PreK On My Way en español

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The “Teacher Hub” contains resources and all the lessons/activities for large group, small group, and learning centers. The resources are divided by theme, skills, and resources. This structure allows teachers to easily identify the domains they are teaching and targeting each week. The “Habilidades” (Skills) section is organized by the domains in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, except “Mind Builder,“ which includes social and emotional development, executive functioning skills, and motivation and creativity. For example, when the teacher clicks on “operaciones” in the “matemáticas” section, the student outcomes correlated with this skill fappear. The teacher is directed to activities within the themes that incorporate those skills. Another section in the “Teacher Hub” is “recursos.” Here the teacher may find additional resources, including songs and stories that reinforce each week’s learning for each theme. The songs and stories integrate several domains such as math, social studies, science, phonological awareness, and social skills. For example, the song “Diez Pajaritos” incorporates musical rhythm and subtraction skills for the theme “Animales.” 

Additional cross-curricular connections are found throughout the materials. During Theme 3, the teacher engages the students in activities that target language and communication, math, and science through measurement and making predictions. During a whole group lesson, the teacher revisits a read-aloud book (Este zapato necesita un pie) about finding the owner of a shoe. The teacher asks the students why it is important to measure things. The students predict to whom in the book the shoe may belong. This activity provides children the opportunity to learn about measurement while asking and answering questions and making predictions, which supports science skills. In a small group on the same day, the teacher guides the students to create a chart to mark their heights. The students measure and compare their heights using the phrases más pequeño que y más grande que. These activities exemplify how the materials include intentional and purposeful cross-curricular connections within the theme and across learning settings. This plan creates a unified learning experience for students.

The materials also incorporate books that allow teachers to reinforce skills from various domains. For example, Theme 5 focuses on being healthy and making good choices to become strong. Week 1 specifically focuses on “My Body.” Books such as Mi Cuerpo (that engage students in classifying body parts), Felices en nuestra piel (which allow the students to discuss what our skin does), and Tengo Ritmo (which shows the students that we can make a rhythm with our bodies) are read aloud to reinforce the topic. With these books, teachers can target and reinforce social, emotional, fine arts, science, emergent reading, and language and communication skills. 

The themes’ topics are carried across different activities that target different skill domains each day. For example, in Theme 7, “Caring for Plants,” the lessons target various skills such as conversation, listening, vocabulary, motivation and creativity, and life science. During “Grupo grande,” the teacher introduces the vocabulary words “diminuta” and “capullo” to support the read aloud De Semilla a Planta. During the read aloud, the teacher asks, “¿Cuáles son las partes de una planta?” After the read aloud, the students talk among themselves and discuss the question, “¿Cuáles son las partes de una planta?” During “Grupo pequeño,” the students classify living and non-living things, which reinforces the science element. The materials also offer additional extension activities. For example, during “Centros independientes,” the teacher states, “Dibuja o escribe una lista de las partes de las plantas.” The students draw to write a list of the parts of a plant. Later, in the “Centro de construcción,” the students build something as tall as a sunflower. These activities allow the learners to make purposeful connections in various learning settings across the day, creating a unified experience for the students.

Overall, the materials include information to support the teachers’ understanding of the domains addressed in every unit. For each day within a theme, the materials highlight the targeted skills. For example, in Theme 6, day three’s language lessons list II.B.3, II.B.7., II.A.1., II.A.3., IV.C.5., and VI.C.3. as the skills targeted for this section of the day.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include texts that support content and skill development in various domains. The “Guia de Literatura'' includes multiple genres of texts integrated into the lessons. For example, Theme 1 includes the book Así me siento yo (a book about feelings). Through this book, children learn feelings beyond happy, sad, mad, and go deeper into scared, resentful, frustrated, proud, and timid. The book has various types of punctuation marks, words in all capital letters, and bolded words, allowing children to have conversations about print features. Through this book, children learn various skills from various domains. Theme 2 includes the big book Las formas de la ciudad. The book is about various shapes seen in the city by day and night. The book displays various city shapes in various colors for children to discuss. The book also allows children to make connections to shapes or other objects they may see in their city. Through this book, children learn math, social studies, and science concepts. Overall, the texts are strategically chosen to support content and skill development in multiple domains. 

The materials provide authentic Spanish books with transadapted texts from popular English books throughout the curriculum. An example of a transadapted text is found in the book Un amigo como tú. This book was originally written in English and is a classic that has been enjoyed by monolingual speakers. The book discusses how everyone can be friends even though they are different. Theme 1 includes an original Spanish book: Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre. This book addresses concerns that Latino students may have with longer last names. It includes the history of last names and why they can be proud of it. The materials also include the book ¡No Dejes Que la Paloma Conduzca el Autobús!, a transadaptation from Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! by Mo Willems. The texts include a mixture of quality translated and transadaptated authentic materials as well as culturally relevant text.

The program includes a literature guide that lists high-quality, authentic, and culturally diverse books used throughout the curriculum. Theme 2 includes the book Ming va a la escuela. This book includes children of a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Biblioburro is also a book in this theme and is a story that takes place in Colombia. This nonfiction story is about a man, his donkeys, and how he brings books to children in remote Colombian villages. Another culturally relevant book is Bebé va al mercado. This book is about a mom going shopping for groceries at the local market. The pictures in the story depict people of Latin descent. Theme 9 includes the book Así crecen los niños. The book includes families of various ethnicities, which makes the book relatable to a variety of children. These diverse books are used throughout the curriculum, representing people of various backgrounds.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include various opportunities for purposeful play that promote student choice. The “Guia de Implementación” provides information that identifies the importance of play as a foundation for learning for three and four-year-old children. The materials state that an essential part of a child's development is through informal exploration and experimentation. The “Gradual Release” section states that children lead their own play as teachers ask questions to elicit conversation during independent centers. The Week at a Glance in the guide provides an example of how each week includes suggestions for teachers to support choice in centers. For example, for the “Nuestra comunidad” theme, the Library and Listening Independent Center includes audio and print books about different communities. The Pretend and Learn Center includes cooking supplies such as wooden spoons and real or fake ingredients. The math and science center includes manipulatives such as numbers and letter blocks. The Creativity Station includes blocks, small boxes, empty milk cartons, and drawing supplies. The materials begin with child-centered themes and continue with exploration. Through play and student choice, the children develop self-regulation and social skills.

The materials provide opportunities for students to learn through play in the learning centers based on the skills being taught. The activities for each theme incorporate open-ended materials that allow for the exploration and practice of new skills across domains. For example, during Theme 3, the teacher reads the story, ¿Dónde está mi osito?, a book about a lost boy who runs into a huge bear in the woods. Later in the day, the students go to the “Centro de dramatización y aprendizaje.” The students imagine they are Pedrito and are looking for their lost teddy bear. The teacher then asks the students to show one counter for the little bear, one for the big bear, and one for Pedrito. The students count how many counters they have. In the “Rincon del escritor,'' the teacher asks the children the biggest thing they have ever seen. The children write and draw about the biggest thing they have seen in their life. These activities allow the children to think creatively as they express their ideas and provide opportunities for children to broaden and deepen their knowledge through play.

In Theme 5, the teacher reads the book, Bebé va al mercado. The teacher asks questions that revolve around counting, such as “¿Cuántos plátanos puso Bebé en la canasta de mamá?” The students show the number using their fingers. The students then count “los niños que saludan a Bebé.” Then during the small group, the teacher reinforces counting. The students pretend that their five cubes are pieces of fruit they are selling at the market, and a farmer will bring them some more. The teacher pretends to be the farmer and adds to the students’ piles of cubes. The students count how many pieces of fruit they have now to sell. Then during the “Centro de matemáticas y ciencias,” the students pretend to make a food basket with five healthy foods. Not only do these activities include a variety of opportunities for students to engage in purposeful play, but guide the teacher to set up and facilitate activities to meet, reinforce, and practice learning objectives.

Additionally, in Theme 5, the teacher engages the students in learning about parts of the body through various activities across learning settings. For example, during the “Hora del círculo,” the materials guide the teacher to talk about the parts of the body with students. The students name the parts of the body familiar to them. The materials suggest the teacher sing Si eres feliz y lo sabes with the students while incorporating ways for them to move parts of their bodies. The lesson moves into a read-aloud about the body (Mi cuerpo by Andrea Pinnington and Penny Lamprell), where the teacher reinforces how the body moves. During shared writing, the materials guide the teacher to write short sentences about how the body functions and how to stay healthy. The students continue to explore the concept during “Centros independientes.” The teacher circulates and asks questions from the “Guía del maestro.” In the “Biblioteca y centro de escucha,” the teacher asks, “¿Qué partes del cuerpo encuentras en este libro?” The students tell about parts of the body they see in a book. During the “Centro de dramatización y aprendizaje,” the teacher asks, “¿Cómo se puede estirar tu cuerpo para que seas lo más alto posible? ¿Cómo puedes hacer para ser más pequeño?” The students act out how to make the body bigger and smaller. These activities give the students multiple opportunities to learn and practice skills through both direct instruction and play to support them in meeting learning objectives.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials align with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. Although the guidelines state the expectations for four-year-olds at the end of prekindergarten, the materials support teachers to differentiate for the level of development and student populations. For example, the “Guia de implementación'' provides information about scaffolding supports embedded in the materials to support students by age or developmental levels. Color-coded options allow the teacher to support students during large-group and small-group instruction. The scaffolds in yellow target three-year-old children and indicate “support.” The scaffolds in green target four-year-olds and indicate “typically developing.” The scaffolds in blue target five-year-olds and provide more of a challenge. The materials also include modifications in every small group activity card to support children with physical and developmental needs in fine motor, gross motor, attention, sensory, and speech areas.

The “Guia de Implementación” encourages the teacher to look for the support and challenge scaffolds in the “Large Group Cards” and “Small Group Cards.” For example, in Theme 6, the teacher reads the book La gran idea de la pequeña Nita during whole group. The teacher scaffolds and asks questions throughout the story using the script provided. Towards the end of the lesson, the students engage in a discussion around the guiding question: “¿Cómo ayudan a Nita los vecinos? The “Apoyo” (support) section provides the teacher with leveled scaffolds (one through 3, with level 3 being the highest) to support students in the discussion. The “Estimule” (challenge) section provides a question to challenge students. The Small Group Cards also contain scaffolds for children of different ages and developmental levels. For example, the teacher has the children look at images that represent action words on the same day. The students name the action and act it out. The activity cards’ apoyo/support section guides the teacher to ask additional questions to help students identify what action they see. The estimule/challenge section guides the teacher to ask students to use three of the action words in a made-up story. Although the Apoyo and Estimule section can support and challenge all students, these scaffolds are also meant to support three-year-old and five-year-old students.

The “Guia de implementación” provides example schedules for a full-day and half-day pre-k program. The daily schedule examples provide the suggested amount of time to be spent on each activity for the half-day or full-day program. The program recommends that phonological awareness, three read-alouds, writing, math, and language development be incorporated daily into a full-day program. The materials specify two read alouds instead of three for a half-day program. The full-day schedule has oral language, literacy, and math blocks. Each includes large group, small group, discussion, and shared writing. In order to not miss any of the important subject blocks for a half-day, the materials recommend a language and literacy block on one day and a math and language block the next day.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials also include a variety of step-by-step instructional strategies within the whole group lessons. Each “Tarjeta para grupo grande” follows a sequence that starts with circle time, focuses on vocabulary, moves into a read aloud, and includes a writing opportunity. For example, in Theme 3, the “Hora del círculo” portion of the lesson guides the teacher to use music and play freeze with the students. The teacher yells the word big or small, and children have to try to make themselves big or small. The teacher then reviews the vocabulary words “medir” and “¿que tan grande?” before reading the book ¿Qué tan grande es un elefante? The large group card also provides teachers with a focus. For example, for this read aloud, the teacher ensures students can compare the sizes of animals. The lesson card provides the teacher with a guiding question for students to answer as the book is read. The script goes even further to give the teacher exact stopping points with questions. For example, on pages 4–5 of the book, the teacher asks, “Qué animal es más pequeño que un elefante?” The lesson ends with the teacher modeling how to write short sentences to compare the sizes of the animals in the book. Every large group card for every read aloud provides this guidance for teachers. 

The materials guide the teacher to activate the students' background knowledge and connect it to new learning. During a small group activity in Theme 3, the teacher activates the students’ background knowledge by giving the students the opportunity to classify two groups of cards based on how heavy or light they think the objects are. This activity provides the teacher insight into whether students may have had experiences with these objects before and what understanding they have so far about heavy and light. To challenge the students, the teacher asks them to think of an object heavier than the object in the heavy category and lighter for those in the light category. Activities such as these provide opportunities to use their background knowledge to connect to new learning.

Another example found in Theme 3 also provides guidance for teachers to connect children’s prior knowledge to new learning. During one week of the theme, the children learn about the five senses by reading the books ¡Ver! ¡Oír! ¡Probar! ¡Oler! Tocar! and Frío, crujiente y colorido: El uso de nuestros sentidos. The students learn about food items that are sweet, smooth, a light color, smell good, and sound strong/crunchy, as well as how we use our senses to determine these characteristics. On day 4, the teacher connects the students’ prior knowledge to the lesson by encouraging them to talk about their favorite foods and those they do not like. The students also describe the way the foods taste. On day 5, the students imagine a breakfast with delicious foods and list them. The use of topics within each week of the overall theme allows teachers to build students’ knowledge of the concepts throughout the week. This structure allows the children to connect prior learning to new learning as they continue to investigate the topic.

The materials provide a variety of explicit instructional strategies for teachers to teach prekindergarten skills. For example, the “Tarjetas de actividad'' in every theme provide step-by-step instructions for the teacher to lead a small group activity. The activity card includes a teacher script with a direct explanation of the activity, preparation, questions to ask, how to expand the lesson, and conversational prompts for the end of the activity. For example, in Unit 6, the students identify shapes based on the teacher’s hints given to them. The teacher begins the small group activity by explaining that “en esta actividad, elegiré una tarjeta que muestra una figura. Colocaré la tarjeta detrás de mí y les daré pistas sobre la figura misteriosa.” The teacher also asks students to tell what other things they know about each shape. At the end of the lesson, the teacher asks the students which clues allowed them to identify each shape easily. The back of the activity cards also contain strategies that the teacher can incorporate for students that require additional support or need a challenge. For example, for students who need support, the materials guide the teacher to describe each shape’s characteristics for the students. The students observe, point to, and name each shape. For students that need a challenge, the materials guide the teacher to have students work with a partner. The students give hints to their partner so that their partner can guess the shape. These teacher scripts provide explicit instructional strategies for the teacher as well as examples of student actions that demonstrate proficiency in the content and skills being taught.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The curriculum is supported by child development research. The vocabulary development activities within the materials build on the “proven success of CLI’s Developing Talkers model to ensure that every child has the skills and vocabulary needed for confidence and success.” For example, the PreK on My Way Texas Program Guide states, “In partnership with the Children’s Learning Institute and Dr. Tricia Zucker at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Scholastic has built upon the successful research model known as Developing Talkers, which has led to significant growth in children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary skills.” In addition, the read alouds are aligned with Mind Builders to support academic and social skills. The materials state, “Developed in close collaboration with the Yale Child Study Center, the research-based Mind Builders are at the heart of PreK On My Way. These soft but essential skills center around social and emotional development, executive function skills, motivation, and creativity. Mind Builders give children the tools to thrive in PreK and beyond.” 

The materials offer additional resource guides that explain how the curriculum aligns with child-development research. The “Program Guide” states that “each daily lesson includes a research-based insight designed to help educators understand how to conduct that lesson in a way that has an immediate and valuable impact on children’s learning and development.” In addition, the letter and sound activities in Spanish follow a recursive approach supported by research (Jones et al., 2012). The materials also contain early childhood teaching strategies that are supported by research. They help guide the instructional approaches in planning and implementing the early childhood lessons. The materials state, “Research shows that instruction focused on language, literacy, and math skills results in greater cognitive growth (Brookings 2017). Children develop these fundamental skills as they explore literature and activities across various content areas including science, social studies, the fine arts, and more.” This research supports the curriculum in that children have various opportunities during whole group, small group, and independent learning centers to engage in activities in all skill domains of the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. 

The materials identify and reference research that supports the instructional strategies included in lessons. The “Guia de implementación” states, “Exponer a los niños a los números y cantidades de manera variada y recurrente los ayuda a comprender y apreciar las matemáticas (Nathan, 2013).” The Scope and Sequence supports that math skills are taught in recurring ways as there are several opportunities for children to practice math skills in various ways in various themes throughout the school year. For example, spatial sense skills are explicitly addressed at least 36 times throughout the school year. 

The cited research is current, academic, and relevant to early childhood development. The materials apply to Texas-specific context and demographics. The materials state, “Available in English and Spanish and developed according to Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines and Head Start Early Learning Outcomes. PreK On My Way engages children with culturally diverse read-alouds, guided activities, and purposeful play. Teachers are supported with all the resources they need to create rewarding educational experiences that empower children to reach their full potential in the classroom and beyond.” In addition, the research is from reputable sources that are known for their experience. The curriculum was developed in partnership with leading researchers and educators from the Children’s Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Steven A. Hecht, Ph.D. from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Yale Child Study Center, and Erikson Institute. The research is evidence-based and aligned to current best practices in the field of education. 

The materials contain a bibliography found in the “Guía de implementación” and the “Teacher Hub.” The bibliography cites research and books that the curriculum used to explain the materials’ layout. Some of the research articles include “When Fewer is More, Small Groups in Early Childhood Classrooms” by B. Wasik and “Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers” by Bowman, B.T., Donovan, S.M., & Burns, S.M.

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include “Mind Builders,” which address social, emotional, executive function, creativity, and motivation skills; they were developed in partnership with the Yale Child Study Center and are infused throughout the program. These lessons are directly taught on the second day of each week and are supported through large group and small group lessons on that day. The “Implementation Guide” has a section titled “Social and Emotional Development,” which summarizes these Mind Builders, emphasizes the power of words, describes how they meet childrens’ needs, and explains methods for self-regulation. Mind Builders are separated into suggested actions for three-, four-, and five-year-olds and offer connections to language, literacy, and math. Additionally, teachers have access to a “Songs and Fingerplays” booklet, including 32 songs that reinforce and extend social skill themes.

The materials include direct social skills instruction and explicit teaching of skills through themes. In Theme 2, the materials include the text Biblioburro, which is a culturally relevant story based on real life and the traditions of a man from Columbia. The story shows characters in social situations and contains friendship themes. Additional opportunities to make cross-curricular connections occur in the text Ma Ofrenda, a story about the traditions of a family native to Mexico and how to deal with the sadness of losing a pet. This text offers an opportunity for students to connect and develop their Social and Emotional domain. Students further develop competencies to understand and respond to emotions during a large group math activity, when the teacher shares a prompt about demonstrating empathy: “Not everyone feels the same way—you might be having a great day, but your friend might be frustrated or sad. Knowing how someone else feels is a really important skill. When you know how someone feels, you can respond appropriately. If your friend is sad, you can give her a hug to feel better.” This prompt includes a suggested action for teachers to model, although it does not direct teachers to specifically model the action. The prompt provides students the opportunity to describe themselves using proper pronouns, and the activity teaches self-concept. There are times when the materials tell teachers to “use the Clifford Puppet” when introducing or describing social skills. Together, there is adequate modeling of social skills throughout the year.

Theme 5 includes the text Happy in Our Skin, which introduces students to information about other cultures, traditions, ages, and differing abilities. A whole group read-aloud of the text is used to launch a discussion about emotions and how we show our feelings. The teacher presents prompts such as “I feel happy so I...” or “I feel sad so I….” The teacher also poses a guiding question: “What is special about our skin?“ Afterward, the teacher facilitates a group discussion about the concept of personal space, providing guidance to students as they explore this concept. Using gradual release, the teacher demonstrates the concept of movement by modeling the behaviors involved. Students practice by moving around the classroom space and amongst each other without touching. Also in this theme, a large group activity uses the text How Do Dinosaurs Get Well Soon? as a reference for a group discussion, which supports students in their development of understanding and responding to emotions. While reading the book, the teacher asks questions such as “What are the people doing with their hands so they don’t disturb each other?” and “How can you tell that this dinosaur is feeling grumpy? Let’s share ideas about why he is feeling and acting that way.”

Theme 8 offers more opportunities to foster the development of self-competencies. For example, after a whole group read-aloud of The Very Impatient Caterpillar, the teacher leads a discussion about the caterpillar’s difficult feelings about being patient and not knowing how to do things. The teacher poses the question “What do you do when feeling impatient?” In addition to group discussions and whole group read-alouds, the materials integrate the use of visual supports, hands-on materials, puppets/characters, songs and fingerplays, and role-playing. The “Ready, Set, Go” activity card guides a teacher-led group discussion aimed at helping students recognize personal strengths. The lesson culminates in a multisensory class talent show in which students are invited to demonstrate and celebrate their skills. 

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Materials include repeated opportunities for students to practice social skills throughout all themes. Learning prompts specific to each area of the classroom serve as guidance for supporting the integration of this practice into center time. For example, the “Writer’s Corner” and “Creativity Center” in Theme 1 encourage children to draw or create a picture of themselves in order to “show how you feel now.” Students have authentic connections with peers as they spend time together making superheroes out of connecting cubes. Visuals, such as two large charts titled “Our School Rules” and “What Pets Need,” are used to help children identify feelings and support emotional learning as they navigate the classroom. Students are explicitly introduced to breathing strategies, which they are encouraged to practice throughout the day as a self-regulation tool. “Circle Time” includes teacher suggestions for a discussion about managing emotions in stressful situations, which serves as an introduction to deep breathing. Theme 1 also includes a small group activity on how and when to use counting as an additional calm-down strategy. In the activity, students pretend to ride a bus, counting objects they might see passing by outside the window. 

In Theme 1, in a Circle Time activity, the teacher shows the students emotion cards. The class works as a group to identify the emotion illustrated on each card. Students are also given an opportunity to act out how they would feel, using a prompt supplied by the teacher. Theme 6 builds upon this large group work with a small group activity, in which students explore showing empathy for one another. Students work in pairs, identifying emotions on picture cards. After the activity, the teacher continues to talk to children about their emotions, extending their learning by encouraging partners to ask each other, “How can I help?” Students demonstrate what they might do to help their peers. The “Library and Listening” center in Theme 1 invites students to find pictures in books and discuss how the characters feel. My BIG Feelings: In Five Small Tales can be used as a reference for students to create “feeling masks” and act out feelings described in the story. Theme 1 also suggests the teacher ask, “Can you draw a person? How does the person feel? Can you change your picture to show a different emotion?” when students are working at the “Creativity/Art” independent center.

The materials provide opportunities for teachers to foster community and teamwork and for students to explore these concepts throughout the day. In Theme 2, students are challenged to think about their own perspective and compare it to their classmates’: They gather in small groups based on different criteria, such as favorite color, favorite food, favorite book, or favorite song. After a whole group read-aloud of Ofrenda, students pair up to answer the question “How is your neighborhood like Ceci’s?” This allows them to apply social skills by engaging with one another as well as understand that they are part of a larger community. In Theme 3, during Circle Time, the teacher explains that working together means sharing tasks with others to achieve a common goal and that children can learn about working together through playing games or working on a project as a team. The materials illustrate how teachers can encourage purposeful play during center time and offer children an opportunity to collaborate with peers. For instance, students may role-play, navigate a seesaw, or work with a partner to build a tower. Teachers ask guiding questions to encourage teamwork, such as “What is your goal?” and “How can working together make that happen?” Theme 7 includes a math activity in which students work in pairs to complete a number scavenger hunt in the classroom. Theme 8 includes a whole group read-aloud of Hiking Day followed by a class discussion about childrens’ experiences working together.

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Each theme provides a classroom arrangement that includes separate physical arrangements, such as ample space for the entire class to sit together during large group time, a more intimate space to allow a smaller group to meet separately, and specific areas to allow space for individual centers (e.g., “Library/Listening,” “Pretend Play,” “Math/Science,” “Writing,” “Creative Arts,” “Blocks,” and “ABC”). The materials also include “Tips” that provide, upon each login, a new suggestion related to student ownership of the space. One such tip states: “A classroom environment that allows for failure and occasional child choice is one that will help children develop initiative and problem-solving skills. Creative play stations and opportunities to choose among activities are essential for developing this skill, which is critical for success in school and in life.” Materials also include guidance in a supplemental document titled “Independent Reading Guide.” The document contains information about literacy development in young children and provides ways to embed literacy in centers within the classroom.

The “Implementation Guide” includes “Building Relationships,” “Engaging Materials and Experiences,” and “Safe and Supportive Spaces.” These sections describe how “PreK On My Way” aligns to CLASS—fostering positive interactions including regard for student perspectives in large group, small group, and independent centers. The “Engaging Materials and Experiences” section emphasizes the importance of choosing materials that reflect classroom values and expectations: “Careful selection and placement of the right materials can lead to transformative learning experiences for children as they bring their own thinking and innovation to their use.” This section references “high-quality, authentic, and culturally diverse books” and “real-world photos” included in the materials, to be considered when setting up the classroom environment. The “Safe and Supportive Spaces” section specifies considerations such as traffic patterns, placement of materials in relation to children’s eye level, adequate supplies, storage organization, clearly delineated areas for large and small group learning, as well as independent centers, outdoor play, and a quiet space “for children to go if they need a break.” This guidance helps teachers identify areas of the room to practice social skills and to support positive social interactions. Additionally, this resource includes a “Social and Emotional Development” section dedicated to helping children self-regulate and independently make choices throughout the day.

Downloadable center signs allow for easy implementation and support positive social interaction; they provide daily opportunities for practice of social skills. Examples in Theme 1 include statements like “Can you and a partner act out two people meeting for the first time?” “Share your book of feelings. Tell your partner one thing you like about their book.” “Work with some friends to create a group friendship mural.” “What Makes Us Who We Are?” These signs are found in the “Resources” section of the materials, and similar resources can be found across all themes. In Theme 1, teachers have students store keepsakes, like family photos or favorite books, in the classroom. This provides comfort, security, and a connection to home, while promoting student ownership of the space.

The materials include posters of school rules, including one in Theme 2 titled “Our School Rules.” Some of the prompts on this poster include “We share,” “We clean up,” “We take turns,” “We listen,” “We stay safe,” and “We are kind.” The back of the poster provides the concept question “What do we do at school?” It also includes the explanation: “Rules help us get along. They help us work together, stay safe, and make sure our school is the best place for all of us to learn and play together.” These posters impact students’ social development within the physical space by providing the teacher with a visual way to assist students with self-regulation and monitoring behaviors. 

Some lessons include instructional strategies and activities that integrate movement, songs, discussions, and hands-on experiences to encourage positive teacher-student and student-student interactions. In Theme 2, the teacher reads the books Hey, Wall and Our Neighborhood to initiate two large group activities. Following the whole group read-aloud of Hey, Wall, students pretend to draw a sketch for the wall represented in the story, sharing their thought process with the teacher. After listening to Our Neighborhood, students work together to act out various characters and scenes from the story, including a firefighter putting out a big fire, a barber cutting someone’s hair, and a server in a restaurant filling a customer’s water glass. 

Materials are structured to be used in small or large groups several times throughout the day. For example, in Theme 7, a large group activity related to the text Happy Birthday, Moon precedes a small group activity using picture cards where students work on dissecting compound words. Both lessons promote the practice of social skills by allowing students to work in partners and teams. The lessons also provide guidance for teachers, including directions for the activities, some questions to ask during the activity, and ways to extend learning after students complete the large or small group activity.

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 and translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include a resource kit with items to be used for developing fine motor skills, such as magnetic letters and numbers, attribute buttons, jumbo tweezers, connecting cubes, pattern blocks, and geo-boards. Guidance for the “Construction” center includes activities suggesting the use of building blocks, supporting the development of both gross and fine motor skills.

A large group activity in Theme 1 instructs the teacher: “Invite children to stand in a circle and play a happy game. Tell children to follow along and join in doing things that make us happy. Say, ‘Jumping makes me happy, so let’s jump, jump, jump,’ then say ‘Hopping makes me happy, so let’s hop, hop, hop.’ Continue with dancing, clapping and twisting.” “Circle Time” provides opportunities for students to develop gross motor skills. In this theme, students discuss feelings and explore associated movements (“How would you move if you felt scared?”). They also sing “This Is the Way We Go to School” while miming the actions in each verse (getting dressed, brushing teeth, riding the bus). A math activity in Theme 1 encourages the practice of fine motor skills by asking students to choose a number from 1 to 3 and give a partner or teacher that many of a small counter; for example, a student may choose the numeral 1 and give one counter. Independent centers in Theme 1 offer additional fine motor practice by integrating these skills into academic learning objectives. For instance, the “ABC” center invites students: “Put these letters in the order of the alphabet.” 

Gross motor skill practice is integrated into Theme 2 lessons, such as with the activity “Clap the Rhythm.” The teacher demonstrates how the story is written in a rhythm. The teacher models by clapping a simple three- or four-part pattern and then invites the students to do the same (call and response). Another large group activity in this theme invites children to sit in a circle and recall actions regularly performed on the playground. Students are invited to “pretend they are climbing the ladder or taking turns going down the slide.” Theme 2 provides an opportunity, during Circle Time, for the class to play “Simon Says” using location terms in the instructions. For example, the teacher may say, “Stand near a friend” or “Put a hand under your chin.” 

Theme 6 includes a small group activity in which students use pictures to identify what various items are made of (e.g., wood, ice, paper, metal). Teachers provide an opportunity for students to practice fine motor skills by providing modeling clay, craft sticks, pipe cleaners, and paper; children build and then describe their creations. Also in Theme 6, following a whole group read-aloud of More-igami, students create origami out of small pieces of paper. The teacher supplies each student with a square piece of paper and demonstrates how to fold the square in half to make a triangle; the class continues through the steps required to make an origami ladybug. The Little Red Fort is also shared as a whole group read-aloud in this theme, which is followed by a discussion of different materials that can be used to build a house (e.g., brick, wood, mud, ice). The teacher distributes drinking straws and interlocking bricks to each student, challenging them to build with both materials and then discuss why straw is not a good building material. 

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 and translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Resources included in the instructional materials support student practice of healthy habits. For example, the poster “Let’s Make a Fruit Salad” encourages healthy eating; the poster “Keep Your Hands Clean” illustrates steps for handwashing. There are also texts included for whole group read-alouds such as My Body, Please Play Safe, and Fire Drill. The materials include songs like “Happy and Healthy” and “Everybody’s Body.” Some of the song lyrics are “I love to run and play and jump/It keeps my body strong” and “Your bones make up your skeleton and they help you get around/Without ’em you can’t jump or run/You’d just be a puddle flopping on the ground.” Both songs communicate the importance of having healthy habits in a developmentally appropriate way.

The materials include lessons and activities for teachers to present, model, and teach safe and healthy habits. The majority of these lessons are located in Theme 5, titled “Healthy Me.” Following a whole group read-aloud of How Do Dinosaurs Get Well?, students share ways to stay healthy, such as drinking juice and taking medicine. Another whole group read-aloud, Baby Goes to Market, serves as a reference for a group discussion of healthy foods and foods children would buy if they went to the store. This discussion is extended to small group time, where children pretend to make fruit salad using picture cards. In another whole group discussion, the class explores a chart illustrating proper handwashing techniques. Vocabulary cards are shown to review the words scrub and rinse. The teacher then demonstrates, and students have the opportunity to practice. A small group activity in Theme 5 encourages children to identify personal safety habits, such as nutrition, exercise, and health. During the activity, the teacher discusses playground safety and invites students to identify safe and unsafe playground behavior by holding up a red circle to indicate unsafe behavior and a green circle for safe behavior. After the activity, the teacher leads a group discussion: “You can remind your friends about how to play safely. What are some things you might tell them?” In another small group activity, centered around the text What a Cold Needs, students look at pictures of tissues, soup, a chair, books, and a water bottle, as the teacher asks questions related to the story. For example, while reading, the teacher may say, “Look at the picture. What do you do with tissues when you have a cold? Let’s act out blowing our noses into a tissue,” reinforcing understanding by pantomiming how to exercise safe and healthy habits. In these three examples, teachers either model or interact with students directly so they recognize and practice safe and healthy habits. However, there are unfulfilled opportunities for teachers to communicate the connection between these physical decisions and students’ mental health. The materials do not communicate to teachers the mental health benefits of proper eating, exercise, or sickness prevention; in turn, teachers do not communicate these connections to students. 

A Theme 5 Circle Time is one activity where students get close to exploring the connection between physical and mental health. In this activity, the teacher points out that each of the students is an individual (“Nobody is YOU”). The teacher helps children understand that everyone is different by introducing and discussing unique fingerprints. Children then share their thoughts about what they think makes them special. To show their appreciation, the group is encouraged to clap after each child shares. The whole group read-aloud of Happy in Our Skin then has students explore the idea of being happy with who we are. Students are asked, “How can we move in the skin we’re in?” and encouraged to speak, draw, or write about something that makes them special. This activity allows for exploration of identity and positive self-worth, but it doesn’t explicitly build the connection between physical and mental health. 

That being said, Theme 5 provides students ample opportunities to practice and reflect on safe and healthy physical habits. During large group time, teachers are encouraged: “Have fun with children, leading them to try different ways to jump 5 times. Lead them to try up and down jumps, hops on one leg, and simple jumping jacks.” A large group activity titled “Share the Mind Builder: Move Carefully Through Surroundings” involves a teacher-led discussion about students’ awareness of their surroundings, including the things and people all around them. Teachers talk about how moving carefully can be important in avoiding getting hurt or hurting the people around you. Teachers help children come up with examples of when they might exercise caution, such as if something is hot or easy to break, and model these movements for students as they discuss as a group. 

In Theme 8, the students engage in a lesson focused on eating healthy foods and exercising. Led by the teacher, the students sort provided pictures into healthy and unhealthy categories. Then the students are asked to recall healthy foods. The materials include time in the daily schedule for unstructured outdoor play as an opportunity for student-student and teacher-student interactions. Additionally, the “Implementation Guide” includes teacher guidance on “Integrating Play,” “Safe and Supportive Space,” “Outdoor Time,” and physical development through “Music and Movement.” Some references to research supporting the importance of play is also included. The materials include resources for families to support building healthy habits at home, found on the “Teacher Hub” and “Family Exchange” website. These include “Chat Band” bracelets with conversation starters such as “How can we stay healthy?” and “How can we protect ourselves and our bodies?”; “Family Bulletins” with “My Book” story starters including “When I have a cold…” and “On a fire drill…”; “Family Activities” including “Healthy Habits” and “Keep Safe!”; and “Little eReaders” including “A Good Night’s Sleep” and “Bicycle Safety.” 

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Various themes provide repeated opportunities for students to develop listening skills through digital resources and e-books. For example, the ebooks ¿Cómo van a la Escuela los Dinosaurios? and Seguridad para el Regreso a Clases support the theme of going to school and riding the bus. There are also “Song and Stories,” which allow the students to sing a song related to each lesson. These materials provide opportunities for students to hear sounds, appropriate sentence structure, and grammar in a variety of contexts.

In each theme, the “Tarjetas para grupo grande” have a section titled “Hora del cuento” with questions to ask during read-alouds, a sequence to develop vocabulary, and shared writing opportunities to support listening skills. For example, in Theme 1, the teacher reads the book Primera risa: ¡Bienvenido bebé! and uses a puppet as a visual while setting the purpose for the lesson. The teacher states, “A Clifford le gusta leer cuentos como este para poder usar su imaginación. Volvamos a leer el libro y conversemos sobre la habilidad de usar la imaginación para pensar en las familias.” During the read aloud, the teacher asks several questions, such as “¿Qué hace el bebé mientras la madre teje la alfombra?” y “¿Qué hace el abuelo para que el bebé se ría?” The teacher also reviews the vocabulary word “miramos” using the “Tarjeta de Vocabulario” provided. The teacher says the word miramos, then she defines the word and describes the word. Finally, the teacher models the action by saying, “Vamos a acercarnos un libro a la cara y hacernos los que miramos un video, como los niños de la imagen.” After the read aloud, the teacher engages the students in a shared writing activity. The teacher transcribes what the students say while they imagine out loud. This lesson sequence, for every read aloud, supports the teachers’ instruction, provides opportunities for students to listen for understanding, and allows students to hear appropriate sentence structure and grammar.  However, there is limited evidence that the materials guide the teacher to model active listening behaviors for understanding such as thinking aloud while reading.

In Theme 2, the students listen actively and participate in discussions. During the Hora del cuento, the teacher asks questions from the book Oye, Pared. The teacher uses the puppet Clifford as a visual to engage the students in the lesson. The teacher asks, “¿Cómo volvemos a narrar un cuento? ¿Quién recuerda lo que significa volver a narrar?” After the reading, the teacher invites the students to turn and talk to a partner about the guiding question: “¿Cómo es la vida en una gran ciudad?”  

In Theme 3, during the “El hora del círculo,” the students engage in the activity “Simón dice.” During the activity, the teacher supports and scaffolds receptive listening skills. The teacher calls random orders such as, “Simón dice: toca tu nariz, abre tu boca, señala tus ojos, toca tus oídos, levanta tus manos,” for students to perform. This activity provides a way for the students to demonstrate receptive listening skills. In another activity, during the “Hora del cuento,” the teacher revisits the story Frío, Crujiente y Colorido: El uso de Nuestros Sentidos, by Jane Brocket. The teacher states, “Mientras leemos el libro una vez más, quiero que piensen en esta pregunta guía: ¿Qué tipos de sonidos podemos oír?” This guiding question sets the purpose for listening to support understanding.

In Theme 8, the students practice conversational norms. During whole group, the teacher reads La excursión by Anne Rockwell. During the read aloud the teacher asks questions that build upon the students responses, such as, “¿De qué está cubierto el suelo, según cuenta la niña? ¿Dónde están la niña y sus padres en esta ilustración?, ¿Cómo lo saben?” After the read aloud, the teacher provides students the opportunity to turn and talk to answer the guiding question: ¿Qué pasa cuando llegan a la cima de la colina del Nogal? The teacher then uses name sticks to call on a few students to share, which supports conversation norms as students have to listen to others and take turns speaking. Although the students have plenty of opportunities to engage in discussion with one another, there is limited evidence throughout the themes that the teacher models appropriate conversation norms to support listening skills. In addition, during a small group activity, the teacher and students discuss healthy and unhealthy food choices. The students choose a food and discuss if it is unhealthy or healthy. This activity gives the students the opportunity to practice taking turns conversing while the teacher supports conversational norms.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

In Theme 1, the materials provide theme-related “Letreros” for each center with sample questions and statements for the teacher to facilitate conversations during centers. Most questions in the Letreros revolve around the guiding question for the week. For example, one of the guiding questions for Theme 1 is “¿Cómo manejamos y hablamos de nuestros sentimientos?” Therefore, as a student reads a book in the library center, the teacher asks, “¿Cómo se siente el niño?” During the Pretend and Learn center, the teacher asks, “Con un amigo, ¿puedes representar cómo se ayudarían para hacer que el otro se sienta mejor?” The Letreros exemplify how the materials provide teacher guidance on facilitating activities that develop students’ speaking skills.

In Theme 2, in the “Estación de Creatividad,” the students participate in a drawing activity. The teacher asks, “¿Puedes dibujar algo que haces todos los días en la escuela?” The teacher asks the students to share their drawings with a classmate. This activity allows students to engage in discussion and practice conversational etiquette. 

In Theme 3, the students discuss the weather every day and what the sky looks like. The materials state, “Pida a los niños que describan el tiempo todos los días y anímalos a incluir cómo luce el cielo cada vez.” The materials suggest that teachers do this in the morning when the children arrive or during recess, facilitating conversation during outdoor play. This activity allows the children to engage in conversation with their peers using conversation norms.

In Theme 4, the teacher uses the “Tarjeta del maestro” to model and encourage the use of prepositions such as dentro, sobre, debajo, detrás y por. The teacher explains the importance of using prepositions to explain the location of something. During the lesson, the teacher holds up a card with an owl and says, “Miren este árbol. ¿Dónde está escondida la lechuza? ¿Dónde está el hueco? ¿Cómo creen que es la casa de la lechuza por dentro?” As the activity continues, the materials guide the teacher to facilitate an activity for students to practice using prepositions. The materials state, “Elija diferentes objetos en el salón de clases y pida a los niños que se turnen para explicar dónde está el objeto usando una preposición. Demuestre cómo hacerlo.” This activity supports the development of speaking skills and provides the teacher the opportunity to provide corrective feedback as needed. 

Additionally, in Theme 4, the Tarjeta del maestro guides the teacher to review the word enfocarnos. The teacher leads the students in using a magnifying glass to focus on things they saw in the book and other things they can find outside. During the activity, the teacher places the students in pairs and encourages them to discuss their observations of the objects. Afterward, the students and teacher discuss what they have learned about the word “enfocarnos” and ask questions regarding an object they are curious about. This lesson script supports the teacher to facilitate an activity where students can work collaboratively and engage in discussion using conversation norms.

During Theme 5, the students practice producing sounds and sentence structure as they sing “A Comer! Canción Salta! Salta!” After the first verse, the students follow the movements of the song while chorally repeating the verses. During another activity, the teacher provides a sentence stem to support children in using appropriate sentence structure. The teacher says, “Miren la imagen, ¿Qué está haciendo la persona del tractor?” The students respond with the help of the sentence stem, “La persona esta….” This activity allows students to practice producing complete sentences and grammar. 

In Theme 6, the teacher reads the book ¡El gallo que no se callaba! The teacher engages the students in conversation by asking, “¿Cómo creen que se sentía la gente a causa del ruido?” y “¿Qué hizo la gente para resolver el problema del ruido?” The students share their responses in a whole group. After the read aloud, the teacher engages the students in a movement activity to practice action words. The material states, “Dé a los grupos diferentes tarjetas con verbos de acción. Pida a los niños que representen primero la palabra y luego una oración que incluya esa palabra. Por ejemplo, podrían representar la palabra reírse y luego la oración: Nos reímos mientras jugamos.” This activity encourages speech production, appropriate sentence structure, and grammar.

Evaluation for 4.3
Materials support expanding student vocabulary.

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Throughout the curriculum, there are various strategies that support vocabulary development and are integrated into content-based learning. For example, in the “additional resources,” the teacher can find a detailed list of vocabulary 30 pages long. The materials guide the teacher to locate flashcards that support reading-aloud, comprehension, concept exploration, and conversations.

The materials also follow a progression of vocabulary development that is age and sequentially appropriate. For example, vocabulary cards follow the same guidelines for introducing a word. To introduce each word, the teacher says the word (students repeat), defines the word, describes the word, and finally has the students represent the word in some way. 

The materials also guide the teacher to review vocabulary during read alouds. For example, as the teacher reads the book, “Alma y cómo obtuvo su nombre,” the teacher asks a question using the vocabulary word. The teacher asks, “El papá de Alma le pide que escuche la historia de su nombre y después decida si le queda bien. ¿Qué creen que ella va a decidir?” The teacher reviews the “tarjeta de vocabulario” for the word “decidir.” The next word introduced is “abuela.” The materials guide the teacher to continue reading and ask, “¿Qué cosas adoraba la abuela de Alma?” The word is reinforced by using the vocabulary card to review the word “abuela.” Introducing and reviewing vocabulary during read alouds allows the students to learn and hear the words in context. 

In Theme 3, the students are engaged in vocabulary activities that are developmentally appropriate. During the “Hora Del Cuento,” the teacher reads a book about push and pull. During the reading, the teacher uses the vocabulary picture cards of push and pull to review the word meanings and support the discussion. At the end of the read aloud, the teacher reinforces the concepts of push and pull by writing sentences about how things move. Later in the week, the teacher supports students to draw how they use their strength to push and pull a large object and share their drawing/writing. These opportunities allow students to develop vocabulary during content-based learning activities.

The materials also help the teacher connect new vocabulary terms throughout multiple subjects as children practice their vocabulary. For example, in Theme 4, the teacher reads the book Clifford el gran perro colorado. During the read aloud, the materials guide the teacher to ask students to identify words that connect to size, such as “alto, pequeño, corto, o grande.” The materials go even further to suggest that the teacher take advantage of daily situations to teach additional and more specific vocabulary related to size. These types of strategic guidance for teachers support students in developing vocabulary in authentic ways across various parts of school day.

The materials also have a list of vocabulary word cognates for those words targeted in all of the themes. The guidance at the top of the list encourages teachers to point out cognates so that students can use knowledge of their first language to understand the second language. The “Guía de implementación” also encourages teachers to use the “Cognados” strategy card to teach the students what cognates are, as well as point out cognates when the opportunity arises throughout all the themes.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include strategies that support the students in developing their Spanish and English language proficiency. For example, in Theme 1, the materials guide the teachers to ensure that the students understand the difference between feeling better physically and feeling better mentally when using the terms bien, good, and well. The guidance states, “En inglés, sentirse bien (well) es estar físicamente saludable y sentirse bien (good) es estar contento o cómodo. ¡Incluso los hablantes nativos de inglés pueden confundirse! En español se usa la misma palabra (bien) en ambos casos.” Another example in Theme 1, the teacher states, “Para alumnos multilingües, repase con los niños el vocabulario relacionado con las familias.” The teacher reviews the vocabulary for multilingual learners and relates it to their families. This strategy supports the students’ Spanish language development. During a small group activity in Theme 1, the materials use the poster and song, Si estas feliz y lo sabes. The children listen, sing, and act out feelings from the song in both English and Spanish. This activity gives the students the opportunity to develop Spanish and English proficiency. 

During the small group activity in Theme 5, tarjeta de actividad 5.2.4, the students identify different characteristics of fruits and play a guessing game based on the characteristics of the fruti. The teacher says, “En esta actividad, hablaremos de diferentes alimentos. Como sabemos las características de las frutas, podemos hacer inferencias sobre si el alimento que vemos en la imagen es una fruta.” The teacher encourages those students whose native language is English to think of words such as fruta, planta, papaya, y brócoli in English to recognize the words are cognates. This part of the activity encourages the students to make cross-linguistic connections and use prior knowledge in their native language to support their understanding.

All themes provide songs in both English and Spanish. The students are encouraged to sing in both languages. For example, in “Theme 6,” the students sing the song “La clave,” which provides repetitive phrases to support listening, speaking, and learning new words in both English and Spanish. As the students participate in singing and the movements of the songs, they are enhancing their vocabulary skills in both languages.

In Theme 7, the teacher reads the book De semilla a planta during large group. The teacher activates the students’ prior knowledge during the small group lesson by reviewing what a plant needs in order to grow, using the vocab cards as visual support. The back of the card has a modification section that provides strategies for multilingual students. The strategies prompt the teacher to help students recognize the following words as cognates: “planta/plant, vegetales/vegetables, flores/flowers, and fruta/fruit.” Discussing cognates provides opportunities for students to make cross-linguistic connections.

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 materials provide support and guidance for students to work while engaging in discussion collaboratively. For example, during a whole group lesson in Theme 2, the teacher reads Ming va a la escuela. The lesson script provides the teacher with several questions to ask during the read-aloud that allow the students to make connections to their own school routines. The script prompts the teacher to ask the guiding question: “¿Qué actividades creen que hace Ming todos los días en la escuela?” to set the listening purpose. The teacher asks questions regarding the story that create opportunities for students to practice their listening and speaking skills. During the read-aloud, the teacher continues to ask questions about Ming’s day at school. After the read aloud, the script prompts the teacher to provide a turn and talk opportunity around the guiding question, allowing the students to discuss with their peers. To further extend the discussion, the teacher calls on two or three students to share their thoughts. As a whole, the materials provide several opportunities for students to practice their speaking and listening skills and engage in meaningful discussions during whole group activities.

The materials include opportunities that support children’s collaborative interactions and use of oral language. During a whole group lesson in Theme 3, the teacher reads the book Este zapato necesita un pie. The teacher asks the students to turn and talk to discuss the guiding question about why we measure things. The teacher asks, “¿Por qué medimos cosas?” The students discuss the question with a partner. Then, in the “Centro de construcción,'' the materials prompt the teacher to engage students in a collaborative activity about measurement. The teacher states, “Con un compañero, túrnense para medirse los pies con bloques.” The students work together while taking turns using blocks to measure their feet. This activity provides an opportunity for the students to share information as they engage in discussion. 

The materials include many opportunities for students to listen actively and engage in discussions through vocabulary development and questioning. During a whole group lesson in Theme 4, the teacher introduces new vocabulary words for the book Un día en la vida de un pingüino. The script prompts the teacher to share that this is an informational book about the lives of penguins and introduce the words “recorre” and “viaje.” Before reading, the teacher sets the listening purpose and asks, “ ¿Por qué mamá pingüino hace un viaje al mar?” During the read aloud, the teacher asks open-ended questions such as, “¿Por qué creen que van a hacer un viaje todas juntas?” and “¿Por qué crees que papá pingüino asusta al pájaro?” The guiding questions for every read aloud, the inclusion of open-ended questions, and vocabulary development provide opportunities for children to listen actively and engage in discussions daily.

The materials support children in contributing to class discussions about the texts read aloud and in sharing their independent ideas. For example, in Theme 4, the teacher reads Lola quiere un gato, a book about a little girl that wants a cat. As the week progresses, the teacher continues to build students’ knowledge about pets. The teacher shares a poster that shows images of children caring for animals and engages the children in a discussion about pets' needs. Then during “Centros independientes,” the materials prompt the teacher to encourage the children to build a place for a pet. The teacher asks, “¿Cómo construirías un lugar para que tu mascota juegue? ¿Qué le gustaría a tu mascota? ” These types of extension activities allow the students to apply information learned from text throughout the week and continue to discuss their ideas.

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 curriculum follows a research-based continuum that is developmentally appropriate for children to acquire phonological awareness skills. The “Una mirada al año” in the “Guia de implementación” shows that the curriculum begins with introducing more simple skills such as separating words in a sentence, blending words to make compound words, and blending and segmenting syllables in the first three themes. Explicit rhyming activities begin at the end of Theme 2, while onset-rime and blending phonemes in words occur in the very last three themes. Onset-rime activities are not a large focus of the curriculum, which is appropriate because Spanish does not focus on onset-rime to support later reading. The materials provide a developmentally appropriate continuum.

The activities allow students to practice phonological awareness through a variety of different settings. For example, during a whole group lesson in Theme 1, the teacher sings a song to the tune of Mary had a Little Lamb. In the song, the teacher asks the students to act out a specific movement. The teacher sings, “¿Quieres ser amigo mío, amigo mío, amigo mío?/¿Quieres ser amigo mío, Y...conmigo.” The students either dance, hop, or perform the action the teacher calls out. The lesson supports the most foundational phonological awareness skill, which is listening. 

The materials include practicing phonological awareness skills and incorporating activities that connect letter knowledge instruction. For example, during a small group activity in Theme 1, the teacher reinforces the letter A and B. The teacher shows the Aa alphabet card and tells the students the letter name, sound, and name of the corresponding picture. The teacher points out that one letter is uppercase and the other lowercase. Then the teacher reads the small book El ático. The children tap their nose when they hear a word that begins with the /a/ sound and tap their ears when they hear a word that begins with the /b/ sound. During a small group lesson in Theme 3, the teacher shows the students pictures of objects they can push or pull. The students classify the pictures that can be pushed and pulled. Then during the “Centro independientes,” the teacher asks students, “¿Qué letra hace el sonido que escuchas al final de las palabras empujón y jalón? ¿Puedes decir una palabra que termine con esa letra?” The students find the letter that makes the ending sound of the words “empujon y jalon” and say another word that ends with that letter. Both of these activities support the connection of phonological awareness to alphabetic knowledge.

There is some evidence that the materials consider the specific characteristics of Spanish phonics (syllabication) and their implications when teaching phonological awareness. The materials provide a “Phonological Awareness” white paper that includes information regarding the typical order in which children learn phonological awareness. It also includes various examples of how phonological awareness skills are taught within whole group and small group activities. In the “Syllables” section the paper states that children “might clap, stomp, or hop to mark spoken syllables.” It also states that “syllables are of particular importance in Spanish phonological awareness, since syllables form the regular building blocks of the Spanish language.”  Throughout the year the children have some opportunities to practice blending and segmenting syllables. The “Una mirada al año” section shows that there are some opportunities to develop blending and segmenting of syllables.  The “Vistazo a la semana” also shows when syllable blending and segmenting skills are targeted within each week of instruction. For example, in Theme 6, the “Vistazo a la semana” for Week 1 shows syllable activities on days one, three, and five. On day 3, the students clap the names of fruits (“man-za-na, pla-ta-no”) during whole group, and on day 5, the students clap the word “vecino (ve-ci-no)” during a read aloud. While syllable practice is also listed for day 1, no reference to syllables were found in the whole group, small group, or center prompts. Based on the Una mirada al año and Vistazo a la semana, it is not evident that children have consistent opportunities to review and practice syllabication skills which is critical for learning to read in Spanish.  

The materials include a variety of types of activities that engage students in identifying, synthesizing, and analyzing sounds/syllables. For example, during a large group activity in Theme 7, the teacher engages the students in blending and segmenting syllables using action words such as salpicar, saltar, atrapar, pisar, and cambiar. The students clap to segment the words first, then combine the syllables to make the words again (e.g., sal-pi-car, salpicar). In a small group activity in Theme 7, the teacher focuses on separating and combining the words in a compound word. The teacher revisits the meaning of compound words and uses visuals of a cumpleaños (birthday), espantapájaros (scarecrow), and rompecabezas (puzzle) to name a few. The students practice separating and combining the words with teacher support. The Guía de implementación includes a glance of when each phonological awareness skill is targeted in 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 “PreK on My Way Texas Program Guide” states, “Every alphabet activity includes a focus on the letter name, sound, appearance in written words, and formation.” For example, during a small group activity in Theme 1, the teacher leads the students in an activity to identify multiple letter names with visual support. The teacher states, “Vamos a mirar estas tarjetas del abecedario y ver qué hay en ellas. Les voy a mostrar una tarjeta y ustedes me dirán lo que ven. Después, le voy a dar vuelta y juntos vamos a nombrar la letra que vemos.” The children name the picture on the alphabet card and repeat the Bb, Cc, Dd, and Ee letter names. This method of introducing multiple letter names and sounds starts at the beginning of the school year and continues until the end of the school year. The materials mention that starting in week 4, there is a focus on “las letras en orden con hincapié en las vocales” after the students are exposed to the alphabet song and letters in their name; however there is not a clear emphasis on vowels first after these two practices in implementation of the lessons. After week 4, the lessons focus on letters Aa and Bb, followed by Cc and Dd in week 5, Ee and Ff in week 6, and Gg and Hh in week 7. 

The materials also include activities that focus on teaching alphabet knowledge with letters that begin with children’s names, aligning with developmentally appropriate practice. For example, during a small group activity in Theme 1, the teacher writes down the students’ names on name tags while they watch. The students locate the magnetic letter that matches the first letter in their names and attempt to write the letter. The students continue to practice the skill during independent centers. The teacher provides the name card and encourages children to find the letters in their name. The teacher states, “Encuentra tres letras que estén en tu nombre.” In another small group activity in Theme 1, the students learn about the Aa and Bb sounds through small alphabet books and alphabet cards for each letter. The teacher introduces each letter name and sound with a corresponding picture. The teacher reads one book at a time and has the students listen for words that have those beginning sounds. The teacher states, “Tóquense la nariz cuando escuchen una palabra que empiece con el sonido /a/.” Afterward, the teacher demonstrates how to write the letters Aa and Bb. The students practice forming the letters. The students practice forming the Aa and Bb in “Centros independientes” using modeling clay. The teacher asks, “¿Cómo puedes usar la arcilla de modelar para trazar las letras Aa y Bb en las tarjetas de abecedario?” As the year progresses, the letter activities include previously introduced letters. These activities provide the students with multiple opportunities to learn letter names and sounds with direct instruction from the teacher and opportunities for practice.

The materials guide the teacher to introduce and model letters in the context of purposeful learning experiences. For example, during a whole group lesson in Theme 6, the teacher reads Vincent pinta su casa. The teacher uses the “tarjetas del abecedario” to review the letters Tt, Aa, and Mm. During the read-aloud, the teacher reinforces the letter names and sounds using words from the book. The teacher states, “Veo la letra T en la palabra pintar. ¿Qué sonido hace la letra T en pintar?” and “ Veo la letra M en la palabra Mi. ¿Qué sonido hace la letra M en la palabra Mi?” The materials encourage the teacher to continue to assess the children’s ability to recognize the letters during activities as this lays the foundation for reading. 

Overall the materials ensure exposure and interaction with multiple letters within a unit. For example, during a small group lesson in Theme 6, the materials guide the teacher to provide children the opportunity to apply their learning of letters and sounds by creating stories. The materials state, “Ayude a los niños a crear historias usando las letras Tt, Aa, y Mm.” The students create stories using the letters Tt, Aa, and Mm using words from the alphabet books for each letter. Then the teacher encourages students to practice making the letters A, T, and M in “Centros independientes.” The teacher states, “¿Puedes usar masilla para hacer las letras A, T, y M?” The students make the letters A, T, and M using playdough. These strategic opportunities for practice and application support students’ alphabetic knowledge.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials provide some explicit guidance for teachers to develop concepts of print.  The read alouds are introduced with a preview of the cover; with identification of title, author, and illustrator; and mention of whether the book is a narrative or informational text with an explanation of what that means. For example, in Theme 3, the teacher reads Los modales de Clifford and says, “Esta semana leeremos el texto narrativo Los modales de Clifford, escrito por Norman Bridwell. Un texto narrativo es sobre algo que el autor se imagina.” During the read aloud, the materials also guide the teacher to call attention to a letter. The teacher says, ”Veo dos palabras que inician con b. ¿Quién las señala?” This supports the students’ recognition of a letter within a word. However, this type of guidance alone does not model or explain to the students the difference between a letter and a word. In Theme 3, during “La hora del cuento,” the teacher shows images on the “Papelógrafo de grandes ideas” and says, “Veámos las imágenes de la misma forma que leemos y escribimos: de izquierda a derecha y de arriba abajo.” Also in Theme 3, they read the big book El tiempo. During the reading, the materials guide the teacher to ask, “¿Cómo se llama este signo? Un signo de interrogación le dice al lector que se trata de una pregunta. ¿Quién puede encontrar y señalar otro signo de interrogación?” Although there are some opportunities for explicit instruction, there is a lack of evidence to show the materials provide consistent and regular modeling and explanation of print awareness concepts throughout each theme. 

The materials do provide opportunities for students to identify letters in text. For example, during the “Hora del Cuento” in Theme 1, the students engage in a lesson using the “Papelógrafo: Me gusta.” The materials states, “El título de este póster es Me gusta. ¿Quién puede señalar una letra mayúscula en el título? ¿Y una minúscula?” The children identify capital and lowercase letters in the title. During the “Hora del cuento” in Theme 2, the teacher introduces the book La Ofrenda (a book that takes place in a neighborhood in Mexico). The materials state, “Muestre la cubierta del libro. ¿Pueden encontrar las letras E y F en el título?” The students point out the letters E and F in the title. In Theme 4, the teacher reads the book Una casa en el cielo y otras casas diferentes de animales. Before the reading, the teacher reviews the Ññ. During the reading the teacher asks students to find the letter ñ in the word compañera. The teacher asks, “¿Quién puede venir a señalar la letra n en la palabra compañera?”

The materials support students to develop an understanding of the functions of print. The materials provide a “Papelografo de grandes ideas” (Big Chart of Big Ideas) to support the week’s topic. For example, in Theme 3, the children study the five senses. During the literacy block of the day, the teacher introduces the papelógrafo titled, “Yo puedo medir.” The teacher tells the class that “Pablo” the puppet loves to read informational texts about measurement and tools. The teacher asks the students to think about “¿Cómo podemos medir?” while they read the text. In Theme 5, the students study healthy foods. During the math block of the day, the teacher uses the “!Hagamos una ensalada de fruta!” big chart of ideas. The teacher states, “Esta semana leeremos ¡Hagamos una ensalada de frutas! Es un texto informativo que da instrucciones para preparar una ensalada de frutas.” The teacher reviews the poster with the students, counting how much of each fruit is needed for the fruit salad. The inclusion of these posters provides students with opportunities to learn that some text gives us information.

The materials show some evidence of teacher guidance to talk about text features but lack explicit details for the teacher. In Theme 7, the teacher demonstrates the book cover and reads the title “El Libro de la Tierra.” During the read-aloud, the teacher points to the word “GRAN” and asks, “¿Qué observan sobre las letras en la palabra GRAN? Usen los brazos para mostrar una gran diferencia.” The children use their arms to show a big difference. However, the materials do not guide the teacher to talk about why the word is written in all caps and how it should be read and emphasized.

There is some evidence that the materials provide opportunities for students to demonstrate their understanding of print awareness. For example, in Theme 8, the independent center guidance tells the teacher to ask students to read the book by placing their finger under the words. The materials state, “Lea el libro pasando el dedo debajo de las palabras.”

According to the “Una mirada al año,” the materials follow a developmentally appropriate continuum for print awareness knowledge development. The lessons first target concepts of print, such as letters, words, and pictures. The lessons then target directionality and point out capital letters, lowercase letters, and punctuation.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include texts at the appropriate level of complexity for the students’ developmental level. During Theme 6, “Tarjeta para grupo grande,” the teacher reads the book Rin, Rin, Rin, Do, Re, Mi. The writer provides colorful illustrations and graphics of the child going to the market and the park on a non-school day. The students can relate to the children in the book and discuss what they do when there is no school. Through this book, the teacher also introduces the concept of rhyme through words from the books such as “Mi,” “abrí,” “aquí,” and “ti.” During Theme 7, the teacher reads Lluvioso, soleado, ventoso, nevado by Jane Brocket, an informational text with real pictures of the various seasons. The text includes questions as if it were interacting with the students. For example, one page reads: “¿Cómo sabemos que estación es?” Each page has several pictures for children to discuss as each question is asked. For example, the pictures connected to this question are rain droplets, snow, discolored leaves, bare trees, and colorful flowers. Each page consists of a small amount of information to support the characteristics of each season to allow for more conversation versus having pages with too much information. The way the book is organized also allows the teacher to read different parts on different days. For example, one day, the teacher might focus on the information about spring and, on another, information about the fall.

Examples of fiction texts include but are not limited to:

• Jabari salta por Gaia Cornwall (Fiction)
• Danielito y el dinosaurio por Syd Hoff (Fantasy/Fiction)
• ¡Gracias, Omu! por Oge Mora (Fiction)
• ¿De quién son esas manos? por Miranda Paul (Informational Fiction)
• ¿Qué soy? por Quinina Hoyos (Informational Fiction)
• El libro de la tierra por Todd Parr (Realistic Fiction)

Examples of nonfiction texts include but are not limited to:

• El tiempo por Kristin Baird Rattini (Scientific Nonfiction)
• De semilla a planta por Lisa M. Herrington (Informational Nonfiction)
• La colección de piedras por Elaine Pascoe (Nonfiction)
• Una visita al tambo por Alyse Sweeney (Informational Nonfiction)
• Empujar y jalar por Cody Crane (Informational Nonfiction)
• Asi jugamos nosotros por Amanda Miller (Nonfiction)

Examples of variety text types include but are not limited to:

• Estrellita, ¿dónde estás? (Nursery Rhyme)
• Hola, amigo por 123 Andrés (Song)
• Paseando por Music with Sara (Song)
• Las hojas (Cantar con la melodía de Las ruedas del autobús) (Songs and Fingerplays)

The materials give the students several opportunities to interact with the text. In Theme 3, the teacher reads Este zapato necesita un pie. This book is about animals that help a lost shoe find its owner. The animals take turns trying on the shoe and measure it to figure whom it may fit. This book’s illustrations support the children to make and confirm predictions about whose shoe it may be before, during, and after the read aloud. The incorporation of animals as characters makes the read-aloud engaging for students. This book also includes several measurement terms such as “pulgadas” (inches), “grande” (big), “pequeño” (small), and “ancho” (wide). Not only are these types of texts engaging for students, but support various skills across different skill domains.

The texts include a range of student interests. For example, Theme 4 includes the book ¿Qué soy? This non-fiction book captures the students’ interest through rhyming riddles filled with facts about animals with picture support. The riddle always ends with,“¿Qué soy?” The children guess what animal is being talked about on each page. This text provides some simple phrases for the student to join in, but at the same time exposes children to sophisticated words to increase their listening and speaking vocabulary. Theme 8 includes the fiction book La casa de algún día. The book is about how Wilson finds solutions to fix his Gigi’s house. The people in the neighborhood work together to help Wilson with the project. The text length is appropriate for the students’ level and allows children to make connections to what they see in their neighborhood. The text also includes repeated phrases such as “Algún día” and “Eso me va encantar,” which allows the children to participate in that part of the reading. 

The materials lack evidence to support  using purposeful environmental print throughout the classroom to support print awareness. The materials provide eight theme posters that list the “Pregunta Conceptual” for each week in each theme. For example, in Theme 3, the students will engage in investigations. The preguntas conceptuales are: “(1) ¿Qué podemos aprender con nuestros cinco sentidos? (2) ¿Cómo nos puede afectar el tiempo?, (3) ¿Cómo podemos medir?, and (4) ¿Cómo podemos mover cosas?” Although these theme posters are provided, no evidence was found in the “Guia del maestro” that instructs teachers to display each theme poster at the start of each theme. There is also a lack of guidance for teachers on how often to refer to these posters. The materials also include 32 spiral-bound “Papelógrafo de grandes ideas” (Big Chart of Ideas) to support each week’s main concept. For example, in Theme 3, the students learn about measurement. On day 4, the teacher reviews the “Papelógrafo de grandes ideas” titled “Yo puedo medir.” The teacher engages the students in a conversation about ways to measure using a ruler, balance, measuring cups, and a thermometer. However, since this resource is spiral-bound, the charts cannot be displayed individually around the classroom nor do the materials provide a poster version to be displayed and referenced throughout the week and theme. A few examples of environmental print to reference were found within text. For example, the story Seguridad para el regreso a clase includes signs such as a stop sign as the children walk across the crosswalk. The school bus in the picture shows the exit instructions. The story “?Ves los números?” Includes illustrations of numbers in the environment such as through a calendar, speed limit signs, street numbers, and price signs at the store. Although purposeful environmental print is referenced throughout this book, there is not mention of incorporating such print throughout the classroom. Additionally, there is no evidence that the materials guide the teacher to use purposeful environmental print, such as a letter wall, labels on materials, a job chart, or a visual daily schedule.  

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:

The materials include guidance for the teacher to support children in making connections to the texts. For example, during Theme 2, the students study “Helpers.” During the “Hora del circulo,” the teacher revisits the book Biblioburro (a book about a man who takes books to children in small mountain towns that do not have libraries). The lesson script guides the teacher to talk about people in the community who help others. The teacher asks the students to share their ideas. During “Hora del cuento,” the teacher uses the “Papelografo de gran ideas” to talk about super jobs about people who help the community. The teacher asks the students to share how a doctor, baker, and firefighter help the community. The teacher asks questions such as, “¿Cómo ayuda el doctor a que la comunidad esté saludable? ¿Cómo ayudan los plomeros a una comunidad?” and “¿Cómo nos ayudan los bomberos?” The children share their experiences based on learning from home and school. During “Centros independientes,” the teacher and students write to a community helper. The teacher states, “Vamos a escribir juntos una nota de agradecimiento para tu persona favorita que ayuda en el barrio.” In addition, during the “Centro de dramatización,” the materials guide the teacher to encourage children to dress up like “la persona que ayuda en tu comunidad que más te guste.” These activities, supported by teacher scripts, provide students the opportunity to connect their own personal experiences from home and school to information learned from the text.

The materials support the teacher in scaffolding questions for various language proficiency levels during read-alouds. The questions for each read aloud are scripted so that they build on one another and focus children's attention on specific parts of the story. For example, in Theme 2, the teacher reads the book, Oye, pared. This book is about a boy who works with family and friends to make one of the neighborhood walls more beautiful as it has nothing on it. The teacher begins by asking, “¿Quién puede decirme qué ven en esta ilustración?” The teacher then asks, “¿Cómo se ve la pared?” The first question allows children to share their own ideas; however, the second focuses on the neighborhood wall. On another page, the teacher asks the students three short questions: “¿Por qué mantiene sus ojos en el suelo? ¿Por qué nadie mira la pared? ¿Hacia dónde miran?” These questions are written to allow children to focus on one detail at a time; however, each detail supports one another. Towards the end of the book, the teacher engages the students in conversation about the people who bring pictures to decorate the wall. The teacher asks, “¿Quién puede mostrarme los dibujos? ¿Quién trajo dibujos? ¿Cómo ayudarán los dibujos a que la pared se vea más hermosa?” The students first point to the pictures in the book, name who brought them, and then talk about how the pictures added beauty to the wall. This activity requires the students to move from thinking within the text to beyond the text. Each read-aloud in the materials also provides alternative questions to develop student comprehension. The “apoyo” (support) section in the lesson script provides three levels of prompts/questions to ask if the students struggle, and the “estimule” (challenge) section of the script provides a higher-level question to challenge students. 

The materials include guidance and opportunities for the teacher to use basic text structures to support students' understanding of the text. In Theme 4, the teacher reads the big book, La perra de hola y adiós. Before reading, the lesson script guides the teacher to tell the students that “Pablo” the puppet loves reading narrative stories about people and their pets. The teacher states the problem by saying, “Esta historia es sobre una perra llamada Alce que quiere ir a la escuela.” The teacher tells the students to think about why “Alce” (the dog) wants to go to school. Toward the end of the reading, the teacher supports the students’ understanding of the text by pointing out that “Alce aprendió a ser una perra terapéutica para poder ir a la escuela con Zara.” After the reading, the teacher revisits the guiding question. After hearing the story multiple times during the week, the materials guide the teacher to have students retell the story. At the bottom of the lesson script, the materials state that research has found that bilingual children can significantly improve their vocabulary in both of their languages when they practice retelling stories. The materials add, “Volver a narrar ayuda a los niños a desarrollar sus habilidades de memorización y concentración.” In Theme 5, the children learn about the harvest. The teacher reads the book Antes de comer: de la granja a la mesa. The teacher uses Scout the puppet and says, “A Scout le gusta los libros informativos sobre alimentos. ¡Lee encanta leer sobre la comida!” As the books are read, the students listen to answer the guiding question: “¿Qué alimentos vienen de los campos y las granjas?” During the reading, the teacher makes comments to support student understanding, such as, “Cuando los vegetales en los campos están listos para ser recolectados, es el momento de la cosecha.” and “Gracias a la cosecha los alimentos llegan a nuestra mesa.” At the end of the lesson, the students discuss the guiding question with a partner. Later during the week, the materials guide the teacher to “comparta un bolígrafo con los niños” to write about the farm-to-table journey.

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:

There are some opportunities for students to make cross-linguistic connections. The materials include a “Lista de cognados” for teachers to support children in making connections to vocabulary. The materials also include a “Cognados” strategy card, which supports the teacher to review the meaning of cognates during lessons. The materials include several opportunities for students to discuss cognates. In Theme 7, the teacher reads the book Agua, agüita. The read-aloud focus is cognates. During the reading, the teacher comes across the word color. The teacher explains, “En español, la palabra es color y en inglés también es color. Estas palabras se llaman cognados.” The materials guide the teacher to review the strategy card “cognados,” which reads: “Cuando una palabra en español y una palabra en inglés suenan igual y significan lo mismo, las llamamos cognados.” Cognates are then reinforced during a small group. The teacher shows pictures, and the students name the pictures. The teacher models naming the first picture of the camera. Then they says “En inglés, la palabra para cámara es camera. Repitan esta palabra: camera. Camera es un cognado de cámara. The card’s back also lists multiple strategies that the teacher can use to help students identify cognates. The materials suggest, “Para los niños más pequeños o con retraso de desarrollo, diga ambos cognados y luego pídales que repitan las dos palabras. Por ejemplo, océano y ocean.” For those advanced students that need more of a challenge, the materials suggest, “Estimule a los niños a encontrar los cognados de las palabras siguientes: clase, fruta, artista y foto.” The teacher provides clues as needed. These opportunities for students to make cross-linguistic connections leverage students’ knowledge of vocabulary in each language for understanding. However, there is limited evidence of other types of cross-linguistic connections to support English Learners (ELs) in understanding the similarities and differences between emergent reading skills in Spanish and English throughout the curriculum.

The materials include multilingual strategies for Spanish learners to meet learning objectives successfully. Some strategies support children in thinking about emergent reading concepts in both languages. For example, during a small group activity in Theme 5, the teacher reviews the letter such as Pp, Vv, and Zz. The “Alumnos multilingües” section guides tell the teacher that Spanish Bb and Vv, and Ss and Zz letters make the same sound. This section also suggests that teachers take the time to review the sound these letters make in English as well. In Theme 6, the teacher reinforces the letters ñ and y during small group instruction. The “alumnos multilingues” section states that children whose first language is English may know the long e sound but may have never seen the Yy as a connecting word. The materials then state to take time to review the Yy sound in English and Spanish as necessary. Although this guides the teacher to review sounds,  these opportunities do not explicitly guide teachers to distinguish the differences in the letter names or connect the sounds to words with these initial sounds in English.

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 and translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

During a Theme 1 whole group read-aloud of The Adventures of Jovani and Alejandro, the teacher engages students in exploration of math concepts before providing a shared writing experience: “Who can come up and count the horses on this page? Can you count them in a different order? Are there still four horses in all? Jovani and Alejandro found the mega peach! Who can point to and count the one peach?” At the end of the read-aloud, teacher guidance suggests: “Share a pen with children as they draw and write number sentences about playing games with their friends.” The “superhero” theme in this text also serves as a prompt for independent writing in centers: “Write a story about a superhero who can count faster than anyone in the world.” Theme 1 provides further opportunities for independent writing with a worksheet prompt: “Who can be the people in a family?” Teacher guidance states: “Differentiate and modify as needed. Save children’s writing to display next week.” Following a whole group read-aloud of First Laugh—Welcome, Baby!, students engage in a group writing activity: ”Let’s think of ways that our own families are special. We will make a book about our family members and show what makes them special. I’ll help you with the writing part.” Teacher guidance states: “Pass out the stapled pages you put together and go over each page with children, asking them to dictate the end of each sentence so you can write it in. Then have them use crayons or other art supplies to decorate the pages. You can do this activity over a number of days and send the books home so that children’s family members can help children to decorate the cover of the book by drawing a group picture that shows all the family members they showed inside. Invite children to share their books with the other children and talk about what makes their families special. Have them show and discuss the artwork inside the book. Share the books with children’s family members at a family celebration.” Theme 1 includes opportunities for students to imitate adult writing after a whole group read-aloud of Thank You, Friend. The teacher engages students in a group discussion about friendship and models writing a thank-you note. Students are then invited to create their own thank-you notes. 

Following a whole group read-aloud of Ofrenda in Theme 2, the teacher reviews the roles of “author” and “illustrator” by explaining that illustrations help the reader better understand the story. Students are provided a blank, three-page book and encouraged to be “illustrators” of their own story. Teacher guidance states: “Show children how you make a book about the park. Write a word on each page: ‘boy,’ ‘kite,’ and ‘dog’. Read the words to children. ‘My story is about a boy, a kite, and a dog.’ Illustrate the book as the children look on. Invite them to tell the story.” Students then take their own turns illustrating their books. After students have finished, the teacher asks questions like “How did your picture help to tell the story?” to help students understand that drawing connects to writing. 

During a Theme 3 small group activity, students create a class book about things they can do in different kinds of weather. The teacher models: “I’ll choose rainy weather! When it’s rainy, I love to sit under a blanket in my favorite chair and read a book. I’ll draw myself doing that. Now draw yourself doing something in the weather you chose.” Teacher guidance states: “Find your weather word on the board. Write it at the top of your paper. Point to the top of a paper and say, ‘When we read, we read from top to bottom. We do the same thing when we write. Now draw yourself doing something in the weather you chose.’” After the students have shared their writing, the teacher creates a table of contents with input from students regarding how to write the table and what pages they contributed to the book. Theme 3 teacher guidance suggests direct instruction for students experiencing difficulty writing their name. Following a whole group read-aloud of The Great Big Enormous Yuca, students are invited to draw something that is “great, big, or enormous” on oversized paper, and label their drawing with their name. Teacher guidance states: “As children draw, talk about other words they might use to describe their plants or animals such as ‘huge,’ ‘tremendous,’ and ‘gigantic’. When children finish, help them label their drawings as a ‘great, big, enormous....’” If students are unable to write their name, teacher guidance suggests writing it for them in large letters, watching as they write, and practice letters that are most challenging for them. Teacher guidance also suggests talking with students after the activity about their drawings and having them think about other descriptive labels. 

After a whole group read-aloud of My Body in Theme 5, teachers are encouraged to write and read aloud short sentences about how bodies work and how to stay healthy and safe. Students expand teacher sentences with new words and concepts introduced in the story. Teacher guidance states: “Show children how you begin writing on the left side and add letters and words to the right.” Teacher modeling is again suggested after a whole group read-aloud of From Our Hands. The teacher writes and reads aloud sentences about healthy foods the teacher likes to eat. Theme 5 also includes writing opportunities in independent writing centers: “Can you write what you would tell a sick dino to do to get well soon?” “Imagine you had a real ‘personal space bubble’ that everyone could see. Can you write about what that would be like?” “Imagine you are taking care of a sick dinosaur. Can you write about it?” While these independent center writing prompts serve as evidence supporting the indicator, the skill level required is not appropriate for the typical prekindergarten student. 

Writing practice is integrated into math content in Theme 8. Teacher guidance states: “Give each child a sticky note. Ask, ‘Who is your favorite character from I Want to Grow?’ Invite children to draw or write their answer on a sticky note. Then have children place their sticky notes on a chart or board to create a bar graph. Ask, ‘Why do you like this character?’ Encourage children to give their answer with detail and compare results: ‘Which character is most popular?’” This theme also includes an opportunity for group writing in relation to a shared experience: “‘Today we’re going to re-read On Ed’s Bed and create stories together with the words we see at the end of the book.’ Write down and read aloud the words on the back cover of On Ed’s Bed. Provide children with drawing supplies. Say: ‘Let’s create a new story together about the words that start with e.’ Invite children to write and draw the story on their paper as you create your story together.”

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 and translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Lessons throughout all themes combine modeled writing, shared writing, and interactive writing to move children along the levels of writing development. These lessons follow a fixed formula after each whole group read-aloud: Day 1, the teacher models sentence formulation; Day 2, the teacher transcribes student thought; Day 3, the teacher shares the pen with students for an interactive writing experience; Day 4, the teacher provides feedback as students write. For feedback, the “Implementation Guide” states: “Provide a writing prompt and give ongoing feedback as children draw and write in response to the prompt.” This is the extent of the direction found in the Implementation Guide; it does not specify the type of feedback or provide guidance for teachers to nudge students along the continuum for writing development. 

Writing takes place in small groups every Day 5 where the focus is on the child’s own self-expression, identity as a writer, and growing appreciation of the value of written words and images. Children work from “Response Prompts” and have the option of “Drawing, Writing, or Storytelling” (dictating to the teacher) in order to express themselves in response to the prompt. The program includes a sleeved booklet the teacher can use to “publish” children’s writing each week, creating a class book to celebrate all children in the classroom as authors of a book related to that week’s concept exploration. This structure provides students logical opportunities to practice writing, but it provides teachers a limited variety of instruction, intervention, scaffolding, and extension techniques.

To support their emergent writing as well as their alphabet knowledge, children practice letter formation during every Day 1 small group “Literacy” activity, focusing on the target letters for that week. “Letter Formation” guides and rhymes are available in the “Resources” area of the “Teacher Hub.” Implementation Guide research states: “As beginning writers, they progress from scribbles to marks and letter-like forms that convey meaning, to writing letters and words for different purposes (Schickendanz and Collins, 2013).” There are “Letter Formation” practice pages, along with jingles, that provide direction for writing each letter. However, there are no additional charts, diagrams, or descriptions that further explain the different stages along the writing continuum or how students are expected to progress from stage to stage. This section does not include guidance on how to assist children, who typically move back and forth across various levels of writing, through the levels. 

In a Theme 1 small group activity, the teacher places magnetic letters in a bowl and indicates one student, writing that student’s name on a name card while identifying the first letter (i.e., “David starts with D”). The student finds that letter in the bowl and matches it to his name card. The student is encouraged to say his name and letter aloud while tracing the letter with his finger. Students are then provided crayons to trace the letter. While the materials include writing lessons, they do not follow the sequence of developmental stages of writing. For example, later in Theme 1, the teacher states: “Today, we are going to make thank-you notes. Think of a time when someone did something for you. Write a note to that person thanking them for their good manners.” In this small group activity children “write” a thank-you note at their own individual writing level. That may be drawing, scribbling, writing letter-like forms, or writing fully formed letters or words. This lesson occurs at the beginning of the year when most early learners are in the initial stage of writing development, including scribbling and developing fine motor skills needed to grasp writing tools. 

A writing activity in Theme 2 progresses as follows: Day 1, the teacher writes and reads aloud short sentences about what people see in a neighborhood: “Give children drawing paper and have them draw pictures of what they might see in a neighborhood.” Day 2, the teacher and students complete shared writing about things students do at home that are hard. Day 3, students are provided a variety of tools to write about a place they like from their neighborhood. Day 4 teacher guidance states: “Provide a writing prompt about the children’s neighborhood. Give ongoing feedback as children draw in response to the prompt. Allow time for sharing writing.” This statement is the extent of suggested feedback for the lesson and does not go into further depth describing how the teacher can specifically nudge students along the writing continuum. Day 5, students complete an independent writing activity on a worksheet, answering the prompt “What do you like about your neighborhood?” Children are encouraged to write at their own level, whether that looks like drawing, scribbling, or letter-like forms. 

Theme 3 provides opportunities for students to reflect on shared experiences through writing and drawing. For example, after a reading of Where’s My Teddy? the teacher writes and reads aloud short, descriptive sentences about the bears in the story; students listen and draw pictures in response. A similar activity is offered after a whole group read-aloud of Weather, this time culminating in a shared writing experience. Here, the teacher and students share a pen while discussing and writing about their experiences with weather. Teacher guidance encourages discussion of correct directionality when writing, but teachers are also encouraged to celebrate all student attempts to convey meaning through scribbles and letter-like forms. For example, teacher guidance in Theme 3 states: “At this age, children are moving from scribbles to marks that stand for something specific. When asked, children will explain that they’ve written a grocery list, a to-do list, or some other specific type of writing. Provide daily writing opportunities, such as setting up a sign-in and sign-out routine where children practice writing their names.” Beyond letter directionality and encouraging this celebration, specific teacher guidance directing students along the stages of writing development is inconsistent.

One of the few examples where teachers do nudge students through writing is provided on a “Large Group Activity Card” in Theme 5: “Emergent writing is a child’s first attempt at writing. Children as young as two years old can imitate writing by drawing and making markings that represent thoughts. This is the beginning of the stages children progress through as they learn to write. This is an important predictor of children’s reading and writing skills.” Similar “Teacher Tips” originate on the Large Group Cards, where they illuminate the research-based purpose behind a specific action the teacher takes during that lesson. A bibliography for these “Child Development” tips appears at the back of each printed “Teaching Guide.” While they often provide useful context for teachers, their research facts often echo those found in the Implementation Guide. Teachers have limited access to specific guidance, direction, suggestions, or advice meant to help students progress along the writing continuum. 

Following a whole group read-aloud of Seed to Plant in Theme 7, teachers transcribe student narratives as they describe the life cycle of plants. Teacher guidance states: “Ask questions to help them add correct details and revise anything as needed. Share a pen with children as you work together to write about how a plant grows. Help children add details about each stage of the life cycle. Provide a writing prompt about the things plants need to grow. Have children generate a list, drawing or writing as many needs as they can remember, based on information in Seed to Plant. Encourage children to experiment with punctuation marks. Invite children to draw or talk about how they can help plants grow. Encourage children to add details to their drawings or their writing.” These statements—“Help children add details about each stage of the life cycle,” “Encourage children to experiment with punctuation marks,” and “Encourage children to add details to their drawings or their writing”—do not clearly show teachers how to integrate student contributions into their writing or how to nudge students along the writing continuum. The writing advice leaves much of the intervention details up to the teacher.

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 and translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials provide a “Teacher’s Guide,” which includes a materials list for each center; these materials offer opportunities for children to develop fine motor skills. For example, suggested materials for Theme 1 include stick puppets, pretend money and register, dolls, pattern blocks, connecting cubes, clay, scissors, beads, and string. Theme 2 materials include clay, various writing and drawing tools, writing paper, tracing cards, and dry-erase boards. Theme 4 materials include clay, lined writing paper, and drawing supplies. Theme 8 materials include crayons, markers, colored pencils, drawing paper, clay, and painting supplies. While these materials are suggested, the guide does not offer ideas for incorporating them into specific learning objectives. Students often use these materials for developing fine motor skills, but these skills are not frequently connected and linked to writing.

There is a section in the “Implementation Guide” that somewhat describes materials relevant to fine motor development; however, the focus is on providing modifications for children with physical and developmental needs. Under the general section title “Meeting Individual Needs,” there is a list of “manipulatives and components that can be used to give children additional support: jumbo tweezers, pattern blocks and cards, alphabet cards, microphone, Alphabet Cards and Number Cards, and Magnifiers.” These supports are not specific to fine motor development, and only the jumbo tweezers clearly connect to this focus. This section does not provide additional differentiation and guidance on how to develop students’ fine motor skills towards writing. An additional subsection titled “Physical Development,” under the section “Music and Movement,” suggests “children should spend at least 25% of their day engaged in fine motor or gross-motor activities (Copple and Bredekamp, 2009).” However, the next subsections are titled “Music and Song” and “Opportunities for Music and Movements.” These subsections are focused on gross-motor activities, and there are no other sections in the Implementation Guide that describe the product’s explicit plan for fine motor skills development. 

Sometimes small group activities include “Fine Motor Skills” recommendations under the “Modifications” section of the activity card. This modification section also includes a section on “Multilingual Learners.” Like the guidance found in the Implementation Guide, it is more framed toward accommodating students with individual needs. While a valuable practice, this section does not provide guidance on how to develop students’ fine motor skills towards writing. In many examples, the suggestion is to replace the activity with something more accessible to one’s abilities. For example: “If children are unable to sculpt with clay, allow them to use a medium more accessible to their abilities. For example, you may provide a long paintbrush and an easel for children who have trouble making or manipulating small objects.” This suggestion completely alters the task objective.

A whole group activity in Theme 1 includes an extension to support the development of fine motor skills. Teacher guidance suggests helping students trace their hands on paper and use scissors to create a cutout. Students write their names on the back and dictate one way they have helped a friend. The teacher transcribes the student narrative on the cutout, adding it to a “Helping Hands of Friendship” class board. Teachers are provided guiding questions for center time to help students engage with learning materials: “Draw a picture of yourself doing your favorite activity with your family. How will you color it?” “What story can you tell about someone who feels calm?” “What would you say in an email to a friend you miss? Can you draw and write about it?” and “What materials will you use to make a picture of yourself? You can use paint, crayons, or pencils.” The activity itself, tracing hands and using scissors, does provide students the opportunity to develop their fine motor skills. However, none of the guiding questions provide differentiation and guidance on developing these fine motor skills. There is no clear connection to writing development.

Following a whole group read-aloud of The Seesaw in Theme 3, teacher guidance states: “Have children help you create the balance scale by threading the string through the cups. Then, have children use tweezers to place objects on and remove objects from the scale.” This activity offers an opportunity for students to develop fine motor skills but does not provide teacher guidance on how to support this development. There are some examples where teacher guidance does support fine motor development. In a similar activity,  guidance states: “Connecting Cubes are a great way for children to strengthen their fine motor skills. If the activity is too difficult for some learners, connect cubes in a variety of lengths ahead of time. Children can line up sets of the Connecting Cubes alongside their partner’s foot. Have them try different lengths until they find the one that matches.” 

During an extension activity in Theme 4, students paint an animal they have learned about. Teacher guidance says: “Give children paint and paper and encourage them to paint one animal they learned about during this theme. Ask them how many feet they are including. You may wish to add other art supplies like feathers and sequins—encourage children to use these supplies to really show those animal features!” This is one of the examples where students use tools and surfaces other than crayons, colored pencils, or markers. 

Theme 6 also incorporates some use of alternative materials to increase students’ small muscle strength and hand coordination. For example, during large group time, the teacher facilitates a group discussion about materials used to build houses, such as brick, wood, mud, and ice. After presenting pictures of various houses, students are provided drinking straws and interlocking bricks and challenged to build with both materials. Following a whole group read-aloud of Little Nita’s Big Idea, students are reminded of the main character’s plan for making fruit salad. Students are provided a paper circle, crumpled red and white paper, and glue. The teacher models following steps to make pizza while stating them aloud. The teacher then invites students to follow the steps as well. Following a whole group read-aloud of More-igami in Theme 6, students create their own origami project. Each student is provided a square piece of paper; the teacher guides them through a step-by-step folding process. A math lesson in this theme includes guidance suggesting teachers help children “grasp crayons the way you will later want them to grip a pencil.” Materials further state: “Use a small piece of masking tape on the table or desk to keep the drawing paper from sliding. Model holding a crayon and adjusting children’s grips as needed. Encourage children to pick up their crayons using just their thumbs and pointer fingers; model doing this and then flipping the crayon to rest correctly against the middle finger in the tripod grasp.” This is one example where additional teacher scaffolding directly connects fine motor development to writing. 

Most of the opportunities available for students to engage with writing surfaces and tools occur in the “Purposeful Play Centers.” Sometimes tools are suggested and not required; in a Theme 2 Math domain small group activity, measuring tools are suggested but not required. The teacher shows pictures of tools like timers, scales, rulers, and measuring spoons to teach the name of each item, but students do not use them in the activity itself. The incorporation of various surfaces to promote development of writing skills is not consistent throughout all themes. One example is found in Theme 8 following a whole group read-aloud of Jabari Jumps and a group discussion about racing. Students are each provided a tray of salt and invited to “race” one another, using their fingers to draw letters in the trays of salt. For the most part, children use different types of paper, markers, pencils, and crayons. Beyond this example of salt tray usage, students have a few opportunities to write with shaving cream, finger paint, and dry-erase boards toward the beginning of the year. These opportunities are somewhat limited and inconsistent.

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The “Implementation Guide” includes teacher guidance on the research-based approach involving varied and repeated representations to help children understand and value early math concepts. The materials include a combination of actions, images, and symbols to reinforce children’s learning and to support children’s development from concrete (actions, images) to abstract (symbols) understanding.

A Theme 1 small group activity explores number and counting concepts using concrete manipulatives: “In this activity, you will give me the number of counters I ask for. Before the activity, practice rote counting with the group. Count aloud slowly from 1–10 and repeat. Count to 20 if children are proficient counters.” Students are provided three counters each. Following exploration of the counters, they are asked to present one, two, or three counters. If time allows, teachers and students switch roles. Counters are used again in this theme to explore counting during a small group activity. Students are provided with five counters and prompted by the teacher: “In this activity, I will pretend my counters are horses. I will count out a certain number of horses. Then, I will hide my horses behind the curtain. You will count out the same number of horses, and we will make sure our sets match!” During the activity, students are reminded that the varying colors of “horses” does not affect the number counted. Another small group activity in this theme states: “Give each child 3 two-color counters. Choose a number from 1 to 3 and say, ‘give me [that number].’ For example: ‘Give me one counter. Find one counter from your pile of counters and slide it over to me.’ Each child should count out that number of counters from the pile and hand you that number. Check that you received the correct number of counters by counting aloud.” As stated in the Implementation Guide, in “Behind the Curtain” activities, “children expand from concrete to abstract thinking as they ‘imagine’ items in a hidden area during game play.” A Theme 1 whole group read-aloud of Nobody Hugs a Cactus connects pictorial representations to a small group exploration of the counters. The concrete materials are used to represent characters from the story. The teacher models lining up the cubes to count them, and then provides each child with 5 to 10 connecting cubes. Students are given time to count the number of cubes given. Although examples of pictorial and concrete representations are found throughout all themes, there is no evidence of a systematic progression leading to abstract concepts in the materials. These activities are included within isolated, structured lessons and provide some teacher guidance on how to reinforce concepts throughout the day. The Implementation Guide provides a summary of guidance on cross-domain math connections through universal concepts including symbols, sequence, and comparing and contrasting. 

A Theme 3 small group activity reinforces measurement concepts explored during a whole group read-aloud discussion: “As we read How Big Is an Elephant?, we talked about how animals are different sizes. Today we will look at how big each of you are and compare your size to others. How big are you?” Students write their name on a sticky note, and the teacher measures them using a tape measure or yard stick. Teacher guidance suggests having conversations with students using vocabulary words and math concepts such as “larger than” or “smaller than” as well as comparisons between student sizes. Measurement concepts introduced in How Big Is an Elephant are explored further through a small group activity using toys as measurement tools. Students line up the toy animals in order by length and use blocks or cubes to measure them. This story is also used during a whole group activity exploring spatial sense. The Day 1 reading of this book focuses on concrete size comparison, and the Day 2 reading of the book bridges to abstract size comparison, as described here. The “Extended Play” activity itself, which follows the Day 2 read-aloud, includes concrete comparisons (“Challenge children to find objects that are bigger or smaller than body parts. For example, one child might pick up a pebble smaller than a fingernail. Another child might find a leaf bigger than a hand.”) This is followed by abstract comparison (“I see that the leaf is bigger than your hand. Is it bigger than a house? How do you know?”). Teacher guidance for a small group activity in this theme includes suggestions for building conceptual understanding in counting: “Set up five books on the table. Begin counting them out loud one at a time, pointing to each as you say a number. Pause and look for children to raise their hands after each count. When you get to the fourth one, say nothing, then point to the fifth and say the number four instead. Ask, ‘Did I make a mistake? What was it? How can I fix it?’ Continue the activity, making new mistakes, including pointing to one you already counted, skipping numbers, swapping letters with numbers, and counting out of order. To extend, have children demonstrate the correct way to count for you.” This theme also includes an activity exploring adding and taking away using concrete representation. Following a whole group read-aloud of The Mitten, the teacher provides each student with a mitten (real or paper) and color counters, prompting: “You will pretend these counters are cold animals. You can put an animal in or take one out using the counters. We will say how many animals are in the mitten after one joins or leaves.” This story is also referenced while students explore the concept of sorting: “You will bring one mitten or glove, whichever you wore to school today, to the table. We will sort them into two groups: ‘mittens’ and ‘gloves.’” 

A Theme 8 small group activity invites students to “investigate” a partner by asking a series of questions, such as “Does your partner have a pet?” Students represent answers with sticky notes, creating a bar graph. Teacher guidance states: “Continue with different questions as time allows, graphing each question’s answers separately. Choose questions that have only two possible answers to make graphing easier.” After a whole group read-aloud of Mole Catches the Sky in this theme, students use 5-frames to “keep track of animal friends who are going to a party at Mole’s house.” Teachers guide and model: “‘Let’s see how many friends she can fit in her home!’ Have children count three connecting cubes and place them on the 5-frame. Guide them to use the empty boxes to determine how many more friends can join.” Examples of use of concrete manipulatives and pictorial representation are evident throughout all themes, while abstract representation is somewhat supported by prior comprehensive exploration of concrete representation. The “Year at a Glance” shows that skill dependencies are included in the sequence of the math lessons. For example, the concept of counting and the number words themselves are addressed before formal counting is introduced. Counting is practiced before the concept of counting objects in various order is introduced. Shapes are taught before the concept of sliding, flipping, and turning them is introduced. Sorting and classification are practiced before the idea of organizing and representing data is introduced. Additionally, within this progression, teachers are encouraged to use the weekly observational assessments to inform responsive instruction.

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Instruction systematically builds on students’ prior knowledge in mathematical concepts. Activities for building math background are included on Day 1 and Day 3 of the large group experiences. Math activities are often included as suggestions; for instance: “Use Pattern Blocks to help children identify squares and triangles. Flip and turn the shapes in all directions to show that orientation does not change the shape.” “Observational Assessment” forms are included each week throughout the themes. The Observational Assessment indicates the math concept being introduced and contains guidance to document whether a student is “not yet,” “sometimes,” or “always” comprehending the concept. This supports the teacher in recognizing individualized developmental skill levels. There is no teacher guidance supporting “next steps” to scaffold student developmental progression within this tool. However, every math activity has a “Support” option to scaffold children toward development of the target skill as well as a “Challenge” option for children who are ready for more. Additionally, teachers can access the “Teacher Hub” to search for related math activities to scaffold or extend math development. 

A Theme 2 large group activity connects students’ prior knowledge with new math concepts. Teacher guidance states: “Help children learn ordinal numbers by teaching them in the context of their lives. When children are lined up to leave the classroom, ask them to identify who is ‘first,’ ‘second,’ ‘third,’ ‘fourth,’ and ‘fifth’ in line.” This connection is also provided with the Theme 2 text, Big Book City Shapes: “Although many children begin to learn shapes before preschool, they may not realize that they already find shapes every day. Recognizing shapes in familiar contexts helps provide children with a foundational understanding of conceptual geometry and prepares them to draw and use shapes themselves.” During a small group activity, each student receives pattern blocks in a variety of shapes. The teacher connects to the text Whose Hands Are These? by inviting students to use their blocks to make a building. During the activity, the teacher discusses with students how tall or wide their building will be. Guiding questions include “What shape are you holding? Where is it going to go? How can you turn it? If you flip it, will it fit better?” A suggested extension challenges students to build with one type of pattern block. Suggestions for supporting struggling students include modeling how to create an image using pattern blocks and talking out loud when modeling. Math concepts are integrated throughout the day in Theme 2 after a whole group read-aloud of Dad’s First Day: “Students gather objects or pictures to represent parts of the daily schedule, for instance a kickball for gym or a book for reading time. Ask children to name each activity and then place the objects or signs in sequential order. Guide children to use ordinal numbers as they discuss which activity comes ‘first,’ ‘second,’ ‘third,’ etc.” The “Pretend and Learn” center includes the prompt “Pretend you are getting ready for school. What do you do first? Then what do you do next?” During independent centers in this theme, teacher guidance includes prompts such as “Let’s create a list of all the helpers we can think of. I’ll write them, and then we’ll count them!” and “Make two towers. Which one is taller? How could you make the smaller tower larger than the tall tower?” These prompts create cross-curricular opportunities to authentically integrate mathematics throughout the day. Every day includes “Conversation Prompts for Purposeful Play” that promote children’s math learning in cross-domain centers.

In Theme 4, students explore sorting after a whole group read-aloud of What Pets Need. During the read-aloud, students “look at the pictures and think about the animal’s size,” comparing and deciding which is smaller and bigger. Students then receive picture cards of the animals and sort them from smallest to biggest. Rocks or buttons are offered for further exploration, inviting students to sort by various attributes. In Theme 5, students practice counting items using materials found in the learning environment. During large group time, the teacher holds up and counts aloud three connecting cubes from top to bottom and again from bottom to top. The teacher then invites students to pull pattern blocks from a bag and count them. Teacher guidance related to the “Order” vocabulary photo card includes: “One important principle of counting is that the order items are counted in is irrelevant. Help children understand that objects can be counted left-to-right, right-to-left, or randomly and that the same number will be reached, as long as every object in the set is given one count. Seeing this in practice reinforces the concept.” This guidance helps the teacher understand the powerful impact the teacher has on children when teaching these concepts during large group time. 

Independent centers in Theme 6 provide students an opportunity to explore shapes in a playful way. For example, the “Creativity Station” encourages students to make a circle and a square with art materials; the “Construction” center prompts identification of shapes and invites students to choose which is easiest to build with. These opportunities support the review and practice of mathematical skills embedded throughout the learning day. Theme 6 provides suggested center materials, such as different-size stuffed animals, measuring tools, pom-poms, chenille stems, “Pattern Blocks,” five-frames, and a toy cash register. The independent center signs include guiding questions, such as “What book did you choose? Is it bigger than the book we read today?” “Can you find the largest tool in the kitchen? Can you find the smallest?” and “Can you write about a shape you see? Use words and numbers.”

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The “Implementation Guide” provides information on the books and hands-on play to help children mathematize, or recognize and use the power and purpose of mathematical thinking in their daily lives. Additionally, this tool outlines that large group and small group activities model asking and answering questions related to foundation math concepts the children encounter every day. While teachers often ask thoughtful questions, there is limited direct instruction or connection between these example questions and the skill of asking thoughtful questions. In the “Higher-Order Thinking Skills” section, the materials explain the various types of questions teachers ask students. Roughly aligned to Bloom’s Taxonomy, these questions move from identify and apply, through investigate, and into evaluate and extend. In this sense, teacher questioning is intentional, but instruction on asking thoughtful questions is not provided to children directly. The “Math: Mathematical Thinking” section describes the importance of recognizing and using “the power and purpose of mathematical thinking” in daily life. This section describes how the program teaches representation through action, image, and symbol. Additionally, there is a list of different daily math activities that are used intermittently to support math instruction. However, there is no description of the importance of asking questions or supports detailing the different methods of asking questions.

After a whole group read-aloud of Five Creatures in Theme 1, teacher guidance suggests talking about how to ascertain whether someone is shorter or taller. Students first stand in a row in order of height, and then practice sorting items by attribute. The teacher shares a group of items and asks students to divide them into same and different and then re-sort using a different attribute. The following day, the teacher revisits Five Creatures, asking questions related to the concept of measurement. For example: “Which three creatures are short? Which two are tall?” “How are long and short different?” and “Who has short hair in the class? Who has long hair?” This activity is extended into a small group activity as students sort blocks from longest to shortest and build a tower. Students are instructed to put the longest block on the bottom and the shortest block on top but are not encouraged to express and explore their own interpretation of a tower. Students then make two towers, one short and one tall. After building, students count the blocks starting with the longest, and then again starting with the shortest. Teacher guidance suggests reviewing with students that the number of blocks remains the same no matter the order in which they are counted. This activity is playful, builds on students’ natural interest in mathematics with common objects and manipulatives, and helps children connect math skills such as counting with grouping. Teacher guidance provides suggested questions and extensions but does not include teaching strategies encouraging child-led language and thought. 

In a Theme 2 small group activity, the teacher connects students’ learning to a whole group read-aloud: “Today we revisited Biblioburro, a story about a man who carries books to children who have none. He saw the problem and worked very hard to solve it by bringing the books to children who needed them. Just like Luis, we will first figure out what problem we have and then figure out steps that will help us solve it. We will persist until the problem is solved.” This prompt communicates the importance of inquiry during problem-solving but does not suggest how students can improve their capacity to ask thoughtful questions. Next, students work in pairs to put a group of numbers in order. While students are working in their pairs, teacher guidance suggests asking students, “What problem do you think you have?” and then “Help children formulate the idea that the numbers should be in order. Then ask children to work with their partners and figure out what to do.” The first question successfully prompts students to ask thoughtful questions, but there is no explicit connection to the skill. No follow-up direction emphasizes the way to ask questions or the importance of asking questions. After completion of the activity, the teacher invites children to reflect on the activity: “What was the problem we had with the numbers? How did you solve it?” Again, this presents an unfulfilled opportunity to explicitly teach students about asking thoughtful questions during problem-solving. 

Theme 4 activities promote mathematical reasoning using familiar materials, such as, in a whole group lesson, encouraging students to use their fingers to count. In a similar small group lesson, students use photos of animals to sort/classify. Children have the opportunity to further explore these concepts during “Independent Centers,” using the “PreK On My Way” pattern blocks and cards. These pattern card images are aligned to each theme, with pattern blocks to encourage independent and flexible use of shapes to build images. Teachers ask guiding questions during independent centers, such as “How are the animals in your book the same? How are they different?” “Why is it helpful to use your hands to count to ten?” and “What shapes do you see? How many shapes are on your page?” While these questions offer students practice in answering questions, the materials do not include teacher guidance on how to encourage students to ask their own thoughtful questions. When problem-solving, there is little intentional connection between the teacher’s example questions and the skill of inquiry. Teachers ask students questions to build background knowledge during “Circle Time,” to facilitate conversation during read-alouds, and through prompting during small group activities. While example questions are somewhat useful in developing children’s capacity to ask questions, students do not receive direct and explicit instruction on the skill of asking questions. This is not an explicit or emphasized step in the program's problem-solving process.

Before a Theme 4 whole group read-aloud of Clifford the Big Red Dog, teacher guidance suggests introducing students to the concept of subitizing. The teacher displays a one-dot number card for two seconds and asks, “How many dots?” The teacher repeats this with a two-dot number card. As the book is read, the teacher pauses to ask questions, such as “How many buttons were on the character’s shirt, Emily Elizebeth?” This exercise provides an opportunity for students to develop their capacity for mathematical reasoning in reference to a familiar concept. This is continued during a small group activity; teachers ask students to use connecting cubes to represent ducks and to create two sets of equal groups. 

After a Theme 7 whole group read-aloud of Twenty Yawns, the teacher invites students to complete a number scavenger hunt: “Sometimes I will ask you to find a certain number of objects. Other times, I will ask you to find one object with a certain number of parts. You will work with a partner to search the classroom and bring back the correct number of objects. Then we will count them to check.” In this activity, students are searching around the room to recognize problems in their environment, but they do not receive any instruction or scaffolding meant to develop their capacity to ask questions. Independent centers in this theme encourage problem-solving through guiding questions: “Can you pretend to build a sandcastle using blocks? How many blocks will you use?” ”How many flowers would you like in your garden? Can you count them out?” Similar to other independent centers, the teacher is asking students questions to prompt problem-solving and mathematical reasoning, but students are not developing their capacity, themselves, to ask thoughtful questions.

A Theme 7 whole group read-aloud of Lola Plants a Garden also supports the development of mathematical reasoning in the classroom. After reading, the teacher states: “You will use connecting cubes as ‘seeds’ to plant a garden. I will ask you to plant a certain number of seeds. Then you will tell me how many seeds are in the garden and how many seeds you have left to plant. I’ve planted one seed to start.” Students continue with this theme by exploring the concept of height. The teacher prompts: “Imagine that the connecting cubes you planted today were real seeds. What kind of plant would you want to grow? How tall will these plants be?” 

A later Theme 7 large group lesson mentions the importance of observation but does not go as far as offering direct instruction on question-asking: “Learning about the four seasons helps children understand how time passes and how things change. Observation is an important part of learning about the seasons, including outside exploration and discussion. While outside, children can make note of changes they see and then draw pictures of their observations in science journals.” The description communicates the importance of observation but does not provide any scaffolding or guidance meant to develop students’ capacity for question-asking. 

Evaluation for 7.4
Materials build students’ number sense.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Examples of teacher guidance in Theme 1 include the following: “Encourage children to practice their counting skills throughout the day, like when they’re waiting to use the water fountain or when they are walking home from school.” “Engage with the children’s counting readiness, encourage children to use one-to-one correspondence, counting, and cardinality throughout their day. Children are naturally so curious—asking them to count how many friends, toys, snacks, or pencils they have improves their numerical understanding.” “Have children think about situations when they know how many of something they see without counting. Many of them will be able to subitize one or two already. Have children point to examples of one item and two items around the room.” Following a whole group read-aloud of Nobody Hugs a Cactus, students use connecting cubes to represent characters from the story. While working with small groups, the teacher pages through the book, placing a cube on the table for each character. The teacher models, pointing to each cube one by one while counting aloud. The teacher explains it is helpful to arrange the cubes in order to count systematically and accurately. Each child then receives connecting cubes and uses one-to-one correspondence to count how many cubes they have. A whole group read-aloud of Five Creatures in this theme introduces the concept of subitizing. The materials suggest a corresponding small group activity to reinforce understanding: “In this activity, you will see a card with dots on it and quickly say how many dots you see.” Another lesson suggests: “Count your set of five horses, and then each child’s set. Invite children to count with you. Make sure that each child’s set also contains five horses. Ask children whether the order in which they counted affected the total number of horses. Does it matter which horse you count first when counting all of your horses? Why not?”

Mathematical learning occurs frequently throughout the day, as evidenced in Theme 5. In one example, students are introduced to the word pattern during large group time; it is reintroduced in a corresponding small group activity using connecting cubes. The teacher creates ABAB or AABB patterns with two colors of cubes, repeating the pattern three times. As the teacher works, students are asked for input about what color comes next in the pattern. Students practice during independent center time, where they are invited to make a pattern and explain their process (“Math and Science” center) and create patterns with colors and shapes (“Creativity” center). Materials also provide teacher guidance to build conceptual understanding of patterns during a whole group read-aloud of I Got the Rhythm: “Children can recognize, create, and copy simple patterns on their own, even before they know the word ‘pattern’. To identify and extend more complex patterns, children do best with the guidance of an adult helping them see and understand the patterns.” The text Dentists and What They Do is utilized in this theme to reinforce number sense and counting. Teacher guidance includes suggestions for building students’ conceptual understanding: “Place 20 connecting cubes in the center of the table. Have children count with you as you place each cube in the center. The teacher can ask: ‘How many teeth in all?’ Next, invite a child to start the count by picking up one connecting cube from the pile and holding it while saying the number. Direct the next child to continue the count, picking up another ‘tooth’ to hold. Repeat until the group reaches 20, and there are no more ‘teeth’ in the pile. Ask, ‘How many teeth are there in all?’” The text is referenced again in this theme during a small group activity: “Set up 20 Connecting Cubes as though they were a set of teeth, with one equal set on top of the other. Give one child the pointer. Say, ‘Use the pointer to count each tooth. Let’s start with this tooth!’ Guide the child to count each tooth. Ask, ‘How many teeth are there in all?’ Give another child the pointer. This time, have the child start with a different tooth and count in the opposite direction. Ask, ‘How many teeth are there in all?’” Following a whole group read-aloud of Baby Goes to Market, students and teachers create and explore a number line: “Then, we will tell stories about shopping at a market. We will add food to our basket, and take some away to eat. We will move our fingers along the number line to help us count the foods we add and take away.” This text is used again to guide teachers in building conceptual understanding of addition and subtraction: “Using a group of connecting cubes, model adding and taking one cube away. Ask children to count with you to find the new amount. At this early stage, it’s important to focus on teaching children the basic concepts of addition and subtraction: putting together and taking away. Telling stories and using concrete objects to show numbers being added or taken away is a great way to encourage children to start using these concepts in the real world.”

Students have an opportunity to build number sense in a Theme 8 small group lesson. Students assume the role of “architect” and build connecting cube towers of a specific number represented on number cards. Teacher guidance states: “Hold up a number card and say, ‘This is how many connecting cubes you will use to build your tower.’” Students explain their thought process as they connect the number counted with the corresponding number card. Students demonstrate conceptual understanding in math during a small group activity in this theme. Students view photos of various items and determine whether each is tall or short. As students discuss, the teacher encourages students to share an experience: “Have you ever been inside a very tall building? Share that story with us!” After the activity, students compare size and number of the sets: “Have children sort the Activity Cards into two piles: ‘tall’ and ‘short’. Guide children to create a row with the tall cards and a different row for the short cards, creating a bar graph. Ask, ‘Are there more tall things or more short things? How can you tell?’” This activity provides an opportunity for students to connect number sense to other mathematics concepts. This theme provides another opportunity for students to create and compare set size after a whole group read-aloud of Ducks in a Row. Students use connecting cubes to represent ducklings, working in pairs to split 10 “ducklings” into two equal groups. The teacher probes, “How did you separate your ducklings into two groups? How can you tell there are the same amount of ducklings in each group? Can you count to make sure they are equal?”

Evaluation for 7.5
Materials develop students’ academic math vocabulary.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

In part, math vocabulary is taught with point-of-use supports that guide teachers through prompts and questions. This teacher guidance supports students’ development and use of academic math vocabulary. The “Implementation Guide” describes daily math activities that support learning, including “Act it Out,” “Graph It!,” and “Writing/Drawing/Storytelling,” among other activities. This resource also clearly describes how “Math Activity Cards” are intentionally structured with teacher guidance meant to scaffold and support student development. Each card has a “Support, Challenge, and Extend” prompt meant to meet students where they are in their mathematical development. These practices are in line with the publisher’s general system of scaffolding, which integrates pre-teaching vocabulary, using photographs, leveraging total physical response, teaching gestures, defining words in context, and utilizing intentional question-asking strategies. 

During a Theme 1 whole group read-aloud of The Adventures of Jovani and Alejandro, the teacher introduces the words order and in all. The teacher asks guiding questions, such as “In what order are Jovani and Alejandro going down the slide? Is Jovani first, or Alejandro?” “Who can come up and count the horses on this page? Can you count them in a different order? Are there still four horses in all?” After the text is read, students “Turn and Talk” with a peer to discuss, “How do Jovani and Alejandro use counting in their game?” This gives them an opportunity to practice using math vocabulary. 

Students are also introduced to the word and concept of weight in Theme 1. The materials include a “Vocabulary Card” that states “Weight is how heavy or light something is.” The card also includes a description of a photo on the front of the card: “The rocks in the picture have more weight than the feather. They are heavier than the feather.” Teacher guidance suggests having students act out the word: “Let’s act like we are a scale. Pretend to hold a feather in one hand and rocks in the other. Which side will be heavier?” A small group activity in this theme invites students to look at several pictures, putting them in order from lightest to heaviest. Teacher guidance states: “Ask, ‘Is this heavy or light?’ This is a relative question (one child may think the bananas are heavy while a different child may think they are light)—the important thing is that children are talking about weight and using words like: weigh, weight, heavy, heavier, light, lighter.” There is additional guidance to scaffold students by using a smaller number of photos or physical objects from the classroom to demonstrate the heavy and light terms.

During a whole group read-aloud of How Big Is an Elephant? in Theme 3, students are exposed to vocabulary words pertaining to measurement. Teacher guidance states: “Point out height and length in context and ask children to make informal comparisons of animal sizes. Preschoolers understand that lengths and sizes of objects vary and can be compared. Children start by informally comparing the length, height, and size of objects and people around them. Help children develop this skill by using measurement vocabulary and asking children to measure using non-standard units of measurement.” Following the read-aloud, the teacher reviews the words measure and how big. Students use paper clips to measure body parts and discuss their observations using the phrase how big. The teacher asks guiding questions, such as “How big is your foot? How many paper clips is it?” Suggested center materials in this theme include mathematical artifacts such as measuring tools, two-color counters, pattern blocks, and various sizes of blocks. These materials foster opportunities for students to use math vocabulary as they work independently and with peers during center time. 

Teacher guidance in Theme 6 states: “Giving children proper mathematical vocabulary lays essential groundwork for their long-term understanding of math. Teaching children the names of shapes and helping them become comfortable identifying both the names and the qualities of shapes is key in preparing them for more advanced geometry.” This theme provides several opportunities for students to hear and practice using math vocabulary following a whole group read-aloud of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. During large group time, the teacher facilitates a discussion about patterns: “We found a pattern in the way Goldilocks and the bears looked at the things in the house: large/medium/small, large/medium/small.” In independent centers, teachers support student exploration of these vocabulary words with guiding questions: “Can you find the largest tool in the kitchen? Can you find the smallest?” A small group activity reinforces the exploration: “‘We will say that the size of your hand from your tallest fingertip to the end of your palm is ‘just right!’ You will find one object in the classroom that is ‘too long,’ one object that is ‘too short,’ and one object that is ‘just right.’ Have children search the classroom for objects that are ‘too long,’ ‘too short,’ and ‘just right’ when compared to the size of their hand. Then, use the childrens’ objects to make a pattern.” Following a Theme 6 read-aloud of Every Little Thing, students practice using shape vocabulary words during a small group activity. The teacher reviews new vocabulary words (circle and square) while displaying corresponding shape cards on the table. Students match the cards and shape. The vocabulary words are introduced before the read-alouds in large group. They are then revisited during the read-aloud in “Circle Time,” where the teacher re-introduces the words that are then practiced in the small group activity. The “Small Group Teacher Card” gives teachers support strategies for differentiated instruction at point-of-use. 

In Theme 8, students are introduced to location words during a whole group read-aloud of Ducks Away. During the reading, the teacher facilitates back-and-forth conversation integrating math vocabulary and concepts by asking guiding questions, such as “How many ducks are looking down in the picture? How many are looking up? Let’s count!” After the reading, the teacher says, “When I look up, I see…. When I look down, I see….” Students look up and down, describing what they see. A small group lesson in Theme 8 builds upon students’ subitizing skills and expression: “Choose manipulatives for each child, and give each child a set of five. Ask, ‘How many vegetables do you have?’ Encourage children to answer without counting. Ask a child to give you a certain number of vegetables: ‘Please add three of your vegetables to the soup. How many vegetables do you have left? Can you tell me without counting?’ Request different numbers of vegetables from each child, and always ask, ‘How many do you have left?’” The back of each activity card gives the teacher strategies for differentiated instruction. In this particular example, the suggested support is to start the child with three manipulatives and model adding to it. It also offers a challenge for those students that are developmentally more advanced.

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

During a small group activity in Theme 3, students have an opportunity to use a variety of scientific tools: “Place one or two drops of paint on your paper using the eye dropper or pipette. Blow gently through a straw as you move it around to push the paint. Repeat, blowing a little harder.” Teacher guidance states: “Explain that the painting does not have to look like something real. Children should just have fun being creative.” As students explore, the teacher scaffolds with guiding questions, such as “What do you notice about how the paint moves when you blow gently and when you blow hard? How can you make the paint move in a different direction?” A small group activity in this theme engages students in hands-on exploration following a whole group read-aloud of Weather. The teacher models using a clear cup prefilled with water: “Tell children that the water represents the air. Ask the children, ‘Let’s be curious together! What do you think will happen if I add the shaving cream to the water? (adds a thin layer of shaving cream) Why do you think I used shaving cream? What does shaving cream remind you of? (adds a few drops of food coloring) What do you think will happen now? Let’s see what happens!’” The teacher facilitates a group discussion, providing students an opportunity to ask questions and describe their observations of the experiment: “What questions do you have? How does being curious about the weather help us learn more about it?” This theme offers students another opportunity to question their environment and communicate ideas during a small group activity about force and motion. Teacher guidance states: “Use masking tape to mark a ‘starting line’ that runs across a section of floor and carpet. Let children choose a car. Tell children to decide how much force they will use. Give each child a turn to push their car on the floor to see how far it rolls. Mark the end point with tape. Before using the carpet, remind children to try to use the same amount of force as they did on the floor. Then ask if they think their car will go farther on the carpet than on the floor. After each turn ask, ‘On which surface did your car go farther? I wonder why?’” The teacher then asks guiding questions, such as “Whose car went farther on the floor? Why do you think that is? Do you think your car would go farther on the carpet if you used more force to push it? Why or why not? What two things can change how far the car rolls?” In this theme, the teacher guides students in a discussion about the poster “See! Hear! Taste! Smell! and Touch!” before introducing a related small group activity. The teacher gathers items identifiable through the use of various senses, such as a bumpy sensory ball, soft scarf, bell, flower with a strong scent, sticky marshmallows, keys, cinnamon sticks, cotton balls, sandpaper, and a tambourine. Students blindly select one item at a time as the teacher asks guiding questions: “Can you see it? Smell it? Hear it? Touch it?”

Following a whole group read-aloud of The Busy Tree in Theme 4, students work in pairs to examine natural objects such as seeds, rocks, dirt, and leaves. The partners investigate using a magnifying glass while discussing their observations. The teacher scaffolds with observations and guiding questions, such as “When you look through a magnifying glass you can see more detail. Look at something you are curious about. What special details did you see when you looked at it through the magnifying glass?” This activity provides an opportunity for students to explore earth science using a scientific tool. This text is used again in Theme 4 to support intentional planning of inquiry-based explorations: “Talk with children about why animals need homes. Work together to identify the different places animals live. Children are curious about young animals and their metamorphoses. The Busy Tree shows organisms at different stages in their life cycles. Given time to observe the development of caterpillars and seeds, children will begin to construct an understanding of life cycles on their own.” Student-led inquiry is further supported during a whole group read-aloud of Penguin Day: A Family Story. The teacher facilitates a group discussion with guiding questions, such as “Mama penguin swims in cold waters with big waves. What do you see mama penguin doing?” Following this large group activity, students “Turn and Talk” with a peer, discussing how penguins take care of their young. A “Teacher Tip” states: “When children explore the world around them, they begin to develop their observational skills. When children ask ‘why’ animals behave in certain ways, they are building curiosity and strengthening their learning. Teaching children about animals is an opportunity to let them become cognizant learners and beginner behaviorists.” 

The materials provide planned opportunities for children to observe the natural environment to explore science concepts. For example, in Theme 7, teacher guidance states: “Have children grow their own beanstalk! Gather clear containers, cotton balls, water, and dried lima beans. Have children hold their beans and describe what they see. Then, guide children to fill their container with cotton balls and place several beans around the edge. Add just enough water to moisten the cotton balls. Encourage children to watch as their plants grow taller over the next week.” Also in this theme, during a small group activity exploring space science, students use a sheet of blue construction paper and cotton balls to create a representation of the daytime sky. Students present their pictures to the class; the teacher builds upon concepts through a discussion of Earth’s reception of light from the sun, moon, and stars.

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The “Implementation Guide” summarizes the eight monthly themes used to structure social studies instruction across the year. In combination with the “Year at a Glance,” teachers have access to an overview of the logical sequence of social studies instruction. When examining the Year at a Glance, beginning-of-the-year instruction focuses on “People, Past, and Present” before moving into community and city lessons through “Economics.” This instruction continues alongside “Geography” instruction that touches upon city, state, and country topics. The last category of social studies instruction falls under “Citizenship” and rounds out the study of culture and community. Students receive logical instruction for all of these categories first, and then periodic review spread throughout the year.

In a Theme 1 large group activity, students explore commonalities and differences. Teacher guidance suggests: “Talk about being like someone else. Give examples, such as ‘I like purple; clap if you’re like me,’ ‘I like fruit; clap if you’re like me,’ and ‘I like to draw; clap if you’re like me.’” During a whole group read-aloud of Be Who You Are, teachers guide discussion with questions such as “How are you like the children in the book?” and “Sometimes we are different from our friends. These children eat tacos, noodles, and pizza. Which of these foods do you like to eat? How are the foods you like to eat different from what these children like to eat?” Teacher guidance in this theme states: “As children develop and experience more social interactions, they begin to notice differences between people in gender, race, traditions, language, and culture. Research shows that teaching children to respect and appreciate differences early on in their development is key to preventing future bias and intolerance.” During a whole group read-aloud of Be Who You Are, materials guide the teacher: “Ask children to tell how they are like the other children at the table. Prompt them with questions, such as ‘John likes to look at books. Do you like to look at books like John does?’” Suggested guiding questions accompanying the text First Laugh—Welcome, Baby! include “How many of these things do you do with your own families? Who does them in a different way than the people on the card? Tell us how it is different. Let’s think of ways our own families are special.” Teacher guidance for a small group activity in this theme states: “Ask children to draw a square on a piece of paper. Draw a square for children to use as a model or help them with their drawing. Now have children look at the ‘I like to…’ poster and talk about things they like to do. Have children draw a picture inside the square of one thing they like to do.” Teachers then use the drawings to create a class poster, transcribing student descriptions as captions. Students identify commonalities and differences among families during a whole group read-aloud of Alma and How She Got Her Name. The teacher asks guiding questions, such as “How many grandmothers does Alma have?” “Who in her family left the city? Where did the person go?” and “How can we learn about other people?” Theme 1 provides opportunities for students to explore the roles of consumers through dramatic play. Following a whole group read-aloud of I Know Numbers!, students play “store” using a toy cash register, paper money, and items to “sell” and “buy.”

During a small group activity in Theme 2, students connect concepts introduced during a whole group read-aloud of Hey, Wall. Students study photographs of people performing a variety of community roles and discuss their observations. The teacher scaffolds with guiding questions such as “How do you think planting a tree will help make the neighborhood beautiful?” or “How do you think watering plants will help make the neighborhood beautiful?” This theme continues its exploration of community roles and consumerism during a whole group read-aloud of The Muffin Man. The teacher begins, “Today we’re going to think about where we live. We’re going to think about the different stores and buildings in our town.” Teacher guidance states: “Tell children that bakeries are stores that sell bread, cakes, and muffins. Ask if children have a bakery in their town. Then lead them in singing ‘The Muffin Man.’ During extended play, have children draw a picture of themselves in front of a building in their neighborhood to show that they are aware of their own body within their surroundings. Encourage children to draw other buildings in their community to add to their neighborhood map.” Planned opportunities to expand upon the concept of community helpers and their roles are provided in this theme. For example, teacher guidance states: “Have children choose the job of a community helper that they would like to do, then have them draw a picture of that job.” During a Theme 2 small group activity, students are reminded of the class poster “Super Jobs” and the book Thank You, Omu! The teacher presents picture cards depicting various community helpers (e.g., firefighter, doctor, teacher, baker, bus driver, pilot); students describe what they see. The concept of routines is explored in Theme 2 during a whole group read-aloud of Ming Goes to School. Students choose one routine from the story and compare it to similar routines in their own school day. The teacher asks the guiding question “Which activities do you think Ming does every day at school?” During another small group activity in this theme, the teacher says, “Now we are going to sing about things some children do every day at school.” The students are invited to sing and pantomime alternate lyrics to a familiar song with “This Is the Way We Go to School” (e.g., “This is the way we paint at school, paint at school, paint at school. This is the way we paint at school, when we’re in our classroom”). The teacher concludes the activity by asking, “Which of these things do we do in our class every day?” 

Teacher guidance for a Theme 8 large group activity states: “Show the U.S. flag and the flag for your home state. Invite two children to hold the flags. Play lively music and invite everyone to march in a ‘flag parade.’” Following a whole group read-aloud of Kindergarten Countdown, students recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The materials also include a Texas poster for daily use addressing the United States flag and Pledge of Allegiance as well as the Texas state flag and Pledge of Allegiance (along with the state flower, the bluebonnet). World cultures are explored in this theme after a whole group read-aloud of Imagine. Teacher guidance states: “Emphasize the idea that children speak different languages all around the world. Tell children that one day, they may travel to a new place: ‘Learning other languages will make it easier to make new friends!’” The examples provided in this theme support state, country, and global social studies concepts. 

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

During a small group activity in Theme 2, students manipulate clay to recreate items from the story, Biblioburro. The teacher scaffolds with guiding questions, such as “What word names what you made?” Teacher guidance states, “If children can’t answer, say something, such as ‘I see you made a beautiful butterfly.’” Students compare items they might encounter on a walk to school with items from the story. During a large group activity, the teacher encourages students: “Sing (to the tune of ‘London Bridge’): ‘circles, squares, and rectangles/rectangles, rectangles/circles, squares, and rectangles/don’t forget triangles!’” Another large group activity in this theme integrates dance: “Ask a few volunteers to share their motions and have the group guess the job. Sing ‘Old McDonald’ and guide children to use their arms to show the size of each animal. Have children use comparison language like bigger/smaller than.” During a Theme 2 read-aloud of Hey, Wall, students “act out the things they read about: dancing, building a snowman, eating an ice cream cone, and painting.” Teacher guidance suggests: “Have children act out different people and events in Hey, Wall. Have children pretend to draw a sketch for the wall. Have them pretend to be a firefighter putting out a big fire, a barber cutting someone’s hair, and a server in the restaurant filling a customer’s glass with water.” Movement and music are used again in Theme 3 after a whole group read-aloud of Five Senses: “We have been learning about the five senses. Let’s take a few minutes to celebrate with some dancing! Use your sense of hearing to start. Use your sense of touch to wave your scarf and move it fast or slow as you dance to music. When the music stops, freeze. Listen for the new beat and start dancing again. Use your sense of sight to watch out for your friends.” The materials provide opportunities for students to draw as a way to express their personal experiences, thoughts, and ideas. For example, in Theme 2, materials instruct: “Tape a large piece of paper or a poster to the wall and gather drawing tools. Work with children to create a class drawing of a neighborhood using shapes. Prepare children to draw by tracing each shape in the air as you name it: ‘square,’ ‘rectangle,’ ‘circle,’ ‘triangle.’ Help children label the places in the neighborhood.”

The materials provide teacher guidance in planning for process-focused art. For example, in a Theme 6 small group activity, students receive a piece of drawing paper, crayons, and/or colored pencils. Teacher guidance suggests demonstrating how to draw in long, loose lines, using all of the paper, explaining: “First, make a long, loose line all the way across your paper. Next, draw some short lines going up from that line. Now add some flower shapes at the top of each short line. Finally add any colors you want.” During another small group activity in this theme, students think through the steps of building a house: “Ask children to think about what the first step might be in reaching their goal of building a house. ‘Once we have our modeling clay, what’s the first thing we should do?’ Model thinking and choosing the color of your house: ‘First, I’m going to decide which color my house will be.’” The activity concludes with a group discussion about steps students took while building their house. 

The materials embed music and movement through a variety of activities. For example, a Theme 8 small group activity reinforces the concept of “waiting patiently” by inviting students to participate in a “Freeze Dance.” The materials provide a wide selection of songs and music in the form of CDs, lyrics with simple instructions, and suggestions of complimentary props such as rhythm sticks and egg shakers. Dramatic play is integrated into this theme when students use dress-up clothes and props during a small group activity: “Today we talked about imaging something you might want to do or be in the future. Now we’re going to play a game where you dress up as what you want to be.” During a whole group read-aloud of We Have Soup in Theme 8, students discuss the variety of things that can go in soup while sharing their personal experiences. Teacher guidance suggests “Provide paper and drawing or painting materials. Ask children to draw their own recipe, showing which ingredients they will use and the final dish. Invite volunteers to share and explain their recipes with the group.”

Evaluation for 8.4
Materials include technology applications.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Families have access to a portal containing over 30 digital songs, family bulletins, and activities for each theme. The student e-reader portal is accessible through the parent portal and is offered in both English and Spanish. Additionally, the “Little eReaders” are accessible both at school and at home. Each theme includes four stories accessible to students on the digital platform, also available in English and Spanish. Each theme includes two audio and video stories that students can read and view independently. Students have access to these resources from the login screen and can switch between languages during use. The stories and platform are user friendly; through the “Implementation Guide,” teachers have guidance to support student use and access. In this document, there are separate sections describing the Little eReaders, “Song Collection,” and “Family Exchange.” These various digital tools enhance student learning, link to the classroom experience, and include appropriate teacher guidance.  

During a Theme 1 whole group read-aloud of Little Elliot, Big Family, the teacher asks, “Have you ever taken a picture with a lot of people? What do people use to take pictures? Let’s pretend to take a picture with cell phones. Get ready! Click!” Teacher guidance for a large group activity suggests: “Transcribe children’s speech as they talk about how Mouse’s family took turns at the family reunion. Together, visit the author’s website to learn about other Little Elliot books.”

Teacher guidance in Theme 3 supports the use of technology to enhance student learning: “Set aside a specific time to pre-teach new lesson vocabulary to multilingual learners. If possible, teach lesson concepts—‘force,’ ‘push,’ ‘pull’—in children’s native language first. Video clips, interactive tools, text-to-speech, and voice output have also shown to be beneficial tools in teaching science concepts to multilingual learners. Preview digital tools before sharing with children.” Guidance accompanying a whole group read-aloud of Cold, Crunchy, Colorful states “Invite children to talk about what they learned about their five senses. Use digital tools to reinforce learning. Provide time and technology opportunities for children to use and learn about their five senses.” A group discussion about weather in this theme is enhanced by the use of computers. Students share their questions about weather as the teacher transcribes. Transcriptions are converted into digital form and printed for students to share with peers.

Before a whole group read-aloud of A House in the Sky and Other Uncommon Animal Homes in Theme 4, the teacher is encouraged to bookmark “websites about animals” in preparation for an accompanying small group activity. The teacher states: “I will give each of you an animal card. You will think of something you wonder about for that animal. Then we’ll look for an answer together.” Student-generated questions are researched by the teacher, who models navigating the previously bookmarked websites. An extension activity suggests: “Have children think of follow-up questions now that they have answers to a first question. ‘What new things do you wonder?’ For example, if they found out zebras have tails to swat flies, they might wonder if dog tails also swat flies.”

A Theme 7 whole group read-aloud of Lola Plants a Garden provides teacher-student collaboration and a hands-on student experience: “Have children help you do some research! Tell children that later this week, they will start to grow their own plants. Before that, you need to find out the best ways to care for a plant. Ask children to help you do online research to learn how to grow and care for a lima bean plant. Guide children to safely use the digital tools you have available.” Before a large group activity in this theme, the teacher shows students a variety of electronic tools. The teacher asks, “How does your family keep you safe when you use this digital tool?” This group discussion supports students’ understanding of safe technology use. After a whole group read-aloud of Follow That Garbage in Theme 7, the teacher facilitates a group discussion about the importance of a weekly garbage collection schedule and purpose of a landfill. Teacher guidance suggests referring to a list of provided websites to help children learn more about garbage and recycling.

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:

The materials include observational assessment checklists that correlate to the theme and skills taught each week. The observational assessment can be completed weekly for each student. Each form lists the skills to assess that correlate to the skill domains in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. For example, the checklist for Theme 3 reads, “Desarrollo Social: Inicia estrategias de resolución de problemas y busca la ayuda de adultos cuando es necesario. (TX.I.C5, MB).” In the next three columns, a checkmark is placed to indicate student progress. The teacher checks “Aun no,” “A veces,” or “Siempre.” There is also a space for anecdotal notes under “Comentarios.” These observational assessments allow the teacher to measure the weekly targeted skills and determine each child’s growth of age-appropriate school readiness skills. This tool is designed to allow the children to demonstrate their understanding in various ways, including verbal and nonverbal responses. 

The materials include tips and recommendations to support consistent and accurate use of observational assessments. In the “Guía de implementación,” tips are included regarding the times to observe and assess individual children. For example, during “Grupo grande: Hora del circulo,” the materials state, “Las actividades de música y movimiento pueden mostrar la conciencia fonológica, creación de patrones, motricidad gruesa, habilidades de expresión, y más.” The materials also include other times to observe the students, such as storytime, small group, independent centers, lunch, and independent reading. The Guía de implementación also suggests that the teacher make short, evidence-based comments as part of their assessment that focus on what the children can do rather than on what they cannot yet do. The materials state that notes can be taken on the observational assessment form provided, or on sticky notes, or other forms. The observational assessment tools are designed to measure content and process skills outlined in the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines. 

The materials also include explanations for each informal assessment type, which supports the teacher in understanding how to collect student data through these assessment types. Explanations are included for using the observational checklists, making anecdotal comments, pacing observations, and using writing portfolios. For example, the materials explain that on day 5 of each week, the students use response prompts to express their learning for the week through writing, drawing, and storytelling. The work is placed in a folder to be displayed and shared during parent-teacher conferences. 

Portfolios are also an appropriate way to support students in tracking their own progress or growth.; however, the materials make no mention of encouraging students to track their progress other than saying, “Puede usar esta carpeta durante las conferencias de escritura con cada niño o en las reuniones con la familia para celebrar la escritura emergente de los niños en todas las áreas de contenido.”There is no suggestion that students can use these portfolios to track their own development or track student development in areas other than writing.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

 The materials provide an observational assessment checklist that the teacher can use weekly. The teacher uses the data gathered from the checklist to target specific skills based on individual student needs. The “Guia de implementacion enseñanza responsiva” guides the teacher to use the “Habilidades” section in the “Centro de maestro” to find activities for individual and small group instruction. For example, if the students need support in segmenting syllables, the teacher opens the “Habilidades” section, clicks on “Alfabetización>Conciencia fonológica>III.B.5,” and chooses from several activities to reinforce this skill. The use of the observational assessment checklists and the “Habilidades” section provides meaningful information for teachers to use when planning instruction and differentiation. This information also supports teachers in leveraging different activities to respond to student data. Additionally, teachers and administrators can respond to data by accessing related lessons, resources and activities that support specific skills in the “Centro del maestro.” Teachers can print and share their customizable digital planner and seek support for specific instructional needs. Although an option, guidance for administrators to support teachers in analyzing and responding to data is not explicitly provided.  

The information gathered from the diagnostic tools helps the teacher plan and differentiate instructional methods. The materials include a guide that supports the teacher in grouping children and identifying areas of need for the instructional focus. For example, the materials recommend the teacher create learning groups based on the students' level of difficulty and those requiring remediation. The materials also suggest grouping children that work well together in a small group.

The materials include recommendations for differentiation based on the student's developmental level while activating their prior knowledge. The “Tarjeta del maestro” for “Grupo pequeño” offers differentiation strategies for students that range between ages three and five and need additional support. For example, during an activity in Theme 1, the “modificaciones” section guides the teacher to offer support to students with physical and developmental needs who need help distinguishing facial expressions. The materials state, “Apoye a los niños a los que les cuesta trabajo distinguir si las caras son parecidas o diferentes. Haga comentarios para apoyarlos en su pensamiento, como: Estas dos caras tienen el ceño fruncido. Las bocas se ven tristes.” The materials also provide support for students that have difficulty with fine motor skills. Within the same activity, the materials state, “En esta actividad, los niños emparejan caras similares. Para estimular el desarrollo de la motricidad gruesa, invítalos a imitar los movimientos que usted haga. Demuestre un movimiento y, luego, pida a los niños que lo hagan junto con usted al mismo tiempo. Incluya movimientos para los brazos y las manos.” The teacher models the movements, and the students mimic the moves. These supports provide the teacher guidance to respond to individual students’ needs in various domains based on their progress of the learning at hand.

The materials also include instructional strategies to support children who demonstrate a need during whole group instruction. For example, in Theme 3, the teacher leads a whole group lesson about what observations they make with their eyes, such as colors, patterns, words, and numbers. At the end of the lesson, the teacher restates the guiding question, “¿Qué nos dicen nuestros ojos?” The materials provide ways to support or challenge the students based on their responses. For example, if the students need support, the teacher has three options to try. The teacher might say, “¿Nuestros ojos nos cuentan sobre los colores o los olores?,” “Nuestros ojos nos cuentan sobre los co(colores),” or “Nuestros ojos nos cuentan sobre los colores.” If the students need a challenge, the teacher asks the students to apply the learning to the classroom environment. The teacher asks, “¿Qué patrones puedes ver en el salón?”

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

The materials include guidance for assessing students’ skills in authentic situations. For example, in the section “Recursos, Observar, y evaluar” the materials provide a checklist for teachers to use and monitor students' growth. The checklist correlates with the theme and skills taught for the week. The Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines are also located in the checklists for each domain and include routine informal progress monitoring opportunities. There are opportunities to track children’s skills in learning centers or on the playground. For example, in the “Guia de Implementación,” there is guidance provided for the teacher to observe gross motor, fine motor, language, math, social, emotional, creativity, and motivation skills during outside playing time. Observations and interactions with the students are done throughout their everyday activities. These observational checklists provide the teacher with data to track the students’ overall growth. Although the skills assessed each week align with the skills taught, each week’s checklist does not clearly specify the skills that are added or deleted weekly. Therefore, it is challenging for the teacher to track which skills have been assessed or not assessed to systematically and effectively monitor progress. The observational checklists are also organized to observe individual children, making it difficult for a teacher to get an overall picture of how the entire class is progressing. 

The materials provide teacher guidance for tracking weekly progress in an ongoing and observational manner that shows a picture of growth over time. The Guía de Implementación outlines times where teachers can document progress throughout the day. Teachers can observe individual student progress during large group time, small group activities, mealtime, outdoor time, and independent reading. For example, the section “Grupo grande: Hora del círculo” states, “Las actividades de música y movimiento pueden mostrar la conciencia fonológica, creación de patrones, motricidad gruesa, habilidades de expresión y más.” Although monitoring and recording student progress through daily observations is appropriate for the age and content skill development, the materials do not provide specific skill checkpoints within the observational checklists for the teacher to systematically and accurately monitor student progress.

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to:

Throughout the curriculum, there are various activities that provide support for students who have mastered the content or need additional support. For example, the “tarjetas de actividad” found throughout the materials provide small group activities to support learners at different educational levels. Each card has an “apoyo” section for students who may need more support and an“estimule” section for students who have mastered the objective. For example, during a small group activity in Theme 1, the teacher guides the students to construct tall and short towers with different size cubes and compare the sizes of their towers. For those students who struggle with short and tall concepts, the “apoye” section guides the teacher to help the child place two cubes next to each other with the edge of the cube in the same position. The teacher explains that the taller cube is also said to be longer. The other cube is shorter or lower. The “estimule” section guides the teacher to have students order other objects from the shortest to the tallest. The “apoye” and “estimule” sections are examples of how the materials include guidance for differentiating support for children who struggle to master the content and challenging those who master the content

The materials include activities that allow all children to explore and apply new learning in a variety of ways. For example, in Theme 2 (“Nuestra comunidad”), the teacher encourages the students to act as community helpers during a small group activity. This lesson also reinforces exploration by suggesting an activity in the “Centros Independientes.” The teacher asks the students to dress like “la persona que ayuda en tu comunidad que más te guste.” The students dress up as their favorite neighborhood helpers. This activity draws on the students’ own interests and possibly introduces them to community helpers they may not have been exposed to. These types of activities reinforce the concepts for students at all levels of learning. 

The materials also provide extension activities for teachers. For example, in Theme 3, “Grupo Pequeño,” the materials provide students with an extension activity. The teacher guides the students to line up and pretend to be rabbits having a parade. They identify their positions in the line using ordinal terms. The materials encourage the teacher to have students use the ordinal terms during storytime as well. In addition to these kinds of extensions, the materials also offer additional extension ideas on the back of the small group “Tarjeta del maestro.” For example, in Theme 4 (“Descubre los animales”), the modifications section guides the teacher to extend the small group activity about animals to a large group or outdoor space where the children can pretend to move like animals. These activities provide enrichment opportunities for all children while at the same time reinforcing those students that need additional practice with the theme’s concepts. 

In addition to the support and extensions in the small group activities, the materials also provide support and challenge stems/questions during whole group instruction. For example, during a read-aloud about animal babies in Theme 4, the teacher asks the students how people help their babies live, learn, and grow. The “Apoye” section prompts the teacher to shorten the question for students who struggle and ask, “¿Cómo ayudan las personas a sus bebés a crecer?” The teacher asks the “estimule” question, “¿Creen que es fácil o difícil ayudar a un bebé a aprender, vivir y crecer? ¿Por qué?” to challenge students. This challenge question requires students to think beyond the text and explain why they responded the way they did. The materials also provide an extension activity. The teacher invites the students to draw and write a number story about animal families and share their work. These activities support students who need additional assistance, challenge students who are ready for the next step, and provide extensions for continuous learning. 

In Theme 8, the teacher extends counting and measurement to small groups and center time after a whole group lesson. During small groups, the teacher guides the students to count manipulatives. The students count backward as they remove each manipulative one by one from the group. During center time, the students count in different scenarios with guidance from the teacher. For example, the students create a bridge using pattern blocks. The children count how many pattern blocks they used. This extension into small groups and centers creates opportunities for students to explore and apply learning in a variety of ways to maximize their learning potential.

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 include instructional approaches to engage students in the mastery of the content. For every read aloud, questions are provided for the teacher to support the students in meeting the lesson’s objectives while reinforcing additional skills. For example, during Theme 1, the teacher reads El pequeño Elliot y su gran familia. The teacher states the guiding question, “¿Quién va a la reunión familiar de Ratoncito?” As the teacher reads, the children discuss whom they see at the family reunion. The materials guide the teacher to check for understanding and comprehension by focusing on the family members mentioned in the story. This focus directly supports the guiding question. Then during the writing center, the students draw and discuss their own family picture. The questioning strategies and extensions into centers support the students in the mastery of the content.

Every theme is divided into large group, small group, and centers for every lesson in every subject to support flexible groupings. For example, the “Guía de maestro” serves as a highlight of all the day’s activities. For example, the whole group section for a day in Theme 3 provides instructions for the teacher to use circle time to practice measurement. The teacher introduces the words “subibaja and pesar” (seesaw and weight). The teacher then starts the read-aloud by asking, “¿Qué animales usan el subibaja?” The lesson objective from the large group is broken down into small group activities. The teacher has the opportunity to incorporate individual exploration and one-to-one attention for students. For the small group lesson, the teacher collects objects from around the classroom for the students to compare. The students compare the objects by characteristics such as size and weight. The students also explore these concepts during independent center time. The materials provide the teacher with possible questions to guide student learning during centers. During the “Biblioteca y centro de escucha,” the teacher asks, “¿Hay algo muy pesado en el cuento? ¿Qué es?” During the “Centro de dramatización y aprendizaje,” the teacher asks, “¿Puedes actuar como si jugaras en un subibaja?” These group settings support the teacher in providing students with new information, the practice of concepts and skills, and ways to continue exploring concepts. 

The materials support the use of multimodal instructional strategies to support learning. For example, during a small group activity in Theme 1, the teacher guides the students in counting activities. The teacher provides students with counters and asks them for a certain number of counters. The students count and touch each counter as they slide the specified number of counters towards the teacher. The back of the activity card suggests adding a gross motor component to the game by having children hop to represent each number counted. The use of manipulatives (counters) and adding movement in this activity supports students in understanding one-on-one correspondence.

The materials support collaborative practice. For example, in Theme 3, the teacher challenges the students to build a weather machine. The teacher states, “¿Puedes inventar una máquina del tiempo? ¿Qué materiales vas a usar?” The children discuss with one another and work together to determine the materials they will use to create the weather machine. These activities not only support collaborative practice, but provide an engaging way for students to continue to learn about and explore concepts.

The materials also provide additional types of practice and structures to support effective implementation. For example, in theme 5, during “Hora de círcula,” the teacher reviews the letter names and sounds for Bb, Cc, Dd, and Jj. Afterward, the teacher starts storytime and reads Felices en nuestra piel. The teacher introduces the new concept of learning about skin. During the read-aloud, the teacher points out letter names. The students talk and answer questions during the read aloud. In a small group on the same day, the teacher leads the students in an activity to practice the letter names and sounds reviewed during circle time. The teacher places the letters in a bag, and the students take turns sticking their hand in the bag to pull out a letter. The students name the letter and sound, then point to the letter on a sheet of paper. In addition, the independent centers provide the students with opportunities to explore the concepts/skills on their own in a variety of ways. For example, in the library and listening center, the students continue their own conversations about people and their skin as they engage with books. For the ABC center, the materials guide the teacher to encourage students to write the letters from circle time and the small group lesson. The structure for each section of the day supports teachers in providing direct instruction with guidance and 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:

In Theme 4, the teacher leads a small group lesson where students count animals. The “Tarjeta del Maestro” provides recommendations to differentiate communication with students. The modifications guide the teacher to review the names of the animals presented and the names of the numbers from one to five before playing the game. The materials suggest that the students can also say the numbers in their primary language when counting the animals. Although this activity allows students to use their primary language to develop counting skills, the intent is not to develop English proficiency but to allow the student to demonstrate understanding and application of the learning. 

In another small group activity, the teacher uses the weekly vocabulary cards to ask students if they recognize the animals from the book they read (Bebé a bordo). The teacher shows the students images of animal families and asks questions about animal families. The “Modificaciones: Alumnos multilingües'' section of the small group activity card guides the teacher to use a sentence stem [“El colimbo lleva a sus bebé sobre la espalda para mantenerlo a s____(salvo).”] as a strategy to help students form their responses. The main purpose of providing a sentence stem is to support those students learning Spanish as a second language. Even though all small group activity cards have the “Modificaciones: Alumnos multilingües,” the main goal of the strategies is to include all students in the learning no matter what their language. The intent is still to develop the students’ skills through the Spanish language.

In Theme 5, the materials include resources that support the teacher in leveraging the childrens’ home language. For example, the “Recursos” section has a list of dialects that provide the teacher with different vocabulary that children from different Latin American countries may use to identify the same thing. For example, a T-shirt may be called a “camiseta (general)”; however, in other countries it may be called a “remera” in Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay; a “polera” in Chile; “playera” in Guatemala; and a “franela” in Venezuela. This resource specifically supports the teacher in developing students’ Spanish proficiency, which is the intent of the Spanish materials. 

In Theme 8, the materials guide the teacher to recognize that the children may exhibit different proficiency levels. For example, within a math lesson, the materials state that multilingual students may have difficulty counting numbers backward. Not only do they have to remember the names of the numbers, but they also have to remember the reverse order. Although there is mention of proficiency levels, the reference is to those students learning Spanish as a second language. In another lesson, the materials guide the teacher to remind children that they can use their facial expressions and body language to communicate with someone who does not speak the same language. Even though this type of strategy supports students no matter what language they speak, the lessons are focused on helping students meet grade-level expectations in Spanish.

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The “PreK On My Way Year at a Glance” provides a high-level summary of skill coverage across the year and how the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines outcomes are introduced, reviewed, and practiced across themes. The materials include 32 weeks of instruction and a Year at a Glance tool. These documents support teachers in incorporating specific learning targets into a full year of instruction. For example, the following Texas Prekindergarten Guideline is identified as a learning target in Themes 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 8: “Child shows understanding by responding appropriately. (II.A.1)” 

Targeted guidelines in each theme are consistently reinforced in subsequent themes, and teacher guidance accompanying each lesson includes suggested instructional time. For example, a large group lesson on the five senses suggests allowing for 20 minutes of instruction. Related small group activities connect concepts from the large group activity; materials suggest guiding questions to support students during center time exploration. Examples include asking students what they feel when they touch a surface or what they see in the classroom. Teacher guidance is not provided for vertical alignment to build upon instruction from year to year. If the curriculum were used more than one year at a time, content and instruction would repeat for returning students. While the program may be somewhat vertically aligned, there is no section in the “Implementation Guide” or “Program Guide” detailing this connection.

During a Theme 3 whole group read-aloud, students are introduced to compound words: “‘Thunderstorm’ is a special kind of word called a ‘compound word.’ What two words do you hear in the word ‘thunderstorm?’” Students explore the concept further through a “Weather-Word Picture Clues” game where they are encouraged to think of additional weather-related compound words. Day 3 of this theme revisits the concept during a whole group read-aloud: “What two words do you hear in the word ‘rainbow’? Who remembers what this kind of word is called? ‘Sunlight’ is a compound word, too. What two words do you hear in ‘sunlight?’”

In addition to the Year at a Glance, the materials include a “Week at a Glance” tool throughout all themes, specifying daily learning goals within each domain (Language, Literacy, and Math). For example, teacher guidance for a Theme 5 large group activity states: “In this lesson, you will use circle time to build background, engage children with a song, and introduce vocabulary (protects, sends). Begin story time by introducing the book and asking, ‘What body parts help us move?’ Read for enjoyment and entertainment, noticing vocabulary in context. Share the daily writing option.” This theme provides opportunities for review and practice of the Science domain: “Talk with children about parts of their bodies. Encourage different students to name parts they know, such as arms, legs, and head.” Also: “Invite children to sing ‘If You're Happy and You Know It.’ Include directions with body parts, such as ‘stomp your feet,’ ‘nod your head,’ and ‘clap your hands.’”

Recommended center activities also include some daily opportunities for child-led, play-based review and skills practice. For example, suggested center materials in Theme 6 include kitchen sets, play food, cleaning supplies, play money, and a cash register (“Pretend and Learn” center) and crayons, pencils, paper, and markers (“Writer’s Corner”). 

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

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

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

Materials include a correlation document with the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines along with a “Year at a Glance” tool. The scope and sequence outlines weekly activities and corresponding guidelines, with four to eight activities or links for each guideline. Materials include a variety of learning experiences in numerous group settings including large group, small group, and center-based activities. All guidelines are addressed within the materials, and teachers can use the online “Teacher Hub” to search the resources by skill. However, there is no teacher guidance supporting connections to standards in kindergarten and beyond. There is some evidence suggesting how the skills build and connect within the different thematic units, but there is no explanation connecting the materials to the next year’s set of standards.

The materials provide three documents supporting implementation of the curriculum: a “Program Guide,” an “Implementation Guide,” and a “Program Walkthrough.” The Implementation Guide includes the following sections: Program Overview, Research Foundations, Component Walk-Through, Assessment Guidance, Instructional Best Practices, Classroom Environment, Year at a Glance, Supporting Each Child, Glossary of PK Terms, and a Bibliography. The Program Guide outlines all aspects of the curriculum, highlighting unique features of each portion of the instructional materials. Learning materials indicated in the guide include but are not limited to pattern blocks, two-color counters, connecting cubes, jumbo tweezers, magnifiers, geoboards, attribute buttons, magnetic letters and numbers, English and Spanish alphabet cards, posters, big books, puppets, and “equity sticks.” 

Each week includes an “At a Glance” overview indicating a high-level overview of the guidelines, suggestions for centers, and other materials. Each day includes a “Teaching Guide,” providing teachers an overview of daily lessons along with a list of required materials. An entire instructional year is represented in the materials, with eight themes covering four weeks each. Each week encompasses five days of instruction for a total of 160 days of instructional materials, allowing for some flexibility in implementation and pacing of themes. Each theme presents four topics over the course of four weeks. For example, the topics for Theme 3 are “5 Senses,” “Weather,” “Measure It!” and “Make It Move.” The topics for Theme 7 are “Day and Night,” “Seasons,” “Caring For Plants,” and “Protect The Earth.” Themes are color-coded on the digital materials only; print materials are clearly labeled.

These resources help support the teacher in implementation, but there is little guidance to help administrators support teachers in implementing the materials as intended. Administrators can use the Implementation Guide in the same way a teacher can, but there is no section in the guide or on the online portal providing additional resources, permissions, or guidance specifically intended for administrator tasks. The “Instructional Routines” section of the Implementation Guide provides a two-page overview of the different aspects of the program (Hand Signal Strategy Cards, Vocabulary Cards, Equity Sticks, Independent Centers, etc.) but this does not vary at all from a support to help teachers implement the materials as intended.

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 and translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include recommendations for introducing skills and content in a progression that follows the learning continuum. For example, a multi-page PDF outlining alphabet letter formation includes “number of strokes” and a short rhyme to recite with each letter. The materials do not provide guidance regarding the developmental progression of skills or how to adapt the sequence of themes to account for varied classroom needs and dynamics. The materials include sufficient content to provide a full day of instruction and suggest flexible implementation options and recommended pacing in the “Implementation Guide.” The materials provide a variety of large and small group activities as well as guiding questions for teachers to incorporate throughout the day. A daily lesson planning template is provided for teachers; it includes four sections: “Circle Time,” “Story Time,” “Small Group,” and “Centers.” The template is completely blank for the teacher to fill in from scratch if desired. In addition, the interactive lesson planner enables teachers to digitally alter existing lesson plans and details. Teacher guidance for large and small group activities throughout all themes includes scaffolding suggestions for three- and five-year-olds as well as for students with varying developmental needs and multilingual learners. Information included in the information guide supports teachers in identifying and understanding the developmental progression of content. The materials do not offer support to allow Local Education Authorities (LEAs) to easily use the materials in different programs.

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 and translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include a “Family Connection” section with weekly parent resources to enhance at home-learning for each theme. “Family Bulletins” (in English and Spanish) are sent home with students and provide information, questions, and conversation starters related to classroom activities. “Chat bands” are placed on student wrists at the end of each day to encourage conversations with parents. For example: “How do we measure ‘how big,’ ‘how much,’ or ‘how many?’” and “Ask your child about their friends at school. What makes them friends? How is your child a good friend to them? Talk about the ways you are a good friend to your friends. Have your child draw a picture of themselves with their friends. Ask what your child has in common with these friends and what makes each friend unique.” The materials include online access to interactive resources through the “Pre-K On My Way Family Engage” site. On this site, there are ebooks and songs to be shared by families and students at home.

Each “Week at a Glance” throughout themes includes a “Family Engagement” section providing available resources to share with families. For example, in Theme 1: “Invite families to reinforce this week’s learning by talking about the feelings characters have in a TV show or movie! Share these family resources: ‘1.1 Family Bulletin,’ ‘1.1 Family Activities,’ and ‘1.1 Chat Bands.’” Tips supporting the development of relationships with families are incorporated into teacher guidance throughout themes: “Each family is unique and consists of different members. Families can build a sense of belonging and sense of security. One of the guiding principles for school readiness is that learning occurs within the context of relationships, both at home and school. These interactions are essential to children’s learning.” 

“The Family Exchange” in Theme 3 includes digital versions of theme-related songs, including “The Senses,” “Wiggle Jiggle,” (English), “Mira el clima,” and “Las dos vacas” (Spanish). This resource also includes a link to “Little eReaders,” providing students and families access to digital stories accompanying each theme. The family activities for Theme 3 range from exploring senses using items around the house to pointing out measurement items while cooking and shopping. Each activity specifies typical household items and requires minimal preparation on the part of the family. For example, in this theme, students are investigating their senses, the weather, measurement, and movement. A corresponding family activity suggests: “Put an item in a brown paper bag: a cotton ball, a carrot slice, or a scented crayon. Ask your child to use their senses to guess what object it is. What does this feel like? Smell like? Have your child find objects to play the game with you.” A “Family Bulletin” in this theme extends this exploration by encouraging families to share Little eReaders fiction and nonfiction books about investigation: Danny and the Dinosaur; Is It a Dinosaur?; Sylvester and the Magic Pebble; and Rock Collecting.

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 and translated Spanish materials.

Evidence includes but is not limited to: 

The materials include clear, concise tables, charts, and visuals. Days of the week are color-coded: Monday/orange, Tuesday/lime green, Wednesday/blue, Thursday/purple, and Friday/teal. “Large Group Cards” are organized by background color: pink/”Circle Time” and blue/“Story Time.” This color-coding system is consistent throughout all themes. Alphabet cards display the letter only on the front and an authentic photo of a corresponding object and word on the back. For example, the letter A card includes a photograph of an apple above a dark-colored box with Apple in white font. Theme 2 materials include but are not limited to vocabulary/alphabet/number/strategy cards, posters, and prompt response worksheets. 

All student-facing materials include limited text and are visually stimulating without being distracting. For example, a poster titled “Our School Rules” utilizes age-appropriate photographs with simple text. Number cards include a variety of number representations ranging from fingers to dots/lines arranged in an array of formats. Each number card has an appropriate amount of white space and encourages student engagement. Student prompt response worksheets include a large area of open white space for students to record their thoughts. Teacher-facing large group and activity cards in Theme 3 are easy to read with appropriate amounts of white space. The materials include boxes to break up the sections of each lesson. “Teacher Tips” on the bottom of each Large Group Card provide support strategies for various learners, including dual language students.