Bridge to Writing, Texas Edition, First Grade Classroom Kit

Evaluation for 1.1a
Materials include an explanation of the stated purpose of the supplemental program (e.g., additional instruction and/or practice, targeted remediation or acceleration).

Within the Bridge to Writing, Texas Edition, First Grade Classroom Kit, the “Instructional Strategies” section includes a detailed explanation of the program’s purpose. This section outlines how the program utilizes multisensory approaches to teach the foundational building blocks of spelling and sentence construction. The program integrates sentence parts and grammatical structures directly into the writing process, which ensures a cohesive, scaffolded learning experience.

The “Getting Started” section states that the program is a supplemental curriculum that provides explicit grammar and writing process instruction, as well as additional instruction and/or practice for targeted remediation or acceleration. This additional program helps all students progress from foundational skills to complex, independent writing.

Evaluation for 1.1b
Materials include guidance on how to appropriately use the supplemental program to support an existing core reading and language arts program.

In the Bridge to Writing, Texas Edition, First Grade Classroom Kit, the “Instructional Strategies” section outlines daily routines that integrate into an existing core curriculum. Students use sentence symbols, spelling cards, and “five-finger spelling” to reinforce phonics and structure as they complete these tasks. The program incorporates kinesthetic practices such as “sky writing” to emphasize the connections between reading and writing. Additionally, the materials provide cross-curricular integration ideas alongside a suite of anchor charts used throughout the units. Lessons are organized within a five-day instructional framework that supports consistent, purposeful, daily writing instruction.

These materials provide guidance for how the supplemental program supports and aligns with an existing core English Language Arts Reading (ELAR) curriculum. The program integrates literacy instruction, structured and scaffolded lessons, pacing guidance, differentiation, assessments, multilingual learner supports, and instructional routines designed to reinforce core reading and language arts instruction.

Evaluation for 1.1c
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining student expectations, skills taught, and a rationale for the design of the scope and sequence.

The scope and sequence identifies both the weekly and unit-level grammar objectives and writing purposes. The section explicitly outlines the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) alignment for each lesson, and demonstrates a clear upward trajectory in rigor as skills become more complex. The standards alignment plan categorizes the TEKS by ELAR strands and explicitly identifies where each standard occurs in the lessons.

The “Getting Started” section provides the rationale for the instructional design. Reading and writing are composing processes, which means students build meaning as they read. Students then express their ideas and opinions in writing to help them organize their thoughts about a text. Writing provides information about literacy tools and enables students to understand how an author’s choices in writing type, word choice, and text structure help make the text meaningful and comprehensible.

Evaluation for 1.1d
Materials include guidance on time requirements (e.g., duration, frequency) and suggested pacing for effective implementation.

The materials provide clear guidance on time allocations for each program component. Lessons are organized into a structured five-day framework, in which educators deliver instruction sequentially in daily 30–45 minute sessions to maintain appropriate pacing.

Materials provide recommended time allocations for each lesson component, including “Jump In” (three to five minutes), “I Do” (five to seven minutes), “We Do” (five to seven minutes), “You Do” (seven to 10 minutes), and “Jump Out” (three to five minutes). The materials show educators how to manage instructional time as they provide opportunities for modeling, guided practice, independent practice, and informal assessment within each lesson.

Evaluation for 1.1e
Materials include resources and guidance to support educators with implementing the materials as designed.

Materials include resources and implementation supports to help educators effectively use the program for its intended purpose. Each daily lesson begins with a “Teacher Materials” section that provides guidance for lesson preparation, including the target concepts, skills, and materials needed for instruction. The materials also explain how program resources are organized and duplicated across components, such as the Teacher Resource Book and WRITE Book, to support ease of use during instruction.

The First Grade Support resources include guidance to help educators implement the materials, including a WRITE Book answer key, parent newsletters, class conferencing, sentence construction cards, anchor charts, diverse learners tips, and fidelity checklists.

Evaluation for 1.1f
Materials contain supports for families in both Spanish and English with suggestions on supporting the progress of their student.

Materials include family support resources in both English and Spanish that provide suggestions and strategies for caregivers to support student learning and academic progress at home. Under “Support Resources,” in the parent newsletter for all units labeled “A Peek at Our Unit,” the section titled “Bridge to Learning at Home” offers guidance to caretakers on how to support their student at home as they progress through the unit.

Materials include supports for families in both English and Spanish through bilingual parent newsletters that guide parents in supporting student learning and writing development at home. The newsletters explain the writing skills, grammar concepts, and instructional focus taught in each unit. They also offer activities, discussion prompts, and home practice opportunities for families to reinforce student learning.

Evaluation for 2.1a
Materials include appropriate instructional assessments for the stated purpose of the supplemental program (e.g., diagnostic placement assessments for targeted remediation or acceleration).

The materials include targeted remediation and acceleration pathways organized by unit pairs. To measure progress accurately, the diagnostic pre-tests and post-tests are identical and administered under the same conditions, with a duration of 15–20 minutes each. The included grading rubrics enable educators to assess student proficiency levels effectively and tailor the curriculum to meet individual instructional needs.

The materials provide weekly opportunities for educators to evaluate students’ completed writing pieces. Educators are shown how to identify learners who need additional support or who are ready for enrichment. These progress checks monitor students’ retention of skills and identify areas where learning may not yet be mastered for long-term application. Weekly “Reteach” and “Extend” instruction is included to support differentiated instruction and address the needs of all learners.

Evaluation for 2.1b
Materials include the definition and intended purpose for the instructional assessments included.

The assessments section outlines the intended purpose for each assessment and provides clear definitions. For weekly assessments, the rubrics determine the appropriate instructional path for each student. The pre-test serves as the baseline and the post-test measures growth, and unit assessments measure student growth from pre-test to post-test. This rubric-based grading helps educators identify specific areas in which students will require remediation or acceleration in subsequent units.

To help educators identify students who need additional support and those ready for enrichment, the materials direct them to review students’ completed writing at the end of each week. These weekly progress checks help educators monitor students’ skill retention and determine whether they have achieved long-term mastery. The materials also provide weekly reteach and extension activities to help educators address diverse learning needs.

Evaluation for 2.1c
For instructional assessments administered by educators, materials include guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.

The materials provide educator guidance to help administer assessments consistently across instructional settings. Directions explain that depending on students’ needs, the assessments may be administered individually, in small groups, or as a whole group. The materials also include suggested administration times, student checklists, and opportunities for discussion before writing. For example, the Opinion Writing Assessment recommends that educators provide students with the prompt and checklist before administering the assessment, and states that the assessment should take approximately 20–30 minutes.

The First Grade Weekly Check and Guiding Questions document states that the assessments focus on the composition domain, and educators use rubrics to demonstrate students’ knowledge and mastery of the weekly writing target skills. In grade 1, the weekly assessments occur after day five of instruction, and weekly checks begin during week four of instruction. The rubrics align with specific criteria for the grammar and writing skills taught each week. Educators are also to look at handwriting and spelling errors to support phonics lessons.

Evaluation for 2.1d
Instructional assessments include items at varying levels of complexity.

The weekly checklist rubrics increase in complexity throughout the year. For example, the week four rubric prioritizes foundational skills such as clear writing, letter formation, and appropriate word spacing. By week 29, the criteria advances to include compositional elements, such as factual accuracy, paragraph structure, and the correct application of adjectives, conjunctions, and prepositions.

Weekly assessments demonstrate an increase in text complexity appropriate for the grade level, and reflect the progression of the school year. Students demonstrate growth in writing through the use of writing conventions and grade-level writing features, including capitalization, punctuation, spelling patterns, complete sentences, and correct verb tenses. To demonstrate progression, students add details, use transition words, expand sentence structure, organize ideas, and apply academic vocabulary that aligns with grade-level expectations.

The assessment structure demonstrates clear progression throughout the year. The first unit assessment uses visuals in which students interact with pictures and respond to four guided prompts. The final unit assessment challenges students to respond to a single writing prompt as they independently incorporate eight distinct structural and grammatical elements. This shift reflects the program’s commitment to building student independence and mastery of complex writing criteria.

Evaluation for 2.2a
Instructional assessments and scoring information provide guidance for interpreting student performance.

The materials provide weekly rubrics and a Weekly Check Scoring and Guiding Questions Document with scoring and guiding questions. This guidance helps educators accurately score students’ written compositions and reflect on strengths and areas for growth. Educator guidance also provides steps for remediation, reteaching, and extension.

The instructional assessments provide developmentally appropriate rubrics that assess student mastery and help educators interpret student performance. Each rubric domain has clearly defined indicators to assess student mastery precisely, and examples are provided on how to use the document. The curriculum also provides guiding questions to help the educator place students in reteaching and extension groups.

Evaluation for 2.2b
Materials provide guidance for the use of the supplemental program to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.

The materials provide guidance to help educators respond to student performance trends through the use of assessments and the analyzation of results. The assessment guidance includes questions to help educators analyze rubric scores, identify areas of strength and need, and determine whether students require reteaching or extension. On day five of the program, materials direct educators to use the reteach and enrichment lessons and recommends that educators implement these lessons in small-group settings based on student needs.

The materials further connect assessment results to instructional next steps through the beginning-, middle-, and end-of-year assessments. Educators compare pre- and post-assessment results to help evaluate student progress, identify areas in which students need additional support, and determine when targeted reteaching, intervention, or extension is appropriate. The curriculum also provides guiding questions to support instructional grouping and the selection of appropriate follow-up instruction based on assessment trends.

The instructional assessments provide developmentally appropriate rubrics that each contain clearly defined indicators to assess student mastery. Additionally, each rubric includes examples of how to use the document. The curriculum also provides guiding questions to help the educator place students in reteaching and extension groups.

Evaluation for 2.2c
Materials include tools for educators to track student progress and growth, and tools for students to track their own progress and growth.

The materials include tools for educators to track student progress and growth through educator-facing rubrics and weekly data recording sheets. With the use of these tools, educators learn how to monitor student performance over time and document growth in areas such as spelling patterns, sentence structure, capitalization, punctuation, and sentence expansion. Whole-class recording sheets support data aggregation and progress monitoring across students.

The materials do not include tools for students to track their own progress and growth. While educators can use rubrics and data records to monitor performance, the curriculum does not provide student-facing tracking sheets, reflection tools, goal-setting forms, or other resources that allow students to independently monitor their academic progress over time.

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Evaluation for 2.2d
If applicable for the stated purpose of the supplemental program, materials include guidance for entry and exit criteria.

This guidance is not applicable to the program because the program has a stated purpose of additional instruction and/or practice, not targeted remediation or acceleration.

Evaluation for 3.1a
If applicable for the stated purpose, materials include educator guidance for differentiated instruction and activities for students who have not yet reached proficiency in grade-level skills.

The materials provide explicit guidance and instructional strategies to help educators differentiate instruction and support students who are performing below grade level. These supports help educators address individual learning needs, scaffold instruction, and ensure all students have access to grade-level content as they build the skills necessary for academic success.

The materials provide educator guidance for differentiated instruction through daily “BOOST” activities designed to scaffold learning for students who need additional support. For example, a concrete support within the BOOST component may include sentence-building with visual sentence frames and manipulatives. Students use word cards, picture prompts, and magnetic words to physically construct a complete sentence related to a prompt. This scaffolded approach provides explicit modeling, guided practice, and repeated opportunities for students to strengthen foundational sentence-writing skills.

Evaluation for 3.1b
If applicable for the stated purpose, materials include educator guidance for differentiated instruction and activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level skills.

The materials include daily “Expand” activities that provide educator guidance for differentiated instruction and activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level skills. These activities extend learning beyond the core lesson by encouraging students to apply skills independently, elaborate on ideas, and engage in more complex writing tasks. For example, during freewriting, educators direct students to write continuously for five minutes about a topic of their choice. To support deeper thinking and written expression, educators provide prompts such as, “If you could go anywhere, where would you go? Why?”

The materials also provide extension opportunities that promote greater independence and application of grade-level skills. For example, students revisit the What Is Descriptive Writing? Anchor Chart and generate their own topics that can be described using the five senses. This activity requires students to independently apply descriptive writing techniques as they expand and refine their ideas beyond the initial lesson instruction.

Evaluation for 3.1c
Materials include educator guidance for providing specially designed instruction (SDI) for students receiving supports and services through special education.

The Developmental Stages of Writing Support Rubric supports students with disabilities by meeting them exactly where they are in their literacy development. Educators analyze students’ writing (including invented spelling) to identify specific gaps in phonemic awareness, phonics, and language skills. The materials provide targeted, appropriate instruction rather than expecting conventional performance too early. Educators implement specifically designed instruction (SDI) through flexible instructional adjustments and targeted supports for students with disabilities. Educators break down writing tasks through the use of visual supports, sentence frames, and repeated modeling to ensure student access to instruction. The program’s structure supports individualized instruction across whole-group, small-group, and independent settings, which allows educators to tailor supports as they maintain alignment with grade-level writing expectations.

Materials provide meaningful support for students with disabilities through the use of multisensory instructional routines that make abstract language concepts concrete, structured, and accessible. Students actively engage with language using tactile, visual, and kinesthetic supports such as sentence construction cards, visual sentence symbols, and finger-spelling. These tools help students better understand sentence structure, spelling, and the writing process.

Evaluation for 3.2a
Educator-led supplemental programs include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the educator in modeling and explaining the skill(s) to be learned.

The “I Do” portion of the lesson is educator-led and includes explicit prompts and guidance to support the educator as they model and explain new skills. For example, the materials provide specific physical and verbal directives such as, “Read aloud the sentences at the top of the chart, then point to the little girl running.” Following these cues, the educator reviews detailed instructions and direct scripted quotes to ensure clear and consistent delivery of the lesson objectives.

Materials include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the educator as they model and explain new skills to be learned. For example, educators say, “I know that a complete sentence starts with an uppercase letter, has a space between each word, and has an end mark. So our sentences should start with an uppercase letter, have a space between each word, and have an end mark.”

Materials include explicit, educator-led guidance through structured lesson components that support the direct instruction and modeling of targeted skills. In the “I Do” section, educators are provided with clear prompts and resources (e.g., anchor charts, writing models, graphic organizers, checklists, and rubrics) to explicitly model new or previously introduced grammar and writing skills. This is followed by the “We Do” section, where educators implement structured, scaffolded practice to support students as they learn to apply these skills. Together, these components ensure that educators have the direction and tools needed to clearly explain, model, and reinforce learning.

Evaluation for 3.2b
Educator-led supplemental programs include educator guidance and recommendations for effective delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.

The program provides comprehensive educator guidance and recommendations for effective instructional delivery and facilitation. Each unit is supported by professional development videos that explain the unit’s components, offer guidance on administration, and suggest methods for instructional adjustment. Furthermore, these videos showcase the specific worksheets and anchor charts to be used throughout the unit, which provides educators with a clear visual roadmap.

To support effective educator-led instruction, the materials provide guidance on how to use multiple instructional approaches to deliver lessons. Educators learn to model writing strategies, facilitate partner and whole-group discussions, engage students in collaborative learning tasks, and provide opportunities for independent writing practice. Lesson resources include discussion prompts, sample responses, questioning techniques, and scaffolded supports that help educators adapt instruction to meet student needs while maintaining lesson fidelity.

Evaluation for 3.2c
Materials include guidance for educators on recommended structures (e.g., whole group, small group, individual) to support effective implementation.

In the “You Do” section of each lesson, materials include “daily conferencing options” to support students as they complete their independent practice. Educator–student, small group, and peer options are suggested. The scaffolds provided in each option allow the instruction to meet the needs of all learners in an age-appropriate manner. When multiple conferencing options are suggested, educators can choose one or more that best meet the individual needs of the students in their classroom.

Materials provide educators with guidance on recommended structures to support effective implementation, including student–educator and small group options. For example, educator guidance states: “Small Group: Group children by similar interests. Have them share about why they chose their idea.”

Evaluation for 3.3a
Materials include educator guidance on providing linguistic accommodations for various levels of language proficiency [as defined by the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)], which are designed to engage students in using increasingly more academic language.

These materials educators provide linguistic accommodations at varying levels of language proficiency to support students as they develop increasingly academic language. For example, in the “Multilingual Learner Connections” section, students brainstorm ideas, discuss their drawings with a partner, collaboratively add notes from their conversations to their story charts, then draw a scene from their story. Students are encouraged to use their home language as needed during discussions and brainstorming activities to support comprehension and language development.

The materials include educator guidance on linguistic accommodations, including sentence stems, visual supports, and collaborative language activities. In the Multilingual Learner Connections, educators create a three-column chart with sentence stems (“I can ___,” “I am ___,” “I want to ___”) to guide students as they brainstorm vocabulary. Additionally, the materials incorporate drawings and images to support comprehension and language development for multilingual learners.

The daily lessons integrate specific Multilingual Learner Connections that support language acquisition through various scaffolds. For example, educators provide students with opportunities to discuss their ideas before they write. Students also draw to facilitate interaction with their writing. These materials enable students to use their primary home language to clarify concepts.

Evaluation for 3.3b
Materials include implementation guidance to support educators in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) programs.

These materials provide explicit implementation guidance to help educators effectively use the program in state-approved bilingual and English as a Second Language (ESL) instructional settings. Lessons include structured routines that align with sheltered instruction practices, such as models for academic language, scaffolded writing supports, and strategies for visual and oral language development. Educators integrate speaking, listening, reading, and writing in ways that support language acquisition as they maintain a focus on grade-level writing skills. The gradual release model ensures that instruction can be adapted to meet the needs of emergent bilingual (EB) students in both bilingual and ESL program models.

The daily lessons integrate specific Multilingual Learner Connections that support language acquisition through various scaffolds. For example, students draw to facilitate interaction with their writing. This activity allows them to use their primary home language to clarify concepts. Additionally, these strategies lower the affective filter because students demonstrate their understanding of writing skills as their English proficiency continues to develop.

Evaluation for 3.3c
If designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs, materials include resources that outline opportunities to address metalinguistic transfer from English to the partner language.

This guidance is not applicable because the program is not designed for dual language immersion (DLI) programs.

Evaluation for 9.1a
Materials include systematic and explicit (direct) instruction in writing conventions (e.g., syntax, spelling, grammar, capitalization, punctuation), both in the context of authentic writing and in isolation, in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

These materials review the purposes and structures of declarative and imperative sentences. Materials also model the use of uppercase letters and appropriate end punctuation. Within the program, students learn to identify key writing conventions and sentence elements, such as capitalization, spacing, and end marks. Students then apply these conventions in an authentic writing context as they use visual prompts to collaboratively compose meaningful telling and “do this” sentences. Next, students prepare to edit their own writing, which reinforces the use of punctuation and sentence structure as tools for effective written communication.

For example, in week 18, the educator uses a “What Is Descriptive Writing?” anchor chart and “Best Day” description model to demonstrate how to use descriptive language within grammatically correct sentences. The materials explicitly demonstrate correct capitalization, spacing, and end punctuation as students compose descriptive sentences. The educator demonstrates and guides students as they learn to identify sentence boundaries, capitalization, spacing, and end punctuation in descriptive sentences. Finally, students compose and edit their own descriptions using the accompanying rubric and writing model.

Evaluation for 9.1b
Materials include opportunities for students to practice writing conventions (e.g., syntax, spelling, grammar, capitalization, punctuation), both in the context of authentic writing and in isolation, in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

In these materials, students practice writing conventions in both isolation and authentic writing contexts. To accomplish this, students analyze sentence structure and punctuation as they identify and classify telling and imperative sentences in their WRITE Book. Students then apply these conventions in authentic writing as they collaboratively generate and write new telling and imperative sentences about pictures from the anchor chart. Students read, identify, discuss, and compose sentences to practice syntax, capitalization, and end punctuation in alignment with grade-level writing expectations. Students apply writing conventions as they compose original narrative, informational, and opinion pieces. Additionally, students use genre-specific planning templates, graphic organizers, student checklists, and WRITE Book composition pages as they draft multi-sentence texts and apply editing marks to their own writing. Throughout the materials, students learn correct capitalization, punctuation, and other writing conventions during the writing process.

For example, in week six, day two, the educator first reviews nouns and their functions within subjects and predicates. During the “You Do” phase, students practice grammar in isolation as they sort nouns and record them in their WRITE Book. Students then apply this understanding as they use one of the nouns as the subject to compose an original sentence. To extend this practice in later genre-writing lessons, students use WRITE Book composition templates, graphic organizers, and editing checklists to compose and revise original multi-sentence narrative, informational, and opinion texts. Students apply capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and grammar conventions in authentic writing contexts.

Evaluation for 9.2a
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction on each step of the writing process (including planning, drafting, revising, editing, and sharing) in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

These materials provide a coherent sequence of writing lessons and explicit instruction in all stages of the writing process. Students engage in planning as they generate ideas and use graphic organizers, story charts, and plot charts to help organize characters, settings, events, and procedural steps. Explicit drafting instruction shows students how to transform notes from planning tools into complete sentences, paragraphs, realistic stories, and how-to compositions. Revising instruction is supported through peer-review activities, rubric-based discussions, annotations, feedback protocols, and opportunities for students to identify additions or changes to improve their writing. Editing instructions embedded throughout the lessons help prepare students to refine their writing. Students learn this skill as they examine sentence structure, pronoun usage, predicates, verbs, sequence words, and other language conventions before they apply these skills to refine their own drafts. Finally, students participate in sharing and publishing as they add titles and author lines, prepare final copies, practice oral presentations with peers, and present completed writing to an audience. Tools such as educator modeling, think-alouds, rubrics, checklists, peer feedback, graphic organizers, and structured discussions provide explicit support for each stage of the writing process.

For example, across weeks eight, 10, and 17, the materials provide explicit instruction for each stage of the writing process. Educators model planning through the use of brainstorming activities and graphic organizers to help organize ideas before writing. During the drafting stage, educators demonstrate how to develop complete compositions from planning notes through guided practice. Revising instruction includes educator modeling and rubric-guided discussions that help students strengthen details, organization, and author’s craft. Editing instruction uses checklists and educator guidance to model correct language conventions before students finalize their writing. Additionally, the materials conclude with educator-supported publishing and sharing activities in which students prepare final copies and present their writing to peers. Mentor texts, rubrics, graphic organizers, think-alouds, and guided practice provide explicit support throughout the writing process.

Evaluation for 9.2b
Materials include opportunities for students to practice each step of the writing process (including planning, drafting, revising, editing, and sharing) in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

These materials provide opportunities for students to practice all stages of the writing process through a sequence of connected writing lessons. Students practice planning as they generate ideas, discuss audience and purpose, and use graphic organizers and class brainstorming activities to organize information. Students also use modeled examples and sentence frames to draft original sentences and short compositions. Students add details, descriptive language, and additional sentences to revise and improve writing. Additionally, students use checklists and guided correction of capitalization, punctuation, spacing, and sentence conventions to practice editing. Finally, students add illustrations and share their writing with peers and the class as they produce a final draft and complete the writing process.


For example, in week 24, day two, students practice the planning and drafting stages of the writing process. During the planning stage, students brainstorm playground activities, contribute ideas, and select a shared topic through a class vote. During the drafting stage, students use sentence stems to compose three types of sentences: an opening sentence, a detailed sentence with the bridge word with or by, and a closing sentence. For example, students may draft “I like to go on the swing,” add the detail “We play with Miss Smith’s class,” and conclude with “The swing is fun.” Volunteers participate by adding words and appropriate end marks to the class sentences. Students consult the With and By Writing Checklist to monitor the required elements and prepare to review their work later.

Evaluation for 9.3a
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in writing craft (e.g., text structure, word choice, figurative language, literary devices) in a variety of text types (e.g., literary, informational, argumentative) in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

These materials instruct students in the craft of writing, and how writers use descriptive words to make their writing more interesting and meaningful. Through tools such as educator modeling, anchor charts, and guided practice, students learn to add color words, size words, and adjectives to strengthen descriptions, which help readers visualize people, animals, and objects. Students also learn how sentence types and punctuation contribute to a sentence’s meaning and expression. Writing craft instruction is embedded across multiple text types, including descriptive sentences, personal writing, informational writing, and poetry, which allows students to apply craft techniques in a variety of writing contexts.


The materials instruct students in the craft of writing across multiple text types, with tools such as teacher modeling, mentor texts, anchor charts, and guided revision activities. In week eight, students learn how to organize realistic stories as they use planning charts to introduce characters, settings, and sequenced events. In week 10, educators explicitly model the structure of explanatory how-to writing by teaching students to organize directions with sequence words, such as first and then. In week 17, students learn how descriptive word choice, rhyme, and repetition strengthen poetry through modeled revision of a “favorite person” poem. In week 24, students use mentor models, a book report chart, and a rubric to organize information, develop opinions supported by details from a text, and compose informational book reports. These lessons provide explicit instruction in the writing craft across literary, informational, explanatory, and poetic writing aligned to grade-level expectations.

Evaluation for 9.3b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction in writing composition in a variety of text types (e.g., literary, informational, argumentative) and a variety of text lengths (e.g., short constructed response, extended constructed response) in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The materials provide explicit instruction in writing composition through lessons that teach students how to compose descriptive, personal, informational, and poetic texts. Through teacher modeling, mentor texts, graphic organizers, and guided writing activities, students learn how to develop ideas into complete sentences and connected pieces of writing. Students compose writing of varying lengths, including sentence-level responses, short descriptive pieces, and multi-sentence compositions. Explicit instruction in text structure, organization, and purpose supports students as they develop increasingly complex writing across multiple genres.

The materials provide explicit instruction in writing composition through transcription and grammar instruction, daily sentence-to-paragraph lessons, and multi-week genre writing units. Students receive direct instruction in composing narrative, informational, and opinion texts using mentor texts, graphic organizers, shared writing, and teacher modeling before independently drafting their own compositions. Daily sentence-to-paragraph lessons provide explicit instruction in writing concise responses to text-dependent or thematic prompts, with students using structural frames to compose one- to two-sentence claims using precise vocabulary and correct conventions. To develop extended writing, the multi-week genre units guide students through brainstorming, planning, drafting, revising, and editing narrative, informational, and opinion pieces. In grade 1, these extended compositions consist of cohesive sequences of three to five sentences organized chronologically or around a logical set of ideas, providing explicit instruction across both short and extended writing tasks.

Evaluation for 9.3c
Materials include high-quality mentor texts to model writing composition in a variety of text types (e.g., literary, informational, argumentative) and a variety of text lengths (e.g., short constructed response, extended constructed response) in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

The materials include high-quality mentor texts and writing models that support students as they learn how different types of writing are composed. Students examine model sentences, sample compositions, and completed writing examples to identify descriptive language, organization, sentence types, and genre features before they apply those elements in their own writing. Mentor texts are provided across multiple text types, including descriptive writing, informational writing, personal writing, and poetry, and represent a range of text lengths from individual sentences to extended multi-sentence compositions.

Students study authentic children’s literature before they learn to compose personal narratives, poems, realistic stories, how-to texts, news stories, animal and science reports, descriptions, opinion pieces, letters, advertisements, book reports, interviews, and research reports. For example, students examine Ralph Tells a Story and My Very Favorite Book in the Whole Wide World as they write personal narratives; How to Write a Story and How to Wash a Woolly Mammoth as they write procedural texts; and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! and Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type as they develop opinion pieces and letters. Informational mentor texts, such as Sharks, From Seed to Plant, and Helpers in My Community, model facts, organization, and topic-specific details for reports. These mentor texts represent both short compositions, such as poems, advertisements, and letters, and longer compositions, such as realistic stories, book reports, and research reports. These developmentally appropriate texts give students clear models of organization, descriptive language, supporting details, voice, and text-specific features.

Evaluation for 9.3d
Materials include opportunities for students to practice writing composition in a variety of text types (e.g., literary, informational, argumentative) and a variety of text lengths (e.g., short constructed response, extended constructed response) in alignment with grade-level TEKS as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

These materials provide opportunities for students to practice writing composition across multiple text types, including descriptive, informational, personal, and poetic writing. Students generate and organize ideas, compose original sentences and connected texts, and apply writing skills through a variety of writing activities. Students write sentence-level responses, short descriptive compositions, and extended multi-sentence pieces to support them as they develop composition skills across genres and grade-level-appropriate text lengths.

Materials in the grade 1 student WRITE Book include student-facing graphic organizers, guided writing prompts, and wide-ruled composition templates. Within daily sentence-to-paragraph workblocks, students use targeted text-dependent or thematic prompts to frame concise, highly focused answers of one to two sentences. These answers must state a direct claim and adhere to strict grammatical and mechanical constraints. During multi-week genre units, students use structured templates to independently navigate the writing process. For example, students take ideas from their brainstorming organizers and practice drafting cohesive, extended texts. For grade 1, this means students generate an orderly sequence of three to five sentences that tell a story as they group facts about a topic or state a preference with a supporting reason.

Evaluation for 9.4a
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction on writing text-based responses with a variety of grade-level texts as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

These materials include structured book report activities connected to grade-level literary texts that provide explicit instruction for students as they learn how to write text-based responses. Educators model how to analyze a literary text, record evidence using a graphic organizer, and transform notes into complete sentences and organized paragraphs. Students draft written responses about the title, author, characters, setting, and events as they apply writing conventions and conjunctions to connect ideas. These lessons provide direct instruction in how to compose written responses that are grounded in information from a text.

Additionally, the materials provide explicit instruction in how to use a variety of grade-level literary and informational texts to write text-based responses. In week 24, for example, educators explicitly model how to analyze a literary text and transform information about the title, author, characters, setting, and events into an organized book report with the use of a graphic organizer, mentor model, and rubric. In week 26, educators instruct students in how to generate research questions, use text features such as the table of contents and index to locate answers in informational sources, record notes, and organize evidence for writing. In week 28, educators show students how to use information gathered from research sources to create an “interview web” as they develop interview questions and compose written responses. Through educator modeling, graphic organizers, mentor models, and guided practice, students receive explicit instruction as they learn how to compose text-based responses grounded in a variety of grade-level texts.

Evaluation for 9.4b
Materials include opportunities for students to practice writing text-based responses with a variety of grade-level texts as appropriate for the program's stated purpose.

These materials provide opportunities for students to practice writing text-based responses as they complete book reports based on texts they have read. Students use a book report chart to gather information about the title, author, characters, setting, and events before they compose written responses. Through drafting activities, students transform information from the text into organized report sentences and practice communicating their understanding of literary texts in writing.

The materials provide opportunities for students to practice using informational texts to write text-based responses. For example, in week 26, students gather information from grade-level informational sources by utilizing text features, such as the table of contents and index, to record notes and write responses based on the information they locate. Then, in week 28, students use information gathered through their research and interviews to compose written responses that incorporate evidence from multiple sources. These activities provide opportunities for students to practice writing text-based responses across literary and informational texts.