Kindergarten - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meets the criteria of Indicator 2a.

Materials are organized around themes and topics. Units integrate literature, science and social studies content. Most units build knowledge and the ability to read/listen to and comprehend texts. At times, units are thematic in nature. Units that are organized around a topic provide multiple texts connected to the topic and allow a variety of opportunities for students to engage through repeated readings, lessons, class discussions, writing prompts, word cards, and the final assessment. According to the authors, the purpose of the curriculum is to create a love of reading by using engaging texts and helping students identify reasons for reading in order to understand the world around them.        

Texts are connected by a grade-appropriate cohesive topic/line of inquiry. Texts build knowledge and the ability to read/listen and comprehend complex texts across a school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 4, texts are organized around the topic of “Falling in Love with Authors and Illustrators.”  The materials state, “In this unit, students explore and experience the works of four award-winning authors and illustrators; Grace Lin, Yuyu Morales, Monica Brown, and Jerry Pinkney.  Students learn about each author or illustrator’s life and his or her inspiration for becoming an author and/or illustrator.  Students think critically and make connections between the author or illustrator’s life and the stories he or she writes or illustrates, and how each author’s unique personality is reflected in the words or pictures.”

  • Throughout the unit, students listen to various texts read aloud that relate to the topic. Texts include: Kite Flying by Grace Lin (Lesson 1); Dim Sum for Everyone! by Grace Lin (Lesson 2); Fortune Cookie Fortunes by Grace Lin (Lesson 3); The Ugly Vegetables by Grace Lin (Lesson 4); Dreamers by Yuyu Morales (Lesson 6)’ Nino Wrestles the World by Yuyu Morales (Lesson 7); Just a Minute: A Trickster Tale and Counting Book by Yuyi Morales (Lessons 8 and 9); Tito Puente, Mambo King by Monica Brown (Lesson 11); My Name is Celia: The Life of Celia Cruz by Monica Brown (Lesson 12); Pele, King of Soccer by Monica Brown (Lesson 13); My Name is Gabriela: The Life of Gabriela Mistral by Monica Brown (Lesson 14); The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Lesson 16); The Tortoise and the Hare by Jerry Pinkney (Lesson 17); and The Grasshopper and the Ants by Jerry Pinkney (Lesson 18). 

  • The Unit Prep section includes the Essential Question, “Where do authors and illustrators get their ideas for writing?”

  • The Unit Prep section includes the following Content Knowledge and Connections:  

    • “An author is a person who writes a story.”

    • An illustrator is a person who illustrates or draws pictures for a story.

    • A person can be both an author and an illustrator.

    • Authors use things they are passionate about in their own lives to influence what they write about.

    • Authors are often recognized for their understanding of writing or illustrations. 

• In Unit 8, texts are organized around the topic of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.”  The materials state, “Students learn about how to save the earth by reducing, reusing, and recycling. Students learn why waste is a problem, about the options for limiting waste, and read stories about different people from around the world who have found ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle waste.”

  • Throughout the unit, students listen to various texts read aloud that relate to the topic. Texts include: What a Waste: Trash, Recycling, and Protecting Our Planet by Jess French (Lessons 1–2, 4, 10); The Last Straw: Kids vs. Plastics by Susan Hood (Lessons 3, 9, 15); The Three R’s: Reuse, Reduce, Recycle by Nuria Roca (Lesson 5); Recycle! A Handbook for Kids by Gail Gibbons (Lesson 6); One Plastic Bag: Isotaou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia by Miranda Paul (Lesson 7); Rainbow Weaver/Tejedora del Arcoiris by Linda Elovitz Marshall (Lesson 8); Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth by Mary McKenna Siddals (Lesson 11); Harlem Grown: How Obe Big Idea Transformed a Neighborhood by Tony Hillery (Lesson 12).  

  • The Unit Prep section includes the following Essential Questions: “How does waste impact the environment?  What steps can you take to create a healthy community and environment?”

  • The Unit Prep section includes the following Content Knowledge and Connections:  

    • “Waste is all of the things we throw away.  Waste causes a lot of problems for people and the environment.

    • Plastic is a problem because it lasts forever. People throw plastic in the trash and it does not decompose.  Plastic is in a lot of things, so there is a ton of plastic trash.  

    • Reducing, reusing, and recycling are ways to limit waste.

      • To reduce the use of something means to use less of it.

      • To reuse something means to use it again.

      • To recycle something means to use it again to make new things.

    • People around the world have come up with different solutions for how to reduce, reuse, and recycle plastic and other forms of waste.”

Some texts in a unit are connected by a theme, as opposed to building knowledge on a topic. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, texts are organized around the theme of “Welcome to School.”  The materials state, “Students explore hopes and dreams, how to be polite and treat others with respect, and why it’s important to be proud of themselves and who they are.  The unit gives students a chance to project their own feelings onto characters in order to make sense of how they are feeling.”

  • Throughout the unit, students listen to various texts read aloud that relate to the theme. Texts include Wemberly Worried by Keven Henkes (Lesson 1), The King of Kindergarten by Derrick Barnes (Lesson 2), I Like Myself! by Karen Beaumont (Lesson 3), I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes (Lesson 4), The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane Derolf (Lesson 5), Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman (Lesson 6), Ruthie and the (Not So) Teeny Lie by Laura Rankin (Lesson 7), Words Are Not for Hurting by Elizabeth Verdick (Lesson 8), Today I Feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis (Lesson 9), and You Hold me Up by Monique Gray Smith (Lesson 10).  

  • The Unit Prep section includes the Essential Question, “How  can you make your classroom community a joyful place to be?”

  • The Unit Prep section includes the following Content Knowledge and Connections:  

    • “Being ready for school means that you are excited and ready to learn new things.

    • Every new school year brings new hopes and dreams for what you want; It is important to follow directions and listen at school.

    • Helpful words are words that make people feel good about themselves.  Hurtful words are words that don’t make people feel good about themselves.

    • It is important to listen to what people tell you to do so that you know what you should be doing.

    • We are all different.  We should value our differences.  They make us special.

    • We all have different feelings.  It is okay to have different feelings.”

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria of Indicator 2b.

Materials provide opportunities to analyze sequences of questions and tasks within and across multiple literary and informational texts. Questions are sequenced in ways that prepare students with background knowledge in order to deepen content knowledge, draw conclusions, and support their opinions. With prompting and support, teacher questions require students to recall and retell information, formulate opinions and make inferences. Opportunities to analyze craft and structure focus on asking and answering questions about unknown words in a text. Students do not have opportunities to recognize different text types or identify the author and illustrator of a book. 

For most texts (read-aloud texts K–1 and anchor texts Grade 2), students analyze key ideas and details (according to grade-level standards). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Unit 2, Lesson 6, through discussions, drawing, and writing, students retell what happens at the beginning, middle, and end of the story, A Napping House by Audrey Wood. 

• In Unit 4, Lesson 1, students use details and main events from the story, Kite Flying by Grace Lin to explain how a family works together to build a kite. Students retell the story using the transition words first, then, next, and last.

• In Unit 7, Lesson 16, students retell what happens at each stage of a bird’s life cycle using two to three details for each stage from the text, A Nest Full of Eggs by Priscilla Belz. 

For most texts, students analyze craft and structure (according to grade-level standards). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Unit 1, Lesson 8, students define the words “helpful” and “hurtful” and answer questions about helpful and hurtful words during the read-aloud of Words Are Not for Hurting by Elizabeth Verdick. Students work as a team to sort words into the categories, helpful and hurtful. 

• In Unit 6, Lesson 9, during the Close Read of Rosa by Nikki Giovanni, students answer the following questions: “What words does the author use to describe how the bus driver talks to Rosa? What does this show about him? What words does the author use to describe how Rosa talks to the bus driver? What does this show about her?”

In Unit 8, Lesson 3, during the read-aloud The Last Straw: Kids vs. Plastics by Susan Hood, students analyze the last lines of the poem to decide if plastic is a “blessing” or a “curse.”

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria of Indicator 2c.

Materials support students’ development of the analysis of knowledge and ideas. Text-based questions and tasks integrate knowledge and ideas over the course of the year using single and multiple texts. Students use information from read-alouds, class discussions, and illustrations to answer questions and complete tasks. Sequential questions and tasks support the growth of ideas and knowledge and prepare students for the completion of the culminating task. 

Most sets of questions and tasks support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 2, students listen to Jump, Frog, Jump! by Robert Kalan. Students respond to questions, such as “How do the illustrations help the reader predict what is going to happen next?” “What happened next?” What happened in the end?” 

• In Unit 5, Lesson 12, during the reading of Wild Tracks! A Guide to Nature’s Footprints by Jim Arnosky, students examine the illustrations and discuss the differences between walking and running deer tracks. Students then use the text and illustrations to respond to the following question: “What can you learn from looking at deer tracks? Give two to three specific facts.”

• In Unit 6, Lesson 1, All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold, students use the text and illustrations to answer “The author says, “All are welcome here.” What types of diversity do you see in the illustration?”. Students are prompted “to notice the different races, physical abilities, religions, gender, and ages.” Then students answer “What does the author mean that “All are Welcome?” Give two examples.”

Most sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze across multiple texts as well as within single texts. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 4, Lessons 6–7, students learn about what obstacles are and ways that you can overcome them. After listening to Dreamers by Yuyi Morales in Lesson 6, students respond to questions about what challenges Yuyi and her son had when they immigrated to the United States and how they overcame them. In Lesson 7, students explain what the main character learns about overcoming obstacles in the book, Nino Wrestles the World by Yuyi Morales. 

• In Unit 7, Lesson 17, students Turn and Talk about the stages in a chicken’s life cycle using the three books they read about bird life cycles. Students respond to  questions such as, “ Which book gave the most information about a bird’s life cycle? Why?”; “Which book gave the least information about a bird’s life cycle? Why?”; and  “How were A Nest Full of Eggs and From Egg to Chicken similar?”

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria of Indicator 2d.

Materials provide several culminating tasks that integrate reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. Most tasks allow students to demonstrate acquired knowledge of the unit topic. Each unit has at least one culminating task involving drawing and writing. Units contain coherently sequenced questions and tasks that lead to the culminating tasks. Students gain knowledge from the unit to create artifacts of their learning, such as detailed illustrations, a written letter, and a narrative story. Teachers monitor student learning throughout the year using Writing Rubrics. The culminating tasks are used as formative assessments before the Unit Summative Assessment. 

Culminating tasks are evident and varied across the year and they are multifaceted, requiring students to demonstrate mastery of several different standards (reading, writing, speaking, listening) at the appropriate grade level, and comprehension and knowledge of a topic or topics through integrated skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 11, after listening to nine books and discussing patterns found in the stories, students orally share with the class which book was their favorite and why. The class participates in a Shared Writing activity in which the teacher models drawing and writing about a favorite book using details in the drawing to explain why the book is a favorite. Students draw and write independently about which book from the unit is their favorite. Students share their ideas with partners.

• In Unit 5, Lesson 14, after listening to seven books about what animals do in winter, students participate in a class discussion of what they learned so far about animals in winter. Students discuss what animals do and why with partners and with the class. Students participate in a Shared Writing activity in which the teacher models writing about what animals do in winter. Students write independently about what animals do in winter and include specific details and two vocabulary words from the unit. Students share their ideas with partners. 

• In Unit 7, Lesson 7, over the course of three days students write a story about a seed that travels from one place to another, including what type of seed it is, how the seed travels, and what happens to the seed in the spring. Students begin with a brainstorming using the narrative writing brainstorm graphic organizer. Students use their brainstorming to write a first draft making sure they include specific details in their illustrations and text, content from the unit, and different sentence types. Students revise and edit their stories and share them with a partner.

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria of Indicator 2e.

Over the course of the year, students learn how to use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose explanatory and opinion writing. Writing tasks build in complexity over the school year from simple sentence responses to multiple sentences used to support an opinion, inform or explain an event or topic. Students use both writing and drawing to illustrate their ideas. Materials include rubrics, and sentence strand supports in the Enhanced Lessons section that accompany each lesson. Rubrics for opinion, narrative, and informative writing are clearly articulated.

Materials include writing instruction aligned to the standards for the grade level and supports students’ growth in writing skills over the course of the school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• Materials include six lessons on opinion writing, nine lessons on informational writing, and  four lessons on narrative writing.

• In Unit 2, students are introduced to an instructional sequence in which students orally retell the story and write and or draw the beginning, middle and end while teachers circulate and prompt students to add details. 

• In Unit 3, students explore topics of fall weather, harvests, and growing seeds. Students learn skills such as how to name the topic they are writing about, and how to use a combination of drawing and labeling to inform the reader about their topic. Students write about the fall by drawing and adding details to their drawings that explain key facts from the unit texts.

• In Unit 5, students explore how animals survive the winter. Students learn how to create different types of simple sentences orally and in writing and stories with a beginning, middle and an end. Students learn how to ask questions using “who,” “what,” “where,” “when,” “why,” and “how” and how words can help a reader visualize the story. Students also learn how to begin a sentence with a capital letter and end with correct punctuation. 

• In Unit 6, students produce an informational piece of writing about what they would do to be a King using lessons learned from their reading. Students use an Anchor chart from the previous day. The Teacher models using details to support their answers stressing the point that examples help readers understand the main point. The teacher also models using drawing to illustrate ideas and details. Teachers uses The K Writing Rubric for informational writing to assess students’ writing.

• In Unit 8, students write an informational book to explain and illustrate each of the three R’s using explicit details and facts in their writing and drawings, transition words, and exclamatory notations. Teachers are guided to circulate, prompting students for more details, labeling, or if there are places an exclamatory statement or example could be used. Teachers model a non-exemplar piece of writing and as a class determine what could be added. Students edit for capital letters, punctuation, complete sentences and spelling using the Grade K Editing Checklist.

Instructional materials include well-designed lesson plans, models, and protocols for teachers to implement and monitor students’ writing development. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Unit 2, Lesson 11, the focus is Noticing Patterns in Stories. Teacher guidance is found in the Enhanced Lesson section of each lesson. Student supports include a graphic organizer, Narrative Brainstorm Organizer to organize their ideas. Students write an opinion about their favorite book. Two sentence stems are provided and lesson guidance suggests the teacher asks students what they are writing and record this dictation. 

• In Unit 4, Lesson 19, materials provide an Objective, Target Task, and Sample Response. Teacher guidance includes Building Background and Engagement, Shared Writing, and Independent Writing. Materials include Writing Rubrics for progress monitoring and a list of items the teacher should look for when observing students during the writing process along with matching suggested phrases the teacher can say as a support measure.

• In Unit 8, Lesson 16, students create a plan for eliminating waste and explain why their plan is the best. The teacher brainstorms with the class either a class plan or ways that individuals can create a plan and discuss what needs to be done to implement the plan. Teachers provide a potential model and ask the students, “How do I show what I am feeling? How do I show that I think this is the best solution for me?” Materials provide four sentence stems to support students’ work. 

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria of Indicator 2f.

Research tasks are embedded within each unit and include a progression of skills, building to mastery of grade level standards.  Students are encouraged to use specific examples in research projects. Shared research projects are included to help develop students’ research skills. Materials support teachers in employing projects that develop students’ knowledge on a topic.

Research projects are sequenced across a school year to include a progression of research skills that build to mastery of the grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 3, Lesson 10, the teacher prepares students to write about everything they have learned about what happens to leaves in the fall. The teacher has students turn and talk to orally retell what happens to leaves in the fall, explaining key facts. The teacher encourages students to use content specific words including leaves, wind, chlorophyll, sugar/pigments/sunlight, and weather. The class reviews together and the teacher models drawing a picture that can explain what happens to leaves in the fall, including as many details as possible. The teacher thinks aloud about each detail and adds labels to identify different parts of the picture. Students then write their own text about what happens to leaves in the fall.  

• In Unit 5, Lesson 14, the teacher prepares students to write about what they have learned about what animals do during the winter.  Students share examples of what animals do during the winter using the word “because” in their answers.  The teacher models writing an answer to the question, “What do animals do during the winter?” Students write an answer to the question on their own and are encouraged to use at least two key vocabulary words from their unit.  

• In Unit 8, Lesson 14, the teacher prepares students to write an informational book to teach their families about the Three R’s (reduce, reuse, recycle). The teacher models writing a paragraph about one of the Three R’s, explaining to the class that the goal of the paragraph is to teach others so they should include specific details. The teacher models drawing a detailed illustration that “includes details about the topic” and labeling the key parts of the drawing. Students write their own paragraph about one of the Three R’s. 

Materials support teachers in employing projects that develop students’ knowledge on a topic. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 3, Lesson 10, the materials include additional supports indicating that the teacher can display all of the anchor charts from the first part of the unit and have students use the anchor charts as visual reminders for what happens to leaves in the fall.  The materials also suggest that the teacher should model sounding out words to spell when labeling the picture for additional foundational skills support.  Opportunities for enrichment are noted including having students try and write about what happens to leaves in the fall underneath their picture.  

• In Unit 8, Lesson 16, the materials include a sample response for teachers to use when writing about a plan about how to limit waste.  Potential options for plans and potential written response models are included in the materials.  The materials also suggest providing students with sentence frames for additional language support.  Progress monitoring supports include Grade K writing rubrics that can be used to analyze student work.  

Materials include shared research projects to help develop students’ research skills. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 3, Lesson 10, after reading texts about fall and leaves including Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins, Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert, Leaves by David Ezra Stine, and We’re Going on a Leaf Hunt by Steve Metzger, students create an informative poster and write a paragraph about fall leaves. The teacher models a Think Aloud to help students add additional text- based facts and details.

• In Unit 4, Lesson 15, after reading multiple books by Monica Brown, students write and illustrate a letter to the author explaining which was their favorite and why. 

• In Unit 8, Lesson 13, after reading eight texts, students participate in a Shared Writing activity, during which they create an ABC poem of things that can be reduced, reused, or recycled. Students recall information from previous lessons to write about the objects for their assigned letter. The teacher collects each piece of work to create a final class poem. 

The materials reviewed for Kindergarten meet the criteria of Indicator 2g.

Instruction, tasks, and assessment questions are aligned to grade-level standards. Materials employ  teacher modeling during instruction. Students often respond to and complete standards-aligned questions and tasks. Students have opportunities in each lesson to use a partner Turn and Talk and engage in open whole group discussions that involve the diverse views of all students. The materials provide ample questions for teachers to ask students and students to answer. Assessments leverage knowledge from the unit. 

Over the course of each unit, instruction is aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: . 

• In Unit 2, Lesson 1, while listening to The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle, the teacher explains that students are “going to think about what happens in the beginning, middle, and end of the story.” While reading, the teacher asks questions about the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

• In Unit 4, Lesson 17, the teacher introduces the story, The Tortoise & the Hare by Jerry Pinkney and tells students, “we will look for clues from the illustrations to help us figure out what happens in the beginning, middle, and end.” After reading the story, the teacher guide says, “Review with students what is included in a strong retell. Remind them that a retell includes the key details from the beginning, middle, and end of the story.” This instruction aligns to RL.K.2: With prompting and support, retell familiar stories, including key details. 

• In Unit 6, Lesson 6, The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, the teacher explains the vocabulary word segregation.”Today, we are going to start learning about a time in our country’s history where everything was segregated, or kept apart, by race, especially in the South. Black Americans could not drink from the same drinking fountains as white people, attend the same schools, or enjoy the same public areas. Everything was separate. This was known as segregation.” This instruction aligns to L.K.4, one of the supporting standards listed for the lesson. 

Over the course of each unit, the majority of questions and tasks are aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Unit 3, Lesson 11, during the introduction of Fall Harvests: Bringing in Food by Martha E. H. Rustad, the teacher says, “So far, we have learned a lot about the way that trees and leaves change in the fall. Today, we are going to read about another important part of fall, fall harvests. This book is called Fall Harvests, Bringing in Food by Martha E. H. Rustard and illustrated by Amanda Enright. Let us look at the cover of the book. Based on the title and the illustration on the front of the book, what do you think a harvest is? What questions do you have about harvests?” Students answer questions about key details during the read aloud such as, “What types of food do people harvest in the fall? Give two examples.” 

• In Unit 6, Lesson 6, during the Target Task for The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson, students orally retell the story when answering the question, “What happened in The Other Side?” The teacher prompts students by asking several questions such as, “The little girls, Clover and Annie, were not supposed to go to the other side of the fence and play with each other. Why do you think that was? How did race impact the way the girls felt about each other? How do you know? What rules did the girls have to follow? How did they feel about the rules? What can we learn from the girls?” This aligns to the core standard, RL.K.2. 

• In Unit 7, Lesson 4, students listen to From Seed to Sunflower by Gerald Legg. The Key Questions focus on students identifying key details in the text and answering questions about unknown words. Key Questions include, “What happens to sunflower seeds every autumn and winter?”; “What is germination?”; “What happens after the seed germinates?”; “How does the seed continue to change?”; and “What is pollination? Why is it important?” This aligns to the supporting standard, RI.K.1. 

Over the course of each unit,  assessment questions are aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Unit 2, Content Assessment, during Questions 3–4, students “Pick one story from the unit. Retell what happened in the story.” The assessment items include a graphic organizer with boxes labeled Beginning, Middle, End for students to draw a picture of each part of the story, as well as lines underneath the boxes for students to write words about each part of the story. The assessment item lists RL.K.1 RL.K.2, RL.K.3, W.K.1, L.K.1 as standards assessed. 

• In Unit 7, Content Assessment, during Questions 3–4, students respond to a writing prompt: “Pick one life cycle that you learned about in the unit. Tell what happens at each stage of the life cycle.” The assessment lists RI.K.2, RI.K.3, W.K.2, W.K.8, L.K.1, L.K.2, L.K.6 as standards assessed. 

By the end of the academic year, standards are repeatedly addressed within and across units to ensure students master the full intent of the standard. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• In Unit 1, students answer questions about words with -ful suffixes such as helpful and hurtful. In Unit 1, students also discuss descriptive words found in the texts such as magnificent and brilliant. In Unit 3, students discuss the meaning of descriptive words to tell how leaves are different such as shiny/dull, narrow/wide, jagged/smooth. In Unit 5, students describe differences between wild and tame animals and explain what snarling means in the text. In Unit 8, students determine if plastic is a blessing or a curse. This content aligns to L.K.4b.

• In Unit 2, students answer questions about the beginning, middle, and end of The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle. Later In Unit 2, students retell the events of Sitting Down to Eat by Bill Harley. In Unit 4, students retell the events of The Tortoise & the Hare by Jerry Pinkney. In Unit 6, students retell The Other Side by Jacqueline Woodson and discuss reasons for character’s actions and the lesson in the story. This content aligns to RL.K.2.

• In Unit 3, students identify key details about the season of Fall. In Unit 4, students retell key details about people's lives from biographies. In Unit 7, students retell the stages of various animal life cycles. This content aligns to RI.K.2.