5th Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2a.

In both the Shared Reading and ELA modules, some units are organized around topics to build knowledge, while others are organized around a theme; however, some units are not cohesively organized to build knowledge or do not build knowledge on the intended topics. In ELA, units often build knowledge around text structures. Text sets within each unit typically include three texts, with some units including one or two texts. Some units do not have any texts. The limited volume of texts and varying number of lessons for each text could impede students’ ability to build knowledge.

Some texts are connected by a grade-appropriate cohesive topic. Some texts build knowledge and the ability to read and comprehend complex texts across a school year. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Unit 1, texts are connected by the topic, “Earth Science.” While also examining nonfiction text structures. students read the following texts: Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber, Oceans: All about waves, currents, the gravitational pull of the moon, and more! by Seymour Simon, and The Sun: All about solar flares, eclipses, sunspots, and more! by Seymour Simon.

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Unit 2, students build knowledge on the topic of “Physics.” Students read How Does a Waterfall Become Electricity? by Mike Graf and Ice to Steam: Changing States of Matter by Penny Johnson to learn about physics and “reinforce text structure and purpose and demonstrate that the same theme can be expressed across multiple texts with different topics.”

Some texts are connected by a theme. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Unit 1, texts focus on the theme, “Demonstrating Courage.” Students “read two texts about characters who demonstrate courage in different ways. Texts include The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick and Half and Half by ​​Lensey Namioka.

Some texts are not connected to a grade-appropriate cohesive topic or a theme. Examples include, but are not limited, to:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Unit 1, students explore the theme, “Hope and Perseverance,” while reading Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis. However, this is the only text in this unit so students do not have the opportunity to build knowledge about the theme or about historical fiction text structure.

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Unit 1, students learn about the “trials, tribulations, and accomplishments in the history of science.” Text selections include The Flu of 1918 by Jessica Rudolph and The Wright Brothers; How They Invented the Airplane by Russell Freeman. The unit overview indicates that students will learn about the theme, “The History of Science;” however, the nonfiction texts are not built around a common topic to support students’ knowledge-building. 

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Unit 2, students read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. The focus of this unit is on the theme, “Importance of Story.” The Module Overview notes, “The lessons in this unit work together to reinforce students’ understanding of multiple text structures and purposes, through both producing new text and analyzing existing text. They also demonstrate the idea that the same theme can be expressed across multiple texts, regardless of the genre, whether that text is produced by the students themselves, or by professional authors.” However, this is the only text in the unit so students do not have opportunities to build knowledge about the theme or narrative text structure, as the culminating task is to write an opinion piece in the form of a book advertisement.

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2b.

Within the Shared Reading and ELA Lesson Plans, students have some opportunities to analyze key ideas and details; however, materials provide few opportunities for students to analyze craft and structure within individual texts and across multiple texts. At times, the questions and tasks that students respond to do not fully align to their correlated standard.

For most texts, students analyze key ideas and details (according to grade-level standards). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 32, students choral read Animal Cells and Life Processes by Barbara A. Somervill. Afterwards, students engage in a discussion about the following questions, “Why do you think cells have to work 24 hours a day?”; “Why is it helpful that the cell and the nucleus are surrounded by membranes?”; and “Some people say that a cell is like a city. Let’s look at each organelle and see if we can think of a part of a city that does a similar job.”

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 26, students listen to _The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg _by Rodman Philbrick. Students discuss the following questions to explain what the text says explicitly and to draw inferences from the text: “Why does Homer think that his mother was watching over him? Why does he want to pass through the Confederate lines and get to the Union side? Why does the author provide the list of things that Homer sees in different type? How does Homer end up in the trench? Why does the Vermont soldier think Homer is crazy? Do you think Homer should keep searching for his brother even on the battlefields? How do the soldiers treat Homer? Is that surprising? Do you think the songs make the soldiers feel better? Why or why not?”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 12, after reading Keep On! The Story of Matthew Henson: Co-discoverer of the North Pole by Deborah Hopkinson. Students participate in a discussion after the teacher says, “Help me summarize so far. What are the most important facts we’ve learned?” Students do not “[d]etermine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lesson 15, during an interactive read aloud_ _of _The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963 _by Christoper Paul Curtis, students respond to questions analyzing key ideas and details such as, “Why do you think Dad was interested in driving straight through without stopping again?” Students do not use quotes from the text when responding to questions. Students also respond to the following prompt: “Who are the main characters? Give me a capsule summary of each - just a few descriptive phrases.” Although students identify and describe the main characters, students do not explain the relationships or interactions between two or more of the characters.

For most texts, students do not analyze craft and structure (according to grade-level standards). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 31, the teacher begins introducing the book, Animal Cells and Life Processes by Barbara A. Somervill. The teacher describes how the structure of this text varies from previous texts they’ve read. Students respond to questions such as, “Notice that all of the chapter titles are questions. Why do you think the author chose to organize her work this way? Let’s turn to the glossary. How is it organized? How is the index different from the glossary?” It is unclear whether students compare and contrast the structure of this text to two or more texts that were previously read.

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2c.

Students have some opportunities to analyze the integration of knowledge both within individual texts and across multiple texts. During both Shared Reading and ELA, the teacher pauses multiple times to ask students questions to help build knowledge. Although students have several opportunities in each module in both ELA and Shared Reading to analyze knowledge across multiple texts, there are instances in which the sequence of questions students answer or the task students complete does not align to the integration of knowledge and ideas standards.

Some sets of questions and tasks support students’ analysis of knowledge and ideas. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 44, after choral reading Plant Cells and Life Processes by Barbara A. Somervill, students discuss their responses to the following questions: “In what ways are plant and animal cells similar? In what ways can these similarities be grouped?” Then, students complete the Compare and Contrast Chart by filling in similarities between plant and animal cells in the “Both” column of the chart. Afterwards, students write in response to the following prompt: “Use the information in your Compare and Contrast Chart so far to write a summary of similarities between animal cells and plant cells. You can use our Shared Reading books (Animal Cells and Life Processes and Plant Cells and Life Processes) to go back and clarify or add information. You might find your written response from Lesson 38 helpful too. Start with a sentence that informs your readers this will be a summary of similarities.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 41, students work on their compare/contrast research project using information learned from the Shared Reading texts Animal Cells and Life Processes and Plant Cells and Life Processes both by Barbara A. Somervill. Students use their notes from the texts to respond to four sets of questions during a graffiti board activity. Questions include: “What are the basic components of animal cells? What are the basic components of plant cells?”; How do animal cells get the nutrients they need? How do plant cells get the nutrients they need?”; “How do animal cells use water? How do plant cells use water?”; and “Why do animals need more types of cells than plants? How do cells reproduce? Why do cells need processes for getting rid of waste?”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lesson 2, the teacher reads aloud the a portion of The Flu of 1918: Millions Dead Worldwide! by Jessica Rudolph. The teacher pauses throughout the read aloud to ask students questions, such as “The author has mentioned these symptoms before. Now she is repeating two of them. They are already on our semantic map. Which ones did she leave out? Let’s compare with our semantic map. She mentions coughing and sneezing …” and “If doctors knew that the virus was passed through the air, why did the people of Philadelphia plan a parade? Shouldn’t they have known this might have happened?” At the end of the lesson, students write in response to the following prompt: “The author says that some victims of the flu took weeks to die and that others took only a few hours. Let’s pretend we are doctors. Help me write from a doctor’s point of view. Let’s write our theory about why there were such differences in the length of time. We’ll need to remember to give our evidence.” Students do not explain how Rudolph uses reasons and evidence to support the points she makes in her text nor do they identify which reasons and evidence support the points she makes.

Some sets of questions and tasks provide opportunities to analyze across multiple texts as well as within single texts. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 38, students begin learning about plant cells when choral reading Plant Cells and Life Processes by Barbara A. Somervill, after having finished learning about animal cells. As a class, students discuss their responses to the following questions: “Why do you think that the author is telling us how parts of plants are like parts of animals?”; “The same scientist was in our other book. Why do you think the author used a picture of cork instead of a picture of a fly?”; “How are plants different from animals?”; and “How are they similar?” Students do not have to integrate information from both texts to respond to these questions.

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lesson 5, students choral read Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber. Afterwards, students write in response to the prompt, “What information did you learn from either Animal Cells and Life Processes or Plant Cells and Life Processes that helped you to better understand the information about the science of volcanoes in this text? How did it help you?”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 43, students are drafting their compare/contrast research paper. The materials direct the teacher to say to students, “Remember, we have finally finished our book on plant cells and will be discussing the similarities and differences between plant and animal cells in Shared Reading over the next couple of days. Please use any notes or writing that you produce during Shared Reading to help you as you move through the writing process for this compare/contrast paper.” Students “apply what they have learned about animal and plant cells from the nonfiction Shared Reading texts in Module 1” to write their research paper.

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3 Lesson 11, students use information from Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky and “The Underground Railroad” (author not cited) to write a compare/contrast piece that demonstrates what they learned about the Underground Railroad. Students take notes on both texts using a Venn diagram and select an organizational structure, before writing their compare/contrast essay.

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2d.

Materials include culminating tasks at the end of the ELA Lesson Plans modules that require students to use and build knowledge from both the ELA and Shared Reading lessons. Culminating tasks typically require students to use the texts they have read throughout the module. In lessons leading to the culminating task, students read, write, and engage in partner and whole class discussions; however, the culminating tasks are limited to writing tasks. The culminating tasks rarely integrate speaking and listening, but heavily focus on language standards. Additionally, in Module 4, students reflect on themselves as a leader through a narrative writing piece but do not integrate what they learned in the module; students can successfully complete the culminating task without demonstrating knowledge of the Module 4 topic and texts. 

Culminating tasks are evident, but are not varied across the year and are sometimes multifaceted, requiring students to demonstrate mastery of several different standards (reading, writing, speaking, listening) at the appropriate grade level, and comprehension and knowledge of a topic or topics through integrated skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening). Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Bookworms 2–5 Teacher Manual provides information about the culminating tasks and explains, “We locate them in ELA because they are a good match to the structures of our community of writers. We have planned tasks that require listening, speaking, reading, and writing. They are not independent performance tasks. They involve teacher scaffolding and peer support and collaboration. Lessons continue to include teacher modeling, student work sessions, and a sharing of daily progress.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lessons 41–45, students write an informative research piece where they compare and contrast plant and animal cells, drawing upon the knowledge gained from two Shared Reading texts, Animal Cells and Life Processes and Plant Cells and Life Processes both by Barbara A. Somervill. Throughout this task, students learn how to structure an informative piece and research a topic. To build knowledge and skills, students have engaged in partner and whole class discussions in addition to smaller writing pieces throughout both sets of lessons. The introduction to the task explains, “In this Culminating Task, students will plan and write an informative compare/contrast research paper about animal and plant cells. To successfully complete this task, students must apply what they have learned so far during Shared Reading about how to make meaning from texts and from English Language Arts about how to share their thoughts and understandings in writing.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 26–35, students write an opinion piece about doing what’s right, connecting that they have learned in both the Shared Reading and ELA Lesson Plans. Throughout this task, students learn how to structure an opinion piece and support their opinions with evidence and reasons. To build knowledge and skills, students have engaged in partner and whole class discussions in addition to smaller writing pieces throughout both sets of lessons. The introduction to the task explains, “This Culminating Task will take ten days to complete. Students will apply what they have learned about doing the right thing through the Shared Reading text, Bud, Not Buddy, and the Read-Aloud text, A Single Shard, along with the structure and purpose of opinion writing, to plan and write an opinion piece for oral debate. Successful completion of this task allows students to demonstrate their ability to support their opinions about doing what’s right with evidence from personal experience and from text.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 41–45, students write a narrative piece about how their reading and writing identity has changed over the course of the year. This does not have direct connections to previous Shared Reading or ELA lessons, though the materials indicate that this task incorporates what was learned previously. The introduction to the task explains, “This Culminating Task will take 5 days to complete. In this task, students will reinforce their understanding of the structure and purpose of narrative writing. Within this structure, they will incorporate what they’ve learned about narrative text structure from books across the curriculum this year in both Shared Reading and Read Aloud lessons and apply what they’ve learned about the structure and purpose of narrative writing and personal narrative writing techniques, to independently plan, write, revise, and edit a personal narrative of how they have grown and changed as a reader and a writer this year.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2f.

While materials provide opportunities for students to engage in research projects within some of the Culminating Tasks, research skills do not progress over time or increase in rigor. The focus within the Culminating Task is the process of writing rather than explicit, extended instruction on research skills. During the research projects, students use what they have learned about topics from texts read in previous Shared Reading or ELA lessons in addition to additional research about topics from text- or web-based research. In most cases, students do not conduct research to answer a question; rather, the research task focuses on ensuring students can identify, evaluate, and apply traits of informative writing. The support for teachers focuses mainly on modeling how to organize the information students find and writing the research reports.

Some research projects are sequenced across a school year to include a progression of research skills that build to mastery of the grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Recall relevant information from experiences or gather relevant information from print and digital sources; summarize or paraphrase information in notes and finished work, and provide a list of sources. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 33–45, the teacher models note taking and paraphrasing using the epilogue from The Watsons Go to Birmingham––1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Then, the teacher models how to add additional information to their notes using information from an online source. The teacher creates an anchor chart and uses the same epilogue to model how to create a reference list. The teacher also demonstrates the correct format for citing a website without an author for the article. After modeling note taking using a third source, the teacher models how to determine relevant information. Next, the teacher creates an anchor chart, which lists the key components of a news article, and uses the Informative Checklist to write a draft for each section in the graphic organizer. The teacher uses an anchor chart with examples of transition words and phrases to model adding linking words and phrases to their draft. The teacher models three ways to conclude their news article: by providing a reaction or feeling, asking a question, or describing a scene. Then the teacher models using the Informative Checklist and the Editing Checklist to review and revise their work.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 9–12, the teacher models writing a compare/contrast paper using the texts, Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold and “Informational Text 6” (author not cited). The teacher uses a graphic organizer to compare and contrast the two texts by their similarities and differences. The teacher uses the Venn diagram students completed during the previous lesson to find two things that were similar in both texts and two things that were different in both texts. The teacher models gathering details from both texts to support the similarities and differences they selected. The teacher models using the Informative Checklist and the Editing Checklist to revise their work. The teacher does not model how to provide a list of sources.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 17–22, after students conduct a web search on the Trail of Tears, the teacher works with students to make a list of possible research questions. The teacher models how to plan and organize notes using a graphic organizer. The teacher models note taking using the graphic organizer, “Informative Text 7” (author not cited), and the Informative Checklist. The teacher uses the ELA text, The Porcupine Year by Louis Erdich, to model how to cite sources. Materials suggest the teacher model a citation for an article. The teacher models how to decide which information to keep and which information to eliminate. Then, the teacher uses a student’s piece of writing to model how to elaborate on sentences, including how to add more information and how to answer more questions. The teacher models how to use the Informative Checklist and the Editing Checklist to review and revise their work.

Materials support teachers in employing projects that develop students’ knowledge on a topic via provided resources. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 34–35, materials include a potential scaffold to support note taking. The Teaching Tip states, “Consider providing guidance with paraphrasing and writing notes in their own words.” Materials also include an optional scaffold to support students’ research efforts. The Teaching Tip proposes, “You might consider bringing together students who are struggling to find information or who decided on the same person and/or event they are including in their article.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 18, materials provide three websites to support students with starting their research on The Trail of Tears.

Materials provide opportunities for students to synthesize and analyze content tied to the texts under study as a part of the research process. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Conduct short research projects that use several sources to build knowledge through investigation of different aspects of a topic. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 33–45, after listening to the interactive read aloud, The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, students conduct research in order to answer the question, “What was it like to live during the Civil Rights Movement?” Students use a minimum of three print or digital sources during their research in order to create a newspaper article that could have appeared in a newspaper in the 1960s. Students’ articles must include the following: “an explanation of civil rights, an explanation of race discrimination and segregation, a description of one event that occurred during the civil rights movement, [and] a description of one person who was influential to bring about change and was directly involved in the event that [they] choose to write about.”

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 17–22, after listening to the interactive read aloud The Porcupine Year by Louis Erdich, students conduct research on the Trail of Tears using a minimum of two sources. Students work with the teacher to make a list of possible research questions and use a graphic organizer to plan their research paper and organize their notes. The graphic organizer includes sub-topic sections, which allow students to explore different aspects of their topic and provide supporting facts and details.

• Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 9–12, students synthesize what they have learned about slavery and the underground railroad from reading, Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky and information from an article about the underground railroad. As the students read the two texts, they take notes using a Venn Diagram about the similarities and differences. Students use their notes in the graphic organizer to write a compare/contrast piece that follows the similarities and differences organization model.

The materials reviewed for Grade 5  partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2g.

While materials list the standards addressed with the lesson or within a section of the lesson, there are, at times, upwards of 20 standards listed for a given lesson. Materials do not indicate how a teacher might know what the priority or focus standard might be and leave it up to teacher discretion to determine which instruction, questions and tasks, and assessments align to the standards listed. Outside of the writing rubrics that accompany the culminating tasks and some other smaller tasks throughout the year, there is no mechanism for the teacher to determine whether students have mastered a standard. Additionally, the Bookworms 2–5 manual states that the materials do not contain a system or sequence for standards mastery. Materials provide a scope and sequence document, which states the genre of reading or writing and the standards covered in each lesson. The materials include a standards coverage document in the Appendix of the Teacher Manual, which allows the teacher to see how standards repeat across lessons, units, and modules.

Over the course of each unit, some instruction is aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In the Appendix of the Bookworms 2-5 Teacher Manual, the materials provide the standards by lesson for both the Shared Reading and ELA lessons, but it is unclear which standards listed are the priority and to which part of the instruction they align.

• Materials are organized by module, unit, and lesson. Each lesson includes a list of standards addressed. The Shared Reading Lesson Plans list the standards at the beginning of each section. The ELA Lesson Plans list the standards at the beginning of each lesson.

  • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 39, materials list L.5.4, RF.5.4, RI.5.1, RI.5.2, RI.5.3, RI.5.4, RI.5.5, RI.5.6, RI.5.9, RI.5.10, and SL.5.1 as the standards addressed in the Text Engagement section of the lesson. While choral reading the text, the teacher stops and says, “I can synthesize here across the two texts. We know that animal cells have membranes that help them control what goes into and out of a cell. Now it says that plants have these too. So even though plant cells have cell walls and animal cells don’t, the membranes are still doing the same thing.” It is unclear which standard this instruction addresses. 

  • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 27, students read The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick. Under the Word Study section, the following standards are listed: L.5.4, L.5.5, L.5.6, RF.5.3, and RL.5.4. The teacher provides instruction for standard L.5.6 while teaching students the definition of duped. For example, the teacher says,“Duped is a verb that means to have deceived or fooled. If someone played a trick on you, they may have duped you. No one likes to be duped because it is embarrassing. A person who has been duped can be called a dupe. Dupe is the noun form.” It is unclear which standard this instruction aligns to. 

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 26, the teacher models how to outline a narrative writing piece.  Materials list SL.5.1b and W.5.3 as the standards addressed in this lesson. It is unclear when explicit instruction of SL.5.1b occurs. 

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 6, the teacher models how to generate a list of research questions for a research project. Materials list W.5.7, W.5.8, and W.5.9 as standards addressed in this lesson. It is unclear which standard this instruction addresses.  

Over the course of each unit, some questions and tasks are aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Bookworms 2–5 Teacher Manual describes how questions in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans are sequenced to increase in complexity throughout the text and over time: “But the common design element is that the questions are carefully sequenced every day to generate a rich representation of the meaning of that day’s segments. Because the texts themselves are more difficult over time, answering the gist-level inferential questions requires increased comprehension competence across texts.” While each section of the Shared Reading Lesson Plans lists standards, it is unclear which standards the discussion questions students answer refer to. The ELA Lesson Plans have a similar design in that the standards addressed in the lesson are listed at the beginning but it is unclear which particular tasks are aligned to those standards.

  • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 33, materials indicate that the First Focus is “As we read together today, be on the lookout for the sequence of events.” This focus does not align to the standards listed for the lesson: L.5.4, RF.5.4, RI.5.1, RI.5.3, RI.5.4, RI.5.10, and SL.5.1.  Discussion questions include: “Look at the table on page 15. Which animal needs to eat the most food each day?  Why do you think some animals can get all of their nutrients from one type of food and others need different foods?  What happens when you chew your food?  How is a molecule different from a cell?  What is a nutrient?  What is the difference between a simple and a complex carbohydrate?”

  • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 2, students read The Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Phillbrick. The lesson lists L.5.4, RF.5.4, RL.5.1, RL.5.3, RL.5.4, RL.5.10 and SL.5.1 as standards addressed. Discussion questions include: “What images does the author paint for the root cellar where Homer is locked? How does Homer feel about Harold? How did the men actually get money for Harold going into the army? Who paid and why? Do you think it is wise for Homer to run away from Pien Swamp? Why or why not? Why does HOmer feel so strongly that Harold is in danger and that he should save his brother? Why does Homer need to think like a mole to get out of the root cellar? Why does Homer think he can take Bob the horse?” It is unclear which standard aligns to each question. 

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 12, after the interactive read aloud, the teacher asks, “Help me summarize so far. What are the most important facts we’ve learned?” Materials indicate that standard RI.5.2 is addressed in the lesson, although materials do not explicitly state that this task aligns to a listed standard. This task does not fully align to RI.5.2, as students do not “[d]etermine two or more main ideas of [the] text and explain how they are supported by key details.”

  • In the ELA lesson plans, Module 4, Lesson 34, students read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Materials list L.5.3a, L.5.6, RL.5.1, RL.5.2, RL.5.3, RL.5.4, RL.5.6, and W.5.2 as standards addressed in the lesson. During the Discussion section, students answer the following question, “Why did Winnie wonder whether Miles put the nails back?” It is unclear which standard this question addresses.

Over the course of each unit, the majority of assessment questions are aligned to grade-level standards. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Bookworms 2–5 Teacher Manual describes how the materials provide standards-based writing rubrics that use the language of the standards to assess student writing.

  • Shared Reading Lesson Plans include assessment opportunities every five days.

    • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 5, students respond in writing to the prompt, “Who do you think the young man is that came to Phoebe’s door? Support your answer with reasons and evidence from the text.” Materials list L.5.4.c, RL.5.4, W.5.1, W.5.9.a, and W.5.10 as the standards addressed in this section of the lesson. Materials also provide a Written Response Rubric that aligns to W.5.1 and W.5.9.a. The rubric does not assess the other standards listed. Materials do not provide teacher guidance on how to assess these standards.

    • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 10, students write in response to the following prompt: “Think about everything we have learned about Bud so far. Think about how he has reacted to each situation he has faced. What do you think Bud is going to do? Use facts and details to make a reasonable guess. Then provide reasons for your prediction.” Materials list L.5.4.c, RL.5.4, W.5.1, W.5.9.a, and W.5.10 as the standards addressed in this portion of the lesson. Materials provide a written response rubric containing two categories: accuracy and evidence. 

  • ELA Lesson Plans include an informative writing rubric, an opinion writing rubric, and a narrative writing rubric. Materials also include a separate editing and revision rubric addressing capitalization, punctuation, grammar, spelling, and word choice.

    • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 42, students complete an informational research project. Materials list W.5.2, W.5.5, and W.5.7 as standards addressed in the lesson. Materials include a rubric specific to this project that also includes the language of the listed writing standards.

    • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 36, students begin writing a book advertisement. Materials list SL.5.1b, W.5.1, and W.5.1b as standards addressed in the lesson. Materials provide a Book Advertisement Rubric and an Editing and Revision Rubric to assess the culminating task. The Book Advertisement Rubric contains the following categories: Content Knowledge, Literacy Knowledge, Integration of Knowledge and Ideas. The Editing and Revision Rubric addresses capitalization, punctuation, grammar, spelling, and word choice. Both rubrics use language from the Writing and Language Standards associated with the culminating task. 

  • Materials include a speaking and listening rubric for individual student evaluation. The rubric addresses collaboration, comprehension, participation, description, and oral expression. Standards indicated for this rubric include: SL.5.2, SL.5.3, SL.5.4, and SL.5.6.

By the end of the academic year, some standards are repeatedly addressed within and across units to ensure students master the full intent of the standard. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Shared Reading and ELA print materials include a Standards Coverage document that indicates which standards are covered in each lesson, allowing teachers to see how standards progress across units and modules, including which standards are repeated over time to allow mastery of the standard. This document is not available in the digital materials at the time of the review. 

• In the Bookworms 2–5 Teacher Manual, the materials indicate that there is not a plan for standards mastery at certain intervals, but rather standards are consistently addressed over time in the various components of the program: “Neither do we have a plan for mastery of specific standards at specific marking periods. That only works for foundational skills, and we will address them in the section on DI. You will see that we address many standards each day in Shared Reading. In fact, we see the standards as consistently applied in groups during engaged, grade-level reading and writing tasks, but never fully mastered. The goal of our Shared Reading is that students apply them with teacher and peer scaffolding in more and more complex, authentic text. When you consider all of Bookworms (Shared Reading, ELA, and DI together) you will see that our attention to standards is broad, deep, and relentless.” Materials also note, “Since Bookworms is not designed with a standards-mastery timeline, these students can be fully included in Shared Reading and increase their participation in practicing all standards as their language skills improve.”

• Materials lack opportunities to address the Speaking and Listening standards. While SL.5.1 is addressed in all four ELA Modules, SL.5.2 is not addressed in any ELA Module. SL.5.3 is addressed twice in ELA Module 4, while SL.5.4 is addressed within and across all four ELA Modules. Speaking and Listening Standards are not addressed in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans.

• While W.5.7 is addressed throughout the ELA Lesson Plans, this standard is not addressed in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans.  

• RI.5.6 is addressed in the first two Shared Reading Modules but is not addressed in the ELA Lesson Plans. 

• Although RL.5.6 is addressed within and across the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, the standard is not addressed in the ELA Lesson Plans.  

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for Indicator 2h.

Materials provide a general overview of implementation, describing how curriculum components fit into a day; however, materials do not provide a scope and sequence document that details pacing or length of modules and units. Materials indicate that the Shared Reading and ELA lesson plans should work in concert and provide overview documents in the Teacher Manual that show how the Shared Reading and ELA lessons fit together. Each grade level includes 180 Shared Reading lessons and 180 ELA lessons, which does not allow adequate time for interruptions to the school year and reteaching. The materials also provide flexible schedule documentation, though it is unclear whether students would master all standards if lessons were omitted. 

Suggested implementation schedules and alternative implementation schedules align to core learning and objectives. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Bookworms 2–5 Teacher Manual states the system is broken into three instructional blocks: Shared Reading; ELA, which consists of interactive read alouds, writing instruction, and culminating tasks; and the Differentiated Instruction block. Each day, the teacher teaches a Shared Reading lesson and an ELA lesson, and provides small group instruction through the Differentiated Instruction block. 

• The Bookworms 2–5 Teacher Manual includes a scope and sequence document. This document lists the lesson number, reading or writing genre, type of reading or writing, and the standards covered. 

• In the Bookworms 2-5 Teacher Manual, Planning for Success, the materials provide various flexible schedules for schools with fewer days or planned interruptions. These schedules can reduce the curriculum by either 10 or 20 days, though the impact on students’ mastery of the standards is not addressed.

Suggested implementation schedules cannot be reasonably completed in the time allotted. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Materials allot 45 minutes for each instructional block, resulting in a total of two hours and 15 minutes of instruction each day. The Differentiated Instruction block is designed to include time for the teacher to provide small group instruction to three small groups. The materials state, “Each of the 3 blocks of time that we planned for in Bookworms must be 45 minutes long. It will not be possible for teachers to shorten any of them.” 

• Both Shared Reading and ELA include 170 lessons each, which does not allow time for lessons that may take longer, state testing requirements, local assessments, reteaching, and other general interruptions that schools experience. Materials do not provide information regarding pacing within lessons, including how to be responsive to students’ needs by slowing down or speeding up. It is up to the teacher to determine how long each section of the lesson should take.

  • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 35, the lesson is broken into multiple parts with multiple facets within each part. The Word Study section consists of a Word Study Assessment and new vocabulary words. The Text Engagement section consists of Pair-Share Responses, Vocabulary, First Focus, Choral Reading, Discuss Focus, Partner Focus, Discussion, Make Anchor Chart, and Assignments where students complete a writing task to be scored with a more formal rubric. The lesson includes a list of 18 standards addressed. While each part of this lesson appears to be fairly short, depending on the level of student understanding and how they respond to the instruction, the teacher may not be able to cover all of the lesson components in the allotted 45 minutes. 

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 6, the teacher states, “Today I’m going to ask you to plan and write an opinion paper on your own. When you are writing about your opinion, you tell your reader what you think about a topic and you want to try to convince your readers to agree with you. You provide them with the reasons why they should agree with you.” The materials direct teachers to have students write their opinion paper with minimal guidance and support. With this lesson occurring early in the year, it may not be feasible to ask fifth grade students to write for a 45-minute block of time. Materials do not provide information to the teacher about lesson pacing, including guidance for early finishers or students who may need more than 45 minutes to complete the task.

Optional tasks do not distract from core learning. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• No evidence of optional materials found

Optional tasks are meaningful and enhance core instruction. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• No evidence of optional materials found