reading of I Went Walking, the teacher asks, "What do you remember about the story?"

In Being a Writer, students are asked key detail questions such as "What do you know about Titch and his brother and sister after hearing the story Titch?" in Unit 1, Week 3, Day 1. Similarly, in Unit 1, Week 4, Day 2, students are asked to answer the question, “What does Little Critter want to do when he gets bigger?”

Students are asked some questions about craft and structure in Making Meaning, but the questions are not text-dependent:

• In Unit 1, Week 4, Day 1, the teacher shows the cover of Flower Garden and asks the students what the author of a story does and what an illustrator of a story does. However, the actual book is not used to answer this question.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 1, after listening to the poem “Umbrellas,” the teacher asks the students “In what ways is the poem ‘Umbrellas’ different from a story?’”
• In Unit 8, Week 4, Day 1, when preparing to listen to the text Dolphins, the teacher asks the students what information is included on the title page.

In Being a Reader, the author and illustrator are pointed out. For example, in Week 2 of shared reading, it says to “Point to the author’s name and read it aloud. Remind the students that an author is the person who writes a story and an illustrator is the person who draws the picture.”

In terms of analyzing words and phrases as well as author’s word choice, the majority of the types of questions ask students what they are visualizing. For example, in Unit 4, Week 1, Day 1, after listening to Cat’s Colors in Making Meaning, the teacher asks what did they picture in their mind and what did the beach look like. The other examples for analyzing word choice comes from the vocabulary sections of the program, instead of asking questions about the text. For example, in Week 5, students hear the story Friends at School and are introduced to the word, enjoy, and are then asked what they enjoy doing at school and at home.

Towards the end of the program, there are a few opportunities for students to integrate ideas. For example, in Unit 7, Week 1, Day 2 of Making Meaning, students discuss the similarities and differences between A Baby Duck Story and A Baby Penguin Story.

The materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Kindergarten partially meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

The materials in Kindergarten contain text-dependent questions and tasks; however, they do not consistently require students to integrate knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts. Many of the questions are retell questions but there is minimal analysis that requires the students to identify and describe characters, settings, and events for instance. After almost every story, students are asked, “What is happening in the story.” There is also little guidance or modeling around using the text to support answers that are asked. The process for each week is almost identical to the previous lesson, but with different text. Without adequate teacher supports to guide the conversation, analysis could easily be very superficial as the questions that are to be asked are extremely vague and not purposeful to the text that is being read aloud. There are few examples of students having to compare and contrast characters’ experiences as well; however, many of these are optional and occur at the every end of the year.

In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1, Making Meaning, the teacher reads aloud When Sophie Gets Angry--Really, Really Angry and stops periodically to ask, “What has happened in the story so far?” On day 2, text to self connections are established by asking, “When have you acted or felt like Sophie?” “What are some things that make you feel better when you’re angry?” and “ Why is it important to calm down when you are angry?” Students participate in a writing activity on day 2 that has them write about a time where they were angry like Sophie in the book.

In Unit 5, Week 3, Day 1, Making Meaning, prior to reading Brave Norman: A True Story, the teacher asks, “What do you wonder about the story?” As the teacher reads, they are prompted to stop and ask, “What has happened in the story so far?” At the end the selected text the program prompts the teacher to ask three questions one including, “ Why do you think the family kept Norman?” On Day 2, students participate in a retell of the text selection from day 1. The only question that teachers are prompted to ask is, “What happens next?” No specifics about character elements are presented.

In Unit 7, Week 2, Day 1, Making Meaning, after reading A Harbor Seal Pup Grows Up the teacher asks, “What did you learn from the words and the pictures about Sidney’s first weeks of life?” and then follows up with, “What did you learn from the words and pictures about how Sidney is nursed back to health, or made to feel better?” On Day 2, the teacher asks students to compare/contrast A Harbor Seal Pup Grows Up and A Baby Duck Story by asking, “In what ways are these two books alike?” and “In what ways are these two books different?” One extension activity asks students to read other books about baby seals and compare/contrast by asking themselves how they are alike and different. While the example does ask them to compare/contrast multiple texts, the questions remain basic and no supports are in place for the teacher if the students are unaware on how to answer the question.

In Making Meaning, there are some examples of students integrating knowledge and ideas in texts:

• In Unit 1, Week 4, students listen to the story Flower Garden and are asked some analysis questions such as “How do you think the girl feels and what in this picture makes you think that?”.
• In Unit 6, Week 1, students hear the story Doctor’s Help, and are asked to answer questions such as, Why are doctors important to the community and How do veterinarians and zookeepers work together, both of which require analysis.
• In Unit 7, Week 2, students listen to the story A Harbor Seal Grows Up. One of the questions students have to answer is “What did you learn from the words and pictures about how Sidney is nursed back to health, or made to feel better?”. This question requires the students to go back to what they hear and think about what they learned from the text.
• In Unit 8, Week 3 students have to share what they learned about the sun after hearing the story The Sun.

In later Units in Making Meaning, students are given opportunities to integrate ideas between two texts:

• In Unit 7, students read the texts A Baby Penguin Story and A Baby Duck Story and they have to write about what they learned about baby animals from the two texts. At the end of Unit 7, students Think, Pair, Share what they learned about baby animals in all four books in the unit.
• In Unit 8, Week 2 and 3, students read the stories The Sun and The Moon and after hearing both, students write a few sentences about what they learned about the solar system from the two books.

There are some optional activities that do require analysis of two texts; however, teachers may not do these extension activities. For example, in Unit 1, Week 2, after working with If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, they teacher can read If you Take a Mouse to School, and then ask how the two stories are alike and different; however, this is an extension and not all students will participate in this integration of ideas.

However, there are many instances in Making Meaning where students only have to retell what was happening without any analysis or integration of ideas. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Unit 1, Week 2, after hearing If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, students are asked “What has happened so far in the story?” and “Do you think this is a funny story?”
• In Unit 1, Week 3 when, after hearing Cat’s Colors, students have to answer questions such as “What is Cat’s favorite color?” and “What do you remember about the part of the story you just heard?"
• In Unit 3, Week 1, students hear the story Pumpkin, Pumpkin and students are asked “What has happened to the pumpkin seed so far?” while listening to the story, which is not an example of analyzing information.

In the Being a Writer component of the materials, there are some instances of students answering a sequence of text-dependent questions to integrate knowledge and ideas. In Unit 1, Week 3, students hear the story Titch. Students are asked “What do you know about Titch and his brother and sister” which does require them to analyze the text; however, the next day they are asked what they remember about the book. However there are many questions that do not do this. For example, in Unit 1, Week 2, students hear I Love School and answer the question such as “What do these children like to do at school?”.

In the Being a Reader component of the materials, the majority of the shared reading texts focus on the text, verse the meaning of the story. For example, in Week 3, when students engage in a Shared Reading of “Itsy Bitsy Spider,” students are asked to predict the end of the line and there is a focus on high frequency words.

In the Being a Reader component of the materials, many questions about the text do not require analysis. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

• In Week 1, students have to share what has happened so far in the story after hearing Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom.
• In Week 2, students participate in the shared reading of The Alphabet and are asked “What is happening in this part of the story” for example, with no analysis or integration of ideas.

One example of analysis in Being a Reader is in Week 4, when students are asked how the boy feels after hearing I Went Walking.

The materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom  Kindergarten partially meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

In the Making Meaning section Writing About Reading activities, discussions, and writing pieces for students require students to demonstrate knowledge of a topic or skill, which requires students to integrate reading and writing, but this is only one component of the program and is not always about the text or the topic from the read-aloud. Learning for the week is consistently secular from week to week. Writing tasks are suggested throughout the curriculum as an extension, but if not utilized, very little writing is embedded in the program. The program is very systematic, so much so, that the only opportunities for students to respond orally is thru single response answers or thru the many think, pair, share opportunities provided. No other strategies are utilized to extend student’s oral language development, as this is a missed opportunity especially during read aloud when vocabulary is introduced. Information on how to intentionally integrate speaking and listening throughout is not evident in the teacher’s resources, so unless the teacher is aware of specific teaching strategies, no supports are available. Earlier questions and discussions will give the teacher usable information about student's readiness to complete the Writing about Reading section.

In Unit 1, Lesson 6, On Day 1, the teacher reads aloud Whistle for Willie stopping periodically to ask basic comprehension questions. At the end the teacher facilitates a think, pair, share asking partners to discuss, “What was your favorite part of the story?” and “What is Peter’s problem in the story?” On day 2, the teacher utilizes picture cards to model retelling the story. He/she invites them to participate in the oral retelling.

In Unit 4, Week 1, On Day 1, the teacher reviews the book Cat’s Colors that was previously read in the school year. Students use a think, pair, share to practice the skill of visualizing. The teacher was instructed to reread a page in the book, students closed their eyes, and the teacher is to prompt their thinking with a suggestion such as, “Picture the beach.” “Picture what the cat is doing on the beach.” “Picture the cat looking up into the sky.” Students are then prompted to turn and talk to their neighbor after the question, “What did you picture in your mind?” In this instance the teacher integrates reading to some extent, listening and speaking. However, the explicit prompts tell scholars exactly what to visualize. Minimal usage of reading and speaking were evident and no writing tasks were included.

In Unit 8, Week 1, On Day 1, the teacher reads a portion of Getting Around by Plane. After page 7, the teacher stops and asks, “What did you learn about planes from the words and the photograph?” After the book is finished, the teacher facilitates a brief discussion with the following questions, “According to the book, what do planes carry?”, “According to the book, where do planes fly?” and “What else did you learn about planes in this book?” While there was integration of reading and speaking, the questions that were asked were eliciting single responses.

Students have some opportunities throughout the Making Meaning component, as well as Being a Writer component to respond to literature and use skills that they have learned; however, these tasks usually are about a single text or skill and are not the culmination of learning involving multiple standards or more than a week of instruction. According to the publisher, "the Writing about Reading activities provide multiple opportunities to analyze a single text in response to a sequence of questions presented by the teacher, and then {students} write a response to the literature using text evidence to support opinions or conclusions". Throughout the entire program, the tasks are isolated using one text verse integrating all of the skills and not all of the activities require the students to use text evidence. Some examples as well as non-examples of this include:

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Being a Writer: In this lesson, the students hear the story Titch and spend a few days writing about things they like to do with their family. In the Writing about Reading activity, students have to write a few sentences about what they like to do for fun with their family. This is asking students to write a self to text connection instead of providing text evidence to support an opinion or conclusion.
• In Unit 3, Week 2, Day 1, Making Meaning: Students listen to Maisy's Pool and are asked to make a text to self connection after reading and discussing the text. Specifically, students are asked to draw and write about a problem they had and how they solved it.
• In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 2, Being a Writer: After hearing Vegetables, students are asked to write their opinions about the text, which helps to evaluate students’ ability to write an opinion piece, but not the ability to integrate knowledge of a topic based on a text.
• In Unit 7, Week 1, Making Meaning: After hearing A Baby Duck Story and A Baby Penguin story, students are first asked to discuss, 'In what ways are these two books alike?". Then students write a text to text connection about what they learned about baby animals from these books. In this activity, the students are writing about what they learned from the stories and integrating knowledge.
• In Unit 8, Week 3, Day 3, Making Meaning: After students have listened to The Moon and The Sun, they need to write a few sentences about what they learned about the solar system from the two books, which is one example of integrating knowledge on a topic.