Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria that the scope and sequence clearly delineate the sequence in which phonological awareness skills are to be taught, with a clear, evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy of phonemic awareness competence.

The Level K Fundations materials include a general scope and sequence. Phonological awareness skills are listed in the scope and sequence with few details. To determine the exact focus of the phonemic awareness part of the lesson, the teacher must look at specific lessons. The scope and sequence references the phonemic awareness hierarchy as outlined by Marilyn Adams. In the Kindergarten Implementation Guide on the Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community, the Fundations approach to phonemic awareness is based on the research that, “Using letters to teach phonemic awareness is found to be more effective than using sounds alone (NICHD, 2000.) Thus, phonemic awareness training in Fundations is closely linked with the direct teaching of the Alphabetic Principle (letter sound/ grapheme-phoneme correspondences).” Unit 2 contains instruction and practice activities for how to blend sounds into words as well as manipulating sounds in the initial, medial, and final positions, but the instruction is accompanied with Standard Sound Cards (graphemes). Instruction and/or practice for phoneme segmentation is not included. 

Materials contain an evidence-based explanation for the expected hierarchy for teaching phonological awareness skills. For example: 

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Fundations Scope and Sequence, page 20, the text details what topics are covered in each of the 5 units. Phonemic awareness is listed as:
• Unit 1 (12 weeks): rhyming, initial, and final sounds
• Unit 2 (4 weeks): blending, segmenting, and manipulation of sounds
• Unit 3 (6 weeks): blending, segmenting, and manipulation of sounds
• Unit 4 (4 weeks): phoneme segmentation

Materials contain a phonemic awareness sequence of instruction and limited practice based on the expected hierarchy. For example:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher’s Manual, Scope and Sequence, p. 19, the text details what students will be able to do by the end of Level K. Topics listed related to phonemic awareness include: 
• Recognize and produce rhyming words 
• Segment words into an oral sentence; Segment words into syllables
• Segment and pronounce initial medial and final phonemes in spoken CVC words
• Manipulate phonemes with additions or substitutions in one syllable words

Materials have a limited cohesive sequence of phonemic awareness instruction based on the expected hierarchy to build toward students' application of the skills. Examples include: 

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 1, Week 1, Day 3, Make It Fun, page 68, the first phonemic awareness activity challenges students to identify words that start with the currently taught sounds of /b/, /f/, /t/.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 1, Week 4, Word Play, page 100, students echo a word spoken by the teacher. Students put their hands under their chins to feel the syllable as they repeat the word. The students clap out the syllable as they repeat the word. Finally, the students are asked how many syllables are in the word and the teacher displays the word in syllable frames. Each syllable is written on a separate frame. The lesson starts as a phonemic awareness activity, but includes graphemes to become a phonics lesson.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 1, Week 5, Day 3, Make It Fun, page 108, the first rhyming activity does not provide explicit instruction. The directions are for the students to help the teacher rhyme words.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with phonics aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.

The Level K Fundations materials one decodable text for students to read aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Storytime activities that begin in Unit 3 (approximately 16 weeks into the year), are included once a week on Day 5. The companion website, the Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community (PLC), shows there are four texts available for Storytime activities in the Level K materials. Of these four texts, one is decodable for the students at the time it is utilized. Most Storytime activities direct teachers to use either a projected story of a few sentences or ask the teacher to select and identify a text on their own. The teacher reads the text to students, and students echo back what the teacher says. Opportunities are missed for students to read texts without echoing the teacher or another student. The Level K Fundations materials do not include decodable texts in book form for students to read.

Materials include one decodable text to address securing phonics.

• In the PLC, there is one decodable passage for students to read during Unit 4, Weeks 3 & 4 on Day 5. The passage is called “Cod Fish.”

There is one decodable text to contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.

• In the PLC, the decodable passage has CVC words such as red, net, cod, fish, cat, and dish.

There are two lesson plans with detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of the  decodable text to address securing phonics skills.

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4, Week 3, Day 5, Storytime, page 331, students read “Cod Fish” silently sentence by sentence. One student reads the sentence aloud. The class repeats the sentence. Students read the entire story chorally.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4, Week 5, Day 5, Storytime, page 341, the teacher asks students to read the title silently and  have students try to remember the “movie” in their mind. Students read “Cod Fish” chorally as the teacher points to the words with Baby Echo.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with high-frequency words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence.

The Level K Fundations materials include one decodable text aligned to the program’s scope and sequence for students to read. In Unit 4, the decodable text, “Cod Fish” contains some Trick Words from Unit 3. Storytime activities direct teachers to use either a projected story of a few sentences or ask the teacher to select and identify a text on their own. A teacher would have to find a decodable text aligned to the Fundations phonics sequence and high-frequency words sequence. During Storytime activities, the teacher is reading the text to students, and students echo back what the teacher reads. Opportunities are missed for students to read text without echoing the teacher or another student. The Level K Fundations materials do not include decodable texts in book form for students to read.

Materials include one decodable text that utilizes high-frequency words. For example:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4, Week 3, Storytime, Day 5, page 331, utilizes a scooped story, “Cod Fish”, on chart paper. Students are asked to read the title silently and tap words if needed. The title is then discussed and students predict what the story might be about. The students continue reading one sentence at a time. They read and tap independently first. Then one student reads the sentence and the class repeats. After reading the story once in this manner, the class chorally reads it. High-frequency words used in this text from Unit 3 are: a, the, his. The activity ends with students marking words as directed. 

The one decodable text contains a few grade-level high-frequency words. For example:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4, Storytime, Day 5, page 331, students read “Cod Fish,” which contains the following high-frequency words: a, the, his. 

Materials include two detailed lesson plans for repeated readings of decodable texts to address securing reading high-frequency words in context. For example:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4, Week 3, Day 5, Storytime, page 331, students read “Cod Fish” silently sentence by sentence. One student reads the sentence aloud. The class repeats the sentence. Students read the entire story chorally.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4, Week 5, Day 5, Storytime, page 341, the teacher asks students to read the title silently. Students remember the “movie” in their minds. Students read the “Cod Fish” chorally as the teacher points to the words with Baby Echo.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress through mastery of print concepts (K-1), letter recognition (K only), and printing letters (as indicated by the program scope and sequence) (K-1). 

The Level K Fundations materials includes end-of unit-assessments. The Level K Fundations program explicitly assesses letter knowledge. Unit Test 1 and Unit Test 2 assessments include letter recognition of 10 letters each. Additional letter recognition assessment probes can be found in the progress monitoring materials through the online companion, the Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community (PLC). The Unit 1 Mid-Unit Check and the Unit 1 test both require the teacher to show a sound card, point to the letter, and have the student name each letter.  There is not an end-of-year cumulative letter recognition assessment that all students would take to show the teacher students’ current skills in letter knowledge. The Level K Fundations materials include assessment on letter formation at the end of Units 1 and 2. These letter formation assessments ask students to write 10 given letters. Letter formation in isolation is not assessed beyond Unit 2. The assessment materials do not assess print concepts in any of the provided assessments. 

Examples of materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation. Materials provided by the program do not regularly measure student progress of print concepts.

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 1, after Week 12, pages 184-185, the Unit 1 test assesses lowercase letters, letters and sounds, and letter formation.
• In the Level K Teacher's Manual, Unit 1, page 184, the unit test includes a section on identification of lower case letters. The teacher points to letters using the standard sound cards. Students name each letter. The teacher asks what is this letter, the keyword, and the sound. If the student is unable to name the letters, students find letters. The Unit 1 assessment includes identification of a, j, r, k, z,e, b, o, g, and v. 
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 2, page 229, the Unit Test 2 includes a section where students are asked to place letter tiles on alphabet board and recite the alphabet in order. 
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 5, Week 6, page 407, Final Unit Assessment, students are asked to write letters for 5 sounds given, 10 words, and one dictated sentence. From those dictations, one uppercase letter and 19 lowercase letters are assessed. 

Examples of assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation. 

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 2, page 229, the teacher dictates uppercase letters, and students write the given letters on the large writing grid.  Uppercase letters assessed include G, T, N, F, Z, X, P, B, H, and V. 
• Through the online companion, the Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community (PLC), the Level K Beginning to Mid-year teacher record progress monitoring assessment, 16 probes are provided for letter naming. Students are asked to read as many letters as they can in 60 seconds.  
• Through the online companion, the Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community (PLC), under Resources, a Unit Test Tracker allows the teacher to track individual student mastery of letter identification.

Examples of materials support teachers with general instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in print concepts, letter recognition, and letter formation.

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 1, page 184, the unit test includes a section where the teacher dictates letters and students write the letters on their dry erase tablet. The teacher is instructed to hold students accountable for correct letter formation. The Unit Test 1 recording form includes the letters t, p, c, e, g, d, n, h, f, and a. The teacher manual indicates that if students do not score at least 8/10 on any given item, the student will need additional assistance with the assessed skill. 
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher Manual's, Unit 4, page 342, the Unit 4 Test information for the teacher states: For any struggling students, meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher Manual's, Unit 5, page 407, the Unit 5 Test information for the teacher states:  If a student does not score at least ⅘ correct on any given item, this student will need additional assistance with the assessed skill.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for the expectation that the materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress of phonological awareness (as indicated by the program scope and sequence).

The Level K Fundations materials include some opportunities to assess phonological awareness skills. Blending and segmenting are assessed in one unit each. Through the online companion, the Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community (PLC), phoneme segmentation progress monitoring probes are provided. Students are assessed on their ability to blend (Unit 2) and segment words (Units 3 and 4). Not all of the phonological awareness skills identified on the Level K scope and sequence are formally assessed, including rhyming and the manipulation of phonemes. Assessment opportunities are not offered comprehensively, regularly, or systematically to measure overall phonological awareness progress.

Materials systematically provide some assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence in phonological awareness.

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 3 Test, page 296, the teacher assesses each students’ skills in segmenting the following words: tap, sheep, job, dig, note, bait, bib, pet, coat, lead.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4 Test, page 342, the teacher assesses each students’ skills in segmenting the following words before students find the corresponding Letter Tiles: moth, sick, mash, chin, luck.
• In the Level K Fundations, PLC, Mid- and End-of-Year Progress Monitoring phoneme segmentation probes (16 total) are included. The teacher states a word and the student segments the word.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with some information concerning  students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonological awareness.

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 2 Test, page 229, each student is assessed on the ability to blend sounds to form words. The teacher states the sounds one at a time, and the student blends the sounds to form words. Five words are included: sat, fit, poke, made, and zap.  
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 3 Test, page 296, students are assessed on their ability to correctly segment words into its sounds (10 words) and correctly tapping and reading words (5 words).

Materials support teachers with limited instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in phonological awareness. Examples include:

• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 1, Unit Test, page 184, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced. 
• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 2, Unit Test, page 229, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced. 
• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 3, Unit Test, page 296, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress of phonics (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). 

The Level K Fundations materials include limited opportunities to measure student progress of all grade-level phonics taught. Assessment questions are included for students to tap and blend sounds to read a CVC word beginning in Unit 2 on the unit tests. Through the online companion, the Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community (PLC), progress monitoring probes are included to address this topic. For students not scoring 80% or higher on unit tests, instruction is suggested to provide additional assistance with the assessed skill, and teachers are directed to see the Intervention Guidelines on the PLC. While the guidelines indicate the need for an additional 15 minutes daily of instruction with three activities for each day, the guidelines are not specific for deficits identified on the unit assessment. The unit tests do not include a full assessment of all phonics taught. Unit assessments do not provide a complete measure of student progress.

Materials provide resources and tools to collect ongoing data about students’ progress in phonics. Examples include:

• In the PLC, Intervention, Level K Unit 1 Mid-Unit Check, the teacher states a sound and the student points to the appropriate letter tile (d, s, a, u, c, g, f, o, n, i).
• In the PLC, Intervention, Level K Mid-End Year Progress Monitoring, students say sounds and read full words for as many words as possible in 60 seconds. Sixteen probes are included. Additionally, nonsense word probes are included.
• In the PLC, Unit Test Assessments, there are Test Recording Forms, Whole Class Test Trackers, and Individual Test Trackers.

Materials offer assessment opportunities to determine students’ progress in phonics that are implemented systematically. Examples include:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 1 Test, pages 184-185, students give the name and sound for 10 of the 26 lowercase letters. Students are asked to point to 10 different lowercase letters when the sound is given. 
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 2 Test, page 329, students are assessed on their skills to read CVC words. The teacher makes words with the Standard Sound Cards. Students tap and blend to read each word (map, nap, run, lip, net, set, sit, rob, mud, box). 
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 3 Test, page 296, students are assessed on their skills to tap and read words. The teacher forms words using the student’s Letter Board and Letter Tiles. The student taps and reads the words (top, gum, dip, bet, wax). Students are also assessed on their ability to tap and spell words. The teacher says a word and students repeat the word, tap it and find the letter tiles to spell the word their Letter Board (quit, job, yes, mad, bug).  
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 5 Test, page 407, students write five letter(s) for: two digraphs, one short vowel, and two consonants. Students also write five CVC words: one with the -th digraph, two with -ck, and two with short vowels.

Assessment opportunities for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence with phonics are limited since assessments are provided at the end of each unit (5 units), and there is one Mid-Unit Check in Unit 1. Examples include:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 1 Mid-Unit Check, the materials suggest the teacher print the Mid-Unit Check if they do not have a Benchmark assessment.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 2 Test, students tap and read 10 words such as map, sit, box.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4 Test, students tap and read 5 words such as shop, much, peck.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with some information about students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonics. Examples include:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 1 Test, the teacher learns about if a student can identify letter-sound associations for s, n, i, kw, f, u, h, l, p, m.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 3 Test, the teacher learns the words a student can tap and read as well as the words a student can tap and spell.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 5 Test, the teacher learns the sounds a student can encode as well as the words a student can encode.

Materials support teachers with limited instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in phonics. Examples include:

• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 2, Unit Test, page 229, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced. 
• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 4, Unit Test, page 342, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced. 
• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 5, Unit Test, page 407, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress of word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). 

The Level K Fundations materials provide limited opportunities for assessment of word recognition and analysis. Materials include five unit assessments for each unit of Level K Fundations. Beginning in Unit 2 and continuing throughout the materials, students are assessed on the reading of CVC words on the unit test. Word recognition is in assessment materials for Units 4 and 5. In Unit 4, the student identifies the Trick Word dictated by the teacher. In Unit 5, students identify five Trick Words. Progress monitoring probes are included to address sight word knowledge in the Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community (PLC). Materials provide limited explicit support to teachers in regards to instructional adjustments to help students make progress. Level K assessments do not require students to read all of the learned high-frequency words addressed in the Level K materials.

Examples of materials regularly and systematically provide a variety of assessment opportunities over the course of the year to demonstrate students’ progress toward mastery and independence of word recognition (high-frequency words or irregularly spelled words) and analysis include:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 3, Unit Test, page 296, the test assesses phoneme segmentation, CVC word decoding, CVC word encoding (spelling), and retelling of a story.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 5, Unit Test, page 407, students are assessed in writing a dictated sentence, identifying Trick Words, and reading a sentence. The dictated sentence is: The rat had a nap. Trick words identified include by, my, or, for and have. The sentence students read is: Ted had a reg bug.

Examples of assessment materials provide teachers and students with information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition and word analysis include:

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4, Unit Test, page 342, the teacher lays out Trick Word flashcards taught, and students are asked to find the trick word that is dictated.  
• In the PLC, Progress Monitoring, Level K, Level K Teacher Record (mid-end of year), sight word probes are included. Students are instructed to read as many sight words as possible in 60 seconds.

Materials support teachers with limited instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis. Examples include:

• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 3, Unit Test, page 296, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced. 
• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 4, Unit Test, page 342, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced. 
• In the Level K Fundations, Unit 5, Unit Test, page 407, the text details that the teacher should extend the time in this unit if 80% of the class does not demonstrate mastery (80%) on the unit test. For any struggling students, the teacher is instructed to meet with them individually to discuss errors and explain areas that need to be further practiced.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for assessment materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

The Level K Fundations curriculum and materials include a publisher-produced alignment document that states the standards and where in the program those standards are addressed, including material/unit/page number through the online companion, Prevention/Early Intervention Learning Community (PLC). Standards are not listed in the daily lesson plans or teacher materials. Beyond reference in the Preface, the standards are not identified throughout the Teacher's Manual. The Level K Fundations materials do not provide a clear identification of the foundational skills standards featured within the program provided assessments. The unit tests list general topics as part of the assessment with no standards denoted. The teacher must determine which part of each assessment relates to a standard. There is a Common Core Alignment Guide provided with the Publisher’s documents, but the alignment document does not include the assessments. The Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, where the program’s assessments are found, does not include an alignment to the standards. 

Materials do not include denotations of the standards being assessed in the formative assessments.

Materials do not include denotations of standards being assessed in the summative assessments.

• In the PLC, Level K Mid-Unit Check, Unit Test Materials, there is no indication of the College and Career Ready Standards alignment.
• In the Level K Teacher's Manual, pages 184 and 185, the Unit 1 assessment does not provide alignment to CCSS.

An alignment documentation is provided for some tasks, questions, and assessment items. For example:

• In the Level K Teacher’s Manual, Preface, page VI, “Fundations provides specific measurable learning objectives which are aligned to the College and Career Ready Standards (Common Core State Standards CCSS).”
• In the PLC, Activity Resources, Storytime Activities, Guiding Questions, additional questions aligned to CCSS are provided.

Alignment documentation contains specific standards correlated to specific lessons. For example: 

• In the PLC, Printable Resources, Getting Started, there is a Common Core Standards for English Language Arts Correlations for Levels K-3 document.  The document reviews how Fundations addresses Common Core State Standards and Foundational Skills. Standards are listed, per grade level, with material/unit/page number where the standard is addressed in the program.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English with extensive opportunities for reteaching meet or exceed grade-level standards.  

The Level K Fundations materials provide some differentiated instructional guidance for teaching students who are English Learners (EL). The introductory Student Success section of the Teacher's Manual provides research, a rationale, and principles appropriate to teaching EL students. Materials provide limited differentiated instruction suggestions described for EL students and less additional materials provided for EL students to be successful. The Teacher's Manual suggests that teachers provide additional supports in vocabulary and background knowledge by showing students pictures or using props and gestures while creating opportunities for students to practice new vocabulary. It suggests using open-ended questions, which allow students to recognize instead of retrieval. These suggestions are unmet with examples ,and therefore cannot be guaranteed for consistency nor quality. The text states that EL students benefit from principles of instruction built into Fundations including the teacher modeling and multi-sensory approach. There are missed opportunities for daily plans to identify specific suggestions for English Learners.

Materials provide limited support for EL students. For example: 

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Student Success, Differentiated Instruction, page 12, “ELs as well as students with language-based learning disabilities may have more difficulty retrieving the words to express concepts during the lesson. They may need to be given a choice of responses (such as ‘Is this a digraph or a blend?’) instead of asking open-ended questions (such as ‘What is this called?’). 

General statements about EL students or few strategies note at the beginning of a unit or at one place in the teacher edition are then implemented by the materials throughout the curriculum.

• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Student Success, Differentiated Instruction, page 12, states that the key principles in Fundations critical for EL students are:
• Integration of listening, speaking, reading and writing
• Explicitly modeled skill and strategy instruction
• Verbal explanation for concepts enhanced by visual, physical and kinesthetic involvement
• Opportunities for student interaction in supportive groups
• Procedures that ensure student engagement with hands-on activities
• Clear and consistent directions and cueing systems
• Ample opportunities to reinforce skills
• Scaffolded instruction
• Repetition of vocabulary, including vocabulary of word structure(such as digraph, short vowel)
• Assessment of current knowledge that is performance rather than language-based

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten partially meet the criteria for materials regularly provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. 

The Level K Fundations materials provide some opportunities for extensions and advanced opportunities for students who are working above grade level. The Fundations Teacher's Manual shares brief suggestions for how to differentiate learning activities used throughout the program materials as well as ideas for differentiating each unit. The instructional suggestions shared are brief and do not involve the student going beyond the material presented. Opportunities are missed for advanced students to dive deeper into grade-level standards. Differentiation ideas for advanced students are not included in daily lesson plans.

Materials provide some opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth. Examples include:

• In the Level K Fundations, Teacher's Manual, Learning Activity Overview, Dictation/Sentences, Differentiation, page 28, the teacher is directed to form a small group of advanced students to do dictation f sounds, words, and sentences on composition paper, rather than on the dry erase tablet while also providing more challenging words and additional sentences.  
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 2, Overview, Differentiation, page 186, students can tap some words but can also read without tapping. Students can decode by thinking of a word that means the opposite or another word that is similar in meaning, discussing shades of meaning.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 5, Unit Preview for Differentiation, page 344, the teacher is directed to use an advanced student as an assistant and do the Dictation on Composition Paper using more challenging unit words and sentences.

There are some instances of advanced students simply doing more assignments than their classmates. Examples include:

• In the Level K Teacher's Manual, Student Success - Engaging Students in Rigorous Work, page 10, teachers are directed to the guidelines for Differentiation to help challenge more advanced students.
• In the Level K Teacher's Manual, Unit 3, Introduction - Differentiation, page 232, teachers are directed to encourage students to write more extensively in their My Fundations Journal.
• In the Level K Fundations Teacher's Manual, Unit 4, teacher are directed to give advanced students additional sentences to read and practice fluency.