3rd Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 1, Unit 2, texts are connected by the topic of the United States government. Students read two informative books, The Constitution of the United States and The Congress of the United States, both by Christine Taylor-Butler.

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 2, Unit 1, students read texts about geology. Texts include Soil by Christin Ditchfield, Minerals, Rocks, and Soil by Barbara J. Davis, and Magic Tree House Fact Checker: Twisters and Other Terrible Storms by Will Osborne and Mary Pope Osborne.

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Unit 3, students continue to study narrative text structures. Students listen to the following texts: Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young and American Tall Tales by Mary Pope Osbourne.

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Unit 2, students continue learning about the elements of biographies as they learn about two famous individuals in United States’ history. Texts in this unit include Harvesting Hope: The Story of Cesar Chavez by Kathleen Krull and Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin.

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

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 1, Unit 1, texts are connected by the theme “Life’s Lessons.” Students “read about characters learning important life lessons as they progress through stories.” Texts in this unit include Owen Foote, Money Man by Stephanie Green and Fudge-A-Mania by Judy Blume.

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Unit 2, students explore the theme, “Journey to the Past” to understand how ancient civilizations influence our world today. Texts include _Ancient Greece _by Sandra Newman and Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck.

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

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Unit 1, students discuss the theme, “Patterns in Our World” and explore new concepts, such as latitude, longitude, elevation, and contour lines. Students listen to the texts Maps and Globes by Jack Knowlton, A Drop Around the World by Barbara Shaw McKinney, and What Is a Biome? by Bobbie Kalman. The unit overview indicates that students will “learn that authors need to do research in order to write informative texts” but the lessons connected to the texts do not address that skill, nor are the texts built around a common topic or text structure. 

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Unit 3, students are exploring both the theme of injustice and realistic fiction as they read Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor and writing an opinion piece about injustice. The unit overview indicates that students learn how the same theme can be expressed in multiple texts, though the materials miss opportunities to embed multiple texts about injustice into the reading of Shiloh. Students also read a narrative, but write an opinion piece, which leads to a lack of cohesion within the unit.

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 some 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 3, Lesson 33, before reading Who Is Sonia Sotomayor? by Megan Stine, lesson guidance prompts students to identify key details. Discussion questions include: “How does Sonia react to living with diabetes and the fact that she might not live very long? Why does school become easier for Sonia? Why does the Sotomayer family move? Why was Sonia’s acceptance into all three Ivy League schools a big deal?” After discussing the questions, students work with the teacher to create an anchor chart sharing the important events from Sonia Sotomayer’s high school years. Although students recount key details from the text, students do not determine the main idea of the text or explain how the key details they identified support the main idea.

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 17, students chorally read The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer to identify and describe the main character. Students complete the following assignment, “Choose a strong character trait to describe William. We came up with a lot between yesterday and today. Give reasons why you chose that trait. Use evidence from the text to support your thinking.” Although students describe characters in the story, they do not “explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 8, after listening to the first part of Boy: Tales of Childhood by Roald Dahl, the teacher and student respond together to a prompt about character traits. While reading, the class makes a chart to keep track of the details from the text that may help them understand what experiences and influences make Roald Dahl the writer he was. Students start with a character trait to describe Roald’s Dahl’s father and then speculate how that might have influenced him later. The teacher then provides a sentence frame to help students craft their response to the prompt: “Roald Dahl’s father was ____, and this may have influenced him to ______.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 2, students answer questions about key details in Rosa by Nikki Giovanni. During the Interactive Read Aloud, the teacher pauses and asks questions such as, “Why is the bus driver yelling at the passengers? Why did Rosa sit back down?” “Why did Rosa pay and then get off of the bus from the rear?” “If a white passenger enters the bus, what will happen now that all of the seats are full? Why?” After reading, the teacher models writing a response to the following prompt: “How is Rosa’s bus ride home similar to and different from your bus ride home?”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 16, the teacher models how to summarize key ideas into a larger written piece about a key idea. After reading a biography about Snowflake Bentley, the teacher models writing a response to the following prompt: “Help me summarize how Willie would capture the snow crystals and then photograph them.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 10, students listen to Pinduli by Janell Cannon. Students respond to the following prompt during a class discussion, “Is there a lesson for us all? Who can suggest a moral for this story?” Then the teacher explains, “We have to notice that authors write stories that can teach us life lessons. Sometimes we call those lessons themes. They are not the events in a story, but they are ways to apply the events to real events in our lives.” Although students determine the moral of the story, they do not “explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.”

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 3, Lesson 41, after reading Who is Sonia Sotomayer by Megan Stine, students prepare to read The Story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Biography Book for New Readers by Susan B. Katz. The teacher begins by addressing the text structure of the book ,telling students the book is a biography and is organized in a unique way. Students look at the table of contents to see how the author organized the book in chronological order, and the teacher shares that the chapter titles “give you an idea of what events in Ruth’s life fall within each chapter.” The teacher then reviews the glossary and the bibliography of the text. The students preview chapter 1 and discuss the chapter number, title, and text features that help readers, including subtitles and bold print. The teacher reviews maps, text boxes, sidebars, timelines, and picture diagrams. After reading chapter 1, students discuss how the author in the last text used two timelines to show what was happening in Sonia’s life and what was happening in the world during her lifetime, while the author of this text used one timeline to show both. Students then discuss the following questions: “Why do you think the author chose to begin this biography by writing the ‘Meet Ruth Bader Ginsburg’’ section? What was her purpose for writing this section? Why do you think the author chose to include what was going on in Europe in 1941?”

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 1, students begin choral reading Owen Foote, Money Man by Stephanie Greene. Students then engage in a discussion about the following questions: “Why do you think Kate was nicer to Owen than Lydia was?”; “What additional information do we get from the illustration on page 8?”; and “What is the author telling us at the bottom of page 9 when the text says, ‘She looked at the expression on Lydia’s face. ‘Not that you ever think of it,’ she finished weakly.’” Although students examine an illustration, it is unclear whether students explain how the illustration contributes to what the words in the story convey “(e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).”

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 8, students analyze the meaning of a word in an illustration and how it contributes to the overall section during the Choral Reading section. The teacher models by pausing on page 42: “I can see what a skein is now. The author included this illustration because there were some things she thought we wouldn’t understand. Now I can see why Susan had to stand still holding her hands out so that her grandmother could make a ball of yarn for her knitting. Sometimes we come across words we don’t understand and we can try to guess what they might mean by thinking about what would make sense.”

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 23, students chorally read Ancient Greece by Sandra Newman. Students used information gained from the illustrations and the words in the text to demonstrate understanding of the text. During choral reading the teacher says, “As I read the list of gods on page 25, I want you to look at the pictures below. This is what the Greeks thought the gods might look like. If I combine information from the text and the illustration, I can infer that the mosaic is showing Odysseus wandering the ocean with his crew.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 18, students participate in an interactive read aloud of The BFG by Roald Dahl and think about how the illustrator adds details to the description of the giant. The teacher says, “In these next two pages, the author describes a new and very different giant. Remember that good readers always try to make mental images of what they’re reading. To do this, they pay attention to details that the author gives them. As I read, listen to the details and try to picture the new giant. Then I will show you the picture drawn by Quentin Blake, who illustrated the book.” As the teacher continues reading, students compare their mental picture to that in the book. Students do not “[e]xplain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 7, students participate in an interactive read aloud of When Marian Sang by Pam Muñoz Ryan. During the discussion, the teacher asks, “Marian feels that the color of her skin should not matter. And speaking of color, has anyone noticed anything unusual about the illustrations in this book?” and “Why do you think the illustrator chose brown and black as the only colors?” While students are asked to look at an illustration, this does not ask students to gain information from the illustration to better understand the text.

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 20, students finish choral reading Fudge-a-Mania by Judy Blume. Students write a response to the following prompt: “Think about how Peter is feeling in these last two chapters of the book. Our main character seems to have learned an important life lesson in this book, just like Owen in Owen Foote, Money Man. How have Peter’s feelings about spending his summer vacation in Maine with Sheila changed since the beginning of the book? What do you think he has learned?” Additionally, students do not “[c]ompare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of [the] stories.”

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 45, students finish choral reading The Story of Ruth Bader Ginsburg: A Biography Book for New Readers by Susan B. Katz. Afterwards, students write a response to the following prompt: “We have read many biographies of inspirational women this year. Today, I would like you to write about how Susan B. Anthony, Sonia Sotomayor, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are similar. Think not only about their beliefs, opinions, actions, and reactions as you write, but also about their families, experiences, accomplishments, and the challenges that they faced throughout their lives.”

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans Module 4, Lesson 40, students compare and contrast the themes of Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck and Susan B. Anthony: Champion of Women Rights by Helen Monsell by answering the following discussion prompt, “Compare and contrast the themes or central messages in Susan B. Anthony: Champion of Women’s Rights and in Here Lies the Librarian. How are the themes the same? How are they different?”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 18, after participating in an interactive read aloud of The BFG by Roald Dahl, students discuss the following: “So far, we’ve met two giants and they are very, very different. Help me think of some words to describe each one. I want adjectives that are character traits. Think back to the character traits we identified for Owen in Owen Foote, Money Man and for Roald Dahl’s mother and father in Boy: Tales of Childhood. The strong adjectives we come up with today might be a bit different for giants! But who knows, you might be surprised! Let’s make a chart. I’ll get us started.” Students do not “[c]ompare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).”

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 33–40, students write an opinion piece about character traits that brings together what they have learned in both the ELA and Shared Reading lessons. Students will use the text, The BFG by Roald Dahl, along with a graphic organizer to plan and write an opinion paragraph about their selected character. Throughout the lessons, the teacher models how to write an opinion piece and students work independently, in partnerships, and as a whole class to support their thinking. The introduction to the task explains, “This Culminating Task will take eight days to complete. First, students will learn about the structure and purpose of opinion writing and how to evaluate the quality of opinion writing. Then, they will apply what they have learned about opinion writing, elements of narrative text, and character traits to collaboratively plan and write an opinion text about the book, The BFG.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lessons 18–25, students write an informative biography research report that brings together what they have learned across multiple lessons. Students read multiple biographies to learn the structure of an informative piece, then will research a historical figure. Throughout the lessons, the teacher models how to write an informative piece and students work independently, in partnerships, and as a whole class to support their thinking. The introduction to the task explains, “This Culminating Task will take eight days to complete. Students will apply what they have learned about informative writing and the elements and structure of biography writing to plan and write a biography research report on one of the historical figures featured within the Shared Reading and Read-Aloud texts from this module. Successful completion of this task allows students to use writing to demonstrate their literacy skills, knowledge of informative structure, and ability to incorporate information from multiple sources into their own biography writing.”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 36–40, 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 3 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 information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 16–25, the teacher models gathering information from the Shared Reading texts, Soil by Christin Ditchfield and Minerals, Rocks, and Soil by Barbara J. Davis, and adding information to the graphic organizer for a rocks and minerals research project. The teacher uses sticky notes and models writing information from the text on the sticky note and then adding to the graphic organizer. The teacher models using their planning notes in the graphic organizer to write a research report on minerals and rocks.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 18–25, the teacher models using a graphic organizer along with the Shared Reading text, Susan B. Anthony: Champion of Women’s Rights by Helen Albee Monsell, to plan and write a biography research report.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 21–30, the teacher models researching the Greek goddess, Aphrodite, using the Shared Reading text Ancient Greece by Sandra Newman. The teacher models note taking, including adding items such as a diagram or sketch, in a graphic organizer. The teacher displays sample infographics and models using one of the samples to plan their own infographic about Aphrodite. The teacher uses think alouds during modeling to demonstrate how to rearrange their sticky notes to organize their thoughts. The teacher models replacing placeholders in their plan with images and words.

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, lesson 23, the teacher materials include a potential scaffold for students to translate their graphic organizer into drafted writing: “For students who need more support, consider providing the sentence frame: What do you think when you hear the word (mineral or rock)? I think (describe what you think). A (mineral or rock) is (define). A (mineral or rock) has (change verb to fit subtopics) (chose 2 or 3 subtopics).”

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 21, students begin researching Greek gods in order to create an infographic. The teacher says to students, “Today you will have an opportunity to do this. You will add to your graphic organizer from new sources for the entire writing time today. You will search through the websites listed up here (or the resources provided here) and take notes on your graphic organizer. Materials provide two websites to support students with their research.

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 build knowledge about a topic. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 2, Lessons 16–25, students use a graphic organizer along with information from the Shared Reading texts, Soil by Christin Ditchfield and Minerals, Rocks, and Soil by Barbara J. Davis, to plan and write a research report on minerals and rocks.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 20, during the culminating task, students use a graphic organizer to plan and write a biography research report on one of the individuals they learned about in the Module. Students must use information from one of the Module texts, as well as information from another source to write their report.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lessons 21–30, students research Greek Gods and create an Ancient Greece Infographic. Students “research a topic using multiple sources and plan to share information about a topic by taking notes on a graphic organizer.” Students then “replace the notes and ideas on their graphic organizer with information and images as they begin drafting their infographic.”

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 11, materials indicate that one of the standards addressed in the Text Engagement section of the lesson is RL.3.6 “Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.” The teacher script is as follows: “Fudge-a-Mania is a text about Peter, the main character, who is convinced his vacation with the Tubman family will be the worst experience ever. As the story continues, you will see if Peter has a change in attitude about vacation.” This does not address the standard, nor does the focus for the lesson, as the lesson centers on author’s craft: “Our author, Judy Blume, creates anticipation during these first two chapters. Look for things that make us think ahead, and be excited to read further. What does she hint about, but not really say yet?” It is unclear where Rl.3.6 is addressed in the instructional portion of the lesson.

  • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 2, students read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate Di Camillo. Under the Word Study section, the following standards are listed: L.3.2f, L.3.4c, L.3.6, RF.3.3c, RF.3.4 and SL.3.1. The teacher provides instruction on the definition of indignation. For example, the teacher says,“Excruciating is an adjective that means very painful. You could have an excruciating injury, or you could listen to an excruciating discussion. The pain can be real pain or it can be a painful or sad feeling. No one wants to feel any excruciating pain!” It is unclear which standard this instruction aligns to. 

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 4, students write a personal narrative. Materials list W.3.3.a, W.3.3.b, W.3.3.c, and W.3.5 as the standards addressed within the lesson. The teacher models how to use a graphic organizer to plan out the various components of a narrative, which is based on what is expressed in narrative writing standards.

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 21, students conduct research for an informative writing task. Materials list W.3.2.b, W.3.7, and W.3.8 as the standards addressed within the lesson. The teacher models how to take notes from sources when conducting research, which aligns to W.3.8, although this is not explicitly stated within the materials. 

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 2, the materials list L.3.6, RF.3.4.a, RF.3.4.c, RL.3.1, RL.3.3, RL.3.5, RL.3.10, and SL.3.1 as standards being addressed in the Text Engagement section of the lesson. That portion of the lesson encompasses multiple parts, making it unclear which standards align to the discussion questions. Discussion questions include: “Why do you think Kate was nicer to Owen than Lydia was?  Why do you think Joseph’s mother really gave Kitty away?  Reread the end of the chapter. What do you think about Owen’s change from kindergarten to 3rd grade?”

  • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 1, the materials list L.3.6, RF.3.F.a, RF.3.4.c, RL.3.1, RL.3.6, RL.3.10, and SL.3.1 as standards being addressed in the Text Engagement section of the lesson. It is unclear which standard aligns to each discussion question. Students respond to the following discussion questions: “What does Edward look like?  Why is he unhappy with his whiskers?  What do we learn from the description of Edward’s wardrobe? How did Edward spend his days? How did he feel about Abilene’s parents? Why does he feel differently about Pellegrina?  What adjectives would you use to describe Edward? How does the author provide us a cliffhanger at the end of Chapter 2?”

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 1, Lesson 15, the materials list L.3.1.a, L.3.1.b, L.3.1.h, L.3.1.i, L.3.4, L.3.5, L.3.6, RL.3.1, RL.3.5, RL.3.6, and W.3.2 but where those standards fall within the lesson is not explicitly stated, leaving the teacher to assume. At times, it seems that some questions do not fully align to potential correlated standards. Discussion questions include:  “Now it’s your turn to ask questions. Think of a really good question about what we’ve read today and ask your partner.”; “What are the most important ideas?”; “If we connect these two ideas with the word and, what do we have? What if I wanted to connect with after?”; “Which event comes first?”; “Does it make sense to say ‘After shining fiery hot over the great yellow wasteland, the sun had come up.’ Or should it be ‘After the sun had come up, it was shining fiery hot over the great yellow wasteland.’?”

  • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4, Lesson 10, students read Pinduli by Janell Cannon. Materials list the following standards: L.3.1a, L.3.1h, L.3.1i, L.3.4, L.3.6, RL.3.1, RL.3.2, RL.3.5, RL.3.6, and W.3.1. For the discussion section, students answer the following question, “Is there a lesson for us all? Who can suggest a moral for this story?” It is unclear which standard from the provided list that this question aligns to.

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 30, students write a response to the following prompt: “Reread pages 38–42 and decide which amendment seems most important to you. Explain why and give reasons for your opinion. Then, think about something that could be changed at our school that could be better. What do you think would be important to change and why? Give reasons to support your opinion.” Standards indicated for this assignment include RI.3.1, RI.3.7, W.3.1, W.3.8, and W.3.1a. Materials provide a written response rubric containing two categories: accuracy and evidence.  

    • In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, Module 3, Lesson 30, students complete a written response to the following prompt:  “We recently took some time to think about the structure of the biographies.  A Picture Book of Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony: Champion of Women’s Rights, and the choices the authors made to share information with us.  Think about how the author has told this story.  What did she do to make it interesting?  What specific choices did she make?” Standards indicated for this assignment include RI.3.6, RI.3.7, W.3.1, W.3.8, and W.3.10. 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, the Personal Narrative Overview includes the Narrative Writing Rubric, which assesses students on story elements, narrative techniques, temporal words, and a conclusion, which are the elements described in W.3.3 “Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.” Throughout this culminating task, students refer to the Narrative Writing Checklist. The checklist translates the language of the standard into more student-friendly language.

    • In the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 3, the Opinion Writing Overview includes the Exposing Injustice Rubric, which assesses students on content knowledge, literacy knowledge, and integration of knowledge and ideas. The teacher also assesses student’s writing using an editing and revising rubric.  

  • 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.3.2, SL.3.3, SL.3.4, and SL.3.6.

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.”

• Shared Reading and ELA Lesson Plans lack opportunities to address the Speaking and Listening standards. SL 3.1 is addressed in all four ELA Modules. SL 3.2, SL 3.3, SL 3.4, and SL.3.6 are only addressed in the ELA Lesson Plans, Module 4. Neither the Shared Reading Lesson Plans or the ELA Lesson Plans address SL.3.5.

• RI.3.6 is addressed within and across the first three Modules of the Shared Reading and the ELA Lesson Plans. The Shared Reading and ELA Lesson Plans do not address RI.3.6 in Module 4.   

• RL.3.6 is addressed within and across all four Modules in the Shared Reading Lesson Plans and the ELA Lesson Plans.

• In the Shared Reading Lesson Plans, RI.3.9 is addressed two times in Module 1, one time in Module 2, five times in Module 3, and one time in Module 4. 

• In the ELA Lesson Plans, W.3.7 is addressed twice in Module 2, once in Module 3, and twice in Module 4. The Shared Reading Lesson Plans address W.3.7 twice in Module 3.

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 23, the lesson is broken into multiple parts with multiple facets within each part. The Word Study section consists of a spelling lesson. The Text Engagement section consists of Pair-Share Responses, Vocabulary, First Focus, Choral Reading, Discuss Focus, Partner Focus, Discussion, Make Anchor Chart, and Assignments, during which students complete a short writing task. The lesson includes a list of 19 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 1, the teacher states, “Today I am going to ask you to plan and write a story on your own. In this story, you will tell the reader about something that happened to you. It could be a story about something that happened to you at home or at school or anywhere. Think about all the things that happened. Then you can plan what you want to write. When you’ve finished the plan, you can start writing the story.” Materials direct the teacher to have students write their narratives with minimal guidance and support. With this being the first lesson of the year, it may not be feasible to ask third 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