CIRCLE Pre-K Curriculum: Spanish

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:

Materials include specific, intentional, and purposeful cross-curricular connections to create a unified experience for students. The cross-curricular connections are integrated across the curriculum by using rich themes such as “I’m Me!” “ I’m Special,” “All Around My Community,” “Animals All Around Me,” and “Creepy Crawly Critters.” The teacher prepares each theme with activities that allow the students to engage in varied experiences across multiple days within each theme. 

Multiple developmental skills and domains are integrated across the curriculum within the theme sections Lecciones por tema para el grupo entero y pequeño, Extensiones del tema, y Centros de aprendizaje. The theme “Cielo Sobre Mi” provides cross-curricular lessons; for example, “El cielo soleado” provides teachers with guidance on the expansion of themes across instructional settings and meets the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. A few examples of theme development include book and print awareness, Lectura de libros y material impreso. Titles such as Luz del sol by Erin Edison, La luz forma un arcoiris by Sharon Coan, and Sombras by Sharon Coan target concept- and theme-related vocabulary during the lessons. For phonological awareness (Conocimiento Fonológico), lessons include blending phonemes with words that correspond with the theme, such as d-í-a, l-u-z, c-a-l-o-r. The themes incorporate all domain areas and further connect the learning to create a unified experience for students.

The vocabulary routine in each content area also includes specific, intentional, and purposeful cross-curricular connections. Using “Act out the word” and “Dibujo Rapido,” the students work with language, communication, vocabulary, and writing domains. The teacher models each activity and provides time for student engagement. This lesson develops age-appropriate vocabulary. As a class, students create “Our Picture Dictionary” with words that have been introduced before to be used throughout the year. These are some examples of how the materials provide for cross-curricular connections.

Materials indicate which learning domains are being targeted and developed in each activity. The curriculum is divided into ten themes. Each theme provides students an opportunity to make connections to a specific topic. The themes include activities that have rich vocabulary, read-alouds, and lessons for whole groups and small groups. For example, the theme Es tiempo de la cosecha! is divided into three topics (1. Indicaciones de la cosecha de Otoño, 2. Cosecha de cultivos, 3. Trayendo la cosecha a la casa). In this theme, students learn about crops and how and when they are harvested. Each topic contains activities that target the theme. To target the science portion of the first topic, students learn how trees change with the seasons and how to use a thermometer. These lessons will help students with Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines III D.2., V.E.3., VI.A.3., VI.B.1., VI.B.3., VI.C.3., VIII.A.2, and EL TPG II.D.6. 

Resources support teacher understanding of the domains being addressed in the unit and clearly identify the domains developed within each activity. Teachers prepare the themes that include activities that engage the students in learning. Each unit and accompanying lessons include explicit connections to multiple, varied Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, including the domain, skill, and outcome. For example, in “Act It Out,” the teacher chooses a story with characters or events that capture children’s attention. The teacher reads the story to children several times across several days. The children retell the story by acting and using puppets. It covers Kindergarten TEKS Domain: §110.2. English Language Arts and Reading | Kindergarten TEKS Subdomain: §110.2(b)(7)–§110.2(b)(8) Multiple genres, §117.104(b)(2) Creative expression: performance The Kindergarten TEKS Guidelines:§110.2(b)(7)(C) describe the elements of plot development, including the main events, the problem, and the resolution for texts read aloud with adult assistance, §117.104(b)(2)(B) assume roles through imitation and recreation.

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’ text selection were chosen to support content and skill development in multiple domains. The materials include multiple genres of texts throughout the curriculum, including fiction books, nonfiction books, poems, songs, and nursery rhymes. Lessons include informational texts as a foundation to support thematic learning with clear connections to other domain areas. For example, in week 3, during the “Volver a contar un cuento después de una lectura compartida” lesson, students listen to the story “Los tres cochinitos.” The teacher models how to retell the story using puppets and invites the children to participate. During the read-aloud, the teacher makes connections to social studies during a class discussion of different kinds of shelters. After the lesson, the teacher places the book and the puppets in the Biblioteca center for students to use for retelling. The shelter pictures used with connected social studies lesson are placed in the Construcción center for children to use with toy people to role-play family experiences.” In the theme “En mi comunidad,” the week 9 lesson “Haciendo conecxiones con el conocimiento previo” includes a list of books across different genres that support content and skill development in multiple domains. Students turn and talk to their classmates about their experiences and the connections they are making with the book. The teacher models and discusses making connections during the lesson. “Teacher Tips” include cross-cultural reads, non-fiction books, fiction books, and informational texts that help students make connections. The materials provide support to make connections across learning domains. 

Materials include a mixture of translated books and books originally written in Spanish. Some of the materials include a variety of children’s literature, early childhood favorites, and popular current titles for the English-speaking population. Some titles are translations to Spanish from English books. Examples of age-appropriate high-quality texts include La oruga muy hambrienta by Éric Carle, El mitón by Jan Brett, El Conteo regresivo del otoño by Fall Fran Hawks: Hilos sin fin by Mac Barnett; Luna, lunita, lunera by Jorge Argueta; Un beso en mi mano by Audrey Penn. 

Texts include culturally relevant and diverse content, as found in the theme 2 “Soy yo, soy especial!” activity, “Como celebra tu familia?” The activity includes a suggested list of books to use, including people from different backgrounds, cultures, races, and ethnicities. Some of the books are “I Love Saturdays y Domingos” by Alma Flor Ada, “Seven Candles for Kwanzaa'' by Andrea Davis Pinkey, “Too Many Tamales” by Gary Soto, and “Queen of Hannukah Dosas” by Pamela Ehrehberg. Teachers use these texts to show the different holidays that people celebrate. Students draw pictures to show how they celebrate with their families and present them to the class. The teacher describes how their celebrations are the same and how they are different. These books and activities are evidence of how texts include culturally relevant content.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include a variety of opportunities for purposeful play promoting student choice. In week 10, Social and Emotional development, the lesson “Jugar a ser profesional de primeros auxilios,” the teacher models and provides materials for students to play the role of different professionals such as policemen, firefighters, and doctors. Students choose the profession they want to role-play. This activity is placed in the learning centers for students to continue choosing different professions. Through play, students learn social and emotional development concepts, social studies, and economics. In the week 24 lesson “Jugando Juntos,” students identify ways to play with others. The teacher prepares an anchor chart and titles it “Three ways that students can learn while they play,” including trade, take turns, and share. Teachers model the language and actions. Trade is when one person gives another person something, and they give them something. Take turns is when one person plays first, the other person plays next. Sharing is playing together with the same things at the same time. The teacher provides different scenarios, and students use language and actions through role-playing scenarios of their choice. The materials focus on intentional instruction and use the gradual release model. Students then have time to practice the skill during guided practice or at a learning center. 

Materials provide teacher guidance on how to connect all domains to play. The materials provide weekly center recommendations to address different domains targeted in the weekly theme. Each theme provides recommendations for a variety of center activities that evolve and change throughout the year with each theme. For example, in the theme “Animals All Around,” the teacher selects animal books to add to the class library and for read-alouds. Students learn to sing and dance to songs about animals, for example, “The Elephant Song.” The learning centers transform into animal-themed fun and meaningful play experiences. Students connect to play across domains throughout center time. In the math center, students create animal patterns and work on animal addition stories. In the science center, the students sort animal pictures by their characteristics and features. In ABC center, students fish for letters and sounds, and in the writer’s corner center, students write about their favorite animals to make a class book. Teachers connect all domains to play following the theme guide recommendations.

Materials provide guidance for teachers on setting up and facilitating activities to meet, reinforce, or practice learning objectives. In the “Teacher's Guide,” guidance is provided on how to meet expectations for learning by recommending routines and procedures to promote effective learning in the classroom. The materials provide a classroom management system that incorporates the following components: relationships, rules, routines, procedures, and physical environment. The Manual para los maestros/Teacher’s Manual shows how to implement the use of management charts, daily schedules, attendance chart, helpers chart, Palitos de equidad/equity stix, classroom rules, and routine signals. The teacher models good behaviors daily during the beginning of the year and continues to review throughout the year. The materials provide online professional development to support the area of classroom management. By building teacher background knowledge, the materials provide adequate support to ensure that students meet each unit’s learning outcomes. 

Materials include direct instruction, and students can select from purposefully planned learning center choices. A full-day schedule is suggested with direct instruction segments and child-led learning. The schedule includes whole group activities or lessons (circle time), small group lessons for differentiated instruction, and center time for independent learning. During the whole group lesson, the teacher introduces or reviews concepts. Students engage with the teacher, peers, and learning materials during circle time. It is crucial for the teacher to model the expected outcomes of the learning objectives. Small groups throughout the day target and support tier 1 and tier 2 instruction. In tier 1, students are grouped heterogeneously and include students with different skill levels. In tier 2, students are grouped homogeneously and include students with similar instructional needs. Center time allows students to learn through exploration and play. The teacher's guide recommends eight centers in the prekindergarten classroom for purposefully planned learning opportunities. The resource states that centers provide a time for students to play, interact, and learn with other students. Direct instruction lessons follow the gradual release model, where the teacher first models and thinks aloud. Then, the children practice the skill with the teacher scaffolding and supporting their learning. Later, the teacher provides opportunities for practice through planned independent play centers. The materials include recommendations of playful activities for direct instruction and provide ways to extend the learning into centers.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials are intended for both three- and four-year-old children. The materials do not indicate how to implement the lessons for each age group. It does not provide differentiated recommendations for half-day and full-day prekindergarten programs. 

The “Teachers’ Manual” includes lessons embedded in the Circle Pre-K Curriculum designed to target students’ ages three and four years old. Lessons are used with both age groups; materials do not differentiate. The teacher has the flexibility to move through the curriculum slower if they have more three-year-olds than four-year-olds. The lessons do not differentiate between three- and four-year-olds. Some lessons do explain the learning outcomes for three-year-olds and four-year-olds. For example, in Lesson 3, “Listening for words,” the learning outcome for the pre-k domain is phonological awareness and words in sentences. For three-year-olds, the learning outcome is to show awareness that spoken language is composed of smaller segments of sounds. Materials do not specify whether they are for three or four-year-old students, but some lessons do explain objectives for each one. Materials include lessons for both age groups. 

The materials are intended for use for both three and four-year-old students. It does not differentiate instruction for the level of development and student populations. The lesson plans include upward and downward scaffolding activities for teachers to use but do not state the age group or how the expectation changes. There is no accommodation or differentiation for students with special needs. Materials provide no evidence on differentiated instruction for three- and four-year-old students. 

Materials do not provide differentiated recommendations for half-day and full-day pre-k programs. The teacher’s manual mentions that the “Scope and Sequence” is the primary curriculum component designed to target 35 weeks of instruction, but it includes no recommendations for half-day lessons. Teachers plan which lessons from the “Theme Guide” and Scope and Sequence to teach. They can opt to teach fewer lessons if they are in a half-day pre-k program. However, discretion is left up to the teacher, and objectives might be missed depending on teacher knowledge. The lessons are not sorted into half-day or full-day pre-k programs. This schedule can affect the implementation of instruction, especially for half-day programs that would have to select which lessons or components to prioritize.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials guide the teacher on use of instructional strategies for teaching prekindergarten skills. The teachers’ guide includes instructions for implementing activities in the “Theme Guide” and the “Scope and Sequence.” The materials provide thirty-five weeks of instruction that include best effective practices for pre-k skills. The guide includes scaffolding activities for teachers to use to meet students' needs. The Theme Guide supports teachers by giving recommendations on setting up learning centers and introducing skills. Teachers are provided with step-by-step instructions for the implementation of the targeted instructional strategies. For example, in the Week 5 social and emotional development lesson “Pedir lo que necesitas y deseas,” students face another classmate and ask for what they need or want. The materials guide teachers on how to model using puppets by providing questions to ask. The teacher models and explains how to ask for help using different scenarios from the teacher’s guide. The materials provide scaffolding activities for teachers based on the student’s response. For example, activities include discussion questions, pictures, flashcards, or puppets. The materials use a gradual release of responsibility model in all their lessons to support student independence. Students then take turns asking for what they want or need from each other. Materials also include opportunities for direct instruction, guided instruction, and child-directed instruction. The guidance for teachers on how to provide explicit instruction is evident in the teacher guide. 

Materials include detailed and explicit guidance for teacher and student actions that support student development and proficiency of content and skills. In the week 8 “Armar nombres de amigos” lesson, the materials include explicit guidance for the teacher as they guide the student to name and match individual letters in the names of other classmates. First, the teacher gathers the materials needed. The lesson provides a script for teachers to use when introducing and modeling the lesson. The teacher says, "Hoy van a jugar un juego de coincidencias con las letras de los nombres de un compañerito.” Students then build their classmates’ names by matching the letters inside an envelope to the letters in the names written in front of the envelope. Students start matching the first letter and continue with all the letters. The teacher asks questions and provides support throughout the lesson. The teachers’ manual provides a “Phonological Awareness Developmental Timeline.” This timeline provides guidance and support for teachers as they develop student skills and content. The materials begin with larger units of sound and continue to smaller units of sound with repeated cycles throughout the year. Detailed guidance included in the cycles of instruction scheduled, beginning with sentence segmentation, then moving to compound words, syllables, alliteration, rhyme, onset and rime, and finally, phonemes. These are some samples of how the materials guide teachers and students to develop the skill.

Materials provide the Scope and Sequence and Theme Guide for detailed guidance on connecting students’ prior content knowledge and experiences to new learning. For example, in the thematic unit “La Tierra a mi alrededor” lesson “Rocas por todos lados,” students go on a nature walk around the school. Students identify and describe things around the school made up of rocks. Students get to build on their prior knowledge about rocks and learn new concepts during the class discussion. In the thematic unit “Animales en todas partes” week 19 lesson “Las casas del árbol,” the teacher activates students' background knowledge by engaging students in a class discussion about trees. Students share their prior knowledge by responding to the tree picture cards the teacher shares and answering the questions. The students match an animal to the home it makes in or with parts of the tree. “¿Qué colores ven en la imagen?” The teacher then describes what the students see in the picture card based on the colors. This activity is all done as part of the introduction to the lesson and is an example of how the material used children's background knowledge to make connections to 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:

Materials include a description of how the curriculum supports child development research. In the “Teacher Guide,” the publisher provides research that supports the material. The resource cites research from Burns, Griffin, and Snow (2003) as it describes the importance of play: “Children must engage in sociodramatic play. Children must plan their play, inhabit roles, and use narrative structures to guide their play. Using research, teachers prepare the pretend and learn center in the classrooms.” Other research cited supporting the importance of phonological awareness (PA) skills is Anthony & Francis (2005); Hjetland, Brinchmann, Scherer, & Melby-Lervåg, (2017); Vellutino, Fletcher, Snowling, & Scanlon, (2004). PA is the ability to detect and manipulate units of oral language—words, parts of words, and sounds (phonemes)—without linking these units to print. PA is a key predictor of early reading ability and is considered a necessary development in learning how to read. Developing PA skills is foundational for children’s understanding that letters or groups of letters can represent phonemes. PA is often necessary to ensure all children gain these skills. The “Currículo CIRCLE de prekínder” puts together child development research into practice. It provides activities that teachers can use in the classroom. The materials describe how the curriculum supports child development research.

Materials provide research-based guidance for instruction and enrich educator understanding of early childhood development. The teacher manual refers to formal mathematics instruction and provides a dedicated time in the day for math skills. Foundational skills are taught and practiced before more complex skills. For example, children have many experiences counting objects in collections and comparing sets before the formal introduction of adding small sets. Individual skills and concepts repeated in the curriculum ensure continued practice and building of math skills. Over time, numbers and collections increase to deepen and broaden concept understanding. This gradual increase of skill expectations reflects developmental progressions recognized in the research by Clements & Sarama, 2014; Frye et al., (2013). The manual identifies and references research materials that support the instructional strategies included in the lessons. 

The cited research is current, academic, relevant to early childhood development. In the Scope and Sequence, the week 22 mathematics lesson, “Make a Math Story” does not teach the math vocabulary in both the native language and in English. CLI Engage provides free access to comprehensive research. The cited research in the Teacher Manual includes experts in the field of early childhood education. For example, under targeted letter instruction, research by Jones, Clark, and Reutzel (2013) is mentioned: “Effective direct instruction is brief, explicit, and includes the letter names, sounds, and formations of both uppercase and lowercase letters.” The research is updated and relevant to the development of early childhood education. Jones, Clark, and Reutzel are well known for their instruction of Enhancing Alphabet Knowledge. The research is relevant to the development of early childhood education. A bibliography is present in the Teacher Manual and has several pages of citations listed. The reference page cites all the research used in the development of the materials.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include direct social skills instruction and explicit teaching of skills. Lessons provided in the instructional materials directly teach the “Social and Emotional Development” domain within a flexible and logical sequence. For instance, self-regulation concepts are covered with high frequency at the beginning of the curriculum and are later offered as a downward scaffold. 

Week 1 provides six full lessons that explicitly teach social skills. In the lesson “Sharing Space,” the teacher reads the story The Napping House. After reading the story, the teacher shares picture cards of places people share, showing relationships with others. The students answer open-ended questions about spaces they might share with others and the feelings they may have about sharing that space, acknowledging their emotions. Thinking out loud, the teacher models the concept of sharing: The teacher draws a picture of a place that may be shared, who it is shared with, and the feelings that may be felt. Students create their own responses to emotions by drawing a picture. The teacher summarizes the lesson by recalling parts of the book and reminding the students, “Sharing spaces can be difficult, but if we think about others’ feelings, we can make it work!” This creates connections to support the development of emotional literacy.

In Week 2, students read a book on diversity to support emotional literacy related to cultures and race. After reading The Color of Us by Karen Katz, students discuss the similarities and differences in their hands. The teacher asks students to share what is the same and what is different between their hands and their friends’ hands as a way to promote cultural relevance. As an extension, the students draw their partner’s hands using crayons or paints, allowing for a depiction of different skin tones as a form of response.

In Week 5, the teacher uses multisensory materials, such as puppets and a cup, to model an appropriate way for students to ask for what they need or want. Students develop their social skills when they are divided into partners and practice asking for what they need or want appropriately.

In Week 10, the teacher discusses the roles of community helpers during an emergency and how they show care, ask questions, listen, say kind words, and try to help fix a problem. The teacher invites children to role-play as either a firefighter, a police officer, or a medic. Prior to students’ role-play opportunities, the teacher plays the role of a police officer and invites a child to play the role of a lost child. The teacher models what an officer says: “Hello, my name is Officer Linda. You look upset. Are you ok?” While asking the questions, the teacher looks directly at the “lost child” to model good listening skills. The student responds, “I’m lost and I’m scared! I can’t find my mom!” The teacher says, “That must be scary. I can help you. Can you tell me what happened?” The teacher models for students as she helps the lost child find the way home. 

Week 10 also includes guidance on using the gradual release method to provide students with opportunities to develop relationships with others. During the “Pretend Construction” lesson, students work in small cooperative groups to role-play different roles in the construction industry. At the beginning of the lesson, the teacher models how to be the architect and then gradually releases the play. A “Teacher Tip” suggests moving the game to the “Pretend and Learn” center as students gain independence.

The materials’ texts are developmentally appropriate and serve as a foundation to support the development of social skills. For example, in Week 21, the teacher reads aloud the book Caring by Isabel Thomas. After reading, the teacher models ways to be caring as depicted in the “Act It Out” picture cards. After the teacher models each card, students participate in answering questions and then act out the action on the Act It Out Card. The materials also suggest The Way I Feel by Janan Cain; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst; The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister; Owen by Kevin Henkes; and The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn as additional books to reinforce and/or extend the lesson. 

In Week 31, students learn how to understand and respond to emotions as the teacher reads the book Best Best Friends by Margaret Chodos-Irvine. The teacher explains that the book is about two best friends who are happy when they are playing with each other, but something happens when one gets special attention. The teacher points out the friends’ facial expressions in the pictures and discusses with students how the friends’ feelings are changing in the text.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include repeated opportunities for students to practice social skills throughout the day. The “Teacher’s Manual” stresses the importance of teachers modeling social and emotional competencies. Teachers model many role-playing activities in a large group before moving the activities to learning centers. For example, in Week 1, teachers introduce “Circle Time” behaviors, and there is a note in the scope and sequence to continue to “reinforce and practice the behaviors” beyond the lesson. In Week 4, during the lesson “I Like Me Class Book,” teachers praise and scaffold as needed. Suggested praise is included, encouraging teachers to say, “I am so excited that you like these things…” Support for developing self-concept is also embedded in the Week 4 science lesson “Body Outlines”; the materials include questions to assist students in controlling their body as it is traced. The teacher also acknowledges the children’s efforts and provides support when needed. The materials also provide teachers guidance in building responsive interpersonal relationships with children through the “Teacher Tips” section in the lessons. Examples include reminding teachers to be sensitive to trauma that students may have experienced and helping them make alternate connections to the learning, or prompting teachers to provide children with choices for expressing their emotions and supporting their emerging abilities. The Teacher Tips section also provides book connections along with suggestions for diverse groupings and settings for skill practice.

In Week 7, the teacher uses hula hoops to introduce the concept of personal space. This lesson provides students the opportunity to practice social skills in a new way. A Teacher Tip suggests teaching this lesson outside or in small groups to allow students to have a change of setting. During the lesson, the teacher models how it is easy to move around when no one else is inside the space of the hula hoop and how it is difficult to move when someone else is inside the hula hoop. The teacher mentions that there are times when activities might require closer space and provides an opportunity for the children to brainstorm words that can be used when we want more space. Students are provided with an opportunity to practice with their own hula hoop to better understand the concept.

In the Week 9 science lesson “Build a Bridge,” the teacher divides learners into pairs. The paired learners work cooperatively to build a bridge using a variety of classroom materials such as blocks, craft sticks, straws, snap cubes, and paper towel rolls. Similarly, in the Week 16 math lesson “Simon Says Shapes,” students practice listening and following directions as they participate in a game using math manipulatives. The teacher introduces the activity with the specific instruction that the learners must listen carefully to Simon’s directions and do exactly what he says. The teacher provides a reminder to “Remember to listen for ‘Simon Says’ before moving your shape.” The learners follow the directions by listening and performing the action that “Simon Says.”

Another example of a lesson that includes suggestions and materials to practice and reinforce skills in a variety of ways can be found in the Week 26 lesson “Problem Solving Part 1.” The teacher prepares a chart labeling the following four actions that can be used to solve problems: breathe it out, say it out, think it out, and try it out. Utilizing the chart and a puppet, the teacher introduces and models steps that the learners can follow when they are experiencing a problem at school, home, or in other places. Students take turns holding the puppet and acting out the problem-solving steps as the other students recall the steps and questions. Teacher Tips suggest guiding the students in using the problem-solving steps throughout the day when they become frustrated with themselves. 

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include ideal classroom arrangements that support positive social interactions. The “Physical Arrangement Section” in the “Teacher’s Manual” provides support and guidance with classroom and center arrangement to create areas in the classroom that promote social skills development and practice. Materials provide a sample map that defines areas for whole group instruction, small group instruction, and learning centers; all areas have well-defined boundaries that support student interactions as they participate in various activities. Whole group instruction occurs in the “Circle Time” area, which should have enough space for all children to access the letter wall, rules and routines charts, and an easel for teacher use. For small groups, teachers work with groups of 2–5 children at a designated space such as a table or in various learning centers. Learning centers are located around the room and are devoted to specific topics or activities that allow students to develop and reinforce positive social behaviors. 

Throughout the instructional materials, social skills are introduced as whole group lessons and then moved to the learning centers for daily practice. For example, in the Week 10 lesson “Pretend Hospital,” “Teacher Tips” provide specific guidance for practicing social skills in learning centers. The teacher discusses how doctors care for others; the teacher then models caring behaviors and encourages children to imitate in order to express similar behaviors during role-play. 

The guidance suggests that the teacher should create a print-rich environment by using pictures and labels to identify specific areas of the room; however, the materials do not provide actual printables of visuals or labels to use. The Teacher’s Manual suggests utilizing a center management sign, which guides the teacher in adjusting the number of children in a center depending on the activity; the manual also suggests using labels, environmental print, and authentic writing to support the development of independence and ownership. The manual discusses the structure of centers, stating that children should be moving to various centers and spending ample time in centers; the manual states the importance of practicing, modeling, and discussing centers.

The instructional materials suggest eight different learning centers and identify how each specific area incorporates social skills practice. For example, the “Math” center is identified as promoting reasoning and problem-solving skills, the “Pretend and Learn” center is identified as allowing children role-play opportunities that promote vocabulary and background knowledge, and the “Construction” center provides opportunities for the children to problem solve and work collaboratively through building with the materials.

The materials give specific guidance in developing appropriate arrangements and include information to consider when developing each area of the room as well as the classroom as a whole. For example, when designing the learning centers, teachers must ensure the centers accommodate three to four children, place active and loud centers away from the calm and quiet centers, include enough interesting materials to share in centers, and establish traffic patterns to allow for easy movement between centers and large group. These materials are grounded in research that supports classroom arrangement, social interactions, and development of social skills, which is cited in the body of work teachers can reference as an additional source of information.

Many factors of the physical classroom space impact students’ social development. The learning materials consider the importance of these factors and guide teachers to understand student development through the use of classroom arrangement. Teachers view the classroom as a whole and then break down the classroom arrangement into various learning settings. Teachers strategically design their classrooms to encourage and support the development of social, verbal, and cognitive skills. The “Classroom Observation Checklist” guides teachers in setting up areas with specificities. For example, the “Writing” center should be located away from loud centers and should have writing utensils, labels, and books; materials should include images with labels to assist children in locating and returning items to the correct location; print should be at children’s eye level to help children interact with the materials independently; and large open spaces should be minimized to decrease the likelihood of children running in the classroom. 

The learning materials guide teachers throughout the different learning settings and define how children will learn and develop different skills in either large group or small group instruction. For example, the Week 18 lesson “Big and Small Feelings” is recommended for use in either a small group or whole group instructional setting. Similarly, the learning materials specify some activities to be presented in a large group setting (e.g., “Circle Time,” which is defined as a space for all students to work as a large group), and some in a small group setting (e.g., the Week 29 lesson “How Many Syllables in a Name?”). 

Opportunities for positive social interactions occur throughout the day and are incorporated into both large and small group activities. For example, community-building activities such as “Student of the Week,” lessons that identify feelings such as “Feeling Happy and Sad” in Week 13, and self-regulation lessons such as “Hands Off: Hot Potato” in Week 30 occur during Circle Time. During learning centers and small group lessons, students work to refine social skills through activities such as role-playing in the “Pretend Veterinarian’s Office” in Week 25, developing self-concept in small group lessons by creating the “I Like Me Class Book” in Week 4, and developing relationships in the “Architects and Engineers” lesson in Week 8.

The materials include resources that provide guidance and examples for the structures and processes of classroom management in order to support positive social interactions. Examples are available for creating classroom rules, routines, and procedures. One recommendation is the use of “equity sticks.” Equity sticks teach students the expectations for when they are answering questions during learning time. Each student’s name is written on a popsicle stick. The teacher models how students are to stay quiet, keep their hands in their laps, and think about their answers as they wait for the teacher to choose a student to answer by selecting an equity stick. 

In Week 1, the materials provide the teacher guidance for starting the school year with a structured environment that helps support positive interactions. The teacher turns bookshelves around, covers shelves, and marks off areas to hide centers until it is time to open them. When teachers are preparing to open centers, only a few materials are placed in each area. To assist with teaching clean-up, the teacher clearly labels containers and shelves with pictures.

Students identify and follow simple routines, practice ways to share cooperatively, and connect personal emotions with characters in books and with classmates. The teacher prepares the whole group lesson “Circle Time Behaviors” by using a rug or other designated area. In this lesson, the teacher models behavioral expectations for whole group lessons. Once the lesson is complete, the teacher should consistently reinforce and practice the behaviors each time children participate in read-alouds and other structured Circle Time lessons and activities.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Materials include activities to develop physical skills and refine motor development through movement. Throughout the materials, there are daily opportunities for fine motor skill development in various learning centers. For example, in the lesson “Sculpting Animals,” children roll playdough to create and sculpt an animal of their choosing. The materials provide activities both as individual lessons listed in the scope and sequence under the “Physical Development” section or in the theme units under the “Whole Group, Small Group Lessons” section. For example, in the lesson “Don’t Let Go!” students use tongs to move objects one at a time and place them in an egg carton. In the theme “It’s Harvest Time,” the Physical Development section provides teachers with a lesson on picking crops and crop-picking motions to model for students to practice.

The materials integrate the use of developmentally appropriate gross motor skills in other content-area lessons. For example, the Week 3 lesson “Hands Off: Hot Potato” combines social and gross motor skills as students learn to wait their turn to pass the object before the music stops. Additional opportunities for gross motor movement are included in other subject areas; for example, in Week 3, a phonemic awareness lesson called “Sentence Hopscotch” incorporates hopscotch; in Week 7, there is a math “Hokey Pokey Shapes” lesson. The Week 9 “Step It Up” math lesson “Color Pattern Necklace” integrates fine motor skills; students create an AB pattern necklace by threading pasta noodles onto a thread. 

The theme guides provide guidance to set up learning centers that correlate with the theme and incorporate opportunities for fine motor skill acquisition. For example, in the Week 18 theme “Animals All Around,” the learning centers include a “Creativity” center and a “Pretend and Learn” center. In the Creativity center, students use various art supplies, such as glue, construction paper, googly eyes, paint, and markers, to construct paper-bowl turtles. In the Pretend and Learn center, students use props to role-play a veterinarian’s office. 

The materials include activities that promote child movement to develop gross motor skills. In the Week 20 lesson “Hot Potato: Letter Sounds,” students toss a bean bag on a teacher-prepared letter grid and then say the letter name, letter sound, and a word that starts with the letter. In the Week 22 “Pitch and Catch,” the teacher models throwing the ball to a student; students watch as the teacher instructs the student to hold her arms out so she can catch the ball. The teacher provides the steps of how to communicate with each other before throwing the ball and also models catching the ball. Students participate by chorally repeating the steps.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include activities that develop safe and healthy habits in students. The “Teacher’s Manual” suggests scheduling time in the daily schedule for both planned outdoor activities as well as unstructured activities to facilitate movement. In the Week 3 lesson “Hands Off: Hot Potato,” students regulate behavior and use kind words and actions to make friends. The teacher models passing a stuffed animal to the next person as the music plays; the aim is to not be holding the stuffed animal when the music stops. After the teacher models the activity, students practice it. If students are out, the teacher reminds them that they can cheer on their friends. The “Teacher Tips” section recommends the teacher look for opportunities to give positive feedback and praise to children as they practice self-regulation. In this activity, students learn about the connection between physical and mental health; they learn to support the success of others and regulate their personal behaviors while participating in a gross motor activity.

The materials encourage children to identify safe and healthy habits in their daily life. For example, in the Week 23 science lesson “Paper Bag Food Test,” children explore which foods have fat in them and which do not, and they discuss healthy eating habits. This lesson includes a list of books to read that reinforce the development of healthy habits.

The Week 24 lesson “Healthy Choices” includes picture cards of foods, activities, and habits such as washing hands and brushing teeth, which the teacher uses to support children in developing safe and healthy habits. Students sort the cards into two categories: healthy habits and unhealthy habits. Teachers can model healthy habits using the provided sample dialogue and suggestions for additional books to extend the lesson. 

The lessons provide guidance on how to model safe and healthy habits, including tips and dialogue for teachers to follow within each section of the lessons. For example, in the lesson “How Far Does A Germ Travel,” the teacher has a script for the entire lesson; it includes guidance for scaffolding the lesson up or down depending on student needs. Similarly, the “Making a Menu” lesson offers teacher guidance to address good eating habits. Materials suggest turning the “Pretend and Learn” center into a gym with a snack bar for independent playtime, and they provide tips for roles and activities at that center. Materials also suggest the “Classroom Library/Listening” center should include the song “This Is the Way We Wash Our Hands.”

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide teacher recommendations for engaging and modeling active listening by using eye contact, responding to children’s comments, and engaging in child-led conversations throughout the lessons. In the “Welcome to Prekinder” theme Week 1 lesson “Aplaudir, tocar, repetir,” students create a pattern by tapping and clapping. Students need to listen actively to the pattern to repeat the pattern. The teacher introduces the lesson. She models the expected behavior for the student when listening to the pattern. Clap, clap, clap, the teacher makes the pattern, and students repeat it. The teacher switches patterns as the lesson continues, making it more challenging every time. In the Week 2 lesson “Saludos,” students develop listening skills by participating in greeting songs. The teacher models expected behavior, and students engage in verbal and non-verbal greetings such as high fives, fist bumps, and well done. Later in the Week 6 “Lección Essencial” lesson “Escuchar palabras en oraciones,” the teacher makes eye contact and asks students to listen and repeat sentences. Each student has unifix cubes to use. Students repeat the sentence the teacher says and move a unifix cube for each word they hear in a sentence. The materials provide opportunities for teachers to model active listening as they learn to follow conversational norms. 

Materials provide activities that support and scaffold opportunities for students to listen for understanding during the lessons. In the Week 1, “Welcome to Prekinder,” lesson “Copienme,” the teacher reads the instructions, and students listen. The students respond by repeating what the teacher says and practice following directions. The teacher begins by giving one direction at a time and demonstrating the action. Materials also provide scaffolding opportunities by having teachers give one direction at a time and adding movement to convey understanding. In the week 6 lesson “Recordando detalles del texto,” the teacher introduces the book La cometa and explains that good listeners remember details about the story, and she models a think aloud. This lesson provides scaffolding questions for the teacher to use as students engage in a book discussion; for example, “¿Qué están haciendo Sapo y Sepo?” Teachers can adjust the difficulty level to the questions depending on the responses. During the Week 12 math game “Patrones,” students listen and use their bodies to create patterns. The teacher explains and models different patterns through movement and sound. Students listen and create a pattern. The lesson can be scaffolded down by providing choices and scaffolded upward by creating a different pattern than the suggested choices. These lessons and games are some examples that provide daily scaffold opportunities for students to listen for understanding. 

Materials provide shared reading books throughout the curriculum that support children in developing listening skills. This provision provides opportunities for students to hear sounds, appropriate sentence structure, and grammar in a variety of contexts. For instance, in the theme “Animals all around me” Week 19 lesson “Actuar Cuentos Infantiles,” the teacher reads and discusses nursery rhymes. Students develop listening skills as they hear repetition, predictable patterns, and alliteration in nursery rhymes. The teacher reads the nursery rhyme, Pin Pon, and acts out the different parts of the story. In the Week 3 “Escuchando palabras” lesson, the teacher introduces the lesson by counting the words in a sentence. Teachers and students use their fingers to show every word that they hear in the sentence. The teacher says, “Tu eres bello” and asks students to repeat. Students respond orally and practice by saying the sentence slowly and putting up a finger for each word they hear. The teacher asks, “¿Cuántas palabras hay en la oración?” During guided practice, the teacher continues to say different sentences, and the children repeat slowly and count the words. Materials allow students to develop listening skills by participating in nursery rhymes and using appropriate sentence structure.

The materials provide opportunities for students to engage in daily conversations related to a theme by participating in class discussions. In Week 3, the lesson “La Pregunta del Día” provides opportunities to hear conversations by choosing a question to ask the students. The teacher chooses a surveyor who asks the question of the day, such as “¿Tienes un perro como mascota?” The surveyor tallies the answers on a piece of paper and presents the results to the class. Through this activity, students practice asking questions, an important piece when trying to start a conversation with someone. The activity “Escenarios de ayuda” in Week 5 provides opportunities for the teacher to model conversations. Students engage in daily conversations through prepared scenarios by the teacher. Examples are “ponerse la camisa, cocinar una pizza, o hacer un sandwich.” The teacher models how to ask for help if needed using good manners and saying “por favor” and “gracias.” The teacher has back and forth conversations with students during the lesson. Teacher tips in the teacher manual recommend practicing the conversations in play scenarios at the learning centers. The materials engage students in hearing and using conversational norms.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide many opportunities for students to develop speech production, sentence structure, and grammar in a variety of contexts during the program lessons. For example, in the theme “Welcome to PK” Week 1 lesson “Marcha de nombres,” students practice their speaking skills by participating in songs and chants to learn their classmates’ names. The teacher uses hand motions or other movements throughout the song and allows students to sing. By repeating a song, students can hear and practice different sentence structures. In the theme “Animals around me” Week 18 lesson “Juego de oraciones graciosas,” students create and say silly sentences with more than one phrase using picture support. The teacher models and students practice speaking and sentence structure skills by working in pairs or in cooperative learning groups. The teacher starts the sentence with a picture card “El gato gris salto del arbol…” and ends the sentence with picture card “para tomar un helado del carro de helados.” 

During read alouds, the teacher stops to check for understanding by asking open-ended questions and allows students to answer and read with them. In the theme “Animales a mi alrededor” lesson 1, they do a "Repetitive text read aloud” with Vamos a cazar un oso by Michael Rosen. The materials provide opportunities for children to practice choral responses and use the appropriate sentence structure when repeating the text with sentences like “Vamos a cazar un oso and Aquí no hay ningún miedoso.” The materials provide different opportunities for students to practice their speaking skills in a variety of contexts. 

Materials include guidance to support the teacher in providing corrective feedback for students’ speech production, sentence structure, and grammar. During the theme “I’m Me! I’m Special!” Week 5 lesson “Imágenes que necesitan mil palabras,” the students label, describe, explain, compare, and link to personal experiences. Students practice speaking skills by participating in discussing details found in pictures. While students discuss the details they see in the pictures, the teacher provides feedback by asking questions and using prompts. In the theme “Soy yo! Soy especial” week 5 lesson “Pedir lo que necesites y deseas,” students face a person and ask for what they need or want. The teacher models by describing the proper way to ask. The teacher guides students to first look at the person to acknowledge that they want to talk. They make eye contact and speak loud enough for them to hear. The teacher provides feedback on speech production, grammar, and sentence structure. For example, when students ask for things without saying please, the teacher corrects students. In the theme “En mi comunidad” Week 14, “Construyelo!”, students build structures and ask each other questions about their attributes. Questions include identifying the shapes used to build the structure and how many shapes were used to build the structure. Students work in partners. One partner builds, and the other asks the questions, then they switch positions. The teacher observes students as they work with their partners and provides feedback as necessary by using scaffolding questions provided. These are some of the samples in which the materials provide teachers with different opportunities to give corrective feedback throughout the different lessons.

The materials provide teacher guidance for setting up and facilitating activities for students to practice their speaking skills. Teachers are provided with instructions to set up learning centers that allow children to practice the production of sounds and sentence structure throughout the day. It also supports the teacher in setting up the physical space to promote language and literacy by providing a variety of books and stories for read-aloud. In the theme “En mi comunidad,” a social and emotional development lesson in week 10, “Jugar a ser profesional de primeros auxilios,” introduces first responders’ roles discusses what they could do in the dramatic play center. This lesson provides guidance for teachers to set up the physical space to promote language and literacy development. A list of materials that first responders use includes firefighter gear or police uniforms, first aid kit, medic badge, telephone or walkie-talkies, and books. By including these props and modeling what to do in the center, students can engage in meaningful conversations and interactive play as they pretend to be a first responder. These are some examples of how the materials provide guidance and support for the teacher on setting up and facilitating activities for speaking skills.

Materials provide support and guidance for students to work collaboratively by engaging in conversations throughout the lessons. As evidence from lesson “Jugar al restaurante,” students learn to play restaurant in the dramatic play center. Materials for this lesson include items that are theme-related for students to use in centers to support conversations that happen when ordering or working in a restaurant. Students role-play and practice social communication skills by having authentic conversations during instructional play. The teacher engages students in a discussion about restaurants and facilitates play by introducing the vocabulary used in a restaurant. The materials include a script the teacher models for the students to follow when playing in the dramatic center. The materials promote the support and guidance for students to work collaboratively to engage in discussion.

Evaluation for 4.3
Materials support expanding student vocabulary.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include activities that support children's vocabulary development using age-appropriate lessons. Throughout the year, students engage in “Rutina para el vocabulario durante la lectura en voz alta” and “Enseñanza del vocabulario durante una lectura compartida.” These lessons deepen the students' understanding of new vocabulary words. The lessons provide examples of questioning before, during, and after read-alouds for teachers to connect vocabulary. The teacher chooses unknown words for the vocabulary routine and prepares child-friendly definitions. For example, in Week 21, the lesson “Representar acciones” allows students to learn vocabulary words using songs and body movements. The students repeat the word and actions modeled by the teacher. The teacher goes through the reading, and students use the action when the teacher reads the word. The material provides some opportunities for vocabulary development throughout the curriculum. 

The materials support vocabulary development in content-based learning and provide opportunities to connect vocabulary to children’s daily lives. Materials present lessons throughout the year that allow students to practice and understand vocabulary. For example, in daily vocabulary routines found in “Decir la palabra de vocabulario” and “Rutina para el vocabulario durante la lectura en voz alta,” the teacher chooses two to four words and provides an appropriate definition that includes an image. All 10 theme guides include weekly targeted vocabulary instruction and practice within the orange Extensiones del tema tabs. For example, in Subtema 1 of El cielo sobre mi, 9 vocabulary words are indicated for Lenguaje y cominicación (i.e., nube, lluvia, cielo, clima, gota, flota, meteorólogo, tormenta, viento). These vocabulary words are found in the books listed in Lectura de libros y material impreso that will be read aloud that week. The ‘Canciones, rimas y cantos’ for Lenguaje y comunicación also support the weekly vocabulary. Further exposure and practice takes place that week as target vocabulary is used to practice phoneme blending for Conciencia fonológica, (i.e., n-u-b-e, g-o-t-a) and Escritura activities that have the class composing messages requiring the target vocabulary. Teachers encourage students to practice using the vocabulary word throughout the day. The materials do not provide tips to alert teachers when vocabulary words repeat throughout the year in texts or themes. The materials provide some strategies to support teachers in modeling vocabulary, for example, asking students to repeat the word, providing students with a child- friendly definition, and showing an image of the word. Target vocabulary from whole and small group theme lessons is carried into centers for students’ continued use as they interact with books, manipulatives, and other materials. One example is in the “En mi communidad” theme where children in the Centro de Escritura use vocabulary cards with words associated with the writing prompt, “sobre los trabajos que les gustaría tener cuando sean mayores.” Students use the cards to label drawings and support their writing. Another example is in the “El cielo sobre mi” theme where children in the Biblioteca center locate and name different types of weather that clouds can bring using books that have been read aloud, then placed in the center. Children in the Escritura center use word and picture cards with theme-based vocabulary to draw about a time they got wet in the rain and label the pictures.

The materials provide guidance for teachers to use cognate strategies and discuss vocabulary in both languages through Teacher Tips, indicated by a star icon, that guide teachers to use English-Spanish cognates as part of vocabulary development when applicable. Even though the star icon indicates that teachers can use cognates, it does not provide any written instruction on what is to be applied within the lesson. The materials include pictures to support bridging vocabulary from one language to another. Downloadable picture cards labeled in English and Spanish support vocabulary development in both languages. There was no evidence of lessons that guide the teacher to use prior knowledge in one language to learn a new one in the “Scope and Sequence.” ”Teacher Tips” are used to give general recommendations for supporting English vocabulary development as part of Spanish lessons and activities.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide evidence supporting students in developing Spanish and English language proficiency. “Guidance for English Development with Spanish Curriculum” includes descriptions of Teacher Tips within the Spanish curriculum as well as how to integrate English curriculum content. The materials provide teacher guidance that states, "Continued development of children’s’ first language while learning English is critical, as this approach offers many short- and long-term benefits (Espinosa, 2013; National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2017)." The lessons provide instruction in English or Spanish and address biliteracy development through instructional strategies and opportunities for cross-linguistic connections for children who are learning Spanish and English as a second language.

Materials provide opportunities for students to make cross-linguistic connections and draw upon prior knowledge as well as teacher guidance through the Guidance for English Development with Spanish Curriculum. The guide states, "discuss thematic content in both languages to make cross-linguistic connections” and “Children’s background knowledge of concepts and vocabulary that are familiar in the primary language can be used to teach English vocabulary. In the theme guide “Animales en todas partes,” the materials provide teachers with guidance to use cross-linguistic connections during whole group and small group instruction. The Teacher Tip guides teachers to use student knowledge of animal parts in Spanish to connect to English vocabulary, “escoger enseñar vocabulario en inglés relacionado con las partes de los animales mostrando imágenes y nombrando las partes en inglés (p.ej., ‘This is a beak. Repeat after me: beak. Birds have beaks.’).” A vocabulary activity throughout the year, “Quick Draw/Dibujo Rápido,'' asks students to draw about their personal experience with a specific vocabulary word. The teacher selects a vocabulary word that students may have some prior knowledge of and provides a child-friendly definition. Students draw and share their drawings with the class. The lesson calls for the students to show what they know about the word,then tell what they know as drawings are described to the teacher.

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:

The lesson, “Introducción a las preguntas de guía,” in Week 5, provides opportunities for the students to discuss. The teacher reads aloud El cuento de Ferdinando by Munro Leaf. Students listen for comprehension skills. The teacher states a question, and students think about the question. Throughout the reading, the teacher stops and allows discussion. At the end of the book, the teacher asks the students to discuss what happened at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the story. 

In the theme “En mi comunidad” Week 9 lesson “Partner talk,” the teacher prepares a whole group lesson and provides two different color squares for the students to sit. Partners in yellow talk first and partners in red listen. The students sit facing each other knee to knee. The teacher explains that partners take turns and listen to the person that is talking. Students take turns discussing the topic. The teacher uses topics for students to discuss from the “Teacher’s Manual,” such as their favorite thing to eat. The teacher also provides a sentence starter, “My favorite food is...” 

In the Week 13 lesson “Teaching Ordinal Numbers through Read-Alouds,'' students explore the concepts of counting and describe the order or sequence of objects or events. The teacher introduces the book, states the objective, and asks questions before the reading begins. During the reading, the teacher monitors students’ comprehension by asking various questions. After the read aloud, the teacher encourages children to sequence the story using the ordinal terms, first, second, next, last, etc. 

In the Week 16 lesson, “Using Illustrations to make Predictions,” the teacher introduces the book I Went Walking by Sue Williams and asks the students to use the illustrations to make predictions. Students begin to share ideas about their predictions. The teacher leads the discussion as students share their information. 

 In Week 19, “Haciendo y respondiendo preguntas,” students ask and answer questions before, during, and after a read-aloud. The teacher records their questions and responses. The teacher lets students know that good readers ask questions. The teacher models how to ask questions. Students turn and talk to their partners to discuss the book. The resource also guides teachers to use picture cards to demonstrate what students comprehend in a read-aloud. 

During Week 26, “Volver a contar un cuento después de una lectura compartida,” students get support and guidance when retelling a story using props in small or whole group lessons and during center time. Students work collaboratively in centers and engage in discussion as they retell a story using books, props, and visual aids. 

In the theme, “Creepy Crawly Critters,” a science lesson, “Life Cycle of a Butterfly,” has students listen to a read-aloud and create a project displaying a butterfly’s life cycle. The teacher prepares materials to show students the four stages of a butterfly’s life. Students work together, discussing and preparing their project

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:

The materials follow current research in the developmental continuum of English phonological awareness provided in the “Teacher’s Manual.” In the “Approach to Spanish Phonological Awareness Resource,” it describes the research and factors used in Spanish Phonological Awareness. Materials follow current research for the developmental continuum of phonological awareness provided in the “Teacher’s Manual.” Though most of the continuum progression is the same in English and Spanish, Spanish does not have onset-rime. The materials’ activities are designed in format and sequence to represent the most current research for children developing phonological awareness skills following a developmental timeline. For example, the Teacher’s Manual states that Phonological awareness (PA) is a key predictor of early reading ability. (Anthony & Francis, 2005; Hjetland, Brinchmann, Scherer, & Melby-Lervåg, 2017; Vellutino, Fletcher, Snowling, & Scanlon, 2004). The CIRCLE Pre-K Curriculum sequences PA instruction through a timeline, moving from larger to smaller units of sound, and repeating cycles throughout the year. Cycles of instruction are as follows: Sentence Segmentation, Compound Words, Syllables, Alliteration, Rhyme, Onset-rime, and Phonemes. However, Spanish PA does not use onset-rime. PA skills are reviewed and taught throughout the year. 

Materials address the specific characteristics of Spanish phonics when teaching phonological awareness. The “Approach to Spanish Phonological Awareness” includes the sequence delivered through direct instruction. Syllables are important for Spanish literacy based on the syllabic structure of the spoken language (Pollard-Durodola & Simmons, 2019). The increased attention to syllables in the Spanish curriculum is also indicated by the frequency the skill is addressed. The lessons are taught the same in English and Spanish. The Spanish PA scope and sequence follows the English PA continuum, beginning with sentence word segmentation and ending with rhyme production. The Spanish and English continuums follow the same sequence throughout the curriculum. Spanish onset and rhyme lessons are not considered essential for developing Spanish literacy.

Materials include a variety of activities that engage students in identifying, synthesizing, and analyzing sounds and syllables. Throughout the year, materials provide activities that engage children in manipulating and playing with sounds and syllables with increasing complexity. At the beginning of the year, a lesson in Week 3 teaches students how to separate sentences into words. The materials in the lesson “Saltar palabras en la rayuela” have students count the words in a sentence and then jump that many times on the hopscotch. At the middle of the year in Week 18, students segment words by syllables. In the lesson “Clasificar palabras por el número de sílabas,” students clap the number of syllables and sort the object by the number of syllables. At the end of the year in Week 31, students identify and produce words that rhyme. In the lesson “Otra palabra que rima,” the teacher says a pair of rhyming words, then students produce a real or nonsense word that rhymes. Lessons on phonological awareness skills are presented as “targeted lessons, step it up lessons, and additional lessons” following the phonological awareness continuum. These are some examples of activities that engage students in identifying and analyzing sounds. 

Materials allow students to practice phonological awareness skills both in isolation and connected to alphabetic knowledge skills. Materials teach phonological awareness skills without the use of print. Once letter knowledge begins to develop, children practice skills during phonological awareness activities. The morning message lessons provide opportunities for daily practice. During this teacher-guided lesson, students practice PA skills. Students connect the skills that have been already taught in isolation to the morning message. The teacher reviews skills such as letters, phonemes, punctuation, print directionality, and flow of writing. At the beginning of the year, the teacher keeps the message short and with few skills to review. As the year progresses, students review more skills and start to print. Students practice phonological awareness skills and alphabetic knowledge in isolation and content throughout the year.

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 cite a research-based sequence to introduce a Spanish alphabet, only one for English. The Approach to Spanish Alphabet Knowledge resource details research on the characteristics and attributes of letters that make learning them easier or harder for prekindergarten children. It describes how that research was applied to Spanish letters to increase the ease and efficiency at which letters are learned. Research is available for sequencing the Spanish alphabet when the purpose is to begin decoding and encoding words, but there is a lack of Spanish-specific guidance about prekindergarten-appropriate sequencing that supports learning letter names, sounds, and features.

In Week 9, the materials introduce the letters Rr, Gg, and Kk. In the lesson “Rutina de presentación de letras,” students learn the letter name, letter sound, and the formation of the letter. The lesson provides a script to introduce letters to the students. Each letter follows a similar script: “1. Introduce the letter with a ‘New letter chant.’ 2. Teach the Letter Name: Point to the letter and say the name. 3. Teach the Letter Sound: Say the sound. 4. Form the Letter: Skywrite the letter while thinking aloud about the features. 5. Summarize: Restate the letter name and sound.” The same routine is used with all the letters. The routine takes between 6–8 minutes. The teacher provides a letter card or an anchor chart with the letter in uppercase and lowercase. A picture of an article that begins with the letter is also provided. There were no lessons found on teaching digraphs. Digraphs were not found in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. The materials provide clear directions to the teacher as letters are introduced to young preschoolers.

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:

Materials provide direct instruction in print awareness and connect print awareness to books and texts while following a developmentally-appropriate continuum. For example in Week 4, “Desarollar el conocimiento de la palabra impresa usando libros grandes,” students begin to develop an awareness of print concepts while participating in big book read-alouds. During read-alouds, the teacher provides instruction on print concepts, including teaching book title, author, and illustrator. Other concepts taught with the read-aloud are print directionality, punctuation, and print features such as letters, words, and spaces. The materials provide directions for teachers to use for each skill. For example, to teach print directionality, the materials provide a song, “Cajita roja,” that says, “Cuando leemos palabras, siempre comenzamos por la izquierda y nos movemos hacia la derecha.” In Week 6, the “Yo puedo leer” lesson has the teacher review and model reading the chart with words followed by a picture that the students can read. The teacher models how to track words using fingers. Students take turns reading the chart. Print awareness can be practiced during center time as children explore freely in the classroom library. Materials provide direct instruction in print awareness throughout the year. 

Materials provide opportunities for students to develop an understanding of the everyday functions of print in context. The “Teacher Manual” recommends setting up a print-rich environment in the classroom using charts, diagrams, lists, and other print-rich artifacts. For example, in the Week 22 writing section, “Crear un menu,” students create a menu for a pretend restaurant. The teacher provides sample menus from local restaurants, food labels from empty food boxes, pictures from magazines or newspapers, glue, and markers so students can create their menus. Another opportunity for students to use print daily is the “Word Wall.” In Week 12, in the lesson “Introducir el muro de letras a los niños,” teachers introduce the word wall to the students and add the students’ names. Teachers and students add words to the wall throughout the year, as stated in the teacher’s manual. Students learn to interact with the word wall during the writing center and use it as a reference. During lessons, the teacher refers to the word wall as a visual anchor. These are some opportunities that the materials provide for students to develop an understanding of the everyday functions of print in context. 

Materials include a research-based sequence of foundational skills instruction and ample student practice opportunities. The Teacher’s Manual provides research by Neumann, Hood, Ford & Neumann, (2011) that “capitalize on children’s natural attraction to environmental print by using it to promote their literacy development.” The materials provide opportunities to address the print skills during the “Scope and Sequence” lessons under the “Book and Print Reading” lessons. For example, in the Week 3 theme “¡Soy yo! ¡Soy especial!”, the teacher uses big books for shared reading. During shared reading, the students learn how to care for books. During Week 4, the teacher addresses punctuation using read-alouds. Teachers stop at predetermined places during reading to discuss punctuation. Children begin to develop an awareness of print through big books read aloud throughout the year. This structure is how the materials include a research-based sequence of foundational skills instruction in the Scope and Sequence during “Book and Print Reading.”

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:

Materials include text selection at an appropriate level of complexity for students’ developmental level. The resource includes texts with storylines and characters that are easy to understand and remember like in El ratoncito, La fresa roja y madura, y El gran oso hambriento by Don y Audrey Wood. These are age-appropriate books used in the “Scope and Sequence,” Week 21, lesson “Narrative Read Aloud.” Texts included in the materials promote child interaction by including repetition and rhyme. Students can recall characters or familiar storylines such as those in Oso pardo, oso pardo, ¿qué ves ahí? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle or in Oso polar, oso polar, ¿qué es ese ruido? by Bill Martin Jr. Simple text and age-appropriate text difficulty are key considerations when considering ways to engage young children with print. 

The materials include both fiction and nonfiction texts for reading. For example, in the activity, “Leer libros que no son de ficción,” students learn about nonfiction books and key characteristics found in books. During the lesson, students learn about the table of contents and other nonfiction text features like bold/italicized words, glossary, digraphs, charts, maps, and photographs. The units include both fiction and nonfiction texts connected to the theme. The materials include a list of concept or theme-related books in each center to supplement the center and project activities. For example, the theme guide “¡Estamos en movimiento!” suggests some books, including ¡Qué vivan los pilotos! by Elle Parkes, Gilberto y el viento by Marie Hall Ets, and ¡A volar! Todo sobre aviones (TIME for Kids) by Jennifer Prior. The “Book Club” includes titles for the different theme guides with both narrative and informational texts. The majority of the texts are translated texts such as Gladys Rosa Mendoza Mi familia y yo; Carros, Camiones y aviones by Gladys Rosa Mendoza and Matías y el color del cielo by Rocio Martinez, Como nos movemos by Nuria Martinez, and Llamame arbol by Maya Christina. These are some samples of fiction and nonfiction books in the materials. 

Materials include a variety of types of texts, such as poems, songs, and nursery rhymes. In the theme “Animales en todas partes” Week 19 lesson “Actuar cuentos infantiles,” students act out nursery rhymes using picture cards as props. The teacher provides the pictures, and students act out the parts. The materials include rhymes such as “Pin Pon, Tengo, tengo, tengo, Cucú cantaba la rana, and Cinco patitos.” Lessons also include songs that support active engagement. In the theme “En mi comunidad” Week 7 lesson “Canciones y cantos de conteo,” students practice counting through participating in songs and chants. Songs used in whole group, center time, and brain breaks transitions. The teacher sets expectations for how students will participate in learning the song. After students learn the song, they are encouraged to practice the song in school and at home. Some of the songs include “If you can count and you know it” to the tune of “If you’re happy and you know it,” “One Potato,” “The Ants go Marching,” and “Five Little Monkeys.” Another example, in the Scope and Sequence Week 1, language and communication lesson, “Marcha de Nombres,” students participate in songs and chants to learn other classmates’ names. The teacher makes class name cards with children’s names and pictures to use as references. The students sing and march in a circle, sitting down when they hear their names. Poems, songs, and nursery rhymes are great tools to engage children in movement and playful learning scenarios. 

Texts include content that is engaging to pre-k students and includes opportunities for students to interact with the stories. Materials include texts directly related to the thematic units of study and provide opportunities for children to explore concepts of interest. For example, in the “Soy yo! Soy especial!” lesson “Comparando nuestras cosas favoritas,” students identify their book preferences and compare them to other students during social studies. The teacher reads Crisantemo by Kevin Henkes and places two hula hoops on the floor overlapping each other like a Venn diagram. During a class book discussion, the teacher explains similarities and differences. Students participate in the Venn diagram. Students who like the same things stand in the overlapping part of the hula hoop, and when they do not, they stand on the side of their decision. In the Theme 3 writing lesson “Dibujar y escribir sobre una profesión,” students identify careers and illustrate a sentence about a career. The teacher presents the lesson by using pictures with text as visuals. The teachers use texts such as Empleos by Diego Perez and Oso en el trabajo by Stella Blackstone to read and learn about different careers. Text selections in the resource include content that engages students in the various themes. 

Read-aloud texts cover a range of student interests. For example, in the theme “El cielo sobre mi,” from the Week 15 lesson “Sentirse sorprendido,” students discuss and identify feelings of surprise through the book Sorprendida by Barry Cole. In the theme “Soy yo! Soy especial!,” Week 6 lesson “Mi Familia,” the teacher describes how all families are different and special in their own way. The teacher reads En mi familia by Carmen Lomas Garza, and Cuadros de familia by Carmen Lomas Garza illustrates various families and have cultural connections. Materials include many age-appropriate informational books such as El suelo: Tierra y arena by Natalie M Rosinsky, Cómo crece una semilla by Helene J. Jordan, and El día de la Tierra by Dr. Jean Feldman. 

Examples of fiction texts include but are not limited to: 

• La Oruga muy hambrienta by Eric Carle
• Ricitos de oro y los tres osos by Teresa Mlawer
• Cuando Sofia se enoja de Veras by Molly Bang
• Un beso en mi mano by Audrey Penn
• Las lechuzas by Martin Waddell
• Los tres cerditos by Patricia Seibert
• Oso Pardo, Oso Pardo que ves ahi? by Eric Carle
• El monstruo de colores by Anna Llenas
• Y siguio lloviendo by David Shannon
• Donald el camion by Hugh Wright

Examples of nonfiction texts include but are not limited to:

• Muevete! by Mari Schuh
• Imanes: Atraen y rechazan by Natalie Rosinsky
• Los animales de Otoño by Martha Rustad
• Nubes by Erin Edison
• El cielo de noche by Roben Nelson
• Las estaciones by William Rice
• El clima de invierno by Jenny Freland Vanvoorst
• La vida de una abeja by Dona Herweck Rice
• De la oruga a la mariposa by Laura Marsh
• Como crecen las plantas (Time Magazine) by Dona Herweck Rice

Materials include the use of purposeful environmental print throughout the classroom. The teacher manual recommends having a letter wall in the classroom. The letter wall sequentially displays letters from A to Z with space for important words, such as children’s names and vocabulary. Letter walls are effective tools for developing letter knowledge when used daily in whole group, small group, and one-on-one settings. It is also an effective way to organize words and support children’s interaction with current vocabulary in print. Another example is seen in the theme “En mi comunidad” lesson “Clasificar los comestibles,” in which students identify and sort specific letters from environmental print grocery labels. The teacher writes a letter on a paper bag, and students sort out environmental print labels into corresponding bags according to beginning sounds. Through the use of a letter wall and environment print labels, students can engage and interact with various printed materials.

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. Throughout the year, the materials support teachers with texts that connect home and school. During read-alouds, students build on their personal experiences. For example, in the Week 14 book and print lesson, “Multiple Readings of the Same Text,” students build comprehension skills by focusing on a different guiding question at a time. The teacher reads the books Un beso en mi mano by Audrey Penn and La gallinita roja by Carol Ottolenghi to develop student comprehension. The materials provide teacher-scaffolded questions, including easier guiding questions and higher-level thinking questions for comprehension. The teacher previews the story to set a high-quality guiding question for each reading. Students participate in the reading by discussing and making connections to the books’ characters and story. Materials also guide the teacher during vocabulary lessons. For example, in the Week 10 lesson “Enseñanza del vocabulario antes de una lectura compartida,” students have the opportunity to learn new vocabulary using child-friendly definitions. The materials provide vocabulary words with pictures, and definitions. The teacher introduces new vocabulary, “Hoy vamos a leer este libro llamado Hilo sin fin. En el libro hay algunas palabras que quizás no conozcan. Vamos a repasar juntos estas palabras.” The teacher models, and the students repeat the vocabulary word, “Digan la palabra después de mí—sobra.” The teacher defines the word for students “Cuando algo te sobra, tienes más de lo que necesitas” and then the teacher shares an image showing a child with too many sandwiches. Students make the connection that “sobra” means to have extra.

Materials include guidance for the teacher on basic text structures and their impact on understanding texts. The materials include different graphic organizers and materials to guide teachers when presenting lessons. For example, in the lesson “Using a Read Aloud Chart,'' students learn about the roles of authors and illustrators. Visual aids support the teacher to introduce the read-aloud and engage the students. The resources include pocket chart, title, author, illustrator word cards, vocabulary cards, visual aid supports puppets, flannel board characters, pictures, and props. Materials include guidance for teachers when reading both fiction and nonfiction books. In the Week 8 “Lectura compartida de libros informativos—Uso de estrategias de lectura antes, durante y después de la lectura” lesson, the teacher uses the before, during, and after graphic organizer. The teacher reads “Frutas en mi Plato” by Mary Schuh, and students participate in the lesson activities led by the teacher. These are some samples of how the materials guide the teacher on basic text structures.

Materials support the teacher in scaffolding questions for students at a variety of language proficiency levels. The materials guide teachers to simplify and break up questions for students and provide prompts as needed. For example, in the lesson, “Tus cinco sentidos,” students learn about the five senses by listening to a read-aloud book My Five Senses/Mís cinco sentidos by Aliki. Materials scaffold questions to support teachers before, during, and after reading. The teacher introduces the book and teaches purpose for reading as students respond to questions to check for understanding. The lesson provides upward and downward scaffold questions to support learners of various language proficiencies. For instance, “Necesitan usar su sentido de la vista para andar en bicicleta. ¿Qué otros sentidos usan cuando van en bicicleta?” is an upward scaffold. For a downward scaffold, “¿Cuándo escuchan música, usan su sentido del oído o del gusto?” The materials provide these upward and downward scaffolds throughout the curriculum.

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 teacher guidance through the “Guidance for English Development with Spanish Curriculum” on when to make cross-linguistic connections. The materials state to "discuss thematic content in both languages to make cross-linguistic connections. Spanish curriculum lessons can be viewed on CLIEngage.org by clicking the teal ‘View Activity in English’ in the right corner as shown" in the guide. The materials include explicit instruction for cross-linguistic connections through the use of “Teacher Tips” throughout the thematic units. For example in “Animales en todas partes” theme materials guide the teacher to use cognates to support making cross-linguistic connections. To provide support for English Language Development the teacher is to include “nombres de animales que sean cognados español-inglés. Ejemplos pueden incluir elefante/elephant, gorila/gorilla, canguro/kangaroo, y pingüino/penguin. 

Materials do not guide the teacher to leverage the student’s knowledge of 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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The learning materials include a variety of experiences through which students can engage with writing. “Morning Message” lessons provide daily opportunities for children to receive direct instruction in writing skills. These lessons are part of the weekly writing curriculum. Materials give a range of writing concepts teachers can cover during these lessons, such as print directionality, the flow of writing, letter names, letter formation, letter-sound correspondence, spaces between words, punctuation, and return sweep. At the beginning of the year, messages are short, and they become more complex as the year progresses. For the Week 1 Morning Message, students observe the writing process and read the Morning Message. Initially, the teacher will think aloud and write the message; with the gradual release of responsibility, students take over writing the Morning Message, and the teacher guides the students as they create and write their own authentic messages.

The materials provide suggestions for independent writing opportunities during center time. In Week 4, “Writing in Centers” describes how the teacher will set up the “Writing” center with multiple writing instruments and supplies to promote student interest and encourage authentic writing. It also describes how the teacher can encourage writing in other centers, such as by placing a grocery list in the “Pretend and Learn” center or sentence strips and markers in the “Construction” center to make signs. Writing opportunities are developmentally and age-appropriate for prekindergarten students; students write for authentic purposes, based on the theme of the classroom.

The materials include opportunities for group writing; students create a class book to share during “Circle Time” or in the library. In Week 6, in “Making Class Books,” students develop a class book based on their shared experience with the story If You Take a Mouse to School by Laura Numeroff, which the teacher read earlier. Students create their own version using a dinosaur instead of a mouse. The teacher provides examples, such as a picture of a school or a dinosaur, but also allows the students to develop individual ideas. Students also participate in individual creative writing to create a unique book for the classroom. Additionally, in Week 31, children are given an opportunity to respond to text through an interactive writing activity. In “Letter to a Character: Bear Snores On,” students write a letter to a character in a story. Students assist and think aloud as the teacher writes the letter on chart paper; after it is finished, the class reads the letter. The letter is then moved to the classroom library for the children to read during center time.

In Week 7, the activity “Authentic Name Writing” provides opportunities for students to write their names in different areas around the classroom. For example, the teacher can set up a sign-in sheet for students to sign in daily. Additionally, the activity suggests that teachers post a job application for students to fill out when it is time for them to switch jobs. 

In Week 11, in the lesson “Shared Daily News,” students learn how to share and write about events in their own lives, using spacing and punctuation. The teacher tells students that they will share something they did when they were away from school and write it down. The teacher asks questions such as, “Did you go anywhere?” “Did you see anyone new?” “Did you go somewhere fun?” Students think and share with the group. The teacher models how to write using spaces between words, counting the words in the sentence, and making sure to use punctuation marks. Students are active participants during this shared writing experience; they then share by reading their news for the day, reinforcing the connection between reading and writing. 

An example of the materials providing opportunities for children to imitate adult writing in authentic ways can be found in the Week 14 lesson “Creating a List.” In this lesson, the teacher introduces, models, and explains making a shopping list. The teacher shows the children how to begin the list on the left-hand side, under the “Shopping List” title. During guided practice, the teacher uses guiding questions to prompt students to state the items they would need to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Once the list is made, the materials recommend placing it, together with examples of other lists, in the Pretend and Learn center so that students can practice making their own lists. 

The materials provide opportunities for students to draw to convey meaning or a message. For example, in the lesson “My Very Own Words,” Week 15, teachers and students create a word card together to be used during center times. The teacher writes the word on the card, and the students then draw the visual connection on the card. The teacher helps students with upward and downward scaffolds. If a student is struggling to draw a visual representation of their word, the teacher provides a photograph or image of the word and helps the student draw. For an upward scaffold, the student can help write the word before drawing the visual representation. The teacher continues to conference with students as needed throughout the lesson and during center times. 

Age-appropriate independent writing opportunities include weekly writing activities in the learning centers that connect to the themes. For example, in the “I’m Healthy! I’m Safe!” theme, Week 22, the Construction center includes writing materials for students to draw or sketch the playgrounds or parks they have built. In the “Creativity” center that same week, students create, decorate, and write names on hearts. In the Writing center, students can refer to picture-word cards of healthy snacks to write about their favorite healthy snacks.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials instruct students along the developmental stages of writing. The materials guide teachers to identify the developmental writing stages of the students. They provide guidance for teachers that includes best practices for moving students along the continuum for writing development. The “Teacher’s Manual” includes a thorough section on writing development. The “Scaffolding Children’s Writing” chart helps determine where a student is and what is best to do to get them to the next stage of writing. For example, if a student draws a picture with a few letters in it, their goal is to separate the letters and pictures and to write their name on the paper. The teacher can ask the student to describe what the picture is about for the teacher to transcribe or encourage the student to write their name on the paper. The Teacher’s Manual reviews the developmental stages of writing; it identifies and supports conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and generative knowledge as stages of writing development. 

Weekly lessons also follow the sequence of developmental stages of writing. At the beginning of the year, Week 2, in the lesson “Skywriting—Curves and Circles,” children practice drawing circles and curves in the air using pretend pencils. By Week 12, children practice writing letters in gel or shaving cream placed in gallon Ziploc bags as part of the lesson “Tactile Letter Experiences.” In Week 28, the lessons progress to writing birthday cards and writing stories about pictures. In the lesson “Birthday Notes,” children look at birthday cards and brainstorm ideas for messages they can write on them. In the “Writing” center, they select paper or cards to write the birthday messages. 

In the Week 1 “Morning Message,” the teacher models concepts of the writing process while sharing the daily Morning Message of events written on the chart. This is an activity that is used throughout the year. At the beginning of the year, the teacher controls the pen and message; as the year progresses, the teacher encourages children to share their own ideas. The materials also guide the teacher to encourage students to answer more print concept questions as they gain more knowledge and share the pen. As the children progress, the teacher encourages them to write specific letters, punctuation marks, and words. 

The materials include lessons that scaffold writing for students and move from modeled writing to shared writing and then to interactive writing, moving children through the developmental stages of writing. A daily writing lesson in Weeks 3 and 4 is “Modeled Daily News.” Students observe as the teacher models how to write the news of the day. The teacher introduces various concepts of print and works as both the composer and the scribe of the message. The teacher models “think aloud” for students as they prepare to move to shared writing. In Weeks 5–12, the lesson progresses to “Shared Daily News.” Students share and write about events in their own lives and experience using spacing and punctuation when writing. The teacher gives students the opportunity to think about their own daily news. Then she selects a few students to share their news, and they write the daily news together. The teacher brings attention to concepts of print, focusing on letter formations. The lesson moves to “Interactive Daily News” for the remainder of the school year (Weeks 13–35), during which students assist the teacher in writing a sentence using appropriate writing conventions and letter-sound correspondence. Students start off with adding periods or writing single letters and eventually progress to writing full words and whole sentences. The teacher supports students during interactive writing as needed and brings attention to various writing conventions. 

The materials include appropriate modeling of the writing process. In Week 11, the activity “Creating a Web” allows students to help create a graphic organizer about bears. In centers, the teacher encourages students to create organizers about things they learn. The materials include writing opportunities in which the teacher models the process of writing from thinking of an idea to developing a published or shared piece. In Week 17, students help the teacher draft a letter to a friend. The teacher shares her excitement about receiving a letter and wants to write a letter back. The students learn about drafting a letter in the correct format.

Materials include appropriate modeling of the writing process. For instance, in Week 34, students make a class book. The lesson includes writing opportunities in which the teacher models the process of writing from thinking of an idea to developing a published or shared piece. The topic of the book is bringing a dinosaur to school. The teacher asks, “What are some things that could happen?” and the students brainstorm. The teacher talks aloud and explains, step by step, how to write the title of the book on the cover and how to draw a picture for the cover. The teacher engages the children by asking questions while creating the title page, such as “What do you think I should draw?” While students are in centers, the teacher calls on individual students to draw and write their page. When the book is complete, it is placed in the “Library” for the children to read with a partner.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The learning materials support fine motor development alongside and through writing. “Writing in Centers” lists activities that provide differentiation for developing children’s fine motor skills toward writing. During the weekly “Morning Message,” the teacher models different pre-writing strokes while writing the letters on the board. The materials provide guidance for best practices for developing fine motor skills toward writing. The “Teacher’s Manual,” under “Targeted Letter Instruction,” directs the teacher to narrate the strokes of a letter and have students draw the letter and strokes in the air. The materials stress the importance of pre-writing strokes as part of developing fine motor skills toward writing. 

The materials recommend a variety of tools for children to use when participating in writing experiences. “Writing in Centers” suggests placing a variety of materials in the centers: “things to write on” (e.g., magnetic drawing board, envelopes, stationery, sticky notes), “things to write with” (e.g., pencils, gel pens, crayons, markers), and “accessories” (e.g., ruler, junk mail, theme word cards, children’s name cards). This supports an environment of pre-writing for students to develop fine motor skills. 

The materials provide multiple opportunities for children to develop fine motor skills in formal and informal settings. “Teacher Tips” for developing fine motor skills for writing are found in the “Physical Development” section of the weekly scope and sequence. In Week 1, the Teacher Tip brings attention to fine motor skill development needed for writing, encouraging teachers to include playful activities such as buttoning and unbuttoning clothing, writing or painting with cotton swabs, and working with playdough. Teacher Tips in Week 2 include playful tasks such as stringing beads on pipe cleaners, playing tweezer games, tearing paper, and manipulating clothespins. After Week 2, the materials tie fine motor skills to informal work being done in the learning centers. Per the Teacher’s Manual, these tasks include stringing beads, polishing materials, working with sandpaper, and blunt needle sewing. 

There are varied opportunities for children to develop fine motor skills. In Week 18, during a “Language & Communication” lesson called “Sculpting Animals,” students use their fine motor skills to sculpt play dough animals. The teacher models pinching, rolling, cutting, and patting the playdough. In Week 25, as part of the “Egg Carton Counting” math lesson, students use tongs to count. In the “Creativity” center, Week 30, students use eye droppers to add colored water to coffee filters. These are a few examples of fine motor muscle development opportunities throughout the year.

Materials provide differentiation for developing children’s fine motor skills toward writing. For example, in Week 28, in the “Land All Around” theme, the “Alphabet Knowledge Theme Extender” recommends the teacher model using a finger to write letters in a box filled with sand. Students refer to index cards containing review letters for them to draw. Depending on their skill level, students may be encouraged to practice writing their names in the sand. More activity examples are included in the “Writing Theme Extender,” which provides topics that can be modeled and shared during writing lessons. In the Creativity center, students can use their fine motor skills to make a pet rock and binoculars. In the “Pretend and Learn” center, students can draw animals in an observation book while role-playing as a camper. 

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The learning materials follow a logical mathematical continuum of concrete, pictorial, then abstract representations. They include formal and informal opportunities for skill development throughout the school year. The curriculum continuously spirals the target skill development of “Adding To and Taking Away,” “Counting,” “Classification and Patterns,” “Geometry and Spatial Sense,” and “Measurement.” Adding To and Taking Away lessons include “Adding Using Counters,” Week 18: Students add objects to a set, using counting chips and five-frames. The curriculum then progresses to activities like “I Spy More, Less, and Same,” Week 22: Students determine if quantities are more than, less than, or the same as, using manipulatives. Counting lessons include “Counting Throughout the Day,” Week 3: Students count up to 30 items (e.g., people in line, items in the classroom) throughout the day. The curriculum then progresses to activities like “Roll and Count,” Week 17: Students roll a die, identify the number, and perform an action that number of times. Classification and Patterns lessons include “Shape Graphing,” Week 6: Students identify shapes and sort them on a graph. The curriculum then progresses to activities like “Color Pattern Necklace,” Week 17: Students create their own patterns using colored objects. Geometry and Spatial Sense lessons include “The Shape Doesn’t Change,” Week 5: Students determine that a shape remains the same even if the spatial orientation changes. The curriculum progresses to activities like “Shape Building,” Week 24: Students put two or more basic shapes together to build a new formation. Measurement lessons include “Same Size,” Week 7: Students match shapes to the same-size shape on a work mat. The curriculum then progresses to activities like “Length Using Non-Standard Units,” Week 27: Students measure the length of objects using non-standard units.

The activities begin with concrete representations at the beginning of the year and progress to more abstract concepts as the year progresses. Students begin counting concrete objects in the first week; a Week 1 “Teacher Tip” in the scope and sequence reminds teachers to incorporate the use of manipulatives, fingers, and bodies in all math activities as well as using concrete representations when using counting songs. This note helps emphasize the importance of using concrete representations of mathematical concepts. By Week 18, students are still singing counting songs, but without concrete representations. At the same time, materials are introducing addition, and they use representations to develop this new, more abstract skill. For example, in the lesson “Addition Stories,” students receive a forest picture and animal counters. The teacher places two foxes on one log and one fox on another; the teacher describes the foxes with a story and asks students how many foxes are in the forest picture. The teacher then tells a new story, using different numbers of various animals. Towards the end of the year, materials introduce the concepts of equal, more, and less. In Week 33, the lesson “Comparing Sets with Equal, More or Less” begins by introducing the vocabulary words more, less, and equal using concrete bear counters to model sample sets. One student spins a spinner to determine how many bears go into a set. A second student spins the spinner and places that many bears into a new set. Then, students discuss which child has more and which child has less. The emphasis remains on concrete representations, even as the skills become more abstract.

Classification and Patterns lessons also progress from concrete, to pictorial, to abstract representation. For example, in Week 12, “Pattern Play,” students use concrete representation when they position themselves to create an AB pattern. That same week, in “Color Pattern Necklace,” a Teacher Tip suggests putting pattern picture cards in centers for students to replicate. Later in the year, in the Week 24 lesson “Extending Patterns,” students describe and extend a pattern.

Throughout, materials use concrete manipulatives and pictorial representations. For example, in Week 11, students learn about various types of concrete representation in the “Length Using Non-Standard Measurement” lesson. Students measure various objects in the classroom, such as a pencil and a glue stick, using various non-standard units of measurement, such as paper clips and a ribbon. That same week, in the “Which Is Longer?” lesson, students listen to a read-aloud of The Best Bug Parade by Stuart Murphy. The teacher introduces the vocabulary words long, longer, and longest. After the story, the teacher models how to use snap cubes to create caterpillars of various lengths and thinks aloud about how to determine which caterpillars are long, longer, and the longest. After this, students participate by creating their own caterpillars with snap cubes of various sizes. Later, in the Week 35 lesson “Tall or Short?” students look at pictures of objects, animals, and people to compare their heights.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials promote instruction that builds on students’ informal knowledge about mathematics. The “Teacher’s Manual” provides information for the teacher about the importance of utilizing classroom centers to develop math concepts. “Theme Extenders” suggest that teachers use lessons introduced in the scope and sequence as additions to the classroom “Math” center for independent or small group learning. The materials provide guidance that supports the use of the classroom environment and materials to explore math concepts and skills. Additionally, the materials include online training that supports teacher understanding of how children develop mathematical understanding. 

In Week 2, in the “Would You Rather?” lesson, children play a decision-making game, voting in a poll to choose between two activities in which to participate. The teacher models and explains how to create a graph to measure students’ answers. The teacher guides students through questions in order to analyze the data and encourage forming conclusions. The teacher tells students that they will now vote on an activity and complete a graph each morning during “Circle Time.” The classroom environment thus encourages the use of math concepts in daily interactions and routines. 

In Week 4, the “Mathematics” section focuses on counting and provides teachers with multiple lessons for the week; the provided “Teacher Tips” guide teachers: “Look for opportunities to count throughout the day. Transitions are an ideal time.” The Theme Extender this week also incorporates math and social studies: Teachers count family members or count and graph who has siblings and who does not. These are examples of the multiple opportunities materials provide for math to be used throughout the school day in various instructional settings and across content. 

In Week 5, the Teacher’s Manual includes guidance on using informal mathematical experiences to support the development of skills. The Mathematics section provides a Teacher Tip for using the classroom environment to support the development of mathematical concepts throughout the school day: “Continue to count 1–5 by capitalizing on daily routines such as passing out snacks, counting steps while walking, and reciting number chants.” The lessons also incorporate the use of various manipulatives to support students’ exploration and skill development, including pattern blocks, counting bears, a variety of counting objects, and ribbon. During center time, students use various materials for math skill development; for example, in Week 5, the Math center has students count body parts, graph eye or hair color, and sort pictures of body parts. In the “ABC” center, students sort letters to determine which are in their names and which are not in their names. 

Weeks 11–13 include a thematic unit titled “It’s Harvest Time.” The unit materials provide guidance that supports the use of the classroom environment and materials to explore math concepts and develop them through real-world connections. The materials also guide the teacher in setting up the centers based on the theme. For example, in the Week 11 Theme Extender, the materials provide theme-related opportunities to practice math skills through exploration: Students use non-standard measuring tools to measure pictures of trees, gather leaves outside or in the center to compare shapes and sizes or use a themed work mat and dice to play a counting game. As students learn concepts, this is reflected in the centers. For example, the materials suggest providing blocks with pictures of outdoor fall scenes for the children to reproduce in the “Construction” center, which can be used to reinforce or extend geometry concepts. 

In Week 16, the lesson “Naming Numbers Throughout the Day” suggests placing a telephone in the “Home” center, creating a phone book, and including books with numbers in the classroom library; this kind of classroom environment encourages the use of math concepts. The Teacher’s Manual also suggests using the “Block” center to maximize students’ development of problem-solving and spatial reasoning skills. 

In Week 19, during the lesson “Swat the Dots,” students use a flyswatter to swat dot cards that match a number called out by the teacher. The activity begins with only two cards as answer choices. If a student cannot identify the correct card, materials suggest offering only one choice and assisting in counting the dots. If a student can complete the task even with additional card choices, the teacher asks the student to identify a card that is more or less than the number selected. Teacher Tips provide additional guidance on flyswatter safety. The materials thus guide the teacher to systematically build upon what the students already know. The progress monitoring system suggests activities for all levels. The scope and sequence and lessons become more complex as children’s knowledge increases; they build upon students’ mathematical understanding and skills through prompts and questions. 

In Week 22, the Theme Extender has the class compare groups of sports balls to see which group has more, has less, or is equal to another group. The materials suggest moving this activity to the Math center for students to play with independently. Students can thus review and practice mathematical skills throughout the day. In addition, Week 22 suggests that the teacher use ordinal numbers to describe steps in an exercise. This activity allows children to make connections between math skills and other content areas. Further, this same week, the “Pretend and Learn” center is turned into a gym where students make and sell smoothies and gym memberships. Students must utilize math concepts when selling items to classmates. This center allows students to develop math concepts through real-world connections in the classroom environment; in each theme, the Pretend and Learn center is inspired by a new, real-world situation.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials intentionally develop young children’s ability to problem solve. The “Teacher’s Manual” provides examples of how to integrate math in centers. For example, in the “Pretend and Learn” center, students can classify and sort fruits and vegetables at a farmer’s market or determine the amount of money owed for purchasing supplies at the pet store. Building-block play in the “Construction” center requires problem-solving and spatial reasoning as children plan the design of a building, determine how to fit shapes together, create stable structures, and more. The Teacher’s Manual also guides the teacher to join in the play by asking questions, scaffolding tasks, and encouraging the use of math vocabulary; the manual states that mathematical concept learning is enhanced when the teacher participates in student play in classroom centers.

The materials include activities that encourage curiosity and questioning about informal mathematics; they suggest placing introduced lessons in classroom centers for individual exploration. Week 10 includes the activity “Comparing Towers,” where students count blocks to build towers and then compare their towers to see who has the tallest, shortest, etc. The “Theme Guide” suggests adding this activity to the “Math” center so students can participate in it on their own. The Teacher’s Manual states that Math centers are designed for hands-on exploration to promote reasoning and problem-solving. 

In Week 11, Math center recommendations include gathering leaves outside and comparing their shapes and sizes, using nonstandard measuring tools (e.g., snap cubes, paperclips) to measure pictures of fall trees that are different heights, and rolling a numeral die and counting out the corresponding number of acorns onto a tree or squirrel work mat. These activities are directly tied to the week’s learning and theme. 

In Week 14, students engage in the “Build It” activity, which encourages curiosity and questioning about informal mathematics. The teacher models and explains building structures. The teacher encourages a student to build a structure. Once the structure is built, the teacher models asking the builder questions about the building. Provided sample questions include “What are you building? “What shape blocks are you using to build your…?” “How many are you using?” After this, students participate in the building-and-questioning routine with a partner while the teacher observes and provides feedback as needed. Materials provide guidance for upward and downward scaffolds: If a child asks an immature question, the teacher can model how to express the idea in a more mature form. For an upward scaffold, to extend learning, the teacher can ask for an explanation and encourage the child to describe their structure or pose questions involving quantities, shapes, position words, and height and width. Teachers thus receive guidance on feedback to support developing children’s questioning skills. 

In Week 31, the “Fair Sharing” activity supports and encourages students to recognize mathematical problems in the environment. Students practice separating a group of items into two equal sets so that they can share them with a friend. The teacher models, guides the children through the activity, and checks for understanding: “Does each friend have the same number of cubes” “Can you tell by looking, or do you need to count?” The teacher closes the lesson with the idea that sharing with friends makes everything fair. The materials suggest placing the activity in the Math center so that children can engage with it independently.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials build students’ number sense. The “Teacher’s Manual” provides guidance to incorporate informal mathematical experiences throughout the day, such as sorting toys in buckets or counting vegetables during clean-up. “Teacher’s Tips” also provide suggestions: In Week 1, the “Naming Numbers Throughout the Day” lesson provides a variety of opportunities for students to practice number recognition throughout the day, such as pointing out and naming numbers on doors and signs as students walk down the hall. 

Materials include guidance to build children’s conceptual understanding in whole group, small group, and learning center opportunities. Skills progress throughout the year, beginning with counting to 5 and ending with counting to 20. In Week 2, students practice songs and chants in the lesson “Number Songs and Chants.” “If You’re Happy and You Know It” incorporates numbers with movement: The teacher says, “If you’re happy and you know it, clap one time,” progressing up to 5. This and other songs can be sung during whole group and small group instruction as well as during transitions. As the year progresses, in Week 15, an activity called “Counting Sets” requires children to count the number of stars on a card (e.g., 10) and then select a matching number of manipulatives (e.g., linking cubes); students must count as they place each manipulative on a star. By the end of the year, skills include developing one-to-one correspondence and identifying numerals up to 10; if the student is ready to continue beyond 20, extension lessons include counting to 100.

The materials include frequent opportunities for students to participate in activities that build number sense. Number sense activities are spiraled: They build upon one another and reappear in the following weeks for a review or to allow the teacher to use provided scaffolding to increase learning. For example, in Week 10, students compare sets and sizes in “Comparing Towers”; this topic reappears in Week 20. Also in Week 20, students participate in “Number Recognition,” where they count bears to match the number on a card. In Week 31, students subitize in the activity “Roll and Count.” In Week 34, students find one more than a number in the activity “Solve a Math Story”: They place bears on a picture to add and take away according to a story read by the teacher. 

The materials provide guidance for teachers to build conceptual understanding in math. In Week 20, “Number Recognition,” students identify the number on a card and then count out that number of bears. The activity provides scaffolding techniques for teachers to assist students who might struggle with either identifying the number or counting. The activity also suggests moving the cards and bear counters into the “Math” center for students to play independently, thus supporting mathematical learning throughout the day. 

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials develop students’ academic math vocabulary. Each week, “Theme Extenders” suggest moving introduced lessons into the “Math” center for independent student practice. Students have repeated, ongoing opportunities to practice using math vocabulary. In addition to the play centers, activities provide opportunities for students to count and say numbers. For example, during “How Many Do You Have?” in Week 5, students count out bear counters, say the number of counters out loud, and move the counters to a ten-frame mat. The provided activities can be utilized in large or small groups or placed into learning centers. 

Teachers scaffold children’s development of academic math vocabulary through the provided scaffolding, “Teacher Tips,” and progress monitoring system. Lessons include downward and upward scaffolding suggestions. For example, in Week 6, in the lesson “Shape Graphing,” the teacher distributes a bag of shapes that includes circles, squares, and triangles. The teacher pulls a shape out of her own bag and identifies the shape by its attribute. Then, she places the shape in the correct column on a graph, explaining why it belongs to that column. For example, if the teacher pulls out a square, the teacher counts the sides and says that it is square because it has four sides. Looking at the graph, the teacher might point out that it does not belong in the triangle column because a triangle only has three sides; the teacher would then place it in the square column, noting that the shapes match. The lesson includes a sample script to support teachers in child-friendly prompting, questioning, and modeling: “The next shape on my graph has 1, 2, 3, 4 sides, and they are all the same. It’s a square. That looks like my shape!” After this, students begin guided practice. If a student is unable to identify a shape, the downward scaffold is to count the sides together. If a student sorts successfully, the upward scaffold is to add extra shapes to the graph and bag, which adds new shape vocabulary to the lesson. Teacher Tips include a suggestion to spend extra time in the modeling portion of the lesson to assist children in developing the academic vocabulary needed to complete the task. If students struggle to understand and use new math vocabulary, the materials suggest splitting into small groups for accompanying activities, so children can receive additional practice with academic math vocabulary.

The materials include repeated opportunities for children to engage in purposeful listening and talking using math vocabulary. In the lesson “Teaching About Shapes,” Week 7, students identify common shapes during a read-aloud of The Shape of Things by Dayle Ann Dodd. The lesson has an instructional “Key Teaching Behavior” video that models for teachers how to use math vocabulary during the read-aloud. The lesson recommends that teachers point to and name the shapes as they appear in the book, to bring focus to vocabulary. It also asks for children to repeat the shape names and identify the shape attributes to further develop math vocabulary. The lesson includes a list of additional books that can be used for this topic, including Shapes, Shapes, Shapes by Tana Hoban; Wild About Shapes by Jérémie Fischer; Shape by Shape by Suse McDonald; and Pancakes, Crackers, and Pizza: A Book about Shapes by Marjorie Eberts.

In Week 8, in the activity “Where Am I?” the teacher reads the story Where’s Spot by Eric Hill. In the activity, the teacher provides the students with positional words to act out; for example, for the words on and off, a student can sit on a chair, and another student can stand by the chair. After this activity, the teacher places the book in the Math center for the students to use to discuss positional words together. The “Teacher’s Manual” suggests that teachers engage students in play centers to develop and scaffold math vocabulary. 

The materials support teachers with strategies for layering academic math vocabulary into informal conversations about math in a positive, supportive way that honors children’s language and ideas. For example, in the Week 10 lesson “Comparing Towers,” the teacher models and explains the math vocabulary taller and shorter. Students participate in guided practice, building towers and utilizing the math vocabulary words taller and shorter with a partner. The materials instruct the teacher to go to each group to provide assistance and check for understanding. After the groups finish, the learners participate in sharing their towers and discussing their height. The materials suggest additional directions for the teacher to provide so that students can further explore the concept of height, such as “Create three towers from shortest to tallest.” The materials also provide additional questions to help children analyze what they have created, such as “How do you know this tower is shorter?” The lesson provides a downward scaffold to simplify the math vocabulary: The teacher can ask, “What/who is tall? What/who is short?” Teacher Tips recommend emphasizing shorter/ taller in the lesson and referring to children’s height to make connections; to support vocabulary, they also recommend using visual representations of the words short and tall, such as picture cards, room furniture, or other accessible objects. 

The materials include recommendations for purposefully talking about mathematics using math vocabulary. In Week 23, the activity “Using Ordinal Terms Throughout the Day” guides the teacher to use ordinal words in whole group instruction, small group instruction, centers, transitions, and outdoors. The materials provide examples for each area. For example, in whole group, ordinal numbers can be used with the calendar while saying the daily schedule. In a transition, the teacher can say the order of the students in line: first, next, last, and so on. The materials include texts that are math-related, and they identify math vocabulary in read-alouds. In Week 5, the activity “Teaching Positional Words Through Read Alouds” suggests reading I Went Walking by Sue Williams. The book provides the opportunity for teachers to ask students questions about the location of the animals or other objects in the story. 

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials build science knowledge through inquiry-based instruction and exploration of the natural world. Science lessons encourage engagement with the scientific method as per the “Teacher’s Manual.” The lessons provide opportunities for observation, asking questions, exploring, making and testing predictions, and communicating ideas. Students have hands-on opportunities to explore natural science in both formal science lessons and informally, during play in centers. 

Materials develop children’s ability to question aspects of their environment and engage them in their environment in a play-based way. For example, in Week 7, students help make a watershed in a real-life opportunity to observe and discuss the need for saving water. The teacher introduces the lesson by sharing the importance of saving water. The materials provide open-ended questions to activate prior knowledge; the teacher records student answers to refer back to at the end of the lesson. The materials guide the teacher and the children on how to make a watershed. Once it is complete, the teacher explains how the watershed works. The teacher prompts the children by asking inquiry questions, such as “What do you think will happen if you pour water over the landscape model?” The children take turns scooping out the water and provide examples of water uses and ways to conserve water. This lesson is designed to be repeated, providing students further opportunity to explore this learning experience. 

In Week 7, students explore age-appropriate scientific tools, such as a balance and measuring spoons, in the two-day activity “Rock, Soil, and Sand Investigation.” The materials list includes several cups each of pebbles, dirt, and sand; a balance; tablespoon; chart paper; markers; clear cups; tape or sticky tack; hand lens; teaspoon; and paper plates or towels. On day one, the teacher introduces the balance and how to use the scales to weigh the samples. The children participate by comparing the weights of the items. On day two, the children use the hand lens to analyze the samples, describe them, and compare them. 

In Week 8, in a science lesson called “Architects and Engineers,” the students go through the process of planning, building, and problem-solving a creation. The teacher introduces the role of the architect and shows the children pictures of different structures. After introducing the concept of a blueprint, the teacher tells the children that they will create their own blueprint. On another day, after drawing the building, the children become contractors and build from the blueprint. The teacher takes a picture of the building to compare to the drawing and asks the children to discuss the similarities between the drawing and the actual structure. The process of comparing the similarities as well as explaining the differences helps the children develop the ability to communicate ideas about the world around them. Then, the children become engineers and solve the problems of the building. The teacher asks who can build the tallest and/or strongest tower. This lesson is spread over multiple days, during which children engage in different ways of communicating ideas, which encourages thoughtful questioning and helps develop their understanding of scientific concepts.

In the Week 15 lesson “Head in the Clouds,” children explore earth and space science; the lesson includes differentiated opportunities for students to communicate their learning. Students observe clouds and then create an art piece depicting what they observed. The materials list and describe the three cloud types to use as a guide: cirrus, cumulus, and stratus. The teacher takes the students outside to observe the clouds and explains how clouds are made and how rain develops from clouds. The children participate by listening, observing, and drawing what they see in their journal; they refer back to it to complete their art project. The materials encourage the teacher to observe and support the children as needed by being attentive and listening to the descriptions of the figures the children are trying to describe. The materials provide a list of open-ended questions to use to check for understanding. The children complete the lesson by recreating the clouds they saw using the supplies made available to them.

The materials develop children’s ability to communicate ideas about the world around them in a variety of ways. The activity “Rocks All Around Us” in Week 28 discusses the qualities of rocks; the teacher asks students what they know that is made from rock. The teacher records the students’ answers on a chart. The teacher and students take a nature walk to point out various objects made from rock. The teacher records student observations on a notepad and then adds them to the chart when they return inside. This activity encourages discussion and writing of student observations.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials build social studies knowledge through the study of culture and community. Instruction follows a logical sequence of social studies skills and concepts, beginning with self and moving to family, community, city, state, and country. For example, at the beginning of the school year, during Week 1, in the lesson “Our Flags,” the teacher introduces and discusses the country and state flags. The teacher asks open-ended questions to gauge what the children currently know about the flags to help guide the discussion. The lesson closes with children sharing information they learned with a partner. During this same week, the children learn to recite both the state and country pledges; they also learn how to participate in a moment of silence. The students participate in the pledges and moment of silence every morning. 

The “Daily Schedule Chart” is introduced in Week 1. It provides an opportunity for children to learn about events in the past, present, and future. They reflect on the events that have already happened during the day, and they prepare for other events that will be happening later in the day, using the visual schedule and sliding down a clothespin as the day progresses. This serves as a daily routine and a foundation to support further learning later in the year. 

In the “I’m Me! I’m Special!” theme, Week 3 focuses on “My Home and My Family.” One of the lessons, “How Does Your Family Celebrate,” allows the children to explore the ways families can be alike and different. The lesson begins with the teacher modeling a favorite holiday/celebration she likes to celebrate. After sharing another holiday that a family might celebrate, the children draw pictures of their favorite celebrations at home. The class shares and finds similarities and differences in the celebrations. Following a “Teacher Tip,” the children are invited to bring in pictures from home to guide observations and discussions. Focusing on commonalities and differences, the teacher emphasizes that each child’s family is special and important. The included book suggestions support different cultures and traditions, providing a positive, friendly opportunity for the children to explore different holidays such as Los Posadas and Hanukkah.

The materials include exploration of people and places in the classroom, the school, and the community to expand beyond learning about families. In the Week 8 lesson “Career Day,” the children learn about communities and discover what types of workers are in a community. The teacher uses picture cards to introduce and explain the vocabulary words community, places, and workers. The teacher provides examples and models various community workers, such as a school teacher, a doctor/nurse, a firefighter, a baker, a mail carrier, and a police officer. The children participate in the discussion by choosing which worker they would want to be and sharing why. As part of the discussion, students act out the roles of the worker they have chosen. Additional social studies lessons that correlate with the thematic unit are provided throughout the year. 

The Week 13 lesson “Using Ordinal Terms Throughout the Day” supports an understanding of before and after and first and last as a foundation for learning about past, present, and future in a way that is developmentally appropriate. This lesson provides guidance and examples for the teacher to introduce ordinal terms such as first, second, next, last, beginning, middle, and end. The lesson identifies activities that can incorporate ordinal language during whole group instruction, such as “Calendar Time” (days/months), “Daily Schedule,” and after reading a book. It also provides recommendations to use ordinal language during small group activities, such as when working with number lines, when children line up for transition, and when teaching phonological awareness. Order ideas include using ordinal language during centers, transitions, and outdoors. Students expand upon this learning in the Week 35 lesson “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow.” The teacher models by talking about what she ate last night for dinner (in the past) and then sharing something she is looking forward to doing tomorrow. After discussing things that happened yesterday, are happening today, and will happen tomorrow, the children draw pictures of things that are happening in each of the three different times. 

Also in Week 13, in the social studies lesson “Bringing the Harvest Home,” the materials introduce the idea of consumers and provide opportunities for children to explore the roles of consumers in the community. The lesson guides the teacher to create a classroom store and model buying and selling crops to the children. The teacher discusses the roles of customers and clerks/farmers and how the purchase of the crops provides income for the farmer’s family. The children role-play the consumer and worker in the “Pretend and Learn” center. 

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials expose children to fine arts through exploration. There are opportunities to participate in multiple mediums and learn art concepts and skills throughout the year. For example, in Week 1, in a “Book & Print Reading” lesson, the children sing a song using the names of their classmates; the song helps them learn and remember their classmates’ names and learn the directionality of print. The materials provide teachers instructions to prepare: The teacher premakes sentence strips with the lyrics of the song “I Wish I Had A Little Red Box” by Dr. Jean Feldman along with picture/word cards of the students’ names. The teacher introduces the song and chooses two students’ names to add to the song. The children participate by singing along with the teacher. The “Teacher Tips” recommend placing this activity in the “Library” center for continued practice.

The materials emphasize engagement in the artistic process instead of focusing on the product. For example, in Week 1, in the lesson “Straw Structures,” the children create structures by adding straws into a colander. The focus is not on the product of the structure but on building motor skills and oral language skills, as students discuss the color of the straws and count the number of straws used. Additionally, in Week 3, children are offered choices of craft materials, such as construction paper, craft sticks, and yarn, to make homes. Teachers encourage children to verbalize as they add details such as windows, doors, roofs, or grass. This allows the children to be creative in their interpretation of the appearance of the homes. Another activity option for the “Creativity” center in Week 3 includes creating playdough families. Teachers encourage children to roll and squeeze the dough when creating body parts to strengthen hand muscles, as opposed to creating realistic looking people.

The Week 10 lesson “Pretend First Responders” provides an example of how dramatic play is incorporated to extend themes. Following a Teacher Tip, the teacher provides props to support pretend play of community helpers. The teacher introduces and models the various roles of first responders such as firefighters, police, and emergency medics as a child plays the one in need. Afterward, the children play the role of the first responder as the teacher plays the one in need. 

Teachers have the opportunity to use music in daily routines; these can be found under “Theme Extenders” in the weekly units. For instance, in Week 11, “It’s Harvest Time,” students create a leaf puppet based on the book that was read aloud. Students can also use paints to create a “fall scene” and create props for the “Pretend and Learn” center by painting cutouts of apples, corn, and nuts. In the Pretend and Learn center for Week 11, students pretend to be in a pumpkin patch and can rake leaves, dress for the weather, and collect apples and nuts. The Theme Extender has students sing the following songs from The Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays and Chants by Jackie Silberg and Pam Schiller: “Autumn Leaves,” “The Wind (swoosh, swirl)” and “Little Squirrel.” 

In Week 12, materials combine creativity and dramatic play to use the creative process purposefully. Students create their own pumpkins and apples in the “Creativity” center using open-ended tear art focused on fine motor development. Then, they can role-play being a farmer to plan, care, and grow their own crops in the Pretend and Learn center. Materials made in the Creativity center can be used as play props for dramatic play. 

The materials include daily experiences for children to explore art concepts and skills through various mediums, including dance, music, dramatic play, painting, sculpture, drawing, and other movements integrated across the instructional materials. In Week 16, the materials suggest that students act out the moon revolving around the Earth; students stand in the middle, and one child revolves around as the moon. The students sing “The Moon Is Moving” to the tune of “Are You Sleeping.” 

In Week 29, during the theme “The Earth Around Me,” in the Creativity center, students paint a night sky and create a tissue paper flower. In the Pretend and Learn center, students use props to pretend to go camping; they can pretend to roast marshmallows on a pretend campfire. Songs are included throughout the year and can be found in the classroom library, such as the song “Tiny Seed” that was introduced in whole group this same week.

Evaluation for 8.4
Materials include technology applications.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials incorporate technology that supports and enhances students’ learning. The “Teacher’s Manual” provides a chart that addresses concerns on how to keep technology from distracting from student learning, based on research. For example, if there is a concern that the use of technology is causing decreased physical activity, the materials recommend keeping children active throughout the day and following the guidelines from the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The materials provide an alternative way to use technology while remaining physical, such as using a handheld device when outside to enhance learning and observing. 

The materials provide opportunities for students to explore and use various digital tools. In the lesson “Introduction to Computers: Using a Mouse,” Week 2, students learn to navigate a computer program; they use a mouse to move the cursor and then click, drag, and drop items. The teacher models how to click and guides students to practice using the mouse. In the lesson “Guess the Voice,” Week 3, students listen to a recorded message and identify the speaker. The teacher uses recording devices like a cell phone or a computer to record the students’ messages. The students have the opportunity to speak in complete sentences and record their message to share with the class.

In Week 6, the students engage in an age-appropriate opportunity that allows them to meaningfully connect to classroom experience: “Architects and Engineers.” The teacher shows images of building structures on a computer for the students to see as examples. The activity suggests leaving a laptop or tablet in the “Block” center for students to reference images of structures to inspire their own creations. The activity also suggests bookmarking images or leaving word cards with photos for students to use when searching keywords independently. 

In Week 29, the children incorporate technology, a tablet, as they go on a nature walk. The children use technology actively by taking pictures of the things they find. They further engage in this experience by reflecting on and discussing the plants that they would not otherwise be able to bring back to the classroom. After reflecting on the pictures, the teacher extends the learning by referring to a child-friendly plant website to continue exploring additional information about the plant, such as the plant name, the lifecycle of the plant, and information about plant care. Students engage in a similar activity in Week 33, “Bug Homes,” when they observe, discuss, and collect data on a variety of bugs they find on the school grounds. Students use cameras or tablets to take pictures of the bugs they find. The teacher then displays the pictures on the overhead or tablet so students can use them as they create a bug sorting chart.

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:

Materials include formal and informal diagnostic tools that are developmentally appropriate for students. The “Circle Progress Monitoring Tool” is part of the online formative assessment in the Circle Prekindergarten Curriculum. The Progress Monitoring Tool is user-friendly and data-driven, enabling the teacher to quickly assess the students’ progress. Informal and formal diagnostic tools are designed to measure all content and process skills, as outlined in each of the prekindergarten guideline domains (social and emotional, language and communication, early writing, book and print concepts, mathematics, science, social studies, fine arts, and physical development). The materials support the teacher in testing the student one-on-one to ensure student success. Once data has been collected, the online system groups students automatically and identifies targeted lessons to support skill development and student growth. 

The Circle Progress Monitoring Tool tracks a students’ developmental growth throughout the year. It is administered in three waves, Beginning Of Year—Wave 1, Middle Of Year—Wave 2, and End Of Year—Wave 3. This tool helps teachers differentiate and individualize instruction for students at risk of falling behind. The assessment tools in the materials are appropriate to the developmental status and experiences of young children, and they recognize the individual variation in learners and allow children to demonstrate their competence in different ways. 

Materials provide guidance for consistent and accurate administration of diagnostic tools. The materials include a script to ensure the Circle Progress Monitoring Tool’s administration is consistent and standardized for all students. Materials instruct that teachers should follow the script verbatim. For example, the Circle Progress Monitoring Tool, “Narración y Comprensión Instrucciones y Hoja de Calificación,” includes embedded reminders or tips to support the teacher in collecting observational or anecdotal notes on specific lessons, skills, or activities. The diagnostic tool is supported by a “User Guide” that gives an overview of the assessment, outlines the time to administer each task, and provides step-by-step guidance for administering each measure and information to support the teacher in understanding the benchmarks. For example, the CIRCLE Progress Monitoring User Guide provides a thorough overview of the assessment and all component domains and sub-measures. The guide also includes directions for offline assessment, general administration guidelines, and recommendations for assessment environments. The diagnostic tool provided in the materials is administered consistently and accurately.

Progress is tracked as a student, as a class, a school, and as a district as monitored by teachers, administrators, and district-level directors. In addition to formal and informal assessments administered by teachers, children are encouraged to reflect on their work and go through the process of improving and adjusting in various developmentally appropriate ways throughout the year. In various lessons, students go through three phases of the lesson: create, reflect, and revise their plans. This allows them the opportunity to reflect on and evaluate the first phase of the lesson. 

The “Family Observation Form” includes students’ skills for evaluation during the school year. It requests that parents provide information about students’ strengths and needs, such as learning strategies, health and physical development, and social and emotional development. Teachers share assessment results with families to track their child’s development.

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:

Materials support teachers with guidance on how to meet student’s needs in all domains. Resources provide differentiated scaffolds embedded in the curriculum for teachers to support student skill development. The “User Guide” provides further support and guidance for teachers on analyzing and interpreting the assessment results and individualizing instruction. The “CIRCLE Progress Monitoring” (C-PM) User Guide provides an overview of the assessment and all component domains and sub-measures. The guide includes directions for offline assessment, general administration guidelines, and recommendations for assessment environments. The materials provide teachers with support to address students’ needs based on student progress measures. 

The Circle Progress Monitoring Tool includes a User Guide, providing teachers with guidance for planning instruction after data collection using the diagnostic tools. The results are color-coded: green—on track, yellow—monitor, red—needs support, and blue—out of range. The software automatically scores each child’s direct assessments, develops ability-level groupings, and recommends suggested activities for small group instruction. The observational checklists are designed to assess growth in child behaviors that can be easily observed during day-to-day interactions between teachers and preschool students. A report is generated for each student identifying their individual needs. Parents can access these reports as a paper copy, or teachers can share them electronically by issuing a personalized identification number (PIN) for online access. Teachers can assign targeted activities for parents to do at home via the online parent portal to further support the development of content mastery. 

The materials provide resources and teacher guidance on leveraging activities to respond to student data. Support is provided for teachers to adjust instruction based on student level and skill development. Lessons have embedded opportunities for small group activities that include additional read-alouds for differentiated instruction. For example, in the Lesson “Libro sobre el alfabeto con palabras que conocemos,” the student matches the first letter of words to the corresponding pages of the alphabet book. This activity provides downward scaffolding opportunities to target students with difficulty with letters. Students are shown two environmental print images and asked, “Which one begins with the letter __ ?” Teachers use supplemental material provided in the materials to target a specific lesson or skill and help the students during Tier 2 small group instruction or one-on-one support. The Teacher Guide includes the necessary instructions to support teachers on differentiated activities based on student data. 

Materials provide guidance for administrators to support teachers in data analysis. The C-PM Tool results can be shared with the teacher, administrators, and district-level employees. The administrator can pull class, school, and district-level data reports. Data can be analyzed by student, by class, by school, and by district. The C-PM Tool includes recommendations for grouping students; it also recommends lessons for students who might need support with certain skills. Reports available on CLA Engage include Class Completion Report, Class Summary Report, Class Growth Report, Student Summary Report, Small Group Report, and Student Summary Report (for parents). Additional reports are available at the administration and district level for administrators to support teachers by monitoring and adjusting instruction based on data analysis.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials include multiple embedded opportunities for progress monitoring that is age-appropriate. The “Circle Progress Monitoring Tool” measures student performance progress three times during the school year. The progress monitoring can be conducted in three waves, wave 1 beginning of year, wave 2 middle of the year, and wave 3 end of the year. Materials include observation forms for the teacher or the students’ family to fill out. The observations in the forms are skills that are focused on throughout the year. The materials track student progress across domains, including rapid letter naming, rapid vocabulary, letter-sound correspondence, phonological awareness, book and print awareness, science, social studies, and story retell and comprehension. Observation-based assessment includes social and emotional development, physical health and development, writing, speech production and sentence skills, motivation to read, and approaches to learning. Monitoring all of these skills helps the teacher determine the student interventions to succeed in learning. This routine provides opportunities that accurately measure and track student progress. This measurement allows the teacher to review data, plan, and adjust interventions and activities for the student to succeed in learning.

The Circle Progress Monitoring Tool is designed for prekindergarten students ages three and four to assess their skills and monitor their progress throughout the year with appropriate content skills. Student scores consider the student age, and the levels range from “on track, needs support, and out of range.” The teacher can determine which sections of the assessment to collect and can turn off any sections with a click of a button.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Materials provide recommendations for targeted instruction for students who have not mastered the skills but do not include activities for all populations. The materials include downward and upward scaffolds that support students each week in the different sections of book and print reading, phonological awareness, language and communication, alphabet knowledge, writing, and mathematics. In Week 21, lesson “Pila de reptiles—Animales de sangre fría” provides support for small/whole groups and center time to develop skills in a safe and playful environment. Students observe and describe the characteristics of organisms. This lesson can be used both at home and at school. Students draw two pictures of animals and describe what they are doing during class. Teachers provide the “just right” amount of help to make student success possible. The lesson provides recommendations for downward scaffold questions to support the student. Students share their drawings and name the animal. The materials recommend breaking multi-part questions into one question at a time. The materials provided do not include guidance for teachers of PPCD/Early Childhood Special Education programs. During a math lesson in Week 13, “Cuantos tienes,” using counting mats, students move a counter while counting orally and maintaining one-to-one correspondence. The teacher checks for understanding. As support for students that need more assistance, the teacher provides an audible signal such as clap, snap, or finger tap and move each counter as the child counts. Teachers use multi-sensory objects and hand-over-hand to support students' understanding. During Week 23, lesson “Escribir en el aire,” materials provide recommended targeted instruction and activities for students who need extra help. The teacher explains and models skywriting (writing in the air). Students repeat the action while the teacher observes. Teachers support students who need more assistance by doing hand-over-hand practice. Some lessons provide targeted instruction for students with difficulty understanding the content.

The materials include recommendations to enrich content to support students who have met mastery. The guidance includes engaging in more challenging activities such as “Categorias” in Week 22, “Language and communication.” The teacher invites children to write things that belong to a setting, for example, the farm. Resources include support for teachers by providing higher-level thinking questions. These questions can engage them to think of different ways farm things can be grouped, for example, “¡Sí, podrías ver un cerdo en una granja! ¿Qué es algo que NO podrías ver allí?” In a Week 11 “Baile con figuras'' math lesson, the students identify and describe the attributes of shapes as they play a musical game. The teacher prepares shapes and places them on the floor as she describes each shape. Students walk around the shapes to the music and freeze. The teacher pulls out a shape card, and students describe it. The teacher guides students that have mastered the skill by participating in an extension activity. The extension activity engages them in creative exploration. Students create large shapes on the floor with painters or masking tape for multiple students to fit inside the shape. The teacher observes the students as they participate and asks questions to check for understanding. In a Week 34 Science lesson, “El ciclo de vida de una mariposa,” the students listen to a read-aloud and create a project displaying a butterfly’s life cycle. The teacher explains and models the four stages of the butterfly’s life. This lesson provides an upward scaffold activity for students who have mastered the skill. They apply their learning by creating a life cycle of other animals, using pictures provided by the teacher. The students share their final work with their classmates. These are some samples of how the materials provide recommended targeted instruction and activities for some students to deepen grade-appropriate learning or assist them to master the concept.

Materials provide some additional enrichment activities to address the needs of learners. Evidence for an activity for all levels of learners is in Science. In Week 14, during the lesson “La cabeza en las nubes,” students go outside to observe the clouds and draw their observations. This lesson offers an extension where all learners can use their creativity. Students create a 3D model of the clouds they observed using cotton balls and share their observations and artwork with the rest of the class in the author's chair. The materials recommend incorporating books and materials that build upon the topic to enhance students’ interest and keep them engaged. No specific activities were found to address the needs of students with learning disabilities.

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 use teaching strategies to meet children’s different learning needs and engage students in the mastery of the content. The material support children in extending their capabilities. In the lesson “Caminata por la naturaleza,” the students engage in content mastery using hands-on activities. During a nature walk, the students use the five senses as a strategy to experience nature. Students identify items in nature and make illustrations. One of the teacher tips includes partner work as a teaching strategy. Students work with partners as they use their five senses to describe what they experienced during their nature walk. Students also engage in the lesson “El baile de la recta númerica” during a math activity. The teacher introduces the lesson, explains, and models how to count using the number line. The teacher uses number cards to call out numbers using rhythm by counting 1, 2, 3, cha, cha, cha. The students incorporate body movement and singing to practice and develop their counting skills. Using this strategy helps different learners master counting skills. During the language and communication lesson, “Participar con títeres,'' students engage in indirect learning through play. The teacher invites children to learn by playing with different puppets (finger, hand, stick, sock). The teacher models a conversation using the puppets and changing her voice. The children engage in having conversations and changing voices with each other. The materials provide some evidence of how the materials include instructional approaches. 

Materials provide evidence of activities to support the developmentally appropriate multimodal instructional strategies. During the science lesson “Usar una balanza,” the students use a balance to compare items’ weights. The lesson provides opportunities for students to use appropriate multimodal strategies by using concrete, hands-on materials and taking turns making predictions. Another use of multimodal strategy is found in the lesson “¿Qué es un insecto? Partes del cuerpo.” The teacher starts the lesson by activating the student’s prior knowledge and writing it in a graphic organizer. Resources guide students in using movement and singing to review how animals move and their different body parts. The materials incorporate multimodal strategies throughout the year to support student development and content mastery. 

The materials include daily activities for flexible group instruction. Flexible group activities build a sense of community, set the stage for the introduction of themes, and provide instruction to new concepts. The materials provide large group activities that include read-alouds, whole group greetings, music, and movement. Small group instruction is evident throughout the resources and provides flexible grouping to support students based on individual skill level. The teacher addresses students’ needs during flexible groupings. For example, in the lesson “Escritura multisensorial del nombre,” the teacher works with flexible grouping to address students’ needs. The advanced group practices outside writing their names with water using chalk and water. The on-level group uses shaving cream to practice the strokes. The low group works with the teacher to practice the strokes and get more individualized instruction. These provide some examples of how the materials incorporate flexible grouping and setting to support student development.

Materials support multiple types of practices and provide guidance and structures to achieve effective implementation. Included are recommendations for collaborative work, guided practice, and independent practice, as well as opportunities for students to explore and extend learning through projects. In the lesson “Rutina de presentación de las letras,“ students practice the name, sound, and formation of a given letter of the alphabet. The materials guide the teacher to introduce the lesson in whole group instruction and provide a routine. The routine includes letter name, letter sound, and letter formation. Students “sky write” the letter while saying aloud the strokes. Materials provide a script for each letter for the teacher to use as she teaches the letter strokes. For guided practice, the teacher observes the students’ answers and provides feedback. Students continue with individual practice by tracing the letter on paper. During a phonemic lesson, “Eres mi padre,” the materials support guided and independent practice. The teacher introduces the lesson and the game “Are you my father?” The teacher guides the practice by pairing capital and lowercase letters. They practice together, and the teacher encourages the students to find the “kids and parents” by themselves. The lesson follows the gradual release model. It moves from teacher-model to child-led independent practice. The activity gets placed in a center to continue the independent practice.

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 guidance for teacher to create a safe environment: "Schools that effectively teach English learners acknowledge and celebrate children’s cultures, respect for cultural diversity, and communicating that these are assets for learning (Stepanek, Raphael, Autio, Duessen, & Thomps, 2010; August, Shanahan, &  Escamilla, 2009). A safe environment for practicing English is also one in which teachers provide encouragement and affirmation for children’s growing proficiency." However the materials lack addressing the different student English proficiency levels nor the linguistic accommodations to support the language development. Lessons include materials taught in English or Spanish but lack accommodations or modifications for ELs.

Materials do not encourage the use of students’ primary language as a means to develop linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic skills in the target language. The “Scope and Sequence” and the “Theme Guide” do not include resources that teachers can access for more information about using children’s first language. Vocabulary lessons are only done in one language with no evidence of linguistic accommodations. Though the lessons provide academic downward and upward scaffolding, there are no linguistic accommodations or supports for English language learners.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include comprehensive coverage of all skill domains, spanning throughout the school year. Materials contain 35 weeks of instruction and 10 themes. The “Scope and Sequence” and “Theme Guides” work together in scripted lessons that follow the “gradual release of responsibility” approach to support student learning and independence. The lessons activate prior knowledge and, as stated in the “Teacher’s Manual,” the themes provide meaningful hands-on experiences for students that connect the themes to skills covered across multiple domains. The themes cover multiple weeks and have a cohesive focus that builds upon itself. For example, the theme “All Around My Community” connects to the kindergarten social studies TEKS and builds background knowledge through well-crafted experiences. Week 1 covers “Places in My Community”; students connect with their experiences in their community. In Week 2, “People and Jobs in My Community,” students connect with the people in their community and learn about jobs that help their community. Week 3 is “Getting Around in My Community,” where students learn about maps and how people move around in their community. In Week 4, “Construction in My Community,” students learn about building their community and how communities grow. The lessons are all vertically connected to kindergarten TEKS; the Scope and Sequence identifies the aligned TEKS in some lessons.

The materials include repeated opportunities for students to practice knowledge and skills throughout the school day. Materials follow developmental progressions that vertically align to content across grade levels. For example, the Teacher’s Manual provides teachers with guidance on how the “Science” strands are embedded in cross-curricular themes. Applying the Science strands within the themes allows for learning through extended hands-on opportunities, read-alouds, writing, and learning centers. Centers provide focused and intentional opportunities for review and practice of skills. For example, in Week 7, “All Around My Community,” all centers embed social studies. The “Pretend and Learn” center becomes businesses in the community, such as the post office and the grocery store. In the “Writing” center, students write about places in their community. In the “Creativity” center, students create a map of their community. In the “Math” center, students sort images of houses and buildings and count the number of houses they see on a map. The materials also include opportunities to review and practice skills throughout the learning day. For example, teachers and students use math to count snacks as they are handed out and notice numbers around the classroom and school. 

More structured examples can be found in the progression of phonological awareness skills across the year. The Teacher’s Manual outlines the phonological awareness progression found in the curriculum and highlights how instruction moves from larger to smaller units of sound. At the beginning of the year, phonological awareness instruction starts with sentence segmentation and moves to compound words. As the year progresses, instruction moves to syllables, then alliteration, then rhyme, then onset-rime, then phonemes. While the lessons progress in the scope and sequence, they do cycle and allow for review. Additionally, the format allows for flexibility in instruction based on student needs.

The instructional materials include repeated opportunities for reviewing and practicing knowledge and skills in all domains. For example, in Week 14, “The Sky Above Me,” the materials recommend introducing vocabulary and extending the theme using rhymes or chants from a provided list; materials thus address the content areas of “Language/Communication” and “Science.” In Week 19, students participate in an activity called “Bar Graph”: The class creates a chart and a graph after reading the informational text Every Pet Is Special by Martin Mayer. The teacher has the option to read a narrative text, What Pet Should I Get? by Dr. Seuss, for this activity. The students are able to identify and use a graphic organizer to support comprehension of the text read aloud; they vote on which pet they would like at home and place data into a chart. The teacher shows the class how to convert the information from the chart into a bar graph.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include implementation support for teachers and administrators. A 35-week “Scope and Sequence” covers a school year. The Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines are referenced in each section of the weekly Scope and Sequence and in each lesson being used; however, there is no chart that delineates when or how the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines are being used in the Scope and Sequence, making it difficult for teachers to know if they are introducing a new standard or spiraling a standard that has already been introduced.

The “Start-Up Guide” provides the teacher with an overview of the curriculum features as well as an explanation of the curriculum components, Scope and Sequence, “Theme Guides,” and “Supplemental Resources.” The guide also informs the teacher that the materials are available in both print and digital formats and that the lessons include guidance for the teacher regarding the cycle of modeling, guided practice, and independent practice. There is also access to video demonstrations of the lessons, “Teacher Tips” for extensions and change, and scaffolding suggestions to meet the needs of all learners. The Scope and Sequence presents lesson names in a specific colored font; they are provided in a weekly sequence that facilitates the progression of skills across the school year. The Start-Up Guide provides additional clarity on how the lessons are organized in categories with other skill domains integrated. It also explains that the use of the Theme Guide with the Scope and Sequence provides for a comprehensive learning experience that includes all the domains, including “Fine Arts,” “Physical Development,” “Social Studies,” and “Technology.” The Theme Guide provides opportunities to enhance the Scope and Sequence. Using both the Scope and Sequence and the Theme Guide will ensure that all skill domains are addressed during instruction.

Another resource, the “Teacher’s Manual,” explains that there are 35 weeks of instruction organized in the following domains: “Book & Print Reading,” “Phonological Awareness,” “Language & Communication,” “Alphabet Knowledge,” “Writing,” “Mathematics,” “Science,” and “Social and Emotional Development.” Most lessons in the Scope and Sequence include Teacher’s Tips that provide recommendations for extensions, changes, and scaffolding that will meet children’s diverse needs. The Teacher’s Manual explains that there are 10 themes that focus on building background information and content-area knowledge. The Teacher’s Manual provides the teacher with an in-depth look at how to facilitate the curriculum. It includes guidance on using the flexibility of the curriculum’s design to select instructional settings. It also specifies which lessons to repeat and the number of times to do so to meet the diverse needs of all learners. There are also supplemental resources, such as picture cards and work mats. These are available to download and print if using the digital format of the curriculum or as a companion resource if using the print version. 

A “Welcome: First Steps” online page offers guidance to administrators on getting started with the materials. It begins with introducing “Getting Started with Texas School Readiness Online,” which is a planning guide for supporting prekindergarten teachers in the classroom. In order to guide administrators in supporting teachers to implement the materials as intended, the guide provides step-by-step instructions along with access to tools to assist with instructional planning, literacy and print centers, the overall design and management of the classroom, and learning centers; these can be found under the “Classroom Environment Checklist” and “Classroom Observation Tool.” The Environmental Checklist provides administrators with an in-depth checklist for what can be expected in a prekindergarten classroom environment. It is to be administered three times per year to ensure a rich and robust learning environment for three- and four-year-olds. The Observation Tool provides an in-depth approach to research-based best instructional practices for pre-k teachers. It can also be used three times per year or by section, depending on how the administrator would like to use it. The tool also provides novice, intermediate, and proficient teacher examples to help administrators score their teachers using the provided rubric. Once teachers have been scored, the administrators can then begin the coaching cycle using the online tracking system in “CLI Engage.” CLI Engage also provides training opportunities in the “TX Core Competencies for Practitioners and Administrators Training.” Materials assist in understanding the core competency framework and how it is integrated into the classroom.
 

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials provide implementation guidance to meet variability in programmatic design and scheduling considerations. The “Scope and Sequence” contains 35 weeks of lessons to follow. The skills covered in each week progress along a developmental continuum that aligns with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. Each week of the Scope and Sequence is connected to a theme and has suggested theme-related activities. The “Suggested Theme Sequence” connects the themes to the Scope and Sequence; put together, the themes and Scope and Sequence make a full instructional plan. For example, in Week 26, the suggested theme for the week is “Get Moving: Moving on Land.” The theme activities for the week are found in the “Theme Guide”; the subject area activities are found in the Scope and Sequence for Week 26. While the two parts are designed to work in harmony, most subject area skills do not have to accompany the theme. This allows for flexibility with small group instruction and for children to work on different skills as necessary without impacting the sequence of themed activities.

The materials strategically implement the content while keeping a consistent developmental progression of skills through the Scope and Sequence. The Scope and Sequence provides weekly lessons from which teachers can select based on student needs while continuing skill development and progression. In the “Start-Up Guide,” the teacher can select from “Target Lessons” that are to be used several times during the introductory week for the development of skills. “Step It Up” lessons are optional lessons that challenge students and further develop target skills. “Additional Lessons” are previously taught Target Lessons for students needing additional review and practice of the previous week’s skills. Teachers can also offer these lessons as whole group or small group activities and use the Theme Guides to further develop and support the Scope and Sequence skills.

The “Teacher’s Manual” provides strategic guidance on implementation, ensuring that the sequence of content that is taught is consistent with the developmental progression of skills for each “Skill Domain Area.” For example, the Skill Domain Area of “Alphabet” provides guidance on how “Alphabet Knowledge” should be taught (setting up a letter wall, facilitating alphabet activities and games, and targeted letter instruction). The Teacher’s Manual also provides a strategic plan that introduces two to three letters per week and then spirals the instruction to provide repeated exposure to the letters. The sequence of letter introduction can be found in the Teacher’s Manual. 

The materials are written as a full-day program and encourage teachers to use the flexible planning options to create their half-day program plans. The Teacher’s Manual includes a sample daily schedule and template for the full-day program. The weekly themes include multiple suggestions for center activities as well as many read-aloud book suggestions. The “Start-Up Guide” explains that many of the lessons in the Scope and Sequence and Theme Guide provide “Teacher Tips.” These tips provide recommendations to adjust instruction to differentiate learning that meets the needs of three-year-olds, four-year-olds, and those who need more support. The Start-Up Guide also explains that the curriculum provides flexibility that allows teachers to plan lessons for the week by adding or removing activities or lessons based on the needs of the learners. For example, if the class consists of three-year-olds, or if the program is a half-day program, the teacher can include fewer components in their lesson plan. The Start-Up Guide also provides explicit six-step guidance for teachers to plan lessons. 

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The “Teacher’s Manual,” in the “Family Engagement” section, explains the importance of the family’s role in their child’s education. The section explains that each “Scope and Sequence” provides two family activities to support the lesson learned in the classroom. The activities are created with the parent and child relationship in mind and target prekindergarten learning goals. For example, in Week 19, in the Family Engagement “Pick Up and Count” game, children practice counting to 10 while working on fine motor skills: They pick up items with a pair of kitchen tongs and count along with an adult. During Week 25, the Scope and Sequence includes two activities to share with families. One activity relates to the phonemic awareness activities used in school and is called “Buried Letters.” This activity can be printed and sent home to share with parents. Otherwise, parents can access it electronically, which provides additional letter-sound practice. If the parents access it electronically, there is also a video with a parent doing the activity with her own child.

The digital “Family Engagement Toolkit” contains resources, “Teacher’s Checklists,” and an administrator guide regarding engaging families. It includes the PDF “Tips For Building Relationships with Families.” The Teacher’s Checklist is a strategy checklist that guides teachers on partnering with families, encouraging play-based learning and interactions at home, promoting conversations with families to individualize student support, and hosting family events to support children’s development. 

The Teacher’s Manual explains that, in addition to the Scope and Sequence family activities, there are more family activities on the curriculum website. All Family Engagement information is available in both English in Spanish. An example of a Family Engagement opportunity is found in Week 8: The “Count and Match” activity contains explicit instructions, the materials needed, and tips. A “Let’s Play” section provides the parent(s) instructions on how to facilitate the activity. The “Tips” section provides strategies such as scaffolding down by using only one dot card; or, if their child is familiar with the activity, to increase the number of dot cards. It also provides strategies such as substituting actual items in place of a dot card if it is difficult to engage the child in the activity.

The “Progress Monitoring System” provides a printable report for parents as well as a login option for parents to access reports. The parent reports, available in both English and Spanish, also include recommendations for activities to do at home to support the child’s growth. For example, if a child needs additional support in rapid vocabulary naming, the parent report will include suggestions for additional vocabulary practice from home. One suggestion might be an activity called “Farmer Round Says,” which encourages families to use toy animals to practice making animal sounds. The activity also suggests using a book with animal pictures as an alternative.

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 transadapted Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The curriculum is available both in print and digitally and is easy for teachers to use. The “Start-Up Guide” explains that the “Scope and Sequence” is organized in eight color-coded categories; the lesson names are always indicated in a specific font color in both curriculum platforms. The “Theme Guide” uses the same color-coded system. Each lesson is divided into three categories: “Target Lessons,” “Step It Up,” and “Additional Lessons.” Each week’s Scope and Sequence page opens to 10 color-coded tabs labeled with the areas “Book & Print Reading,” “Phonological Awareness,” “Language & Communication,” “Alphabet Knowledge,” “Writing,” “Mathematics,” “Science,” “Social and Emotional Development,” “Review,” “Repeat & Adapt,” and “Family Engagement.” These are in the same order and the same color for each week of the Scope and Sequence. Choosing a content area opens an overview of that week’s lesson for that area. The lesson titles are presented in pink font. Icons allow teachers to quickly identify English video demonstrations, Spanish video demonstrations, “Small Group,” notes or tips, “Theme Guide,” and “Songs/Rhymes.” Songs and rhymes are available in the Complete Book of Rhymes, Songs, Poems, Fingerplays, and Chants by Jackie Silberg and Pam Schiller. This book is included with the purchase of the theme library.

The digital lessons are presented in a neutral color and use a consistent font that helps guide the eyes to certain areas of the screen. A larger font is used for section titles. The “Teacher’s Tips” are in a grey box and provide a bulleted list of strategies. To the right of the page, a grey-colored column shows the activity grade levels, learning areas, “Head Start Early Learning Outcomes,” Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, and kindergarten TEKS alignments. This format is consistent with each week’s Scope and Sequence lessons. Some digital lessons include a link to access printable materials such as pictures or work mats. 

Materials include authentic pictures in color that are easily identifiable by children and supportive of child learning. For example, in Week 3, the lesson “Pictures Need a Thousand Words” provides a PDF link to picture cards with actual photos of various scenes (e.g., beach, carnival, soccer game, thunderstorm, playground, and party). The pictures are colorful and depict real-life scenes, including environments, weather, actions, and people. The picture cards are also labeled with the scene. Students label, describe, explain, and make connections to the pictures. Materials contain clear graphics to support learning. The printable materials in Week 7 include a chart for students to use during an experiment. The chart includes pictures of a scale that students will use; the picture labels the two sides of the scale (e.g., “LEFT” and “RIGHT”) with arrows. In Week 19, materials include three letter-sized work mats and nine half-sized picture cards of different habitats; labels are placed around the border of the pictures so children can easily identify and learn about the habitats. In Week 4, materials suggest using big books with large print in order to focus on specific parts of the book. 

The materials appear to adhere to the “User Interface Design” guidelines regarding visibility of system status, flexibility and efficiency of use, and aesthetic and minimalist design. The pictures and graphics also appear to adhere to the User Interface Design Guidelines, with regard to recognition rather than recall, flexibility and efficiency of use, and aesthetic and minimalist design.