Listos y Adelante Early Learning Texas

Evaluation for 2.1
Materials are cross-curricular and integrated in an authentic way to support students’ unified experience throughout the day and/or unit.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials are organized around a common theme to support children’s abilities to build background knowledge, make connections, and explore concepts in a variety of ways. Units are designed with three weeks of instruction built around the unit theme. The materials integrate skill domains across the curriculum through the use of rich themes. The “Guía del programa” provides content-building information for teachers regarding the domains being taught or reinforced and how multiple domains are integrated/connected. The Program Organization page is an overview of the 10 units and themes with an essential question that is connected to each unit and theme. In Unit 1, “Todo sobre mí,” week 3, day 5, the teacher has students classify and vote for their favorite taste during the whole group graphing and senses lesson. The teacher discusses the sweetness of apples and the saltiness of popcorn by saying, “La manzana roja sabe dulce. Las palomitas pueden ser saladas.” The teacher assists students as they come up to the chart to “vote” for their favorite taste, sweet or salty. The teacher uses vocabulary used in the unit to make cross-curricular connections to the integrated lesson.

In Unit 2, “Recursos en la unidad,” “Enseñanza a través de los dominios de aprendizaje,” the materials provide a layout of the integrated domains within the theme-related lessons: Aprendizaje social y emocional, Lenguaje y comunicación: Hablar/Escuchar, Lectoescritura emergente: Lectura, Lectoescritura emergente: Escritura, Matemáticas, Ciencias, Estudios sociales, Artes plásticas, Desarrollo físico, Tecnología. For example, in Unit 2, “Los dominios de aprendizaje,” Week 2, Lectoescritura emergente: Escritura, “Escritura compartida,” the teacher dictates and illustrates a story about traveling with family or friends, integrating both writing and social studies. In addition, in Unit 2, Los dominios de aprendizaje, Week 3, Estudios sociales, the teacher discusses life cycle and how people’s body parts and activities change as they grow from baby to child to adult, providing a cross-curricular connection between social studies and science. Further, in Unidad 2, Los dominios de aprendizaje, Ciencias, the teacher discusses ways families care for one another and ways families travel, integrating social studies during science. Students engage in related but varied experiences across multiple days within the unit for a unified theme experience. 

The materials provide lessons that integrate multiple developmental domains through purposeful play in centers and learning. In Unit 4, “Los trabajos comunitarios y el otoño,” “Obra de teatro—Ayudantes de la comunidad,” children role-play pretending to be a community helper and acting out tasks the community helper would do. In the block center, children work together to build a community, using materials to build homes, stores, schools, and parks. They role-play being community helpers and neighbors, discussing responsibilities and relationships. In the “Preescritura—Lugares en la comunidad,” students use pre-writing strokes to draw places in the community. The outcome for each unit can be found in the “Guía de evaluación,” “Recursos para verificar el progreso de la unidad.” For example, “Verificar el progreso, Unidad 7, El transporte,” is a one-page tool listing “Resultado o rendimiento,” “Escala Likert 0 1 2 3 4 5 (circule una),” and “Comentarios y observaciones,” which covers the seven domains in the unit. 

The materials support the teacher in understanding the domains being addressed in the units and clearly identifies the domain developed within each activity in each unit. Each lesson includes explicit connections to Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, including the domain, skill, and outcome, and is located in three components of the program. The learning domains can be found at the beginning of each unit. For example, Unidad 1, Los dominios de aprendizaje, outlines the 10 learning domains and subdomains over the three-week unit, including the review week. Additionally, each week in the unit includes the “Destrezas clave” and lists the domains covered for the week. The citations for the skills are clearly identified at the point of use in every lesson located at the top of the page. The verbiage for all the citations is included in every lesson spread and can be located on the bottom pages of the lesson(s). For example, Unidad 4, Semana 1, Dia 1 includes the skills ”III.B.5, III.D.3, VII.B.3, IX.C.1” at the top of the page. The verbage located at the bottom of the page provides the expanded version of each guideline, i.e., “III.B.5 El niño puede segmentar una sílaba a partir de una palabra. III.D.3 El niño hace y responde las preguntas relacionadas con el texto que se leyó en voz alta.”

The teacher edition references Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines within an activity to show clear development and connections to various skills/concepts. For example, a math lesson in unit 2 has “V.C.1, V.C.3, II.D.2” on top of the page and on the bottom of the page there is a box with an explanation: “V.C.1 El niño nombra formas comunes. V.C.3 El niño demuestra el uso de palabras de ubicación (tal como ‘sobre,’ ‘debajo,’ ‘encima,’ ‘arriba,’ ‘al lado,’ ‘entre,’ ‘en frente,’ ‘cerca,’ ‘lejos,’ etc.). II.D.2 El niño demuestra que comprende los términos usados en el lenguaje de la instrucción del salón de clases.” The guidelines are included throughout the Teachers edition in the whole group, small group, and review lessons.

The materials also provide explicit connections to multiple, varied Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, including the domain, skill, and outcome in each unit and accompanying lessons. For example, in Unidad 8, Week 1, Day 2, “Toda la clase,” “Lenguaje y Lectoescritura,” the following Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines are sited: VI.B.1 Child observes, investigates, describes, and discusses the characteristics of organisms. VII.A.3 Child connects their life to events, time, and routines. II.C.3 Child investigates and demonstrates growing understanding of the sounds and intonation of language. The materials provide explicit connections to the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines in each unit and lesson.

Evaluation for 2.2
Materials utilize high-quality texts as a core component of content and skill integration.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include multiple genres of text, including nonfiction and fiction books, poems, songs, and nursery rhymes, as well as trade book suggestions. The materials provide texts that contain multiple cross-curricular connections. The books selected make connections to multiple learning domains. In each unit, the materials provide a social and emotional lesson along with a book to accompany the lesson. According to “Ready to Advance Early Learning Training Module,” Vicky Gibson states that she and J.R. Wilson authored all the books in the program. Later in the training module, Gibson states that the only books they did not author were the trade books. There is very limited evidence of a variety of authors in the materials.

In Unit 5, the teacher displays the book ¡No empujes, Penny! and reads the title and names of the author and illustrator. Then the teacher reviews the role of authors and illustrators: “El autor escribe las palabras y la ilustradora dibuja las imágenes.” The teacher reads the story, pausing to discuss details that describe the setting (South Pole), characters (the penguins and the seal pup), and problem (Penny’s friends do not want to play with her because of her behavior). The teacher points out how the illustrator shows Penny’s and the other penguins’ feelings. The teacher discusses how words and illustrations work together: “Las palabras dicen que nadie quiere jugar con Penny y que ella está sola. Miren la cara de Penny. ¿Cómo se siente? (triste).” The material identifies books that make cross-connections to the social and emotional domain throughout each unit.

Culturally relevant and diverse texts are included in the material. In Unit 7, the title La feria de abuelita by F. Isabel Campoy includes pictures and storyline of a community fair happening in the grandmother’s community center. The festival is centered around Mexican family and cultural themes that include authentic images depicting decorations, music, and home-cooked meals, which supports the text being culturally relevant and diverse. In Unit 9, the literacy big book Camila y el Camote is written by Yanitza Canetti. Unit 3, Sanos y Felices is written by Alma Flor Ada, and Rana de tres ojos is by award-winning author Olga de Dios. These titles show that authentic Spanish texts are included in the instructional materials. The literacy small book Sano y Feliz by Queta Fernandez is by a published translator of children’s books, aligning with translations and authentic text. Although materials include one authentic Spanish text found in each unit, the materials are limited in their use of trade books. These titles, though, support texts with content that is culturally relevant and original works in Spanish. The materials include translations of the books that are in the English program. The translated texts do not interrupt the message and use appropriate vocabulary. For example, the big book in Unit 3, Opciones saludables by J.R. Wilson, states: “Es importante elegir opciones saludables.” Elegir is used instead of escoger. In another example, “Muchos alimentos son sabrosos” is written, as opposed to using the word bueno. Although the texts are translations of the English versions, the overall message of the books is not interrupted. 

Music is also included for unit themes, letters, and concepts to support student development. Nursery rhyme melodies are integrated into the transition activities. For example, in Unit 3, transition time, children sing the song “Yo como frutas y verduras saludables” to the tune of “Frère Jacques.” This activity helps students develop language as they transition from one activity to the other.

Poetry is included in the program components throughout the units. For example, in Unit 2, “Recursos adicionales, Poesía para chiquitines,” the material guides the teacher to use the poem “¿Dónde están?” by Lada J. Kratky, which is written in authentic Spanish. The poem includes repetitive text, rhyming and predictable: “¿Dónde están? Allí está mamá, en el sofá. Allí está mi tía, en la silla. Allí está Ramón, en el sillón. Allí está Vito, en el banquito.” The poem supports the unit content and theme of families and friends, as the topic of the poem is friendship for social-emotional skill development. Another example is in Unit 5, the poem entitled “La orquesta.” This poem supports student development of rhyming words throughout the poem: “La cigarra a su cuerpo se amarra la guitarra. El chapulín, chiquitín, saca el violín del maletín.” 

El otoño del arbol cascarrabias by Jordi Sierra i Fabra is an authentic trade book originally written in Spanish. The materials include this text in Unit 4 to support literacy and writing for sequencing skills, social-emotional skills in identifying emotions, and earth science topics of living things. The text is appropriate for the age group. The materials include well-known fairy tale, Los tres cerditos, that the teacher reads using dramatization. The children participate in acting out the main events of the story, reenact the story, and dramatize the story events in later lessons.

The materials provide a list of suggested trade books that are not authentic Spanish stories but are quality transadapations, where the message of the story or information is not interrupted. For example, in fiction and non-fiction trade book lessons: Unit 2, La familia Numerozzi, Fernando Krahn; Amigos, Eric Carle; Mango, Abuela y yo, Meg Medina; ¿Puedo jugar?, Mo Willems. In Unit 8, El jardín curioso, Peter Brown; Lola planta un jardín, Anna McQuinn; El árbol generoso, Shel Silverstein; La vida de un girasol, Nancy Dickmann; Mírame crecer, Penelope Arlon. In Unit 10, La hormiga Petronila, Liliana Cinetto; La abeja de más, Andrés Pi Andreu; La oruga muy hambrienta, Eric Carle; De huevo a saltamontes, Grace Hansen; Insectos y otras criaturas, Penelope Arlon; ¡Locos por insectos y arañas!, Dona Herweck Rice.

Evaluation for 2.3
Materials support developmentally appropriate practice across all content domains.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The instructional materials include a variety of opportunities for purposeful play that promotes student choice. In Unit 4, the materials provide guidance for teachers on how to set up various learning centers around the unit theme. In planning for the theme “Los trabajos comunitarios y el otoño,” the dramatic play center includes activities for the children to role-play, pretending to be a community helper and acting out tasks the community helper would do. For the block center, activities include working together to build a community, such as using materials to build homes, stores, schools, and parks. In these centers, students have the opportunity to role-play being community helpers and neighbors, discussing responsibilities and relationships. In the writing center, guidance is provided for helping students use pre-writing strokes to draw places in the community. The instructional materials guide teachers to provide opportunities for purposeful play, such as dramatic play, blocks, and writing, to promote student choice and learning outcomes. 

Teacher guidance is provided for connecting all domains to play in the resource “Gestación del salón de clase.” This resource helps teachers establish classroom management and daily routines. For example, in Chapter 1, guidance recommends that teachers include centers that support and foster multiple domains and skill development, such as language, literacy, math, science, fine motor, social emotions, and fine arts. Guidance is provided for establishing center areas in the classroom that are used to extend learning through productive play where children apply previously learned skills. The teacher helps facilitate children’s selection of centers and practice responsible decision-making. The number of centers included in a classroom depends on the number of children and the availability of space and materials. The guide includes recommendations for the use of simple board games, where children can learn to take turns and cooperate as they play together. Through the center recommendations, the teachers are supported to incorporate and connect multiple learning domains throughout the centers and present them as play. These materials provide guidance to the teacher on how to set up and facilitate activities to meet, reinforce, or practice learning objectives and make connections in all domains to support integrated and intentional planning activities. 

The materials recommend activities for learning centers for all domains with guidance to integrate mathematics, science, phonological awareness, reading aloud, motivation to read, letter knowledge, written expression, print and book awareness, and language development. For example, Unit 3 includes a dramatic play activity where the students pretend they are on a shopping trip and the “play and pretend” center is a store. The students are to role-play being the store clerk and the customer. The students use math skills to simulate making purchases, paying, and bagging their items. In the literacy/writing center, “Cueva de oso,” the teacher adds pillows, teddy bears, and books/magazines related to winter and hibernation. Then students choose books to read and/or review, describing pictures or pages they like best. 

In Unit 5, “Recursos de la semana 1, Centros de aprendizaje,” center recommendations show that math is integrated with the play-doh center by describing attributes of each shape using cookie cutters. Students practice fine motor coordination by pinching, rolling, and patting dough. Students pinch and roll small balls for counting and solving additional word problems using work mats. The block center integrates math by having students experiment with placing blocks end-to-end (length) or stacking boxes (height). Students can see how many blocks/boxes can be stacked before the tower falls over, using charts to color in blocks and record their data and designs. In the dramatic play center for the unit “Pastelería,” students use props to role-play working at a bakery and going to the bakery to buy baked goods, which integrates language development. These activities help develop student skills and support the teacher's ability to actively facilitate learning and discovery through play across learning settings and domains. 

The materials have an intentional balance of direct or explicit instruction and student selection from purposeful learning choices for content and skill development. The sample daily schedule provides teachers with an outline of the whole group, small group, transitions, and learning center choices throughout the day. This sample schedule is included in the preface of each unit guide. The half-day schedule includes 3 hours of instruction for whole group and direct instruction and four small group activities and or learning center choices for indirect instruction. The full-day sample schedule includes four language and communication whole groups and three math/science small group activities, both for indirect instruction. The sample schedules have the whole group, small group, and transitions lasting no more than 20 minutes and are rotated throughout the day. 

Each unit guide provides a weekly plan for purposeful play in centers that suggests six learning centers for different domains: Math, Dramatic play, blocks, literacy, art, and music. Transition activities include activities, rhymes and chants, songs, and story dramatizations to support content and concept integration, allowing for student selection of purposefully planned learning choices. The program learning progressions, according to the “Guia del programa,” are based on developmental learning progressions that scaffold content and skills from easy to more complex across the year. The model used is “Hear, See, Say and Do.” In “Hear,” children develop phonological awareness and word knowledge, in “See,” the children deepen knowledge of concepts by using visuals, in “Say,” children use oral language to communicate and express themselves, and in “Do,” children participate in play experiences. This model is a balance of direct and student choice instruction, including student learning centers and transitions to develop content mastery and skill development.

Evaluation for 2.4
Materials fit within a developmentally appropriate programmatic structure.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide guidance on differentiating lessons for different leveled students. However, materials do not clearly state the design for a specific age group. There is no evidence of variation between three-year-old and four-year-old materials. The materials provide a progress monitoring tool in two versions, one for four-year-olds and one for three-year-olds in the “Guía de evaluación, Sección 4: Recursos para verificar el progreso.” The tool’s “Version A” is for 48- to 60-month-olds, and “Version B” is for 36- to 48-month-olds. While the tool provides a differentiated version of how to monitor progress, the tool and its versions are not aligned to mastery according to the lessons provided. Ideally, assessment should guide instructional activities and approaches for instruction to be developed according to student needs. While the assessments are provided for different age levels, materials do not specify an appropriate programmatic structure for differentiated age groups and student performance.

Daily and review lessons lack guidance for the teacher to modify instruction for three-year-olds. The only reference included in unit guides for teachers to have an understanding of student performance by age group is a notation that states children are not expected to reach end-of-prekindergarten-year outcomes in one year. The appropriate outcomes for three-year-olds are indicated only in the (B) Progress-Monitoring Tools, which state that younger children are developing skills and should not have the expectation to demonstrate mastery in alignment with Texas Prekindergarten guidelines. The instructional materials do not provide guidance for differentiating lessons for different leveled students. 

Unit guides include small group and review lessons that provide support for scaffolding instruction; however, the lessons do not include accommodations for the level of development of student populations such as students with special needs. For example, Unit Guide 8, “Como usar las lecciones diarias” provides call-outs with notes for each level of instruction. The call-out note states that “Desarrollar destrezas fundamentales” part of the small group lessons are adaptable for small groups who need more demonstration and support. These lessons have a different focus compared to the review lessons, which can be used in whole group or small group to reteach and increase the rigor in previous lessons to demonstrate skill transfer. While the review lessons can be used to support students who are missing skills, the materials do not provide guidance for adapting these lessons specifically for three-year-olds or students with special needs. The review lessons can be provided for any student, whether aged 3 or 4, struggling to master the concept represented in the lesson. This guidance does not include differentiation for student age groups or students with special needs.

The materials provide limited differentiated recommendations for half-day and full-day prekindergarten programs. For example, each unit guide has a program resource bank of guides that includes “Horarios Sugeridos.” On these informational pages, guidance is included to suggest how long each activity should last. The whole group instruction should last between 10 and 20 minutes. The Half-Day schedule is 3 hours of instruction, using four small group activities to create a sample scheduled day starting at 7:45 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. There is a note on the half-day schedule page that if providing a half-day program, a teaching assistant would need to provide instruction for math and science at a work table while the teacher provides literacy and writing instruction at another work table. The Full-Day schedule includes four Language and Communication groups and three Math/Science small group activities with a sample scheduled day starting at 8:00 a.m. until 2:45 p.m. There are notes to select from the lessons provided for whole group lessons for the entire class and to choose an activity from the small group lessons in literacy and math as well as learning centers during small group scheduled time. By providing a sample schedule, suggested activities, and possible consideration for logistics, a teacher is able to use this instructional material for a half- or full-day program with limited guidance.

Evaluation for 2.5
Materials include detailed guidance that supports teacher’s delivery of instruction.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include explicit instructional strategies for teaching prekindergarten skills. Instructional activities, pictures, and objects are designed and presented to build on children’s current level of understanding when learning a new concept. For example, in Unit 2, whole group math lesson “Pairing numbers with corresponding labels,” the teacher places one toy car on the table and displays the numeral 1 and the Picture Word Card “uno.” The teacher then points to the numeral and says, “El número 1 significa que hay un carro. La palabra uno significa que hay un carro.” The activity is repeated with groups from one to three to help present the concept of cardinality and one-to-one correspondence. This activity provides students the opportunity to manipulate familiar objects that help students make connections to new concepts and provides explicit instructional strategies for teaching pre-k skills. 

The materials provide teacher guidance on the use of common experiences to enrich student learning by building background knowledge for new experiences as a means to provide explicit instructional activities for teaching pre-k skills. In Unit 5, whole group lesson “Lecciones de lenguaje, lectoescritura y ASE, Actividades de transición” merges a background experience with a new experience. The teacher shares with students about birthday games: “Explique que algunos juegos se juegan durante celebraciones de cumpleaños.” Guidance is provided for the teacher to introduce the game “Póngale la cola al burro” as part of a family celebration. The activity brings a familiar experience that bridges with new academic language, “celebraciones,” as an instructional activity to support student learning. 

The materials include detailed guidance for teacher and student actions that support student development of content and skills. The materials provide a separate manual that contains a variety of strategies to guide teachers with specific instructions on how to implement the strategies. “Rutinas de enseñanza, Lenguaje y lectoescritura, Rutina 2, Escuchar las palabras importantes,” provides teachers with step-by-step instructions to support listening for key words. Start with the teacher reading a well-known and familiar book, and indicate to listen for key words; repeat the sentence and have the children identify the subject and define it as a person or object doing something, then ask the children to identify the action to describe what is happening. The materials include detailed instruction and guidance to be used throughout instructional units to support student development of content skills. 

Daily lessons include guidance for the teacher and student actions that support the development of content and skills. In Unit 6, the whole group math lesson “Repasar los atributos de las figuras” provides teachers with step-by-step instructions for implementing an attribute lesson. After handing out various shapes, the teacher tells the students to find the child whose shape matches their own and sit together. After the matching activity, guidance is included for the teacher to prompt children’s responses to shape attributes. The teacher is guided to have children flip, turn, or slide the shapes to demonstrate that despite any movement, the shape’s attributes remain the same. This activity provides detailed and explicit guidance for the teacher and student actions that support development of content and skills. 

Materials provide guidance for connecting students’ prior knowledge and experiences to new learning. For example, in Unit 8, the whole group science lesson “Repasar las investigaciones de la semana pasada” provides guidance for reviewing the previous week’s investigation of parts of a plant and how the plants grow and make food. The teacher is guided to remind the children of the experience of the plants placed in different kinds of water (rain water, salt water, and no water.) “Use el póster de la unidad 8 para repasar las partes de una planta y conversar sobre cómo cada parte la ayuda a hacer su alimento y a crecer.” The teacher uses guiding questions to help students form conclusions from observations: “La planta en el agua dulce se ve igual. La planta en el agua salada, no. ¿Cuál es la diferencia?” The lesson connects the past investigation to forming conclusions from observations of placing a container of water in a sunny window and another container of water in a freezer. This activity connects a past experience to new experiences and new learning.

Evaluation for 2.6
Materials are supported by child development research on children’s development within and across all domains.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials contain early childhood teaching strategies and instructional approaches supported by research. The research base guide includes a logic model for the program that outlines the resources, activities to support, outputs, and outcomes to create the comprehensive early learning program. The research base also includes a section for “Research Foundation” by Vicki Gibson and Janet Macpherson that notes early childhood practices used to design the program components. The “Research Base” also explains how the curriculum aligns with the child development research. “These included, but are not limited to, a positive classroom environment facilitated by strong classroom management tools; a focus on social emotional learning with ample opportunities for practice and exploration in different types of interactions, including teacher–child and child–child interactions; development of age-appropriate oral language skills through cooperative conversations tied to compelling topics in each of the units; and so on.” These practices describe how the curriculum aligned to support the research for child development. 

Cited research is current, academic, relevant to early childhood development, and applicable to Texas-specific context and demographics. Materials provide research-based guidance for instruction that enriches educator understanding of early childhood development and the validity of the recommended approach. The research presented in the Program Support, Research-Based Guide, pages 22-23 is current and relevant; some examples are as follows: Acar, I. H., Rudasill, K. M., Molfese, V., Torquati, J., & Prokasky, A. (2015), Temperament and preschool children’s peer interactions. Early Education and Development, 26, 479 – 495. Bierman, K. L., Domitrovich, C. E., Nix, R. L., Gest, S. D., Welsh, J. A., Greenberg, M. T., ... Gill, S. (2008). Promoting academic and social-emotional school readiness: The Head Start REDI Program. Child Development, 79(6), 1802–1817. The research supports the design of the materials to include repeated exposure to the content and intentional integration of spiral review. The research lays the foundational understanding of modeling, feedback, and interactive practice to support the development of conceptual and procedural knowledge of the concept or skill that is being taught. In another example, as cited from Farran et al. (2017), supporting the creation of a positive emotional climate, the classroom routines and procedures embedded in daily lessons ensure that all children have equal access to high-quality learning experiences.

In “Guía del programa,” Excellent Program Resources and Instructional Components, Research Base, the following research is provided by the material: “Increasing the quality of instruction, Ready to Advance content and skills follow a scope and sequence aligned with evidence-based learning progressions (Hess 2010; Hess & Kearns, 2010) that scaffold content, skills, and learning outcomes from easy to more challenging and from shorter to longer activities. Repeated exposures of content and skills in Ready to Advance are made possible using a spiraling curriculum (Johnston 2012). Ready to Advance’s best practices incorporated into each lesson, combined with professional development that supports Ready to Advance, increase the quality of instruction by providing resources teachers need to enhance instructional effectiveness.”

The material references the importance of step-by-step classroom management routines, such as Interactive whole-group activities, Engaging and purposeful small-group activities, Purposeful transition activities, and Social and emotional learning. Dr. Vicki Gibson states, “The initial focus for preparing to teach is not about guidelines and standards, assessments, curriculum, or instruction. You must set up your classroom environment in ways that ensure that all children have equitable access to meaningful learning experiences, opportunities for making choices, and chances to build trusting relationships with you as their teacher.”

Evaluation for 3.1
Materials include direct social skill instruction and explicit teaching of skills.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 1, the teacher models building relationships between teachers and peers when reading the lap book Time for School. The teacher uses the provided text to focus on the characters’ feelings. Children practice identifying feelings in the story; they are also provided with supporting activities like acting out feelings and using provided sentence frames, such as “I feel afraid because…” to develop feeling vocabulary. The included texts, such as the books A Family and Your Body Works, are culturally relevant and developmentally appropriate; they include Asian, Hispanic, White, and African American characters. 

In Unit 3, the teacher provides explicit teaching of social skills through a text called Akio Helps; children describe how they feel when they help someone. The instructional materials include a list of additional developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant texts, such as the informational big book Special Celebrations, to reinforce learning. 

In Unit 5, the text Don’t Push, Penny! provides a foundation to support the development of social competencies like controlling impulses and sharing with others. The teacher uses the provided text to focus on the character’s feelings; “Children discuss Penny’s actions and share how they feel when someone does not wait their turn, does not listen, or interrupts.” Children practice identifying feelings in the story and are provided with supporting activities. For example, the teacher is instructed to have children pretend to be one of the characters and ask, “What would you say to Penny about her behavior?” If needed, the teacher provides a sentence frame: “Taking turns is important because….” 

In Unit 9, for the text Playing Grocery Store, the materials recommend using developmentally appropriate story props to have children act out parts of the story. The story props include a wheelchair, promoting respect for children with special needs. The teacher invites students to elaborate: “What might happen if Rico does not listen to the teacher and share the apples? How would Marla feel? What might happen to Rico?” Additionally, a guide in the “Program Components” section provides teachers with a list of song titles, such as “You can see my feelings” and “I Need Help,” to support skill development through playful learning. 

Evaluation for 3.2
Materials include repeated opportunities for students to practice social skills throughout the day.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 1, students learn, practice, and apply skills like working with teachers and classmates. The teacher models where children should put their things, how to put on a nametag, and where to sit and stand and say the Texas pledge. Practice opportunities are also authentically integrated throughout all other content areas. For example, in the “Social Emotional Learning Guide” for Unit 1, teacher instructions include an activity that uses story props to authentically elaborate on a character’s feelings and experiences in the story Time for School. The story addresses a child’s first day at school and is presented in the whole group language and literacy lesson for Week 2, Day 2.

In Unit 6, after each read-aloud, the class has a whole group discussion about the text. The materials also provide opportunities to practice skills via small groups, songs, collaborative conversation, and movement. In one example, children are exposed to learning across content domains when they draw unique features of people and animals to show how these features make them special. The class also discusses the concept of feeling lonely, shares personal experiences, and has a collaborative conversation about feelings. 

In Unit 7, the material provides content domain lessons that include embedded practice for social skills. Each unit has a practice activity that is embedded within content lessons. For example, in Week 2, Riding in an Airplane combines both the unit theme of transportation and the skill of coping with feeling fear and anxiety. In a whole group language and literacy lesson, students share stories about being afraid.

In a Unit 8 earth science lesson, the teacher invites children to share personal stories and experiences with heat, such as sunburns, being tired, or being very hot or thirsty. The text Blooming Butterflies integrates literacy concepts while supporting social skills development: It provides an activity in which the student and teacher retell the story using sequence and sentence stems for language support. The story relates feelings a character experiences while constructing a butterfly house. The teacher guide also connects the lesson to a song called “I Grow, I Grow” to practice new learning throughout the day.

Evaluation for 3.3
Materials include ideal classroom arrangements that support positive social interactions.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Classroom arrangement supports daily opportunities for the practice of social skills, including in daily learning centers.

The materials provide a “Classroom Management Guide,” found in the “Program Support” tab, to support teachers in setting up the classroom. The guide consists of four chapters that cover topics such as “Organizing the Classroom Environment,” “Establishing Behavioral Routines,” “Implementing Routines and Management Tools,” and “Preparing for Teaching and Practice.” The materials provide guidance for setting up work areas in the classroom, such as large areas to meet with the whole group, a teaching table to meet with a small group, a work table for small groups, and centers for children to apply learned skills. The guide also provides ways to arrange furniture and designate work areas that allow for clear visibility to monitor children at all times; safe access; easy access to facilities for personal hygiene and handwashing; and storage space for instructional materials. 

“Planning Center Activities for Creative Play” provides teachers with guidance, for example: “When introducing a new center, explain expectations and review cleanup routines” and “Use fewer items in each center to support efficient cleanup and promote order until children learn routines and procedures….” The “Classroom Management Guide” has a section on “Organizing Materials and Varying Activity Choices” for students to practice social skills in learning centers. The “Classroom Management Guide” specifically lets teachers know how and what to put in the learning centers for students to practice social skills. 

The materials include several examples for small group schedules. There is also a section on collaborative work in learning stations. The “Classroom Management Guide” provides guidance on topics such as how many students can go to each learning center and work collaboratively and which activities can be implemented in each learning center. 

The instructional materials give some teacher guidance on classroom arrangement to support teacher-student and student-student interactions. Chapter 4 of the “Classroom Management Guide,” “Preparing for Teaching and Practice,” addresses the difference between whole group and small group activities, grouping children for instruction, using job charts, and using mailboxes and do/done folders to teach organization. This chapter also provides teachers with tips on assigning children to small groups. The materials include suggestions; for example: “[F]our factors to consider when assigning small-group memberships: children’s capabilities and needs, compatibility for behavioral compliance, lesson purpose and intended outcomes, and availability of materials and type of activity.” A “Research Guide” details best practices; for example, small group instruction should be with 3–6 students and last no more than 15–20 minutes. However, the materials do not provide examples with options to support a variety of classroom designs and sizes. 

The materials consider a variety of factors and components of the physical space and their impact on students’ social development. In the “Classroom Management Guide,” the materials consider factors in the physical space by providing examples of how to arrange the classroom learning centers, worktable, and whole-group area. The guide also provides the teacher with tips on the number of adults in the classroom and the amount of instructional time available each day to consider when arranging each area. For example, teachers are encouraged to collect materials for a center, store them in plastic tubs with lids, and include a card that lists the items in the container as a way to help in shared arrangements. As an additional point, these learning centers vary in content and help create a balance between academic activities and creative play, which is important in promoting physical, social, and emotional development. 

The materials support the teacher in understanding the importance of the physical arrangement of the space in supporting social development; they provide guidance and steps to take to create centers. For example, the materials guide teachers to make sure to determine the instructional purpose of each learning center to encourage social development. The materials also suggest teachers choose fewer items for each center in the beginning to support efficient cleanup and then add more options as children demonstrate the maturity to manage more materials and choices. Additionally, teachers determine ways to teach, model, and practice routines for using each center so that expectations are clearly communicated, and children know how to participate and clean up. Teachers designate an area in the classroom for each center and post a sign that names the center and includes a numeral to indicate how many children may participate at one time. 

The materials provide teachers with guidance on role-playing and modeling empathy and compassion; however, they do not specify how this will help students learn concepts or develop skills. While there are some suggestions for small group and whole group classroom arrangement, the materials do not describe how these arrangements would support interaction or promote student ownership. Teachers are told to set up important components of the classroom before children arrive or when children are not present, but there are no opportunities to involve children in the classroom arrangement at other times of the year.

Evaluation for 3.4
Materials include activities to develop physical skill and refine motor development through movement.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The teacher guide for “Emergent Writing” includes activities to develop physical skills and refine motor development through movement. For example, the teacher is directed: “Use a flashlight beam on the ceiling to trace the movement for the alphabet stroke. Turn the flashlight on in the exact spot where you will begin the stroke, ‘Up and around’ (always moving in a counterclockwise direction), and have children copy the movement using their arms or legs as they repeat the chant.” Further examples include: “March in a circle, moving counterclockwise and reciting the chant;” “Trace over shapes of round objects using fingers and have children repeat the chant each time they complete the movement. Use finger paint or shaving cream to draw round shapes (i.e., circles and ovals) using the stroke.”

In Unit 1, the materials provide activities to develop gross motor skills through movement. For example, in the lesson “All About Me,” students follow directions to bend, stretch, exercise, maintain balance, and move safely.

The materials do not limit fine motor skill development to writing tasks but suggest that children have access to a variety of tools, paper, and other materials that can be used in the learning centers. For example, the materials suggest the use of shaving cream and tearing paper and glue to practice strokes/lines. 

In Unit 3, materials include authentic movement opportunities embedded throughout instructional time. For example, the teacher uses clapping syllables for syllable segmentation during phonological awareness activities. During a listening comprehension activity, students direct each other where to stand, hop, and walk around a partner. Further examples include a transition activity where the teacher plays “Simon Says” (“Put your right hand on top of your right knee”) while reviewing location/position words along with body parts. 

Additionally, under the “Unit Resources,” the “Instruction Across Domains” page provides the teacher with a weekly overview of the activities and the learning domain that will be addressed; the physical domain describes reviewing pre-writing strokes using arms and legs and playing “Near and Far” with bean bags. In another activity, “Children jump and count orally with different movements, climb, crawl, walk sideways and backward through an obstacle course and perform stretches that help practice balance and coordination.” 

In Unit 6, the materials provide games and group play ideas that help children develop gross motor skills. For example, children learn how people use their body parts to move by throwing and catching bean bags.

The materials also provide tasks that help develop fine motor skills so that the small muscles of hands are prepared for writing. For example, during whole and small groups for math, students use linking cubes to engage in the instructional activity. After reading aloud the story Mattie’s Impossible Mane, the teacher models how to draw vertical lines, hold scissors, and cut paper using correct hand positions and grip. To continue to develop fine motor skills, during “Extended Learning,” “Students cut various shapes such as circles and triangles to make different features of the lion’s face.”

Evaluation for 3.5
Materials include activities that develop safe and healthy habits in students.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 1, materials present the theme of personal hygiene; the teacher models routines such as washing hands, brushing teeth, and using tissues to cover coughs. The materials also include books, songs, posters, and lessons that directly support the teacher with modeling safe and healthy habits. For example, there are posters and charts that show the steps for coughing and sneezing into the elbow and the steps for washing hands. Additionally, the materials provide specific lessons with scripts for teachers to use to model safe and healthy habits. For example, on Week 1, Day 1, the teacher introduces the handwashing routine through explanation, use of picture charts, and role-play and practice. The materials guide the teacher to display the chart, point to, and model each step, and have the children role-play as the teacher says the steps and models the behavior. The books and songs included are child-friendly and playful. For example, familiar songs such as “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes” are taught to children; however, no connection is made to show how movement is good for our bodies.

In Unit 3, the materials explore safe and healthy habits through lessons and activities. Teachers present, model, and teach about health and wellness; for instance, teachers discuss healthy foods and habits. Week 3 focuses on healthy food choices, the importance of exercise and rest, and washing the body and brushing teeth. There are also school-to-home materials and/or resources to support building healthy habits at home. For example, the “Take Home Activity Calendar” for Unit 3 includes the take-home book Staying Healthy; it discusses ways to stay healthy, including getting enough sleep. Healthy Choices describes making healthy choices regarding foods that “taste good but are not so good to eat all the time.” The materials also include recommendations for teachers to address unsafe or unhealthy child habits in a positive and supportive way. For example, as a whole group, the class discusses dental safety rules for protecting the mouth and teeth: “We use our mouth and teeth to eat and smile. We can follow two rules to keep our mouth and teeth safe: First, we do not put sharp objects, like pencils or knives, in our mouths. Sharp objects can cut us. Next, we do not put hot food or drinks in our mouths. Hot food and drinks can burn our mouth and tongue. Tell children to ask an adult if they are unsure of how hot a food or drink is. If you think a food or drink is too hot, ask an adult for help.”

In Unit 5, the materials include lessons and activities for teachers to model and teach safe and healthy habits. With support from the teacher, students identify healthy food choices for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner. The teacher reviews the importance of washing hands before touching food or eating, and children describe how to prepare their favorite healthy snack. In the same unit, students also discuss emotions shown by characters in the unit theme books, discuss characteristics of a friend, role-play how to be a friend, and explain how friends help us solve problems. The materials include small e-books and take-home books focused on staying healthy, and informational big books address staying healthy and making healthy choices. However, the materials do not communicate the connection between physical and mental health to children or provide guidance to teachers on how to do so.

Evaluation for 4.1
Materials provide guidance on developing students’ listening skills.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

In Unit 1, the teacher models using puppets how to actively listen and wait to provide context for hearing and participating in a conversation. As the teacher models conversational norms with the puppet, she says, “¿Cuál es tu nombre? Mi nombre es Marta.” Students take turns listening to their partners. As children practice listening and speaking with their partners, they introduce themselves. The students can also use the puppets as props to represent characters having a conversation and model listening and speaking. This activity helps develop students’ listening skills as the activity involves active listening to hear the person’s name and to engage in situations that reinforce conversation norms. 

In “Rutinas de enseñanza, Rutina 4, Conversaciones constructivas,” the teacher creates a poster that helps students follow a routine to practice speaking and listening skills. The teacher models how to wait their turn to speak, and while others speak, focus on them and listen for details. The following is the routine the materials provide: “1. Tomar turnos. 2. Escuchar. 3. Hablar despacio. 4. Mantenerse en el tema.” The materials provide explicit examples on what to say in each part of the routine. “Así es como esperas hasta que una persona te muestra que está lista para escuchar. Entonces empiezas a hablar.” “Si es tu turno de escuchar, dejalo que estés haciendo y atiende a la persona que habla” The Teacher Resources, Posters, includes an American Sign Language poster, “Póster de lenguaje de señas american,” that demonstrates nonverbal behaviors, such as pay attention and silence.

In Unit 2, during small group read-aloud in “Lectura en voz alta,” the materials provide collaborative conversation opportunities. The teacher uses the book to facilitate conversation. The teacher uses the following prompt questions to facilitate conversation with the students: “¿Cómo te sientes hoy? ¿Qué sucede que entristece a Tasha?” Materials provide examples of possible student responses” “Los padres de Tasha están muy ocupados para jugar con ella. ¿Qué hace feliz a Tasha?” Materials provide suggested student responses: “Tasha es capaz de ayudar a sus papás para que tengan más tiempo. ¿Qué te gusta hacer que te haga feliz (triste, enojado)?” which facilitates modeling conversation. Later in Unidad 2, Dia 2, the materials include lessons that incorporate opportunities for children to demonstrate listening for understanding by raising their hand. During the read-aloud, the teacher explains, “muchos hogares tienen los mismos objetos.” The teacher prompts students to name some kitchen items by saying, “Levanten la mano si tienen un microondas en su hogar. ¿Cómo usan el microondas?” The students continue to respond to questions asked using nonverbal and verbal communication. 

Unit 6, “Animales,” includes the use of the text La melena imposible de Matojo and guides teachers to ask questions about the text. The materials guide teachers to discuss how Matojo feels during the story. The materials provide the use of sentence stems as a scaffold by saying, “Matojo se siente… (torpe, frustrado). Matojo desea... (que su melena no le haga cosquillas en la nariz). Pida a los niños que compartan algo que les guste de sí mismos.” Then the teacher asks students to give each other compliments: “Pida a los niños que utilicen los atrezos de la historia para jugar a dar cumplidos unos a otr.” Through student engagement in conversation, the students demonstrate their ability to listen for understanding as the teacher provides scaffolded supports. 

In Unit 7, “Rutina 2 Escuchar las palabras importantes,” the teacher provides opportunities for students to listen for important words to extract meaning in a sentence. Teachers ask, “¿Qué palabra nos dice de quién se está hablando? ¿Quién está haciendo algo?” Students respond by identifying the subject of the sentence, “perro.” This activity supports students’ ability to recall, answer questions, and support the appropriate use of sentence structures and grammar. 

In Unit 10, “Lecciones de repaso, grupo pequeño, lenguaje y comunicación,” guidance is provided for holding a collaborative conversation or “conversación colaborativa—Escuchar y hablar.” Materials provide guidance for the teacher to invite children to work in pairs to select a book. The materials guide the teacher to review conversational rules and norms during large group instruction, such as taking turns, waiting to speak, using kind words, and sharing time talking. The teacher then invites the students to answer the prompt of why having conversation norms is important. The teacher is prompted to pose a scenario question about what the students can do if talking time is not shared. Student responses will vary, but the teacher guides them to ask for help from the teacher, use kind words, and ask the friend for a turn.

Evaluation for 4.2
Materials provide guidance on developing students’ speaking skills.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide teacher guidance for developing learning centers that support individual students' needs to develop interactive speaking that aligns with the theme in the “Centros de Aprendizaje” section of each unit. During centers, students have the opportunity to practice language production and conversational norms. In Unit 3, the dramatic play center is converted into a store, “Tienda de comestibles.” During this center time, students pretend to go shopping and have conversations as the shopper and the clerk: “Los niños usan los artículos de juguete para simular que van a la tienda, compran alimentos, pagan y colocan los alimentos en bolsas para llevarlos a casa.” During this playtime, students can practice conversational norms and language production.

In Unit 3, “Sistema de recursos para maestros, Semana 1, Día 1,” the materials provide guidance for teachers to support students’ developmentally appropriate speech production and grammar. The teacher demonstrates using two picture cards of “el caballo, los caballos.” The teacher emphasizes the /s/ sound at the end of the word caballos, explaining that it means more than one. The teacher says look and listen to the words “el caballo, los caballos” (emphasizing the /s/ at the end of the word), reminding students that the /s/ sound means that there is more than one. The students get a picture card and then find a partner. After students have partnered up, they are to repeat the singular and plural versions of their cards. This activity helps students learn about grammar and practice speaking. 

The materials provide guidance for teachers to support critical thinking and expressive language by facilitating activities that allow sound production, including sentence structure and grammar. In Unit 4, “Lenguaje y comunicación,” during the read-aloud of the book El otoño y el tiempo, the teacher is guided to display pages 2–3 of the book to support students making inferences and speech production. The teacher says, “¿Qué muestran estas imágenes sobre cómo cambia el tiempo en otoño?” The images show rain, coat, hat, and mittens, and the students can respond with the names they have for the images on the cards. The teacher displays pages 6–7 and explains that people wear different clothing when the weather gets cooler. The teacher points to each article of clothing on page 7 and asks the children to name and describe the clothing article and identify what body part it protects. This activity allows students to use their prior knowledge and produce language as they answer questions. 

In Unidad 10, during “Actividades de Transición,” the materials provide students an opportunity to turn and talk to each other as they develop speaking skills. The teacher shares different scenarios and asks students what they would do if, “¿Qué pasaría si...?” Once the teacher poses a scenario, the teacher is guided to reference the ASL chart and use the hand signal for “think.” The teacher provides 30 seconds of wait time before she asks students to share their thoughts. The materials use turn-and-talk in the game activity to support the practice of oral language speaking skills.

The materials incorporate simple songs with repetition, predictable patterns, and familiar nursery rhymes. The materials provide a song for each theme, which is a vehicle for increasing speaking skills and speech production. In “Canciones del tema,” the materials provide an audio recording of familiar Spanish nursery rhymes for each theme. For example, “Mi carita redondita, Los pollitos dicen pío, pío, Debajo de un botón, etc.” During this activity, students learn songs and vocabulary through singing and listening. This activity helps students practice speaking and develop language with production of a variety of sounds.

Evaluation for 4.3
Materials support expanding student vocabulary.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide teachers guidance on developing student vocabulary by incorporating strategies in the daily lessons. For example, in the section “Enfoque diario,” the materials include meaningful ways for children to interact with and use new vocabulary words in context and in their native language. In Unit 1, whole group math and science lesson, guidance is provided for teachers to introduce the lesson vocabulary “rojo, azul, círculo, óvalo, redondo” and then use it in a sentence. A sentence stem guides students to think of objects that are the new vocabulary word: “Veo un(a)...rojo(a). Veo un(a)...azul. Veo un(a)...rojo(a) y un(a)...rojo(a). Son del mismo color.” The teacher then applies the new vocabulary in a game of I Spy. This activity supports the progression of vocabulary development in an age-appropriate sequential process by introducing the vocabulary, reinforcing the word by finding real-world examples, and playing a game. 

Each “Unit Guide” includes a list of trade books and recommended vocabulary words for the teacher to include in daily lessons connected to the unit theme. For example, in Unit 3, the Unit Guide list titled “Vocabulario y libros comerciales recomendados” includes a list of three fiction books and three nonfiction books as well as a bank of words from those books that belong to three different categories: palabras que nombran, palabras que describen y palabras que indican acción. Thematic vocabulary words are included for appropriate development of children’s word knowledge and oral language. For example, some of the words are “Unidad 3 - vecindario, esquina, alrededor; Unidad 6 - alimentos, seres vivos, anfibios; Unidad 9 - huerta, consumidor, y recolectar.” These examples are age-appropriate and can be used in context for content-based learning in authentic integrations. 

Each unit contains “Tarjetas de concepto” that are aligned to the unit themes and support vocabulary development by providing visuals. The cards have a picture on one side and on the other, a list of vocabulary words and a section called “Desarrollar las destrezas fundamentales.” This section contains questions that guide the students to produce the targeted vocabulary word. For example, in Unit 3, whole group read-aloud activity, prompts include “¿Que ven? ¿Las personas montan en bicicleta dentro o fuera? ¿Qué está sucediendo en la imagen? ¿Dónde están montando en bicicleta? Si una bicicleta se rompe, ¿a dónde la podría llevar a arreglar una persona? ¿Qué otras cosas podría hacer una familia en su vecindario?” These targeted questions help students build a definition of the word and use it in context. 

The materials have a balance of high-frequency vocabulary and new and rare words within each week. For example, in Unit 4, high-frequency vocabulary words include “tu, puedes, ver” and “palabras de repaso: mi, una/o, esta, es.” Also, words such as “triángulo” and “blanco” are used. New and rare words used in Unidad 4 include “vehículo” and “guardia escolar.” The words are repeated throughout Unit 4. The materials include key vocabulary words for each week in both Language and Literacy as well as Mathematics and Science. 

In the resource “Rutinas de ensenañza,” the Rutina 3 card explains to the teacher how to teach vocabulary words. The instructions state, “Utilice esta rutina para desarrollar y enriquecer el vocabulario oral de los niños y/o enseñar de manera explícita nuevas palabras de vocabulario.” “Para apoyo adicional del vocabulario: Actúe o represéntelo. Utilícelo en su lengua nativa. Dé ejemplos relacionados y no relacionados. Utilice comienzos de oraciones para que los niños las completen.” The routine card states ten steps when teaching vocabulary: “1. Diga la palabra despacio y varias veces.” The teacher says the word slowly, numerous times. “Muestre la imagen de un conejo.” Show a picture of a rabbit or target word. “2. Proporcione una definición simple significativa de la palabra.” Provide a simple, meaningful definition of the word. “Un conejo es un animal pequeño y peludo con orejas largas que da saltos.” “3. Utilice ejemplos para aclarar el significado y explicar el concepto de la palabra.” The teacher uses examples to clarify meaning and explain the concept. “Muestre varias imágenes diferentes, cada una con un conejo.” The teacher shows several different pictures, each with a rabbit. “Esta es una imagen de un conejo. Y esta es otra imagen de otro conejo. Un conejo es un animal pequeño y peludo que da saltos.” “4. Diga la palabra, separándola por sonidos o sílabas. 5. Repita cada sílaba, dando una palmada por cada sílaba.” The teacher says the word, separating each sound part or syllable. “Escuchen los sonidos: /k/ /o/ /n/ /e/ /j/ /o/. Se divide en tres sílabas: co-ne-jo.” “6. Pida a los niños que escuchen mientras usted repite el ejemplo.” The children listen as the teacher repeats the model. “7. Pida a los niños que repitan el ejemplo, dando una palmada por cada sílaba y repitiendo las sílabas de manera fluida para decir de nuevo la palabra. 8. Utilice la palabra en una oración ‘El conejo es peludo y da saltos.’” The teacher provides multiple examples that apply the meaning of the word. “9. Ofrezca varios ejemplos que expresen el significado de la palabra. Pida a los niños que sugieran una oración utilizando las imágenes que usted les provea.” The teacher asks children to suggest a sentence, using the pictures provided. “El conejo tiene el cuerpo cubierto de pelos. El conejo tiene orejas largas. El conejo tiene una colita blanca.” “10. Lea la oración en el texto donde aparece la palabra. Invite a los niños a hacer preguntas o a hacer comentarios para aclarar los conocimientos.” The teacher reads a sentence in the text in which the word is used and invites children to ask questions or make comments to clarify understanding. The material supports expanding student vocabulary and provides child-friendly definitions of new words.

The materials provide “Vocabulary Concept Cards” for each of the 10 themes. Each card provides questions and conversation starters that teachers can use throughout the unit and help to develop vocabulary by building a connection to the theme. In Theme 5, Tarjetas de concepto 1, “Celebraciones especiales,” the material provides four concept cards with the theme focus on Celebrations. The cards guide the teacher with building foundational questions along with targeted vocabulary. For example, “¿Qué ven en la imagen? (Veo niñas y niños afuera). ¿Qué llevan los niños en la cabeza? (Los niños llevan sombreros especiales). ¿Qué colores pueden ver en sus sombreros? (Los sombreros son de color rojo, blanco y azul). ¿Dónde están celebrando los niños y las niñas? (Los niños y las niñas están celebrando afuera). ¿De qué colores especiales están vestidos? (Están vestidos de rojo, blanco y azul). ¿Qué cosas se pone la gente durante las fiestas? (Sombreros especiales y trajes coloridos son cosas que las personas podrían usar para las celebraciones). ¿Por qué crees que el niño lleva una barba postiza? (El niño lleva una barba postiza para parecerse a un hombre llamado el Tío Sam).” These vocabulary cards and the guidance for using the activities listed on each card support another strategy for vocabulary development that is integrated and authentically embedded in content-based learning. 

The materials provide various strategies to support teachers in modeling a wide variety of rich and rare vocabulary words by providing teachers with the Rutinas de enseñanza. In Rutina 3, “Enseñar palabras de vocabulario,” the teacher uses procedures to build and expand upon children’s oral vocabulary and/or explicitly teach new vocabulary words. There is additional EL support by using the four listed procedures: act it out (TPR), use in primary language, provide examples and non-examples, and use sentence starters.

The materials also provide a supplemental resource to the unit guides titled “Strategies for Supporting Language Learners.” This component includes “research-supported instructional design…to meaningfully engage English Learners in intellectually rich, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that foster high levels of English proficiency.” The resource provides guidance on English Learning Grouping strategies using Proficiency Level Descriptors according to various levels of proficiency (Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced and Advanced High). For example, under heterogeneous groups, teachers group native speakers of English and English Learners to allow for the repeated exposure of language in a child-friendly context. Another grouping strategy provided is same level groupings so that the teacher may present information with differentiated delivery and direct discussion of the specific needs of the group to support new and review vocabulary.

Under the Vocabulary and Concept Development, the teacher is encouraged to use picture word cards to promote vocabulary and concept development in English and in Spanish. Guidance suggests pairing students and presenting picture word cards, “students learn, say and practice the name of each picture in English then in Spanish.” For example, a question prompt states to have partner 1 state, “How do you say...in Spanish?” and Partner 2 answers, “In Spanish, I say...” then Partner 1 says in Spanish, “En español se dice...” and Partner 2 says in Spanish, "¿Como se dice...en inglés?"

The section titled “Cognates” gives teachers support and strategies on how to use cognates as a cross-linguistic strategy. For example, the teacher displays the cognate picture card and writes the cognate word in English and Spanish. The teacher invites students to listen and notice the pronunciation of each word in each language. The teacher uses these steps: “Teacher says the word in English. Have students repeat. Teacher says the word in Spanish. Have students repeat. Teacher writes the cognate pairs on the board on top of the other. Teacher points to each letter to discuss the similarities and differences.” 

Evaluation for 4.4
Materials include appropriate strategies for supporting students’ biliteracy development.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

In Unit 3, the whole group read-aloud Sanos y felices provides guidance for the teacher to help students respond to comprehension questions, either orally or using gestures, using evidence from the text and illustrations. Guidance states “¿Qué sucede el miércoles? Observen la ilustración de las páginas 8 y 9 para responder la pregunta. 2. ¿Cómo le fue al niño en el dentista? Vuelva a leer las páginas 6 y 7. (El niño no tiene caries porque se cepilla bien los dientes).” This is an example of an opportunity to support students developing Spanish and English language proficiency. 

In Music, “Learning Songs Playlist English and Spanish,” one example is the song for letter M: “Mi mamá siempre dice, ‘Come manzana y muchos mangos, legumbres, melones y mucha miel.’” The materials use repetition to support the development of language proficiency in Spanish and English. Participating in this singing activity, students practice listening skills, speaking in singing, and learning the vocabulary words aligned to the letter of the alphabet that they are reviewing. Another example is “Canciones de letras,” which provides the lyrics for each letter of the alphabet in English and Spanish. The songs support the development of speech production, sentence structure, and grammar by having students repeat complete sentences and using the correct grammar modeled in the songs. 

The materials guide teachers to ask students questions during a Unit 5 read-aloud of ¡No empujes, Penny! The teacher pauses at different pages to facilitate questions that help contribute to discussions during the lesson in the students’ native language. On page 2, the teacher asks guiding questions, such as “Las palabras cuentan que Penny siempre quiere ser la primera. Miren la cara de Penny. ¿Cómo se siente Penny al ser la primera? ¿Cómo se siente el pingüino que hay detrás de ella?” “Las palabras dicen que nadie quiere jugar con Penny y que ella está sola. Miren la cara de Penny. ¿Cómo se siente?” The teacher continues to ask questions and make connections to the vocabulary and the illustrations to support the students’ ability to infer and make connections with the text and themselves. 

The materials also provide a supplemental resource to the unit guides titled “Strategies for Supporting Language Learners.” This component includes “research-supported instructional design…to meaningfully engage English Learners in intellectually rich, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that foster high levels of English proficiency.” Sections available in this resource include: “Linguistic Accommodations, English Learners Grouping Strategies, Primary Language Support, Questioning Strategies, Basic Language Functions, Vocabulary and Concept Development, Cognates, Sound-Spelling Transfer, Translanguaging, Making Cross-Linguistic Connections, Routines in English and Spanish, Retelling a Story, Summarizing Informational Text, Shared Writing, Expressive Writing, and Contrastive Analysis Charts.” 

The section titled “Making Cross-Linguistic Connections” provides strategies and guidance on how to use “Bridging,” using the primary language to connect to the new language in order to foster English language development. Through this, “...teachers foster metalinguistic skills in emergent bilingual students by engaging students in contrastive analysis and understanding equivalency principle. The same concept has different ‘vocabulary’ in each language.” Under the “Bridging” section, teachers can find the routines in Spanish and English for “Read Aloud a Story,” “Retelling Story (Literary Text),” “Read Aloud Informational Text,” “Retelling Informational Text,” “Shared Writing Routine,” and “Expressive Writing Routines.” For example, the “Read Aloud Story” routine provides guidance through 3 steps: Picture Walk, Read the Story, and Talk About the Story, in which the teacher “elicits prior knowledge and builds on the student's linguistic and cultural background.” Sample questions state, “Ask: How do you say...in your home language?” “Ask: What do you already know about...?” 

The section titled “Cognates” gives teachers support and strategies on how to use cognates as a cross-linguistic strategy. For example, the teacher displays the cognate picture card and writes the cognate word in English and Spanish. The teacher invites students to listen and notice the pronunciation of each word in each language. The teacher uses these steps: “Teacher says the word in English. Have students repeat. Teacher says the word in Spanish. Have students repeat. Teacher writes the cognate pairs on the board on top of the other. Teacher points to each letter to discuss the similarities and differences.” 

The section titled “Sound-Spelling Transfer” provides guidance on how to use cross-linguistic transfer as students learn the letter sounds. Guidance states, “We suggest using a preview review approach where the sound-spelling is introduced in the home language before English, then taught in English and reviewed again in Spanish to ensure understanding.” Cards with a green border indicate that it is a transferable sound-spelling, and cards without a green border “indicate a non-transferable sound-spelling. The letter looks the same but the sound it represents is not the same in English and Spanish.” An explicit routine is provided for transfer and non-transferable sounds.

Evaluation for 5.1
Materials provide opportunities for students to develop oral language skills, including through authentic text conversations.

 Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Each unit includes three Big Book Read-alouds, three read-aloud lap books, one trade book, and four emergent readers to allow for consistent opportunities to engage listening actively to a variety of texts and engage in student discussion. The big books are used in whole group lessons, while the lap books are used in small groups. The trade books can be used within the unit, and the emergent readers can be used in the small group lessons. 

In Unidad 2, Semana 2, Día 1, “Grupos pequeños: Lecciones de lenguaje,” the lesson is as follows: “Señale y nombre objetos del salón de clase que comiencen con /a/ (por ejemplo: armario, algodón, ábaco). Pida a los niños cuyos nombres comiencen con /a/ que se levanten. Diga a los niños que repitan el nombre de cada estudiante.” The lesson provides playful phonological awareness skills with letter sound understanding beginning with student’s names to reinforce the concept of alliteration in their oral language and listening skills. 

The trade book lesson in Unit 3, “Rana de tres ojos,” provides guidance on how to use information from the text to connect ideas and engage in discussion. Guidance provides open-ended questions, such as: “Explique el trabajo en equipo basándose en el texto. Rana de tres Ojos no puede hacerlo sola. Sus amigos le ayudan. ¿Quién ayuda a recoger los juguetes en tu casa? ¿Qué creen que pasa aquí? Según lo que hemos visto y leído, ¿de qué crees que trata esta historia? ¿Qué pasaría si nadie ayuda a recoger los juguetes?” Through open-ended questions students are able to discuss information presented in the text. 

Unit 3, Week 3, Día 2, “Grupos pequeños, Lecciones de lenguaje y comunicación,” provides opportunities for children to build oral language discussion related to the read-aloud and allows children to share information and ideas about the text. The teacher shows a real nutrition label, explains the label, and makes connections to what was read in the book for healthy choices. At the end of the lesson, the teacher makes a chart with the pictures of the food groups. The teacher then models how to sort the food into the groups. The suggested activity has the teacher make a T chart with healthy and unhealthy choices. The students sort the pictures as a group, and then it suggests the activity be put in a center so the students can practice in pairs. This activity is an example of instructional settings across the day, including large group, small group, and recommendations to include texts for independent and collaborative reading in learning centers.

In Unidad 8, Día 1, “Grupos pequeños, Lecciones de lenguaje y comunicación,” the teacher reads Las plantas son seres vivos, pages 1–9, and discusses similarities among the needs of all living things (e.g., air, water, and food). Then the teacher conducts a picture walk and has children describe how plants are similar and different (e.g., color, size, shape) and encourages the use of complete sentences in verbal responses. Teachers ask questions and model how to look back in the text and locate words to answer each question. The resource states: “¿Cómo toman aire las plantas? (página 5) (con sus hojas) ¿Cómo toman agua las plantas? (página 6) (con sus raíces) ¿Dónde crecen las raíces? (página 7) (bajo el suelo).” The material provides lessons that support teachers in modeling how to gather information from print by talking about facts learned after reading a book about plants as living things. 

In Unidad 10, Semana 1, Día 1, during the “Enfoque en el lenguaje,” the resource provides a vocabulary bank, sample sentence stems, and guidance to engage children in discussion on the topic of insects. The resource states: “Vocabulario: camuflaje, tórax, abdomen, antenas, alas, Estructura: Un insecto tiene (un/una)... (nombrar la parte del cuerpo). Aplicación: Ayude a los niños a usar palabras nuevas del vocabulario en la conversación mientras conversan sobre las partes y características de los insectos.” The vocabulary is reviewed in a subsequent whole group lesson that involves collaborative conversation on the unit theme. The materials include opportunities for children to practice listening and speaking skills through authentic peer conversations.

In Unidad 10, Recursos de la semana 1, “Centros de aprendizaje, Lectoescritura,” the materials recommend theme-related books so students can engage in conversations during play. Guidance states: “Libros sobre insectos—Materiales: libros sobre insectos, por ejemplo: luciérnagas, orugas, grillos, arañas, escarabajos. Los niños eligen libros para leer o repasar, describiendo imágenes o páginas que les gusten y usando las ilustraciones para contar o volver a contar cuentos.” The materials provide recommendations of theme-related books listening to and engaging in discussions to understand information in texts in various settings, including play.

Evaluation for 5.2
Materials provide direct (explicit) instruction and opportunities for student practice in phonological awareness skills.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Spanish phonological awareness skills develop differently than in English, as cited in the Spanish Language Literacy Research. “Research in Spanish-speaking countries establishes that among Spanish early readers, syllabic awareness develops in conjunction with phonemic awareness because of the phonetics of Spanish, where vowels and syllables, including syllable stress, are the granular unit of phonological awareness (Gonzalez & Gonzalez, 2000). Metalinguistic awareness and literacy are developmentally reciprocal.”  The resource includes a learning progression of phonemic and phonological awareness skills. This supports following a sequential learning progression or developmental continuum that reflects a traditional syllabic approach to phonics instruction as Spanish speakers learn to decode and develop phonological awareness skills simultaneously.  

Phonological awareness skills start with large units of sound and progress to smaller units of sound, and task difficulty increases. In Unit 1, the first phonological awareness skill introduced is sentence segmentation. In the small group lesson for that day, the guidance includes segmenting the sentence: “Tienes dos ojos. Escuchen. Tienes dos ojos. ¿Cuántas palabras hay? Vamos a dar una palmada por cada palabra.” Later on, in Unit 5, students practice dividing words into syllables. The whole group lesson states: “Escuchen: celebrar. Esta palabra tiene tres partes: ce-le-brar. Den palmadas y digan conmigo, ce- (palmada) le- (palmada) brar (palmada). Ahora escuchen la palabra en una oración del libro. “A las personas les gusta celebrar con su familia y sus amigos.” In Unit 10, the small group activity has the students working on segmenting and combining CVC words. The lessons increase in complexity as the students’ knowledge around phonological awareness develops. 

The materials provide rich and varied playful opportunities to experience, manipulate, and interact with sounds. For example, a lesson in Unit 3 guides teachers to use the sound and symbol cards to review letter sounds. Materials state, “Use las tarjetas de símbolo y sonido y las tarjetas de letras para repasar los sonidos /m/, /a/, /p/, /t/, /e/, /i/.” The instructional activity continues to engage students in discussion and picking the card of the corresponding letter sound and ASL letter symbol. 

The materials provide lessons around syllables, which is a critical component of Spanish literacy. In Unit 5, Review lesson for Week 1 Language, “Conciencia fonológia,” the following syllable lesson is provided: “Use las Tarjetas de letras f, d, b para formar palabras CVCV. Use las siguientes sílabas: fa, fe, fi, fo, fu, da, de, di, do, du, ba, be, bi, bo, bu.” Using the sound symbol cards, students combine letters to form syllables and then use syllables to create words. The guidance states, “¿Qué palabra formamos cuando combinamos la sílaba da con la sílaba do? (dado).” The lesson continues by combining other sounds to form letter combinations for syllables. This specific instructional design aligns with the consideration of the specific characteristics of Spanish phonics for the direct instruction and student practice opportunity for phonological awareness skills. In Unit 5 Toda la clase, Lecciones de lenguaje, Lectoescritura y ASE, Conciencia fonológica, Combinar y separar sílabas, the teacher reviews what syllables are and segments and joins syllables: “Repase que las palabras están formadas por partes llamadas sílabas. Demuestre cómo separa las sílabas de la palabra invierno. Escuchen: in-vier-no. Hay tres partes o sílabas en la palabra invierno: in-vier-no. Den una palmada por cada parte de la palabra. Háganlo conmigo: in- (palmada) -vier- (palmada) -no (palmada). Demuestre cómo combina las partes (sílabas) para decir la palabra. Ahora juntemos las partes. Escuchen: invierno (palmada, palmada, palmada).” The materials provide syllable lessons that are a more critical unit of phonological awareness in Spanish than in English and are specific for the development of direct instruction of Spanish characteristics for phonics in literacy skills. 

Instructional materials include a variety of activities for students to practice phonological awareness skills both in isolation and connected to alphabetic knowledge skills. One example is found in the video songs that correspond with each letter of the alphabet. The songs discuss the letter, vowels, and two consonant blends with the letters l and r. The videos include catchy music by a popular artist and depict a person dancing and making words with the corresponding letter. Materials also include letter and syllable cards, the “EPocket chart” resource, and letter posters. Furthermore, the materials provide additional activities that are supported by visual aids like pictures and posters and encourage students to use hand movements to support phonological awareness. For example, in Unit 8 review lessons “Relaciones entre símbolo y sonido,” students connect with movement as they learn the letter ñ: “Haga el sonido de una letra. Pida a los niños que identifiquen la letra correspondiente y hagan su seña ASL. /ñ/. ¿Qué letra corresponde al sonido /ñ/? (ñ) Sí, la letra ñ corresponde al sonido /ñ/. Hagan la seña y digan conmigo, ñ. Muestre las tarjetas de letras mayúsculas y minúsculas correspondientes.” Through the use of visuals, movement, and media, students are able to engage in developmentally appropriate activities as they learn and develop phonological awareness skills.

Evaluation for 5.3
Materials provide direct (explicit) instruction and opportunities for student practice in alphabetic knowledge skills.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide a supplemental resource titled “Spanish Language Literacy Research” that lists the research used when considering the creation of the scope and sequence for Spanish phonics instruction. Guidance states, “According to Rebecca Palacios (2015), children begin learning to read in Spanish by first learning the five vowel sounds. They then learn to combine the vowels with consonants to form open syllables (e.g., ma, me, mi, mo, mu). Open syllables, or syllables that follow a consonant vowel (CV) pattern, represent the most frequently occurring syllable pattern in Spanish. Reading instruction begins with the consonants that are easiest for children to distinguish the sounds of and to blend with vowels (i.e., m, n, b, p, s, l, d, t, and f). Consonants are introduced one at a time and practiced with consonants that have been learned previously. For example, children who have learned m, n, t, and p syllables might practice reading words like tapa, Papi, and mano."  The scope and sequence resource guide includes a table that lists the sequence in which letters are introduced. The scope and sequence found in “Listos y Adelante” reflects “a traditional syllabic approach to phonics instruction in Spanish informed by research on how Spanish learners learn to decode. Vowels which only represent one sound each, are taught first, then combined or blended with a consonant to create syllables.” Letters and letter sounds are introduced by groups, giving priority to vowels and most used consonants at the beginning of the year. Less frequently used letters and sounds are introduced towards the end of the year, such as x and w. 

According to the weekly overview, in the unit guides and the scope and sequence chart, letters are first introduced in Unit 2. Each unit introduces an average of three or four letters a week, and each unit reviews the letters and sounds. For example, in Unit 3, the letters m, p, and i are introduced individually, and at the end of the unit review, all three letters and sounds are used in the lesson. The first three weeks of the unit are for direct instruction of new content, while the review week is for supporting concepts and supporting individual student needs. Materials ensure exposure and interaction with multiple letters within a unit for repeated opportunities for students to practice. 

The materials provide rich and varied playful opportunities to experience, manipulate, and interact with letters. Teacher guidance suggests incorporating music, videos, and manipulatives to provide a playful and interactive opportunity as children begin to learn letters. For example, “Canciónes del abecedario,” “Canciónes de las vocales,” and “Canciónes para las letras del abecedario” are included for each thematic unit. The instructional guidance includes the teacher and students singing along to the songs in daily lessons, reviewing the lyrics, then repeating the song with practice opportunities in instructional transition activities throughout the day. 

The Program resource guide of the “Rutinas de enseñanza” provides guidance for introducing letters in daily instruction following a systematic progression. For example, in Unit 3, Week 1, when presenting the letter M, the teacher shows the card, explains the sound, models the ASL sign for the letter, and has the students repeat and practice together. The lesson progresses with a vowel combination: “Ahora vamos a combinar el sonido /m/ con todas las vocales. Guíe a los niños a combinar el sonido /m/ con las vocales para producir las sílabas ma, me, mi, mo, mu. Muestre a los niños la palabra clave de la Tarjeta de símbolo y sonido Mm. Diga la palabra, enfatizando el sonido /m/ del principio /m/ mono. Luego, pídales que escuchen y repitan palabras que empiezan con /m/: mano, mesa, mitones, mono, muñeca.” This guidance follows a strategic and systematic manner to introduce letters and sounds and develop alphabetic knowledge in Spanish. 

A Unit 9 Small group Review Lesson “Conocimiento del alfabeto: Identificar letras en los nombres” provides a playful opportunity that incorporates alphabet knowledge skills. The lowercase letter cards are used to review the letters and sounds. The teacher mixes the lower and uppercase letter cards, and students match them up. Students then receive their name written out and look for letters in their name while seeing all the letters of the alphabet. For example, the student named “Ana” would look for an uppercase A and a lowercase a and n only from the group of cards to match the letters in her name. 

One of the teacher resources provided is the Emergent writing guide, “Revisión de las investigaciones acerca de la escritura,” which cites research around the connection of writing and letter knowledge skills. Resource states: “Driting (a word that the research team uses when drawing and writing are combined) activities facilitated by adults promote early literacy development and build the alphabetic principle. (Adams, 1990; Hart & Risley, 1995; Whitehurst et al., 1994).” The “Escritura emergente” guide provides opportunities for directed drawings that support forming and copying horizontally and vertically, orientation, and straight and curved letters before beginning to form letters. The “Dibujos guiados” activities included in each unit are aligned to the letters in the unit of study. In Unit 1, the directed drawing supports drawing a simple happy face with rounded lines and forming a circle and oval to support the foundational shape of a closed, curved line to form lowercase letters a, e, o, d, p, b, q, g, and s.

Evaluation for 5.4
Materials provide direct (explicit) instruction in print knowledge and concepts and opportunities for student practice.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials follow a research-based, strategic sequence for teaching foundational print awareness skills. The lessons include activities that support increased interaction with print as skills and print awareness develop. In each of the units, “Los dominios de aprendizaje,” the unit outlines the weekly Concepts of Print that meet a developmentally appropriate progression. The materials provide direct instruction in print awareness and opportunities to connect print awareness to books and texts. In Unit 2, during “Toda la clase, Lecciones de lenguaje, Lectoescritura y ASE, Lenguaje y comunicación, Lectura en voz alta” read-aloud of the text Las personas y sus casas, the teacher provides instructions on concepts of print. “Repase los conceptos de lo impreso: título, autor y el papel del autor.” The teacher introduces the front cover and asks students to look for details and make inferences about the book. “¿Qué ves en esta imagen? ¿Sobre qué piensas que se tratará este libro?” The teacher is then guided to preview the book and tell students that families live in different types of houses. The teacher uses the illustrations to teach key concepts like “ciudad, campo y pueblo.” The materials include opportunities to point out the following concepts of print: title, author, purpose of the author, parts of the book, and facilitating inference using illustrations within the book.

For example, in Unit 4, read-aloud activity for the big book La feria de abuelita by F. Isabel Campoy, the lesson provides opportunities for students to practice the story elements, including genre, character and setting, and plot. The teacher reads pages 2-9 and points out the story could be a true story. The teachers says, “En esta imagen veo a varias personas preparándose para una feria. Las personas en centros comunitarios como los de la abuelita suelen hacer ferias. Este detalle me ayuda a identificar que podría ser una historia real.” The teacher then asks the children to describe the characters and setting. The teacher asks, “¿Dónde sucede la historia (escenario)?” and “¿Sobre quién es la historia (personajes)?” The children respond by saying, “Una feria” and “Abuelita, el niño, su mamá, participantes de la feria.” The teacher helps the children with describing the plot of the story by asking, “¿Qué es lo que pasa en esta historia?” The children respond, “La abuelita va a una feria que arman en el centro para personas mayores, y lleva al niño.” The teacher then asks, “¿Cómo el niño participó en una feria de personas mayores?” The children respond by saying, “El niño ayudó en el puesto de abuelita.” The teacher confirms their responses. This lesson allows the students to practice their print awareness skills with guidance from the teacher. The concept of print is further developed in later units. 

In Unidad 7, week 1, the teacher has students identify the book title, author, and story elements based on a picture walk. Then the teacher incorporates the use of uppercase letters: “Emparejar letras minúsculas con mayúsculas, and Señalar las características del texto en los folletos de viajes.” The materials include a research-based sequence of foundational skills instruction and opportunities for sufficient student practice throughout the units in the “Conceptos de lo impreso” that follow a progressively sequential order. This is the sequence for introduction, including review of print awareness concepts throughout the scope of the school year as the progression moves from simple, identifying a book's front and back cover, to more complex, identifying the plot of a story. 

The materials include recommendations for providing multiple opportunities for children to observe, engage with, and experience authentic print within the school day. In the “Guía del programa” classroom management section, the materials suggest setting up a choice board or “Tablero electivo” for learning centers. The choice board aids students in decision-making when choosing their learning centers, and the teacher models how to state a confident choice. “El tablero electivo” provides an opportunity for daily practice of print awareness connecting their printed name. The materials provide learning centers that incorporate opportunities for children to play with print. For example, in Unit 2, “Recursos de la Semana, Centros de aprendizaje, Lectoescritura” provides guidance for materials to incorporate in the book center: “Libros, Materiales: libros resistentes, almohadas y/o sillas, títeres y/o peluches, revistas y libros que incluyan imágenes de distintos tipos de hogares. Los niños encuentran y comentan imágenes de hogares que lucen iguales o diferentes.” The materials provide opportunities for students to play with print during learning centers.

Evaluation for 5.5
Materials include a variety of text types and genres across contents that are high-quality and at an appropriate level of complexity.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide texts that are engaging for students as opportunities for repeated readings allow students to connect to storylines and concepts. For example, in Unit 2, the book En la playa by J.R. Wilson is read repeatedly throughout the week with different purposeful goals. In Día 1, students use illustrations to make inferences by reviewing print concepts. Día 2 focuses on identifying positional words, connecting pronouns with characters, and students differentiating between statements and questions. During Día 3, students use retelling cards and interact with the story as they identify their favorite part of the story and make connections. Defined guidance for each day allows students to explore multiple concepts through various readings instead of all at once. Students have a better understanding of the text by day 3, making it a great opportunity for them to act out the text. 

Unit 6 includes an example of a text that is appropriate for a student's developmental level. The text Los mamíferos son animales by J.R. Wilson is used to learn about mammals, an area of interest for most children. The nonfiction text is used for three days as it explores characteristics of mammals and uses print and text awareness. The text uses photographs to develop advanced vocabulary (columna vertebral, extremidades, y flexionar) while providing important conceptual understanding around mammals. The text is engaging and supports varying levels of complexity for students' developmental level. 

Each unit has three Big Books (one is literary, two are informational) and three read-aloud lap books (two informational, one fiction); most of the titles are written by J.R. Wilson. Lap books are centered around math, high-frequency words, and social and/or emotional objectives. Included are emergent readers that are informational, a take-home book that is primarily nonfiction, and a trade book that is fiction. Overall, the program texts focus more on nonfiction, but there are some fiction titles included. 

Examples of fiction texts include but are not limited to:

• Rana de Tres Ojos by Olga de Dios
• Sano y Feliz by Queta Fernandez
• Aiko Auda by JR Wilson
• Sanos y Felices: Todos los dias by Alma Flor Ada

Examples of nonfiction texts include but are not limited to:

• Nos mantenemos saludables by Cindy Peattie
• Tu puedes hacer ejercicio by Cindy Peattie
• Mi vecindario by Cindy Peattie
• Nosotros elegimos opciones saludables by Leonard Wong
• Ordenar y clasificar by Vicky Gibson PHD
• Opciones Saludables by JR Wilson
• Lugares donde vive la gente by JR Wilson

In Unit 2, the instructional materials offer two nonfiction big books, Las personas y sus casas and La gente crece y cambia and one fiction book, En la playa. Also included are two nonfiction books and one fiction book, Cosas Que me gustan by Raphael Huesca, which can be used for vocabulary development, Patrones to support the math concept of patterns, and El hermanito de Tasha by J.R. Wilson for social and emotional skills development. In Unit 5, the materials offer two nonfiction big books and one fiction book, Celebraciones especiales by Vicki Gibson, Ph.D., El invierno y el tiempo by J.R. Wilson, and La fiesta de Chuy y la piñata by J.R. Wilson. In the “Libros para la lectura en voz alta,” materials provide two nonfiction books and one fiction book, Tú día especial by Oliver Kumar, Números by Vicki Gibson, Ph.D., and No empujes, Penny! by J.R. Wilson.

The materials include nursery rhymes and poems as well as posters to support an appreciation of rhyme and rhythm. For example, in Music and Videos “Canciones del tema de la unidad,” the material offers nursery rhyme/song Los pollitos dicen, Había una vez un barco chiquito, Una vaca lechera, and others. Also included are four themed posters, which have a variety of text structures for students to interact with rhyme and rhythm. The set of songs and fingerplays in each unit align with the unit theme and can be used in a variety of settings. For example, Unidad 8, Semana 1, Recursos de la Semana 1, transition activity, provides a variety of songs and poems for that week: “Canción—Cinco hojitas” “Fingerplay—La tortuga” and “Rhyme—LLuvia de flores.” In addition, the material provides a Library View in which users can click to filter POSTERS for digital and interactive poems created by author Alma Flor Ada and illustrated by award winning artist Vivi Escriva that represent each letter of the Spanish alphabet to support early literacy in Spanish.

Instructional materials include content that is engaging to prekindergarten students and includes opportunities to interact with stories. For example, the Lap Book in Unit 4, Buscamos a Óliver by J.R. Wilson, is a story in which a boy shares his experience as he looks for his lost dog. The lesson includes making connections with students' lives and their own pets. The guidance provided states: “Pónganse de pie si tienen mascota. Levantan ambas manos si tienen un perro. Levanten una mano si tienen un gato. Siéntense si se les han perdido algo importante y han tenido que buscarlo.” Through this story, students are able to connect to the character and develop the skills to employ when they lose something or someone. 

The materials recommend the use of purposeful environmental print throughout the classroom to support the development of print awareness. For example, “Gestión del salón de clases” recommends using various charts and areas to show a meaningful connection between print and language. A Sign-in chart is useful for students to write their names as they get to school. The Business Center is a bulletin board used to display information about classroom management routines and procedures. The Daily Schedule and Activity Cards help students to know what is coming next in their instructional day; visuals of the events are available as a way to support early reading skills. A Rotation Chart identifies small-group members and the order in which activities occur. A Choice Board teaches children how to choose a learning center. A Job Chart delegates responsibilities for weekly jobs completed during transitions. These structures help children notice environmental print and connect meaning to what they see in the words and visuals.

Evaluation for 5.6
Materials use a variety of approaches to develop students’ comprehension of text read aloud.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include guidance for the teacher to connect texts to children’s experiences at home and school. For example, in Unit 2, the small group language activity provides guidance for the teacher to read aloud the text Las personas y sus casas. The teacher then engages the class in a conversation about family, family members, and their homes. The teacher guides students to notice differences during the read-aloud. The teacher asks questions such as “En esta página, veo imágenes de viviendas. ¿Qué tienen los hogares en común? ¿Cómo se diferencian los hogares?” The teacher guides students to make home connections to the read-aloud: “¿Cómo se parece o se diferencia su hogar?” The materials suggest that when reading a book about the family, the teacher encourages children to share their own family experiences, such as describing their home, to connect their home experience with the school experience. 

In Unit 4, in Buscamos a Óliver, students hear a story about a boy who is looking for his dog. Then the teacher poses questions to support students in making connections with their lives and their pets. The teacher says, “Pónganse de pie si tienen mascota. Levantan ambas manos si tienen un perro. Levanten una mano si tienen un gato. Siéntense si se les han perdido algo importante y han tenido que buscarlo.” The text and activity guide the teacher to help students make connections to their lives by having a pet or by having lost something important, connecting children’s experiences between home and school. 

The materials provide instructional routines that support teacher understanding for using texts to teach and model making predictions, inferring, asking and answering questions, comparing and contrasting information, and categorizing. The routine cards also include guidance for teachers to help children identify and use basic text structures to develop comprehension of the text read aloud. The routine cards are used throughout the units in whole and small group daily lessons. For example, “Rutina 6 Describir utilizando detalles claves” states that this routine is used to teach how to identify and use key details from the illustrations to describe what the child sees. The routines describe a process beginning with looking at a picture or scene, teacher modeling scanning for details and pointing to a key detail, and thinking aloud describing the object and not the action. Using the illustrations to develop an understanding of key details impacts the students’ understanding of the text; by describing what they see in text illustrations using basic text structures helps impact their comprehension and understanding of the text. 

The materials include text-specific supports to guide the teacher to identify and directly teach comprehension through basic text structures. For example, Unit 5 “Lenguaje y comunicación,” is a whole group lesson that guides the teacher to review parts of the book, such as title and author. Teacher guidance is provided for students to make inferences based on the front cover illustrations. “¿Qué ven en la imagen que los ayuda a saber sobre qué trata el libro? (Veo un niño con un sombrero rojo, blanco y azul y comiendo sandía. Creo que el libro trata sobre….)” Then guidance is provided for the teacher to use the printed text to support inferences. “Escuchen: celebrar. Esta palabra tiene tres partes: ce-le-brar. Den palmadas y digan conmigo, ce- (palmada) le- (palmada) brar (palmada). Ahora escuchen la palabra en una oración del libro. ‘A las personas les gusta celebrar con su familia y sus amigos.’” Then the teacher says, “En la imagen veo gente sonriendo. Tienen una fiesta. Eso me hacer pensar que celebrar significa hacer una fiesta.” The materials provide guidance to support teacher understanding of using texts to teach and model making predictions, inferring, asking and answering questions to help understand texts.

The materials provide examples of alternative questions to support student comprehension and how to move from simple to more complex questions for varying levels of proficiencies. In Unit 1, review lesson 3, the teacher uses alternative questioning to support students' understanding of the text “De pesca con Abu.” The teacher starts by asking questions that emphasize how the boy uses his body parts to perform tasks. The teacher says, “¿Qué parte del cuerpo usa el niño para sostener los gusanos en esta imagen?” and “En esta imagen el niño está escuchando los pájaros. ¿Qué partes del cuerpo usa para escuchar?” The end of the lesson concludes with more complex questions. For example, the teacher asks, “¿Qué ven en las ilustraciones que los ayuda a saber de qué trata el cuento? ¿Dónde ocurre la historia? ¿Cómo lo saben? ¿Acerca de quién o sobre qué trata el cuento?” With support, the teacher has the children describe the events and retell the story to form a story summary. The materials support the teacher with guided questions along with student responses at varying levels of proficiency in understanding the text.

Evaluation for 5.7
Materials include appropriate strategies for supporting English Learners (ELs) in their development of emergent reading skills.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide a supplemental resource to the unit guides titled “Strategies for Supporting Language Learners.” This component includes “research-supported instructional design…to meaningfully engage English Learners in intellectually rich, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that foster high levels of English proficiency.” Sections available in this resource include: “Linguistic Accommodations, English Learners Grouping Strategies, Primary Language Support, Questioning Strategies, Basic Language Functions, Vocabulary and Concept Development, Cognates, Sound-Spelling Transfer, Translanguaging, Making Cross-Linguistic Connections, Routines in English and Spanish, Retelling a Story, Summarizing Informational Text, Shared Writing, Expressive Writing, and Contrastive Analysis Charts.” 

The section titled “Making Cross-Linguistic Connections” provides strategies and guidance on how to use “Bridging,” using the primary language to connect to the new language in order to foster English language development. Through this, “...teachers foster metalinguistic skills in emergent bilingualism by engaging students in contrastive analysis and understanding equivalency principle: the same concept has different ‘vocabulary’ in each language.” Under the “Bridging” section, teachers can find the routines In Spanish and English for a “Read Aloud a Story,” “Retelling Story (Literary Text),” “Read Aloud Informational Text,” “Retelling Informational Text,” “Shared Writing Routine,” and “Expressive Writing Routines.” For example the “Read Aloud Story” routine provides guidance through 3 steps: Picture Walk, Read the Story, and Talk About the Story, in which the teacher “elicits prior knowledge and builds on students’ linguistic and cultural background.” Sample questions state, “Ask: How do you say...in your home language?” “Ask: What do you already know about...?” 

The section titled “Sound-Spelling Transfer” provides guidance on how to use cross-linguistic transfer as students learn the letter sounds. Guidance states, “We suggest using a preview review approach where the sound-spelling is introduced in the home language before English, then taught in English and reviewed again in Spanish to ensure understanding.” Cards with a green border indicate that it is a transferable sound-spelling, and cards without a green border “indicate a non-transferable sound-spelling. The letter looks the same but the sound it represents is not the same in English and Spanish.” An explicit routine is provided for transfer and non-transferable sounds.

The materials provide sound spelling cards that support letter knowledge skills and offer a chant about the letter, articulation support, sample words, and action rhyme. The sound spelling cards include an English Learners section that notes, “In some languages, such as Korean, Cantonese, Mandarin, Farsi, and Arabic, there is a positive sound transfer for /m/ but no spelling transfer.” The flip side of the Spanish cards lists a section specifically for Spanish learners and transfer information. “There is a positive English-Spanish sound-spelling transfer for m. The sound /m/ spelled m is fully transferable between Spanish and English. The /m/ is voiced bilabial nasal. It is usually the first consonant phoneme taught because it can be continuously blended and voiced into a syllable with vowels. The /m/ sound is said to be one of the first sounds voiced by human beings.” Guidance is lacking for implementing this strategy for supporting ELs in making a cross-linguistic connection and in leveraging the student’s knowledge in literacy in each language as an asset.

Evaluation for 6.1
Materials include a variety of experiences through which students can engage with writing.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 1, the materials provide direct instruction as well as opportunities for students to imitate adult writing during a small group language and communication lesson. In this activity, the teacher models prewriting skills by practicing “Up and Around.” Children sit facing the same direction as the teacher models the chant Up and Around while drawing a round shape in the air. The children imitate this movement. To support further learning, children use red finger paint to practice the chant and make this prewriting stroke on paper. In subsequent lessons, this is used as a foundation to support illustrating and drawing as the children use this foundational pre-taught stroke to then make a round shape to draw a face. 

In Unit 2, the teacher reads aloud People and their Home by Vicki Gibson. After the read-aloud, the teacher shows a chart with the names of family members and asks students to write family member roles and responsibilities to make explicit the connection between reading and writing. Also in Unit 2, the teacher reviews and models the Up and Around prewriting stroke for students to practice with paper and crayons as well as with sponges and finger paint to make ovals. Materials guide teachers to encourage and support drawing as students start drawing happy faces and babies using circles and ovals later in Unit 2 when students imitate adult writing. They draw a happy face following the teacher model and then take turns sharing their drawings and complimenting each other’s work. 

In Unit 4, during the week one art learning center activity “Free Drawing,” students use paper and crayons to draw freely for creative expression; later in the week three art learning center activity “Sponge Painting or Free Coloring,” students use the material’s “Emergent Writing Flip Book, Volume 1,” aprons, washable paint in fall colors, pumpkin-shaped sponges or cut pieces of potatoes, art and drawing paper, and crayons to make designs for previously cut sponges or cut pieces of potatoes. Students then dip the sponges or pieces of potatoes in paint and lightly press them onto art paper to make designs. The materials guide teachers to conference with children to support the writing process in a small group activity “Prewriting: Complete a Directed Drawing: House” by displaying pages 18–19 of the Emergent Writing Flip Book, Volume 1 and guiding children to complete each step of the drawing. The teacher encourages children to add details to and describe their finished drawings. The materials also provide ideas for encouraging children to respond to text read aloud in a small group extended language activity “Print Concepts: Illustrate Your Own Book Cover” in which students read the book Filomena the Flip-Flop Fairy by J. R. Wilson and pretend to be illustrators drawing their own illustration. Children dictate a sentence about their illustration, and the pictures are combined to make a class book. 

In Unit 7, during a whole group language activity read-aloud of My Red Balloon by J. R. Wilson, students create a “Graphic Organizer of Parts of a Story.” The teacher fills in the oval labeled “Problem” on the graphic organizer with simple words and pictures to support children’s recall. After discussing the ending and solution to the story, the teacher fills in the oval labeled “Solution” or “Ending” to model writing skills for students. In the small group language extended learning activity “Letter Printing: Match and Print Letters,” students match lowercase and uppercase letter cards on dry-erase boards saying letter chants and using strokes to print lower and uppercase letters. In a later whole group language activity, “Prewriting: Model a Directed Drawing: Truck,” the teacher displays pages of the Emergent Writing Flip Book, invites children to identify shapes and strokes in the finished drawing, reviews how to fold paper, and discusses details children may add to personalize their trucks like color choices, stripes, or patterns. The teacher encourages children to add details to their drawings and make up a story about where they will travel in their truck to incorporate drawing as a way to convey a message. Later in the unit, the materials guide teachers to conference with children to support the writing process through a small group extended learning activity, “Shared Writing: Make Thank-You Letters,” in which the teacher helps children write and illustrate their letters to community workers in conferences.

Evaluation for 6.2
Materials instruct students along the developmental stages of writing.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include writing lessons that follow the sequence of developmental stages of writing aligned to the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. Materials provide guidance for writing development in young children that supports conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge as stages of writing development as detailed in the scope and sequence of the program materials that also describes the program’s strategic approach of developing student skill by unit. In initial units, children fold and tear paper, finger-paint and sponge-paint to develop coordination, and teachers correct student grip and body posture for drawing and printing. From there, drawing, printing, and cutting with scissors are introduced as children increase dexterity and fine motor skills.

In Unit 1, in a small group language activity, “Prewriting: Color Freely,” students draw and color with crayons a picture of something that makes them feel happy. To support children along the continuum of conceptual, procedural, and generative knowledge in writing development, the teacher introduces pre-writing strokes in a whole group language activity, “Prewriting: Review the Prewriting Stroke Up and Around.” The teacher reviews how to say the chant “Up and Around” and how to use the stroke Up and Around to draw round shapes. The teacher then has children lie on the ground and use a flashlight to make the stroke on the wall while repeating the chant Up and Around. The materials follow the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines to include appropriate modeling of the writing process and use a variety of art materials and activities for sensory experience and exploration. 

In Unit 7, in a small group extended language activity “Letter Printing: Match and Print Letters,” students use dry erase boards and markers to say letter chants and use strokes to print lowercase and uppercase letters without a teacher model. Later in the unit, students blend CVC words using word families: /an/, /it/, /un/, /ot/, /op/, and /at/ by practicing sounding out CVC words and using pre-writing strokes to print letters for each sound on dry erase boards. Further in the unit, in a small group language activity, “Prewriting: Directed Drawing: Airplane,” the teacher displays pages of the “Emergent Writing Flip Book” while children take turns explaining how to fold paper and make four boxes. The teacher helps children number their boxes and identify shapes in the finished drawing. The teacher models and discusses each step of the directed drawing. While children work at their own pace, the teacher provides details children can add to their drawings to show where a plane flies (e.g., clouds, sun, birds). Finally, children dictate a sentence describing where they would like to fly in an airplane, and teachers record children’s stories on their drawings. If available, children may use technology to research images that support their sentences and create a digital poster with sentences and images.

In Unit 10, the materials provide lessons that follow a developmental continuum for how children learn writing in context. In a small group, the teacher read aloud emphasizes story elements, adding details, and illustrating a story path. After reviewing the story read-aloud, the children provide suggestions of events or detail that were important in the story for comprehension. The teacher adds sentences or labels to revise the text on the story path. Children then work with a partner to an assigned sentence or section of the story and illustrate it. After illustrating, children take turns walking beside the story path and retelling the story. In a whole shared writing lesson, students work in teams to make a poster of the environment, cut out shapes, draw pictures, or dictate sentences. The instructional materials include information for the teacher in the “Emergent Writing Guide” that ensures teachers understand instructional activities to facilitate lessons that follow the developmental stages of writing. 

Evaluation for 6.3
Materials support fine motor development alongside and through writing.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The “Emergent Writer Resource Guide” provides teacher guidance on instructional activities that can help support the development of fine motor skills. The materials prescribe a variety of tools and surfaces for student writing experiences as practicing the foundational skills through nine activities: coloring freely, finger painting, sponge painting, paper tear and create a mosaic, fold to create boxes and trace fold lines, fold and tear paper, trace and cut fold lines, assess listening comprehension, and draw and color in a defined space. 

In Unit 1, the materials provide multiple and varied opportunities for children to develop fine motor skills during learning centers, small and whole groups, and finger song transitions. In the Art learning center activity “Tearing Paper,” students use four-inch squares of colored construction paper to tear into small pieces, then use a glue stick to affix pieces to art paper inside a pre-drawn circle. In a small group lesson for math and science, children are provided with art paper and red and blue chalk. Teachers review how to say the chant and use the pre-writing stroke to draw round shapes. Children practice making round shapes on art paper using chalk to increase muscle strength and coordination of the small muscles in the hands.

In Unit 2, during the small group language activity “Fine Motor Skill: Work with Clay,” the students use modeling clay and a rolling pin to strengthen their fine motor skills. Students pinch off balls of clay and use cookie cutters to cut big and little circles to develop fine motor skills. 

In the Unit 4 block learning center activity “Communities,” students use wooden blocks of various shapes and sizes, plastic interlocking blocks, log-shaped blocks, vehicles, road signs, and small toy people to build a community with homes, stores, schools, and parks. Students use fine motor skills to manipulate the wooden and plastic blocks while building. During a whole group language activity, “Review Strokes: Slant Left and Slant Right,” the teacher uses a flashlight on the wall to review pre-writing strokes, asking students to say each chant as they make the stroke. Teachers have children use their arms in the air to copy the teacher model while repeating the chant. In a whole group language activity, “Draw Pictures with Chalk,” students use sheets of black construction paper and a piece of white chalk to review the color white using the chalk. “This is white. Sign and say white with me. White.” 

In Unit 7, during a small group language activity “Letter Printing: Print Lowercase Letters,” students use fine motor skills to review letter chants and strokes in the air for all previously taught letters and use dry-erase boards to print the lowercase letters o and a. In the Math learning center activity “Cookie Center,” students use modeling clay, rolling pins, and cookie cutters and roll the modeling clay out to make a flat surface. Then, students use the cookie cutters to cut out real and imagined vehicle shapes. 

In Unit 10, students illustrate a book while the teacher prints children’s sentences on their artwork; the materials provide differentiation guidance for teachers to give students a model to copy and print their names on their paper. Later, in a review lesson, the teacher demonstrates how to use a crayon to make vertical lines across paper using the prewriting stroke “Touch, pull down.” The teacher provides guidance and differentiation as needed by asking, “Why do we need our third finger under the crayon? (to hold the crayon, but not tightly), Why do we need to relax our shoulders? (to avoid having sore muscles) Why do we keep our head upright, not tilted like this?” and provide feedback to students encouraging correct body posture and grip.

Evaluation for 7.1
Materials follow a logical mathematical continuum of concrete, pictorial, then abstract representations.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Units 1 and 2, math lessons prioritize concrete manipulative use and include a variety of manipulative types. During the Unit 1 small group activity “Sort Objects,” students use objects to explore shape. Students feel a shoebox to understand the concept of a corner and a ball to understand the word round. Children touch and count the corners of the shoebox before recognizing the ball is smooth all the way around. From there, they sort objects using a bag filled with round and not round objects (objects with corners). The teacher empties all of the objects from the bag and places them on the table. She models sorting the objects into groups based on their shape: “I will put round things here. I will put things with corners here.” Students then have the opportunity to practice classification with these smaller manipulatives. During the beginning of Unit 2, students are introduced to the numbers two and three. The teacher places one block on the table, adds a second, and says, “One. And one more is two. I have two blocks. Say it with me. One. And one more is two. I have two blocks.” After this, she displays the number card and does the same for the number three. For pattern skills, students read the book Patterns. As an extension activity, the teacher models making an ABAB pattern by stringing red and yellow beads. Then, in groups, students make their own beaded strings to repeat the ABAB pattern. Towards the end of the unit, students practice measurement using a shoebox again; this time, the lesson integrates hand-shaped cutouts as an informal measurement tool. The students use the hand-shaped cutouts to measure the box; they put the cutouts next to the box and say, “This shoebox is … hands long.” 

In Unit 5, both counting and shape recognition lessons progress from concrete, to pictorial, to abstract representations. During a whole group lesson on number sense, the teacher first makes a row of six blocks; she places them on a table one at a time and models how to count to six. She then makes the shift to pictorial representation by displaying the “Word Card” for six, saying, “The numeral 6 shows that there are six blocks.” The lesson continues with students playing a dice-based number game. Each child is given a number strip; one by one, they roll the dice and say the number that they’ve rolled. They match the dots on the die with the number on the strip and mark it off with a crayon. The object of the game is to mark off as many numbers as possible. Later in the unit, students participate in a math-and-science whole group lesson that requires them to think about shape abstractly. First, the teacher uses a ball to review that the word round means there are no corners, straight sides, or points. Then, students observe and compare different attribute shapes: they discuss whether hexagons and squares have sides of the same length. After this review, the teacher sets up an addition word problem: “This set has two shapes. That set has two shapes. I can add the sets together and count to find how many they have together.” The numerals are matched to each set, and the teacher uses a numeral to represent the sum. The teacher models making and reading the number sentence: “The numeral 2 shows that there are two diamonds in the first set. The numeral 2 shows there are two diamonds in the second set. The numeral 4 shows that there are found diamonds in all. I can make a number sentence to show the problem 2 + 2 = 4. Two diamonds plus two diamonds makes four diamonds in all.” The teacher returns to this concept later in the week when she uses toilet paper rolls to teach students the abstract concept of “adding to.” After randomly assigning students a number between one and seven, the teacher provides each student with empty toilet paper rolls matching their numeral. For example, one roll with the number 1, two rolls with the number 2, etc. As quantities get larger, it will be more difficult for children to hold all the paper rolls at the same time. This reinforces the abstract concept that a higher numeral indicates a larger quantity of objects. When the number line is complete, the teacher reviews how different numerals indicate more objects than other numerals: “Five paper rolls are more than two paper rolls.” In all three cases, students use manipulatives to review concrete representations and then progress to pictorial and/or abstract representations. 

Unit 10 activities also cover a variety of concepts and move through an appropriate mathematics continuum of representation. During an early whole group review lesson, students use honeycomb-shaped cereal to practice number sense. The teacher starts by creating a number line, numerals one through ten, on a piece of construction paper. Students then complete the number line by adding honeycomb pieces in horizontal lines to match the numeral value — 1 for one piece, 2 for two pieces, etc. Together, they explore adding to and subtracting from by manipulating the honeycombs on the chart paper. Later, students move from concrete to abstract during an interactive number set activity. Eight children stand in front of the classroom and form two lines. The teacher goes to each child and says, “One goes here, one goes there,” until children are divided equally into two sets. Together, the classroom confirms that each set is equal; students sit down, and the routine is repeated with a new group. After the second practice, students use this method to solve a word problem requiring they make equal sets with “one less.” 

Evaluation for 7.2
Materials promote instruction that builds on students’ informal knowledge about mathematics.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 1, the “Progress-Monitoring Tool” from the “Ready to Advance Assessment Guide” is one resource teachers have available so they can inquire about students’ mathematical knowledge. Throughout the year, teachers revisit this document to monitor progress and provide additional support for students. Teachers evaluate students along many metrics, one being “math and science.” Teachers also receive suggestions for classroom setup, ensuring math concepts are integrated throughout daily activities. Specifically, materials suggest how to integrate math into small and whole group lessons, learning centers, and for each transition activity. Throughout this unit, students practice introductory numeral skills, beginning with the book Your Body Works by Vicki Gibson. In a cross-curricular activity, students count and name different body parts: People have two eyes, two hands, one nose, and so forth. Later in the unit, students review and count body parts using a classroom poster: “Have children name the body part and identify the related sense. What body part is this? (nose) How do we use our noses to learn about things? Repeat for eyes, ears, mouth/tongue, and fingers/skin. Practice counting body parts. Touch your nose. One. Say, I have one nose. Point to your eyes. One, and one more is two. Say, I have two eyes. Point to your mouth. One. Say, I have one mouth. Touch your ears. One, and one more is two. Say, I have two ears.” This intentional use of the classroom environment makes math instruction authentic and low stress.

Prompts and questions help teachers build upon students’ informal mathematical understanding in Unit 4. Students create and compare sets using the lap book Which Set Has More? by Vicki Gibson. The teacher also integrates heart-shaped cutouts and “Number Cards” 1–6 to help students recall information. As the teacher reads the book, she pauses for students to count and compare sets (six or less) and asks them to identify common attributes between grouped items: “Place heart cutouts and Number Cards (AR-1, AR-2) on the table. Recall a set means a group of objects. Hold up the Number Card for 6. Have children select six hearts to make a set.” In the book, students answer questions like “Which set has more things than the other?” and “How are the two sets different?” The use of prompts and questions continues during the transition activity “Leaf Prepositions.” Using leaf cutouts, students follow the teacher’s direction, placing their leaves in different locations. Students place the leaf “behind their back, above/on top of their head, on their left/right side, before their face, near their ear, and under their chin.” This activity ensures students learn prepositions, but it also integrates their understanding of spatial awareness. 

Unit 5 represents a high-quality example of integrated cross-curricular math instruction related to the unit theme. At the beginning of the unit, students explore seasonal foods and snacks. Students discuss nutrition and then group food images into two categories: healthy and unhealthy. After voting on their favorite snack, students work together to chart their findings on a classroom graph. Later, when students return to the subject of snack preference, they review this chart before moving on to a lesson on ordinal steps. Teachers reference “Additional Resource 8,” “How to Make a Healthy Snack,” which is a rebus poster that provides directions for spreading butter or honey on bread: “1. first wash your hands 2. demonstrate how to use a spoon and spread on bread 3. pass out materials and ingredients 4. spread butter or honey on bread 5. pour a drink and enjoy the snack.” After this lesson, the resource remains on the wall, and students reference it when they read Little Red Hen for whole group review. This text includes ordinal review questions, like “Who did the Little Red Hen ask for help first, second, third?” 

In Unit 7, the teacher integrates different classroom materials and manipulatives throughout instruction. During the first week of the unit, students learn the concept of measurement during the small group math activity “Experiment with Capacity.” Using toy vehicles from the classroom materials list, the teacher places up to eight toy vehicles and plastic numerals 1–8 on the table. Students then identify different sets of vehicles (ranging from one to five) and compare their amount without counting. These same vehicles are used later in the unit when students experiment with speed and distance. Setting up lined butcher paper on the ground, students observe how far each vehicle travels across the marks on the paper and describe their observations. They redo the experiment using different vehicles to see which travels fastest and furthest. Additional classroom materials are integrated into the “Math” learning center for activities meant to reinforce the initial measurement lesson. Materials include a container of rocks, pinto beans, macaroni, drawing paper, crayons, clipboards, different-size containers with lids, measuring cups, scoops, and a bucket scale for weighing. In this cross-curricular activity, students practice fine motor coordination as they scoop and measure ingredients; math skills as they weigh and compare objects; and vocabulary as they label amounts as light, lighter, heavy, and heavier.

Evaluation for 7.3
Materials intentionally develop young children’s ability to problem solve.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Math Lap Books provide guidance for teachers for modeling, talking and setting up problems, using language to teach and practice that is clear and consistent; opportunities to model problem-solving with common classroom objects, so experiences are interactive. All books contain guidance on the inside front cover for children to explore mathematical concepts on their own.

Some activities in Unit 1 ask students to practice reasoning skills with familiar materials; often, these materials are relevant to students’ lives outside the classroom more so than to their lives inside the classroom. During the whole group math activity “Review Concept of Same,” the teacher holds up two objects that are the same: two small red balls. She says, “These balls are the same. The balls are the same color, size, and shape.” The teacher repeats this procedure with other objects that are identical and then asks students to identify other objects that are the same: “Are these … (objects) the same? Yes, these … (objects) are the same.” Without direct instruction communicating the meaning of same or identical, students have to infer the meaning through question, trial, and error. However, there is no provided teacher guidance to respond with feedback or extend student curiosity. Later in the unit, students apply this skill to geometric shapes during the small group activity “Sort Circle and Oval Shapes.” Once students have a basic grasp of the skill, the teacher displays a tennis ball and football, thus connecting this activity to the world outside the classroom. Students do not have the opportunity to apply this skill to materials familiar to them in the classroom. During other activities in this unit, students apply mathematical reasoning skills to wallpaper books, counting objects, clothing articles, and blocks.

Similar activities continue in Unit 2; during a small group math lesson, the teacher uses pretzel sticks for students to compare row size. She asks questions like, “Which row has more? Which row has less? Are the rows the same?” Sometimes the teacher models how to think aloud while completing the activity, but students do not apply the concept to materials in the classroom. In a geometry lesson, students use round-shaped pizzas to review whole/part concepts. It is not until a later transition activity that students apply their problem-solving skills to familiar materials in the classroom. Teachers create an obstacle course in the classroom and use phrases like over the chair and under the table to guide students to the finish line. While the activity helps promote spatial awareness and increases students’ understanding of prepositional phrases, it does not particularly address their problem-solving skills. However, this is one of the few activities where students recognize problems in their environment. 

In Unit 5, the teacher sometimes models thoughtful questions for students to replicate. During an early activity, students are introduced to the number six and apply the concept to shapes with related attributes. After reviewing geometry vocabulary like triangle, heart, and star, students make a snowflake collage out of white doilies. Throughout the activity, students identify the different shapes within the art; the teacher prompts discussion with thoughtful questions: “What shape is this? Is a circle round? How do you know a circle is round? What shape is this? How many sides does this shape have?” Most of these questions are closed, while one open-ended question could promote thoughtful reflection. 

In Unit 8, students continue geometric exploration, using wooden sticks and modeling clay to make shapes and name their attributes. During this activity, the teacher models by posing questions to herself: “What shape do you want me to make? How many sides does it have? First, I have to think about how many sides a triangle has.” In this case, students get to see thoughtful reflection, but it is more related to planning instead of problem-solving. Students do not themselves have the opportunity to practice making thoughtful questions.

In Unit 10, students play with different plastic insects to practice counting, comparison, and set making. After purposeful play, students extend their understanding by creating simple addition word problems for each group using five or fewer insects. This activity promotes problem-solving skills, but the teacher does not receive direct guidance meant to direct this question-making. In a related review lesson, students essentially complete this activity again using other rubber toys and plastic numerals. This time, they extend into abstract operations; the teacher explains problem-solving reasoning: “Sometimes when we add two sets together, we use numbers to show the problem. 4 + 3 = 7 or four plus three equals seven.” However, students do not have the opportunity to explore and problem solve on their own. 

Evaluation for 7.4
Materials build students’ number sense.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit, 1 students begin learning number sense by counting 1 and 2. The teacher introduces the numbers using “Picture Word Cards” and toy cars; these specific cards have the numerals 1 and 2 paired with the corresponding words One and Two. Teacher guidance states: “Follow the steps of the counting on routine, placing one car, then another. One, and one more is two. There are two cars in all. Remove the cars. Place one car on the table and the Picture Word Card one. The numeral 1 shows there is one car. The word, one, tells there is one car. Repeat with two cars and the Picture Word Card two.” This general procedure is repeated throughout the school year, the teacher increasing the numbers accordingly each time. In Unit 4, students identify numeral 6, number word Six, and create sets of 1–6 shapes. In this activity, students count and practice one-to-one correspondence. By Unit 7, students orally count 1–15 or higher, depending on their level of proficiency.

During the early Unit 4 small group activity “String Beads and Match Numerals,” students review numbers 1 through 5. The teacher first models how to string one to five wooden beads onto a string and then matches the corresponding numeral to indicate quantity. Students spend the remainder of the activity improving their number sense with 1–5. The next day, students move on to the number 6 with the activity “Make Sets and Match Numerals.” Teacher guidance states: “Put three blocks in Box 1. Put two blocks in Box 2. Ask the students, If you put the sets together in Box 3, how many blocks do you have in all?” Later in the activity, students also practice separating the items. This type of activity aligns well with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines for combining and separating concrete manipulatives.

In Unit 5, students build number sense and practice oral word problems with the Number and Number Words lap book by Vicki Gibson. Utilizing the pictorial representations in the book, the teacher pauses to point out numerals and counts objects aloud to determine quantities. After completing the book, the teacher starts a new number activity with blocks. She lines the blocks into rows and demonstrates how to match each block-row with a numeral or number word. This section of the lesson helps develop the understanding that numerals and number words are used to tell how many. Next, the teacher models combining sets: “I can add the two sets of blocks together. This set has three blocks. This set has two blocks. If I add the blocks together, the new set has five blocks in all.” This lesson leads into the next day when students practice the skill by playing a cube game. Each student receives a number strip, number cube, and crayon. Together, they roll the number cube, quickly estimate the dots on the cube without counting, and mark the number off on their number strip. They continue playing the game until all numbers are marked off. The following week, number sense concepts are revisited during a transition activity called “Five Little Snowmen.” Students count off five snowmen, recite a rhyme, and motion counting down until zero using their fingers. These three activities build upon one another, include spiraled skills, and integrate both formal and informal practice.

Subitizing was touched upon in Unit 6, but the concept is returned to in Unit 7. During the small group math activity “Experiment with Capacity,” the teacher places up to eight toy vehicles on the table with plastic numerals 1 through 8. Teacher guidance states: “Make sets of 1–5 vehicles. Have children identify quantities without counting and match a numeral to show the number. Have children predict how many vehicles the box will hold. Have children fill the box to capacity (full), then remove and count the vehicles. Have children match a numeral to indicate the quantity and compare results to their predictions. Discuss how the size of each toy affects how many toys will fit in the box.” Along with subitizing, this activity also aligns to the Texas Prekindergarten Guideline requiring students to recognize how much can be placed within an object.

Unit 10 number sense activities cover a wide variety of structures and methods. For example, transitioning between activities, students participate in “Walk the Number Line.” Prior to the activity, the teacher places a tape number line on the floor, listing numbers 1 through 10. Students line up and sing along with the song “The Ants Go Marching.” Students review before and after numbers; teachers ask them to stand on a number and identify numbers on either side. Another way number sense is used throughout the day is during snack time. An “Additional Resource” rebus poster directs students through the healthy snack recipe for “Ants on a Log.” This snack consists of raisins, celery, and cream cheese. Teachers ensure students can count to five and place corresponding raisins on their snack; if students need additional intervention, the teacher provides support when appropriate. 

Evaluation for 7.5
Materials develop students’ academic math vocabulary.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 1, the materials include recommendations for purposefully talking about mathematics using math vocabulary in the whole group, small group, books, and learning centers. In the whole group Language Focus activity, the children learn the math vocabulary, “round.” The materials note to teachers that children may be able to identify that a circle is round, but “Help children understand that for something to be round, it must not have corners.” In the small group math activity for the same day, “Geometry-Identify Round Shapes,” the teacher models how to reach into the bag with one hand, select and remove an object showing it to the group, and look for corners and determine if the object is round because it has no corners or not round because there is a corner. The unit also includes texts like Same and Different by Vicki Gibson that are math-related and age-appropriate and read during the whole group read aloud; students identify and name shapes along with discriminating between sizes big/little and small/large. The teacher scaffolds children’s development of academic math vocabulary by asking open-ended questions like “What is the same or different about the objects on the cover. How are the socks the same? How are the socks different?” 

In Unit 2, the materials provide guidance for identifying math vocabulary in stories read aloud and songs during transition activities. Some of the math-related books included with the materials are “Patterns,” “Numerals and Number Words,” and “Learning About Time” by Vicki Gibson. The children also sing five little ducks after the whole group literacy lesson to reinforce literacy as well as math concepts. Additionally, Number Word Cards and Posters are included within the materials to provide ongoing and repeated opportunities for children to practice math vocabulary in different settings. 

In Unit 5, there are multiple books related to math instruction that offer an opportunity to hear math vocabulary, like the Math Lap book Numerals and Number Words by Vicki Gibson. This text describes vocabulary words like set, numerals, numbers, and how many. Daily lessons include vocabulary development that reviews vocabulary related to shapes: star, point, corner, side, round, and patterns. The teacher later revisits the terms in whole group instruction. Further extension is provided in the math purposeful play plan for that same week; children use modeling clay and shaped cookie cutters to form shapes. Additionally, in the Block Learning Center for children to experiment by placing blocks end-to-end by stacking boxes to make towers and use charts to color in blocks to record their data with cardboard boxes of varying shapes and sizes along with simple charts.

In the Unit 7 math learning center activity “Measurement,” students review math vocabulary as they scoop and measure ingredients into containers with lids, then weigh and compare objects, identifying materials and amounts as light/lighter or heavy/heavier. In a whole group Language Focus, vocabulary words like money, work, consumer, buy, coins, dollar bills, and worth are used to encourage children to use new vocabulary words in oral conversation as they share personal stories of shopping with their families or caregivers. In the small group math activity “Discuss Monetary Values,” the teacher displays pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills. The materials state for the teacher to “Review the name and attributes (e.g., value, shape, color) of each coin and the dollar bill. Penny. Say it with me, penny. What shape is the penny? (a circle) What color is the penny? (brown or copper) Give children magnifying glasses. Have children work with a partner using magnifying glasses to examine and discuss the coins. Encourage children to identify pictures, letters, and numbers on coins and dollar bills. Invite children to make inferences about what the pictures mean. Recall people earn money from working at jobs. Discuss how people use money to buy things they need and want. Reviewing a consumer is someone who buys something. Display a credit card, a debit card, and a personal check on the table next to the money. Allow children to examine and describe differences in coins, dollar bills, credit cards, debit cards, and personal checks used to buy things.” In the same unit, students read Positions in Space by Vicki Gibson, where they learn math vocabulary by describing the relative positions of objects in space and understand opposites like above, apart, back, backward, below, and beside. In a math small group activity, “Review Numerals and Number Words,” the teacher places sets of toy trucks on a table, and the materials guide teachers to “Have children take turns identifying the number of trucks without counting. Then, have children match a numeral to the set to show how many. Place an index card with the printed number word next to the numeral. Shuffle the index cards and place them face down on the table along with piles of plastic numerals and trucks. With support, have each child draw a card, identify the number word, match a plastic numeral, and make a set of trucks to indicate the quantity. Once you confirm the quantity, have the child replace the card, numeral, and trucks. Then draw again.” The teacher scaffolds and supports the students to review numbers and number words. 

Unit 10 includes repeated and ongoing opportunities for children to hear and practice math vocabulary in whole and small groups, read-aloud books, and learning centers. The Lap book for math covers vocabulary words like problem, solved, more, same number, set, adding together, addition, subtraction, and take away. These same vocabulary words appear in the Instruction Routines #6, “Counting On” for Math and Science. The materials guide the teacher to form a horizontal row of ten blocks from left to right. The teacher demonstrates how to remove or take away blocks and count backward. Children count backward orally, removing one block at a time from 10 to 1. When teaching the concept of counting on and the concept of zero, the materials note that the teacher should ask children to make a fist, showing no fingers to be counted. The lesson is also extended into the solving subtraction problems lesson using blocks to solve subtraction word problems using the math vocabulary words of in all, take away, difference, and how many. The materials provide support for scaffolding the concept for number sense and problem-solving using the academic vocabulary of nothing to count, equals zero, and take away along with the instructor guidance for modeling the concept that helps scaffold and support student development of academic math vocabulary. Additionally, to provide repeated practice and to reinforce the math vocabulary in a variety of settings, children count off singing “Ten Little Butterflies” to count to 10 in a transition activity.

Evaluation for 8.1
Materials build science knowledge through inquiry-based instruction and exploration of the natural world.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 1, during the Science learning center activity “Rough or Smooth,” the teacher provides the materials of rough (sandpaper, rocks, carpet squares) and smooth items (pencils, blocks, plastic cups, puzzle pieces) for children to touch and hold each item, describing how each feels. Then, children sort items into two groups (rough and smooth). In a small group science activity, “Investigation: Review Sense of Smell,” the teacher displays containers with different items to smell, opening one container at a time while children take turns smelling to identify what is inside as the teacher directs children not to look at the items. After all the children have had a turn, the teacher discusses the contents, using a sentence frame, “What do you smell? I smell a …[object].” To extend the activity, children describe their favorite smells and discuss smells they do not like. Later in the unit, students participate in a Science learning activity, “What's That Smell?” in which they take turns smelling each bottle and describing what they smell. Children find a matching bottle for each smell and record their observations through discussion.

In Unit 4, children record their observations through discussion and using technology. In a small group science activity, “Discuss How Weather Affects Exercise Choices,” the materials guide teachers to display pictures of people engaging in different forms of exercise like playing sports, running or biking outdoors, working out in a gym, stretching, or attending fitness classes. Then, the class discusses how regular exercise strengthens bones and muscles, and children share personal stories of trying different forms of exercise, expressing their preferences. The teacher also wonders how changes in fall weather may affect the choices people make about exercising and participating in outdoor activities. The materials guide teachers to ask, “What changes do people need to make in colder fall weather?” and to, “Help children understand that in colder weather people need to wear warmer clothing, possibly work out indoors (e.g., if it is raining), or exercise in the afternoons, when the weather is warmest.” Students observe how the environment changes to discuss how weather affects exercise choices. Later, in the Science learning center activity “Discovery Center,” students examine acorns, vines, twigs, small branches, and leaves with magnifying glasses, drawing paper, and crayons, describing and discussing materials with friends and use crayons and drawing paper to make leaf rubbings or draw. The materials also provide suggestions for activities that encourage children to examine, compare, and explore with tools in the Science learning center activity “Hammering Pumpkins,” in which students use hammers to hammer tees into the pumpkins, then use the claw-end of the hammer to pull the tees from the pumpkin. Children engage in hands-on exploration consistently to learn about science concepts as they describe and discuss the texture and smell of the pumpkin before hammering the tees and after.

In a Unit 7 Science learning center activity, “Round Things Roll,” students engage in hands-on exploration activities to observe their natural environment while learning science concepts. The materials suggest to make ramps from baking sheets left smooth or covered with sandpaper or rubber shelf liner; round objects like lids, toilet paper rolls, dowels, PVC pipes; or clipboards, paper, and crayons to experiment to see what objects roll faster down an incline or how much push is needed to roll an object up an incline. Children experiment with different surfaces to see how surface conditions affect speed and distance. Later in the unit, students investigate and make predictions on the speed of the vehicles. The teacher displays the ramp from the previous activity and toy vehicles of various sizes to have children make predictions by asking and discussing, “Do you think a big car or a small car will roll faster down this ramp?” The children work in pairs to roll two vehicles at a time down the ramp and compare which vehicle rolls slower or faster, then take turns holding a big car in one hand and a small car in the other hand to compare their weight. The teacher helps facilitate the inquiry by asking questions like, “Which car is heavier?” and explaining “how weight affects speed and motion: the heavier an object is, the faster it travels when going down a ramp (slope).” Materials notes, “If children are ready, demonstrate and explain how a heavier vehicle goes slower when traveling up a ramp or hill.” Through these activities, the materials guide teachers to use children’s interests and topics about which they have questions as a basis for further exploration. The materials allow teachers to discuss and observe the children’s learning through investigation and reinforcing concepts.

In Unit 10’s Purposeful Play learning center for Science Discovery area in Dramatic Play, teachers have white shirts to mimic lab coats, goggles or frames without lenses, magnifying glasses, plastic insects, and gardening tools for students to conduct experiments about what materials are attracted to magnets, chemical reactions between baking soda and vinegar, and explore pollination in bees using cheese curls. Through these experiments, children observe how chemicals make changes over time and discuss the relationships between people, insects, and the environment.

Evaluation for 8.2
Materials build social studies knowledge through study of culture and community.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 2, the materials provide instruction that follows a logical sequence of social studies skills and concepts, moving from self to family to community, city, state, and country. The unit focuses on learning about self and family; students discuss the roles and responsibilities of family members and how their families are alike and different. Specifically, Week 1 discusses the roles and responsibilities of family members and similarities and differences in places families choose to live in and how they travel to and from their homes. Week 2 discusses places families go to and activities families do together. Week 3 discusses life cycles and how people’s body parts and activities change as they grow from baby to child to adult. Teachers introduce the idea of past, present, and future to children in a way that is age and developmentally appropriate through a read-aloud of “People Grow and Change” by Vicki Gibson in which teachers and students discuss the way babies change into children and later into adults so that students learn about different ages and life events. 

In Unit 4, the materials include opportunities for children to explore their community, including where they live and places they visit in the community by building it. During the Block learning center activity “Communities,” students use materials like wooden blocks, interlocking blocks, log-shaped blocks, vehicles, road signs, and small people to “work together to build a community of homes, stores, schools. Children role-play being community helpers and neighbors.” The guidance is provided to have children verbally identify and describe the buildings. Students explain who the consumer is, identify places to buy things or receive services, and discuss how people pay for things. In the unit, the materials also provide opportunities for children to learn about events that have happened in the past, the present, and will potentially happen in the future through a whole group read-aloud of Fall Season and Weather by J. R. Wilson. The teacher explains that this book is about the fall season and the changes that people, animals, and plants undergo in the fall. A discussion on how weather changes affect the world helps children connect their daily life to events, time, and routines. The materials provide suggestions for dramatic play experiences that replicate community experiences by the role-playing activity of being consumers. In a whole group activity, “Identify and Describe Community Helpers,” students discuss ways people work to earn money and buy things they need and want as consumers. In the Dramatic learning center activity “Restaurant,” the children use materials like a tablecloth, serving ware, plates, bowls, a small tray for serving, a pad of paper and crayons for taking orders, takeout menus, and pretend money to role-play being service workers as waitstaff, host/hostess, chef, or customers at a restaurant. 

In Unit 7, students compare the globe to a map, find the state they live in, identify land types and ways people travel on land, and vote on favorite places to visit or ways to travel. In a whole group activity read-aloud, How People Travel by J. R. Wilson, the teacher explains babies cannot travel by themselves when they are first born; babies have to be carried from one place to another until they learn to crawl. The teacher also discusses the order in which people learn to use their body parts to travel like crawl, stand, walk, run, and jump. The materials provide suggestions for teachers to use photographs in the book to introduce the concept of the past by explaining it means “something that already happened, maybe a long time ago and explain that in the past there were no cars, trucks, buses, or airplanes. People walked or rode horses to go from one place to another.” 

In Unit 10, the materials provide suggestions for dramatic play experiences that replicate community experiences, incorporating money and the exchange of goods and services. During a whole group language and literacy lesson, the collaborative conversation activity discusses travel and vacations. The teacher “review[s] that people [consumers] work to earn money to buy things their families need and want...” mentioning adults earning money from work so their families can go on vacations to different places. The class discusses how families may enjoy going on summer vacations because the weather is warmer; children are invited to make connections by sharing personal stories of different family trips they have taken while the teacher guides the discussion to involve how different families like going to different places or doing different activities such as the beach, hiking, or visiting family members who live far away. The materials also present lessons and activities that avoid negative connotations and instead teach about acceptance of any contribution as valid when sharing personal stories. The class reads the story “Summer Days” by J. R. Wilson that addresses holidays and traditions, and students take turns sharing and role-playing their favorite summer activities such as hiking, swimming, and riding bicycles. The teacher ensures each child has a turn to share by letting the sharer hold a bean bag so that students share talking and listening time. After the discussion, the teacher helps children self-reflect on how they managed their collaborative conversation by prompting, "Did you use kind words to ask questions and offer compliments?" and affirms their responses. 

Evaluation for 8.3
Materials expose children to fine arts through exploration.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Unit 2 includes daily opportunities for children to explore multiple mediums of art concepts and skills, including dance, music, dramatic play, painting, sculpture, drawing, and others integrated across the instructional materials. Transition activities found at the beginning of each week include rhymes and songs with movements to expose children to music, dancing, and singing. In the same unit, children act out the rhyme “My Friends at School.” The materials also include several opportunities for open-ended art where students can create at their own pace. In dramatic play, students use crayons and four-inch construction papers to create a mosaic and draw freely for creative expression.

In Unit 4’s Transition activity song “In the Fall,” the teacher teaches the song to the tune of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain," invites children to sing along and includes opportunities for movement and dance with a rich selection of music and songs in different parts of the day. In the same unit, the materials provide suggestions for including painting as an art activity for different purposes. At the Art learning center activity “Sponge Painting or Free Coloring,” students use sponges or cut pieces of potatoes to dip in paint and lightly press onto art paper to make designs. Children may also color freely or complete a previously taught directed drawing. 

In Unit 5, during a lesson on letter knowledge, students use modeling clay to make letters. While learning about the weather, children use pre-cut shapes, cotton balls, glue sticks, and pictures to create artworks showing the weather in the art center, and students are encouraged to share their artwork with no specific finish product requirement. Teachers help students develop thinking skills and participate in open-ended art experiences rather than focus on the end product. 

In Unit 7, multiple mediums are integrated across the instructional materials during transition, small and whole group, learning centers, and wrap-up activities. In a small group activity, “Make Blot Art Design,” the teacher gives each child an apron, a paintbrush, and a piece of art paper and then provides paint on paper plates and reviews how to fold paper in half. The children copy the teacher model, then unfold the paper. The teacher explains to children that they are going to make blot art designs by painting a picture on one side of the paper and then pressing the paper together to make a design on the other side. The materials include suggestions for the teacher to connect the art across instructional materials by “discussing how the design looks like on the other side of the paper, only opposite (like a mirror).” In the Art Learning Activity “Creative Center,” the children “choose a previously introduced directed drawing to complete, or combine strokes and shapes to create their own drawings. Children add details with crayons or markers. Children fold and tear paper and glue pieces to make designs” to express their personal experiences, thoughts, and ideas. 

In Unit 10, the dramatic play includes purposeful play centers for insect summer Olympics, painting using plastic bugs, using modeling clay to sculpt insects, and acting out during transition activities for “The Butterfly” theme. Later in a small group activity in which students make ladybugs, teachers explain the process by describing first how to trace and cut a large semi-circle. Then, the teacher models a five-step process to draw a ladybug and attach it to a headband to support and encourage exploration. 

Evaluation for 8.4
Materials include technology applications.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In Unit 1, during a whole group math activity “Review Loud and Soft Sounds,” the materials note the teacher should use technology to play loud and soft sounds from Benchmark Universe or the Internet and to “Have children stand up when they hear a loud sound and sit down when the sound is soft” to support new learning. During the transition activity in “Marching to Musical Rhythms,” the teacher uses technology to play music with different tempos and rhythms, such as the Samba Action Clip and the Waltz Action Clip from Benchmark Universe to help students learn new musical concepts. Children explore and use various age-appropriate digital tools in a small group math activity “Identify Common Sounds” when, after reviewing the names of digitals tools in the classroom, students take turns using technology to access the sounds library on Benchmark Universe, playing and identifying environmental sounds for sirens, birds chirping, dogs barking, and car horns. 

In a Unit 4 small group math activity, “Identify Colors in Environmental Print,” the teacher uses technology to show other examples of environmental print and colors used to warn people of danger like emergency signs and product warning labels. In the whole group math/science activity “Teach Safe Habits,” the teacher uses technology to show smoke coming out from a fire. The teacher explains to children what to do if they encounter smoke in a building by saying, “If you see or smell a lot of smoke, get down low and crawl out of the building. Smoke moves up (use arms to demonstrate), so if you get down low and crawl, you can exit safely.” Children act out this scenario by replicating the movements the teacher explains. 

In a Unit 7 whole group language activity “Discuss the Concept of the Past,” the teacher uses technology to show pictures of the Old West before vehicles were invented to emphasize how many people rode horses if they needed to travel a long way and note that some horses pulled wagons or carriages. Students role-play riding a horse. In a small group language activity, “Complete a Directed Drawing: Truck,” the students “use technology to research images that support their stories and create a digital poster with stories and images. The children take turns sharing their work and make positive comments about their friends’ work.”

In unit 8, the students use age-appropriate technology by making a video about the water cycle. Each student represents the different states of the water cycle, and they act it out in a video. 

In a Unit 10 whole group lesson discussion about colony insects, students use technology to conduct research and gather evidence on their topic-based interests, such as, “What types of jobs are included in an ant colony?” The materials provide guidance on choosing age-appropriate links and images to find information as well as information on how to approach internet safety when conducting online research. Additionally, teachers use technology to show videos of insects helping the environment through pollinating plants, eating other harmful insects, and eating debris and decaying material in a whole group Life Science lesson. 

Evaluation for 9.1
Materials include developmentally-appropriate diagnostic tools (e.g. formative and summative progress monitoring) and guidance for teachers, students, and administrators to monitor progress.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Instructional materials provide an overview of the variety of diagnostic tools that are developmentally appropriate throughout the program and located in the program resource “Guía de evaluación.” In the guide, information is provided for the “Evaluación inicial de nivel, Evaluaciones de observación, recursos para verificar el progreso, y evaluación integral de Benchmark.” According to the assessment guide, “Hay múltiples opciones de evaluación y de herramientas de medición en el programa Listos y adelante.” The assessment resource guide recommends the teacher use the Evaluación inicial de nivel to gather reference data regarding child competencies at the beginning of the school year or when the child starts the program. The “Evaluaciones de observación” is also available for anecdotal teacher notes and student work samples. The program Listos y adelante includes a specific unit resource that helps verify student progress for the end of each unit. Review lessons “Las lecciones de enseñanza adicional” are available at the end of each unit to help supervise the student progress and provide additional practice for focused skills. Additionally, the Benchmark Comprehensive Evaluation “la Evaluación integral de Benchmark” is a cumulative assessment that can be administered 2-3 times a year to verify student learning data and the progress towards results reflected in guidelines and state standards.

The program includes a family engagement component, “Conexión entre la casa y la escuela.” The materials provide a variety of resources, such as a “Calendario de actividades para la casa por unidad, Cartas a la familia, Desarrollar conexiones entre la casa y la escuela.” However, the material does not provide parents with input and understanding regarding the assessment results. “El calendario” provides monthly suggested activities that can be done at home with the student. For example, “Conversar, Motive al niño/a a que exprese lo que siente al ir a la escuela por primera vez. Cuente al niño/a cómo se sentía usted cuando hacía algo por primera vez, como ir a la escuela o iniciar un trabajo.” However, the assessment tool does not include resources and recommendations for engaging families in providing input or understanding assessment results.

The progress-monitoring tool is designed to allow students to demonstrate understanding in small group and whole group instruction. For example, in “Recursos de la unidad, Supervisar el progreso,” teachers are invited to take data by observing the student with the guidance of the progress-monitoring tool during a whole group lesson, small group lesson, and in an individual one to one setting. For example, “Unidad 2, Herramienta para supervisar el progreso,” the teacher monitors the student’s behavior and emotions in a whole group setting. The teacher evaluates a student for following 2-3 step directions in a small group lesson or a one to one session. The materials provide a progress-monitoring tool that allows the teacher to see academic growth in age-appropriate outcomes to help guide student progress and provide additional support.

The materials provide a comprehensive assessment located in the “Evaluación Integral de Benchmark.” According to the Guía de evaluación, “Sección 1: Panorama general, Opciones de evaluación,” the tools are designed to allow students to demonstrate understanding in a variety of ways and settings. Included are Entry Level Screener, Observational Assessments, Progress-Monitoring, and The Benchmark Comprehensive Assessment. The Entry Level Screener (ELS) gathers baseline data about a child’s competencies at the beginning of a year or upon entry to a program. The Observational Assessments include anecdotal evidence and children’s work samples. Progress-Monitoring Tools are used to report children’s progress at the end of each of the ten units. The Benchmark Comprehensive Assessment (BCA) is a summative assessment administered 2–3 times per year to collect comprehensive data. The full recommended assessment schedule includes ELS administered in August/September, Benchmark 1 in October/November, Benchmark 2 in January/February, and Benchmark 3 in April/May. The formal and informal diagnostic tools that are included are developmentally appropriate and are located in the Guía de evaluación.

The materials include opportunities for the students to track their own progress and growth using Portfolios and Mailboxes. In the Guía de evaluación, “Sección 2: Evaluaciones de observación-Cómo usar portafolios y buzones,” work samples are kept in folders throughout the week. The teacher puts the daily assignment in the student’s two-pocket folder with the left-side labeled “Hacer” and the right-side labeled “Hecho.” At week’s end, the teacher may create work packets for children by stacking the assignments and organizing them by academic content area. Work packets may be sent home to families and caregivers showing student learning and progress. In the “Gestión del salón de clases, Capítulo 4: Prepararse para la enseñanza y la práctica,” there are opportunities for students to plan and monitor their progress with Student Contracts. Students record their choices for learning centers as a first experience with monitoring their progress. According to the “Planificar y supervisar el progreso mediante contratos de estudiante,” the student will keep contracts in Do/Done Folders and remain at school. At the end of a week, the teacher attaches a completed contract to a child’s work packet and sends it home to share information about learning and progress with caregivers. 

The material includes informal measures, such as a checklist for specific behaviors or skills based on a developmental continuum, to evaluate skill development for Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines for social and emotional, language and communication, language and emergent literacy and writing, comprehension, writing, math, science, physical development and technology domains for the end of each unit. In “Recursos de la unidad, Supervisar el progreso,” the progress-monitoring tool provides outcome performances in the ten Learning Domains that are rated by the teacher using a scale from 0 to 5: 0-No Evidence, 1-Early/Pre-Emerging, 2-Emerging, 3-Developing, 4-Confident/Appropriate Use, 5-Extends; Makes Connections. Teachers can analyze the results of the progress monitoring tool and use the additional review lessons to help students struggling to master content. These lessons may be used to monitor progress or to reteach and extend the concepts or skills on the checklist.

Evaluation for 9.2
Materials include guidance for teachers and administrators to analyze and respond to data from diagnostic tools.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include recommendations to support teachers in adjusting instruction to meet child needs based on data from developmentally appropriate assessments in a few domains. The “Guía de evaluación,” “Sección 4: Recursos para verificar el progreso - Cómo usar los datos,” includes an example outline of the Extra Practice Lessons to be used for Language and Literacy, Math, and Science. Social and Emotional Development, Physical Development, Writing, Fine Arts, and Technology could not be located. The materials provide limited support for teachers to identify areas of the materials that need modification based on the assessment tool results. The Guía de evaluación, Sección 4: Recursos para verificar el progreso-Cómo usar los datos, provides guidance for adjusting instruction by strategically grouping students, identifying concepts to develop, and using target lesson or daily lesson to support student growth. However, there is no specific support for the material modifications. The materials do not include guidance for administrators to support teachers in planning for instruction to respond to data. The materials include a rating scale that guides teachers to rate student progress.

The materials include guidance to support teachers in understanding results of diagnostic tools in Guía de evaluación, “Sección 1: Panorama general,” which provides teacher guidance on how to collect evidence of a child’s learning and progress. During instruction time, teachers observe and monitor children’s response to instruction. The teacher observes as children demonstrate their understanding during whole-class activities, while collaborating with peers in small groups, or while working individually with an adult. The teacher reviews work samples and analyzes changes in children’s performance over time.

In addition, the materials provide teacher guidance for when to assess and collect data. The materials provide teachers with the following guidance: “Identifying assessment windows, or a three-week time period when teachers should begin and complete more comprehensive children’s assessments, appears to work best. Scheduling assessments and time periods for reporting progress should not interfere with classroom instruction and learning.” The diagnostic tools provide teachers with results that are easy to interpret to support understanding of child developmental levels. Guía de evaluación, “Sección 5: Evaluación integral de Benchmark, Cómo calificar e informar sobre el progreso” provides teachers with a rating scale that indicates the child's level of performance. The rating scale is used to represent learning and progress.

The materials recommend downward and upward scaffolds included in planned lessons for intervention or support based on data gathered. All units have the section “Lecciones de repaso,” and each lesson contains a differentiation section, “Instrucción Diferenciada” and “Ampliar el Aprendizaje,” that provides the teacher with differentiated instruction and extended learning lessons. For example, in Unit 10, Lecciones de repaso, Social and Emotional Learning, Differentiated Instruction, during the read-aloud of El pequeño Alvin, the teacher models fluent reading, pausing for children’s comments and questions, and helps children look back in the text to find answers to questions about the story. The teacher uses guiding questions, such as, ¿Cómo se siente Alvin cuando las otras hormigas se burlan de él? (Alvin feels sad.). ¿Cómo se siente Alvin cuando está decidiendo si ayuda a la hormiga león o no? (Alvin is scared). Other guidance includes: Conduct a picture walk, which helps scaffold down for students; Point to the main character and focus on expressions, and have children name and describe Alvin’s feelings; Discuss how Alvin feels when the other ants say words that hurt his feelings; Invite children to make connections by sharing personal stories of experiences when they have had their feelings hurt. Teachers are to continue modifying and adjusting instruction based on using the upward and downward scaffolding.

Evaluation for 9.3
Materials include frequent, embedded opportunities for monitoring progress.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

In “Guía de evaluación,” “Panorama general,” “Opciones de evaluación,” the materials provide the teacher with three different assessments: the “Evaluación inicial de nivel,” “Recursos para verificar el progreso,” and “Evaluación integral de Benchmark,” along with a suggested timeline. The Evaluación inicial de nivel gathers baseline data about a child’s competencies at the beginning of a year or upon entry to a program. The Recursos para verificar el progreso may be used to report children’s progress at the end of each unit. The Evaluación integral de Benchmark is a summative assessment that may be administered 2–3 times per year to collect more comprehensive data about children’s learning and progress toward achieving outcomes reflected in state guidelines and standards. The materials include suggested timelines for checking progress. 

The materials include a progress monitoring checklist within each unit. The checklist is a curriculum-based measurement, meaning it is designed to measure learning concepts and skills taught during a unit of study. The unit checklist may be used every three to four weeks to monitor and report a child’s learning. Data from teacher observations and interactions with children, along with observations of children demonstrating how to perform tasks, may be used to complete the unit checklist. The unit checklist includes a rating scale that uses numbers to represent progress and needs. The rating scale provides a systematic way for teachers to estimate and report a child’s progress based on observations, running records, and work samples.

The materials provide suggestions for tracking progress in an ongoing and observational manner that will show a picture of growth over time to support appropriate assessment practices. In “Escritura emergente Guía,” the guide follows learning progressions for developing emergent writing skills. First, children learn to use the correct body posture and grip by painting, folding, and tearing paper. Then children learn to use pre-writing strokes for printing letters and words for written expression. Writing skills are assessed using the developmental stages of writing to document progress, as evidenced by writing samples collected over time, using “Escritura emergente Volumen 1” and “Escritura emergente Volumen 2.” The materials guide the teacher on how to use developmental stages of writing to document student progress by collecting student writing samples over time.

The assessment guide states that the progress monitoring can be administered three times per year: “La Evaluación integral de Benchmark se puede aplicar tres veces en un año. Las competencias incluidas en la evaluación se pueden evaluar más adelante en el otoño, una vez que los niños hayan desarrollado relaciones con los docentes y se sientan más cómodos trabajando en tareas más desafiantes.” The materials include formal and informal diagnostic tools that are developmentally appropriate and are located in the “Guía de evaluación.” For example, “Sección 2: Evaluaciones de observación” are used for both formal and informal assessments. Also located in the Guía de evaluación, “Sección 3: Evaluación inicial de nivel” is given as a diagnostic tool that assesses 8 of 10 learning domains and is given prior to instruction. In “Seccion 4, Recursos para verificar el progreso,” there are two options to use to monitor the progress of the students. Included in the assessments are Observational Assessments; Entry Level Screener, Form A is for 48-60 months and Form B is for 36-48 months. 

The materials provide options for progress monitoring that are appropriate for the age and the content skill: “Sección 5: Evaluación integral de Benchmark.” The “Evaluación integral de Benchmark–Formulario de registro” is provided for progress monitoring to be used throughout the year.

Evaluation for 10.1
Materials include guidance, scaffolds, supports, and extensions that maximize student learning potential.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include a support section during the lessons with a callout box titled “Prácticas para mejorar.” This section at the end of the lesson provides the teacher with guidance to support developing the concept further and targets students who have not yet mastered the skill or concept being taught. In Unit 5, during whole group instruction “Enfoque Diario,” for literacy and SEL instruction, the teacher is provided support for struggling students as the class recalls a story read aloud and discusses sequencing in the correct order. The “Prácticas para mejorar” callout box says: “Ayude a los niños a entender que el autor crea una historia con acciones y sucesos que ocurren en un orden o secuencia. Cuando volvemos a contar una historia, hablamos de las acciones y sucesos en el mismo orden en el que ocurren en la historia.” This type of callout box is found throughout the lessons and focuses on supports for struggling students. 

The materials provide differentiated instruction to be used during small group lessons for literacy and math. The materials include guidance for targeted instruction and activities for children who have mastered content. For instance, in Unit 7, the small group lesson for math and science, in the “Ampliar el aprendizaje” section of the “Instrucción diferenciada,” the teacher challenges student learning by experimenting with weight. During this lesson, students go beyond comparing the weight of two objects. Students use a bucket scale to compare the weight of various objects. Then the students place all the objects in order based on weight, from lightest to heaviest. Then students explain how they determined the order of classification. This activity takes students from simple comparison to classification with explanation for object order. 

In Unit 10, “Lecciones de repaso, Matemáticas y Ciencia,” after whole group instruction, the material provides guidance for scaffolding down instruction. The materials guide the teacher to review the number sets created during whole group instruction and simplify the lesson by focusing on one-to-one correspondence from 1–10. The materials guide teachers to model for students how to make cards that have an object representation, in this case, cereal. The teacher models the activity: 1 X; 2 XX; 3 XXX. Then, in small group instruction, the teacher points to the numerals while rote counting aloud, 1–10. The students practice by making their own using numerals printed 1–10 in a vertical line on a piece of construction paper. Students copy the model to position the papers vertically. The teacher demonstrates how to dip a piece of cereal in glue and place it by the numeral 1, and then repeat the routine for numbers 2–10, adding cereal pieces in horizontal lines to the right of each numeral: 1 X; 2 XX; 3 XXX. The teacher points to numerals; students touch cereal pieces and count to tell how many are in each set. This activity supports struggling learners with a visual representation and numeral representation of the numbers 1–10 and one-to-one correspondence. 

Each unit includes “el uso de la tecnología en la enseñanza diaria,” which has enrichment activities that are connected to the unit theme. For example, in Unidad 3, the task is to create a presentation about places in a community. The teacher is guided to review digital safety practices and citizenship. Other examples are to create a presentation using the search feature of a smart device selecting images from the internet. The enrichment activity provides children the opportunities to explore and apply new learning in a variety of ways and in a different modality. 

The instructional materials contain guidance, scaffolds, supports, and extensions that maximize student learning potential. Throughout the curriculum, the materials provide recommended targeted instruction and activities for students who have not yet mastered the content. In addition, the materials provide recommended targeted instruction and activities for students who have mastered content but are not recommended for independent student learning.

Evaluation for 10.2
Materials provide a variety of instructional methods that appeal to a variety of learning interests and needs.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide whole and small group daily lessons that incorporate a variety of instructional approaches for scaffolding learning and differentiating activities based on targeted areas. There are three areas for explicit differentiated instruction: “Desarrollar destrezas fundamentales,” “Enseñar destrezas y conceptos,” and “Ampliar el aprendizaje.” The materials also include downward supports throughout the lessons using callout boxes that provide teacher tips. 

The whole group lessons were designed to follow a gradual release method, as stated in the Unit opener, and are structured to grow in complexity throughout the year. The learning progressions are described as “HEAR: develop phonological awareness, listening comprehension, and oral language, SEE: deepening concept knowledge with visuals, SAY: using oral language to communicate needs and express ideas, to DO: participate in collaborative role-play and centers to demonstrate learning.” Through this method, students are engaged in various modalities and have practice in guiding their own learning. 

The materials include a resource guide, “Rutinas de ensenañza,” to provide a variety of instructional methods and approaches that appeal to different learning interests and needs throughout all units to engage students in mastery of the content. Developmentally appropriate instructional strategies (e.g., visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, etc.) are cited in the Instructional Routines Flip Guide Resource Guide. Materials support flexible grouping (e.g., whole, small, individual) in all units and daily lessons. Materials support multiple types of practices (e.g., guided, independent, collaborative) and provide guidance and structures to achieve effective implementation throughout each unit with guidance for daily instruction for whole and small group lessons. 

In the Unit 3 whole group math lesson, the materials use visuals and real objects to support student understanding. The teacher is guided to show a ball, provide a content poster as visual support, and pose questions for understanding. “Muestre una pelota. Recuerde a los niños que las figuras redondas no tienen esquinas. Muestre el rectángulo de cartulina. Pregunte a los niños si esa figura es redonda. ‘¿Esta figura es redonda? (no) Correcto, la figura no es redonda. ¿Cómo lo saben? (La figura tiene esquinas). Sí, la figura tiene esquinas. Estas son las esquinas. (Señale las esquinas).’” The teacher then continues to model and have students repeat the attributes to describe an object. The teacher uses real-life objects to demonstrate and provide content access for learner needs. “Muestre objetos rectangulares (por ejemplo: caja de pañuelos, bloques). Use su dedo para tocar y repasar los atributos en el mismo orden con cada objeto: cuatro esquinas, dos lados largos, dos lados cortos.”

The materials provide the teacher with purposeful play for centers throughout each unit, which are developmentally appropriate activities that promote visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and tactile strategies. During Unit 5 math centers, “Recursos de la semana, Centros de aprendizaje,” teachers are guided to use playdough to provide a tactile experience for students. The students are encouraged to use playdough to create shapes using cookie cutters and describe the attributes of each shape. Students practice fine motor coordination by pinching, rolling, and patting dough. Students pinch and roll small balls for counting and solving additional word problems using work mats. In addition, in the music center, students are encouraged to listen to songs sung around the world for various celebrations while exploring pictures and books about various celebrations. The materials provide visual, kinesthetic, and tactile activities that promote developmentally appropriate instructional strategies.

In Unit 10, whole group literacy lesson, “Lecciones de lenguaje,” the materials use visual supports in connection with phonological awareness skills to help students’ language development. The materials guide the teacher to make the connection between sound and letter symbol as students focus on final sounds. The teacher says a word, emphasizing the final sound, and has children produce the ending sound and name the letter. The teacher then holds up the “Letter Card” that matches the final sound. The teacher says, “¿Qué sonido escuchan al final de isla? (/a/) ¿Qué letra corresponde al sonido /a/? (a) Sí, la letra a corresponde al sonido /a/.” The teacher repeats the routine with the following word cards, “Tarjetas de imágenes: frijol, bus, nido, pie.” Through the use of “Letter Cards,” students can make associations and internalize the new learning.

Evaluation for 10.3
Materials include supports for English Learners (ELs) to meet grade-level learning expectations.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide a supplemental resource to the unit guides titled “Strategies for Supporting Language Learners.” This component includes “research-supported instructional design…to meaningfully engage English Learners in intellectually rich, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that foster high levels of English proficiency.” The initial pages of this resource include Proficiency Level Descriptors that list key characteristics of emerging bilingual students as well as a global definition of the abilities for each level: beginning, intermediate, advanced, and advanced high. Sections available in this resource provide guidance on how to support students in the various stages of language acquisition. Sections include: “Linguistic Accommodations, English Learners Grouping Strategies, Primary Language Support, Questioning Strategies, Basic Language Functions, Vocabulary and Concept Development, Cognates, Sound-Spelling Transfer, Translanguaging, Making Cross-Linguistic Connections, Routines in English and Spanish, Retelling a Story, Summarizing Informational Text, Shared Writing, Expressive Writing, and Contrastive Analysis Charts.” 

The Linguistic Accommodations section provides instructional guidance for each of the language domains: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and media. The guidance is differentiated for each of the various stages of language acquisition. For example, guidance for an Intermediate Speaking suggestion states, “Ask simple who, what, when, where, questions. Provide language structures for interactions.” 

The section titled English Learners Grouping Strategies provides grouping variations for teachers to consider when working with emerging bilingual students in different levels of language acquisition. Guidance also states benefits of using this type of grouping. For example, by pairing English Learners who share a home language, a benefit is that “students can comfortably share and build on ideas.” 

The section titled Questioning Strategies states that “English Learners at every proficient level must be able to demonstrate high-level thinking, while still developing language. Research has shown that higher levels of student engagement are a robust predictor of student achievement and behavior in School (Klem & Connell, 2004).” The guidance states that questions should be scaffolded to match the student’s level of language acquisition and provides sample teacher prompts for each stage. For example for the Beginning - Early Production Stage - a teacher prompt states, “ Yes/no questions. Either/or questions. Simple text. Dependent who, what, where questions with visual support.” The following section, Question Words, provides key language and visuals to help educators convey and make meaning of the questions that are presented in English and in Spanish. 

In the lesson “Rutinas de enseñanza, Lenguaje y escritura, Rutina 3,” the teacher provides routines for vocabulary development in the lesson “Enseñar palabras de vocabulario.” The materials provide teachers with the following strategies specifically for English Learners as denoted by an EL symbol: act it out (TPR), use in primary language, provide examples and non-examples, and use sentence starters. This resource is designed for incorporation into daily instruction and only includes one general strategy per routine. Because only one strategy is introduced and used at a time, this limits the teacher’s ability to meet the needs of varying levels of English language proficiency. However, teachers can use the guidance from Strategies for Supporting Language Learners to supplement the activity and support the various levels of English acquisition. 

Unit lessons for daily instruction in whole and small group settings include the EL symbol to denote the lessons that support ELs. For instance, Unit 8 includes the following vocabulary-building routine: “Vocabulario: oruga, algodoncillo, mariposa, brote, necesita. Estructura: ‘Me gusta ir a... (lugar o actividad) con mi abuelo/a. Nos gusta... (actividad). Mi abuelo/a me ayuda a... (tarea).’ Aplicación: Ayude a los niños a practicar el uso de pronombres personales y posesivos pidiéndoles que compartan sus lugares favoritos y las actividades que hacen con sus familiares.” The materials provide the teacher with a vocabulary building strategy that is incorporated on a daily basis to be used in the child's native language, but guidance is lacking to support linguistics commensurate with varying levels of language proficiency in a second language. However, teachers can use the guidance from Strategies for Supporting Language Learners to supplement the activity and support the various levels of English acquisition. 

In Unit 6 whole group lessons for “Lenguaje y comunicación,” a lesson begins with “Enfoque diario,” which focuses the lesson on the unit theme for living and nonliving things. There is an EL symbol denoting EL support. The unit guide lists “vocabulario: encontrar, palabra que nombra y palabra que indica acción; Aplicación: ayudar a los niños identificar sustantivos y verbos usando oraciones de una historia familiar leída en voz alta.” 

Guidance is not defined for accommodation for linguistics for English Language learners and does not offer interlinguistic support to develop student skills. However, teachers can use the guidance from Strategies for Supporting Language Learners to supplement the activity and support the various levels of English acquisition. 

Evaluation for 11.1
Materials include year-long plans with practice and review opportunities that support instruction.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The “Program Guide” provides an overview of the components to be taught for the year divided into two sections: Units 1–5 and Units 6–10 and states that the program provides sequential activities scaffolded from simple to complex and from a short period of time to longer timed activities, yet the materials state that the children will gain expertise over the course of the year. It does not state the children will use these acquired skills on another grade level, and the materials do not include guidance that supports the teacher in understanding the vertical alignment for all content domains as they connect to the Kindergarten – Grade 2 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills.

Each “Unit Guide” includes year-long plans and content delivery for providing instruction in whole group, small group, and review lessons, as well as a fold-out chart listing instructions across the learning domains for each unit; however, each unit does not include review lessons that support instruction across all domains. The thematic units begin with child-focused themes (for example, all about me and family and friends), evolve to address a child’s environment (community jobs and celebrations), and finally take a more global view of the world surrounding the child (growing things and insects). In Unit 1, during a math activity, the students read aloud Same and Different by Vicki Gibson to describe objects by shape, color, and size. In Unit 5, the materials include lessons that incorporate literacy and social studies embedded in the read-aloud time. During a whole group, the teacher reads Special Celebrations by Vicki Gibson, and the students engage in cultural activities of different celebrations at the same time they are engaging with literacy content and skills. The materials also provide an opportunity for students to integrate physical development into the dramatic learning area where students play charades, acting out roles and responsibilities of community helpers. Similarly, in a Unit 7 activity, “Introduce Earth,” the materials incorporate geography into the language domain to introduce Earth as a place where people, animals, plants live and grow. Additionally, the materials offer a variety of independent centers in which students have the opportunity to practice vocabulary, math skills, reading skills, and others simultaneously. For example, in Unit 8, the dramatic play is a weather station in which students practice science and literacy skills. In Unit 9, materials include review and practice opportunities embedded in activities like purposeful play centers to allow children to extend and practice what they learned in the math center (what weighs more?). The students fill containers by pouring beans or corn from one container to another using a funnel and weigh and compare the weights of each container to develop math vocabulary and hand/eye coordination.

Evaluation for 11.2
Materials include implementation support for teachers and administrators.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Materials provide a “Scope and Sequence Guide” for each unit that includes what is to be taught weekly across all learning domains according to the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. The materials also include a “Quick Skills Checklist” that notes essential knowledge and skills to be taught such as alphabetic knowledge and phonological/phonemic awareness, prewriting instruction for drawing, printing letters/numerals, shapes/colors, and numerals/number words, and vocabulary development and oral language. The materials contain “Unit Opener,” “Components at a Glance,” “Instruction Across the Learning Domains,” “Monitor Progress,” “Vocabulary and Suggested Trade Books,” and “Unit Materials to Collect” in the “Unit Resources” for support in the implementation of materials across all units. 

The materials are provided in both digital and print form for easy accessing and storing; the online portal separates each component according to function. For example, videos are distinct from Unit Guides, which are separate from read-aloud books, small group lap books, emergent reader books, trade books and lesson guidance, literacy and mathematics posters, take-home student books, family engagement guides, props, and guide and foundational skill toolkit items such as letter cards and retelling cards. The materials do not clearly indicate that the resources can be used by administrators to support the teacher in implementing the materials to appropriate learning environments or structures. The materials include a booklet with instructional strategies to use during lessons that aid the teacher in introducing new math and literacy skills but do not list any tools to support administrators in recognizing best instructional practices and arrangements in the prekindergarten classroom.

The materials include a “Program Guide” that includes the components “Program Overview,” “Efficient Routines and Procedures,” “Effective Instructional Design,” and “Excellent Program Resources and Instructional Components” to support teachers in understanding how to use the materials. For example, the developmental stages for emergent literacy in writing are included in the Program Guide to provide teacher guidance on recognizing the progression from scribbling to drawing, copying, printing, and writing. The guide describes how to use program materials across all domains of content, including manipulatives such as bean bags and colorful cones. Program materials list an e-planner, but it was not found on the portal at the time of review.

The materials provide lessons and activities to support a full year of instruction in a prekindergarten classroom. There are ten thematic units that each include a unit overview and a weekly overview and are divided into three weeks each allowing for adequate amounts of instruction for the school year. The materials provide enough timing to teach skills and review them within each unit. The lessons are reasonably timed throughout the day; for instance, the “Daily Focus” is labeled as 5 minutes, the “Daily Routines” 10–20 minutes, “Read Aloud” 10–15 minutes, wrap-up activity 5 minutes, and transition activities are timed for 10–15 minutes. 

Evaluation for 11.3
Materials provide implementation guidance to meet variability in programmatic design and scheduling considerations.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The “Scope and Sequence Program Guide” describes the progression of instruction of specific skills in the “Quick Skills Checklists” that include: alphabetic knowledge and phonological/phonemic awareness with the sequence for instruction of sounds and letters throughout the Units 1–10 as well as more advanced phonics in Units 6–10, prewriting instruction, directed drawings, shapes, colors, numerals/number words, vocabulary development, and oral language including ASL hand signs. One example of learning progressions is the activities for teaching writing skills in sequential order. In Unit 1, teachers introduce the pre-writing stroke “Up and Around.” In Unit 4, students use pre-writing strokes, repeat chants, and combine small shapes to make a larger shape. By Unit 7, students complete a directed drawing of a truck. While the materials follow a developmentally appropriate progression of skills, there is no opportunity for the teacher to strategically implement intervention activities based upon the needs of the classroom or individual students.

The materials support programs that are full- and half-day. The materials include full- and half-day daily schedule sample instructions in the “Classroom Management Guide” under “Implementing Routines with Management Tools.” The materials include activities designed for each component of the daily schedule, whether it is a full or half-day, and recommend to include 3–4 time periods of small group instruction, two periods of whole group instruction, and transition activities when changing from small group rotations. The materials provide a Scope and Sequence and a Week at a Glance schedule, but they do not provide a lesson plan or lesson planning support for teachers to follow. The “Unit Guide” mentions an e-planner component as an online program resource, but the resource was not included in the printed materials nor the digital portal provided for the lesson plan template at the time of review. 

Evaluation for 11.4
Materials provide guidance on fostering connections between home and school.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials. 

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials’ Family Engagement component provides recommendations to encourage strong relationships between teachers and parents. Under the Home-School Connections, teachers can find resources titled Building the Home‑School Connection, Suggestions for Interactive Parent Meetings, Parent Letters, Unit Take‑Home Activity Calendars, and Unit Take‑Home Books. The materials include suggestions for interactive parent meetings, such as scheduling monthly 45-minute interactive meetings to promote communication and build relationships with parents or caregivers. Topics suggested to discuss are Getting Acquainted, Home and School Working Together, Teaching the Whole Child, Respectful Communication and Responsible Decision-Making, Developing Emergent Language and Literacy, and Developing Early Reading Skills. The Home-School Connections also include guidance on welcoming families via a welcome letter, having a communication board, obtaining contact information, implementing safety routines and procedures, sharing children’s work and progress, and communicating expectations in school at home. The take-home activity calendars available in both English and Spanish include weekly activities for letters and sounds, math, and talk time and provide the unit’s “Essential Question” to guide discussion and activities related to the theme of study. 

The take-home books are available in a printed color version and reproducible template to allow for engaging conversation and building vocabulary. The take-home reproducible books can be read by caretakers in the home environment and are modified versions, which may include editing for a shortened version as the reproducibles are limited to eight pages or two full-page printouts. 

The materials contain blank copies of any progress-monitoring forms that will be used to document student progress and are recommended to be included in parent activity sessions. The materials also provide guidance on how to discuss end-of-year outcomes with parents. 

The dashboard that can be accessed through the online portal includes a tab on remote teaching and learning digital resources, but it is unclear if these resources are included in the program design or supplemental. 

Evaluation for 11.5
The visual design of student and teacher materials (whether in print or digital) is neither distracting nor chaotic.

The evidence from the English materials in this report can be verified in full within the translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Printed and digital instructional materials are designed with bright, colorful images that are informative and not visually distracting. The images include a variety of illustrations along with photographs to ensure student learning is enhanced with real-world images and appropriate use of white space. The digital software is designed to ensure that the graphic elements of the digital materials are similar to the graphics on the printed materials. The icons are both the same in digital and printed material. 

Student instructional materials provide engaging imagery that is not distracting but theme-related and supporting to student learning. For example, Program Letter Cards include letters and pictures that present content for student-friendly use. Sound symbol cards also include letters and images related to the letter. Student high-frequency cards are printed on durable card stock. The retelling and concept development cards feature both illustrations according to the text and engaging images related to the instructional theme and concept. For example, in the Unit 4 Poster, Fall is Here, the graphics are red and black in color, and the pictures are visually appealing and tied to the theme.

The instructional materials include authentic pictures in color, clear design, and vivid. The pictures are of real people and associate with small children’s interests. Images include a variety of realistic drawings and images that depict small children. Big books, content books, and small books include images integrated to support themes in the program. The images are simple and to the point with no diversions from the main topic. Programs cards include big images of items related to themes, and they provide sufficient guiding information on the back to generate a suitable conversation between teacher and student. For example, in Unit 7, the graphics in the Big Book How People Travel by J. R. Wilson support the unit theme, and the text is simple for students to understand. The Big Books pictures are large enough for viewing with limited words for comprehension that comprise short, simple sentences. The publisher also provides an option for teachers to customize the sizing of the books for viewing.