5th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students knowledge and vocabulary which will over time support and help grow students’ ability to comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

The Grade 5 Language Arts curriculum materials are organized around a topic/topics or themes; Grade 5 materials consist of four units. The materials do not explicitly state how and why texts are organized within a unit, and what central idea or topic the texts are intended to support. For each unit, there are texts present that relate to the project or title of the unit; however, clear topics are not always present and there is not a clear indication of deep knowledge building that occurs throughout each unit. While there are areas where students are building knowledge of a specific topic, the teacher would have to supplement with additional texts or tasks in order to grow the student’s knowledge. While information from the texts help students successfully complete the unit projects, the way the text sets are organized may not always help students’ grow in their ability to independently and proficiently comprehend complex texts.

The texts within a unit are typically organized around a topic, but in some situations the texts do not relate to the given topic. Units that do not have a unit project do not have a guiding question or culminating task to help determine if the students are building knowledge on the given topic. The texts provided are not ample to help the students build knowledge and work towards reading complex text.

Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1, students immediately begin by reading the novel, Night of the Spadefoot Toad. There is no explicitly stated purpose for reading, or how reading this text will connect with other texts in the unit. Later in the unit, students read Shells by Cynthia Rylant, excerpts from Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, The Best Community Project Ever by Joan Nichols, and Washed Up! by Payal Kapadia. All of these texts are realistic fiction. Students read a couple of informational texts, Pale Male by Janet Schulman, and Rain Forest Food Chains by Heidi Moore. Common overarching topics in the texts are: the importance of animal habitats and endangered species, how kids serve in the community to help solve problems, and survival in the wild. Though lessons in the unit support students in developing specific reading skills, it is difficult to discern an intentional organizational plan that leads to building knowledge about a specific topic.
• In Unit 2, Lesson: Real-life Superheroes, students are reading and interacting with the text Real-Life Superheroes. The text revolves around the topic of people who made a difference or changed the world. Students will write an essay that about a real-life superhero explaining who the real-life superhero is, what he or she did to change the world, and how he or she did this. Included in the introduction is an explanation is a brief description of the person and why he or she was important. Students first read about Richard Martin, a person who loved animals and fought for animals. Students answer questions such as: “Who inspired Richard Martin’s work with animals? What is Martin’s Act, and why is it called this? What did people think of Richard Martin’s actions?” Students then learn about Jim Jarvis and Thomas Barnardo answering the questions: “Why was Thomas Barnardo’s work dangerous? What are some hardships Thomas Barnardo experienced?” Students continue to read about different people who took a stand for something they believed in and worked to make changes in the world. Students apply what they learned and the people they learned about to writing their essay about a real-life superhero.
• In Unit 3, all of the texts that students read relate to the topic of astronomy and the universe in order to assist students in writing a science fiction essay. In Unit 3, Lesson: Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Assignment, Parts 1-6, students choose a topic. to research and develop. In Part 5, students analyze the text by answering the following questions: “What are the main events in this part of the story? In this section, Jess and Layla meet Galileo. What earlier scene prepared readers for this meeting?” In Unit 3, Lesson: Our Mysterious Universe, Parts 1-5, students analyze the text by answering the following questions: “What details from p. 27 support the main idea 'the universe began more than 13 billion years ago?' What is one piece of evidence from the text that support the particular point that scientists are looking for other planets that might have life on them?” Students are reading several complex texts throughout the unit, however, students are not given ample opportunities with a variety of genres. The texts in this unit are primarily fictional or informational. Students are given limited opportunities to work with additional genres.
• In Unit 4, Lesson: “Let’s Explore, Explorers,” Part 1, students are focused on the question: “What does it mean to be an explorer?” They will read text, answer questions, respond in journals, and complete graphic organizers in order to answer this question. Students start by addressing the viewpoint or opinion the writer is presenting about exploration and why people explored. Students evaluate the negative and positive effects of exploration on areas and groups of people by reading about specific explorers, such as, Francis Younghusband and his exploration effects on the people of Tibet. In journals they answer questions such as, “According to the text, what was the official purpose of Younghusband’s expedition? What was the unofficial purpose? What evidence does the writer use to back up the viewpoint expressed in the 'Triumph' box on page 11?” In Unit 4, Lesson: Sail to the Americas with Pedro—and Christopher Columbus!, Parts 1-6, students work on an opinion piece about Christopher Columbus. Students gather information using online references and resources. Students are required to conduct research on Christopher Columbus, and to evaluate the sources the information is coming from. Students answer questions such as: “Do you think Columbus was a heroic figure or someone who hurt others? Was Columbus driven by the desire to explore the world or to gain wealth and power? How much responsibility does Columbus have for the destruction of native peoples in the Americas that followed him? Does Columbus deserve credit for reaching the Americas when his achievement was a mistake?" Ultimately, students are trying to convey ideas related to the following questions: “How is Columbus portrayed in Pedro’s Journal? What is your opinion about whether Columbus is portrayed fairly in Pedro’s Journal?"

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

The questions posed throughout each unit require students to return to text selections in order to recall details, analyze various aspects of the text, evaluate characters’ actions and motivations. Question sets are sequenced coherently within each lesson to support students in building knowledge about the story elements, structure as well as author’s purpose, perspective and craft. Students may also integrate their knowledge across texts, and are asked to compare and contrast texts, as well as replicate what they are learning in their own writing. However, the focus of the questions and tasks are often on the surface or mechanics of the process, rather than on developing deeper understanding of a topic.

While most questions and tasks are coherently sequenced, many are literal and do not require more than a basic demonstration of comprehension of a detail within the text. For example:

• Unit 1 examples include: In Night of the Spadefoot Toad, a science fiction text, students return to the text to respond to the following series of text-dependent questions, “What do you learn about Mrs. Tibbets?”, “How do the students describe Mrs. Tibbets before she appears in the book?”, “How does Ben see Mrs. Tibbets?”, “What do the differences tell you about these characters?”, “What passage or passages stood out to you as being vividly or memorably described? What words make those parts vivid or memorable?”, “Why are some passages in italics? What do they show?”, “How does the author’s inclusion of Ben’s thoughts and feelings help us get to know Ben?”, “How do Ben’s responses on pp. 41 and 42 help you get to know him better as a character?”, “What motivates Ben? What causes him to do the things he does?”, “How do Ben’s classmates react to his decision to not go to the party?”, “Why does Ben call Toby?”

While these questions do provide some support to assure students are comprehending the text, they do not provide access to knowledge building within the concepts the text may examine. Additionally, there is much focus on text features.

In Unit 2, Lesson The Road to Freedom, Part 2: Students analyze how visuals or illustrations help a reader to understand the text. To practice, students read the text “The Price of Freedom.” After reading, they select one visual element from the text and examine how the visual element relate help the reader understand the text. Students respond in their ELA journal,  to the question, “How does this illustration help you understand the text?” to explain their thinking. In Part 6, students use both the text, The Road to Freedom and Chapter 1, from Night of the Spadefoot Toads to analyze how an author uses words to describe the characters. Students are guided by the question, “What are some words that help you get to know the characters?” Students write one to two paragraphs discussing how the author’s word choice helps the reader understand the characters in the story. In this example, the questions don’t build knowledge on a topic, although they do provide support for students’ understanding of the text.

Some sequences of questions and tasks provide some opportunity to build knowledge of a topic, but the teacher may need to supplement or revise the lesson to assure the focus of these are on the topic rather than on the mechanics of the text features. In the following example there are literal and surface level questions that may engage students in some understanding, but are not consistently applied:

• Unit 3 examples include: In Our Mysterious Universe, an informational text, students return to the text to analyze the way the author of this text organizes and presents information. They begin by looking at the relationships and interactions between different text elements. Students analyze how ideas connect so they can determine the points the author is making, and respond to the following series of text-dependent questions, “How was Ptolemy’s description of the universe different from Copernicus’s?”, “How are the bulleted questions on page 4 related to the information in the text box on page 5? Explain the next step in the scientific process.”, “Identify a sentence in the text that summarizes Ptolemy’s ideas about the movement of celestial bodies.”, “Summarize the theory that Copernicus suggested.”

In the next segment, students find evidence that supports an idea in the text, evaluate the author’s evidence to see if it provides strong support for the author’s ideas, and use that information to determine whether the author is reliable. Students respond to the following series of text-dependent questions, “What evidence does the text give to support the idea that stars have a life cycle?”, “On page 19, what main idea does the detail ‘astronomers can see a star moving along an orbit but can’t see the object it is orbiting’ support?”, “How do scientists use what they observe as evidence for their ideas?”, "What details from page 27 support the main idea ‘the universe began more than 13 billion years ago’?”, “What is one piece of evidence from the text that support the particular point that scientists are looking for other planets that might have life on them?”

Next, students compare two texts they have read: the story Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Assignment and the informational text Our Mysterious Universe. Students compare and contrast and see if the author explains common concepts the same or different way. Students also see if one author uses an example or detail that helps clarify a statement in the other text. Students respond to the following series of text-dependent questions, “What do these texts have in common? How are they different?”, “How are the main topics of the two books similar, and how are they different?”, “In Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Assignment, drawings show what happens in the story.” Our Mysterious Universe has both drawings and photographs. “What is an advantage of each type of visual?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.

The Grade 5 materials offer some opportunities for students to interact with and build academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Vocabulary is introduced at the start of almost every lesson in some units, but rarely referred back to during the instruction across the lesson parts. Explicit vocabulary instruction is limited on variations for applying meaning and use of the words. Student application is limited to asking students to use the words in a sentence.

Within each lesson, there may only be one lesson part that includes explicit vocabulary instruction and the explicit vocabulary instruction may or may not include practice with all the words listed at the start of the reading. Explicit vocabulary instruction is inconsistent. Implicit vocabulary instruction is limited and may consist of a note to students that states, “If you see words you do not know, write them in your ELA Journal.”

Word learning strategies are the focus of the Benchmark Vocabulary lessons throughout some units to increase student independence when coming to unknown words in text. Materials do not provide guidance for the Learning Guide that outlines a cohesive year-long vocabulary development component and there are limited opportunities for students to learn, practice, apply, and transfer words into familiar and new contexts. Examples of vocabulary outlined include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1, Lesson: Can Ben Find a Home in His New Home?, Parts 1-7, students read the text Night of the Spadefoot Toad. In Part 4, students are introduced to the concept that good readers stop to figure out the meanings of unfamiliar words. These same strategies have been taught in the third and fourth grade units, therefore this will be review for students that have previously used the curriculum; however for those that are new to the curriculum, students are given explicit instruction in this protocol. The materials state:
  
• "Look closely at the word. Can you break in into parts?
• Look for clues on the page. A detail might help you figure out the word’s meaning.
• Look in a dictionary."

Students are tasked with thinking about some words in Night of the Spadefoot Toads focusing on the word deflated (page 66). Students write down this word, break it into syllables, say it out loud, and read the sentences before the word. Students then look in a dictionary and read the meaning of the word and then read the word on page 66 again. The text states, “A great way to learn words is to use them. Try writing two sentences with deflated.” Students use the word in a conversation with the Learning Guide or another person. Students then practice these strategies independently with these words in Night of the Spadefoot Toads: marvel (page 68) and vernal (page 68).

• In Unit 1, Lesson: Living in Shells, Parts 1-3, students read the text titled, Shells and use the same protocols used in Part 4 of Night of the Spadefoot Toads to understand the meanings of the words assured (page 8), craned (page 9) and stupor (page 10). Students use each word in two sentences written in the ELA journal.
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Comparing Stories of Kids Facing Problems, Parts 1-5, students read text from the book Hatchet and are introduced to shades of meaning in Part 2. Students are explicitly taught this skill using the following example: "The words pain and ache have similar meanings. They do not mean exactly the same thing, however. There are shades of meaning, or small differences that make each word distinct. Use a dictionary and the context of these sentences to define the words. How are the meanings similar? How are they different? Write sentences that show the differences in the meanings of pain and ache." Students are tasked with independently practicing this skill with the paired words conversation/chat and dirty/filthy.
• In Unit 2, Lesson Big Ideas, Part 1, students continue to read the text, The Road to Freedom. Vocabulary identified from Chapter 6 include: tumbled, whinnied, stuttered, drifted, lantern, scattered, hunched, capturing, blisters, carriage, surrounded, pillars, and territory. Throughout Lesson: Big Ideas, there is no explicit vocabulary instruction that has students interacting with the identified vocabulary words. There is also no implicit vocabulary instruction within the Lesson: Big Ideas.
• In Unit 2, Lesson: Comparing Texts about Heroes, Part 6, students prepare to write an opinion essay about a courageous leader and have previously compared and contrasted three texts. Students analyze words that are close in meaning. Students go back to the text, Operation Clean Sweep and look at page 68 at the words yanked and pulling. Students use a dictionary and context clues to determine how the words yank and pull are similar and different in their shade of meaning. Students are directed to write sentences in their ELA Journal that show the difference in the meanings of yank and pull. Students then use a dictionary to identify the shades of meaning in the word pairs: small/tiny, dirty/filthy, and great/astounding. Students write sentences that show the shades of meaning.
• In Unit 3, Lesson: Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Assignment, Parts 1-6, students read the text Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Assignment an are introduced to synonyms in Part 5. As students read narrative text, the student may read unfamiliar words. The materials state, "One strategy for understanding a new word it to look for its synonym in a thesaurus. A synonym is a word that means the same thing. Look up each of the vocabulary words below in a thesaurus. Compare the word to its synonyms. How is each word similar or different from its synonyms?" Students complete this activity for the words embarrass, stern, obvious, theory and disbelief.
• In Unit 3, Lesson: Our Mysterious Universe, Parts 1-5, students read the text Our Mysterious Universe. In Part 4, students are exposed to Greek and Latin roots using the following example: "Many words in English are based on Latin and Greek root words. Consider the word telescope. This word originates from the Greek tele ('far') and skopos ('watcher'). How does combining the two Greek words create an appropriate name for the tool astronomers use today? This strategy helps students with unfamiliar words. When context clues don’t help, the reader needs to look more closely at a new word’s parts. The parts might have Greek or Latin roots, or might include a familiar prefix." Students are tasked to look at the following words from Our Mysterious Universe and, using words parts including Greek or Latin roots and known prefixes, figure out the meaning. Students then check the meanings in a dictionary for the words unpredictable, hypothesis, and recognized.
• In Unit 3, Lesson: Understanding All the Elements of a Narrative, Parts 1-9, students read the text George’s Secret Key to the Universe and in Part 6, students are tasked with following the same protocol as Part 5 of Lesson: Jess and Layla’s Astronomical Assignment. As students read narrative text, and come across unfamiliar words, students will read the text around these unfamiliar words may help understand them. Students are tasked with looking in a dictionary to find the definition of the word or in a thesaurus to find similar words using the words exploiting, agitated, vigorous, and commotion. Students discuss the vocabulary words with the Learning Guide.
• In Unit 4, Lesson: Sail to the Americas with Pedro—and Christopher Columbus!, Part 2, explicit vocabulary instruction provides students with strategies to use when trying to determine meaning of new words. Strategies include: look for clues, break down the word into parts, and use a dictionary to find out the meaning. Students practice the strategy using the word betrayal from page 74 of the text. Students are guided that when using a dictionary, they might come across more than one definition for the word and they should think about the context of how the word is used in the text to determine which definition would “make the most sense in the story.” Students repeat practicing the strategies with the words assent and dispersed.
• In Unit 4, Lesson: Closer Look Beyond the Horizon, Part 6, explicit vocabulary instruction reminds students that they have explored many new words and some words such as: sustenance, provision, bullock, and peasants refer to physical things. Whereas, other new words, such as fate refer to abstract concepts. Students are directed back to page 65 of Beyond the Horizon to the sentence: “Sarah thanked fate for giving her a chance to repay the debt- Priya’s home was safe for the time being.” Students are asked to answer the following questions: “What does the story context tell you fate might mean? Why do you think the author chose the word fate to describe the outcome of Sarah’s adventure? Why not call it chance?” Students are directed to use fate in a discussion with the Learning Guide. Teaching notes tell the Learning Guide to “discuss how fate implies there’s design that is out of a character’s control.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that materials include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials.

Units include some projects that incorporate research skills. Texts read throughout the given unit are at times, used to complete projects. Students complete projects that encourage them to utilize skills learned and develop knowledge of some texts and some sources. While opportunities for students to develop research skills are present, students do not necessarily need to analyze a topic in order to complete the project. There are opportunities for students to engage with print and digital materials through the LEARN Cards to increase their skills in order to pursue answers to questions related to the content.

In the Unit 2 Project Speak Your Mind, students write an opinion editorial (op-ed) on one of the following topics: “Do animals such as your pets and those in zoos have rights? Should everyone in your community be required to recycle? Should you be able to choose if you want to go to school?” The goal is to take a stance on a topic that students are passionate about and use facts to support their opinion-editorial. The work for the op-ed piece begins in Lesson: The Great Migration, Part 3. Students read the text, The Great Migration, about African-Americans that left their homes and farms in the South around the time of World War 1 and traveled to cities in the North in search of better lives. Students use a KWL chart to help them decide what questions they want to research. Students use a Research note-taking template to collect research notes. They are directed to “Great Research Websites for Kids” and primary resources from the Library of Congress.

In Unit 4, Lesson: Sail to America, Parts 1-6, students work on an opinion piece about Christopher Columbus. Students gather information using the texts, Explorers: Triumphs and Troubles, the text, Pedro’s Journal, and online references/resources. Students conduct research, remembering to paraphrase, summarize, and use direct quotations. In Part 3, students add information to their opinion writing on Columbus by including information that answers the questions: “Do you think Columbus was a heroic figure or someone who hurt others?” In Parts 4 and 5, students plan their opinion essay and determine their purpose and audience.