Our district has a K-2 elementary building and a 3-5 elementary building.  The two buildings adopted different approaches to reading instruction although both of the approaches attend to the 5 main components of good reading instruction.  We are using ReadWell in the K-2 building which is strong in phonemic awareness and phonics.  ReadWell is stacked with good non-fiction literature.  The issue is that as we use this material, our strongest learners are passing through it quickly, as deemed appropriate with the author's assessments, and are ready for different curriculum to help them meet the rigorous reading instruction they are ready for.  

Our 3-5 building has a balanced literacy approach.  They are using Making Meaning and the accompanying vocab piece to attend to comprehension and word study.   This is the first year of implementing Making Meaning.  At this point the teachers are working with students in a single grade and using the grade level curriculum to instruct.

Our dilemma is where to place the second graders in the Making Meaning Curricula.  The ReadWell curriculum says that when they are completed with the program, they should be ready for 4th grade reading.  Would you recommend putting the highest 2nd graders in a 4th grade Making Meaning?  Because your curriculum is so open-ended, would you recommend starting with grade 2 even with our gifted learners?  

I look forward to your recommendations.