Units of Study in Phonics, Grade K

Evaluation for 1.1a
Materials include a scope and sequence outlining the TEKS, ELPS, and concepts taught in the course.

The kindergarten materials include a K–1 "Phonics Scope and Sequence" available on the Heinemann digital platform of the digital resource Phonics Instruction in the Units of Study in Phonics. The K–2 version provides a chart outlining lesson topics and concepts from Unit 1 to Unit 5. Additionally, each unit includes a front matter overview with Mini-lessons, Share Time, and Extension activities. For example, "Bend I, Session 3: Learning to Own Letters" outlines specific instructional components. Although these planning supports are present, the materials—both print and digital—do not provide explicit or consistent connections to the TEKS or the ELPS. The Units of Study in Phonics include an overview on the inside front cover that outlines the structure for each lesson, including the Mini-lesson, Share Time, and Extension activities. However, they do not explicitly connect to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) or the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS).

Evaluation for 1.1b
Materials include suggested pacing (pacing guide/calendar) to support effective implementation for various instructional calendars (e.g., varying numbers of instructional days-165, 180, 210)

The "Kindergarten Overview" of each unit book lists lessons organized into Bends I, II, and III for each unit. This resource outlines the structure of each lesson, including suggested time allocations for components such as Rug Time, Share, and Extension, as well as an estimated duration for overall phonics instruction. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study describes the structure of a daily lesson, including recommended instructional time and the purpose of each segment. Additionally, the inside front cover of "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3) contains a unit overview with information on the three bends, instructional routines, and a sequence guide detailing the order of activities. These resources provide general guidance on lesson structure and approximate instructional time, but they do not include a pacing guide that aligns specific lessons to a daily or weekly calendar.

Evaluation for 1.1c
Materials include an explanation for the rationale of unit order as well as how concepts to be learned connect throughout the course.

Phonics Instruction in the Units of Study, K–2, includes an explanation of the instructional pacing and rationale for the sequence of content. The section titled "An Orientation to the Unit" describes the structure and content of each unit's bends, including the reasoning behind their order. Each unit contains a section titled "Orientation to the Unit," which outlines its content and describes the bends, including the instructional purpose behind their order. "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3) includes an "Orientation to the Unit" section with guidance on lesson preparation and access to online digital resources. While these resources explain the structure and purpose of individual units, they do not offer a comprehensive or cohesive overview of how phonics concepts build and connect across all units in the kindergarten year.

Evaluation for 1.1d
Materials include protocols with corresponding guidance for unit and lesson internalization.

The materials include a unit overview for each unit and protocols to support teacher preparation for daily instruction. "Small Groups to Support Phonics" contains an "Orientation to Small Groups to Support Phonics" section, which guides preparing for small-group instruction, including management and materials, architecture of small groups, and how to utilize the Extension activities within each session. The resource "Small Groups to Support Phonics" includes an "Orientation to Small Groups to Support Phonics" section that outlines support for lesson preparation. This includes identifying which student profiles the lesson targets, determining optimal timing for instruction, and offering suggested coaching moves. "Getting Ready" sticky notes at the beginning of each lesson list specific preparation steps. For example, in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), the lesson instructs teachers to prepare a class name wall and name chart, select a class stuffed animal, gather magnetic letters, place objects beginning with the letter m around the room, and create name necklace cards.

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

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study includes an appendix titled "Assessment Tools," which offers a recommended assessment schedule, checklists, benchmarks, and scoring sheets to support assessment implementation and inform instruction. Chapter 3 of A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, details the overall program structure, daily instructional routines, and strategies for establishing a schoolwide phonics system. Additionally, each unit contains an "Orientation to the Unit" section, which includes a unit overview, a "Getting Ready" subsection, and directions for accessing online digital resources. However, the materials lack implementation resources and guidance for administrators, such as pacing guidance, a comprehensive materials list, and implementation tools like checklists or rubrics specifically designed for instructional leaders.

Evaluation for 1.2a
Materials include comprehensive unit overviews that provide the background content knowledge and academic vocabulary necessary to effectively teach the concepts in the unit.

The materials address background knowledge through the resource A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, which outlines principles of phonics instruction and provides strategies to support student learning. Each unit includes an "Orientation to the Unit" section introducing the unit structure and content. For example, in one unit, the Orientation describes three instructional "bends": Bend I, "Studying Peoples' Names Can Help You Get to Know Each Other—and the Alphabet"; Bend II, "Learning Your Own Name by Heart"; and Bend III, "Using Star Names to Write." Each bend includes a description of the instructional context. Although sidebars throughout the units include some academic vocabulary and instructional tips, there is no systematic method to help teachers easily locate or reference academic vocabulary across lessons. As a result, support for academic vocabulary is limited and not readily accessible within the lesson-level materials.

Evaluation for 1.2b
Materials contain supports for families in both Spanish and English for each unit with suggestions on supporting the progress of their student.

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study includes strategies to support English learners during phonics instruction. Chapter 5 provides additional instructional guidance for supporting students' phonics development, with specific attention to English learners and students with dyslexia. However, the product does not include resources to engage families or caregivers in supporting phonics learning at home. There are no take-home materials, parent letters, or home-language resources in English or Spanish. In "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), a "Getting Ready" sticky note offers teachers preparation guidance, display suggestions, and possible coaching moves for students who may need additional support during the lesson.

Evaluation for 1.3a
Materials include comprehensive, structured, detailed lesson plans that include daily objectives, questions, tasks, materials, and instructional assessments required to meet the content and language standards of the lesson (aligned with the TEKS and the ELPS).

The resource "Word Scientists" (Unit 2) provides lessons that identify lesson objectives, including "Today you will teach students to figure out the first letter in any word. Word scientists might say that word slowly and try to catch the first sounds. Then, they think about what letter goes with that sound." This scripting gives teachers the details necessary to set the purpose of the lesson. However, it does not align with TEKS or ELPS. "Word Scientists" (Unit 2) includes questions the teacher should ask students, including "What is the sound at the start of 'dolphin?' and "What letter goes with that sound?" Lesson plans include questions to check for understanding of lesson objectives, but not questions to promote the use of language to meet language objectives. "Small Groups to Support Phonics" provides lists of materials needed for lesson implementation at the beginning of each lesson, such as a bulleted list for Small Group 2, including "Prepare photo cards with two, three, and four-syllable words," and then a list of suggested words with each number of syllables. However, the materials do not include a reference to how mastery of the lesson's content standards will be assessed.

Evaluation for 1.3b
Materials include a lesson overview listing the teacher and student materials necessary to effectively deliver the lesson, and the suggested timing for each lesson component.

The materials include a lesson overview that lists the teacher and student materials necessary for implementation; however, the overview does not include suggested timing for each lesson component. "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) provides information about prepping lesson materials, such as having a class stuffed animal and name cards prepared beforehand. In A Guide to the Phonics Unit of Study, "Nuts and Bolts" describes the mini-lesson as a "micro-lesson," shorter than a typical reading mini-lesson. It details three parts with approximate timings: Connection (about one minute), Teaching (two–three minutes), and Active Engagement/Link (two–three minutes), but does not specify times for Rug Time, Share, or Extensions. However, "The Architecture of Your Small Groups" within "Small Groups to Support Phonics" does provide minute breakdowns for its lesson components, and this section also includes "Getting Ready," "Best Taught to...," and "Best Taught during" sections to prepare teachers for small group instruction. Materials include the teacher materials necessary to deliver the lesson effectively. Additionally, the "Getting Ready" section of "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5) outlines the materials teachers must prepare for the lesson. The materials include a lesson overview that lists the teacher and student materials necessary for implementation; however, the overview does not include suggested timing for each lesson component.

Evaluation for 1.3c
Materials include guidance on the effective use of lesson materials for extended practice (e.g., homework, extension, enrichment).

"Small Groups to Support Phonics" provides lessons with an "Other Supports" section, where teachers are encouraged to use additional nursery rhymes to reinforce different phonics principles, such as extra-small group tasks, individual student work, or linking to other books within the series for extension. "Vowel Power" (Grade K, Unit 4) includes additional Extension activities to support and enrich student learning. For example, Extension 1, "Reading the Alphabet Chart for Consonants and Vowels," states, "Engage the class in multiple shared readings of the alphabet chart, sometimes reading only the consonants, and other times reading the vowels." It then provides a script of what this could look/sound like. Extension activities are also recommended in each session. An example is in "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5); two Extension activities at the end of the lesson include reading books with sound effects and learning new snap words.

Evaluation for 2.1a
Materials include a variety of instructional assessments at the unit and lesson level (including diagnostic, formative, and summative) that vary in types of tasks and questions.

In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, Chapter 5 provides summative assessments for students. Each kindergarten student takes the following assessments: "Assessing Letter-Sound Correspondence: Do You Know Your ABCs?"; "Assessing Digraph-Sound Correspondence: Do You Know Your Digraphs?"; "Assessing Concepts About Print: Help Your Teacher Read a Book"; "Assessing Phonological Awareness: Blending and Segmenting"; "Assessing Phonological Awareness: Rhyming, Blending, Segmenting, and Manipulating"; "Assessing Developmental Spelling: 'Help Mabel Label a Picture Book: A Birthday Party'"; "Assessing Snap Words: 'Emptying Your Snap Word Pouch'"; and "Assessing Phonic Blending." The materials in the appendix of A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study include assessments only at the unit lesson level. For example, the "Recommended Schedule for Assessment" states that three assessments should be administered "After Unit 3," which focus on developmental spelling, snap words, and digraph-sound correspondence. These summative assessments are at the unit level and vary in the types of tasks and questions. In "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), during Rug Time, students practice identifying things that begin with the letter m. The teacher instructs students to work with a partner to identify pictures of objects that start with m and to raise a thumb if they think the picture correctly represents the target letter/sound as a formative assessment. The lesson continues with students working in partners to sort images into piles of /m/-M and not /m/-M words. Afterwards, the teacher reviews their sorts and adds the correctly identified words into an M book. These formative assessments are at the lesson level and vary in types of tasks and questions.

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

Online digital resources, under the "Assessment Tools" subheading, offer links to various assessments. These links provide the assessment, a description of its purpose, procedures, necessary materials, and scoring guidelines. For example, a phonological awareness assessment for rhyming includes procedures for both rhyme recognition and production, along with scoring guidelines. Additionally, the "Assessment If/Then" link within the "Assessment Tools" subheading offers guidance on when to use this assessment. This guidance suggests: "As you near the end of each phonics unit of study, you will want to use the Units of Study in Phonics assessments to guide your next steps. These assessments will help you determine the phonological and phonics concepts students have mastered, the concepts to revisit and reteach in small groups, and help you identify any areas where the majority of your class will benefit from additional support." Materials include the intended purpose for the types of instructional assessments, but not the definition of types of assessments. Chapter 5 of A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study clearly explains the purpose and administration guidance for each assessment recommended by the curriculum. Specifically, the chapter details each kindergarten assessment and the rationale for its inclusion. Teachers are offered foundational background information on why each diagnostic measure was selected and how it supports early literacy development. The guide also explains the intended purpose of the summative assessment of blending and segmenting syllables, onset-rime, and phonemes. According to the resource: "Children need to be able to orally blend and manipulate parts of compound words, syllables, and individual phonemes into words and to segment words into those same word parts. These phonological skills provide the necessary foundation for readers and writers." Another section of A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study outlines the purpose of the rhyming summative assessment. The text states: "The act of rhyming develops the concept that when words share sounds, they often also share letters, thereby linking the phonological to phonics."

Evaluation for 2.1c
Materials include teacher guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of instructional assessments.

The materials ensure accurate administrations of instructional assessments. A guiding document outlines the name of each assessment (e.g., "Kindergarten: Assessing Developmental Spelling"), the materials needed, the procedures for administration, and scoring guidance. The materials include color copies of each assessment booklet's student and teacher versions. The online resources further support teacher understanding by clarifying assessment expectations and promoting consistency in scoring across examiners. For example, the teacher version of the "Help Mabel Label a Picture Book" assessment includes exemplar student responses for each picture label. These samples help educators calibrate their scoring by illustrating what accurate student work should look like. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study includes an assessment appendix that provides teachers with specific guidance for administering five to seven assessments for kindergarten students. In the "Assessing Letter-Sound Correspondence" assessment, teachers are provided with a detailed list of required materials, including student pages to prepare, and step-by-step procedures for administration. For instance, the procedure states: "1. Place the upper-case letters student copy in front of the child. Show only one row of letters at a time." This assessment includes five specific instructions to ensure fidelity in administration. After the assessment is complete, the materials direct teachers to a scoring chart outlining monthly goals by grade level and an interpretation guide to help analyze results. Notably, there are no suggested time limits for any of the assessments described. The materials do not explicitly instruct teachers on whether to sound out words or how long to wait for responses, potentially leading to inconsistent administration. Materials do not include teacher guidance to ensure consistent administration of instructional assessments.

Evaluation for 2.1d
Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments are aligned to the TEKS and objectives of the course, unit, or lesson.

In Session 9 of "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), the stated learning objective includes identifying initial phonemes in spoken words and using knowledge of letter-sound correspondence to write. During Rug Time, students labeled the names of characters they had drawn by slowly articulating the sounds in the word and identifying the initial letter. Formative assessments are aligned to the lesson objectives. In "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Bend II, Lesson 10, students are introduced to the snap words on, up, fun, and get. The objective for the lesson states that students "will practice using the 'How to Learn a Word' routine to learn four new snap words and write dictated sentences that include those words." During Rug Time, teachers give students the sentences "Get up on your feet!" and "Let's have some fun!" to write on their dry-erase boards while the teacher monitors student progress. Formative assessments align with the objectives of the lesson. In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, the materials include summative assessments but do not consistently provide diagnostic and formative assessments. For example, in the section titled "Summary of the Recommended Assessments," the curriculum author states: "We've compiled efficient, engaging assessments to accompany this series—five that you will use with every kindergarten child and, assuming those children 'test out' of those five assessments, two that you will use for children once they are in first grade, and two for children in second grade. Each assessment focuses on a different aspect of phonics development and will help you ascertain whether the child is making progress in that area and whether she is roughly on par for the grade and for the time of year. You will see that we recommend giving these assessments toward the end of particular phonics units, roughly speaking." Summative assessments align with the objectives of the unit.

Evaluation for 2.1e
Instructional assessments include TEKS-aligned items at varying levels of complexity.

The curriculum's assessments are not aligned with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), though they mention alignment to Common Core. However, assessment items include items that align with the TEKS, even though the materials do not name the TEKS. In "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), during Rug Time, students read a sentence, clapped out the syllables, and identified the vowels in each syllable. These activities support phonemic awareness and allow for varying levels of complexity based on student readiness. In the appendix of A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, teachers are provided with lists of CVC and CCVC words to use when assessing students. Students are assessed using low-frequency words and nonsense words. Examples of low-frequency words include lab, fed, and jog, while the CCVC word list includes chop, shut, and thin. In My Online Resources: A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, the materials include instructional assessments primarily aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS). These assessments evaluate comprehension and encoding complexity at Depth of Knowledge (DOK) Level 2: Skills and Concepts and correspond to the "Understanding" level of Bloom's taxonomy. For example, the materials direct teachers to "read the transcript of the story, repeating the noted words and asking the children to write those words where indicated on the booklet."

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

In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, the assessment provided for "Assessing Phonological Awareness" in students guides teachers. The guidance offered to teachers is "If the child cannot do the first row, stop assessing and start supporting! Be sure you reassess within another few weeks. Once a child is able to blend or segment a word from row 7, you do not have to give that portion (blending or segmenting) of the assessment again, even if the child does this early in the school year. The child has met expectations for blending or segmenting." This guidance assists teachers with interpreting student performance. In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, scoring procedures have inconsistent guidelines for interpreting student performance and responses. For example, the "Robot Talk" assessment provides a section titled "Procedure for Segmenting" with six steps for the teacher to follow. Afterwards, a section titled "Scoring" provides the teacher with expectations for meeting proficiency; however, they do not provide guidance for interpreting student performance. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, includes information about how the assessment is scored, but does not provide consistent guidance for interpreting student performance on the assessment. For example, the "Assessment If/Then" section states, "If most of your students demonstrate mastery on these assessments, this signals that your class is ready to proceed to the next unit. Still, these assessments will likely reveal that some percentage of your students will require additional support with the phonics concepts you have taught across your current unit. Use data from these assessments, in conjunction with the If/Then chart that follows, to plan for small-group instruction..." The individual assessments do not give teachers information on how to interpret the data from these assessments.

Evaluation for 2.2b
Materials provide guidance for the use of included tasks and activities to respond to student trends in performance on assessments.

Within A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, the assessment "Kindergarten: Assessing Phonic Blending" provides guidance for supporting students who have difficulty on the assessment. Support involves providing a phonics blending exercise as a warm-up for shared reading. Support can also include coaching, decoding, and blending individual phonemes during individual conferences. In the resource A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, teachers can use the "If/Then" section to determine the next steps for their students. The "If/Then" section states, "Use data from these assessments, in conjunction with the If/Then chart that follows, to plan for small-group instruction that supports these students." A sample from the "If/Then" section shows that if students are struggling with "Rhyme Recognition and Production," there are unit supports in Unit 1 and Unit 3, and extensions available in Unit 1 and Unit 3. "Small Groups to Support Phonics," K–1, includes instructional guidance that helps the teacher utilize results from assessments to support the purposeful planning of tasks and activities for the course. For example, the entire spiraled TE only includes guidance about phonics small groups, with the following purpose for its creation: "These groups will help you support students' transferring all that you teach during phonics time into their reading and writing, and they will also allow you to provide the individualized, assessment-based support in phonics that your youngsters need."

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

In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, the materials include a "Developmental Spelling Assessment Scoring" sheet, with delineated sections for discrete spelling-dependent phonics skills that the materials assess students on. Teachers can record student scores on this sheet. Teachers can access tools to monitor student progress online and in A Guide to the Phonics Unit of Study, K–2. For example, a teacher might use the "Assessing Letter-Sound Correspondence" record-keeping sheet to track assessment results. Teachers would use this same assessment record-keeping sheet each time they assess student progress, allowing them to see student growth over time. The materials do not include tools for students to track their own progress and growth. For example, Chapter 5 of A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, states, "What follows are the nuts and bolts of using the phonics assessment tools. As you study these, keep in mind the goal is for these assessments to provide signals that indicate when a child's progress in phonics is not what you'd hope for so that you can remedy matters straight away." The use of you and you'd is teacher-centered language around assessment progress.

Evaluation for 3.1a
Materials include teacher guidance for differentiated instruction, activities, and paired (scaffolded) lessons for students who have not yet reached proficiency on grade-level content and skills.

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study includes a section called "Assessment If/Then," which is a collection of lessons and activities correlated with targeted phonics skills that students may need support with. The section guides teachers to use data from assessments, in conjunction with the "If/Then" chart to plan for small-group instruction that supports students. For example, for students who have difficulty isolating individual beginning, middle, and end phonemes, suggested lessons to support their proficiency with this skill include Unit 2, Session 12, Share, Sing, "What's the Last Sound that You Hear?" "Small Groups to Support Phonics" provides teachers with guidance on differentiated instruction, activities, and paired (scaffolded) lessons for students who have not reached proficiency. Small Group 28 is a lesson for teachers to use in order to review short vowels. The lesson provides a script for teachers to use and a list of resources they will need. It points out possible coaching moves to use in the small group, and it also has a callout box with "Other Supports." This box provides other lessons from the materials that can be used or referenced and how to replicate the lesson using other materials. The box states, "Replicate: This session can be replicated using other nursery rhymes to support students in working on a variety of different phonics principles: For examples when working on ending digraphs, you might use 'The Mulberry Bush.'" A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study includes teacher guidance for differentiated instruction and activities for students who have not yet mastered proficiency on grade-level content and skills. For example, the guidance for differentiation states, "This chapter will teach you our most current thinking about small groups in phonics...Know from the start that some of your small groups will be prompted by assessments that alert you to a child who needs additional help with particular phonics content. For example, if some children lag in their letter-sound knowledge, you will want to provide them with additional opportunities to learn this and will provide small-group instruction for these children." Additionally, guidance for the activities to use are included in a supplemental resource provided within the program with the purpose of helping teachers "find small-group lessons that correspond to your whole-class instruction so that you can support students during and after you introduce particular concepts." This means that the embedded small-group activities are consistently available across all units based on student need.

Evaluation for 3.1b
Materials include pre-teaching or embedded supports for unfamiliar vocabulary and references in text (e.g., figurative language, idioms, academic language). (T/S)

In "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), in an introductory lesson about syllabication, the teacher introduces the concept of syllables by engaging students in pretend drumming and explaining that words have "beats" that help identify the parts. The teacher explains, "Writers can say any word and hear the beats in it, hear what people call the syllables of that name or word." Although materials contain similar lessons across the curriculum that introduce and pre-teach concepts and words, they do not include pre-teaching vocabulary or references in text. The resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) provides teachers with "An Overview of the Unit." In this overview there are eight bulleted materials that teachers will use during this unit. Each material is listed and a definition is provided. An example is that teachers will use "Elkonin boxes" with students. The information provided states, "Elkonin boxes are a series of drawn boxes, usually three, with each box representing one sound or phoneme in a word." The word phoneme is not defined and no further information is provided for teachers on how to use the vocabulary with students in order to support their understanding. In the resource "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Bend I, Session 1, students are learning how to hear and record letters to match. Specifically, students are to "recognize and use blends to write sound effect words." During the Teaching piece of the lesson the teacher tells students that they are starting a new unit, but no guidance is provided on introducing academic vocabulary for the new unit. This note is found on a sidebar: "In addition to being highly engaging and great fun for kids, working with sound effects here offers a deeper opportunity. According to Merriam-Webster, onomatopoeia is 'the creation of words that imitate natural sounds.'" This is the only time onomatopoeia is mentioned and there is no teacher guidance to support student understanding for this unfamiliar vocabulary.

Evaluation for 3.1c
Materials include teacher guidance for differentiated instruction, enrichment, and extension activities for students who have demonstrated proficiency in grade-level content and skills.

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study provides teachers with assessments to use with students after each unit in the curriculum. There is specific guidance provided for students who need additional practice on skills. This specifically tells teachers to use the "Assessment If/Then resource that will lay out all of the sessions, extensions, small groups, or additional online resources you can use to support students with additional practice." The lessons do not include suggestions for adapting instruction for students who have demonstrated mastery of the concepts and skills. "Vowel Power" (Unit 4) includes Extension activities that support further practice of target phonics skills. However, these activities are provided for all students, with no evidence of differentiation for students who have demonstrated proficiency in the skill. For example, in Session 9, Extension 1, students shared the pen with the teacher to create a class reminder to "pick up the trash." Extension activities are provided throughout the curriculum, but they are not indicated as differentiation for students who have demonstrated proficiency; instead, they are for reinforcement for all students. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study refers to the Extension activities as "extensions you could do to give students further opportunities to solidify their understanding of that day's instruction."

Evaluation for 3.2a
Materials include explicit (direct) prompts and guidance to support the teacher in modeling and explaining the concept(s) to be learned.

"Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Bend II, Session 7, provides an example of the explicit prompts that support teachers with modeling and explaining the concepts to be learned. This lesson objective is for students to identify and distinguish short-vowel sounds for letters e, o, and I. For example, in the Teaching and Active Engagement/Link section, the following directions are given to the teacher: "In a new column, I slipped the igloo picture card into the pocket chart. "You know this short-vowel sound really well! Let us review it!" I pointed to the card, and the kids chanted /i/, /i/, /i/. Yes! Short I makes the /i/ sound, like in igloo. Now let us chant the other vowel sounds in the pocket chart." In the resource "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Bend II, Session 11, teachers are provided with materials that include guidance for modeling and explaining the concepts for students to learn. The objective for this lesson is for students to learn new snap words so that they can make and read simple phrases and sentences. During the Teaching and Active Engagement/Link section of the lesson, the teacher displays the chart "How to Learn a Word." The information in the lesson guide provides teachers with information on how to use the chart with students. Specifically, teachers are to "Coach students to spell the word repeatedly. Then, direct them to write the word on their whiteboards. Cover the word, and ask them to try writing the word again." "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) includes explicit prompts to support teachers in modeling and explaining the concepts to be learned. For example, there are two bolded prompts in blue and one bolded prompt in red supporting the teacher with teaching students about vowels. One of the bolded blue prompts states, "Teach children the set of vowels by showing them your organized magnetic letters case. Teach that vowels are red, and consonants are blue as a way to differentiate between the letters." The bolded prompt in red always prompts teachers to "Name the teaching point," and then explains the concepts afterwards using a script.

Evaluation for 3.2b
Materials include teacher guidance and recommendations for effective lesson delivery and facilitation using a variety of instructional approaches.

The curriculum resources provide teachers with more than two instructional approaches in each lesson. For example, "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Bend I, Session 1, provides teachers with "think-alouds" and pair share work for students as they learn how to hear and record the letters that match the sound. The "think-alouds" are provided throughout the lesson. At one point the teacher says, "Can you read this label with me and bring this pup to life?" I pointed under the word as a chorus of "Arrrooo's" erupted on the rug. "It worked! I wrote the sounds I heard as letters, and you could read what I wrote." During the Active Engagement portion of the lesson, the students are shown pictures of a dog, lion, elephant, and car wreck. In their partnerships, they are supposed to write a sound for one of the pictures on a whiteboard and then share with another partner group. "Word Scientists" (Unit 2) incorporates and provides guidance on more than one instructional approach, including direct instruction and collaborative practice. Underneath the Teaching section, direct instruction guidance is provided for how "you need to listen not only for the first sound, but also for the other sounds you hear...It helps to really listen for the last sound, so you can write the last sound." Collaborative practice guidance for this same skill is provided underneath the "Rug Time" section of the same initial and final sounds lesson. A lesson in "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5) utilizes several instructional approaches to help students hear and record both sounds in a blend. During the Teaching and Active Engagement pieces of the lesson, the students listen to sounds from a recording and discuss with the teacher and a partner about the letters that spell those sounds. The teacher also uses a blends and digraphs chart to help students link their new learning. During Rug Time and Extension lessons, students write the blends on a dry-erase board. Students also have the opportunity to draw their own pictures for the "Blends and Digraphs" chart.

Evaluation for 3.2c
Materials support multiple types of practice (e.g., guided, independent, collaborative) and include guidance for teachers and recommended structures (e.g., whole group, small group, individual) to support effective implementation.

Each lesson provides information for teachers that includes recommended structures for the lesson and guidance for teachers to support effective implementation. In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend I, Session 5, students are learning about syllables. Teachers begin with bringing students to the carpet for a whole-group mini-lesson. During Rug Times, students break into their "clubs" to participate in a book activity where they work with their group to clap out beats in words they find. This structure is found in most of the lessons in the curriculum. The materials provide teachers with guidance on how to structure and implement the lessons included in each unit. Teachers can use A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, Chapter 3, "Nuts and Bolts," to learn more about each portion of the lesson—Mini-lesson, Connection, Teaching, Active Engagement/Link, Rug Time, Share Time, and Extensions. Each portion of the lesson is described in detail, including how long it should take and how students will be grouped during each time. Another portion of the chapters offers guidance on shared reading, word sorts, making words, and interactive writing components that are also included in some sessions. The materials include more than two types of practice recommended structures to support effective implementation. For example, collaborative and independent practice regularly occurs within lessons during the Active Engagement/Link component of A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, by "sometimes working with a partner, sometimes working on his or her own." Additionally, ongoing whole-group practice occurs within the Share portion of the lesson: "sometime the whole class participates in a shared song, chant, game, or call-and-response activity based on the work of the day."

Evaluation for 3.3a
Materials include teacher 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.

In the resource A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, Chapter 2 provides information for teachers on supporting phonics development in students who are English learners and students with dyslexia. The guidance provided states, "Luckily, there are quick and easy steps you can take to make sure that phonics instruction is not an isolated or abstract activity for English language learners. In fact, researchers have a consensus around this: to promote language acquisition in general, you will want to involve students in a rich classroom culture of talk and play, of interactive read-alouds and interactive writing, of structured and unstructured conversations with peers and with you." Specifics on incorporating the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) or specifics for providing linguistic accommodations are not mentioned in this guidance or in the curriculum lessons. At the beginning of each lesson the teacher is provided with the objective for the day, a "Getting Ready" section, and a specific list of the phonics instruction that will be covered in the lesson. This quick guide to the lesson does not provide teacher guidance on providing linguistic accommodations for various levels of language proficiency as defined by the English Language Proficiency Standards. For example, in "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Bend II, Lesson 9, the objective is for students to label items in pictures with the first sound. Clear guidance is given for how teachers need to prepare materials for the lesson and what concepts will be covered, but at this point in the lesson and throughout the lesson no guidance is provided for linguistic accommodations. This is the pattern in lessons across the units. The materials include generic tips for emergent bilingual students. For example, the generic guidance in A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study suggests, "To make it truly powerful for English learners, you will want to tuck in some quick and easy vocabulary instruction...A simple and quick way to do this is to do an Internet search for images of words you will be using and have these ready to display." This guidance is not provided with any units or lessons, only in the guide supplement.

Evaluation for 3.3b
Materials include implementation guidance to support teachers in effectively using the materials in state-approved bilingual/ESL programs.

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study features one-size-fits-all accommodations. For example, the generic guidance suggests, "To make it truly powerful for English learners, you will want to tuck in some quick and easy vocabulary instruction...A simple and quick way to do this is to do an Internet search for images of words you will be using and have these ready to display." Though this guidance is helpful, the materials do not include the systematic use of scaffolds needed within the daily lessons. This general guidance is provided in a program's guide document and not embedded in the materials that teachers need for daily instruction. There are no documents that include the step-by-step process, tools, timelines, and roles needed to effectively carry out the curriculum effectively in bilingual or ESL programs. According to A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, "This phonics curriculum provides many examples of (play, song, and talk), and you and your students will surely integrate your own favorites into the culture of your classroom as well." "Small Groups to Support Phonics" provides guidance for teachers in using the materials to support students who have not reached phonics proficiency within a small-group structure; however, there is no evidence of support for using the program in state-approved bilingual/ESL programs. For example, Small Group 34 provides explicit instruction and practice in identifying and using contractions.

Evaluation for 3.3c
Materials include embedded guidance for teachers to support emergent bilingual students in developing academic vocabulary, increasing comprehension, building background knowledge, and making cross-linguistic connections through oral and written discourse.

Although there are opportunities for all students to increase comprehension through oral discourse, build background knowledge through oral discourse, increase comprehension through written discourse, and build background knowledge through written discourse, these opportunities do not provide teachers with embedded guidance on how to use the activities specifically with emergent bilingual students. For example, "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) provides ongoing practice through Extension activities and oral discourse in teacher modeling and peer interactions, but this is a strategy for everyone and not specifically targeted at EB students. In Session 5 the teacher modeling part of the lesson included singing (the class name song) and discussing things noticed about the name following pre-taught steps represented visually on an anchor chart. The lesson also included Extension activities that provide more practice with letter identification. In "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Bend III, Session 16, the teacher is supposed to use a short video clip of the song "Chim Chim Cher-ee" from the movie "Mary Poppins" while the students learn about the difference between the /sh/ and /ch/ sounds. The instructional guidance offers no information about using this to build background knowledge for students or having students talk or write about their new knowledge. In the resource "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Bend I, Session 3, students are learning how to read poetry using what they have been previously taught. During the Connection part of the lesson, the teacher says, "A famous poet named Georgia Heard wanted to learn all about animal noises, so she spends a long time listening to animals, so she could write about all the sounds they make. Georgia learned that the loudest animal noise of all is made by a shrimp no bigger than your pinky that lives at the bottom of the ocean...Wow, poets and scientists study animal noises too!" The lesson goes on to share the poem "Forest Orchestra" by Georgia Heard. The poem contains words like "mammals, red fox, American Red Squirrel, Chipmunk, etc." There is no opportunity provided for teachers to pre-teach vocabulary to give students a preview of what will be discussed in the lesson. Also, no sentence stems or visual supports are provided for students to use as a resource to aid their learning. Just like this lesson, the lessons provided across the curriculum do not provide embedded supports (e.g., developing academic vocabulary through oral or written discourse, building background knowledge through oral or written discourse, etc.) for teachers to use in order to support emergent bilingual students in the classroom.

Evaluation for 3.3d
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 4.1a
Materials include systematic and sequenced instruction of phonics (sound-symbol correspondence) skills.

Materials include foundational lessons that explicitly guide students to move along on a continuum of phonics skills from basic to more challenging in a developmental sequence. For instance, in Session 1 of Unit 1, students explicitly learn letter-sound correspondence by identifying the beginning letter and sound in Mabel, then explore other objects/things that begin with that letter/sound. In Session 12 of Unit 1, students learn to decode and encode words by sounding out and spelling the word bed. In Session 6 of Unit 3, students learn to blend and segment sounds and word parts by creating words using onsets and rimes. In Session 12 of Unit 4, students learn to identify and manipulate vowels and other letters to create new words (lap to lip). All the lessons are sequenced to build on each other to ensure student skill mastery. The resource "Small Groups to Support Phonics" provides chapters of guidance targeting specific phonics skills in a sequence that goes from less challenging to more complex phonics proficiency. For example, Chapter 2 addresses letter-sound correspondence, hearing, and recording sounds. Small-group lessons begin with learning the letter v, exploring letters, sounds, and sorts, to labeling and writing with sounds. In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend I, Session 4, during Share Time, the teacher introduces the "Let's Study a Name!" chart. This anchor chart shows students the four steps for reading a name: "1—Read it; 2—Count the letters; 3—Study the letters; 4—Cheer it." The sample lesson shows teachers how to use this anchor chart with the student name Tymel. At the end of the class, the students cheer the name, and the teacher says, "The letter y is not just small. It has a hangy-tail." Because this instruction follows the three-cueing method, it is not a systematic phonics instruction.

Evaluation for 4.1b
Materials include explicit (direct) and intentional ongoing practice opportunities for phonics (sound-symbol correspondence) skills, both in isolation and through decodable texts.

The materials include explicit and intentional ongoing practice opportunities for phonics skills in isolation. For example, students receive explicit practice learning word families (-an, -at, -it) based on their knowledge of the short /a/, /i/, /t/, and /n/ sounds in isolation in Session 8 and ongoing practice with this skill across the entirety of Unit 3. In the resource Vowel Power (Unit 4), Bend I, Session 3, students work on "Isolating the Short-Vowel Sound in the Middle of Words (-vc)." During the Teaching part of the lesson, the students are sorting words into two columns based on the sound they hear in the middle (for example, the words bag and rag). After the lesson, the students use the same cards to sort again with their partner. Extension Activity 3 within the session also allows students to practice this skill with Elkonin boxes. Materials provide ongoing, explicit practice in studying alphabets and their corresponding sounds, then using that knowledge to decode and encode sentences. For example, in Session 3 of "Word Scientists," students use their knowledge of letter-sound correspondence and snap words (high-frequency words) to read a class-created poem as a group and then independently. Students engage in a shared reading activity using the poem "I Look Closely" with the teacher. There is no evidence of opportunities for students to continue reading the connected text ("I Look Closely") or any other decodable or connected text as ongoing and independent practice of the target skill.

Evaluation for 4.2a
Daily lessons include explicit (direct) phonics instruction with teacher modeling.

In "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Bend IV, Session 15, the students investigate the letter i. The teacher explains, "We start our letter I project by collecting words with an I in them." The teacher has a stack of I word pictures in her lap and goes through them with the students. They explain, "Let us say these words one more time. As we do, think about what kind of sound the I makes. Let us sort by putting the objects and pictures that make the same I sounds together." The teacher then models how to sort the picture cards into the i sound columns. Teachers can use the "Small Groups to Support Phonics" for ideas on supporting students during small-group time through modeling. An example is Small Group 10, "Picture Sort with Initial Sounds." During this lesson, the teacher shows students the lower-case letter h. The teacher reviews the sound of the letter h with students and then has them use their "magic pen" to make an h in the air with their arm. The teacher then goes through several words that start with h and has students act them out: hop, hand, and hair. Another reteach example is given for the letter b. Then, students use a stack of pictures to sort into jars. They put the picture into the matching letter jar for the beginning sound. In Session 4 of "Making Friends with Letters", students learn how to make the letter s. The teacher states, "Before we can own the letter S, let us practice making it the right way. I guided students through writing the letter S in the air as I voiced over the letter formation pathway. To write the letter, bump around, slide down, bump around the other way, and stop."

Evaluation for 4.2b
Daily lessons include opportunities for explicit (direct) guided instruction with guidance for immediate and corrective feedback.

Materials provide scripts that teachers can use to provide immediate and corrective feedback during the student practice portion of a lesson. For example, in Session 3 of "Word Scientists", materials include a "Possible Coaching Moves" section. This section contains scripts that teachers can use with students struggling with the lesson objective. An example is "If you are not sure how to write that snap word, look at it again, study it, then close your eyes and see it in your mind. Then write it and check it." The resource "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3, Bend III, Session 12) offers explicit guided instruction with sample dialogue and coaching moves for providing immediate, corrective feedback. In this lesson, students use word parts like -ip and -op to build new words. Using "letter lassos," students listen as the teacher reads a message from "Reader Man" containing the words quit, tip, hop, and top, which they identify and "lasso." The teacher then adds these to the word-part pocket chart. The lesson continues with additional modeling during the Teaching section. A "Possible Coaching Moves" sidebar includes prompts such as "You said -op. What does that sound like on our word-part chart? Cat? Top?" Directions guide teachers in offering timely feedback during both independent and partner work. Lessons across the units include similar directions. The resource "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Bend I, Session 8, offers a lesson where students become word scientists so they can become experts on their ABCs. During this lesson, the teacher teaches students the importance of knowing and writing their ABCs. On this day, they will be the teacher to their stuffed animal friend. The students will use the alphabet linking chart and a dry-erase board to work through the alphabet with their stuffed animal. After the teacher has directly instructed students on the lesson for the day, two sidebars offer possible coaching moves that teachers can use with students. For example: "You might want to show her how to make that letter. Write it in the air," and "Tell your students other words that start with that sound and invite them to think of new words."

Evaluation for 4.2c
Daily lessons include a variety of opportunities for students to practice phonics skills through collaborative learning and independent practice.

Each lesson provides opportunities for students to practice phonics skills through collaboration, as described in A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study. Chapter 3, "Nuts and Bolts," provides specific information on how each lesson is structured. Each lesson contains seven parts: Mini-lesson, Connection, Teaching, Active Engagement/Link, Rug Time, Share, and Extension activities. During the mini-lesson, the teacher demonstrates, and then the students work on the same skill. During Active Engagement, the lesson includes activities that provide students time to work with partners. Rug Time also allows students to work in partnerships or small groups. The instructions do not include time specifically for independent practice. In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend III, Session 16, students are learning high-frequency words. During Teaching and Active Engagement/Link, students learn the word like to add to their snap word bags. The teacher guides students through reading and spelling the word. Then, students use their dry-erase boards and markers to write the word several times with teacher guidance. Students then work with a partner to write sentences with the word like. During Rug Time, students are introduced to the word my and follow the same learning pattern. There is no time during the lesson for students to practice the skill independently. In Session 12 of "Vowel Power," students were given multiple opportunities to practice collaborative learning only. In Rug Time, students work with a partner to make words using specific consonants and vowels. The lesson shows how students can make new words by changing one letter to make a new word with a partner. The lesson does not allow students to practice the skill independently.

Evaluation for 4.3a
Materials include intentional cumulative phonics review and practice activities throughout the curriculum.

The materials include intentional phonics practice activities throughout the curriculum. For example, phonics student practice opportunities are designed daily during Unit 2, Sessions 1–9; Unit 3, Sessions 6–7, 9, 11–17; Unit 4, Sessions 1–19; and Unit 5, Sessions 1–18. In the resource, "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Bend III, Session 19, there is a celebration of vowel power and Mabel's graduation. This is the last session of Unit 4. In this unit, students have learned about short vowels and vowels in bigger words. The culminating activity for the unit is for students to make a sign for Mabel's graduation and encourage students to spell the words they use with vowels correctly. The materials do not include a cumulative phonics review of the entirety of the program. For example, the Online Cumulative Review Guide states, "We have developed these materials to help you provide cumulative review of the phonics that you are teaching in the Phonics Units of Study. These resources are designed for you to draw on them as you think necessary during the first half of the year." "The first half of the year" indicates that the review does not contain materials to last throughout the curriculum.

Evaluation for 4.3b
Practice opportunities include only phonics skills that have been explicitly taught.

Practice opportunities include only phonics skills that have been explicitly taught. For example, in "Small Groups to Support Phonics," Small Group 19, the teacher provides explicit instruction and guided practice in using digraphs and blends to spell. Students then practice this skill with partners by reading sentences with a partner and fixing any spelling errors involving missing digraphs and blends. In Session 3 of "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), the teacher provides explicit instruction and guided practice in sorting words with similar medial vowels. Students then practice this skill by working with partners to sort words with similar medial vowel sounds. In "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Bend II, Session 6, the objective for the day is for students to use rhyming to hear word parts, which can be used to spell many different words. During partner practice, the students are given the ending to make new words. The lesson includes another practice activity; this time, students use the -in word ending. Each of the three Extension activities for this lesson also provide more opportunities for students to practice the same skill from the lesson for the day.

Evaluation for 4.3c
Decodable texts incorporate cumulative practice of taught phonics skills.

The materials do not include cumulative practice opportunities for phonics skills through decodable texts. For example, Unit 3 is the first and only time students practice sound-symbol correspondence through decodable texts with five stories to practice with, focused on short /a/, short /i/, CVC words, and short /o/. In the resource "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Bend IV, Session 19, the teacher provides partner groups copies of one of the following nursery rhymes: "Hickety Pickety Bumble Bee" from Unit 1, "Rock-A-Bye-Baby" from Unit 2, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" from Unit 3, "How to Graduate" and "Rain, Rain, Go Away" from Unit 4, and "At the Ice Cream Shop" from Unit 5. These texts do not meet the criteria for decodable texts. Session 7 of "Vowel Power" uses "Hickory Dickory Dock" as a shared reading during Rug Time, where students hunt for short vowels /e/, /o/, and /i/. The lesson concludes without an opportunity for students to use decodable readers.

Evaluation for 4.3d
Lessons include an instructional focus with opportunities for practice in isolation and decodable, connected text.

The materials include opportunities for practice in isolation, for example, in "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Bend III, Session 11, the objective for the lesson is for students to learn how to make new words by removing the first letter and adding new letters to the remaining word part (VC) words. After teaching the lesson, students practice making VC words using a magnetic board and magnetic letters with a partner, practicing the skill in isolation. During the Rug Time portion of the lesson, students were given a new VC ending and asked to make more words using the new ending. There are no decodable books to go along with this unit. In the resource "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Bend II, Session 11, students learn how to change the onset of a word to create rhyming words. The focus for this lesson is -ick, -ell, -uck, -ow, and -og. The materials provide a poem for the lesson's teaching piece called "At the Ice Cream Shop." This poem is not decodable to students and includes words like choose, uh-oh, and starting. After teaching the lesson, students practice the skill in isolation by writing words on a dry-erase board that rhyme with cow, duck, dog, and chick. Session 15 in "Vowel Power" (Unit 4) teaches students how to listen for short vowel sounds in bigger words and match words with the same short vowel sound in the middle, which is isolated skill practice. This lesson has students sort picture cards by the short vowel. The lesson ends without an opportunity to use the skill in connected text.

Evaluation for 4.4a
Materials include a variety of assessment tools that are developmentally appropriate.

In the resource A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, assessment tools evaluate reading skills in a progressive order from foundational to decoding. Assessments start by evaluating concepts of print, letter-sound correspondence, initial and final consonant, medial sounds, and snap words (i.e., high-frequency words), developmental spelling, and digraphs, and then move to phonics blending to read CVC words. In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, the assessment tools are designed to progress from simpler to more complex tasks. For example, students are assessed the following skills in order of increasing difficulty: Assessing Concepts about Print, Assessing Phonological Awareness: Blending and Segmenting, and Assessing Letter-Sound Correspondence. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, provides an untimed letter-sound correspondence assessment called "Do You Know Your ABCs?" Students are given upper-case letters first. They are asked to name the letters and say the sound, one row at a time. Then, teachers repeat this process with students using lower-case letters.

Evaluation for 4.4b
Materials include progress monitoring tools that systematically and accurately measure students' acquisition of grade-level phonics skills.

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, includes assessments administered at the end of each unit to monitor progress. Some of these assessments include benchmark recommendations and charts with guidance on where students should be at specific points in the school year. For example, "Assessing Letter-Sound Correspondence" includes benchmarks that indicate recommended student progress by time periods (September, November, January, March, and June). In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, the "Emptying Your Snap Word Pouch" progress monitoring assessment is used to determine how many high-frequency words students can read and write and provides teachers with an accurate way to test student knowledge of this grade-level TEKS. However, a one-time assessment of high-frequency word knowledge does not meet the standard for a systematic or ongoing tool. The progress monitoring materials in A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, meet two of three criteria (deliberate, planned) from the TEA-specific definition of the term "systematic" regarding systematically measuring students' acquisition of grade-level phonics skills. However, it does not meet the third required criterion (logically sequenced) to be considered completely "systematic." In the "Recommended Schedule for Assessment" section, students are progress monitored on skills in an order that does not align to the phonological awareness and phonetic awareness continuum. For example, students are assessed on concepts about print during Unit 1, followed by an assessment about blending and segmenting after Unit 1, while being assessed on digraph recognition after Unit 3, before being assessed on CVC words after Unit 4.

Evaluation for 4.4c
Materials include assessment opportunities across the span of the school year aligned to progress monitoring tools.

Within A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, although materials do not explicitly guide timelines for instruction and assessment, they include opportunities for assessment after each unit, which target specific skills needed to progress to more complex phonics growth. The materials recommend the phonological awareness and letter-sound correspondence assessments to be given at the end of Unit 1, after students have had opportunities to learn and apply the skill. Additional assessments are provided as needed after Unit 2. Developmental spelling, digraph-sound correspondence, and snap words proficiency are assessed after Unit 3. Phonics blending is assessed after Unit 4, etc. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, provides five kindergarten assessments with two optional assessments for students in grade 1. There are five units of curriculum for Units of Study in Phonics for kindergarten. According to the chart in Unit 1, teachers should use "Assessing Concepts about Print: Help Your Teacher Read a Book." After Unit 1, students should be assessed using "Assessing Phonological Awareness: Blending and Segmenting and Assessing Letter-Sound Correspondence." After Unit 2, teachers should use student writing and previous assessment tools as needed. After Unit 3, teachers should use "Help Mabel Label a Picture," "Emptying Your Snap Word Pouch," and "Do You Know Your Digraphs?" After Unit 4, teachers should "use all previous assessment tools, as needed" and "Reading Words with Short Vowels" (CVC). A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, states, "Below is a chart that indicates when you can expect children to demonstrate proficiency in the different levels of phonological awareness indicated by this assessment. Note that this assessment is not meant as a formal diagnostic tool, but rather as a way to identify children who would benefit from extra support with blending or segmenting at a particular time of year."

Evaluation for 4.5a
Materials include data-management tools for tracking individual student progress to make appropriate instructional decisions to accelerate instruction.

In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, when teachers give the "Letter-Sound Correspondence" assessment, teachers can use the chart at the bottom of the page to see the goals for students five times during the school year. This includes September, November, January, March, and June assessment information. Teachers can reference the chart for goals for Letter ID and Letter Sound. If students score a 1 or a 2, that indicates the student needs further support. Students scoring a 3 show that they are on grade level, and students scoring a 4 show that they are above grade level on the skill. Once teachers have assessed students, they can use the "Assessment If/Then" materials located in the back of A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, to determine the next steps for their students. In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, teachers can make a copy of the "Assessing Phonological Awareness Quick Assessment: Blending and Segmenting" for each student. The scoring guide tells teachers which part of the test to use when. For example, teachers should assess students using the first row by the end of Unit 2. Teachers can use the printed pages to show students' overall performance from the year since they are compiled on one page. The expectations for proficiency state that Row 6 indicates that the child has met expectations. "If a child can blend and segment a word from this row, you do not need to give this assessment again." A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, includes a chart for collecting data on students. The "Implications for Teaching" section states, "If children are not able to identify and produce the sounds that go with any digraph, you will want to continue supporting them with extensions and small groups that can be found in the 'Assessment If/Then' resource."

Evaluation for 4.5b
Materials include data-management tools for tracking whole-class student progress to analyze patterns and needs of students.

In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, teachers are given seven assessments for students to use throughout the year. Each assessment provides individual student record-keeping sheets for the assessments, but they do not offer a way for teachers to track whole-group progress. For example, when assessing snap words, teachers should use children's "snap word baggies" to see what words students know or do not know in a snap. If a student understands the word in a snap, the teacher puts a blue dot in the corner of the word. If the student can also write the word, then the word comes out of the pouch. No record-keeping or classroom data can be tracked with this assessment. While individual student tracking is present, the materials do not provide any data-management tools for analyzing patterns or needs across the class, as required by the indicator. The "Assessing Phonological Awareness Rhyming" individual student tracking sheet, found in A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, can be used by the teacher to determine whether an individual student can recognize and produce rhyme. The teacher would need to make multiple copies to use this to track over time. The materials do not help teachers analyze patterns and needs in the data at the whole-class level. For example, in the "Implications for Teaching" section of the "Digraph-Sound" correspondence assessment within A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, it states, "If children are not able to identify and produce the sounds that go with any digraph, you will want to continue supporting them with extensions and small groups." That can be found in the "Assessment If/Then" resource.

Evaluation for 4.5c
Materials include specific guidance on determining frequency of progress monitoring based on students' strengths and needs.

A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, provides a general recommendation for teachers to monitor student progress frequently to identify phonological skills that students require more support with. There is no specific guidance on the frequency of progress monitoring for each assessment. For example, materials state, "All students will also benefit from explicit, systematic phonological awareness instruction, based on frequent assessment to monitor progress." The recommended assessment chart also instructs teachers to use previous assessment tools as needed. Within A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, the "Assessing Phonological Awareness Quick Assessment: Blending and Segmenting" has an "Interpreting the Scores" section, which explains that once children know all of their letters and sounds, the teacher will no longer need to give this assessment. It also guides the teacher to use the table as a general guide of how students are progressing at a particular time of year, and not as an indicator of how often the teacher is to give the assessment. In A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, materials require all students to complete progress-monitoring assessments at varying intervals, such as during the unit or at the end, without including clear guidelines for frequency based on student performance. For example, the "A Summary of the Recommended Assessments" section states, "You will see that we recommend giving these assessments toward the end of the particular phonics units, roughly speaking." Using "roughly speaking" indicates guidance that is not clear-cut on frequency based on student performance, leaving it up to teacher discretion.

Evaluation for 4.5d
Materials include guidance on how to accelerate learning based on the progress monitoring data to reach mastery of specific concepts.

The resource "Small Groups to Support Phonics," K–1 provides targeted lessons to support mastery of phonics skills for the whole class or a group of students needing targeted Tier 2 instruction. For example, Small Group 22 is best taught to students who need support with blends and digraphs. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, K–2, provides guidance on supplemental Tier 1 or small-group lessons to support students' skill mastery. The "Developmental Spelling Assessment" scoring sheet provides a benchmark chart that guides teachers in evaluating student progress on phonic-based spelling. Students who do not meet the benchmark indicators can be additionally supported through lessons in the resource "Small Groups to Support Phonics," K–1. In "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), unit materials provide teachers with an Extension activity or activities to do each day. In Session 11 of Unit 5, the Extension activity has students adding snap words to writing. Teachers say, "Wow! You have learned so many words. What matters most, though, is that you use what you are learning." Students are then encouraged to extend their learning and label a picture using snap words they have learned. The correlation to progress monitoring can be found in the kindergarten assessment table.

Evaluation for 5.B.1a
Materials include explicit (direct) and systematic instructional guidance on developing oral language and oracy through a variety of methods (e.g., modeling, guided practice, coaching, feedback, and independent practice). (T)

The materials include explicit and systematic instructional guidance on developing oral language through a variety of methods; for example, in Word-Part Power (Unit 3), Bend II, Session 6, the teacher provides explicit instructional guidance by modeling a read-aloud poem and having students participate in the poem orally. The teacher directions state, "You already know how to rhyme words with -at. I began an oral poem, not writing anything down. 'Pat saw a....what?'" I gave kids a clue by saying. '/rrrr./' The kids called, 'Rat. She saw a rat!'" The teacher continues working through the poem and adds guided practice to coach students through the rest of the activity for the day. However, the materials do not provide explicit and systematic instructional guidance on oracy. The materials do not include explicit or systematic instructional guidance on developing oracy. For example, the TEA definition for "systematic" is that it must be planned, deliberate, and logically sequenced. Though the "share" components include opportunities for students to express knowledge (oral language development) as they share their work, there is not a planned or deliberate sequence of the specific listening and speaking skills students will use within and across lessons and units for the year. For example, in Making Friends with Letters (Unit 1), the guidance in the culminating "share" portion of a lesson names that students would sing the alphabet song with the teacher and the principal to express their knowledge stating "The class chimed in as we made our way through the song. We sang a few more times, each in different ways, such as quickly, then slowly, then in silly voices. Then I invited some children to point out the letters as the principal and I led the rest of the class in singing a few more rounds of the song." This is an act of speaking but does not deliberately have students develop their listening skills through a predictable process or name the skills.

Evaluation for 5.B.1b
Materials include opportunities for students to engage in social and academic communication for different purposes and audiences. (S)

The materials include opportunities for students to engage in social and academic communication for different purposes. For example, in A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, it is stated that during Rug Time, students are encouraged to communicate socially for the purposes of "building a strong rapport with one another, teamwork, questioning, and risk taking." Academic communication purposes include "working to apply a growing repertoire of strategies for studying letters, sounds, and word parts." The materials include opportunities for students to engage in social and academic communication for different audiences. For example, in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), during the "share" portion of the lesson, the principal is asked to stop by so that students can showcase their ability to sing the alphabet song. In this instance, the academic communication was used for two different audiences (i.e., teacher, principal). In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend I, Session 6, the objective is for students to compare and contrast names. During the Teaching portion of the lesson, students are given an opportunity to engage in social communication for different purposes. The teacher asks students to first talk to their partner and compare their shoes. The teacher asks, "How are these kinds the same? and How are they different?" Students are given time to talk to their partners about their shoes. Then the teacher directs the conversation to looking for similarities and differences in names. Students are given their name on a sentence strip and they talk with their partner about how they are the same and different. "Possible Coaching Moves" are provided on the side of the page to guide teacher discussion with students.

Evaluation for 5.B.1c
Materials include authentic opportunities for students to listen actively, ask questions, engage in discussion to understand information, and share information and ideas. (S)

The materials include authentic opportunities to listen actively, engage in discussion to understand information, and share information and ideas. For example, in the resource "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Bend I, Session 1, students are provided with an authentic listening activity that also allows them to engage in discussion to understand the information. The goal of the lesson is for students to work in partnerships to write and read sentences. During the Teaching portion of the lesson, students listen as the teacher uses Mabel to show students how to use a pointer to write a sentence. The students are sitting on the rug listening. Then the teacher engages students in discussion by asking, "What do you think she is feeling, kindergarten? Does she think she can only label?" The students then work with partners to talk about what they could say to encourage Mabel in her writing. Rug Time provides students another chance to engage in discussion with their partners by having students encourage their partner by saying "You can do it!" and "Do not be afraid!" The lesson concludes without authentic opportunities for students to ask questions in the sessions. The Small Groups to Support Phonics, Small Group 19, is an example of students sharing information and ideas. In the lesson, students work on fixing up a piece of writing. The students work together with partners to edit sentences. The partners are then combined with another partnership to share what they fixed and discuss if they agree. Students do not have the opportunity to ask questions. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study includes authentic opportunities for students to listen actively and engage in discussion to understand information. For example, listening is encouraged during the "connection" and "teaching" portions of the mini-lesson, stating "the first part connects the day's teaching to the ongoing work that children have been doing in writing...Although you invite kids' participation [during the teaching portion], once you have kids seeing themselves as participants in the work, you often pull ahead of them and demonstrate the strategy you are teaching, before passing the baton to them in the active engagement portion of your brief mini-lesson." Students are given opportunities to engage in discussion to understand the information during the Active Engagement/Link portion of the lessons. For example, "In the active engagement, students try to do what you just demonstrated, or they continue the work you and they began together...Youngsters quickly become accustomed to these brief invitations for them to try whatever you've just demonstrated, and it takes just seconds for them to shift from listening or watching to actually doing something or saying something to a partner." However, opportunities to ask questions to better understand information are not present.

Evaluation for 5.C.1a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing letter names and their corresponding sounds. (PR 2.A.1)

The book A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, Chapter 2, provides the sequence of the letter names and corresponding sounds and the systematic sequence in which they will be taught. The materials begin with "high-utility letters." The sequence of letter names and sounds taught in the materials is: "MSTNARLDFIVPKXEBZJOCHUWGQY." The guidance goes on to state, "You will see that we depart from teaching a letter a week, or even teaching a letter a day, and we encourage you to do so as well." This directly correlates with how the letters are introduced in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1). The materials include a systematic sequence for introducing corresponding sounds [of letter names]. For example, "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Sessions 1–15, introduces 11 letters focusing on "recognizing the name/sound of letters, particularly...(name of letter name)." The Cumulative Review Guide online (the "Scope and Sequence of Phonics Instruction" in the Units of Study in Phonics, K–2) provides ongoing guidance needed by teachers to continue systematically introducing the letters/sounds based on the suggested sequence. In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend I, Session 3, students begin by learning the letter m. In this lesson, the teacher shows students a capital M and a lower-case m. The teacher then teaches students the sound that m makes, and they practice as a class. Connections are made during this time to any student who has an M at the beginning of their name.

Evaluation for 5.C.1b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for teaching and developing student automaticity in the identification of the 26 letters of the alphabet (upper and lowercase) and their corresponding sounds. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

The materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit instruction for developing student automaticity in the identification of the 26 letters and corresponding sounds (upper-case/lower-case) of the alphabet. For example, in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), to build automaticity around the letter m, teachers are to "organize students into partnerships and give each partnership a book. Invite partners to search for words that begin with M in their book." The Cumulative Review Guide online (the "Scope and Sequence of Phonics Instruction" in the Units of Study in Phonics, K–2) provides a suggested scope and sequence online that provides teachers with a script to teach letter recognition for all 26 letters of the alphabet. "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Sessions 1–7, provide explicit instruction in letter identification and sound correspondence through a focus on class names. For the first letter introduced (m), students are introduced to the class mascot Mabel, then engage in activities to study the name (how many letters, what do the letters look like), then they identify the sound the letter makes and share other words that begin with that sound. Further, students have the opportunity to use a "How to Learn a Letter" anchor chart, to guide them in quickly reviewing their knowledge of previously learned letters. The chart includes the phrases "1. Name it! 2. Sound it! 3. Write it! 4. Use it!" In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend I, Session 4, students learn the letter s. This lesson is an example of teacher guidance that provides explicit instruction for teaching and developing student automaticity in letter identification and sounds. The lesson guides the teacher on teaching students to name and sound the letter s. "Let us learn the letter Ss so we have it in our back pocket. The class chimes in "S." I added /s/ Salima, /s/ snake, /s/ Stegosaurus, /s/. The letter S makes the /s/ sound, so any time I hear the /s/ sound at the beginning of a word I know it starts with /s/ S."

Evaluation for 5.C.1c
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) and systematic instruction for letter formation for the 26 letters of the alphabet (upper and lowercase). (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (T)

In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend I, Session 7, teachers are given explicit directions on how to help students form an upper-case and lower-case A. To begin, the teacher writes a capital A on the board and talks students through the movements. Then the teacher says, "Try it with me! Let us all write it! Arms out in front of you. Slanted line down. Slanted line down. Little line connecting." This process is repeated three times. Then the teacher shows students how to write a lower-case a. First, students watch, and the teacher talks through the moves. Then the class air spells together following these directions, "Start a little lower than the big A. Bump back around. Line up. Line back down." The students practice air spelling several more times. In the online materials "Resources Across the Grade," teachers can find resources online that help with the formation of letters. The resources provide systematic instructions for the 26 letters of the alphabet (upper-case and lower-case). There are online videos for each of the letters. The videos explicitly show how to form each letter as upper- and lower-case and provide guided practice. Teachers can also access formation charts to use in lessons. The materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit instruction for letter formation for the 26 letters of the alphabet (upper-case/lower-case). For example, "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) provides 16 sessions that include direct instruction in letter formation that occur either during the "teaching, active engagement/link, rug time" portions of the main phonics block or within the "extension" components of the lesson.

Evaluation for 5.C.1d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources (including the use of memory-building strategies) for students to develop, practice, and reinforce (through cumulative review) alphabet knowledge both in isolation and in the context of meaningful print. (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S).

The materials include a variety of activities and resources for students to develop alphabet knowledge in isolation and in the context of meaningful print. For example, in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), the letter s is taught in isolation during the "teaching" component of the lesson, stating, "Today I want to teach you that when you learn the letter S, you learn a secret that will help you learn tons of other letters." This direct instruction is then connected to meaningful print by connecting the letter to a student's name, which in this case is Salima. In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend III, Session 12, the students work together to label things in the classroom. This activity allows students to practice and reinforce letter recognition through real-world meaningful print connections. During Rug Time, the teacher says, "I was thinking, if a few of you work together, maybe you can come up with some things that could be labeled in this classroom. Maybe one group of you might decide to label the block area, or one group might want to label our coats, or even our door. And then you can use all of your names and all that you know about letters to help you with the job." In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), in "An Overview to the Unit," teachers are given information on the importance of using student names to explicitly teach letters. The guidance states, "The way that the unit unfolds is that you will use your children's names, and the letters in those names, to teach phonics concepts. You will draw names from a 'Star Jar,' doing some quiet machinations so that you control the sequence of names and in that way, channel your class to study letters in a sequence that roughly matches the one we argue for in A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study, Grades K–1." Materials include opportunities for students to practice previously learned/ongoing alphabet skills through writing. For example, in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Session 4, Extension 3, the teacher guides students to revise their writing using letters they had learned (s and m). In Session 12, Extension 1, students practiced using their knowledge of letters to label the first letter in bookshelf. In Session 14, Extension 2, students join the teacher in reading the names on the name wall; students say the name of the classmate, then say the matching sound the letter makes. The online resource "Scope and Sequence of Phonics Instruction" in the Units of Study in Phonics, K–2, includes a cumulative review document within the online resources option. This document provides a menu of activities that teachers can use to review previously taught skills. This menu is beneficial for continuous review of phonics skills and is recommended for review in Units 1 and 2. It indicates, "These resources are designed for you to draw on them as you think necessary during the first half of the year."

Evaluation for 5.C.2a
Materials explicitly (directl), and systematically introduce letter-sound relationships in an order that allows for application to basic decoding and encoding. (PR 2.A.1)

In the Units of Study in Phonics, Cumulative Review Guide, the materials systematically introduce letter-sound relationships in an order that allows for application to basic decoding and encoding. For example, during the "Use Your Word-Part Power to Write" routine, it suggests that teachers use it as their interactive writing for the day, stating, "Encourage students to orally segment the word in onset-rime fashion, then write the word as they say the onset and rime to themselves. Show students the correct spelling, and ask them to check if they got it. At the end, encourage students to reread their list of words and share a sentence that uses a cloud of the words." There is a script that follows this guidance. "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) Sessions 1–6 introduce the letters m, s, t, n, r. Vowels are introduced in Session 7, in line with the strategy of introducing vowels along with knowledge of other letters. Vowels are designated as "special letters." Other letters are introduced through lessons focusing on student names. For example, after the initial sequence of letters (m, s, t, n, r) the next letter introduced was J for a student named Jessica. In the resource "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Bend I, Session 1 the class is exploring the alphabet linking chart. During the Extension portion of the lesson the teacher works with students on learning the letter v. The teacher provides a mini-lesson where students decode and encode the letter v and allows them to apply it to their learning. The teacher says, "First, we need to name this letter. So, this is the letter V. Wow, V is way down at the end of the alphabet chart! Now we need to learn its sound. Look at the picture, say its name slowly so you hear the first sound, the /v/ sound...Now write it. Remember to start at the top.' I said the formation pathway as students wrote the letter in the air." This lesson continues the letter-sound correspondence from "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1).

Evaluation for 5.C.2b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction focused on connecting phonemes to letters within words with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common errors and misconceptions. (PR 2.A & 2.A.2) (T)

In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend III, Session 12, the materials provide explicit teacher guidance for working with student names in the classroom. The guidance states, "For the names that begin with a sound that does not match that grapheme in English, you might add in an extra phrase to acknowledge the difference in that name. You might say, 'I, Isabel, the I sounds like the letter I in Isabel.' Or 'J, Javier, the J makes the /h/ sound in Javier. When you read names that begin with letters that have more than one sound, such as vowels, use the same sound as the name. So you might read, 'A, Abe, /a/; A, Abbie, /a/." Coaching moves like this are embedded throughout the curriculum unit resources. The curriculum provides teacher guidance on explicit instruction focused on connecting phonemes to letters within words with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common errors and misconceptions. An example of this is found in "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Bend I, Session 7. The students are using the alphabet chart to build automaticity with letters. The "Possible Coaching Moves" provided to teachers say, "Say the word. Grab the first sound. What letter goes with that sound? Check if you were right. Say car, say cat. Do they match? Can you think of other words that start with that sound? For students who may need more of a challenge you might say, 'I have included some extra pictures for you, and you will need to think about the letters that represent more than one sound," and include pictures of things beginning with long vowels or soft/hard g and c." Coaching moves like this are embedded throughout the curriculum unit resources. The materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit instruction focused on connecting phonemes to letters within words with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common misconceptions. For example, during Session 6, the "Possible Coaching Moves" box provides the following script for teachers to use when providing feedback, stating, "Is anything different? Oh, yes, those two letters are different. One is an o and this one is an a." A common misconception students have about vowels is that they look or sound the same, particularly short vowels because of how subtle the sounds are.

Evaluation for 5.C.2c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce (through cumulative review) their understanding of applying letter-sound correspondence to decode one syllable and multisyllable words in isolation and decodable connected text. (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S)

The materials provide opportunities for students to develop and practice their understanding of applying letter-sound correspondence to decode one-syllable words in isolation. For example, in "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Bend II, Session 9, the students practice making words with -at, -an, -it, and -in. After the lesson, the teacher gives student groups (clubs) a bag of consonants: s, f, m, r, c, w, b, and p. The teacher gives the student groups the rimes -an and -it. The clubs stood in front of the room and used their cards to say the sounds and make new words. Then, students were able to write the words they made on a dry-erase board. The lesson concludes without an opportunity to apply learning through decodable, connected text. The materials do not provide opportunities for students to develop and practice their understanding of applying letter-sound correspondence to decode one-syllable words in connected text. The curriculum materials that can be accessed online ("Decodable Resources") provide limited decodable texts and a cumulative review for the first three units of the curriculum. Decodable texts are only available for Unit 3 of the curriculum, and there are five stories for teachers to access. These materials do not reinforce skills or provide a cumulative review for the entirety of the curriculum. In "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), students have the opportunity to develop and practice their understanding of applying letter-sound correspondence to decode one-syllable words. In this lesson, students make and decode one-syllable CVC words with -ap and -ot. The teacher uses Post-It notes with one grapheme on each note for students to put together and decode. The words are map, tap, lap, gap. These materials do not, however, include a cumulative review or decodable connected text.

Evaluation for 5.D.1a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing phonological awareness activities in accordance with grade-level TEKS that begins with simple skills and larger units of sound (e.g., identifying and producing rhyming words, recognizing spoken alliteration, identifying the individual words in spoken sentences) and gradually transitions to more complex skills and smaller units of sound (e.g., adding, deleting, and substituting syllables). (PR 2.A.1)

The materials do not include a systematic sequence for introducing phonological awareness activities in accordance with grade-level TEKS that begin with simple skills and gradually transition to more complex skills. For example, in Session 3 of "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), students practice searching for graphemes (e.g., m) and the corresponding phoneme (/m/) within a non-decodable reader. However, during the subsequent session, students try a less complex skill of producing words that begin with the same spoken onset (e.g., /s/). This pattern of introducing more complex phonological awareness skills is consistent throughout the remaining units. Materials provide a sequence of phonological awareness instruction that combines a focus on encoding and decoding. Sessions 1–7 of "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) introduce a sequence of high-utility letters (m, s, t, n, a) and present explicit instruction in letter-sound correspondence with a visual of the letter presented within the context of a name. These lessons deviate from TEKS expectations of presenting larger sound units first and instead highlight smaller sound units first, which quickly leads to encoding within the context of names. In "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Bend I, Session 3, students are able to practice identifying individual words in a spoken sentence. After students have learned new snap words, the teacher has students practice the words with a poem. During the Extension portion of the lesson, the teacher states, "Once you know a collection box full of words, those words help you to read other things—stories, letters, even poems." The teacher reads the poem "I Look Closely," and when the students hear a snap word, they put their thumbs up. This lesson provides phonemes and phonological awareness at the same time and is not delineated between the two skill sets.

Evaluation for 5.D.1b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction for teaching phonological awareness skills with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common errors and misconceptions. (PR 2.A & 2.A.2) (T)

The materials include direct instruction based on common errors and misconceptions, but lessons introduce the grapheme before the phoneme. In "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Bend II, Session 9, the teacher provides direct instruction based on common errors. In this lesson, the students notice how each vowel feels while vocalizing it. During the Teaching portion of the lesson, the class is working on short vowels. The teacher says, "Interesting, when I make the sound /e/ /e/ /e/, my mouth opens a little and stretches back. Let's see if that is true for you, too." The teacher then prompted kids to make the short /e/. Teachers can use the Small Groups to Support Phonics resource to support students. In Small Group 26, the teacher supports students who are struggling with vowel sounds. First, the teacher uses picture cards (bat, bed, pig, fox, bug, van, dog, ten). The students write the word for each card. Feedback is given as the lesson progresses. For example, "Some of these are a little confusing, right? It becomes a little easier if you think about how your mouth goes for each of the sounds. To do this, say /a/ as in apple, and /i/ as in igloo. Can you feel how each sound feels different in your mouth? How is it different?" While this resource provides feedback to students, it provides phonological awareness skills following phonics instruction and printed graphemes. In "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Session 12, the phonics instruction states that the lesson will include phonological awareness of identifying the initial, medial, and final phonemes of spoken words. However, in the Teaching and Active Engagement part of the lesson, the teacher has the students re-label objects around the room so that they at least label the first and last sound. "Writers, before you can write the last sound in a word, you need to say and hear them. Will you work on saying the names of things in such a way that you really pop out the ending sound? Like this: boar-/d/." The feedback in the sidebar states, "As students become more proficient with isolating sounds at the beginning of a word, teach them to listen for more sounds in words. We want to move students toward the important work of segmentation. The next step of this work is to isolate sounds at the end of words." While this is feedback for phonological awareness, the lesson included phonics instruction.

Evaluation for 5.D.1c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources (including the use of memory-building strategies) for students to develop, practice, and reinforce phonological awareness skills connected to grade-level TEKS (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S)

In the Cumulative Review Guide, the materials do not include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, or reinforce phonological awareness skills connected to grade-level TEKS. For example, within the lesson plans, students are occasionally provided with the same activity (listening to a poem/song) to develop two phonological awareness skills (rhyming production, recognizing the initial sound in their names). During this activity, it typically occurs as an extension opportunity where students engage in a whole-group setting without practicing it with partners or independently. Materials include a variety of activities for students to reinforce and review grade-level phonological awareness skills, but the lessons integrate graphemes prior to the introduction of phonemes. For example, in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Session 2, the teacher provides direct instruction for the skill of alliteration by showing students a sentence strip with the word Mike written on it and guiding them to identify words that begin like /m/ in Mike. Students do not work with the spoken language before introducing print. In "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Session 4, students sort picture cards into one of two beginning sounds: /d/ or /h/. However, the labels for each category are the letters b and h, indicating that this lesson integrates graphemes and is not solely supporting phonological awareness.

Evaluation for 5.D.2a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing phonemic awareness activities that begins with identifying, blending, and segmenting phonemes, and gradually transitions to more complex manipulation practices such as adding, deleting, and substituting phonemes. (PR 2.A.1)

The phonemic awareness activities are paired with writing and reading and do not follow the definition for phonemic awareness: "The ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds (phonemes) in spoken words. Identification and manipulation are key skills in preparing students to read." In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend I, Session 3, students are working on the letter m (name it, sound it, write it, and use it to make lots of words). This is the first letter students are learning in the curriculum. The teacher says, "Today I want to teach you that to own a letter, to know that letter so well that you have it in your back pocket, ready to use it whenever you read or write, it helps to do some things with the letter. It helps to name the letter, sound it, write it, and use it to make lots of words." Each lesson in Unit 1 works through letters in this pattern. Students are identifying, blending, and segmenting phonemes, but it is combined with reading and writing in each lesson. In "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend II, Session 11, the students are changing the beginning phoneme to make a new word. The teacher says, "Let me show you what I mean. We know Mabel's name starts with the letter M /m/." I wrote Mabel's name up on the board, "But what if we played around with Mabel's name a little? What if we took off the M and changed it to a B? Hmmmm,... it is not /m/-Mabel anymore." This continues with changing the /M/ to /L/. The students are identifying and segmenting phonemes, but the practice is not just verbal; it is also written. There is no clear progression for blending or segmenting phonemes that gradually increases in complexity. In "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) and "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), students are expected to segment phonemes and then abruptly move into complex tasks like phoneme substitution, without sufficient scaffolding. "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3) and "Vowel Power" (Unit 4) present a mix of blending and segmenting, but again lack a clear sequence toward more advanced skills. In "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), the focus unexpectedly shifts back to simpler phonological awareness tasks—such as syllable segmentation and rhyme recognition—rather than continuing to build on phonemic awareness.

Evaluation for 5.D.2b
Materials include explicit (direct) instruction for teaching phonemic awareness with recommended explanatory feedback for students based on common errors and misconceptions. (PR 2.A & 2.A.2) (T)

The materials do not include explicit instruction for teaching phonemic awareness with explanatory feedback based on common errors and misconceptions. For example, in Small Groups to Support Phonics, materials include recommended feedback prompts (labeled "Possible Coaching Moves") that teachers can provide to support students in phonemic awareness proficiency. However, the lessons integrate phonics content, which takes away from building intentional focus on phonemic awareness. In a small-group lesson on identifying initial sounds, the teacher provides direct instruction in identifying the beginning sound that the letter h makes and words that begin with that letter/sound. Students then practice by sorting picture cards with images of things that begin with either h or b. Students sort the cards into jars labeled with the letter h or b and a picture that matches. Teacher feedback includes, "/h/ hose. Does that go with /b/ ball or /h/ hat? Say /h/ hose, /b/ hose. Which sound the same?" Introduction to graphemes precedes practice with phonemes. For example, in "The Mystery of the Silent e" (Unit 2), Session 7, students look at picture cards to identify the initial and final sounds, then find the letter that makes that sound on the alphabet chart. Teacher feedback includes, "Check if you are right. Say car, say cat. Do they match?" In "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Session 12, in the sidebar of the first page of the lesson, the phonics instruction states that the lesson will include phonological awareness of identifying the initial, medial, and final phonemes of spoken words. This is phonemic awareness; however, in both the Teaching and Active Engagement parts of the lesson, the teacher has the students re-label objects around the room so that they at least label the the first and last sound. "Writers, before you can write the last sound in a word, you need to say and hear them. Will you work on saying the names of things in such a way that you really pop out the ending sound? Like this: boar-/d/."

Evaluation for 5.D.2c
Materials include explicit (direct) guidance for connecting phonemic awareness skills to the alphabetic principle, to support students in the transition from oral language activities to basic decoding and encoding. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

The materials include explicit guidance for connecting phonemic awareness skills to the alphabetic principle, to support students in the transition from oral language activities to basic decoding and encoding. In "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend I, Session 5, students are given the opportunity to work on the letter n during Extension 2. The teacher is provided guidance on connecting phonemic awareness to the alphabetic principle through encoding and decoding. The teacher points to a capital N written on the dry-erase board. The teacher shows students how to make the N. Students write a make-believe N on the carpet. Then the teacher says, "Oh! /n/—nice work, did you hear that? Remember the letter N goes with /n/ /n/ /n/. Say it with me this time!" In the resource "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Bend II, Session 10, students are working on the letters in their name—specifically, the first letter in their names. Students are given a card with their name so that they can trace the letters in their name and say them. During the Teaching portion of the lesson, the students learn the letter J. The teacher says, "Jessica, can you come up here? Jessica, do you know the first letter in your name so well you could tell us about it, you could teach it to us?" Jessica said yes. I continued, "Jessica starts with a J. Letter J makes the /j/ sound at the beginning of Jessica. Let us all say it together. /j/—Jessica." The sidebar provides further guidance and states, "Make sure to explicitly connect the letter sound with each new letter that is introduced and give students an opportunity to make the sound several times. Listen in carefully to students' articulation. For sounds like /j/, it is essential that students say /j/ and not /juh/ or /jah/." The lessons provide explicit guidance for connecting phonemic awareness to the alphabetic principle using decoding and encoding. Materials include a direct instruction guidance for teachers to use in helping students connect phonemic awareness to the alphabetic principle. For example, in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Session 1, students learn about the letters in the name Mabel. The teacher guides students to repeat the names of the letters, then guides them in studying the first letter and the sound it makes. The script includes "Let us just look at this first letter in this name: M. And m goes /mmm/."

Evaluation for 5.D.2d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce phonemic awareness skills (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S)

The activities and/or resources provided develop phonological awareness but not phonemic awareness skills. For example, in Small Groups to Support Phonics, teachers have only two print-based activities that incorporate memory-building strategies to support the following phonological awareness skills of segmenting and blending syllables. For segmentation, the memory-building strategy includes a procedural anchor chart titled "Hear the Beats in Words" followed by these steps: "1. Say the word. 2. Clap the beats." The materials do not include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, or reinforce phonemic awareness skills connected to grade-level TEKS. For example, within the lesson plans of the Cumulative Review Guide, students are occasionally provided with the same activity (listening to a poem/song) to develop two phonological awareness skills (rhyming production, recognizing the initial sound in their names) but not phonemic awareness skills. During this activity, it typically occurs as an Extension opportunity where students engage in a whole-group setting without practicing it with partners or independently. There are no phonemic awareness opportunities provided within the Cumulative Review Guide. Instead, it states that the purpose of the guide is to "help you provide a cumulative review of the phonics that you are teaching..." This limited availability of resources/activities for phonological awareness development assumes students are entering into the product having already mastered this very foundational component on the literacy continuum, which means those who have not mastered phonemic awareness will not receive the targeted support needed.

Evaluation for 5.E.1a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level sound-spelling patterns, as outlined in the TEKS. (PR 2.A.1)

The curriculum systematically addresses the following TEKS in a logical progression: "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) focuses on TEKS K.2.B.i, introducing students to the alphabet and the sounds each letter makes. "Word Scientists" (Unit 2) builds on this foundation by targeting TEKS K.2.B.ii, guiding students to use letter-sound relationships to decode VC and CVC words. "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3) emphasizes TEKS K.2.B.iii, helping students understand how changing, adding, or deleting letters can create new words. Throughout all units, students also engage with TEKS K.2.C.i by practicing spelling with VC word patterns. In "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Bend III, Session 15, students build on previously taught TEKS and decode CCVC and CVCC words. Students work on the words fish, stem, drip, bump, and tack. Materials introduce students to CVC words through systematic lessons. For example, in "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Session 12, Extension 1, the teacher guides students in segmenting the word man into /m/ /a/ /n/ using a song, body movements, and Elkonin boxes. In "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Session 4, students create CVC words, then substitute a phoneme to create a new word (changing hat to hit, sit, sat, pat, and other words).

Evaluation for 5.E.1b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

The materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit instruction for grade-level sound-spelling patterns. In "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Session 6, students learn how to make words with VC rimes -at and -in. During the Teaching portion of the lesson, the materials provide guidance for the teacher to use for helping students with the sound-spelling patterns. The teacher says, "Here's how I can make Pat using -at. I say both words: at, Pat. Do you hear that both at and Pat have -at at the end? It takes word-part power to hear that!" I wrote at on a large Post-It and stuck it on my whiteboard. "Hold up your at card and read it, showing me your word-part power!" The sidebar informs teachers of the following: "The decision to focus on particular short-vowel rimes in this bend—an, at, it, in—is intentional. These are not only some of the most frequently occurring phonograms, but also words unto themselves, so kids already know them. Knowing and being able to use rimes such as at, an, it, and it allows a reader to form more than 500 words." In the resource "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Bend III, Session 17, the students learn about digraphs. Extension Activity 2 provides practice segmenting words with Elkonin boxes. The teacher models the Elkonin boxes using the word shop. The teacher says, "I modeled for the class by saying the word shop slowly. I wrote the letters SH in the first box as I was saying /sh/ and making a dotted line between the s and h, the letter O when I got to the /o/, and the letter P in the final box as I said /p/." The class then said the sounds as the teacher pointed to each letter. The routine was repeated with the following words—chop, ship, chip, thin, chin, chat, and shed. Materials include teacher guidance for teaching sound-spelling patterns. For example, in "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Session 3, there is teacher guidance on how to segment CVC words to isolate the short vowel sound. The teacher provides direct instruction in segmenting the individual phonemes in words in mad, hip, and map. Students then practice sorting picture cards of CVC words with similar medial vowel sounds.

Evaluation for 5.E.1c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level sound-spelling patterns (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A.1) (T)

The lesson materials in each unit provide a variety of activities for students to use to develop and practice grade-level sound-spelling patterns. In the resource "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Session 2, students learn how to use the alphabet chart to remember letter/sound correspondence. To begin the lesson, the teacher uses a pocket chart and picture cards. The teacher guides the teachers to put the alphabet chart back together by using the first sound of the picture on the card. During Rug Time, the students are given their own copy of the alphabet chart and words with a partner to find a letter, say the word, and say the first sound. Share Time provided students an opportunity to chant the alphabet with movement. However, there is no cumulative review provided. Students reinforce sound-spelling patterns through activities provided throughout the units; however, these activities are not systematically reinforced and can be found in extensions and a cumulative review document that only addresses Units 1–3. For example, sound-spelling knowledge review is introduced in "Talking and Thinking about Letters" (Unit 1) and "Word Scientists" (Unit 2) through the name activities and spiraled throughout "Talking and Thinking about Letters" (Unit 1) and in activities where decoding and encoding are involved. The curriculum review document includes activities like "Naming and Sounding Out Letters" where the teacher shows students a picture card and they whisper the name and shout out the sound; "Sounding Letters" where the teacher points to letters on an alphabet chart and students say the sound; "Word-Part Power" where the teacher says a rime orally for students to segment, then shows the written rime for students to sound out and blend, and "Sound It Out Power" where students are shown a word card, then they say and blend the individual sounds. The materials do not include a variety of activities and resources for students to reinforce grade-level sound-spelling patterns through cumulative review. For example, in the Cumulative Review Guide online, there is a six-week cumulative review provided that focuses on a combination of letter-sound, word reading, and sound-spelling patterns that span only the first two units of the year. Since this program has five units total, less than 40 percent is dedicated to cumulative review.

Evaluation for 5.E.1d
Materials provide a variety of activities and/or resources to support students in decoding and encoding words that include taught sound-spelling patterns, both in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

The materials provide a variety of activities and/or resources to support students in decoding and encoding words that include taught sound-spelling patterns in isolation. The materials do not provide decodable connected texts that build on previous instruction. For example, in "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Session 7, students focus on decoding VC rimes. The lesson begins with a teacher demonstration using magnetic letters to model words such as sit, bit, fit, and hit, along with a clear explanation of the day's objective. Students then work in rug clubs, using magnetic boards to build additional /it/ words, followed by the same process to generate /an/ words. During Rug Time, they create words with -at, -an, and -it, and also by using word cards and magnetic letters. The teacher adds these words to the word wall and explicitly models how students can use it as a reference tool. Two optional Extension activities incorporate songs such as "The Little Word Song" and "Down by the Bay." While this session emphasizes decoding, the lessons across the curriculum do not provide practice in decodable connected texts. In "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Session 13, students engage in a shared reading using the VC pattern -op to read other words in the book. Students work with partners to read the last two lines of the book. Students also read another book with words containing words with the VC pattern -ug. Afterwards, students read and sorted words containing the VC patterns -op and -ug. Extension 1 involved having the students create new words by adding different consonants to VC patterns. Extension 2 involved students practicing creating a crossword puzzle using onsets and VC patterns. Extension 3 involved students taking turns quizzing a partner on CVC words that contain VC patterns. While the book contained the spelling pattern, it also contained other words with spelling patterns not previously taught and therefore was not a decodable, connected text. Materials provide various activities to support students in encoding and decoding taught sound-spelling patterns. In "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Session 5, students engage in a shared reading whole group activity where they read a book that contains CVC words with short /a/ and short /i/ sounds. The teacher pauses at target words and encourages students to sound out and blend the words. Students then partner up to read books from their baggies. Students also sing a song to reinforce sounding out CVC words. In Session 6, students spell CVC words (tag, sad, big) dictated by the teacher. Additionally, they edit a letter with missing short vowels. These are examples of practice and application in isolation, but not in decodable, connected text.

Evaluation for 5.E.2a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing regular and irregular high-frequency words. (PR 2.A.1)

Materials include a systematic sequence of instruction for regular and irregular high-frequency words. Beginning high-frequency words instruction includes the words me, a, and the in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Session 13 and I, like, and my in Session 16. Later on in "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Session 1, irregular high-frequency words including come, are, too, and love are explicitly taught. A Guide to the Phonics Units of Study includes guidance for the order of high-frequency word lessons, including a narrative explanation for the rationale behind the sequence chosen, which includes the goal of "supporting the connection between learning high-frequency words and encoding in isolation and connected text." This rationale also includes connecting high-frequency words with phonemic skills. For example, in "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Sessions 10 and 11, students use high-frequency words, or snap words, to identify and sort rhyming words like go, no, and so. Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing irregular high-frequency words. For example, after multiple lessons in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1) on high-frequency words where they "say them, spell them, learn about letters and sounds" using review sets, students transition from VC and CVC words to irregular words like all, look, play, put, more, and of throughout "Word Scientists" (Unit 2) and beyond.

Evaluation for 5.E.2b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for decoding and encoding regular and irregular high-frequency words. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

The materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit instruction for decoding and encoding regular high-frequency words, as well as decoding irregular high-frequency words. For example, in "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Session 9, students identify word parts within high-frequency words. They use these word parts to create, decode, and encode other words. For example, they change the word all to stall. Students also use the high-frequency word fun as a reference to spelling run. Additionally, in "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Session 3, students read the word look, notice the vowel team /oo/, spell it, and write it multiple times, then co-read a poem that includes look and other words taught in the same lesson, see and at. In the resource "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Session 1, students learn the word can. Each time students learn a new high-frequency word the teacher refers to the "How to Learn a Word" chart that has five steps: read it, study it, spell it, write it, and use it. The teacher says, "This word is can. I can write sentences! First, let's read the word: can. Now study it. Tell your partner what you notice. How many letters does it have? What does it start and end with? What sounds do you hear in the word?" Then students write the word on the carpet with an imaginary marker. To close the lesson the students say a sentence that uses the word can. The materials provide explicit guidance for the teacher to use when teaching regular high-frequency words. The materials do not provide explicit instruction for encoding irregular high-frequency words. For example, in the resource "Playing with Phonics" (Unit 5), Session 2, students learn the irregular high-frequency word come. The teacher uses the "How to Learn a Word" poster and the word card for come. The teacher says, "Come. Now study it. Tell your partner what you notice. How many letters does it have? What does it start and end with? Let's say the sounds we hear in the word slowly. I will slide my finger under the letters that make those sounds. Ready to spell the word come?" The students then use the imaginary pen to write come several times on the carpet and use it in a sentence. The teacher does not point out to students that come is an irregular high-frequency word because of the sound the o makes in the word.

Evaluation for 5.E.2c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce skills to decode and encode regular and irregular high-frequency words (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

The materials include a variety of activities and resources to develop, practice, and reinforce decoding and encoding regular high-frequency words, as well as decoding irregular high-frequency words. The students learn high-frequency words (snap words) in each unit of the curriculum. In "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Session 3, students learn the words at, look, and see. The teacher shows students the "How to Learn a Word" anchor chart. The following directions are given on the chart: "read it, study it, spell it, write it, use it." The teacher refers to the chart and teaches students the word look, which is written on chart paper in front of the room. The teacher says, " I covered the word with an index card and slowly revealed one letter at a time, guiding the kids to study and check each letter along with me. I reminded them that they could talk about the letters—noticing if they are tall or small, have holes or no holes, and the sounds they make." To finish the word look the teacher says, "I agree with what you noticed. There are four letters in the word look. There are two tall and two small letters. And you are right that the word has two O's. They have holes in them, right? And look has three sounds, /l/ /oo/ /k/." Students spell the word repeatedly out loud, and then they write the word on a dry-erase board. To finish the lesson, students read all of the words that were learned during the lesson and read the words rearranged into sentence starters. Each "snap word" lesson provides a game, song, or writing activity that students can do to reinforce their learning. At the end of the unit, students engage in a cumulative review of the words they learned throughout the lessons. During this review they decode and encode the words in sentences. Students develop high-frequency word knowledge through explicit instruction for decoding and encoding regular high-frequency words. For example, in "Making Friends with Letters" (Unit 1), Session 13, the teacher guides students to follow specific steps in learning the high-frequency words me, a, and the. The steps include "1. Read it! 2. Study it! 3. Spell it! 4. Write it! 5. Use it!" These steps are repeatedly used throughout the curriculum when students learn a new high-frequency word. In this session, students use the steps to learn the words me, a, and the, which are regular high-frequency words. In the resource "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Bend II, Session 11, students learn the irregular high-frequency word is. The teacher uses the "How to Learn a Word" chart and walks students through reading, studying, spelling, writing, and using the word. The students read and write each word, but the teacher does not point out that it is irregular because the /s/ makes the /z/ sound and therefore students cannot apply the knowledge of this irregular spelling pattern to encoding other words. The lesson moves on to reviewing simple phrases with the high-frequency words learned in the lesson.

Evaluation for 5.E.2d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources (including the use of memory-building strategies) for students to read, and write high-frequency words in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in connected text (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). (PR 2.A.1) (S)

Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to read and write high-frequency words in isolation and in connected texts. For example, in "Word Scientists" (Unit 2), Session 14, students are provided with an anchor chart with five steps for "How to Learn a Word" during a phonics lesson, learning the words an, in, and it. In "Word-Part Power" (Unit 3), Session 15, students are taught during an extension how to learn the snap word he, stating, "First, read it!...Now, study it...Then spell it: h-e. The consonant sound is /h/ and the vowel sound is /ee/. He." Students have an opportunity to practice reading snap words using a lesson titled "SNAP Word Sentences!" in "Small Groups to Support Phonics" that includes the sentence with the words in strips and then an illustration to the right. Finally, during the suggested small group lesson, students are provided with an anchor chart titled "Building Sentences" that follows five steps for how to write a sentence using the high-frequency words (i.e., snap words). The application of snap words sentences and the writing of sentences in the small group lesson allows for the application of learning to connected text. Materials include a variety of activities for students to read and write high-frequency words in isolation as well as write in connected text. In the resource "Vowel Power" (Unit 4), Bend I, Session 2, students learn the snap words how and you. The teacher begins with the anchor chart "How to Learn a Word!" and leads students through the steps "read it; study it; spell it; write it; and use it." After completing these steps the words are added to the word wall, and students write the words on individual cards to add to their personal snap word pouch. Then students are given a chance to write their own story using the high-frequency words. Materials include a variety of activities for students to write high-frequency words in isolation. For example, in "Word Scientists" (Unit 3) during an interactive writing lesson, the guidance provides teachers with the following teaching point: "Today I want to teach you that writers do not just learn letters and words, they use them to communicate. You can use snap words you know to write messages in a snap!" The teacher continues stating that students will help her compose an invitation to practice snap words. The regular high-frequency words from this lesson included it and was taught by having students say the word, study it, spell it, and then segment and blend the graphemes into their individual sounds (/i/ /t/, it).

Evaluation for 5.E.3a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level syllable types and syllable division principles, as outlined in the TEKS. (PR 2.A.1)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.E.3b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for applying knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.E.3c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice and reinforce skills to decode and encode one-syllable or multisyllabic words (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.E.3d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to practice decoding and encoding one-syllable or multisyllabic words, using knowledge of syllable types and syllable division principles, in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). (PR 2.A & 2.A.3) (S)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.E.4a
Materials include a systematic sequence for introducing grade-level morphemes, as outlined in the TEKS. (PR 2.A.1)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.E.4b
Materials include teacher guidance to provide explicit (direct) instruction for supporting recognition of common morphemes and using their meanings (e.g., affixes, roots, and base words) to support decoding, encoding, and reading comprehension. (PR 2.A.1) (T)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.E.4c
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to develop, practice, and reinforce grade-level morphological skills (through cumulative review). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.

Evaluation for 5.E.4d
Materials include a variety of activities and/or resources for students to decode and encode words with morphemes in isolation (e.g., word lists) and in decodable connected text that builds on previous instruction (e.g., within sentences or decodable texts). (PR 2.A.1 & 2.A.3) (S)

This guidance is not applicable to the product.