Program Information
- Copyright Type
- Proprietary
SLAR
Grade 5Publisher: Savvas Learning
Copyright: 2020
The quality review is the result of extensive evidence gathering and analysis by Texas educators of how well instructional materials satisfy the criteria for quality in the subject-specific rubric. Follow the links below to view the scores and read the evidence used to determine quality.
Section 1. Spanish Language Arts and Reading Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS) Alignment
Grade |
TEKS Student % |
TEKS Teacher % |
ELPS Student % |
ELPS Teacher % |
Grade 3 |
100.00% |
100.00% |
N/A |
N/A |
Grade 4 |
100.00% |
100.00% |
N/A |
N/A |
Grade 5 |
100.00% |
100.00% |
N/A |
N/A |
Section 2. Texts
Section 3. Literacy Practices and Text Interactions
Section 4. Developing and Sustaining Foundational Literacy Skills
Section 5. Progress Monitoring
Section 6. Supports for All Learners
Section 7. Implementation
Section 8. Bilingual Program Model Considerations
Section 9. Additional Information
Grade | TEKS Student % | TEKS Teacher % | ELPS Student % | ELPS Teacher % |
---|---|---|---|---|
Grade 5 | 100% | 100% | N/A | N/A |
The materials provide a wide variety and range of high-quality literary and informational texts that are appropriately challenging for the grade level. The texts are well crafted and cover a wide range of student interests. The diverse texts include traditional, contemporary, and classical texts and represent expert writing across various disciplines.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
In every weekly plan, the materials provide leveled readers. The leveled readers connect to the themes and genres for each unit. If the teacher needs access to a leveled text that is either above or below the levels provided for that unit, the teacher has complete online access to the “Leveled Reader Library” in addition to the “Leveled Reader App.” The latter provides teachers with access to over 4,500 additional leveled readers and texts. This app helps teachers to search for texts based on student interests, maximizing student engagement in reading.
In every unit, the materials provide a “Book Club” or “Club del Libro." The book club plan provides students with suggested titles to choose from, including literary and nonfiction texts. The suggested titles allow students to read and discuss books based on their groups’ interests. The texts cover a wide range of student interests about sports, natural disasters, weather, natural resources, animals, school, and friendships.
The materials provide another source of well-crafted texts in the Mentor Stacks or “Textos mentores.” The students are presented with short passages from various different texts of the same genre in these mini-selections. These texts provide quality content, language, and writing produced by experts. The students go over these mentor texts and the work of experts in order to understand the craft of the author; then, they apply what they learn to their own writing.
The materials include multicultural texts with which students can identify. The texts help students see themselves and their family structures reflected. Multiple texts and other print resources included in the materials are relevant to children's linguistic and cultural backgrounds, including stories and information about cultures, races, religions, and traditions. Unit 1, “Viajes," includes the text, El camino del hijo del papel. This nonfiction text tells the story of a 12-year-old immigrant boy and his journey to California from China. This text allows students to explore how people of different races have endured some of the same experiences, using the central theme of immigration.
The materials provide informational texts of high quality. The materials include short passages or excerpts that provide information that further the student's understanding of a particular topic. Unit 2, “Observaciones,” includes the text, Un lugar para las ranas. This selection contains excerpts providing specific information about the life of different types of frogs. For example, the excerpts include La vida de una rana (about the different stages in the life of a frog), La rana de patas rojas de California (explaining how this type of frogs came into existence), La rana arlequín (talking about this specific type of frog), and so on.
Unit 4, “La Libertad," includes the informational text La Declaración de Derechos. This text deepens student understanding about the constitution and the rights it provides to the citizens of the United States, “El propósito para leer esta selección es aprender sobre la constitución, la declaración de derechos, y las libertades que tienen las ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos, hoy en dia.” Unit 5, “Sistemas,” includes a nonfiction text, El ciclo del agua en la tierra. This text deepens the understanding of the water cycle.
The materials include fictional stories rich in content and language. Unit 3, “Reflejos,” includes the text, Con cariño, Amalia, a story written by well-known Latina author, Alma Flor Ada. This story is about Martha and her best friend, Amalia, who is moving far away. Amalia feels sad and angry. However, even though life seems unfair, her grandmother's wise, caring words help her feel a little better. Amalia enjoys the time she spends with her grandmother: cooking, listening to music, and hearing stories about her family. Students can connect to the feelings and events that Amalia experiences in this story. This story provides a mirror for many Latino students. They can see their lives reflected in the characters of this story.
The materials include appropriately challenging texts at an appropriate level of complexity to support fifth-grade students. The materials provide teachers with a “Text Complexity Chart” that explains the quantitative and qualitative measures for the core lesson, Tier 1 instruction, and central texts. The materials use the Lexile leveling system to describe the complexity of read-aloud texts, independent reading texts, guided reading texts, mentor texts, book club texts, and leveled nonfiction passages used for inquiry and research.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials provide a Lexile level for all texts included in the materials. As the year progresses, the texts provided for each unit grow in complexity according to Lexile Levels. The materials include a chart for teachers that provides the reading level in several measures (Lexile level, DRA level, guided reading level) for all texts that are used throughout the various components of the lesson cycle (guided reading, whole group, independent reading, book club, mentor texts, research). For example, the Unit 2 Leveled Readers include the text “Un hogar para una gallina,” with a Lexile level of 560, EDL level 24, guided reading level L, and a 1,559-word count.
The materials provide “Text Complexity Charts” for the central texts from each unit. The charts provide the quantitative and qualitative measures as well as reader and task considerations. Quantitative measures include Lexile level, average sentence length, word frequency, and word count. Qualitative measures include levels of meaning/purpose, text structure, language conventionality, and knowledge demands. Reader and task considerations are included for students on grade level, students who may need intervention, and English language learners.
Unit 1 includes the text “de Vida en la Tierra y más allá,” with a Lexile level of 850L and a 2,803-word count. The quantitative measures place this text in the Grade 4–5 complexity band. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with domain-specific vocabulary and with understanding Mars exploration. Although the subject matter is likely unfamiliar to students, the scientist’s work is clearly described and easy to follow. For English Learners, the “Reader and Task Considerations” suggest that teachers teach the domain-specific vocabulary and work with students to preview the text to determine the meaning of the words. For students that may struggle understanding Mars exploration, the chart suggests that teachers use a web diagram to determine and review what students know about Mars exploration.
Unit 3 includes the text “Una mascota para Calvin,” with a Lexile level of 910L and a 2,066-word count. The quantitative measures suggest that this text is in the Grade 4–5 complexity band. In this realistic fiction story, Calvin feels like he is the only fourth grader who does not own a pet. The qualitative measures suggest that students might need additional support with ellipses and dashes and understanding pet care. For English Learners, the “Reader and Task Considerations” suggest that teachers use examples from the text to explain that ellipses are used to omit words or indicate a pause. The chart suggests that teachers draw a web diagram with the word “pets” in the center, then ask students what they know about taking care of pets to build understanding.
Unit 5 includes the text “Las aventuras de una gota de agua,” with a Lexile of 930L and a word count of 2,142. The quantitative measures place this text in the grade 4–5 complexity band. This fictional story is about a water droplet that tells its adventurous journey around the water cycle. The story is told in the first person as the main character, the water droplet, narrates how it feels from its perspective traveling all over oceans, rivers, caves, etc. The qualitative measures suggest that students may need additional support with the text structure. It can be difficult to predict what is happening next in the story. Also, students can have difficulties with the structure of some of the sentences because the text contains a large number of complex sentences that include parenthetical remarks, annotations, explanations, and lists.
The materials include a variety of text types and genres across content areas that meet the TEKS requirements for each grade level. The materials include literary texts, such as realistic fiction, historical fiction, science fiction, short stories, poetry, and drama. The materials include informational texts, such as expository, argumentative, persuasive, and procedural. The materials contain a variety of print and graphical features. The materials include opportunities for students to recognize and analyze the characteristics of multimodal and digital texts.
Examples of literary texts outlined by TEKS for fifth grade, include but are not limited to:
Examples of informational texts that are connected to science and social studies topics outlined by the TEKS for fifth grade, include but are not limited to:
The materials provide students with multiple opportunities to interact with graphical features during the lesson’s section, “Interacción con las Fuentes.” Examples of print and graphical features include but are not limited to:
In Unit 1, the materials provide a timeline, “Inmigración y expansión en los Estados Unidos," for students to inquire into what motivates people to leave a place they call home. Students interact with the timeline provided in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante.” Students use the timeline to discuss how immigration has changed over time. Additionally, in Unit 1, the materials provide teacher guidance for activities to strengthen student understanding of using text features to comprehend information in the text. The teacher guides students through a scavenger hunt of graphic features. Students are told to underline those parts of the text that were more easily understood due to the text elements related to them. Students fill out a table with that evidence in order to analyze how these text elements help them understand the passages where they are present, “Usa las partes subrayadas para completar la tabla. Luego, analiza el efecto de los elementos del texto.”
In Unit 3, “Reflejos,” the materials guide students to use an infographic, “¿Cuántas MASCOTAS?” as they explore the question, “¿Cuáles son algunas maneras en que las personas pueden alcanzar una meta?” Students read over the infographic in the “Libro Interactivo del Estudiante,” to discuss what the infographic teaches them about pets in the United States.
In Unit 5, the materials include the infographic, “¿Qué hacen los geologos?” The teacher guides the students to the infographic in the “Libro Interactivo del Estudiante” to discuss the different ways that geologists study rocks. This infographic includes various photographs of different types of rocks and captions that explain the work of geologists. Additionally, Unit 5 includes the text, “El ciclo de agua de la tierra.” This text includes headings, subheadings, photographs, captions, and diagrams.
The materials provide opportunities for students to recognize and analyze the characteristics of multimodal and digital texts. All materials are available in the MiVisión online platform. Every unit in the materials is presented in a digital format. Students can read, listen to the story, or both. The digital version of the materials offers students the possibility of taking online assessments, watching videos, and doing activities related to the lessons’ content.
The materials require students to practice careful reading to provide text evidence to support answers, claims, and inferences. Across texts of varying genres, students make text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-world connections. Additionally, the questions in the materials are text-dependent and look at complex ideas. Questions and tasks support students in building conceptual knowledge and making connections related to the themes and big ideas. In addition, the materials integrate multiple standards within and throughout the lessons.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials use a reading workshop structure to facilitate the instruction of six-week, multi-genre units. Although various genres are addressed in each unit, there is a focus or a “Spotlight Genre” that is the unit’s main focus. The first three weeks of the unit are dedicated to in-depth teaching of the elements and reading skills required for students to understand the focus genre. The next two weeks of the unit are a multi-genre unit in which multiple standards are addressed. Each unit has a theme and an essential question. Each unit starts with the “Essential Question,” and, as the weeks progress, students reflect and respond to the “Weekly Question” that connects to the essential question. Through questioning, the knowledge around the unit theme and essential question builds, culminating in a research and inquiry project at the end of the unit, Week 6. Through collaboration, students work together to solve a real-world problem connected to the unit theme and essential question. The inquiry project embeds the unit theme, essential question, and multiple TEKS in a creative, rigorous, and authentic way.
In Unit 1, the goal of the unit theme is to determine how journeys can change us, “Colaborar con los otros para determinar cómo nos cambian los viajes.” The Essential Question for the unit is: “¿Cómo nos cambian los viajes?” In the unit, students answer five weekly questions, “Pregunta de la semana,” that help build an understanding of the theme and the essential question. In Week 1, students answer: “¿Cómo nos cambian los viajes?” In Week 2, students answer: “¿Qué pueden descubrir los científicos viajando a lugares lejanos?” In Week 3 of Unit 1, students answer: “¿Qué puede aprender las personas viajando a tierras desconocidas?” In Week 4, students answer: “¿Qué motivos incitan a las personas a viajar?” and in Week 5 students answer: “¿Cómo cambian los lugares nuevos la manera en que una persona ve el mundo?” Each week, these questions are accompanied by pictures, a variety of texts, questions to guide a group discussion, and a task related to the question. In Week 5, students explore the focus question: “How can new places change the way a person sees the world?” Students read the text, “Un viaje en pinturas," study the images, and discuss how travel affects people in different ways. As they read the diagram, the materials provide the following questions to guide the discussion: “¿Qué imágenes muestran ubicaciones inusuales o peligrosas? Por qué creen que los viajantes eligen estas ubicaciones ¿Que piensan que aprenden de su visita? ¿Por qué creen que es importante visitar lugares nuevos?” The guiding questions provided by the materials are well-crafted. Through discussion, they lead students to new insights about the unit theme of environments.
The questions and tasks throughout the units support students drawing on textual evidence to support their learning of explicit facts and inferences in a text. In the Unit 2 section “Conferenciar," teachers ask questions that help them determine whether students can apply the skill being taught to their own text. During independent reading, teachers have a one-to-one conference with students and ask the following questions connected to the skill of evaluating the importance of the details to the author’s purpose in order to help understand the text: “¿Dónde ven una idea principal apoyada por detalles? ¿Qué detalles están resaltados en gráficas, diagramas, dibujos u otras imágenes?” Students provide text evidence when they respond to the questions.
In Unit 3, during the “Model and Practice” section of the mini-lesson, the materials provide guiding questions to reflect on the current text being read, the unit theme, and the essential question, “¿Qué podemos aprender estudiando los animales en su hábitat natural?” Students read the text, “Las palabras de Theodore Roosevelt.” After reading an excerpt from President Roosevelt’s speech, students then discuss how he played a role in protecting and preserving natural resources during his term. The teacher asks the following questions to guide students to connect the knowledge to their own experiences, “Piensa en un paisaje natural que hayas observado. ¿Cómo era? ¿Qué características importantes tenía?” Students use evidence from the text to respond to the weekly question and support their opinion.
In Unit 3, the section “Lectura Atenta" provides guiding questions in the sidebar of the Teacher’s Edition that integrate the standards. Teachers use these questions to guide students to analyze important details within the text to infer the theme. During the shared read of the story, “La vida y el arte,” the teacher reminds students that, as they read, they need to pay close attention to important details to help them see new themes emerge. For example, students answer the question, “¿Cómo se relaciona el significado de la Casa Roble con el tema del cuento?” Students must provide evidence from the text that might suggest a possible theme in the story.
In the Unit 5 section “Evaluación y Diferenciación," the materials guide teachers to choose texts that meet the needs of the varying reading levels and instructional needs of small groups. The materials provide guiding questions for small group lessons that help students work on the various fifth-grade standards. Each unit focuses on different skills, guided by the genre focus of that unit. Unit 5 small group lesson options include the following: “identifying an informational text, developing vocabulary, analyzing the text features, making inferences, comparing across texts, and word study.” The materials provide guiding questions for the teacher to use to teach each different skill. For example, to work on making connections and comparing across texts, the materials provide the following question: “¿En qué se diferencia este texto de otros que leyeron esta semana? ¿Qué conexiones pueden hacer entre el texto y sus experiencias personales? ¿Cómo los ayudan las conexiones que hicieron a entender el texto?”
The materials contain questions and tasks designed to support student analysis of the literary and textual elements of a text to develop deep understandings of text and apply the knowledge to their writing. The materials contain a variety of tasks and questions where students can analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. Students make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose and craft and analyze literary choices to understand the text.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
During the shared reading lesson in every unit, the materials include a section, “Leer como un escritor” (Read Like a Writer). This section provides instructional support for rereading every text to make inferences and draw conclusions about the author's purpose, craft, and structure. This section provides guidance for the teacher to ask discussion questions that guide students to analyze the author’s craft and develop the skills to read like a writer. Additionally, the materials provide teachers with the excerpt from a mentor text for teachers to display for analysis and discussion.
In Unit 1, during the shared reading of the poem “Caracola,” the materials provide instructions for teachers to pause, draw conclusions, and analyze the author's craft. In the section “Leer como un escritor,” the materials guide students to develop an understanding of how authors choose to use figurative language to create mental images for readers as they read. The teacher pauses and asks the student to examine the poem to identify the lines that cause them to create mental images. The teacher asks the students to look at the following line of the poem, “Mi corazón se llena de agua” and asks, “¿Qué sentimientos se transmiten con leer estas líneas? ¿Qué quiere decir el poeta con esta metáfora?” The students use the guiding questions to draw conclusions about the author’s use of figurative language to create imagery. The materials provide an exemplar student response to help teachers guide the discussion.
Additionally, every unit contains a “Reading and Writing Bridge." The Reading and Writing Bridge offers teaching points to help students make meaningful connections, bringing together and illustrating the union between reading and writing. The pillars of the Reading and Writing Bridge are “Read Like a Writer” and “Write for a Reader.” In this section and the “Writer’s Workshop” section, students apply what they have learned about the genre through their reading workshop lessons to their own writing.
In Unit 2, in the reading and writing workshop bridge section, “Escribir para un lector,” students learn that, when authors write, they keep their purpose for writing in mind and make sure that their word choices and details support their purpose. In the “Model and Practice” section of the lesson, the teacher explains how students might make their purposes clear in their writing. The teacher shows students how to use this strategy and provides an example through a mentor text, “Un lugar para las ranas.” Students make connections to apply this technique to their writing, “Pida a los estudiantes que usen elementos gráficos en sus artículos durante el Taller de escritura.” During writing conferences, the teacher differentiates instruction by providing more modeling, practice, and guidance to those who may need it, “Durante las conferencias, apoye la escritura de los estudiantes ayudándolos a encontrar oportunidades para incluir, significativamente, elementos gráficos en su escritura.”
In every unit, the materials include questions that can be answered only by referring explicitly to the text. Questions or activities call for the students to linger on a specific sentence or phrase to analyze the author’s craft and structure. Activities support students as they make inferences, draw conclusions, and analyze grade-appropriate text. The materials include questions and tasks that require readers to identify elements of the author’s craft and support the author’s purpose using textual evidence. In Unit 3, students may choose to read from several Leveled Readers, including “Niños interculturales.” The materials provide guiding questions to engage students in a discussion to make predictions and analyze the author’s structure of the text. The teacher explains that authors organize informational text in a way that makes the information easily understandable to readers, “Los textos informativos organizan la información de manera que nos ayudan a comprender el tema.” The materials provide guiding questions for teachers to engage students in a discussion about the structure of the text: “¿Cómo se organiza la información sobre los desafíos y los beneficios de cruzar culturas para comprender la información?” The questions require students to go back to the passage to analyze how the author organizes the information to make it more understandable to the reader.
The materials provide opportunities for students to analyze the author’s craft within independent reading level texts during teacher-student reading conferences. In Unit 5, in the section “Conferenciar," teachers ask students to describe the text features from the informational text they are reading. During the conference, teachers ask students questions to draw conclusions and analyze the author’s use of text features and how they contribute to the author's purpose. For example, the questions include: “¿Que elementos del texto incluye el autor? ¿Cómo ayudaron los elementos del texto a establecer un propósito de lectura?”
The materials include a year-long plan for building academic vocabulary. The materials provide a variety of tools and techniques to make the building of academic vocabulary and vocabulary instruction engaging, individualized, and relevant to all learners. Each unit contains an academic vocabulary lesson. Students practice and apply their understanding of academic vocabulary and build key academic vocabulary both within and across texts.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials are structured so that the academic vocabulary connects to the unit theme, essential question, and specific central topics or ideas, and it repeats in a variety of genres across the year. Within the “Program Overview,” the materials provide teachers with an “Academic Vocabulary Word List.” This list provides teachers with the academic word list for every unit for the scope of the year.
Within each unit, academic vocabulary is taught using the same structure. At the beginning of the unit, the materials guide teachers in introducing the academic vocabulary. Throughout the five-week units, the materials provide instruction and practice that guide students to generate more words connected to Academic Vocabulary. Words are generated by meaning, word parts, and context clues. At the end of the unit, students practice and apply the academic vocabulary and the list generated throughout the unit in their writing and the Project-Based Inquiry.
In Unit 1, Academic Vocabulary section, the materials discuss the use of affixes to help define words, “Recognizing unfamiliar words can help readers understand unfamiliar words.” During the shared read of the text, “El camino del hijo de papel," the materials guide the teacher to pause at paragraph three of the story to discuss the meaning of the words “pariente” and “parentesco.” The teacher explains a strategy to figure out unknown words by looking at the words to see if they are related to a word they know. The teacher explains that a “related word” is a different form of a word that shares roots or word parts that can have different meanings based on how the word is used. The materials direct students to reread the first sentence of paragraph 3 and call their attention to the words “pariente” and “parentesco” as examples of related words. Students use this strategy to complete the chart in the Student Interactive book. In this activity, students are given a word. They use a dictionary to find related words and then use the related word in a sentence. For example, in the example given in the student book, the word is “conocimiento.” The related word is “conocer.” The sentence using the related word is, “El autor escribió un artículo sobre la inmigración China para dar a conocer los detalles.” The words provided in the chart are all words found within the text, “El camino del hijo de papel." Students continue to use these words throughout the unit.
The materials provide teacher guidance for vocabulary instruction within Book Clubs, “Club del Libro." In Unit 2, the materials provide the focus vocabulary words for that text: “útiles, telescopio, variable, equilibradas, laboratorio, tecnología” in the teacher plan for the book club text, “¿Uso de instrumentos científicos?” The materials guide the teacher to the strategy of the use of synonyms and antonyms to understand unknown words: “Explique a los estudiantes que los sinónimos son palabras que tienen el mismo significado o significados similares. Por el contrario, los antónimos son palabras que tienen significados opuestos o casi opuestos. Ambos tipos de palabras pueden ayudar a los lectores a entender mejor el significado de una palabra.” The teacher explains that knowing the synonym or antonym can help figure out the meaning of an unknown word.
The materials provide teacher guidance for vocabulary instruction within small groups with the use of leveled readers. The materials include a list of vocabulary words, for each leveled reader, at the beginning of each story. Within the small group lesson, the materials offer scaffolds and support opportunities for students to learn, practice, apply, and transfer words into familiar and new contexts. In Unit 3, in order to build the students´ background knowledge for the leveled S reader, “Comida de todo el mundo," the materials guide teachers to ask questions using the vocabulary from the text. Students use their previous knowledge to understand the meaning of the unknown words, “Use palabras tales como cocina, culturas, y sabores para hacer preguntas que les permitan compartir sus conocimientos previos.”
Within each unit’s shared reading section, the materials provide vocabulary instruction before and after the text is read in the sections ”Preview Vocabulary” and “Respond and Analyze.” In Unit 5, in the section, “Primer vistazo al vocabulario,” before reading the text, “Rocas y fósiles,” the teacher introduces the vocabulary, “minerales, partículas, depósitos, erosión, principios.” The teacher displays the words and reads the definitions. The teacher informs the students that reading the definitions will help them to understand the text, “Estas palabras los ayudarán a entender lo que leen en Rocas y fósiles.” As they review the words, the teacher asks the students to think about what they already know about rocks and fossils to help them determine the meaning of the words. The teacher reminds the students that the words are bolded, and they will be discussing them more as they come across them during the reading, “A medida que leen,resaltan las palabras y preguntense como se relacionan con las ideas y detalles principales.” During the “lectura compartida,” students review the highlighted academic vocabulary words in the text. After they have read the text, in the section, “Desarrollar el vocabulario,” the teacher explains that authors of informational texts often use domain-specific words to inform readers about their topics. The vocabulary words “minerales, partículas, depósitos, erosión, principios” are all used in the field of geology and specific to rocks and fossils. The materials guide students to make connections between domain specific words, “Haz conexiones entre las pares de palabras que te ayudan a entender las rocas y el ciclo de las rocas.” Students write a sentence that shows the connection between the two vocabulary words given to complete the assignments. The materials provide guidance for the teacher by providing an exemplar response.
The materials include a plan to support and hold students accountable as they engage in independent reading. Generally, the procedures and protocols, along with adequate support for teachers, are provided to foster independent reading. The materials provide a plan for students to self-select texts and read independently for a sustained period of time, including planning and accountability for achieving independent reading goals.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
Within each unit, the “Student Interactive Book” includes a section specific to independent reading. Each unit focuses on a different strategy to guide students in self-selecting a text. Unit 3 focuses on teaching students how to select a text from a genre that interests them so that they read for longer sustained periods. “Unas de las mejores maneras de mejorar como lector es leer generos que te interesan” The student materials provide a reading log, “Registro de lectura independiente,” for the students to keep track of the books genres they select and the minutes they read for. The student materials provide steps that guide the students in selecting a text that they will enjoy reading for an extended period of time. The steps guide students to think of a purpose for reading then select a book from a genre that matches that purpose. After they have selected a text, they read the first couple of pages to see if the book is right for them and if they find it interesting. If not, they choose another text. The Student Interactive Book provides the students with the following questions to guide them in deciding whether or not the book is right for them, “¿Me interesa el tema? ¿ Entiendo la mayoría de las ideas? ¿Puedo leer el texto fluidamente? ¿Entiendo la mayoría de las palabras?”
Within each unit, across each week, independent Reading is an option that students may consider together with other possibilities. In Unit 1, in the section, “Evaluación y Diferenciación,” there is a section that guides the teacher to offer the students different options to choose from for Independent Reading. The options offered are: leer un libro autoseleccionado, , leer o escuchar un libro por nivel, leer una selección leída con anterioridad, comenzar a leer un texto del Club del libro. This list makes independent reading a choice that students may or may not take.
Through book clubs, the materials foster independent reading. Within each unit, the materials present a variety of suggested titles that “provide choice to increase student engagement.” Book Club consists of a set-aside time when students meet in small groups to discuss the trade book for the unit. It is a time for students to talk about what they are reading. Students have the agency to choose a book for Book Club. The teacher presents a list of several books that connect to the unit theme for students to choose from. Based on the texts they have chosen, students are placed in clubs. For example, for Unit 5, the teacher presents the titles: El suelo y el clima, Los lugares más calientes de la tierra, Conservación de la energía, Reacciones químicas, Un agente oportuno, ¿Un mundo sin agua?. The materials advise the teacher to make sure that the books are at the appropriate reading level for the students that have selected them, “De un vistazo previo a las selecciones para determinar si son apropiados para los estudiantes y verificar su disponibilidad.” The students meet as a group to determine how they want to divide up the book to finish it within the time frame. “Ayude a los miembros del club a decidir cómo dividirán el libro a lo largo de estos diez días.” The materials encourage the teacher to help students choose enough pages to cover at each meeting so that the groups have a lively conversation. To hold students accountable for their independent reading, students fill out a Discussion Chart with the details they notice, connections they make, and things they wonder about. The materials guide students to use evidence from the text to support their Book Club conversations. As they read independently, students fill out the discussion chart to prepare for their Book Club conversations. “Tenga una idea clara de lo que ocurre en el libro, para que pueda participar de las conversaciones de los grupos.” After they read and fill out the discussion chart, the group comes together to discuss the text.
The materials provide support for students to develop composition skills across text types, purposes, and audiences. Students write a variety of literary, informational, and argumentative texts. The materials provide example texts to read within each genre and opportunities to compose narratives to express personal feelings, beliefs, and ideas. The materials do not provide opportunities to compose correspondence.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials provide guidance for teaching all the elements of the writing process throughout the school year, as well as scaffolding the process. Each Unit is composed of a five-week writing process cycle. They are organized in a way that allows the teacher and student to understand and develop the genre. Each unit focuses on a different genre, allowing students to develop composition skills across multiple text types for various purposes and audiences. The materials are organized so that the focus genre is the same for both the reading and writing workshops. The materials help students make meaningful connections, bringing together and illustrating the union between reading and writing.
Materials provide support for students to develop composition skills. The Writing Workshop always includes mentor texts and a Minilesson Bank. The materials provide a variety of mini-lessons for every unit. The materials provide mini-lessons that develop craft, structure, genre elements, and the writing process. The materials guide teachers to analyze student writing to differentiate and choose the writing mini-lessons that support the needs of the class.
The materials have a focus genre for every writing unit. Throughout the five-week cycle, the students build a strong understanding of the elements of that genre by studying mentor texts and through the practice of creating their own pieces within that genre. The genre of correspondence was the only genre that did not have a specific unit dedicated to its understanding and practice. The materials do not contain a section for fifth-grade students to write correspondence in a professional or friendly structure.
In Unit 1, the weeks within the writing workshop, “Taller de escritura,” are organized as follows: Week 1 introduces and immerses the students in the genre of literary texts to learn how authors write in this genre. Students read a variety of personal narratives to learn the defining characteristics of a personal narrative. Students begin to plan their own personal narratives, “Una vez que sepan el tema que van a escribir, deberán pensar cómo van a escribir toda una narración sobre este tema.” In Week 2, students learn how an engaging idea can become a personal narrative. Students read a variety of personal narratives to see how authors use dialogue within this genre. In Week 3, students learn what makes effective introductions and conclusions to personal narratives. In Week 4, students revise their drafts by adding and deleting ideas. In Week 5, students continue to edit, publish, and share their personal narratives.
In Unit 2, the materials provide opportunities for students to write an informational article. In Week 1 of “Taller de escritura,” the teacher introduces and immerses the students in the genre of informational texts. Students read multiple informational articles to deepen their understanding of the elements of informational writing and plan their own articles. In Week 2, students choose an engaging topic to write about. In Week 3, students learn about capturing the readers’ attention through the introduction and how to summarize and close with a conclusion, “Una introducción capta la atención del lector y presenta el tema del artículo.” In Week 4, students edit to ensure the use of precise language. In Week 5, students continue to edit, publish, and present their how-to articles.
In Unit 3, the materials provide opportunities for students to write an argumentative text through an opinion essay. In Week 1 of “Taller de escritura,” the teacher immerses the students in the genre by having them read a variety of opinion essays to see how authors write in this genre. Students learn about the basic characteristics of opinion essays and begin planning their own essays. Students learn to support their opinions with reasoning, details, and facts, “A medida que vuelvo a leer este ensayo de opinión, piensa en cómo el autor apoya su opinión con razones y ejemplos.” Students begin to draft their essays. In Week 2, students develop an engaging idea and develop an opinion about it. Students begin to draft and develop it with reasons, details, facts, and graphic features. In Week 3, students learn how to develop a strong introduction and conclusion. In Week 4, students revise their writing by rearranging and combining their ideas to improve clarity. In Week 5, students continue to edit, prepare to publish, and present their opinion essays.
Written tasks require students to use clear and concise information and well-defended text-supported claims to demonstrate the knowledge gained through analysis and synthesis of texts. Students must support their understanding with textual evidence and provide thoughtful responses that include text evidence to support their claim, opinion, or position.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
During the shared reading lesson, the materials provide an opportunity for students to use evidence from texts to support their opinions and claims. As the teacher reads along, students follow. The teacher pauses throughout the lesson to ask comprehension questions. Students respond to questions orally and provide evidence from the text to support their responses. The materials provide teachers with an example response, “Respuesta possible,” to guide student thinking and discussion. For example, during “Lectura Compartida,” in Unit 1, the teacher and students read the text “El camino del hijo de papel.” The teacher pauses and asks students to study an illustration to help students understand the author’s purpose for using graphic features. The materials provide the following questions: “¿Aproximadamente, cuanto tiempo después de que la esposa de Share Kim y sus niños llegaron a los Estados Unidos creen que se tomó esta fotografía? ¿Qué evidencia en el párrafo 7 los ayuda a responder a esta pregunta?” Once the students have completed the reading of “El camino del hijo de papel y Louie Share kim, hijo de papel,” they complete “Usar evidencia del texto” in the “Libro Interactivo del Estudiante.” This writing task requires students to use details from the text to support their responses. The materials provide the following questions: “¿Qué conclusión puedes sacar acerca de la experiencia inmigratoria de los padres de Sam Louie basándote en la información de la lectura? Compara las dos experiencias de inmigración de Louie Share Kim ¿En que se parecen? ¿En qué se diferencian?”
To support the instruction in the small group mini-lessons, in the section, “Usar evidencia del texto,” the materials provide the teacher with prompts to ask students open-ended questions that guide them in providing evidence from the text. In the Unit 1 section, “Grupos Pequeños,” the materials provide the teacher with guidance using the following prompts for small group reading: “¿Qué evidencia del texto identifica la idea central del texto? ¿Qué detalles de la evidencia del texto apoyan la idea central?”
In Unit 3, during the shared reading, students read the text, “La Carpa.” In the section “Lectura compartida,” students synthesize information about the characters of the legend “La Carpa” and use evidence to support their opinions. The teacher asks students to identify the main character of the story. Then, they tell them to silently reread the pages and highlight text that shows how the author introduces Rosetsu to readers. The teacher says, “¿Qué aprendieron sobre el personaje principal leyendo estos detalles?” The materials provide the following example response to guide student understanding: “Aprendí que tiene el sueño de convertirse en un gran pintor y que esta idea lo llena de alegría y entusiasmo.” In the next pages, the teacher asks students to reread paragraphs 16–18 and highlight the text that shows how Rosetsu and the old man interact. The teacher says, “Basándose en estos detalles, ¿cómo describirían el tipo de interacción que tiene Rasetsu con el anciano?” Students reread paragraphs 16–18 and respond to the teacher’s question. The materials provide the following example response to guide student understanding: “Aunque el anciano desafía a Rasetsu, tienen una interacción amistosa y Rasetsu parece respetar al desconocido.”
Materials provide opportunities for students to demonstrate, in writing, what they have learned through reading and listening to texts. In Unit 5, writing tasks require students to use details from the text to demonstrate knowledge gained. Writing tasks support students’ practice of analysis and synthesis. After reading ”Rocas y fósiles,” students answer comprehension questions. The materials provide the teacher with the suggestion: “Pida a los estudiantes que completen la p.453 del Libro interactivo del estudiante. Vuelve a mirar el texto para responder a las preguntas.” Examples of the open-ended questions include: “¿Cuándo y por qué el autor usa elementos del texto en Rocas y fósiles? Describe uno de los usos y explica cómo influye en los lectores.”
The materials include opportunities for students to study the writing genre, plan, write, edit, revise, publish, and share texts in increasingly complex ways. Grammar usage and mechanics are taught throughout the units. Each unit provides opportunities for students to practice grammar and conventions. The resources contain online and student book assignments to practice grammar and conventions, as well as opportunities for students to apply these skills to their writing. The Grammar unit follows a pacing guide, providing systematic instruction that applies to increasingly rigorous texts and student writing throughout the year. The materials include mentor texts, scoring rubrics, conferencing rubrics, conference notes templates, graphic organizers, and editing and revision checklists.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
Materials facilitate students’ coherent use of the writing process elements. Every week of the writing workshop, “Taller de escritura,” is organized with the same structure: Week 1 introduces and immerses the students in the genre of literary texts; Week 2 develops the students’ understanding of the elements of the genre; Week 3 develops the students’ understanding of the structure; Week 4 works on the author’s craft; Week 5 has students publish, celebrate, and assess. Throughout the weeks, students craft and write several pieces within the genre. However, in Week 5, students choose their favorite piece to publish in the final format and then celebrate by presenting their favorite piece to the class. Alongside each lesson, the student refers to the student edition to practice the writing skill from the mini-lesson.
In Week 4 of every Writing Workshop unit, students learn specific grammatical skills, understand why these skills are important to the author's craft and structure, and edit to apply these skills to their writing. Through reading student writing, conferences, and assessments, the materials guide teachers to which lessons to choose. In Unit 1, teachers choose from the “Minilesson Bank“ to teach the grammar skills of effectively using adjectives, editing for adverbs, editing for indefinite pronouns, and editing punctuation in dialogue. For the mini-lesson on adverbs, the teacher explains that adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adverbs provide additional information by telling how, when, or where something happens, and they connect ideas in two independent clauses or statements. To model, the teacher provides different examples from mentor texts of how conjunctive adverbs are used. In the examples, the teacher underlines the adverbs and asks students to identify the connected two ideas, “Muestra algunas oraciones de los textos mentores para ilustrar el uso de los adverbios conjuntivos.” For shared practice, the students create a list of common conjunctive adverbs and the relationships they show. The materials provide exemplar responses to help guide student understanding: “tiempo (mientras, ayer, finalmente), lugar (cerca, allí, detrás), cantidad (mucho, poco, así).” Students who can identify conjunctive adverbs are ready to examine their drafts to see if there are any sentences or independent clauses to connect with a conjunctive adverb, “Pida a los estudiantes que examinen sus borradores para ver si tienen oraciones o cláusulas independientes que puedan conectar adverbios conjuntivos.”
Materials provide lessons on Spanishnish language and conventions. In Unit 3, Week 4, section “Lenguaje y norma,” students learn how to use indefinite, reflexive, and prepositional pronouns. The materials provide five lessons to guide teacher instruction for the week. To help students understand the difference between indefinite, reflexive, and prepositional pronouns, the teacher displays the following sentences: “¿Hay alguien en casa?¿Me escuchas? ¿Estas detras de mi?” Students rewrite the sentences using another indefinite pronoun. For example, they replace “alguien” with “todos,” “¿Todos están en casa?” In lesson 2, the teacher provides an oral example, “Todos aprobaron el examen. Me siento feliz por los estudiantes. Estamos debajo de ellos” and explains that indefinite pronouns like “todos” do not refer to specific nouns; reflexive pronouns like “me” reflect the action of the verb on the subject; prepositional pronouns are used behind prepositions. Students write the sentence, “Carolina se compro un helado” and identify the pronoun type. In Lesson 3, students reinforce the lesson using flashcards with indefinite, reflexive, and prepositional pronouns. In Lesson 4, students apply what they learned by editing a paragraph in the “Libro del estudiante.” In the section “Taller de escritura,” students edit and practice their own writing drafts using indefinite, reflexive, and prepositional pronouns when appropriate to make their writing smoother and easier to read.
In every writing workshop unit, the materials dedicate lessons to teaching punctuation. In Unit 5, Week 3, section “Desarrollar un poema con puntuación,” students edit their poems for punctuation. In the mini-lesson, the teacher explains that authors use punctuation to affect how a poem is read. The use of a period, semi-colon, or colon causes the reader to pause; the use of a comma causes the reader to pause briefly; the reader reads quickly when no punctuation is used. The teacher uses mentor texts to give examples of the use of punctuation. The teacher reads aloud a stanza according to the punctuation, pointing out the different uses of punctuation and modeling pausing when appropriate. During the shared practice, the teacher displays a poem with all the punctuation removed. Students read the poem aloud, pausing when they think it is appropriate. As a class, they discuss what punctuation they think should be inserted and why, “Pida a las parejas de estudiantes que escriban y luego lean en voz alta estrofas tratando de detectar donde ocurren las pausas y que puntuación deben usarse.” If students need additional practice before applying punctuation to their poems, they complete the additional practice in the “Student Interactive Book.” Students review the poem and add punctuation. When students show understanding, they edit their own poems, adding punctuation.
Materials fulfill the TEKS requirement for the grade level even though there is no formal procedure for assessing the students' handwriting. The materials provide some suggested practice for students to write in cursive.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials provide some suggested practice for students to write in cursive. Within the units, teachers ask students to write in cursive if they choose to do so for independent activities. The materials include practice for students to write legibly in cursive during publishing and editing sections. For example, in the publication phase of the writing process, the teacher gives the students the following instructions, “Publica tu narración para tu público. Luego, responde a las preguntas sobre tu experiencia. Escribe en letra cursiva legible dejando los espacios correspondientes entre las palabras.”
Within the “Program Overview” section of the teacher materials, there is a supplemental document titled “Práctica de caligrafía para todos” containing worksheet practice for cursive writing. The materials do not include instructions for teachers to teach cursive writing within the worksheets; it is for student practice only.
The writing process, along with the cursive worksheet practice, fulfills the TEKS requirement to have students write legibly in cursive. Additionally, the materials do provide explicit instruction in cursive writing in grades K–2.
The materials provide opportunities to listen to and talk about texts before, during, and after reading. The materials include guiding questions and response starters to facilitate discussions that show students’ comprehension of texts. Throughout the materials, lessons guide teachers and students through various activities that promote speaking and listening through a balance of independent work, partner and team activities, and whole-group discussions of primary class texts. Most oral tasks require students to use information gathered through reading and well-defended text-supported claims to demonstrate knowledge through various activities.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
Throughout the materials, within every week of each unit, the materials guide students through a Book Club. The materials provide step-by-step supports for students to launch text-supported conversations about the texts they read. For example, the materials provide students with a discussion chart. The chart has three sections: “Observaciones, Conexiones, y Dudas.” This chart guides students to organize their thoughts as they think about their reading and prepare for their group conversations, “Explique que mientras leen completarán sus tablas con observaciones que notan, conexiones que hagan, y dudas que tengan sobre lo que leen para prepararse para sus conversaciones del Club del libro.” When the book club discusses their text, students refer to this chart to defend their claims and demonstrate their comprehension of the text. Since Book Club is a time for students to get their own enjoyment out of reading, the teacher’s role is to be an occasional facilitator, helping to start conversations or direct the group to understand each others’ thinking. An important part of Book Club is the students’ ability to share their ideas and build on those of others effectively. When groups come together for their conversations, the materials provide students with response starters that offer examples of how to phrase ideas productively and respectfully, “Si, pero por otra parte ___. Estoy de acuerdo contigo porque ____ . No sé si entiendo. ¿Puedes decir algo más?” In addition to the response starters, the materials guide teachers to teach students to listen actively, ask relevant questions to clarify information, make pertinent comments, and build on others’ ideas.
Throughout the units, after the shared reading, students reflect on the week’s question in the “Reflect and Share” section of the unit. In Unit 1, “Reflexionar y Comentar,” students reflect and discuss the unit question, “¿Qué motiva a las personas a dejar el lugar que llaman su hogar?” In the mini-lesson for this section, the materials guide the teacher to explain to students that making personal connections with a text can help them understand the events and characters. The students then discuss their connections and provide information from the text that supports these ideas, “Comenten ideas sobre el texto y la información que las apoya. Incluyen conexiones personales con esas ideas.” To practice this strategy, the “Student Interactive Book” guides students to use evidence from the text, “El camino del hijo de papel,” to discuss why some people leave their home countries. The materials ask that students think about the characters in the story and why they felt it necessary to leave their country. The materials provide the following sentence frames to guide the student discussion, “Primero, un hijo de papel debía ____. Por Ultimo, Louie Share Kim_____.”
At the beginning of each unit, in the section “Interact with Sources.” the materials provide a text to introduce the unit theme and question. Through this text and the questions provided, students discuss the weekly question. In Unit 3, section “Interacción con las fuentes,” the materials provide the poem, “Dame la mano.” Teachers remind students of the weekly question, “Qué recuerdos tienes de experiencias y momentos especiales compartidos con tus seres queridos?” As students read the poem, the teacher explains that when students make personal connections to the text, it can help them understand. Students read the poem and discuss what positive experiences the characters are getting from the shared moment, “Pida a las estudiantes que lean el poema y comenten qué experiencias positivas podrían obtener Rosa y Esperanza del momento compartido.” The materials provide the following questions to guide the discussion, “¿Cuál creen que es el vínculo que une a Rosa y a Esperanza? ¿Cómo creen que es la relación entre ellas y que gustos creen que comparten? ¿Creen que ambas disfrutan la experiencia por igual?”
In Week 6 of every unit, students work on an inquiry project. In the planning phase of this project, students work in their groups to research and analyze the texts to gather information to help them create their own text. In Unit 4, students explored the theme of liberty. Through this unit, students learned that freedom holds a different meaning for everyone. In the section “Comparar textos,” students compare all of the texts read within this unit to discuss the meaning of freedom within those texts. The teacher asks a student to volunteer, pointing out each selection on the opener and the genres the unit covers. Then, the materials provide the following questions to guide students to compare texts, “¿En qué se parecen el Sr. Leroy de Salvemos al Sr. John Holton y Ana de la Libertad según Ana Pérez? ¿En qué se diferencian? ¿Cómo se relacionan los ambientes de Salvemos al Sr. John Holton y Hacer justicia?” The materials encourage students to use well-defended, text-supported claims to discuss the texts.
The materials engage students in productive teamwork and student-led discussions in both formal and informal settings. The materials provide multiple opportunities for students to engage in whole group, partner, and group discussions. The materials provide guidance and opportunities to practice with grade-level protocols for discussion to express their own thinking. Additionally, the materials provide opportunities for students to give organized presentations or performances and speak clearly and concisely, using the conventions of language. The materials provide sentence and discussion stems and guiding questions throughout the lesson activities. These protocols encourage students to give feedback and express their thoughts, opinions, and ideas with their peers during classroom learning and discussion.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
During Book Club, the materials guide students to engage in student-led discussions in an informal setting to express their thinking. Book Club is a time for students to share their ideas and opinions about texts as they listen to those of others. The materials provide discussion stems to help students phrase their ideas productively and respectfully. In Unit 1, the materials provide the following discussion stems to guide the Book Club conversation: “No estoy de acuerdo con ____ porque ____. La parte en la que ____ me llamó la atención porque ___. ¿Qué te hace decir esto?” For each Book Club text, the materials provide a more detailed plan with questions specific to the text to guide teachers and students to discuss their thoughts about the text. For example, in Unit 1, the materials provide a lesson plan guide for the Book Club text, “Viajeros intrépidos.” The materials provide the following instructions, “Use las siguientes preguntas para guiar la discusión sobre Viajeros intrépidos. Pida a los estudiantes que comenten sus ideas y que usen tanto la evidencia del texto como palabras relacionadas con
los textos informativos.” Examples of the questions used to guide student discussion are the following: “¿Qué conocimientos geográficos tenían los europeos en ese tiempo? Según el texto, ¿a qué se debía la riqueza de Venecia? ¿Cómo obtenían los ciudadanos los productos más preciados?”
At multiple times during the reading and writing lesson structure, the materials invite students to share their thinking with the group in the section, “Comentemos.” In Unit 3, during “Taller de Escritura,” the lesson guides teachers to review with students the characteristics of an opinion essay. Students read essays from the “Mentor Stacks” to identify the author’s point of view. Students study the texts to identify how authors support their point of view. In groups, students read aloud a text and stop to analyze and discuss the author’s point of view. The materials provide the following stems to guide the students’ discussion: “¿Qué palabras usa el escritor para mostrar su punto de vista? ¿Cómo se siente el escritor al respeto a___? ¿Cómo responde el autor a otro puntos de vista?” The materials provide guidance for students to develop social communication skills that are appropriate to their grade level. In the writer’s club for Unit 3, students share their plans and ideas for their opinion essays. Students spend the first 5–10 minutes of their writing group establishing rules and expectations for their group. Students discuss: “¿Cuál es el proceso para turnarse durante las conversaciones en grupo? ¿Cómo deben comportarse cuando los otros miembros del grupo están hablando? ¿Cómo deben dar y recibir críticas constructivas de manera respetuosa.”
In every unit, in the section “Celebrar y Reflexionar,” students complete a group project and present it to the class at the end of the unit. In Unit 4, Week 6, “Proyecto the indagación” section “Celebrar y reflexionar,” students prepare their projects before sharing them with the rest of the class. Students prepare all the media they have for the projects and prepare their oral presentations of their projects. The materials provide guidance for students on effectively sharing a project with others in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante”: “Cuando leo en público un discurso o presentó un proyecto multimodal, hablo despacio y con claridad para que mi público pueda escuchar bien lo que digo.” Students practice presenting their projects in front of the other teams or groups and incorporate changes based on their peers’ reactions.
In Unit 5, section “Desarrollo del lenguaje en español,” the materials provide a speaking and listening activity for students to practice expressing their opinions. Teachers ask students to practice “hacer comentarios pertinentes al conversar sobre la infografía en las pp. 426–427 del “Libro interactivo del estudiante." The materials provide the following discussion stems to help students express their opinions: “Los geólogos son personas que estudian _______. Un tipo de roca es ________. La roca más antigua tiene aproximadamente ________.” These sentence stems scaffold the conversation providing students with a structure in which they can embed the information they learned.
Each unit within the materials engages students in the inquiry process through a Project-Based Inquiry project. The project combines the use of inquiry and research skills. The materials support the identification of high-quality primary and secondary sources and engage students in inquiry processes using relevant sources. The materials provide research articles where students can obtain relevant information for their research. The materials provide guidance to use an appropriate mode of delivery to present research. The materials guide teachers in supporting students by providing them with different ways to present their research.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials support the identification and summary of high-quality primary and secondary sources. In Unit 1, Week 6, (T380) section “Proyecto de Indagación,” students learn about the credibility of primary and secondary resources. They learn that writers can strengthen their writing and research by asking an expert for information either by meeting with the person for a face-to-face interview or writing business correspondence or letters to the person. Materials state, “Los escritores pueden reforzar la escritura y la investigación pidiendo información a un experto.” The teacher uses the sample business correspondence in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante” to discuss the different parts of a business correspondence: “Todas las correspondencias formales incluyen la fecha en la parte superior derecha. El nombre y la dirección de quien envía y quien recibe. Comiencen la correspondencia formal con un saludo y dos puntos. Todas las correspondencias formales deben terminar con un cierre.” Teachers and students discuss specific reasons to write business correspondence or letters for their research. In pairs, students use the “Libro interactivo del estudiante” to brainstorm a business correspondence they would like to write for their own research considering the following questions: “¿Quién es experto en el tema sobre el que van a escribir? ¿Qué preguntas quisieran que respondiera? ¿Qué material les gustaría que incluyera en su respuesta?” The teacher reminds students that business correspondence must be formal and professional.
In Unit 2, the materials guide teachers to provide students with different ways to present their research. The materials include a sample research project and provide written, oral and multimodal examples to present the research results. This sample provides students an exemplar way for results to be provided. For example, the materials include checklists or questions for students to consider as they decide how to present their research. The materials provide an activity in which teachers ask students to look into the reasons why scientists explore and study. Students organize the information they gather in an effective format: “Indagación—Organizar la información y comunicar—Los estudiantes deben organizar en un formato efectivo la información que encuentren sobre por qué los científicos exploran y estudian.” The teacher uses the extension activities in the “Centro de recursos para descargar” to show students different ways in which they can present their information: “Compartir ideas. Escoge la mejor forma de compartir lo que aprendiste: artículo periodístico, cartel, línea cronológica, mapa, discurso, folleto, (...), escena dramática, podcast o vídeo.” Students find multiple ways they can use to present the results of their research to their classmates.
The materials support students in differentiating to choose the highest quality and most relevant sources. In Unit 3, Week 6 (T356) section “Proyecto de Indagación,” students learn that a database is a searchable collection of information from a variety of sources. The teacher explains that knowing how to use an advanced search at the library or online helps them find results and identify the most relevant information from a variety of sources. The teacher uses the example in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante”: “Riley escogió a Mae Jemison para escribir sobre alguien que la inspira, entonces escribe Mae Jemison en el recuadro Buscar…” The teacher demonstrates how to use an advanced search using the options “autor” and “libro” on the selection filters. Students develop a plan of shared responsibilities and begin recording their findings in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante” as they conduct their own online research about their person or hero.
The materials provide opportunities for students to learn, practice, apply and transfer skills into familiar and new topics. For example, in Unit 3, students learn about the features of opinion writing by reading a variety of opinion essays and writing their own. In Unit 5, Week 6, they use their previously learned skills by writing a script for a public service announcement that discusses ways people can help the environment and create positive changes in one of Earth’s systems: “Los estudiantes investigarán de forma colaborativa un guión para un anuncio de servicio público.” In this project, students record themselves doing the PSA. Students “Investigarán las maneras en que las personas pueden ayudar el medio ambiente y generar cambios positivos en uno de los sistemas de la tierra.” The teacher provides guidance about how listeners enjoy the presentation when the writer carefully produces and plans. The teacher invites the students to analyze good examples and not-so-good examples of PSAs. The teacher provides the following questions to compare and contrast examples: “¿Cómo podría oírse un ASP si la persona lo ensaya antes de grabarlo? ¿Cómo podría oírse si no lo ensaya?, ¿Cuál sería el efecto si en el video se viera a la persona muy lejos? ¿Cuál sería el efecto si en el video se viera a la persona bien cerca de la cámara?“
Throughout the materials, high-quality, text-dependent questions and tasks help students build knowledge and skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, and language. Text-dependent questions are integrated within a text and across multiple texts. Throughout the materials, students complete tasks that are interconnected and apply knowledge and skills consistently. Concepts are introduced at the beginning of each unit and are spiraled in subsequent lessons.
The materials provide tasks and questions within the units that integrate reading, writing, speaking, listening, and thinking; they include components of vocabulary, syntax, and fluency, as needed; and they provide opportunities for increased independence.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
Throughout each unit, the materials provide lessons that include opportunities for students to read, write, speak, listen, think, and apply the daily objectives. In the Unit 1 section “Presentar la Unidad,” the teacher introduces the unit and Essential Question, “¿Cómo nos cambian los viajes?” The teacher tells students that they will read different texts to learn about how exploring new places shape people and explains that reading a variety of genres is important because each text provides a unique perspective about the theme. The lesson begins with students watching a video. Before watching “Video de la unidad uno,” the teacher explains that a video is a multimodal text because it combines sound and pictures. As students watch the video, they make a list of examples to show how the video influences journeys. After they watch the video, students “Turn Talk and Share” to discuss what they learn about the video. The materials provide students with the following questions to help guide their discussion: “¿Qué aprendieron sobre los viajes al ver las imágenes? ¿Qué aprendieron sobre los viajes al escuchar los sonidos del video?”
The materials provide questions and tasks designed to help students build and apply knowledge and skills in listening, reading, thinking, and speaking. In Unit 3, section “grupos pequeños/conferenciar," students talk about the text they are reading during independent reading. The teacher asks students to share what they have learned about identifying text evidence to support a claim across the text. The materials guide the teacher by providing questions for the reading conference: “En qué se parecían los personajes y los ambientes? En que se diferenciaban los personajes y los ambientes en los dos textos?”
The materials provide tasks that integrate reading, writing, speaking, listening, thinking, and vocabulary components. In Unit 4, during “Lectura guiada,” students turn and talk about the text “El foco de atención” in groups. The teacher refers students to different sections in the book and guides students to discuss the text by asking questions: “¿Que les dicen sobre las artes escénicas? ¿Cuáles son las ventajas y desventajas de este elemento del texto? ¿Cómo podría un músico en alguna parte remota del mundo conectarse con otros a través de la música?” The lesson connects with language development, allowing students to use words with multiple meanings. The teacher refers students to the word “promueve” and discusses the meaning of the word in the context of the page. Throughout the lesson, the teacher continues with language development focusing on “sinonimos,” referring students to the sentence with the word “comunican.” The teacher reinforces the lesson with, “Los sinónimos son palabras con significado parecido.” Students tell the teacher the synonyms of the word “comunican” such as “informan, dicen.” In the collaborative conversation section, students ask one another questions when they need to paraphrase or synthesize one another’s ideas. The materials provide the following prompts and response stems: “¿Tiene sentido lo que dije? Entonces estás diciendo ___________. ¿En que podemos estar de acuerdo? La evidencia sugiere ______.”
In Unit 5, materials contain a coherently sequenced set of high-quality, text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas within individual texts. Materials include multiple questions in every weekly reading to guide the discussion for texts read. The materials provide comprehension questions in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante” in the section, “Verificar la comprensión” for the shared text, ”El ciclo del agua en la tierra”: “¿Qué detalles hacen que El ciclo del agua en la Tierra sea un texto informativo?¿Por qué es importante evitar contaminar el agua? Usa detalles del texto para defender tu opinión.” These text-dependent questions provide opportunities for students to read and write to understand the passage.
The materials support distributed practice over the course of the year. The materials include scaffolded practice at increasing levels of complexity. Students demonstrate the integration of literacy skills as information and activities spiral across the school year.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials include a scope and sequence that describes when the standard is first taught and when it is spiraled for continued practice and review. In Unit 1, Week 1, section, “Responder y analizar,” the lesson’s objective is for students to understand that authors use academic and domain-specific words when they write about specific topics. The materials guide the teacher to offer strategies to look for the repeated vocabulary words used when discussing the topic of immigration in the text, “Hijos de Papel.” The materials offer the following guidance: “Hallen las palabras de vocabulario en el texto y lean oraciones en las que aparecen. Repasen el significado de cada palabra.” To practice and apply this strategy, students write sentences with the new vocabulary words as they complete the chart in their “Libro Interactivo del Estudiante.” Their sentences are related to the topic of immigration. The materials offer an example using the word “immigration” and the sentence “La immigración es la acción de irse a vivir a otra país.”
In Unit 3, Week 3, section, “Responder y analizar,” the lesson’s objective is for students to understand that authors choose certain words to convey information about the characters in a story and make the dialogue more engaging. The materials guide the teacher to offer strategies to look for the repeated vocabulary words used to tell about the characters’ emotions and relationships in the text, “La carpa y El zorzal.” The materials offer the following guidance: “Recuerden el significado de cada palabra. Pregúntese qué está tratando de comunicar el autor acerca de unos de los personajes.” To practice and apply this strategy, students complete the graphic organizer in the “Libro Interactivo del Estudiante.” Students complete the graphic organizer with each vocabulary word, listing other words that have similar meetings, “Para cada palabra escribe otras tres palabras relacionadas.” The materials offer an example using the word “diligente” and three related words “atento, trabajador, precioso.” The tasks included in each unit increase in complexity and rigor to demonstrate additional mastery opportunities for students. Students use the same skill with different genres of text. In Unit 1, students use the strategy to identify the theme and topics of a nonfiction text, and in Unit 3, students use the strategy to understand character traits and emotions in a fictional text.
The standards are repeatedly addressed within and across units to ensure students master the full intent of the standard. For example, in Unit 2, section “Estudio de palabras: las palabras esdrújulas y sobreesdrújulas,” students learn to classify words according to where the stress is placed, such as the third-to-last and fourth-to-last syllable. The teacher writes the words “cálido y quédatelo” to model how to “separar en sílabas” and states, “Voy a separar y contar las sílabas de estas palabras.” Students demonstrate and apply phonetic knowledge by decoding “palabras esdrújulas y sobreesdrújulas.” This skill practice continues over the course of the next units. In Unit 3, section “Repaso en espiral,” students review the skill “palabras esdrújulas y sobreesdrújulas.” The teacher reminds students of the rules about words with stress on the third-to-last and fourth-to-last syllables and provides a list to the students. In pairs, they classify words according to where they carry the stress.
The materials support distributed practice over the course of the year. In Unit 5, the materials provide teacher guidance for one concept already studied—the text features of an informational text. This content is studied in Units 1 and 2, but in Unit 5, students go deeper in their understanding of the concept. In Unit 2, students learn that an informational text has several recognizable characteristics and structures, such as a title that identifies the topic, headings, bold words, images, charts, graphs, and lists. Students are exposed to nonfiction texts and learn how to identify the features of an informational text. In Unit 5, students learn the reasons for interpreting an informational text’s text features and respond to specific questions about the images and diagrams found within an informational text. Students learn how the text features contribute to the meaning and understanding of the text. To practice and apply this understanding, students annotate the informational text, “Agua, agua por todas partes,” in the ”Libro interactivo del estudiante.” Some of the guidance provided by the materials to interpret the elements of an informational text are the following: “Primero, busco en la página e identifico todos los elementos del texto. Veo un recuerdo negro con una foto de la Tuerra y una leyenda que explica lo que se ve.” Students reflect upon the function of the text element and its effectiveness on what it does. This activity implies an increase in the difficulty and depth of the application of the concept. In Unit 2, students learn to name and identify the different text features of an informational text. In Unit 5, students work on understanding the purpose of the features and how they help the reader understand the text. The tasks increase in complexity and rigor to demonstrate additional mastery opportunities for students.
Materials provide systematic instruction and practice of foundational skills, including opportunities for phonics and word analysis skills. The materials include a research-based sequence of grade-level foundational skills instruction and ample student practice opportunities to achieve grade-level mastery. The materials provide regular practice for decoding and encoding words. The materials include systematic instruction of orthographic rules and patterns. The materials provide teacher guidance for students who need additional support or remediation with foundational skills.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials provide extension and additional practice activities in the form of digital resources and games. To practice grade-level word recognition skills to promote automaticity, in the game “Mar de ortografia,” students write words correctly to advance levels or “islas.” In level 1, students pop the correct bubble for the word “automovilismo, realista, meteorologia, realismo, psicologia, etc.” In level 2, students use an online keyboard to practice typing the words “optimista, mitologia, conservacionismo, etc.” In the next “isla,” students practice the words “abolicionista, psicologia, civismo, etc.,” popping the correct bubble or typing the word using the online keyboard provided. The materials provide opportunities for students to practice the use of roots, prefixes, and suffixes. In Unit 1, students practice “palabras con raíces griegas.” In Unit 2, Week 2, students practice “palabras con diptongos y hiatos.” In Unit 3, Week 2 students practice “Palabras con acento diacrítico.” In Unit 4, Week 2, students practice “palabras con los prefijos super-, anti-, semi- y sobre-.” In Unit 5, Week 2, students practice “escribir palabras de ortografía difícil.” The teacher assigns activities based on the unit’s scope and sequence in the section “Ortografia” on the online platform. At the end of each activity, the game provides a student’s report for the teacher. This report contains how many words the students scored correctly for the first and second choice, time spent in the activity, and a percentage of the answers correct. To practice how letters are often combined to form unique sounds that appear in multiple words, the game “Palabras que empiezan con el sonido suave y sonido fuerte de \g\” has students have to classify the words that begin with the sounds “guante” and “gimnasta.” Instructions read “Arrastra las imágenes de las palabras que empiezan con el mismo sonido que guante al recuadro….” Also, “arrastra las imágenes de las palabras que empiezan con el mismo sonido que gimnasta al recuadro….” For “sonido suaves con \g\,” students drag the words “gusano, gato y gorra.” For “sonidos fuertes con\g\,” students drag the words “gelatina, girasol y gemela.”
The materials include systematic instruction of orthographic rules and patterns using a three-part, explicit structure, ”Focus, Model, Practice, and Apply.” This same structure is repeated weekly with the introduction of a new orthographic focus. On day 1, the teacher introduces the orthographic focus. On day 2, students apply the skill or standard. On day 3, the materials provide students with additional practice on the skill. On day 4, students spiral review previously taught skills. On day 5, the teacher assesses understanding the focus pattern. For example, in Unit 3, section “Ortografia," the focus of the week’s lessons is for students to spell words with a diacritical accent. Students learn to decode and distinguish the meaning of the pair of words based on the diacritical accent. On day 1, the teacher assesses the prior knowledge of students with the assessment provided by the materials. For the students that understand the accentuation rules, the materials provide them with challenging words “aun, aún, porque, porqué” to add to their spelling list. On day 2, the teacher explains the rules that apply to the use of the diacritical accent, “Se usa el acento diacrítico para distinguir dos palabras que se escriben o pronuncian igual, pero tienen distintos significados, llamados homófonos y homógrafos.” To practice and apply this rule, students read sentences and identify whether the underlined word should have a diacritical accent, for example, “Él debería venir a disculparse. El perro de Matías no sabe comportrarse.” On day 3, the materials provide students with additional practice. Students write a paragraph and correct the use of diacritical accents. On day 4, the materials provide a spiral review. Students review the spelling rules from the previous week and are provided with additional practice to review, “Repasen los significados y usos de los sufijos -izo e -iza.” On day 5, the materials provide an assessment. Students use the focus spelling words from the week in a sentence, for example, “Leeré hasta que me dé sueño.” The teacher reviews the assessment to evaluate whether or not students could spell the words correctly using the diacritical accent based on the meaning of the words.
The materials provide a scope and sequence for the instruction of Word Study, Language and conventions, and Spelling. The last pages of each Teacher Edition Unit include a vertically-aligned scope and sequence. For example, the teacher’s guide includes the Scope and Sequence for “Puente entre los Talleres de Lectura y Escritura.” It includes systematic instruction of orthographic rules and patterns for fifth grade. Each unit provides the students several opportunities to practice each of these rules separately and apply them to their own writing. Unit 1 covers, “Los sufijos -logía, -ismo, -ista; Las raíces griegas; Los hiatos, diptongos y triptongos; Los sufijos -able, -ible; Los sufijos -mente, -ante.” Unit 2 covers, “Las raíces latinas dict, port, terr, ficar; Los diptongos y los hiatos; La acentuación de las palabras agudas; La acentuación de las palabras graves o llanas; Las palabras esdrújulas y sobresdrújulas.” Unit 3 covers, “Los sufijos -izo, -iza; El acento diacrítico; La acentuación de los verbos conjugados; Los sufijos -oso, -osa; Las palabras de origen árabe.” Unit 4 covers, “Los prefijos con-, com-, pro- y epi-; Los prefijos super-, anti-, semi- y sobre-; Los prefijos sub- y trans-; Las raíces griegas grafo, micro, tele y scopio; Las raíces latinas audi, rupt, scrib y spec.” Unit 5 covers, “Las palabras que causan confusión; Las palabras de ortografía difícil; Los sufijos derivados del latín -ero, -era, -dor, -dora; Las palabras de origen francés; Los sufijos aumentativos y diminutivos.”
Across grades 3–5, the “Guía de intervención” provides teacher guidance for students who need additional support or remediation with foundational skills. This supplemental resource provides scaffolding activities, lesson extensions, and extra practice activities. It is divided into two sections. Section 1 provides lesson resources for foundational skills: phonics, morphology, spelling, vocabulary, and fluency. Section 2 provides lesson resources for reading, writing, and language: reading literature, reading informational and argumentative text, writing, language and conventions, and research and inquiry. The contents of this resource change from grade to grade to accommodate the developmental needs of the students of that specific grade level. In the “Guía de intervención,” the materials include building spelling knowledge. For example, it provides activities for students to practice words with accents, words with diphthongs and hiatus, silent “h," words with soft and hard “r,” etc. In the “Guía de intervención” (T37), the teacher tells students that syllables may contain one, two, or three vowels. Students write the words and circle diphthongs, triphthongs, and hiatuses: “Point to the passage title and say: Un diptongo está formado por dos vocales juntas en una misma sílaba, como ie en vientos o io en violentos. Write the words on the board and circle the diphthongs. Reread the first paragraph aloud. Un triptongo se forma cuando hay tres vocales juntas en la misma sílaba, como en la última sílaba de Paraguay, y un hiato está formado por dos vocales juntas que pertenecen a sílabas distintas, como en meteorológico. Write the words on the board and circle the triphthong and hiatus."
Materials include diagnostic tools and provide opportunities to assess student mastery of foundational skills, in and out of context, at regular intervals for teachers to make instructional adjustments. The materials include weekly checks for understanding and unit tests. The materials support teachers with guidance and direction to respond to individual students’ literacy needs based on tools and assessments appropriate to the grade level. The materials provide teachers with reteaching strategies and lesson extension ideas to help students who require interventions.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials support teachers with guidance and direction to respond to individual students’ literacy needs based on tools and assessments appropriate to the grade level. In Unit 1, section “Opciones guiadas por el maestro,” the materials provide the teacher with reteaching strategies and lesson extensions to respond to individual student’s literacy needs. The quick check, “Comprobación rápida,” on section “Texto informativo,” determines if students show understanding or need support. The materials provide teacher guidance to differentiate based on the quick check data. For students struggling with informational text, the teacher reviews the topic by saying, “Vamos a repasar qué es un texto informativo. A diferencia de un cuento de ficción, un texto informativo da información real sobre un tema específico o explica un concepto.” The teacher then reviews the anchor chart and asks students to identify different types of text features they can use to find clues about the main ideas. In Unit 1, section “Responder y analizar,” students learn to use strategies to identify vocabulary words to help readers understand the text “Travesias pintorescas.” The teacher has two options to assess students' understanding. Section “Opciones de evaluación formativa” contains two formative assessment options for students. In option 1, students respond using newly acquired vocabulary as they complete a page in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante” and use text evidence in their answers. In option 2, students independently use text to find and list four to five unfamiliar domain-specific words related to artists, art, or journeys from their independent reading texts. Students then write these words in new sentences. If a student is struggling to use strategies to identify vocabulary words, the teacher revisits instruction for developing vocabulary during the Small Groups using the lesson in the teacher materials. If students show understanding, the teacher extends instruction for developing vocabulary during Small Groups using the teacher’s materials.
The materials include tools to support and direct teachers to assess students’ growth in and mastery of foundational skills. Each week, at the beginning of each word study lesson, students’ prior knowledge is assessed. Teachers use the student data in this assessment to guide instruction. At the end of the week, on day 5, teachers use “Práctica Semanal de los estándares: Estudio de Palabras” to assess student progress on the weekly focus spelling pattern. Teachers use this student data to determine which students need continued practice and intervention. Assessments provide teachers with word study and language mastery data per student and provide the next steps for reteaching or extending their knowledge. For example, in Unit 5, Week 5, students learn augmentative and diminutive suffixes. The materials include a weekly check to assess student understanding of suffixes. Students read the sentence: “Creo que lloverá, si no mira ese nubarrón.” Then they answer the following question: “¿Qué significa la palabra nubarrón en esta oración?” The materials provide the following responses: “(F) Nube grande, oscura y densa; (G) Nube muy pequeña de color blanco; Tratamiento de cariño con las nubes; (J)Ninguna de las tres opciones anteriores es correcta.” Weekly assessments are provided for “Estudio de Palabras and Lenguaje y Normas.” The materials provide directions for assessing the students. For example, the “Práctica Semanal de los estándares: Estudio de Palabras” provides the teacher with specific instructions: “Al maestro: Proyecte las siguientes diapositivas para ofrecer una práctica adicional para el examen de TEKS. La respuesta correcta aparece en las ‘notas para el presentador’ debajo de cada diapositiva.”
The “Guía de intervención” includes “Monitor Progress assessments” and “Checkpoint Assessments," “Punto de evaluación." For example, under the section “Phonics, Morphology and Spelling,” the materials contain six lessons. Lesson 3 focuses on orthographic stress. “Acentuación.” There are three practices in the lesson, and a “Monitor Progress” assessment follows each. The materials provide the following teacher guidance for “Practice 1 assessment”: “Display or distribute Página del estudiante E42. With students, read aloud the listed words and then sort them into agudas, graves o esdrújulas.” Teacher and students analyze the words. Then, the teacher displays a second set of words that differ in the position of the orthographic stress, for example, “publico, público, publicó.” Students and teachers discuss the different meanings of the words. After the practice, there is a Monitor Progress activity. The materials provide the following teacher guidance: “Display the following sentence from the bottom of Página del estudiante E42. Ask students to place the missing stress marks: Soy hábil para la música, ya que puedo cantar una canción y tocar el acordeón al mismo tiempo.” The materials provide teacher guidance and direction to respond to individual student’s literacy needs. The guidance states: “If students have difficulty placing the missing stress marks, then have them read each word aloud, say if it is aguda, grave, or esdrújula, and then focus on the last letter to establish if it needs a stress mark or not.” After the six lessons in the section, the materials offer the “Checkpoint Assessment.” Teachers administer the checkpoint, and students decode multisyllabic words and words with Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes. The materials provide the following teacher guidance: “Voy a mostrarte cinco palabras. Escribe cada palabra y usa las vocales para separarla en sílabas. Luego, usa lo que sabes sobre las partes de las palabras para leer cada palabra en voz alta correctamente.” Teachers display the words, and students decode the words. The guide provides the key for the practice and guidance on how to interpret the results: “An overall score of 80% correct is typically considered mastery. Use your judgment and your individual students’ needs as well to determine skill mastery.” The materials provide ideas on how to proceed depending on the assessment data: “If you determine that students have not demonstrated sufficient mastery of one or more skills, then review the skill(s), going back to the lessons to reteach and scaffold as needed.”
The instructional materials provide opportunities to practice and develop oral and silent reading fluency. The materials provide students with opportunities to read grade-level texts to make meaning and build foundational skills. The materials include explicit instruction in fluency, including phrasing, intonation, expression, and accuracy through read-alouds, small groups, and independent reading. Materials provide progress monitoring assessments for teachers to regularly monitor and provide corrective feedback on phrasing, intonation, expression, and accuracy.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
In the “Guía del maestro para la intervención,” the materials include a variety of texts to provide students opportunities to practice both oral and silent reading. This intervention guide provides opportunities to develop reading skills, make meaning of grade-level texts, and practice fluency components over the course of the year. In the “Guía del maestro para la intervención,” the teacher models how to fluently read a passage containing interrogative and exclamatory sentences. Students follow along and give feedback on the teacher´s reading. The materials provide the following teacher guidance: “Read the text aloud and have students follow along. Invite students to give you feedback on your reading. Then say: Mientras lean en voz alta hoy, van a practicar la auto verificación para asegurarse de que están leyendo con precisión. También van a practicar el uso de la puntuación como ayuda para leer a un ritmo adecuado. Demonstrate the latter by rereading the second paragraph aloud at a natural speed, pointing out the commas and periods as you come to them. Then read the paragraph again in a rushed way, running the words and sentences together instead of pausing for punctuation. Have students discuss which reading was easier to follow.” The “Guía del maestro para la intervención” offers additional practice activities on fluency. For this activity, the teacher reads a passage aloud, modeling proper pronunciation and pacing. Students read it along with the teacher and then on their own. The materials offer the following guidance for a “Choral Reading Routine”: “Use the following routine to have students practice reading accurately. Read Together—Have students read aloud with you. Reread—Have students read aloud without you. For optimal fluency, students should reread the text two more times. Provide Feedback—Listen to students and provide feedback.”
The materials provide students opportunities to read grade-level texts as they make meaning and build foundational skills. The materials include the booklet “Lecturas independientes.” This supplemental booklet provides weekly opportunities for students to practice the comprehension focus and high-frequency words covered in “miVisión Lectura.” The book contains three “Lecturas independientes” tests for each week. Teachers use these independently from the reading workshop text selection in miVisión Lectura. Each test includes a “Lectura independiente” leveled selection and related comprehension items that assess the weekly comprehension focus, associated TEKS, and previously learned skills. Across each unit’s “Lecturas independientes” selections, high-frequency words are strategically placed within the text to give students an additional opportunity to practice reading these words in context for meaning and fluency.
The material provides support and opportunities for evidence-based fluency instruction. In Unit 4, Week 3, the teacher reads the selection “La libertad de expresión en la escuela.” The teacher models fluent reading and asks students to pay attention to prosody, expression, and specifically how they read the headings, bulleted lists, boldface, and italics. The materials provide the following student guidance: “La fluidez tiene que ver con entender el significado, no con leer rápido.” The teacher emphasizes how important it is to use an appropriate speaking rate when reading grade-level texts. In the next section, “Texto informativo,” the teacher encourages students to practice reading aloud with their partners completing the fluency activity in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante.” The materials provide the following student guidance: “Cuando lees textos en voz alta, prácticas leer con fluidez. La fluidez es la capacidad de leer un texto con precisión, buena dicción, y ritmo.”
The materials provide explicit instruction in fluency, including phrasing, intonation, expression, and accuracy. Each week includes a section called “Comprensión Auditiva.” In this section, the teacher provides specific instruction on fluency. For example, in Unit 5, Week 5, the materials provide the following teacher guidance for the fluency lesson: “Después de completar la Rutina de lectura en voz alta, presente ‘La deforestación debe controlarse.’ Demuestre cómo leer en voz alta un párrafo, y pida a los estudiantes que presten atención a su pronunciación y a la precisión con que lee. Pida a los estudiantes a que, en parejas, practiquen leer pronunciando correctamente las palabras y leyendo con precisión. Recuérdales que deben evitar saltear, reemplazar o añadir palabras.”
The materials include a separate assessment guide that supports the teacher in understanding the informal assessment tools included. The materials provide guidance to monitor progress within the supplemental guides and ensure consistent and accurate administration of the diagnostic tools. The materials include formative and summative assessment measures designed to be ongoing, strategic, and purposeful. The materials include tools that support the teacher in gathering information in various settings and are designed to measure what students can do independently and what they can do with assistance from the teacher. The materials include opportunities for the students to track their own progress and growth.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials provide assessments and tools that support the teacher in gathering information in a variety of settings. The teacher can gather comprehensive assessment data to inform instructional pathways using these embedded daily routines and multiple digital/print assessment resources. The materials provide a variety of assessments throughout the lesson and unit cycle. Some examples include Quick Checks, Assess and Differentiate, Assess Understanding, Observational Assessments, Writing rubrics, Progress check-ups, Unit tests, Weekly Standards Practice, and Baseline: Beginning, Middle, and End of year assessments.
The materials provide various opportunities for teachers to assess using informal assessments. Throughout the daily lessons of the writing workshop, teachers confer with students about their writing. The materials provide “Conferring Checklists” so that teachers can assess student writing skills and determine where students need additional support. On day 5 of The Writing Workshop lesson structure, students take a writing assessment. Teachers use students' published pieces as the unit’s assessment and use the designated rubric to grade the writing. In Week 5 of the Writing Workshop, students write about an on-demand prompt to apply their cumulative learnings from the unit. This prompt requires them to synthesize their understanding of the genre, author’s purpose and craft, and writing conventions in one succinct piece of writing without a teacher’s support.
The materials provide a variety of diagnostic tools. The “Guia para grupos pequeños” provides teachers with various examples of how they can better manage their record-keeping of student data to assess and learn more about each student’s needs. The materials state, “Using recording sheets can help you avoid jotting notes on little scraps of paper that you then spend time transferring to another location. Select recording sheets that best match your needs and record the results digitally or keep the recording sheets together in a binder or on a clipboard that you keep handy.”
The material includes a diagnostic tool that measures students’ academic skills at the beginning, middle, and end of the school years in the areas of “fonetica,” “vocabulario,” and “comprension de lectura.” Each diagnostic tool contains 25 questions. When students complete each assessment, teachers obtain a summary report of the percentage of questions answered correctly. The report provides students with a list of skills they need practice with and skills successfully completed.
The questions and tasks included in the diagnostic are mirrored in practice opportunities with teacher guidance to ensure that students have sufficient practice to achieve the skill prior to being re-assessed. For example, in the “lecturas independientes,” the teacher has the option to assign students practice for “lecturas independientes” in three levels: “Desarrollo, al nivel y avanzado.” Every week in the unit, the teacher assigns a test for each level that provides student practice to achieve mastery of the skill prior to being reassessed at the end in the unit test.
The materials include tools for students to track their own progress and growth. At the beginning of each unit, in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante,” students have a rubric titled “Metas de la unidad.” This rubric contains the learning goals for that unit. The rubric indicates a goal for each literacy component: “Taller de lectura; Puente entre lectura y escritura; Taller de escritura; Tema de la unidad.” Students rate themselves on a scale of one to five, with five being the highest, for each indicator. The materials guide students with, “Rellena el círculo que indica cuán bien cumples con cada meta en este momento.”
The materials provide guidance to ensure consistent and accurate administration of diagnostic tools. The materials provide a teacher’s manual for each supplemental assessment guide. This manual offers teacher guidance on when and how assessments should be administered. For example, at the beginning of the year, the materials suggest that teachers administer a beginning of the year assessment, “Examen inicial.” The teacher’s manual for this assessment provides the following teacher guidance: “You may wish to begin the school year with the Baseline Test. The Grade 5 Baseline Test is designed to help you determine students’ instructional needs at the beginning of the school year and to establish a ‘starting point’ for each student.” The materials provide the following administration instructions for the reading comprehension section of the beginning of the year assessment, “Explain to students that they will read two selections and answer questions about them. Tell students they should read each selection and answer the questions that follow before moving on to the next selection.”
The materials include guidance for teachers to analyze and respond to data from diagnostic tools. The materials include several separate supplemental assessment guides that support the teacher in understanding benchmark data and provide guidance in identifying areas of need for instructional focus and differentiation. The materials include additional small group resources to reinforce the development of literacy skills. The materials include guidance that supports the teacher in utilizing results from various assessments to support purposeful planning. The materials include guidance for administrators to support teachers in analyzing and responding to data.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials include guidance that supports the teacher in utilizing various assessments to support purposeful planning. The material provides a progress monitoring resource, “Verificaciones del Progreso,” that includes a wide array of formal, multiple-choice classroom assessments that support instruction. These assessments are designed to measure students’ progress in vocabulary, word study, comprehension, and writing. Each week of instruction provides these check-ups. The resource includes recommendations to support teachers in adjusting or planning instruction to meet student needs based on literacy skills or areas students scored low on for the weekly progress monitoring or check-ups. This supplemental assessment guide includes guidance that supports the teacher in understanding how to score the assessments: “When you have finished scoring a student’s Progress Check-Up, complete the appropriate row on the Student Progress Chart and the Class Progress Chart. Doing so allows you to keep track of students’ total scores as well as their scores on each of the individual sections of the assessment. The chart can also help you monitor students’ progress throughout the year.” The answer key provides the teacher with the standards that align with each assessment, allowing them to use this data to reteach content that students have not yet mastered. The materials state, “Refer to the Item Analysis charts that begin on page T9 to identify what each item assesses and the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) standard or standards aligned to each item.” When a student receives a low score or shows a lack of adequate progress during the “Verificaciones del Progreso,” the material guides teachers to select the appropriate level of intervention using “MiEnfoque de intervención,” and provide students with additional opportunities to practice and reinforce their vocabulary, word study, comprehension, and writing skills. The materials provide the following description of the supplemental “MiEnfoque de intervención”: “miEnfoque Intervención is designed to help teachers target and address students’ intervention needs; whether students require minor or intensive remediation.” The intervention teacher resource guide provides “targeted instruction that focuses on development of skills and strategies to help students achieve on-grade-level expectations. The lessons are tied to state Spanish Language Arts standards. Lessons can be used flexibly, based on students’ differing instructional needs and rates of mastery.”
The materials support teachers with guidance to respond to individual students’ needs in all domains, based on student progress measures appropriate to the developmental level. The materials provide a small group supplemental resource, “Guia para grupos pequeños,” which provides teachers with the foundational knowledge and understanding, stating, “These groups change and shift depending on diagnosed needs. The teacher makes the lessons relevant to what students are reading and writing. The instruction follows a predictable structure and teaches strategies explicitly.” Materials also explain why small groups are necessary, “Research shows that small group instruction helps students acquire and master skills, but just teaching students to read and write isn’t enough.” The small group intervention guide supports the teacher in how to use data to plan for small group instruction with, “By identifying a student’s strengths, you can use them to build on new skills. Identifying a challenging area will help you know what gaps you may need to fill.”
The materials provide a supplemental intervention guide that assesses fluency. “Cold Reads for Fluency and Comprehension is designed to provide differentiated reading comprehension practice using selections that students have not seen previously.” The materials provide leveled reading passages. Students read the passage, and the teacher listens and marks miscues. At the end of the reading, the teacher notes the time it took for the students to read the passage. These diagnostic tools yield meaningful information for teachers to use when planning instruction and differentiation. The materials provide the following teacher guidance: ”As the student reads orally, mark any miscues or errors he or she makes during the reading. Count the total number of words the student reads in a minute. Subtract any words he or she reads incorrectly. Record the words correct per minute score on the test. The formula is: total # of words read — # of errors = words correct per minute (wcpm).
Through “Realize,” administrators can customize and differentiate their dashboard, focusing on teacher support. Among other things, these options allow educators to view standards mastery and usage across the classroom, create teacher professional development and training plans, and streamline school data analysis.
The materials include recommendations to support teachers in adjusting instruction to meet student needs based on data from developmentally appropriate literacy skills assessments. The “miEnfoque guía de intervención” provides comprehension intervention in two parts. Part one focuses on Foundational Skills, per national and state English Language Arts standards, and provides in-depth instruction, practice, and assessment in Print Concepts; Phonological Awareness; Phonics, Morphology, and Spelling; Fluency; and Vocabulary. The second part “focuses on national and state standards for Reading Literature, Reading Informational and Argumentative Text, Writing, and Language and Conventions.”
The materials provide frequent, embedded opportunities for monitoring progress. The materials include suggested timelines for checking progress that align with the scope of the materials. The materials include teacher guidance for tracking progress throughout the units. Through reading and writing conferences, the materials provide embedded systematic observations to track progress and assess skills in authentic situations. The materials guide teachers to administer progress monitoring assessments at an appropriate frequency for age and skill development.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials include suggested timelines for checking progress that align with the scope of the materials. The progress monitoring document “Verificaciones del progreso” offers this teacher guidance: “The Verificaciones del progreso should be administered at the end of the instruction for each week. These assessments are not intended to be timed. However, for the purposes of scheduling, planning, and practicing for timed-assessment situations, the Verificaciones del progreso can be administered in 45 minutes (approximately 15 minutes for the first two sections, 15 minutes for the Comprensión de lectura section, and 15 minutes for the Escritura section).”
The materials include teacher tips for tracking progress throughout the units for specific skills to monitor student growth. For example, the materials include reminders within lessons of activities that provide authentic opportunities for assessing student learning. In each unit, the materials provide teacher guidance on when and where they can measure student growth. In each grade, new content instruction is followed by informal assessment activities and guidance for teachers on what to do next depending on the students´ performance in the activity and assessment. For example, in Unit 1, “Comprobación rápida,” the materials provide a quick check to determine if students can identify the characteristics of nonfiction texts. The teacher determines this through their observations during partner discussions, reviewing their independent work, and during reading conferences as they read nonfiction texts. If students struggle, the materials offer the following guidance: “Repase la enseñanza sobre textos informativos en grupos pequeños de la pp. T28.” For students that show understanding, the materials offer the following guidance: “Pida a los estudiantes que siguen practicando las estrategias para leer textos informativos usando la sección de Lectura independiente y las Actividades de lectoescritura en Grupos pequeños de la pp. T29.”
The materials recommend informal assessments that allow teachers to observe and document children’s learning and behaviors over time. The “Guía de evaluación“ addresses the importance of ongoing assessments and offers the following teacher guidance: “Assessment should be considered an ongoing activity. Teachers should also use a variety of other assessment tools each day to monitor student work. Formative assessment and instruction go hand-in-hand. Every observation you make, or each type of data you collect during instruction, can serve to inform your assessment. Formative assessment should not be seen as an entity separate from instruction, but rather as an output from instructional time in your classroom.” The materials provide multiple opportunities for students to get feedback from students on their progress.
The materials include various progress monitoring tools as informal and formal assessments and provide teacher guidance for teachers to determine the best frequency for assessing student progress. At the beginning of the year, the materials suggest that teachers administer the “Examen inicial,” “a diagnostic assessment that helps determine student areas of strength and need at the beginning of the school year.” To assess reading fluency, the materials suggest that teachers administer “Lecturas independientes,” which are “formative fluency checks that will help determine each student’s word count per minute, vocabulary acquisition, and comfort with comprehension.” To provide teachers with a quick check of student understanding during weekly lessons, the materials suggest that teachers administer, “Práctica semanal de los estándares,...a formative assessment that provides a quick snapshot of student progress with the skills, concepts, and strategies that they have been taught during weekly lessons.” At the end of the units, the materials suggest that teachers administer, “Exámen de las unidad,...a summative assessment that provides data about how students perform with the skills, strategies, and concepts learned in each unit.” At the end of each unit, the materials provide a summative assessment in the form of an inquiry project, “Proyecto de indagación.” This assessment “requires students to apply skills, concepts, and strategies in complex and authentic situations.” During the middle of the year, the materials suggest that teachers administer the “Examen de medio año...a formative assessment that will assess the skills the students have learned during the first half of the year.” This test helps teachers recalibrate understanding of where students are and how to instruct them for the rest of the year. At the end of the year, the materials suggest that teachers administer the “Examen de fin de año,...a summative assessment that assesses the skills students have learned throughout the course of the year.” This data can serve as a baseline for students as they enter the next grade.
The materials include guidance, scaffolds, supports, and extensions that maximize student learning potential. Activities are provided for students who struggle to master grade-level content as well as for students who have achieved grade-level mastery of content. Additional enrichment activities for all levels of learners are provided in the material.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The instructional model used in the materials provides opportunities for teachers to address all levels of learners during various points within the instructional model, such as independent reading, guided reading, small group instruction, strategy groups, book clubs, and conferences. For each of the activities within the instructional model, materials provide guidance for teachers to meet each student’s individual needs as readers and writers. The Program Overview Guide describes a “Comprehensive and Ongoing System of Assessment.” The materials provide guidance to scaffold, support, and extend all students’ learning potential. Every unit´s structure has these components: “Lectura Atenta, Evaluación y Diferenciación, Puente entre Taller de Lectura y Escritura (Escritura y Lenguaje y normas) y Taller de Escritura.” In every unit, teachers have a script on how to present the content within each of these components and modify the type of questions to support the needs of on-level and developing students. The materials provide summative, formative, and project-based assessments. For example, in each lesson throughout the year, the materials include a formative assessment: “Quick Check." In this section, materials provide a guiding question and prompt the teacher to pause to “Notice and Assess.” Based on the responses from students to the guiding question, materials provide teachers with guidance on the next steps for “students that struggle” and “students that show understanding.” Additionally, materials provide “Progress Check-ups” to monitor student progress through “quick and easy weekly checks” as well as fluency passages that “Check students´ fluency and comprehension at a variety of levels.” This “multi-tiered system of intervention” provides teachers with guidance, scaffolds, supports, and extensions that maximize students' learning potential. The materials provide additional enrichment and extensions that maximize student learning potential: “Each unit culminates with a Project-Based Inquiry. The project embeds the unit theme and TEKS in a creative, rigorous, and authentic way.”
In the “Guia del Maestro,” all weekly lessons include a section: “Grupos Pequeños.” This section provides two options of text for three different levels of readers. The texts meet the needs of readers that are on-level and those that are still approaching grade-level text. If the level the teacher needs is not shown in the “Guía del Maestro,” the materials provide guidance on where to find them: “Para seleccionar otros textos que se ajusten al enfoque de enseñanza y al rango de enseñanza de los grupos, usa la función Búsqueda de libros por nivel en PearsonRealize.com.” For each level of text, the materials provide guidance to teachers as to what skill to teach with each text and the guiding questions to use: “Usa estas preguntas para apoyar la enseñanza de las mini lecciones de esta semana.” In each lesson, the materials provide the section “Evaluación y Diferenciación,” where teachers can find options to support students that have not yet mastered the content. For example, in Unit 1, Week 1, students learn to: “Reconocer las características y estructura del texto informativo.” In the sections titled, “Al Nivel y Avanzado,” the teacher asks students to apply what was taught in the mini lesson: “Pida a los estudiantes que usen el mapa para generar preguntas sobre lugares nuevos que les gustaría visitar.” For the students that are on-level or advanced, they work on activities to apply what they already learned about the features of nonfiction text. Students use the map in the text to find information and create questions. In the section “Actividad de intervención,” students that have not yet mastered the content are not at the application stage yet and they have to review and understand the features of a nonfiction text: “enseña las características de la no ficción narrativa.”
The materials provide activities for students who already mastered the content. The units provide practice opportunities for the students to demonstrate the newly acquired knowledge taught in the mini-lesson. For example, in Unit 1, Week 3, the materials include guidance for on-level instruction. After the teacher completes the read-aloud, “Lectura Atenta,” they tell the student to apply what they learned about Point of View: “Comprender el punto de vista.” Using an independent reading text, the student completes an additional practice to review and practice who is telling the story.
Every week, the materials provide guidance for teachers to confer with students. This section, “Conferenciar,” provides enrichment for all learners. The materials provide teacher instructions for the conference: “Posibles instrucciones para la conferencia” and a possible teaching point: “Posible tema de enseñanza." In the section “Posibles instrucciones para la conferencia,” the materials provide the teacher with several possible questions to use when conferring with the students. Using an independent text at the readers’ level, the teacher holds a one-on-one conference with all students to discuss, apply, and extend the skill taught in that week’s lesson. For example in Unit 4, Week 2, “Conferenciar” instructs the teacher: “Pida a los estudiantes que le digan algunas de las palabras precisas que el autor usó para describir a los personajes y cómo determinaron el significado de las palabras poco comunes a medida que leían.” In “Posibles instrucciones para la conferencia,” the teacher can choose from two questions: “¿Qué palabras usó el autor para describir a los personajes, los ambientes, y los sucesos?” and “¿Cómo determinaron el significado de las palabras poco comunes?” Having two questions, one requiring a higher skill level, allows the teacher to use these questions with all levels of students.
In every unit´s Week 6, there is a Project-Based Inquiry (PBI), “Proyecto de Indagación,” where all students apply their understanding of the unit skills and strategies. This project provides all students with a real-world situation to solve as a team, putting into practice collaboration skills. The materials include activities that allow students to explore and apply new learning in a variety of ways. In this Project-Based Inquiry, students are divided into mixed-abilities groups to explore, plan, and inquire into an essential question. After students conduct research, they present their projects to the class: “The Project/Based Inquiry (PBI) combines inquiry and research skills to create a real/world, authentic product supporting the academic, social/emotional development in learners.” In every unit, the learning activities in the materials follow logical sequences that allow for depth and focus, so students spend sustained time exploring or applying a new skill. For example, at the end of Unit 5, students use what they learned about cycles (rock cycle, water cycle, erosion) through informational and argumentative texts to research the essential question, “¿Cómo cambian los elementos de los sistemas?” During this week of research, students, “estudiarán para comprender el efecto del medioambiente en sus vidas.” The materials provide leveled research articles so that all levels of learners can participate in the research process.
The materials provide guidance and support that help teachers meet the diverse learning needs of all students through instructional methods that appeal to a variety of learning interests and needs. The materials provide routines and activities designed specifically for large and small group instruction. The materials support multiple types of practices and provide guidance and structures to achieve effective implementation.
Evidence includes but is not limited to the following:
In each of the lessons, the lesson cycle moves from teacher-led instruction to students independently working on new concepts. Teachers support the learning of the whole group before offering collaborative and independent practice opportunities. Every unit introduces the literacy skill of the week with a mini-lesson and read-aloud, “Lectura en voz alta.” During the whole group mini-lesson, the teacher models or demonstrates a new skill or concept. The materials provide activities specifically designed to practice the use of literacy skills in large groups and independently. Large group activities include read alouds, literature circles, and book clubs. In every unit, the materials include recommendations for meaningful activities for students to independently practice literacy skills through independent reading, learning centers, or collaborative groups.
The materials guide teachers in selecting appropriate teaching strategies depending on individual students’ literacy learning goals and needs. For each reading selection, the Teacher’s Edition offers a detailed plan for teachers to guide think-alouds and prompt students with questions to guide conversations. The materials include clear guidance to support teacher understanding of developmentally appropriate multimodal instructional strategies throughout the units. This guidance is in the sidebars of the Teacher’s Edition as tips that support lesson delivery, including visuals, kinesthetic, tactile, or auditory examples. Guidance is also included in an alternate guide for supporting all learners, “Guía para grupos pequeños,” which includes multiple ideas on appropriate multimodal instructional strategies to support all learners. In every unit, teachers implement small groups according to student needs and skills.
In every unit, the materials use multiple instructional approaches to engage students in the mastery of the content. These approaches vary between explicit, hands-on, or collaborative discovery approaches. In Unit 1, the lessons incorporate a variety of different instructional approaches. For example, in Week 1, students first read an infographic, “Inmigración y expansión en los Estados Unidos.” Students read the text, observe the pictures, and study the timeline as they engage in a collaborative discussion to learn more about how immigration has changed over time. After the discussion, students use a quick write to respond to the Week 1 question: “What motivates people to leave the place they call home?” During shared reading, students listen to the teacher read Pueden llamarme Joe. As they listen, students use a T-chart to identify text evidence that supports the main ideas in the text.
The materials include support for teachers in understanding how and when to use developmentally appropriate multimodal teaching strategies to support all learners. The materials provide a video to introduce the theme and concepts of the unit. Teachers receive guidance for watching and discussing the videos in the section, “Videos del lanzamiento de la unidad.” Unit 3 includes the video “Reflecting On Our Lives” to introduce the weekly question: “¿How do experiences of others reflect our own?” As the students watch the movie, they pause for a “turn and talk” to discuss what they have learned from the video. The video supports all learners by making connections with cultural traditions students experience with their families.
Teachers use multiple instructional approaches to engage students, and in Unit 5, students collaborate to create a public service announcement (PSA) about the environment. During this project, students compare across texts, explore, plan, collaborate, research, celebrate, and reflect on the final product of the project. Students have a variety of opportunities to collaborate by making a plan about the information they need to include in a PSA. Students read several argumentative articles in the planning phase to understand the structure and characteristics of argumentative texts. In the research phase, students collaborate to decide on a topic, generate inquiry questions, and conduct the research for what they will include in their PSA. During the creation of the project, students use hands-on activities to manipulate audio and video devices to record their PSA. At the end of the project, through writing and peer review, teachers guide students to reflect on the creation and presentation of the PSA. The materials guide teachers with, “Permita a las parejas de estudiantes presentar sus proyectos a otros grupos, Pidales que anoten las reacciones, preguntas, y comentarios de sus compañeros.”
The materials do not include supports for English Learners to meet grade-level learning expectations. The materials do not provide accommodations for English language learners with various levels of English language proficiency. The materials do not encourage strategic use of students’ primary language to develop linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic skills in the target language (e.g., to enhance vocabulary development).
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials do not include linguistic accommodations for English learners with various levels of English language proficiency. The materials are Spanish, and there is no guidance or support for English instruction. Units 1–5 in the materials support the acquisition of reading comprehension skills through texts in Spanish and support Spanish language acquisition. There is no evidence that the materials provide accommodations for English learners with various levels of English proficiency. The materials do not encourage strategic use of students’ primary language to develop linguistic, affective, cognitive, and academic skills in English.
The materials include a year-long plan with practice and review opportunities that support instruction. The year-long plan is cohesive and builds on students’ concept development. The materials vertically align instruction so that concepts build from unit to unit. The materials provide a spiral review and continuous practice of knowledge and skills throughout the curriculum.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials include a plan that supports efficient planning for teachers by identifying learning goals and the content focus within each unit. Within each unit, the materials provide opportunities for the review and practice of skills taught in previous units. The activities provided are clearly connected to the focus strategies and content within each unit and build upon knowledge taught in previous units. The materials include guidance to support teacher understanding in concept development. For example, the daily lesson clearly identifies the “big idea” that will be explicitly taught to students with a definition and provides examples and non-examples to aid teacher and student understanding. In the ”Guía del maestro” at the beginning of every unit, the materials provide a section titled “Vistazo a la unidad.” This section introduces the unit goals and presents a clear content plan and how the concepts connect between reading, writing, vocabulary, spelling, grammar, and reading/writing connections.
The “Guía del maestro” provides a unit plan, “Plan de destraezas,” at the beginning of each unit. This section provides teachers with the focus skill and standard for each content area for the five weeks within the unit. For Unit 1, in the “Taller de lectura,” students analyze main ideas and details. In Week 2, students analyze text features. In Week 4, students understand points of view. In Week 5, students analyze text structure. In Week 6, “Proyecto de indagación,” the materials vertically align instruction. Students use what they learn about text structure, point of view, and the author's purpose in reading to help them create an argumentative travel brochure.
The materials include activities that support repeated opportunities to learn and practice using foundational literacy skills. For example, the materials include recommendations for the review and practice of specific foundational literacy skills. The “TEKS Correlation Guide” within the program overview outlines when standards are introduced and when they are spiraled and reviewed across units. Activities included in the materials have various methods of review and practice embedded. For example, in Unit 2, Week 3, section “Estudio de palabras,” the materials include an activity to teach accentuation of words with stress on the last syllable. Students draw a two-column chart on their paper. The teacher calls out a list of words. Students classify the words in two groups using the chart, according to whether they have a graphic accent or not: “Pida a los estudiantes que hagan una tabla de dos columnas. Explique qué dirá en voz alta una lista de palabras y que deberán usar la tabla para clasificar las palabras en grupos, según lleven o no tilde.”
The materials provide spiraled review and practice of knowledge and skills taught in previous units. In the word study and spelling sections of the units, the weekly structure of the lesson plan includes a spiraled review on day 4. For example, in Unit 5, day 4, section, “Ortografía,” the materials provide a “Repaso en espiral.” Students review the spelling of words with the Latin roots audi, rupt, scrib, and spec. The teacher displays the sentence, “Mi maestra me dijo que descriva mi casa.” The teacher calls on a volunteer to read the sentence then identify and correct the misspelled word. Students then review the spelling words from the previous week. Students create flashcards and quiz each other to make sure they can still read and spell the words correctly.
The materials include implementation and support for teachers and administrators. The materials provide a TEKS-aligned scope and sequence outlining the essential knowledge and skills taught throughout the year of instruction. The materials include support to help teachers implement the materials as intended. The materials provide resources and guidance to help administrators support teachers in implementing the materials as intended.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
In the program overview titled “Introducción a miVisión,” the teachers have access to different documents that provide an outline of the essential knowledge and skills taught across the units and grade levels. The document “K–8 TEKS Vertical Alignment” provides teachers with an overview of the skills taught in each unit and includes the grade level where the skills are “Introduced, Continued, Mastered, and Maintained.” The materials include guidance that supports the teacher in understanding the progression of literacy skills across a specific grade level. This guidance supports teachers in designing instruction that fosters optimal development and learning. For example, the “Detailed scope and sequence” for each grade level provides the teacher with the Unit and Week breakdown, including focused questions, reading skills, word study, spelling, language, and norms, all divided by Reading Workshop, Writing Workshop, and Reading-Writing workshop bridge. At the end of every teacher’s guide is a section titled “Contenido y Secuencia.” This section provides a detailed breakdown of the Reading Workshop, Reading-Writing Bridge, Writing Workshop, Oral language, and Research project. This scope and sequence outlines the specific areas and skills included in the materials and how they build across grade levels.
The materials include supports to help teachers implement the materials as intended. They include an overview of how they provide support to teachers, describing the resources the materials contain. For example, in the program overview titled “Introducción a miVisión,” the materials present a “TE Getting Started Guide” to support teachers in the first steps of using the materials. This section includes an explanation of the structure of each unit and its components. This explanation helps make the materials easily accessible so that teachers can find what they need quickly and easily: “The myView Literacy Teacher’s Edition helps you find what you need quickly and easily. The pages are arranged in instructional chunks by the week: Foundational Skills; Text Comprehension; Language Arts; Writing.” The starting guide explains how the materials are organized, what can be found in each component, and how the pages are arranged for lesson planning. Additionally, in the preliminary pages of every teacher edition, there is a section titled “Workshop Resources” that provides an overview of the print and online materials to teach the Reading and Writing Workshops.
The materials include an overview at the beginning of each unit. This unit overview is titled “Vistazo a la unidad.” This section highlights the skills to be taught, the goals of the unit, the essential question, theme, and genre focus. For example, for Unit 1, the theme of the unit is, “Colaborar con otros para determinar cómo nos cambian los viajes.” The essential question is, “¿Cómo nos cambian los viajes?” The unit goal for “Taller de lectura” is “Aprender sobre diferentes tipos de textos informativos y comprender su estructura y sus características.” The unit goal for “Taller de escritura” is “Usar elementos de la escritura narrativa para escribir una narración personal.”
The materials include five units; each unit has six weeks of lessons and activities, providing the teacher with 30 weeks of classroom instruction. The materials provide resources that allow the teacher flexibility to move between resources, plan lessons, and engage learners. The Week-at-a-Glance provides a menu of instructional resources for the week. This planner can be used to “Plug resources into a district pacing guide; Match whole group instruction to student needs; Tailor the resources to meet your instructional framework.” The “Suggested Weekly Plan” provides a suggestion for how to sequence instruction, including: “Identifying optional content; Ensuring standards coverage; Allowing flexibility to spend time where it is needed.” The materials and activities directly connect to literacy instruction and allow the teacher to meet literacy skills learning goals through whole group instruction, scaffolded experiences, small groups, and one-on-one conferencing appropriate for each grade level.
The materials in the Guía de evaluación provide guidance that supports the teacher in understanding the progression of literacy skills across a specific grade level. The materials include baseline tests to determine the level of proficiency in concepts of print, letter recognition, listening comprehension, and phonological awareness. Each unit consists of a unit test to monitor skills and standards taught in the unit; skills and standards include high-frequency words, listening comprehension, phonics, phonological awareness, and writing. A middle-of-the-year test monitors skills and standards taught through Unit 3. The end-of-the-year test provides a final progress update for these same skills and standards.The materials offer a visual overview of skills as they are taught, supporting the teacher in planning for differentiated instruction for students who require support with a certain literacy skill through the TEKS-aligned scope and sequence, which outlines important details about the program. In addition, there are many supports to help teachers implement the materials as intended as well as additional supports to help administrators support teachers in this implementation. Also, the Plan de destrezas (Skills Overview) in the Teacher Edition provides a visual map of the skills throughout the week.The “End Matter” of the Teacher Edition and “myView Literacy Digital Resources” include a Contenido y secuencia (Scope and Sequence Chart), providing an outline of knowledge and skills taught in the program and the grade levels in which they are taught. The SavvasEasyBridge.com site provides support and tools specifically for administrators to manage teacher and student accounts for Savvas digital platforms. It provides user management and class roster synchronization tools to simplify learning platform setup tasks. The SavvasEasyBridge.com site also provides direct links to on-demand training, live webinars, best practices, and more.
The materials provide implementation guidance to meet variability in programmatic design and scheduling considerations. The materials are designed to allow the ability to incorporate the curriculum into district, campus, and teacher programmatic design and scheduling considerations. The materials provide guidance for strategic implementation. The materials provide materials that guide the instruction so that content is taught in a specific order, following a developmental progression.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials include guidance that supports teaching units when most appropriate to the classroom. The “Modelo pedagógico para el taller de lectura” includes “unidades de estudio” that include “pregunta esencial, tema y múltiples géneros.” The weekly plan and objectives include daily explicit and systematic instruction on foundational skills such as syllable patterns; prefixes and suffixes; Greek, Spanish, and Latin roots; and high-frequency words. The daily mini-lessons and read-think aloud activities teach essential TEKS-driven skills and elements of the unit genre. Lessons sections include: “Weekly question, theme, and genre that drives the instruction each week and leads up to the project-based Inquiry; Shared reading provides a time for guidance that fosters student engagement, participation, and collaboration; Close Reading gives students an opportunity to dive deeply into the text and annotate; Compare texts is an essential skill in which students draw connections across texts.”
The writing materials include strategic guidance for implementing the writing workshop, ensuring the sequence of the content taught is consistent with the developmental progression of the literacy skills specific to each grade level. The “Modelo pedagógico para el taller de escritura” contains “unidades de estudio: género y modo de escritura” with weekly mini-lesson focuses. Examples include: “Week 1—Immerse and Introduce; Week 2—Develop Elements; Week 3—Develop Structure; Week 4—Writer’s Craft; Week 5—Publish, Celebrate, Assess.”
Materials are designed to allow the ability to incorporate the curriculum into district, campus, and teacher programmatic design and scheduling considerations. The daily instructional plan includes whole group instruction (5–15 minutes) that includes mini-lessons on word work, genre, theme, comprehension, reflect, and share. Small group (25–30 minutes) teacher actions include “guided reading, strategy groups, intervention, conferring, fluency and on-level and advanced activities.” Student independent and collaborative actions include: “partner reading, independent reading, book club, literacy activities, and word work and the whole group share back (5 minutes).”
The material supports teachers by identifying and supporting students' developmental progression of content skills by sectioning instruction into steps, fostering independent writing. These sections include: “modeled writing, shared writing, guided writing, and independent writing. The instructional writing workshop daily plan includes mini-lessons led by teachers (5–15 minutes), independent writing practice (30–40 minutes), conferring (3–5 minutes per student), and share back (5 minutes).”
The materials include lesson preparation and internalization that is customizable for individual classroom needs. The online intervention guide contains a variety of fiction and nonfiction texts tied to Science and Social Studies that can be assigned to students individually. Examples include but not limited to: Una expedicion increible, Algo más que una mudanza, Soluciones de la naturaleza.” These texts come with a teacher guide for “Vocabulario academico” and lessons for teachers to guide instruction. The material allows for components of the content to be utilized based on district or school curriculum needs. Teachers can add materials to this section, rearrange the order of the lessons, and customize the scope and sequence to meet the needs of teacher planning and student skill levels. The digital resources include “Juegos de práctica,” which provide an additional option to reinforce and practice foundational skills. These games are “Mar de ortografía,” a spelling game designed to provide practice of spelling patterns and rules; “Las islas de las palabras,” a foundational skills practice game, and “La selva de los sonidos,” a game that provides practice in a variety of skills. These games are assigned and rearranged based on program designing and scheduling considerations. The digital resource “[Publisher] Realize” contains a program design that can be adjusted to align with district curriculum frameworks. The scope and sequence can be rearranged, units can be taught in a different order, and new materials can be uploaded and made available for students based on the LEA’s curriculum and instruction planning for the school year.
The materials provide some guidance on fostering connections between home and school. The materials provide minimal support for the development of strong relationships between teachers and families. Other than a few conversation starters, the materials do not provide specific activities for use at home to support students’ learning and development.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials provide some opportunities to foster the development of strong relationships between teachers and families. Located in the “Guia de Evaluacion,” teachers have access to tools that are specific to home school support. For example, teachers provide parents with a “Student Progress Chart” that tracks student growth toward mastery of grade-level skill development.
The materials provide few opportunities for activities to support students’ learning and development at home. The “miVision Lectura Conexión entre la escuela y el hogar” letters provide an overview directly to parents and guardians, including the unit topic, reading goals, writing goals, and how to help their student through conversation starters. However, the materials do not provide additional guidance or opportunities of activities for parents to apply at home to support student learning and development.
The visual design of the student and teacher materials is neither distracting nor chaotic. The materials include appropriate use of white space. The design, pictures, and graphics of the materials are supportive of student learning and facilitate engagement without being visually distracting.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
Both the teacher's guides and the student´s materials adhere to the “User Interface Design Guidelines.” The student's materials are designed with clear, designated places for important information, containing support with information that is clearly stated and easily identified on the pages. All across levels, the different sections in it are color-coded so that students can easily locate the information and skill they are working on during that unit.
The materials provide quality picture support in lesson resources. Every unit in the “Libro interactivo del estudiante” contains quality illustrations or pictures that support the passages in which they are embedded. In Unit 1, students read “El camino del hijo de papel.” This text explains Chinese immigration during the 1900s with many authentic photographs that help students understand the history of this time period. For example, the materials provide a photograph of what San Francisco looked like after the earthquake in 1906. This photograph supports student understanding of the destruction caused by the earthquake. The images in the passage facilitate student understanding of the information in the text and increase the interest in the content.
To support teacher understanding and navigation of the materials, the materials provide a “TE Getting Started Guide.” This guide is designed to give the teacher a quick overview of how the materials are organized, what is included in the materials, and the various components of the different sections of the materials. The Teacher Guide allows teachers to easily locate important information for lesson planning and implementation. The materials support easy navigation of resources. The materials are color-coded: “Green—Reading workshop; Light blue or Teal—Foundational skills; Yellow—Small group; Blue—Reading-Writing Bridge; Purple—Writing Workshop; Orange—Project-Based Inquiry/Assessment.” In Unit 3, “Plan de destrezas,” the material is separated into sections by colors. The reading section, “Taller de lectura,” is colored green, “Taller de escritura” is colored purple, and “Puentes entre los talleres de lectura y escritura” are colored blue. “El plan de destrezas” divides content from weeks 1–5, facilitating lesson planning. Week 6 includes an integration of the skills covered during these weeks and is colored orange to allow easy identification in the planning guide.
The visuals included are clear and concise. The visual design allows teachers to easily locate important information for lesson planning. At the beginning of each unit is a section titled “Vistazo a la unidad,” with a more detailed explanation of the content covered each week. The materials provide a clear and concise visual of a chart that breaks down what students learn each week in each content area. The chart is color-coded to match the colors of each section in the teacher materials. Examples of the content include but are not limited to: “Reading workshop: género, vocabulario, lectura atenta dia 3,4 y comparar textos; Reading-writing workshop bridge: vocabulario académico, estudio de palabras y leer como escritor; Writing workshop: introducción e inmersión, desarrollar los elementos, desarrollar la estructura, etc; Inquiry and research: Investigación y escritura.”
The student workbooks are neither distracting nor chaotic. In Unit 5, “Libro Interactivo del Estudiante,” the student materials provide an anchor chart to facilitate student learning about the structures of an informational text. The chart is colorful, clear, concise, and easily readable by students. The materials provide quality picture support in lesson resources. In this unit, students learn about “El Ciclo del Agua en la Tierra.” The selection provides visual supports for students to support comprehension of the text. For example, the materials provide color photographs that support the explanation of the water cycle. The materials provide a simplified water cycle diagram and a diagram to explain how condensation happens.
This item is not scored.
The materials provide guidance or recommendations on how they could be applied within a particular bilingual program model. The materials include an introduction with an overview and recommendations for implementation within a bilingual program model. The materials cite current, relevant research on Spanish literacy development and second language development and acquisition.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials provide recommendations on implementation that can be used within Texas-approved bilingual program models. The materials state that “regardless of the bilingual model used, the approach to literacy instruction generally falls into two categories: A sequential approach and an Integrated Approach.” In the “Sequential Approach,” literacy instruction is delivered in one language for an extended period of time, such as a week or two weeks, and then in the other language for the same period of time, before repeating the cycle. In an “Integrated Approach,” time is dedicated every day (or on alternate days) to literacy instruction in both languages. Many biliteracy program models also connect literacy instruction with the content-area curriculum in science, social studies, or math. The instructional design of miVisión allows for flexible use of both programs to fulfill a given school’s Spanish and English Language Arts curriculum needs within a range of program models, including ones that connect literacy with content-area instruction, regardless of whether the approach to Spanish and English literacy instruction is sequential or integrated.
The materials provide a ”Dual Language Program Planning Guide.” In this guide, the materials provide suggestions for selecting texts and mini-lessons from both programs to impart instruction for a 50/50 model. The guides offer suggested pacing for covering reading and writing workshop lessons in Spanish and English without repeating content in either language. The planning guides offer an at-a-glance view of all Spanish and English language arts and reading skills to be covered in two weeks (or ten days per selection per language). All planners call out skills that have cross-linguistic transfer into the partner language and may therefore be taught in either language. Also flagged are skills with limited or no cross-linguistic transfer and must therefore be taught explicitly in the given language to assure adequate student mastery. The materials suggest, “if you allocate 70%–90% of your instructional time to Spanish literacy, use some of that time to connect the myView unit themes and topics to specific content in your social studies, science, or math curriculum.”
The materials cite current, relevant research on Spanish literacy development and second language development and acquisition. The Professional Development Resources of the “Dual Language Educators’ Implementation Guide” includes an Articles section in Part I, where both program authors discuss the following topics: “Dual Language Instruction and Contrastive Analysis in the Elementary Grades by Richard Gómez Jr. and Using Concrete Materials to Create Engaging Early Childhood Environments for Dual Language Learners by María G. Arreguín-Anderson.” In these articles, the authors discuss the best strategies to assist native Spanish speakers in learning English as a second language. Part I of the “Dual Language Educators’ Implementation Guide” also includes “The Dual Language Toolkit” section, which offers additional background articles on time-tested and research-backed biliteracy development strategies that have been widely embraced by dual language teachers in a variety of instructional settings. Article topics include but are not limited to: “ Contrastive Analysis; Cognate Analysis; The Language Experience Approach; Developing Academic Vocabulary; Scaffolding Instruction for Diverse Learners.”
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The materials guide and support teachers in understanding how to connect Spanish and English instruction. The materials provide opportunities for students to make cross-linguistic connections. The materials allow for equitable instruction in both languages in terms of quality and quantity of materials. The materials provide guidance for teachers to support second language acquisition by making connections between the languages.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials support teachers in understanding the connection between content presented in each language and provide guidance on how to help students understand this connection. The materials provide an “Expert’s View Box” embedded into the lessons that explains the benefits of the cross-linguistic connections and provides recommendations to teachers. For example in Unit 1, Week 3, “Interacción con la fuente,” the expert María G. Arreguín-Anderson, Ed. D., from the University of Texas at San Antonio, suggests that “En los salones de clase que tienen diversidad lingüística y cultural, el uso de las diversas variantes del español genera oportunidades cruciales para que los estudiantes amplíen y enriquezcan su aprendizaje.” She stresses the importance of building a bridge or providing cross-language connections by paraphrasing and extending students’ contributions through modeling of standard academic language.
The materials include detailed and explicit guidance for teachers to support second language acquisition by making connections between the languages. For example, in Unit 1, Week 4, “Puente entre los talleres de lectura y escritura,” students learn about “lenguaje figurado.” In the section “Desarrollo del lenguaje espanol,” the teacher encourages Spanish speakers to apply their knowledge of their native language as a strategy to help them deduce the English cognates of words from the academic vocabulary. Materials state: “Anima a los hablantes de Español a aplicar el conocimiento de su lengua nativa como una estrategia para ayudarlos a deducir los equivalencias en inglés de las palabras del vocabulario académico.” The teacher points to the following cognates: “competencia/competition, costumbre/custom, ocasión/occasion, organización/organization.”
The materials highlight opportunities for students to make cross-linguistic connections. The materials provide a Cross-Linguistic Connection in the lesson portion of the materials through a call-out box that shows teachers how to make the connection to both languages during vocabulary instruction by addressing words that are cognates. In Unit 3, Week 5, “Reflexionar y comentar,” the lesson contains an expert’s view box from Richard Gómez Jr., Ph.D., from the Gómez & Gómez Dual Language Consultants Institute. The expert says, “El estudio de los cognados fomenta la transferencia interlingüística y la conciencia metalingüística en los estudiantes bilingües. Así también lo hace el estudio de los no cognados y los cognados falsos.” The expert provides recommendations to be opportunistic about flagging and discussing false cognates or non-cognates likely to trip up bilingual students in reading or writing routines. For example, some English and Spanish high-frequency words such as van, pan, and ten are spelled the same but have no resemblance in meaning. They need explanation in context for second-language learners.
The materials provide quality materials in both languages of instruction. The Spanish teacher's guide includes instructions for teachers, side-by-side, in both English and Spanish. The sidebars of all the pages in teacher materials provide English instruction. The lesson includes sections for “Desarrollo del lenguaje de Español.” This section provides recommendations specifically to develop Spanish language skills. For example, in Unit 5, section, “Comprension auditiva,” the Spanish language development section recommends the following: “Para ayudar a los estudiantes prepararse para la lectura de, ‘La asombrosa selva Amazónica’, muestra una mapa física del América de Sur.” The teacher shows a map of South America and has students locate the Amazon rainforest. Building this foundational knowledge improves academic Spanish vocabulary and improves comprehension of the text.
The materials allow for equitable instruction in both languages. The materials that are provided in English are also available in Spanish. For example, the materials provide leveled readers in English and Spanish. The texts provided are written in authentic Spanish and not mere translations of English. The texts have authentically rich plot lines with diverse characters to which students can relate. Some genres and text examples include but are not limited to: “Realistic fiction text—A Home for a Chicken and the Spanish version, Un hogar para una gallina; Mystery text—The Letter and the Spanish version, La carta; Science fiction—The Weighting Game and the Spanish version, El peso del partido.”
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The materials in Spanish are authentic and culturally relevant. Both teacher and student materials are presented in authentic and academic Spanish and are quality translations. The materials include some stories that specify the country of origin. The materials include cultural objectives aligned to each of the units. The materials represent the cultural and linguistic diversity of the Spanish language and Hispanic culture.
Evidence includes but is not limited to:
The materials include various representations of Hispanic culture. Throughout the units, the materials include stories that specify the country of origin. Some examples of these stories include: “Colección de poesía: poemas escritos por poetas Latinos; de Con cariño, Amalia: Ficción realista/cuento cultural escrito por autor Cubana; La libertad según: Ficción histórica sobre la lucha por la independencia de México.” Although the materials represent the cultural diversity of Latino culture, the materials do not include linguistic diversity in the teacher guidance sections by emphasizing words that may be used with different meanings in various Spanish dialects.
The materials include cultural objectives aligned to each unit’s goals that communicate and bridge cultural values and foster a bicultural identity. For example, in Unit 1, the materials include the poem “Rutas” by Rafael Alberti. In this poem, the poet describes the country of Spain. The poem is accompanied by an illustration representing the region the poem is talking about, Castilla. Students identify the metaphor in the first stanza and explain the meaning: “Pida a los estudiantes que identifiquen la metáfora de la primera estrofa del poema. Pregunta: ¿Qué quiere transmitir el poeta?” The materials provide the following possible response: “El poeta compara los campos con el país. Los campos son verdes y el país tiene muchos campos.” This poem connects with the students´ own cultural identity by presenting both the poem and the illustration in a setting that is quite representative of a Spanish-speaking country—Spain.
The materials address the importance of intercultural understanding and respect. In Unit 3, the students read “Con cariño, Amalia,” a story about a family from Costa Rica. The focus strategy for this text is making connections. The materials guide students to understand that to understand a story better, good readers connect what they read about different cultural backgrounds to their own experiences. The students describe a personal experience that is similar to the one they read about in the text. Materials state, “Lea en voz alta un párrafo de Con cariño, Amalia en el cual se revele de alguna manera el personaje de Amalia. Después, pida a los estudiantes que describan una experiencia que sea similar a la de Amalia.” This practice fosters the students´ understanding of the importance of intercultural appreciation by analyzing and connecting the lives of people from other cultures to their own.
Both teacher and student materials are presented in authentic and academic Spanish. In both the English and Spanish materials, the translations and transadaptations provided are age-appropriate for student’s learning and interaction with content. The teacher materials include quality transadaptations from English to Spanish. In Unit 3, the materials include the text, “Salvemos al Sr. John Holton,” a transadaptation of the text “Keeping Mr. John Holton Alive” included on a page of the “Interactive Student Guide for English learners.” The Spanish version of the story does not deviate from the story´s meaning and maintains age-appropriate vocabulary. The original version, in English, states: “Mr. Leroy said, ‘Evening, Elijah. I wants you to look over this here writing fore I starts carving it. Mrs. Wolton want it to go over her door, and I ain´t carving nothing for no one ´less somebody what reads tells me it make sense.” The “Guía interactiva del estudiante” includes this Spanish transadaptation: “Buenas noches, Elijah- dijo el Sr. Leroy. -Quiero que le mires esto acá pa´ poder empezar a tallarlo. Doña Holton lo quiere pa´la puerta de su casa y no le voy a andar tallando nada sin que primero alguien me diga que está bien escrito, pues.- ” The Spanish passage includes and adapts all the linguistic inaccuracies present in the oral language displayed by the characters. The Spanish passage has the same dramatic appeal to emotion as the original version in English, presenting age-appropriate vocabulary for the students at this level.