Report for 2nd Grade
Overall Summary
The instructional materials reviewed for Puzzle Piece Phonics partially meet the criteria for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. Materials provide systematic, explicit instruction in phonics. Students have opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics and materials provide opportunities for application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks. Materials provide limited opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. Materials provide limited systematic instruction of high-frequency words and opportunities to practice the reading of high-frequency words to develop automaticity. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials explicitly teach word analysis strategies based on the requirements of the standards and provide limited practice opportunities for students to apply word analysis strategies. Materials provide limited systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency.
2nd Grade
Alignment
Overview of Gateway 1
Alignment to Standards and Research-Based Practices for Foundational Skills Instruction
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. The materials meet the criterion for materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonological awareness, as well as phonics. The materials partially meet the criterion for materials and instruction support students in learning and practicing regularly and irregularly spelled high-frequency words. Materials provide limited systematic and explicit instruction and practice in fluency.
Criterion 1.1: Phonics
Materials emphasize explicit, systematic instruction of research-based and/or evidence-based phonics.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling. Materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills. Materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics, including common and newly-taught sounds and spelling patterns. Materials provide application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
Indicator {{'1f' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials emphasize explicit phonics instruction through systematic and repeated modeling.
The Teacher’s Guide structures lessons consistently from day to day throughout the program. In each lesson, activities are provided for students to be able to hear the new focus element, rehearse saying the sounds, and blend words containing the focus sounds. Students also have daily opportunities to practice spelling or encoding the focus element and to manipulate sounds in several ways during independent activities. Students practice reading the element in context through the use of the Fluency Notebook passages.
Materials contain explicit instructions for systematic and repeated teacher modeling of all grade-level phonics skills. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Distinguish long and short vowels when reading regularly spelled one-syllable words.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 22, the teacher writes the following words on the board: must, huge, rescue, list, slice, tries, floss, groan, note. The teacher underlines the words that contain a short vowel in one color and the words with a long vowel in another color.
- Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 104, students learn about vowel teams ee, ea, ie, and e_e. The teacher guides students through reading the words displayed on the board and facilitates discussion. Words include: weekly, weekend, weaker, peaks, peeked, peek-a-boo, scenery, scenic, seen.
- Decode regularly spelled two-syllable words with long vowels.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 127, students learn about the long vowel i (i_e, ie, i, igh, y). The teacher displays the words, thrives, ripen, brighten, tidiest, shier, guys, lilacs, trials, titans, on the board and facilitates a discussion about blending the words.
- Decode words with common prefixes and suffixes.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 375, the teacher completes the Blending Routine for the words: invent, reinvent, revisit, date, predate, prevent, claim, exclaim, express.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 448, the teacher models during the Listening: Identify Concepts in Speech section of the lesson when students are instructed to say words in chunks: “...So if I say ‘silliness’ you say ‘silly - ness.’”
- Identify words with inconsistent but common spelling-sound correspondences.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 46, during the Start Your Schema section of the lesson, the teacher models the soft sounds of c and g and models that the soft sound occurs when the letter is followed by i, e, or y.
Lessons provide teachers with systematic and repeated instruction for students to hear, say, encode, and read each newly taught grade-level phonics pattern. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 132, the teacher says a list of words that all have something in common. The students listen for what they have in common and then say the sound and the spelling of the chunk.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 214, students complete a Blending Routine in which the teacher helps them to decode sets of words and then discuss and say which focal elements are included in the words.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 215, students complete a Say, Spell, Sort activity using the Learner’s Notebook, page 167. The teacher dictates the list of words, cook, clue, due, flew, rude, fluke and the students write the words in their Learner’s Notebook. Students also complete two practice sentences: The bird flew over the lake. It was blue like the water.
- Teacher’s Guide, page 316, students complete the Sort Routine where they take out their bag of words and the headers. Students read the word, tap out the sounds, and then place the word under the correct heading.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 417, students complete the Blending Routine with the words grasshopper, dishwasher, shelter, looser, bubblier, quieter, neediest, rarest, and narrowest. The words are written on the board, and the teacher uses either one or two fingers to cue the first part of the word depending on the first spelling of the root word. The teacher continues this until the students have blended and read the word.
Indicator {{'1g' | indicatorName}}
Materials include daily practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to decode words that consist of common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns and provide opportunities for students to review previously taught phonics skills.
Materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding words during different routines, including Combined Picture and Word Sort and the Blending Routine. Students apply grade level phonics during different activities, including the Quick Switch Word Routine. Several opportunities are included for students to decode words using the focus phonics skills: Supported Blending Routine, Blended Routine, Sorting with Combined Picture and Word Cards, Sorting with Words, Fluency Routines, Comprehension Check, Highlighter Hunt, Partner Spell, and Read It, Hide It, Write It, Check It Routines.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode (phonemes, onset and rime, and/or syllables) words using newly taught grade level phonics pattern. Evidence includes, but is not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-44, the materials explain the purpose of Sort Your Own Way is to give students an opportunity to creatively work with their words. Students use the sort headers to group their words. Sort Your Own Way extends the sort with an open sort asking students to find a different “fit” for their words. While all of the other sorts are closed sorts (the headers tell students how they must sort the words), this practice piece turns the closed sort into an open sort in which students get to determine how to sort their words.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 393, students participate in the Identify the Concept of Speech Routine in which the teacher says a word with a prefix and the students segment the word.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to read complete words by saying the entire word as a unit using newly taught decoding grade level phonics. Evidence includes, but is not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 71, students complete the Say, Spell, Sort activity. During the routine on page I-22, the teacher says the word, uses it in a sentence, and then chunks the word. The student then says the word and writes it.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 77, Sort, students engage in the Sorting with Separate Picture and Word Cards Routine, reading words as they sort.
- In the Fluency Notebook, page 17, the phonics concept is blends (fl, fr). Students read the poem: “Flip, Flop...flip, flop… I’m walking to the beach! Flip, flop...flip, flop...I’m walking to the pool! Flip, flop… flip, flop… I’m walking to the park! Flip, flop...flip, flop...I’m walking to the house! Flip, flop...flop. Flop. Flop. STOP! My shoe fell apart-Guess I have to go shop!”
Lessons provide frequent opportunities for students to apply grade level phonics when decoding common sound and spelling patterns. Evidence includes, but is not limited to:
- In the Teacher's Guide, page 401, students practice reading their fluency pages that provide opportunities for students to read texts that include the phonics pattern that are studying (prefixes im-, in-, dis-). Some students read Mars and another group reads about humans and machines. The students read the first part of the text with their fluency partners.
- In the Learner’s Notebook, page 197, the weekly sort for Group 2 is a perforated page. Students cut out individual words to sort into categories (final y as in party and cry). Words for the sort include: party, cry, carry, butterfly, apply, happily, strawberry, reply, puppy, dizzy, why, city, dragonfly, sky, family, supply, try, copy, imply, fifty.
Indicator {{'1h' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials provide frequent opportunities for students to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence.
Students have opportunities to read regular words in a sentence during the Blending Routine, as well as during the Reader’s Theatre activities. During each day’s blending lesson, students have the opportunity to practice decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. Students also have opportunities to decode words in sentences during some of the passage readings. The Teacher’s Guide provides explicit routines for teachers to use in blending words. Early in the program, students reread the same passages daily each week. Later in the program, the students begin reading different passages daily. The correlated readings in the Learner’s Notebook provide differentiated assignments for students who are below grade level and students who are on or above grade level. Although the materials provide frequent decoding practice opportunities for students, the program does not provide teachers with explicit instruction on teaching students how to decode words in context.
Materials provide explicit, systematic practice for decoding phonetically regular words in a sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-20, the Blending Routine provides guidance for the teacher on how to explicitly model the blending of words. On page I-21, the materials further prompt the teacher on introducing the sentence of the day with the following directions: “Review any challenging words with the students, modeling word attack strategies (e.g., the blending routine).” The teacher then instructs students to silently read the sentence before cuing the students to “chorally read the sentence while touching below each word.”
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 129, the teacher uses the Blending Routine for the words: alive, arrive, active, brighter, tighter, biter, tipping, type, typewriter. The teacher discusses the long i pattern. Students read the sentences, “There are many types of felines. Large felines include lions, tigers, and jaguars.”
- The sentence practice included in the Teacher’s Guide and the Fluency Notebook passages provide limited correlation to words presented in the daily Blending Routing lesson. For example:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 36, the program incorporates instruction on reading two sentences within the Blending Routine. The focus elements for the week are ch, sh, wh, and ph.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 36, introduces two sentences (e.g., ”It hurt when my brother pinched my arm. I yelled, ‘Please don’t do that!’”).
- The sentences for Day 2 incorporate two of the focus elements from the week: “Chinchillas live in the mountains of Chile. People also keep them as pets.”
- The sentences for Day 3 include one of the focus elements: “We had to wait for tickets to the theater. Stephanie started whining, “My feet hurt!”
- The sentences for Day 4 read, “The wind whipped through the barn. The scared horse whined loudly.”
- Each of these lessons, Days 1-5, references pages 5-8 in the Fluency Notebook and the same passages are read daily. There is no practice of ph words, one example of an sh word, four words each with th and wh, and three words containing ch.
- Instruction is not provided for the teacher on how to teach students to read in context. The materials say to have the students read the page and to have students read to a partner or to pull a group of students together if they need additional help.
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to decode words in a sentence based on grade level phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 10, students complete the Blending Routine with the sentences, “Steven asked, ‘May I go down the ramp?’ His mother agreed to let him go.”
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 401, the materials address the prefixes im-, in-, and dis-. Students complete the Blending Routine with the sentences, "It is impolite to speak while chewing. It happens sometimes, because people are imperfect."
Indicator {{'1i' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials include frequent practice opportunities for students to build/manipulate/spell and encode grade-level phonics, including common and newly-taught sounds and spelling patterns.
Students have a varying number of routines that allow them daily practice for building, manipulating, and encoding grade level phonics. Each lesson in the Teacher’s Guide provides opportunities for students to spell/encode words through spelling dictation activities and the Quick Switch Routine. On Day 5 of each week, students complete a spelling check to assess their encoding skills. The lessons also incorporate various independent activities that require students to practice writing words. The materials include frequent opportunities for students to build, manipulate, and spell words using common and newly taught sound and spelling patterns and grade level phonics. Routines included as part of the Puzzle Piece Phonics materials that support these opportunities include: Say/Spell/Sort, Word Ladders, Dictation, Spelling Checks, Partner Poster, Color Code Writing. Teacher modeling is included.
The materials contain teacher-level instruction and modeling for building/manipulating/spelling and encoding words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 63, students use the Learner’s Notebook to record the words: badge, barge, charge, cage, rage, ridge, Rick, trick, tricky, trike. The teacher reminds students about the spelling patterns previously discussed for -ck and -dge.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 76, during Word Ladders: Manipulate Your Words, students write words that are dictated by the teacher. Students use the corresponding selections from the Learner’s Notebook, page 76. Students also discuss silent letters contained in the words.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 173, the teacher directs students to turn to page 133 of the Learner’s Notebook. Students follow the Word Ladders Routine described on page I-24 of the Introduction to dictate the following words: dirt, dirty, dirtier, flirt, fur, furry, first, worst, worker, homework. Students are reminded to change y to i and add -er when writing dirtier. Students are also reminded to double the r in fur before adding the -y ending. The teacher helps students to change the word first to worst. Students are reminded that even though these words rhyme, worst begins with w and that many words that begin with w followed by the sound /er/ use the or spelling.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 283, during Word Ladders: Manipulate Your Words, students write words that are dictated by the teacher. Students use the corresponding Learner’s Notebook, page 218, and write word ladders from words dictated by the teacher: (man→men→basemen→bases→busses→buzzes→boys→Justin→Jupiter→June).
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 296, students participate in the Word Ladders activity on page 231 in their Learner’s Notebook. Students start with the word they and change it to them. Students then change them to themselves. Students continue changing one or two vowel pairs to make new words.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 513, Word Ladders: Manipulate Your Words, students write words that are dictated by the teacher. The students use the Learner’s Notebook, page 411 and write word ladders from words dictated by the teacher: (it will→it’ll→I’ll→I’d→I would→you would→you’d→they’d→she’d→she’ll).
Lessons provide students with frequent opportunities to build/manipulate/spell and encode words using common and newly-taught sound and spelling patterns. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages I-22 through I-59, the materials provide a number of independent activities that give students additional opportunities to build/manipulate and spell or encode words from the day’s lesson including Say, Spell, Sort, Highlighter Hunt, What Is the Same? What is Different, Partner Poster, and Silly Stories.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 13, students participate in the Say, Spell, Sort Routine. The teacher says the word, then repeats it and says it in a sentence. Then the teacher and students chunk the word. The teacher points out the sounds they hear within the chunks. Then the students discuss with a partner, and the teacher prompts them to write the word.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Say/Spell/Sort, page 171, students use the Learner’s Notebook and follow the Say, Spell, Sort Routine described in the Introduction. The teacher dictates six words and a sentence.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 260, the teacher follows the Say, Spell, Sort Routine described on page I-22 of the Introduction to dictate the following words: install, chalk, dawn, fawn, brought, bought. The teacher also dictates the sentences: “Do you want to play on the seesaw? Do you want to play soccer?”
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Spelling Check, page 346, the teacher follows the Spelling Check Routine described in the Introduction. Students word study groups work collaboratively using the Learner’s Notebook to record the dictated words.
Indicator {{'1j' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials provide application and encoding of phonics in activities and tasks (mid K-Grade 2).
Materials include explicit instruction throughout the lessons in which the teacher prompts and models the sounds students are writing. There are tasks and activities that promote application of phonics as students complete the Say, Spell, Sort Routine and the Student Dictionary Routine.
Materials include explicit, systematic teacher-level instruction of teacher modeling that demonstrates the use of phonics to encode sounds to letters and words in writing tasks. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-22 through I-26, the routines for Say, Spell, Sort, Word Ladders, and Dictation that are practiced throughout the program are described:
- The Say, Spell, Sort Routine is completed weekly on Days 1 and 3 of each concept taught. Students use their Learner’s Notebook to write words and sentences dictated by the teacher.
- The Basic Routine on page I-23 instructs the teacher to: “Say the word. Say it in a sentence. Repeat the word. Work with the students to identify sounds/chunks they hear in the word. Point to the puzzle piece sounds/chunks they hear while saying each sound. Say each sound and discuss the patterns that arise, and tell the students to write the word in the correct column based on focus elements.”
- The teacher is to use this model for the first two words on the list.
- Other words are said and repeated in a sentence, and then students are told to use the strategy on their own, while writing the word.
- Sentences are stated, then repeated slowly one word at a time with pauses in between so students can be “mindful of sight words, focus patterns, and writing conventions introduced so far."
- The Word Ladders Routine, page I-24 is completed weekly on Days 2 and 4 of each concept taught. Students write a list of 10 related words dictated by the teacher.
- The routine specifies that the teacher says the first word then asks the students to change the first word to another word. The instructions are as follows: Say the word. Students write the first word. The teacher records the correct spelling of the first word, then says, “Switch the word ____to ___.” Students write the correct spelling of the second word. The teacher records the correct spelling and verbally compares the two words before giving the third word. Students then complete the 10 words as the teacher calls out the word.
- The Dictation Routine is described on I-25 and takes place on Days 1 and 3 of Concept 8, Weeks 1-3. The routine on I-26 instructs the teacher to: “Say the word. Say it in a sentence. Repeat the word. Tell the students to tap out the sounds they hear in the word. Point to the puzzle piece sounds they hear while saying each sound. Tell the students to write the word.”
- The teacher is to use this model for the first two words on the list.
- Other words are said and repeated in a sentence. Then students are told to use the strategy on their own and write the word.
- Sentences are repeated slowly one word at a time with pauses in between so students can be “mindful of sight words, focus patterns, and writing conventions introduced so far.”
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 265, the teacher helps students follow the Word Ladders Routine. The teacher must “help students get from alike to chalk by reviewing the syllable break patterns discussed during Blending.” The word ladder is as follows: alike→chalk→talking→taller→taught→caught→cause→pause→paw→awesome
Lessons provide students with frequent activities and tasks to promote application of phonics as they encode words in sentences, or in phrases, based on common and newly taught grade level phonics patterns. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- There are three practice activities listed in the Teacher’s Guide, pages I-44, I-47, and I-55, that include encoding practice during the following: Personal Dictionary, Silly Stories, and Super Sentences.
- The Personal Dictionary activity requires students to record their weekly words so that it becomes a reference for them throughout the year. Not all words are placed in the dictionary. Students select words from their weekly list to add to the dictionary and write the word under the correct letter.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 117, under the Practice section, students are instructed to work on their Personal Dictionary.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 331, under the Practice section, students are instructed to work on their Personal Dictionary.
- Silly Stories is an activity presented in Concept 6. Students practice identifying parts of speech by filling in the blanks with words that make sense in the story. While encoding is not the primary focus of the activity, it is a component skill used to complete the activity.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 312, under the Practice section, students use the Learner’s Notebook, page 241, to complete the Silly Story provided.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 327, students use the Learner’s Notebook, page 255, to complete the Silly Story.
- In the Dictation Routine that appears on Days 1 and 3 each week of Concept 8, there are two sentences included in the daily encoding activities. For example:
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 486, presents a spelling word list comprised of compound words (i.e, grown, overgrown, undergrown, load, upload, download) and two sentences: (“The weeds are overgrown.” and “We need to mow the backyard!").
- At the beginning of the year, one sentence is included on the weekly Spelling Check:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 118, differentiated lists for Group 1 and Group 2 are provided. Each group has one sentence to write.
- Later in the program, students are still given one sentence to write during the Spelling Check on Day 5. For example, in the Teacher’s Guide, page 489, each group has one Dictation Sentence. Group 1 writes, “I looked out the keyhole to see who was at the door.” Group 2 writes, “My grandparents took me to the movies this weekend."
- Daily encoding of sentences does not occur, but there are several practice activities, such as Dictation Routine, Super Sentences, and Say, Spell, Sort Routine, that incorporate encoding words in sentences.
- In the Teacher's Guide, page I-55, Super Sentences provide an independent activity for students to use their weekly words in context. Students are instructed to look at their words for the week and select one word. Students orally construct a sentence that contains the word. Students then record the sentence on a sheet of paper and circle the weekly word used.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 129, during the Say, Spell, Sort Routine, students write the sentences read by the teacher, “We will drive to the river. Then we will fly fish.”
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 265, students complete the Personal Dictionary activity in which they write the words from their word list and then use the words in a sentence.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 482, Dictation Focus: Compound Words, students use page 385 of the Learner’s Notebook to write words in isolation and to write sentences: “We set up our backyard for the birds. We have a birdhouse and a birdbath.”
Criterion 1.2: Word Recognition and Word Analysis
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and opportunities to practice reading of high-frequency words to develop automaticity. Materials do not meet the criteria for materials provide frequent practice opportunities to read and write high frequency words in context. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials explicitly teach word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis) based on the requirements of the standards and provide frequent practice opportunities for students to apply word analysis strategies.
Indicator {{'1k' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include systematic instruction of high-frequency words and opportunities to practice reading of high-frequency words to develop automaticity.
The Teacher’s Guide provides a clear scope and sequence chart for the introduction of sight words in the program. Materials also include a Sight Word Routine for introducing the words as part of the Blending Section of each lesson. Words are introduced on Day 1 of each week and practiced for the five days of the week in which they are introduced. Students practice spelling the words during the dictation or Say, Spell, Sort sections of the lesson. Fluency Notebook selections corresponding to the lessons do not provide consistent or systematic contextual practice on the sight words. The materials do not identify which high-frequency list was referenced when developing the scope and sequence for introduction of sight words or what frequency criteria was used. In Grade 2, students are taught three words a week with no review weeks. By the end of Grade 2, students are expected to know 108 words. The program does not introduce the entire list of 200 words from a common list of high-frequency words by the end of Grade 2. There is some explicit instruction on high-frequency words during the Blending Routine.
Materials include systematic and explicit instruction of sight-based recognition of irregularly spelled words. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages I-21 and I-22, the materials provide a Sight Word Routine with a rationale for teaching and instructions on how to model and teach each word. The guide indicates that these words are introduced during the Blending section of the lesson.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages I-65 and I-66, a scope and sequence chart is provided for the introduction of sight words organized according to the different concepts and instructional weeks in the program.
- Three words are introduced each week for 36 weeks. The high-frequency words are reviewed for Days 1-5 of the week they are introduced. They are also reviewed during the Say, Spell, Sort routine when students have the opportunity to practice spelling the focus words.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 15, students learn the high-frequency words: when, ask, may. The teacher reads the words, the students read the words, and then the students orally spell the words.
- High-frequency words appear sporadically in reading selections in the Fluency Notebook passages, which are incorporated within the lessons.
- Of the three sight words (because, very, or) introduced in the Teacher’s Guide, Concept 3, Week 1, pages 84-92, only very appears in the reading selections in the Fluency Notebook, Concept 3, pages 13-16, during the week of instruction. The word very appears once across the contextualized reading.
Materials include frequent opportunities for the teacher to model the spelling and reading of high-frequency words in isolation. Students also have opportunities to practice identifying and reading high-frequency words in isolation.
Materials include a limited quantity of new grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words for students to make reading progress. Examples include:
- There are a total of 108 high-frequency words that students will learn by the end of Grade 2. Students learn three sight words a week.
- The Teacher’s Guide does not indicate which high-frequency list was referenced when deciding which words to introduce.
- The Teacher’s Guide introduces 108 sight words over 36 weeks.
- Approximately 10% of these words are reviewed from Puzzle Piece Phonics, Kindergarten, and Grade 1 materials.
- The words introduced are often phonetically regular; however, other phonetically irregular high-frequency words are not explicitly taught (e.g., school, thought, around, etc.)
Indicator {{'1l' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for materials provide frequent practice opportunities to read and write high frequency words in context (sentences).
Materials do not include evidence of students reading high frequency words in sentences, in the fluency passages, or in other routines. Sight Words are repeated for each day’s lesson within the week but are not explicitly modeled or reviewed after the week in which they were introduced. Opportunities are missed for students to write high-frequency words in their writing activities. The Teacher’s Guide provides only limited practice opportunities for students to read and write the sight words during the daily lessons and provides little to no cumulative or distributed practice across the following lessons. Routines in the Teacher’s Guide, pages I-21 through I-61, that potentially provide opportunities for multi-model practice for sight words include: Dictation, Spelling Checks, Fluency Routines, Take-Home List, Partner Poster, Comprehension Checks, Personal Dictionary, Silly Stories, and Super Sentences; however, the only words consistently incorporated into these activities are the focus element words and sight words are often omitted.
Lessons do not provide students with opportunities to read grade level irregularly spelled words in a sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 85, the sight words introduced include because, very, and or. None of these words appear in the Say, Spell, Sort section following their introduction. These words are not included in the Learner’s Notebook activities on page 59 or 61. The final activity for the lesson is to read passages from the Fluency Notebook, pages 13-16. The words because and very each appear once, but or does not.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 91, the sight words for the week, because, very, and or, do not appear in the Spelling Check. The students are then referred to the Fluency Notebook, Concept 3, pages 13-16, to complete a Comprehension Check. The spelling check and comprehension check activities provide an opportunity to read two of the week’s sight words one more time.
Lessons do not provide students with opportunities to write grade level irregularly spelled words in tasks (such as sentences) in order to promote automaticity in writing grade level irregularly spelled words. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Words on the scope and sequence of sight words are introduced and practiced in the Blending Routine are incorporated into the spelling activities; however, students are expected to read many other words by sight that have not been formally introduced, taught the letter-sound pattern, or practiced prior to reading them in their Fluency Notebook.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 149, students are referred to pages 13-16 in the Fluency Notebook. Students read passages that have a focus on the “long vowels, long a (a,_e, ai, a, ay).” The week’s sight word very appears once in the story and because appears twice. The week’s sight word or does not appear in any of the sentences. Many other words that are used in the passages contain letter-sound patterns students have not been taught. Students would not have the skills to decode the words, but they are not introduced as sight words before practicing them in context. Words in the materials that students are not prepared read include: prairies, government, pilgrimage, different, eventually, weather, grasshoppers, wildflowers. The words are not systematically reviewed in later lessons.
Indicator {{'1m' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials explicitly teach word analysis strategies (e.g., phoneme/grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis) based on the requirements of the standards and provide frequent practice opportunities for students to apply word analysis strategies.
The Teacher’s Guide provides explicit instruction in phoneme-grapheme relationships including long vowels spelling with various patterns, digraphs, irregular vowels and r-controlled vowels. The materials introduce students to morphemic analysis skills through the addition of prefixes and suffixes to root words; however, they do not systematically and explicitly teach students to apply these patterns, digraphs, or morphemes to decoding multisyllabic words. Syllabification skills are taught and practiced through limited activities that require a student to count the syllables they hear when a word is pronounced. Students are not taught a systematic approach to using syllabication skills to decode unknown words. Additionally, practice opportunities are not varied across the year.
Materials contain limited explicit instruction of word analysis strategies (e.g. phoneme-grapheme recognition, syllabication, morpheme analysis). Examples include:
- The Teacher’s Guide does not provide a clear sequence for introducing inflectional endings and ordering them from simplest to most difficult.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages 84 through 162, students review all long vowels, e.g., the final -e, vowel combinations, long vowels in open syllables.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages 214 through 267, the materials provide instruction on words with inconsistent but common phoneme-grapheme relationships.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 281, students are reminded that when they are completing the root word activity Say, Spell, Sort, the root words pass and class have ss on the end and therefore, require, es when writing the plural form.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 341, the teacher says, “I’m going to say an irregular past tense verb. Your job is to break down the word into sounds.” Students are prompted to visualize each sound as they say it.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages 365 through 449, students are taught nine prefixes and six suffixes and the inflectional endings ing and ed.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 485, students are prompted to break apart the compound word into the root words.
Materials contain limited explicit instruction of word solving strategies (graphophonic and syntactic) to decode unfamiliar words. Examples include:
- While the Teacher’s Guide teaches and reviews the component skills of phoneme-grapheme relationships and practices the Blending Routine to guide students in reading short words, it does not provide an explicit strategy for decoding two syllable or multisyllabic words.
- Other than the teacher modeling some examples of breaking words into syllables, the students are given only occasional practice activities that require them to auditorally identify the number of syllables in the word.
- The practice activity, Syllable Sort, requires students to pull a word out of their bag and break the words into syllables by clapping the word or holding their hand under their jaw as they say the word.
- Students read the word and then practice counting how many syllables are in it. This helps in encoding the word.
- Students do not use the skill of applying knowledge of syllables in order to decode unfamiliar multisyllabic words during this particular practice activity.
- When introducing prefixes and suffixes, the Teacher’s Guide does not provide any additional strategies for figuring out the rest of the word, aside from identifying the prefix or suffix. The Teacher’s Guide, pages 378-379, introduces prefixes in the Blending Routine, but it does not reference the routine spelled out in the beginning of the guide (I-18 & I-19) to be used in combination with prefixes or suffixes. The set of examples used (qualify, requalify, prequalify) assumes students can read the first word and then read requalify and prequalify on the basis of knowing the first word; however, if the student does not know the first word, there is no strategy to assist them in figuring it out.
Limited opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies. Examples include:
- In the Blending Routine strategy, the teacher places the syllable marks within multisyllabic words. The students do not have a practice activity that requires them to apply this skill and identify syllables independently.
- When reading words with prefixes and suffixes, students are expected to read the words presented in the lesson after having been shown the puzzle piece with the affix on it and discussing the meaning of it; however, students do not receive explicit instruction in identifying prefixes and suffixes in unknown words and using that knowledge to decode new words.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 15, students complete the Sorting with Separate Picture and Word Cards Routine. The students divide cards into a word stack and a picture stack. Students pick up the picture and tap out the sounds. They find the header for the word and put it there. Then, they say the focused spelling pattern.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 233, students complete the Say, Spell, Sort Routine in which they identify the root words for cloudy and loudly.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 403, students complete the Word Trees Prefixes Routine. Students write the prefix on the bottom of the tree and write the meaning of the prefix on the trunk of the tree.
Limited opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis strategies. Examples include:
- Students complete the Say, Spell, Sort Routine, the Tree Ladder Routine, and the Separate Picture and Word Card Routine.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Concept 6, page 281, students complete the Build Your Schema Routine, in which they work together with a partner to come up with as many nouns as they can that end in ch, sh, x, ss, or zz. Then, they write the plural form in the air .
- The same activities are used repeatedly over the course of the year for students to practice word analysis skills. There are many word sort activities, but the other word analysis strategies are not varied.
Criterion 1.3: Decoding Accuracy, Decoding Automaticity and Fluency
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are built into the materials for systematic, evidence-based, explicit instruction in fluency. Materials partially meet the criteria for varied and frequent opportunities are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency. Materials do not meet the criteria for materials provide teacher guidance to support students as they confirm or self-correct errors and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding.
Indicator {{'1o' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are built into the materials for systematic, evidence-based, explicit instruction in fluency (Grades 1-2).
Students read Reader’s Theatre passages to develop fluency. There are limited instructional opportunities built into the materials for explicit fluency instruction that focus on modeling of rate, accuracy, or expression. During the fluency passages that are correlated with the lessons, the teacher is not instructed on how to incorporate or provide any model of intonation, expression, phrasing, punctuation, or rate. No criteria for mastery are indicated and there is no systematic collection of fluency data to indicate whether or not students are successful at mastering the elements of fluency.
Materials include limited opportunities for explicit, systematic instruction in fluency elements using grade-level text. Examples include:
- Read grade-level text orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
- The Fluency Notebook states on the cover page that “The Reader’s Theater is reading like you’re speaking, reading the words accurately, reading at a natural pace, and reading with expression, and reading like you are the character.”
- The Teacher’s Guide, pages I-31 and 32, describes the basic routine for teaching fluency: Students repeatedly read either a differentiated part in a Reader’s Theater or one of two differentiated informational texts within the Fluency Notebook. Directions for completing the fluency routine are embedded in the daily lesson.
- In Preparing for Your Week, Teacher’s Guide, Concept 1, page 8, under the section Tips for Fluency, the teacher is instructed to “explain to students that the purpose of doing Reader’s Theater is to practice reading with expression and natural pacing. Model what it looks like to read various punctuation marks and to add emotion.”
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 11, introduces the Fluency Notebook by stating: “A fluent reader reads at a normal pace, says the words accurately, and uses expression. Our Reader’s Theater scripts will come to life when you read them fluently.” However, it does not model what any of these elements actually look like when reading orally. Teachers are instructed to explain the format of the scripts and facilitate a discussion that leads students to “discover” elements of script, including the cast list and character names.
- Instructions indicate that: “...the students complete a class read of the Reader’s Theater. You can assign students or groups of students specific parts and/or model various characters yourself."
- The Teacher’s Guide, pages 260-261, in the Fluency section of the lesson, the directions prompt the teacher to “Review the procedure for Reader’s Theater. Students will work with their small groups all week to practice their lines. Their goal is to read their parts fluently, meaning that they speak at a normal pace and say the lines accurately and with expression. If your schedule allows, tell students that they will present on Day 5.” Students are then assigned to heterogeneous fluency groups and begin reading in the Fluency Notebook. Teachers are instructed to circulate and support groups as necessary until time is up or the majority of groups are at a stopping point.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 278, the Fluency Section has the teacher assign students to either Group 1 or 2 based on similar reading ability. Using the Learner’s Notebook (Group 1, Week 1, Concept 6, page 221 or Group 2, page 223), students are instructed to read the first part of the assigned group passage with their partner. They are to keep reading until the teacher says stop. If they finish the part before the teacher says stop, they are to begin rereading the passage and continue until the end of the time period (5-7 minutes). The teacher is instructed to circulate and support small groups or partners as needed.
Materials provide limited opportunities for students to hear fluent reading of grade-level text by a model reader. Examples include:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 57, Tips for Fluency state, “Students will read ‘How the Hen Tricked the Fox’ in the Fluency Notebook.” The parts of Blossom and the Fox, are on grade level and the parts of Narrator 1 and 2 are above grade level.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 64, students present their plays to the class, if time allows.
Materials include limited resources for explicit instruction in fluency. Examples include:
- Both the Learner’s Notebook and the Fluency Notebook provide passages for reading that are correlated to the daily lessons. Repeated readings of texts in the Learner’s Notebook take place over the course of four days. However, no data is collected to indicate either accuracy or fluency.
- When students read the scripts provided in the Fluency Notebook, there is no fluency or accuracy goal or criteria set to measure their performance. No repeated measures are taken to indicate student progress in the acquisition of these important elements of fluency.
- The section Fluency: Reading Like You’re Speaking does not provide explicit instruction on how to read fluently. Teachers are provided with the instruction to “circulate and listen to students read or gather a small group of students who need additional support.”
Indicator {{'1p' | indicatorName}}
Varied and frequent opportunities are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2 (once accuracy is secure).
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for varied and frequent opportunities are built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral reading fluency beginning in mid-Grade 1 and through Grade 2 (once accuracy is secure).
There are frequent opportunities built into the materials for students to engage in supported practice to gain oral fluency. In the Teacher’s Guide, there are two sources for contextual reading materials, the Learner’s Notebook and the Fluency Notebook. While the Teacher’s Guide provides oral reading texts for students to engage with, students are expected to reread the assigned poems three times in one day and then repeat the same readings for the following three days. This provides frequent practice, but it is not varied. Materials lack guidance and feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency.
Limited opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to gain oral reading fluency. Examples include:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 20, students read the Reader’s Theatre passage, “What Makes a Good Friend.”
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 128, students read the fluency passage either on grade level, “Bees as Pollinators,” or above Grade level, “Butterflies as Pollinators.”
- In the Learner’s Notebook students read passages each Friday.
- Passages in the Learner’s Notebook are read on Fridays each week and used for comprehension checks. The stated purpose of these texts (Teacher’s Guide, page I-33) is for students to “independently consider the Reader’s Theaters (in the Fluency Notebook) and informational texts as a whole …. to deepen their understanding of the weekly texts by working independently to answer higher-level questions.”
- The Teacher's Guide states that “fluency and comprehension checks encourage students to read for meaning and allow teachers to assess student application of phonics and word study concepts…”, but the guide does not provide explicit instructions for how to accomplish that or any criterion for measuring progress. These passages are read individually by students during independent practice activities.
- Each day of instruction, students read a Reader’s Theatre text and then present it on Day 5. On page 368, Concept 7, Week 1, students read the grade-level text, “Debate It.”
- The Fluency Notebook contains selections that are repeated daily on Days 1-4 of each concept week and read orally. All selections provided are scripts and students are assigned parts to read. The scripts may be read as a whole group or in small groups. There are no instructions provided to the teacher other than “Circulate and listen to students read or gather a small group of students who need additional support.”
- These selections do not vary. Students read the same texts on Days 1-4 of each concept week.
- No correction or modeling procedures are provided. Students are assigned parts in the script and are told to read the scripts out loud with no specific feedback being given regarding their phrasing, expression, rate or accuracy.
- While text reading is done daily, it is not varied in terms of:
- the words used in context,
- the type of materials read. They are all scripts, no narrative passages with or without dialogue, poems, or speeches.
- how they are practiced (i.e., whisper reading, choral reading, small group, whole group, etc.)
Materials contain opportunities for students to participate in repeated readings of a grade-level text to practice oral reading fluency. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In theTeacher’s Guide, page 23, during the fluency passage, students are told that they are going to read informational text. The materials state that students will read the text over and over so that they build fluency and learn as much as possible from each one.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 173, students read the Reader’s Theatre script, “Superstart and Bummer.” The narrator parts are above grade level. This is the second time the students read through the passages.
- Repeated readings of the scripts occur daily, and they are repeated for four days during the concept week.
Materials include limited guidance and feedback suggestions to the teacher for supporting students’ gains in oral reading fluency. Examples include:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 232, the teacher circulates during the time the students are reading the Reader’s Theatre passage for that day and supports groups as necessary until time is up or the majority of groups are at a stopping point.
- Throughout each of these readings, no specific feedback is provided to students regarding their accuracy, fluency, expression, or phrasing, and there is no criterion set for how to measure whether students are improving in any of these elements across the repeated readings. There are no instructions to the teacher in how or when to provide feedback or what kind of feedback is needed in order to ensure students develop fluency.
Indicator {{'1q' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for materials provide teacher guidance to support students as they confirm or self-correct errors and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding.
Instructional materials include limited opportunities for students to self-correct errors and emphasize reading for purpose and understanding. The Teacher’s Guide does not address the self-correction of errors when students are reading for fluency. The instructional lessons do not provide opportunities for students to self-correct and then reread the sentence to develop increased fluency. No routines are provided to teach students how to ‘chunk’ words together and read phrases in order to self-correct and increase reading rates.
Materials do not provide explicit lessons for the teacher in confirming and self-correcting errors in fluency. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Teacher’s Guide does not provide teachers with any routines for teaching students to self-correct when reading for fluency. It does not provide any explicit instructions on how teachers are to correct students' errors, or how they are to teach students to self-correct errors.
- The directions are for the teacher to circulate and listen to students read, but no indication is given as to how errors should be corrected or strategies to teach students how to self-correct.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 13, Say, Spell, Sort Activity Step 3, “As with Day 1, encourage students to try one way of spelling each word and see if it looks right. Remind students that they need to carefully correct their mistakes because it will help them recall the correct spellings in the future.”
Materials do not provide opportunities for students to practice using confirmation or self-correction of errors. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- While the materials provide opportunities for oral reading, there is no formalized routine for students to learn self-correction skills.
Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year for students to read on-level texts (Grades 1-2) for purpose and understanding.
- No evidence found.
Materials contain explicit directions and/or think-alouds for the teacher to model how to engage with a text to emphasize reading for purpose and understanding.
- No evidence found.
Overview of Gateway 2
Implementation, Support Materials & Assessment
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet expectations for implementation, support materials, and assessment. The materials meet the criterion for materials are accompanied by a systematic, explicit, and research-based scope and sequence outlining the essential knowledge and skills that are taught in the program and the order in which they are presented. Foundational skills lessons are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. The materials meet the criterion for program includes work with decodables, following the grade-level scope and sequence to address securing phonics; however, the fluency passages within the materials do not include the high frequency words that are addressed each week. The materials partially meet the criterion for materials offer teachers resources and tools to collect ongoing data about student progress on the Standards. There are missed opportunities for regular and systematic assessment opportunities that measure student progress in fluency, as well as extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards for students who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English. The visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Criterion 2.1: Guidance for Implementation, Including Scope and Sequence
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials contain a teacher edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. Materials contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary. Materials contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary. Foundational skills lessons are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Content can reasonably be completed within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding. Materials include a scope and sequence that clearly delineates an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the Foundational Skills program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
Indicator {{'2a' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials contain a teacher edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
Puzzle Piece Phonics provides a Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide for content presentation including: detailed lesson plans for each concept to be taught, the number of weeks of instruction on each concept, and lessons for each day of every week designated for instruction on that concept. Assessment measures with scoring procedures are provided for both pre- and post-assessment of skills. Also included in the Teacher’s Guide are detailed descriptions of foundational skills content (i.e. phonological awareness, phonics, high-frequency words, word analysis, decoding, writing, fluency) and the purpose for teaching each skill. Explicit instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement each lesson are delineated in the Guide. Directions for the teacher include how long the routine should take to complete and when it is introduced within the program. There are online resources to provide support and guidance for the teacher. The online resources are referenced at the beginning of the week’s lesson and on again on Day 5 at the close of the week’s lessons.
Materials provide a well-defined, teacher resource (teacher edition, manual) for content presentation. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Introduction page I-21, the Sight Words Routine is defined and the learning outcomes and purpose are listed. There are specific directions for the basic routine.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages I-15 through I-17, the materials stipulate that pre-assessments are administered during Concepts 1, 5, 6, and 7, while post-assessments are administered at the end of Concepts 3, 5, and 6, and during instruction on Concept 8.
- In the Teacher’s Guide Introduction, pages I-10 through I-81, each of the instructional formats employed in the program are defined. Descriptions include expected outcomes and the purpose of the format.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-25, the Dictation Routine takes 10 minutes or less to teach and is taught on Days 1 and 3 of Concept 8, Weeks 1-3.
The teacher resource contains detailed information and instructional routines that help the teacher to effectively implement all foundational skills content (i.e. phonics, irregularly spelled words, word analysis, fluency). Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Introduction, page I-34, Spelling Checks Routine, materials list the formal assessment that takes ten minutes and is completed on Day 5, learning outcomes, purpose, and basic routine
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Introduction, pages I-10 through I-81, each of the instructional formats employed in the program are defined. Descriptions include expected outcomes and the purpose of the format.
Technology pieces include provide support and guidance for the teacher and do not create an additional layer of complication around the materials. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 290, in the section Preparing for Your Week under Tips for Management and Differentiation, materials state that a teacher may refer to this section and to resources.corwin.com/puzzlepiece phonics-grade2 for resources and ideas. Materials restates the reference under Weekly Celebration, page 300.
Indicator {{'2b' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials contain full, adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skills concepts included in the program so teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
Materials include adult-level explanations that are provided in the introduction pages of the Puzzle Piece Teacher’s Guide. On the Puzzle Piece website is a paper entitled, “Puzzle Piece Phonics Research Base Alignment: A Summary of Salient Research and Description of Program Alignment.” Full, adult-level explanations of concepts such as phonemic awareness, phonemes, morphemes, semantics, syntax, and explicit and systematic instruction are available. The paper defines each of the salient terms, provides research that supports the rationale for teaching, and describes how the terms are incorporated into the design of Puzzle Piece Phonics; however, there is no reference of this article mentioned in the teacher materials. The Teacher's Guide, Introduction, page I-3, does highlight the research used to develop the program.
Materials provide full adult-level explanations and examples of the foundational skill concepts included in the Puzzle Piece Phonics program.
- The full, adult-level explanations of concepts such as phonemic awareness, phonemes, morphemes, semantics, syntax, explicit and systematic instruction are not provided within the Teacher's Guide. This information is available on the Corwin Puzzle Piece website in a paper entitled “Puzzle Piece Phonics Research Base Alignment: A Summary of Salient Research and Description of Program Alignment.” The paper defines each of the salient terms, provides research that supports the rationale for teaching, and describes how it is incorporated into the design of Puzzle Piece Phonics. Puzzle Piece Phonics, Grade 2 Teacher Guide, Introduction, page I-15, describes the phonemic awareness format, how long it will take to teach, what learning outcomes are expected, the purpose for students, and a basic routine to follow when teaching.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-5, explanations are provided for the color codes of the Puzzle Pieces used for display. The code includes: red--consonants; blue--short vowels; muted blue--short a vowel families, short e vowel families, short i vowel families, short o vowel families, and short u vowel families; orange--digraphs; purple--blends, and green--long vowels.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-10, explanations are provided for how the puzzle pieces are used on the reference wall, match the weekly word sort, and appear in the Learner’s Notebook. “Each puzzle piece represents one sound/spelling pattern. The puzzle pieces show the spelling, a picture of one word that has that spelling, and the written word of that spelling. The focus pattern appears in bold and is color-coded within the example word. There is a motion for each puzzle piece that helps students remember the example word on the puzzle piece. The motions engage learners and aide retention. The reference Puzzle Pieces only have the lowercase letter(s) representing the focus sounds(s).” Additional information is provided regarding the major patterns of phonics. The pieces are created in a way to fit together and illustrate those patterns. For example:
- “Vertically: The spellings of a particular sound connect vertically. Students will see these vertical connections in first and second grade. For example, the a_e, a, ay, and ai patterns can all be used to represent the long a sound. They snap together vertically. This helps students understand that the long a sound can be represented in any of those ways.”
- “Horizontally: Similar patterns connect horizontally. For example, all of the pieces in the vowel _e family connect horizontally. This helps students understand that the vowel _e rule applies to long a, e, i, o, and u.”
Additional information is provided in the Teacher’s Guide, page I-10, to help further explain when various patterns may be applied. Examples include:
- “Spellings that are only used at the beginning of a word have a straight edge on the left side. No pieces can be physically placed before that spelling. This helps students recognize that those spellings (such as tr and dr) always come at the beginning of a word.”
- “Spellings that are only used at the end of a word have a straight edge on the right side. No pieces can be physically placed after that spelling. This shows that these spellings (such as at, ap, and ag) can only come at the end of a word.”
- “The vowel _e spellings have an opening at the top. The bottom side of a consonant piece sticks out and can be inserted into the opening to create a vowel _e pattern (e.g., the bottom of the no piece snaps into the top of the bone piece to form the one spelling in the word bone.)”
Adult-level explanations are provided for the various routines included in the materials. Explanations for each routine include specific information regarding the following:
- What is it?
- Learning Outcomes
- Purpose
- Basic Routine
Explanations are provided in the Teacher’s Guide Introduction for the specific foundational skills concepts, including:
- Phonemic Awareness
- Word or Letter? Routine
- Supported Blending
- Blending
- Sight Words Routine
- Letter Formation
- Dictation
- Quick Switch
- Fluency Routines
Indicator {{'2c' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for foundational skills lessons are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. Content can reasonably be completed within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
The Puzzle Piece Phonics Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide provides a clear overview of the rationale for the instructional routines and detailed instructions for explicit teaching of each of the concepts. Each lesson component is defined and includes expected learning outcomes and the purpose of the activity. The routine for teaching each lesson component provides the expected amount of time to allocate for teaching the component. The Teacher’s Guide provides a scope and sequence chart for pacing of concepts and lessons and indicates the phonetic elements that are the focus of each week of instruction. At the introduction of each new concept, teachers are provided an overview of the skill to be taught, the resources they need to prepare for the week, and tips for managing and differentiating instruction. These overviews refer to the specific pages that explain the various routines in the Introduction section of the Teacher’s Guide facilitating teachers' access to the information. Each concept overview refers to the additional student resources that can be found online and these references are repeated in the Weekly Celebration section of the Day 5 lesson for each week. Daily lessons are composed of activities that follow consistent formats repeated throughout the program. Lessons clearly refer to other student materials that are required for the day’s lesson. In the Puzzle Piece Phonics Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide lessons are organized by concepts and by the number of weeks of instruction on each concept. Five days of instruction are designated for each week. Each lesson is estimated to take 30-40 minutes of teacher time, with additional time designated for independent work. In total, there are 36 weeks of instructional lessons included in the program which would take a total of 180 school days to complete according to the scope and sequence on page I-66. This is within the recommended amount of instructional time to be completed within a standard school year.
Lesson plans utilize effective, research-based lesson plan design for early literacy instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-3, Research-Based Approaches to Word Study, the guide emphasizes the importance of using balanced literacy with a reference to the National Reading Panel, 2000.
- Lesson plans utilize an effective, research-based design for early literacy instruction by incorporating modeling, explicit teaching, guided and independent practice activities.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 189, the teacher models when the /or/ sound is spelled ‘o-r’ verses ‘o-r-e’ in an oral exercise. The lesson then provides a review of previously taught sounds and spellings in the Build Your Schema format and provides guided practice on identifying syllables and decoding multisyllabic words. Independent practice activities continue for 15 minutes and are followed by paired partner reading within differentiated groups.
The effective lesson design structure includes both whole group and small group instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 185, during the fluency activity, during Routine 7, the teacher is prompted to have students begin reading with their partners and then support small groups as needed.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 112, during the Blending Routine, students are in whole group. The teacher displays the weekly sight words and sentences.
- The effective lesson design structure includes both whole group and small group instruction.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 189, the teacher begins the lesson with whole group instruction followed by independent practice on word patterns. The students practice reading with a partner within their differentiated groups. The fluency study groups are given assignments in the Learner’s Notebook which also includes comprehension work to be completed with their partners.
The pacing of each component of daily lesson plans is clear and appropriate. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-12, The Pattern Family Routine, the materials state that the routine should not be longer than five minutes.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-18, Blending Routine, the materials state that the routine should take 10 minutes or less and is completed on Days 1-4.
- The pacing of each component of the daily lessons plans is clear and appropriate and provides for a consistent pacing from day to day.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-24, the materials indicate that the Word Ladders Routine takes seven to ten minutes and is completed on Days 2 and 4 of each concept.
The suggested amount of time and expectations for maximum student understanding of all foundational skill content (i.e. phonics, irregularly spelled words, word analysis, fluency) can reasonably be completed in one school year and should not require modifications. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-65, the materials state there are 36 weeks of concepts in the Grade 2 scope and sequence.
- There are eight concepts total in the Grade 2 material. Each concept has a varying amount of allotted weeks but each week contains five days of instruction.
- Concept 1, Introduction to Word Study, Long Vowels vs. Short Vowels, has two weeks.
- Concept 2, Correctly Spelling Consonant Patterns, has four weeks.
- Concept 3, Correctly Spelling Long Vowels, has six weeks.
- Concept 4, Correctly Spelling r-Controlled Vowels and Schwa, has three weeks.
- Concept 5, Correctly Spelling Irregular Vowels, has four weeks.
- Concept 6, Parts of Speech, has six weeks.
- Concept 7, Prefixes and Suffixes, has six weeks.
- Concept 8, Other Word Types, has five weeks.
Indicator {{'2d' | indicatorName}}
Indicator {{'2d.ii' | indicatorName}}
Scope and sequence clearly delineate an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for scope and sequence clearly delineate an intentional sequence in which phonics skills are to be taught, with a clear explanation for the order of the sequence.
The Teacher’s Guide provides a chart indicating the scope and sequence used to introduce letter/sound patterns throughout this level of the program. The companion website provides a research paper, “Puzzle Piece Phonics Research Base Alignment,” which provides a broad overview of the research on the need to incorporate explicit and systematic phonics instruction in the early grades. The Teacher's Guide then highlights several research findings that guide the design of their program.
Materials clearly delineate a scope and sequence with a cohesive, intentional sequence of phonics instruction and practice to build toward application of skills. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Teacher’s Guide, pages I-62 through I-64, provides a scope and sequence chart that is organized under different concepts and instructional weeks. It delineates the order in which the skills from Grade 1 are reviewed in the first 19 weeks of school and the order in which new skills are introduced throughout the remaining 16 weeks of instruction.
- The new skills introduced during the first 19 weeks are the soft sounds of c and g and silent letters in the consonant combinations kn-, wr-, and -mb.
- New information is introduced in Puzzle Piece Phonics, Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide, pages 276-363 under Concept 6, Parts of Speech.
- Puzzle Piece Phonics, Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide, Concept 7, Week 1, Day 1, page 372 of the program begins teaching prefixes.
- Puzzle Piece Phonics, Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide, Concept 7, Week 4, Day 1, page 413 of the program begins teaching suffixes.
- Puzzle Piece Phonics, Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide, Concept 8, Week 1, Day 1, page 456 of the program begins teaching other words types, such as homophones, compound words, and contractions.
- The Teacher’s Guide, pages I-65 and I-66, provides a scope and sequence chart for the introduction of sight words, which is organized according to the different concepts and instructional weeks in the program.
- The Teacher’s Guide, pages 84 through 162, reviews all long vowels, including final -e, vowel combinations, long vowels in open syllables, etc.
- The Teacher’s Guide, pages 365 through 449, teaches nine prefixes and six suffixes, along with the inflectional endings -ing and -ed.
Materials have a clear research-based explanation for the order of the phonics sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In an article, Puzzle Piece Phonics Research Base Alignment, published on the companion website, the authors delineate the research supporting their approach to reading instruction.
- The materials cite Blevins’ (2017) research that indicates instructional programs should sequence high-utility sound/spelling patterns before the introduction of less useful patterns.
Indicator {{'2e' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the Foundational Skills program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.
The Puzzle Piece Phonics Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide includes a Weekly Celebration on Day 5 of each instructional week. The teacher is instructed to display a celebratory message identifying the puzzle pieces that have been introduced during that week, and the students copy the message onto a weekly certificate included in the online program resources. These certificates are taken home to show parents what the student has been learning. The Learner’s Notebook consists of perforated pages that can be torn out and sent home at the end of each week to inform parents or caregivers about the concepts being practiced. The materials lack resources for specific strategies, suggestions, or tools for working with students at home that the teacher can share with stakeholders to support progress and achievement.
Materials contain jargon-free resources and processes to inform all stakeholders about foundational skills taught at school. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-34, students complete a Weekly Celebration Routine in which they complete a celebratory message on the certificate. The students can take this certificate home and share the patterns they have mastered with their families.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-47, Easy Ongoing Assessment, the materials state that the assessments and practice pages can be shared with stakeholders for students to see where they have progressed.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Concept 7, Week 3, Day 5, page 409, the students copy a celebratory message on their certificates: “I am impressed! You mastered the prefixes im-, in-, and dis- !”
Materials do not provide stakeholders with strategies and activities for practicing phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency, and print concepts that will support students in progress towards and achievement of grade level foundational skills standards. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Teacher’s Guide, as well as the companion website, do not provide resources or information for stakeholders to use to support foundational skills or practice print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, and/or fluency, at home.
Criterion 2.2: Decodable Texts
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with phonics aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings. Materials do not meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with high-frequency words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings.
Indicator {{'2f' | indicatorName}}
Indicator {{'2f.i' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with phonics aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings.
The materials contain fluency passages that focus on a specific phonics skill based on the word list students are reading and practicing. Students read the decodable texts for the purpose of securing the phonics sound they are working on. The Teacher’s Guide includes decodable texts that are aligned with the focus elements incorporated in each lesson. The decodable texts often include one or two words containing the focus element. The text reading is repeated for five days.
Materials include decodable texts to address securing phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Fluency Notebook, pages 9 -12 , students read the decodable text “How the Hen Tricked the Fox.” Students narrate the story which has words with sounds -ck and -dge.
- The decodable texts provide limited opportunities to practice the focus elements taught in the lessons.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 143, focuses on the long vowels o_e, oa, o, ow. The corresponding pages 21-25 in the Fluency Notebook incorporate the following examples of these sounds: remote, goat, meadow, alone, coast, hopeful, poking, those, whole, broke, bogus, stone, load, lodestone, and pole.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 247, the teacher is prompted to have students read from the fluency passages in their Learner’s Notebook, page 193. Students read the passage the “History of Food,” which has irregular vowel sounds -oy and -oi.
Decodable texts contain grade-level phonics skills aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Fluency, page 190, students review page 145 or page 149 in the Learner’s Notebook and read the last part of the text. The decodable text includes the week's focus element, r-controlled vowels. Students are to repeat the same part until time is up.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, Fluency, page 262, the teacher reminds students of the goals for the Reader’s Theater and for their groups. Students turn to page 45 of the Fluency Notebook and practice reading the decodable text, which provides practice reading words with irregular vowels. The teacher circulates and supports groups as necessary.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages, 321-322, instruction focuses on parts of speech and verb tenses -ed and -ing. On page 326, students are prompted that they are going to read the plays “Channel 12 News” and “Groundhog Day!” Students complete the Reader’s Theatre Routine.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 403, during Fluency, students are prompted to read either Paragraph 1 or 2 of “Amazing Discoveries” from their Learner’s notebook, depending on the words they are learning based on the phonics sounds -im, -in, and -dis.
Indicator {{'2f.ii' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for materials include decodable texts with high frequency words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence and opportunities for students to use decodables for multiple readings.
Fluency passages included in the materials do not include the high frequency words that are addressed in each week. While the Teacher’s Guide provides a scope and sequence chart for words introduced in the sight word routines, they do not provide a scope and sequence chart for all of the high-frequency words used within the decodable texts.
Materials do not include decodable texts that utilize high-frequency words. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Many high frequency words are regularly included in the Fluency Passages; however, there is not a complete list of high frequency words or a scope and sequence provided for when they are introduced.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 122, students read either “Bees as Pollinators” (on grade level), or “Butterflies as Pollinators” (above grade level); however, the sight words for the week, black, brown, and ate are not included in the texts.
Decodable texts do not contain grade-level high-frequency/irregularly spelled words aligned to the program’s scope and sequence. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- There is a scope and sequence of words introduced as sight words within the lessons, but there is not a complete list of all high-frequency words introduced in the decodable texts.
Criterion 2.3: Assessment and Differentiation
Materials partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of word recognition and analysis. Materials do not meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress in fluency. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized. Materials do not regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade-level with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards. Materials 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.
Indicator {{'2g' | indicatorName}}
Indicator {{'2g.iii' | indicatorName}}
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics in- and out-of-context (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of phonics (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
The Teacher’s Guide provides four pre-assessments and four post-assessments throughout the 36-week instructional program. Assessments measure letter-sound relationships and spelling pattern skills but with limited applicability. However, assessments do not provide immediate information on when concepts need to be retaught or reviewed and do not provide ongoing data collection. Opportunities are missed for assessments to provide in-depth assessment of a student’s syllabication skills or their ability to systematically apply a strategy to encode multisyllabic words in or out of context.
Materials provide resources and tools to collect ongoing data about students’ progress in phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 373, students complete the Say, Spell, Sort activity in which they say the word, sort the word by header, and then spell it. The teacher is directed to use this as an informal assessment and to help students identify the relationship between pairs of words with the same prefix.
- The Teacher’s Guide provides four pre-tests throughout the 36 weeks of instruction.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 3, provides Pre-Assessment 1, Initial Spelling Check, to be given at the beginning of the program. According to the guide, the Initial Spelling Check measures spelling patterns taught in Grade 1, one-to-one letter-sound correspondences, knowledge of consonants, digraphs, blends, short vowels, and long vowels. There are no items that measure phonemic awareness through oral formats.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 207, provides a pre-test on parts of speech during which students identify which part of speech a word represents.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 269, provides an encoding pre-test on suffixes and prefixes.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 365, provides a spelling check pre-test on homophones, compound words, and contractions.
- Each of the other two pre-assessments (Teacher’s Guide, page 129; Teacher’s Guide, page 257) state that they are spelling checks that focus on spelling patterns, knowledge of short, long and r-controlled vowels, and knowledge of syllable breaks.
- The Teacher’s Guide provides four post-assessments. Each assessment is labelled as a spelling check to test knowledge of letter-sound correspondences, knowledge of consonants, digraphs, blends, short and long vowels, r-controlled vowels, and knowledge of syllables.
- Assessments provide limited data on accuracy and no data on fluency with encoding skills or the use of these skills in context.
- Post-Test 2, Teacher’s Guide, page 252, is a post-test on spelling words with the schwa sound, r-controlled vowels, and irregular vowels.
- Post-Test 3, Teacher’s Guide, page 349, is a post-test on identifying parts of speech.
- Post-Test 4, Teacher’s Guide, page 504, is listed as a summative spelling check.
Materials offer limited assessment opportunities to determine students’ progress in phonics that are implemented systematically. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 77, students complete a spelling check based on their differentiated groups for silent letters kn, wr, mb, and consonant patterns.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 221, students complete the word ladder activity in which they manipulate words turning the word cube into tube, tube into tooth, tooth into booth, booth into blew, blew into threw, threw into pew, pew into pupil, pupil into poodle, and poodle into noodle.
Limited assessment opportunities are provided for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence with phonics. Examples include:
- There are three pre-assessments that occur during Concepts 1, 5 and 6 that assess word endings, knowledge of consonants, short vowels, digraphs, r- controlled, long vowels, and irregular vowels. The final pre-assessment assesses students’ knowledge of prefixes and suffixes.
- There are four post-assessments that students complete at the end of Concepts 3, 5, 6, and 8. The first one assesses consonant patterns, short vowels, and long vowels. The second one assess students knowledge of r-controlled vowels, schwa, and irregular vowels. The third one assesses parts of speech, and the fourth one is a summative assessment.
- The spelling checks include a limited sample of words and one sentence in dictation. There are no regular assessments of encoding skills or assessments for generalization to words not previously taught. Some activities provide opportunities to practice but no data is recorded to indicate whether students are mastering the skills being practiced.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with limited information that students’ current skills/level of understanding of phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 436, students complete a spelling check. The teacher is able to determine which phonics sounds the students are able to do in the area of prefixes and suffixes.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 462, students complete a sort using the Pictures and Word Cards Routine in which they organize the words based on the header they fit under. The focus is on homophones.
- There is no data collected and analyzed based on the spelling assessments given each week.
Materials provide limited opportunities to measure students’ progress to support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in phonics. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The pre-assessments determine which word list a student uses. In the Teacher’s Guide, page 207, Concept 5, students take the pre-assessment for parts of speech. The materials prompt teachers to use the results to form word study groups.
Indicator {{'2g.iv' | indicatorName}}
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress of word recognition and analysis (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (K-2)
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 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). (K-2)
The Teacher’s Guide provides four pre-assessments and four post-assessments throughout the 36-week instructional program. Assessments measure letter-sound relationships and word recognition skills but with limited applicability. Assessments do not provide immediate information on when concepts need to be retaught or reviewed and do not provide any direct measures of decoding skills. Assessments are completed with the same procedure in which the teacher says a word and the student writes the word. The pre- and post-assessments are given four times during the year. There is limited information given to the teacher based on the assessment data, and there is no evaluation of students’ understanding of high frequency words.
Materials provide a limited 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. Examples include:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 269, prior to Concept 6 ending, the teacher gives students the assessment on prefixes and suffixes. The teacher says the words and the students write what they hear.
- The Teacher’s Guide provides four pretests throughout the 36 weeks of instruction.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 3, provides Pre-Assessment 1, Initial Spelling Check, which is to be given at the beginning of the program. According to the Teacher's Guide, the assessment measures spelling patterns taught in Grade 1, one-to-one letter-sound correspondences, knowledge of consonants, digraphs, blends, short vowels, and long vowels.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 207, is a pre-test on parts of speech. Students identify which part of speech a word represents.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 269, is a spelling pre-test on suffixes and prefixes.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 365, is a pre-test on homophones, compound words, and contractions.
- The Teacher’s Guide provides four Post-Assessments, and three of the four are labelled as spelling checks to test knowledge of letter-sound relationships. The materials do not provide direct assessment of decoding skills taught throughout the program and do not provide accuracy or fluency data for students.
- Post-Test 2, Teacher’s Guide, page 252, is a post-test on spelling words with the schwa sound, r-controlled vowels, and irregular vowels.
- Post-Test 3, Teacher’s Guide, page 349, is on identifying parts of speech.
- Post-Test 4, Teacher Guide, page 504, is listed as a summative spelling check.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with limited information concerning students’ current skills/level of understanding of word recognition and word analysis. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 207, students take a pre-assessment to determine their understanding and skill level around root words. The teacher says the word, and students write down what they hear.
Materials provide limited support to teachers with instructional suggestions for assessment-based steps to help students to progress toward mastery in word recognition and word analysis. Examples include:
- The teacher is able to group the students based on the pre-assessment. Students use differentiated word lists in their sorting activities throughout the week. There are other differentiation strategies suggested to the teacher to use if students are struggling.
Indicator {{'2g.v' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that measure student progress in fluency (as indicated by the program scope and sequence). (1-2)
The Teacher’s Guide does not provide assessment measures for students' progress in fluency. While students complete repeated readings of passages or texts, no fluency measures are recorded for students to determine whether fluency is improving with the repeated readings. No criteria are specified for reading rate or accuracy.
Assessment opportunities are provided regularly and systematically over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate progress toward mastery and independence of fluency.
- No evidence found.
Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information about students’ current skills/level of understanding of fluency.
- There are no assessment materials provided that give information related to students’ current skills or level of understanding of fluency or compare their performance to a criterion or goal.
Materials support teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery in fluency.
- Since there is no formal or informal assessment of fluency that provides information regarding a student’s progress, there are no instructional adjustments that can be targeted to improve performance.
Indicator {{'2h' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment and assessment materials clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
There is a document on the companion website for Puzzle Piece Phonics that identifies the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) (print concepts, phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, fluency, conventions of standard English, and vocabulary acquisition and use) that align with Grade 2 of Puzzle Piece Phonics in general; however, there is no alignment to CCSS provided by the publisher to indicate which standards are being addressed by specific questions, tasks, assessments or routines. The materials contain a publisher-produced alignment document; however, it is not tied to the standards. The teacher would need to look up which standards they are teaching and find the connection between the learning and the standards.
Alignment documentation is not provided for all tasks, questions, and assessment items. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-62, there is a scope and sequence resource. According to the Word Study Sound Pacing, the teacher would teach students the digraphs ch, th, sh, wh, and ph using differentiated Separate Picture and Word Cards Sort.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page I-64, Concept 7 teaches students prefixes and suffixes. In Week 26, instruction is provided on the prefixes: -re, -ex, pre-. This instruction is aligned to a differentiated word sort to practice the skill.
Alignment documentation does not contain specific standards correlated to specific lessons. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The alignment document provided on the companion website for Grade 2 Puzzle Piece Phonics lists the standards addressed but does not connect them to a specific lesson, task, or instructional routine included in any of the lessons.
- The Teacher’s Guide, Introduction, pages I-1 through I-63, does not reference CCSS in terms of specific tasks or routines.
Materials do not include denotations of the standards being assessed in the formative pre-assessments. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages I-15 & I-16, four pre-assessments are described as formative assessments to be used throughout the program. They are given prior to the start of a new concept and challenge students to write words with patterns that have not yet been formally taught. The Teacher's Guide states that the information can help teachers form student groups for word sorting , etc., and help determine the focus of lessons for each group. However, the materials do not clearly identify which standards are being addressed.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 3, the first pre-assessment covers knowledge of consonants, digraphs, blends, short and long vowel sounds, controlled vowels, irregular vowels, and syllable breaks. The instructions tell teachers what to look for and provide tips for scoring, but the assessment does not correlate to standards.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 207, the second pre-assessment covers knowledge of common word endings, rules when adding common endings, and irregular past tense verbs. The assessment does not correlate to standards.
- The third and fourth pre-assessments follow the same format. They provide what to look for, tips for scoring, and suggestions on how students can be grouped based on the assessment, but do not specify correlation to specific standards.
Materials do not include denotations of standards being assessed in the summative assessments. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- The Teacher’s Guide, page I-16, delineates four post-assessments used as summative assessments throughout the program. The Teacher's Guide states the information gained from the post-assessments can help teachers determine whether students have mastered the second grade spelling and word study patterns that have been formally introduced. While the materials state that each post-assessment tests the second grade standards, they do not identify which standards are being addressed .
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 253, provides the second post-assessment, which covers knowledge of schwa sounds, r-controlled vowels, and irregular vowel spellings. The instructions tell teachers what to look for and provide tips for scoring, but the assessment does not correlate to standards.
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 505, provides the fourth and final post-assessment which covers knowledge of: long vowels, short vowels, digraphs, blends, schwa sounds, r-controlled vowels, homophones, prefixes and suffixes, but the assessment does not correlate to standards.
- Post-assessments one and three follow the same format. They provide what to look for, tips for scoring, and suggestions on how students can be grouped based on the assessment, but do not specify correlation to specific standards.
Indicator {{'2i' | indicatorName}}
Differentiation for Instruction: Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding grade-level standards.
Indicator {{'2i.i' | indicatorName}}
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen in a language other than English with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not 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 to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
There is minimal mention in the program of how teachers should support ELL students. In the Teacher’s Guide there is no mention of ELL students and modifications or opportunities for reteaching that might address their needs for additional practice on skills. Skills introduced on Day 1 are practiced through Day 5 of a concept week, providing some opportunities for reteaching and review; however, with no criteria for performance specified at the end of the Day 5 lesson, teachers are not instructed as to when a concept needs to be retaught before moving on to the introduction of new skills. After Day 5, they move on to the next week’s focus element without assessing students’ level of understanding. Beginning in Concept 3, there is some differentiation in the word lists and fluency readings with students assigned to Group 1 (below grade level) or Group 2 (on or above grade level).
Materials do not provide support for ELL students. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 32, in Tips for Building your Schema, the materials state that if teachers have a lot of students who are EL learners, the teacher may need to give them specific instruction about the meaning of the question word and possible ways to answer questions beginning with each question word.
- Throughout the lessons for Days 1-5, there is no specific mention of modifications, extended practice, extended modeling, or remediation for students who are experiencing difficulties as second language learners. During the Fluency section of lessons, teachers are reminded that they should “Circulate and listen to students read” or “gather a small group of students who need additional support.”
- There are no criteria for student performance specified with any section or routine included in the lessons that would indicate whether a teacher needs to provide reteaching or additional practice on skills.
General statements about ELL students or few strategies noted at the beginning of a unit or at one place in the teacher edition are then implemented by the materials throughout the curriculum. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Other than generalized statements as to how groups can be flexible depending on student performance, there is little information that would lead to differentiation that could support ELL students.
Indicator {{'2i.ii' | indicatorName}}
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade-level with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade-level with extensive opportunities for reteaching to meet or exceed grade-level standards.
Skills introduced on Day 1 are practiced through Day 5 of a concept week, providing some opportunities for reteaching and review. The comprehension passages from the Learner’s Notebook and scripts from the Fluency Notebook are read/practiced repeatedly throughout the week. The opportunities for small group teaching do not include support or guidance for teachers. Word lists are not scaffolded for struggling students who are not on grade-level. Scripts are also not scaffolded for struggling students who are not on grade-level. Some scaffolding occurs within a lesson and across the weeks’ lessons from sounds first being introduced in the phonemic awareness section of the lesson, moving into Supported Blending and Formation: Writing of Letters, followed by sorting activities, and finishing in Fluency Notebook readings.
Materials provide some opportunities for small group reteaching. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, pages I-10 through I-59 describe the teaching routines and practice activities that make up each day’s lesson.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 113, the teacher is prompted to circulate as students work on the Quick Color, Careful Cut, Highlighter Hunt, Sorting with Words, and Take Home List activities and coach as needed.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 284, during the fluency portion, when students are reading, the teacher is encouraged to circulate and support students as needed.
- At the beginning of each week’s lesson plan, the Teacher’s Guide provides a section called Tips for Management and Differentiation. These provide broad guidelines for accommodating students who might need additional practice:
- The Teacher’s Guide, page 32, provides a section called Tips for Phonemic Awareness, which instructs the teacher, “If your students are very familiar with ch, th, and sh, then change the phonemic awareness focus to wh and ph.” However, no words are provided for the teacher to make this modification.
- Throughout the lessons for Days 1-5, there is no specific mention of modifications, reteaching, extended modelling, or remediation for students who are experiencing difficulties in mastering grade-level standards. During the Fluency section of lessons teachers are told that they should “Circulate and listen to students read” or “gather a small group of students who need additional support.”
Materials provide some guidance to teachers for scaffolding and adapting lessons and activities to support students who read, write, speak, or listen below grade-level in extensive opportunities to learn foundational skills at the grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 32, in Tips for Say, Spell, Sort, and Word Ladders, the materials state that if the teacher has students who are having a difficult time remembering ph or wh words, write common words on index cards or sentence strips and attach them to the dolphin piece and the whale piece.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 123, the materials state that if students do not understand when to use each spelling of long i, then keep the blending lines simple. Materials further state that the teacher not include words with endings or compound words, until students are ready.
- Differentiated instruction comes at the end of the lessons during the independent practice word sorting activity and the fluency passages.
- Beginning in Teacher’s Guide, page 54, practice activities in the Learner’s Notebook and the Fluency Notebook introduce differentiated words lists and passages for Group 1 and Group 2.
Indicator {{'2i.iii' | indicatorName}}
Materials regularly provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade-level.
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 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.
While there are some pre-assessments incorporated into the Puzzle Piece Phonics Grade 2 Program, there are no recommendations for how that information can be used to accelerate students through the instructional program if they are performing above grade-level and have already demonstrated mastery of the skills assessed. All students complete every lesson, regardless of prior knowledge, and are assigned the same independent work activities. While there is some differentiation in reading levels for Groups 1 and 2 within fluency readings and word lists, it is limited. The materials do not provide extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade-level. There are on grade-level and above grade-level fluency passages for each week, but this is the only place where there are opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth.
Materials provide some opportunities for advanced students to investigate grade-level foundational skills at a greater depth. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 169, on the Tips for Fluency, the above grade-level instruction is embedded in the Reader’s Theatre story for the Narrator 1 and 2 part of the story, “Superstar and Bummer.”
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 285, during the spell check, students who are above grade-level complete words from Group 2 list: knife, heroes, knives, crises, aircraft, couches, octopi, ounces, waitresses, and women.
- In the Fluency Notebook, page 222, the Above Grade Level Passage provided is “What are Homes Like Around the World?”
- In the Fluency Notebook, page 145, the Above Grade Level Passage provided is “How to Make Rice Cereal Treats”
There are some instances of advanced students simply doing more assignments than their classmates. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 85, students complete the Sorting with Words Hunt with their list of words utilizing either Group 1 or 2 words.
- In the Teacher’s Guide, page 304-305, students read the Reader’s Theatre, "Records vs. Downloads", which is for above grade-level students.
Criterion 2.4: Effective Technology Use and Visual Design
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for digital materials (either included as a supplement to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.), “platform neutral” (i.e., are compatible with multiple operating systems such as Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform), follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices. Materials do not support effective use of technology to enhance student learning and do not meet the criteria for digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations. Instructional materials cannot be easily customized for local use. Materials meet the criteria for the visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
Indicator {{'2j' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for digital materials (either included as a supplement to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.), “platform neutral” (i.e., are compatible with multiple operating systems such as Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform), follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
There are no digital materials available for teachers to use with this program. There are references that are highlighted for teachers to look up online; however, these are references or blackline masters that can be used for teachers. There is no digital curriculum included in this program.
Indicator {{'2k' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning.
There are no digital materials available for teachers to use with this program. There are references that are highlighted for teachers to look up online; however, these are references or blackline masters that can be used for teachers. There is no digital curriculum included in this program.
Indicator {{'2l' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations.
There are no digital materials available for teachers to use with this program. There are references that are highlighted for teachers to look up online; however, these are references or blackline masters that can be used for teachers. There is no digital curriculum included in this program.
Indicator {{'2m' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 do not meet the criteria for materials can be easily customized for local use.
There are no digital materials available for teachers to use with this program. There are references that are highlighted for teachers to look up online; however, these are references or blackline masters that can be used for teachers. There is no digital curriculum included in this program that can be customized for local use.
Indicator {{'2n' | indicatorName}}
The materials reviewed for Grade 2 meet the criteria for the visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.
There are no digital materials available for teachers to use with this program. There are references that are highlighted for teachers to look up online; however, these are references or blackline masters that may be utilized by the teacher. The Puzzle Piece Phonics puzzle pieces provided with the Grade 2 Teacher’s Guide provide simple picture prompts for each letter/sound pattern that is introduced in the program. These are intended to be posted on classroom walls and used as reference points during the daily lessons and to review previously taught letter/sound patterns. The same visual prompts are repeated in the Fluency Notebook and the Learner’s Notebook. They create student engagement without distracting from the lessons.
Report Overview
Summary of Alignment & Usability for Puzzle Piece Phonics | ELA
ELA K-2
This report is for a supplementary foundational skills program intended for use alongside a comprehensive core English Language Arts program.
The instructional materials reviewed for Puzzle Piece Phonics Kindergarten, Grade 1, and Grade 2 partially meet the criteria for alignment to standards and research-based practices for foundational skills instruction. The instructional materials use a synthetic approach to phonics. Instructional materials include a systematic, explicit, and research-based scope and sequence for phonological awareness and phonics outlining the essential knowledge and skills that are taught in the program and the order in which they are presented. Materials include limited opportunities for students to learn and apply general concepts of print. Materials provide systematic, explicit instruction in phonological awareness and phonics. Materials provide limited systematic, evidence-based, explicit instruction in fluency. The materials contain fluency passages that focus on a specific phonics skill based on the word list students are reading and practicing; however, the fluency passages within the materials do not include the high-frequency words that are addressed each week. There are missed opportunities for regular and systematic assessment opportunities that measure student progress in phonological awareness (K-1) and fluency. The materials provide limited resources and tools to collect ongoing data about student progress on the standards. There are missed opportunities to provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so that they demonstrate independent ability with grade-level standards within the materials. Decodable texts include fluency passages that work on a specific phonics skill based on the word list students are reading and practicing; however, fluency passages do not align to the program's scope and sequence for high-frequency words.