The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria for having sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent/specific questions and tasks build to a culminating task that integrates skills (may be writing, speaking, or a combination).

Materials contain sets of text-dependent questions and activities which Learning Guides can utilize to support students with culminating tasks. While text-dependent questions are included, many text-dependent questions are surface level and do not build towards completion of the culminating task. Some units include a culminating unit task called a project that requires students to gather details or information to write a specific genre of writing at the end of the unit while other units include a writing task.

Evidence includes, but is not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Project: TV’s Newest Reporter, students select one of the problem options (climate change and its impact on the activities people do in summer and winter, destruction of the rainforest, and the impact of recycling on the environment) and develop a research question to investigate. Students research, plan, draft, write, edit, and revise an investigative news report that must include: information based on research from reliable sources, a well-organized report that includes details, precise language and vocabulary, clear and effective visuals, and a delivery of the news report that has expression, eye contact, and is engaging. Throughout the unit, students read nonfiction and fiction texts (Porpoises in Peril, Mary Anning: The Girl Who Cracked Open the World, Fragile Frogs, Skeletons: Inside and Out, and Movers and Shapers) based on themes of nature and biology. Students answer questions throughout the unit such as: "What problem do the characters need to solve, What details in the story—including pictures—help me identify this problem? What problem do the characters need to solve? What details in the story—including pictures—help me identify this problem?"
• In Unit 3, Project: Now Hear Me Out, students write an opinion-editorial on one of the following topics: "Should our community help people who are affected by a natural disaster?, At what age should students be allowed to have social media accounts?, or How much time should students spend on tablets and smartphones?" Throughout the unit, students read texts in order to learn about natural disasters, such as: Anatomy of a Volcanic Eruption, A Tsunami Unfolds, Earthquakes, Quake! Disaster in San Francisco, 1906, and Earthshaker’s Bad Day. Throughout the unit, students also answer text-dependent questions such as: "What details show that lava is extremely hot? What details are used to show how the eruption affected people’s lives? What descriptive details helped you understand the force of Krakatau’s eruption? What details provided the after-effects of the Mt. Vesuvius eruption in A.D. 79?"

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching (including presentation opportunities) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

Students have opportunities in each lesson to share with the Learning Guide answers to questions, graphic organizers, and written pieces. A speaking and listening guide is available that provides the criteria for speaking and listening and suggestions for the Learning Guide. However, these suggestions are not directly linked, referenced, or modeled during lessons/lesson parts.

The materials contain some activities for students to engage in speaking and listening activities but do not provide many opportunities for follow-up questions, supports, or appropriate feedback from the Learning Guide. Questioning opportunities are provided between the student and Learning Guide, but do not provide opportunities for students to engage in peer conversations to develop answers unless there is more than one student together during the lesson. Additionally, there are few opportunities for students to build presentation skills.

• In Unit 2, Lesson: John Henry and Other Tall Tales, Part 2, students complete a Web Graphic Organizer to understand why John Henry is challenging the steam drill. Students look at the dialogue of the character John Henry and the supporting characters in the text, John Henry. Students use the dialogue in order to answer the question: “What do their words tell you about why John Henry agrees to the contest?" Students then find details and write them in the outside circles of the web. The teaching notes provide the Learning Guide with an example of what the completed Web Graphic Organizer should look like. Students are then directed to their Reading Log. Students are told to think about how the actions of John Henry are unbelievable. Students are asked to think about the characters in the books they read, “Do you think they act in believable ways? Why or why not?" Students are reminded to write the titles of the books they read in the reading log. In the teaching notes, the Learning Guide is directed, “Ask your students to take out the Reading Log and share the books he or she has read independently. Encourage him or her to talk about the characters. Ask your students how the author makes a character believable.”
• In Unit 3, Lesson: Studying Volcanoes, Parts 1-7, students read Anatomy of a Volcano and discuss the following questions with the Learning Guide: “What descriptive details helped you understand the force of Krakatau’s eruption? What details provided the after-effects of the Mt. Vesuvius eruption in A.D. 79?” Students then fill in a Descriptive Details Chart and complete the following task to practice when writing the Op-Ed: “Students will write a draft about what life is like living in the shadow of a volcano. The student’s task is to fully develop the topic. Developing a topic means explaining a topic fully so readers understand it. To explain a topic, students need to present facts, definitions, and concrete details about it. Students can also use quotations to help develop the topic in an interesting way. Use pages 44–45 as the main source of information. Supplement this information by drawing on other examples in the text.”
• In Unit 4, Lesson: Story Elements Lunch Money, Part 5, students read Chapters 12-14 of the text Lunch Money. As students read, they are to think about the question: "What are the four most essential points of the plot in these chapters?" Students respond to the question in the ELA Journal and then are directed to “talk about them with your Learning Guide.” The teaching notes for the Learning Guide contain the details from the text that students should include in their response.

The materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria for materials including explicit instruction of the grammar and conventions standards for grade level as applied in increasingly sophisticated contexts, with opportunities for application both in and out of context.

Materials include instruction in most of the grammar and conventions standards for the grade level. However, opportunities are missed for students to choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely or to differentiate between contexts that call for formal English and situations where informal discourse is appropriate. Additionally, opportunities are missed for students to use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence, spell grade-appropriate words correctly, and differentiate between contexts that call for formal English and situations where informal discourse is appropriate.

Materials include limited instruction of most grammar and conventions standards for the grade level. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Students have opportunities to use relative pronouns and relative adverbs. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
  
• In Unit 1, Lesson: What’s Wrong with the Porpoises?, Part 4, students learn about relative pronouns. The materials include an explanation of their use and examples of relative pronouns used in given sentences. Students are then directed to look for two uses of relative pronouns on pages 15–18, identify the relative pronoun, adjective clause, and noun being described and to use what they know about relative pronouns when they write.
• Students have opportunities to form and use the progressive verb tenses. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Understanding the Structure of Porpoises in Peril, Part 4, students learn the purpose of the progressive verb tense and are given the following examples:
• "Past progressive: The water became cleaner now that the mining sediment was settling on the seabed.
• Present progressive: The water is cleaner, now that the mining sediment is settling on the seabed.
• Future progressive: The water will be cleaner, since the mining sediment will be settling on the seabed."
• Students have opportunities to use modal auxiliaries to convey various conditions. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Thinking About Many Texts, Part 3, students learn that the helping verbs: can, may, and must are all modal auxiliaries. Students learn their function and learn how modal auxiliaries work.
• Students have opportunities to order adjectives within sentences according to conventional patterns. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In Unit 3, Lesson: A Tsunami Unfolds, Part 2, students learn about how to order adjectives appropriately and are given examples:
• Order by type: feeling or opinion, size, condition, age, shape, color, pattern, origin, material, purpose + noun. Example: She found a pretty, large, clean, new, round, red, spotted, French, steel, cooking pot.
• Students are then asked to brainstorm a list of adjectives that can be used to describe nouns and write them in their ELA Journal. Students are to include at least one of each type and group the list by type. Students are then to write three sentences that use two or more adjectives of different types and put them in the correct order.
• Students have opportunities to form and use prepositional phrases. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
  
• In Unit 4, Lesson: Big Ideas about Using Money, Part 3, students learn the function of prepositional phrases and are provided a list of prepositions. Students watch the BrainPOP movie, Prepositional Phrases and practice with prepositions by editing an article, “The Apollo 8 Photograph.”
• Students have opportunities to produce complete sentences, recognizing and correcting inappropriate fragments and run-ons. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In Unit 4, Lesson: Digging Deeper into Character and Plot, Part 1, students learn about the difference between a complete sentence and a fragment and are given examples.
• Students have opportunities to correctly use frequently confused words. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Using Texts to Be Experts, Part 1, students are given examples of sentences that include frequently confused words and the materials explain the difference between the words being confused: their, there, they’re and to, too, and two. Students are then asked to write sentences using the words there, they’re, their, to, too, and two correctly.
• Students have opportunities to use correct capitalization. For example:
• In Unit 2, Lesson: Why Was It the Longest Night, Part 2, students are told that proper nouns and the first word of a sentence are to be capitalized. Examples are shared from the text. Students look at page 10 of the text and write the proper nouns they see. Students then point out the beginning word of each sentence to their Learning Guide, noting that it is capitalized.
• Students have opportunities to use a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In Unit 2, Lesson: Fiction and Fact, Part 3, students learn the function of coordinating conjunctions like and, but, yet, for, and so are used to connect two clauses in a compound sentence.
• Students have limited opportunities to spell grade-appropriate words correctly, consulting references as needed. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Getting Down to the Bare Bones, Part 2, students learn about the meaning of the suffixes -ist, -ive, and -ness. Examples are given: “a tourist is a person who tours, or travels. A defensive move defends from something. Darkness is the state of being dark.” The students are told that with each of these suffixes, changing the spelling of the base word is sometimes necessary and that they should use the following guidelines:
• "If a base word ends with a silent e, drop the e before -ist or -ive: style becomes stylist.
• If a base word ends with a consonant and a y, change the y to an i before -ist, -ive, or -ness: happy becomes happiness.
• Some base words may change or drop other letters before -ist or -ive: persuade becomes persuasive. When in doubt, check a dictionary!"
• Students have opportunities to choose words and phrases to convey ideas precisely. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Understanding the Structure of Porpoises in Peril, Part 3, the materials state, “You’ve already seen what a difference word choice can make. Word choice can help an author describe the characters, events, and settings of a story. Good writers choose their words carefully, so they can express exactly what they mean."
• In Unit 1, Lesson: Thinking About Many Texts, Part 3, the materials state, “Now that you can examine word choice in one text, try two! Use this online Venn diagram to compare the choice of descriptive words in pp. 4–10 of Mary Anning and pp. 5–8 of 'Fragile Frogs.' In the left circle, give at least two examples of powerful word choices and the reasons behind them in Mary Anning. Remember, the author’s purpose in Mary Anning is to discuss the life of an extraordinary scientist and help readers learn about her important contributions to the field of paleontology. The author’s word choices should help the reader imagine what Mary was like."

Materials include opportunities for students to demonstrate application of skills both in- and out-of-context. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 4, Lesson: It Will Poggle Your Mind, Part 2, students learn that modal auxiliaries are helping verbs and that helping verbs work with main verbs. Examples of modal auxiliaries are shared: will, shall, may, might, can, could, ought to, should, would, used to, and need. Students practice identifying modal auxiliaries using the web activity Modal Verb Search.

The materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks address grade-level CCSS for foundational skills by providing explicit instruction and assessment in phonics and word recognition that demonstrate a research-based progression.

Materials provide instruction of irregularly spelled words, syllabication patterns, and word recognition consistently over the course of the year and instruction of word solving approaches (e.g., graphophonic and syntactic) to decode unfamiliar words. However, students are provided limited opportunities to apply the skills with guided practice or to demonstrate proficient use of the skills. There is some indirect assessment through the use of rubrics that include spelling. However, opportunities are missed to explicitly assess the word analysis skill within decoding or encoding words with roots and affixes. Additionally, materials lack explicit instruction of word solving approaches (e.g., graphophonic and syntactic) to decode unfamiliar words.

Materials contain limited explicit instruction of irregularly spelled words, syllabication patterns, and word recognition consistently over the course of the year. Examples of quality texts include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1, Lesson: Getting Down to the Bare Bones, Part 2, students learn about the meaning of the suffixes -ist, -ive, and -ness. Examples are given: “A tourist is a person who tours, or travels. A defensive move defends from something. Darkness is the state of being dark.” The students are told that with each of these suffixes, changing the spelling of the base word is sometimes necessary and that they should use the following guidelines:
• "If a base word ends with a silent e, drop the e before -ist or -ive: style becomes stylist.
• If a base word ends with a consonant and a y, change the y to an i before -ist, -ive, or -ness: happy becomes happiness.
• Some base words may change or drop other letters before -ist or -ive: persuade becomes persuasive. When in doubt, check a dictionary! Students are then asked to add -ist, -ive, or -ness to these words related to the reading: support, science, and weak and to write the new words in their ELA journal. Then, students are asked to write a sentence with each word for their Learning Guide."
• In Unit 2, Lesson: The Story of How the Sea Became Salty, Part 1, students learn about the meaning and use of the Latin prefixes dis-, re-, and non-. The materials explain that the prefix is one or more syllables placed at the beginning of a base word to change its meaning. Students are directed to find base words within the text and to add prefixes to them to change their meaning and how that would change the ideas in the story.
• In Unit 2, Lesson: Fiction and Fact, Part 1, students learn about and use the Latin roots scrib, scrip, and struct. Examples from the text are used: “The word description appears on p. 26 of Three Native Nations. Which Latin root appears in this word? What does the word mean? Use a dictionary to look it up. Now, look at these words using those related roots: manuscript, subscription, inscribe. What do you think they mean? Write the words and their meanings in your ELA Journal. Then, check the meanings you give them against a dictionary. Finally, use each word in a sentence.”
• In Unit 3, Lesson: A Tsunami Unfolds, Part 4, students learn about and use the suffixes -ous, -able, and -ible. Examples are given to explain how these suffixes change the meaning of the word: “Adventure means an exciting activity. If you add -ous to make adventurous, the new word means 'willing to try new, exciting activities.' Believe means to accept as truth. If you add -able to make believable, the new word means 'able to be believed, or credible.' Flex means bend. If you add -ible to make flexible, the new word means “capable of bending without breaking.”

Limited assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year to inform instructional adjustments of phonics and word recognition to help students make progress toward mastery. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Within the Teacher Notes for Unit 2, Lesson: Why was it the Longest Night?, Part 7, there is a link to a game “Pack up the Skills.” This game links to “Module A” of the game which has two “zones.” Zone 1 is a sorting game, where students sort words based on the meaning of the prefix or suffix in the word. Zone 2 addresses tackling unknown words. Students are presented with a sentence with the unknown word underlined. They need to select the meaning of the unknown word out of three choices with one or more choice being correct.

Materials lack explicit instruction of word solving approaches (e.g., graphophonic and syntactic) to decode unfamiliar words. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 1, Lesson: What’s Wrong with the Porpoises?, Part 5, materials instruct students to look for context clues to help decode unfamiliar words. Materials state, “Look for explanations of hypothesize, peculiarly, reassuringly, and interview. Write each word and the clue you find on one side of an index card. On the other side, write what you think the word’s definition is. Then, check your definition with a dictionary.”
• In Unit 3, Lesson: Run! Volcanic Eruptions, Part 2, materials state, “Great readers often read words they have not seen before. What can you do when you read a new word? Here are some things to try: Look closely at the word. Can you break it into parts? Look for clues on the page. A detail might help you figure out the word. Look in a dictionary.” Students are instructed to work with the word divergent (found within text), writing the word, breaking it into syllables, and looking for context clues to help to determine meaning. They then look the word up in the dictionary and are encouraged to use new words in their writing and conversations.

The materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria for materials, lessons, and questions provide instruction in and practice of word analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected text and tasks.

Materials provide opportunities for the students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis skills in connected texts and tasks. Opportunities are missed for students to receive explicit instruction in word analysis skills and there is no apparent research-based progression. The built-in checks for understanding by the Learning Guide offer some informal assessment, but opportunities are missed for formal assessment in student application of word analysis skills.

Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis skills in connected texts and tasks. Examples of quality texts include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Unit 2, Part 1, Lesson: The Story of How the Sea Became Salty, students learn about the meaning and use of the Latin prefixes dis-, re-, and non-. The materials explain that the prefix is one or more syllables placed at the beginning of a base word to change its meaning. Students are directed to find base words within the text and to add prefixes to them to change their meaning and how that would change the ideas in the story.
• In Unit 2, Part 1, Lesson: Fiction and Fact, students learn about and use the Latin roots scrib, scrip, and struct. Examples from the text are used: “The word description appears on p. 26 of Three Native Nations. Which Latin root appears in this word? What does the word mean? Use a dictionary to look it up. Now, look at these words using those related roots: manuscript, subscription, inscribe. What do you think they mean? Write the words and their meanings in your ELA Journal. Then, check the meanings you give them against a dictionary. Finally, use each word in a sentence.”
• In Unit 3, Part 4, Lesson: A Tsunami Unfolds, students learn about and use the suffixes -ous, -able, and -ible. Examples are given to explain how these suffixes change the meaning of the word: “Adventure means an exciting activity. If you add -ous to make adventurous, the new word means 'willing to try new, exciting activities.' Believe means to accept as truth. If you add -able to make believable, the new word means 'able to be believed, or credible.' Flex means bend. If you add -ible to make flexible, the new word means “capable of bending without breaking.” Students are then asked to find words that end in -ous, -able, and -ible in A Tsunami Unfolds and write the words and their definitions in your ELA Journal.
• In Unit 4, Part 4, Lesson: What Goes into a Narrative?, materials state, “Look at the word permission on p. 172 of Lunch Money. Underline the suffix -ion. It was added to the verb permit. Notice that a spelling change took place when the suffix was added. What does the word permission mean? Write its definition in your ELA Journal. Look the word up in a dictionary to see if you were right. If not, fix the definition. Then, write the word in a sentence. Do the same with the words immerse, express, and introduce. Add -­ion to make a noun. Guess the definition of the new word. Look it up in the dictionary to check the meaning. Then, write a sentence using each word. Discuss your answers with your Learning Guide.”

Materials do not include word analysis assessments to monitor student learning of word analysis skills.

The materials reviewed for Grade 4 partially meet the criteria for instructional opportunities are frequently built into the materials for students to practice and achieve reading fluency in oral and silent reading, that is, to read on-level prose and poetry with accuracy, rate appropriate to the text, and expression.

Materials include opportunities in each unit and each sub-unit for students to read grade-level text for purpose and understanding. Materials include one opportunity for Teachers/Learning Guides to help students apply reading skills when encountering a challenging word. Opportunities are missed to provide Teachers/Learning Guides with assessments to determine students’ fluency.

Limited opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate sufficient accuracy and fluency in oral and silent reading.

• Students have limited opportunities to read grade-level text with purpose and understanding. For example:
• In Unit 1, Part 2, Lesson: Mary Anning: The Girl Who Cracked Open the World, students are directed to pay attention to the order of events and think about these questions: "What was the first thing that happened after Mary and her brother found parts of the skeleton? What happened after the ichthyosaur was put on display? How might Mary have reacted? What did Mary do after selling the ichthyosaur?"
• In Unit 2, Part 3, Lesson: The Story of How the Sea Became Salty, students read the next two chapters of the story and think about the answers to these questions: "Who is telling the story? How are the boy’s and the giant’s reasons for working together similar and different?"
• In Unit 4, Part 2, Lesson: How Do Story Elements Connect in Lunch Money?, students read grade-level text with purpose and understanding. Students analyze the characters and their actions using the details and descriptions in the story.

Materials provide limited support in reading of prose and poetry with attention to rate, accuracy, and expression, as well as direction for students to apply reading skills when productive struggle is necessary.

• Students have limited opportunities to read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. For example:
• In Unit 4, Part 1, Lesson: All the News from Coyote School, students are instructed to read the Poem “Gold” in the Text Collection, Unit 4, Poems. Teacher notes state, “While your student is reading, assess his or her fluency. Explain that prosody is the patterns of rhythm and sounds found most typically in poetry. Reading for prosody means using the rhythm of words and the punctuation of lines of poetry to guide the reader to find complete units of meaning. If there is no punctuation at the end of a line of poetry, the reader should continue reading without pause. Model reading for prosody using the first stanza of “Gold.”

Materials contain limited support in students’ fluency development of reading skills (e.g., self-correction of word recognition and/or for understanding, focus on rereading) over the course of the year (to get to the end of the grade-level band).

• Students use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary. For example:
• In Unit 1, Part 5, Lesson: What’s Wrong with the Porpoises?, students are taught about context clues. Students are instructed that context clues are pieces of information that explain other pieces of information, like unfamiliar words and that knowing how to use context clues can help them figure out words that are unfamiliar. Students then use context clues to look for explanations of hypothesize, peculiarly, reassuringly, and interview. Students write each word and the clue they found on one side of an index card. On the other side, students write what they think the word’s definition is. Then, they check the definition with a dictionary.

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with limited information of students’ current fluency skills and provide teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery of fluency.

• In Unit 1, Part 1, Lesson: What’s Wrong with the Porpoises?, the teacher notes state, “While your student is reading, assess his or her fluency. Explain that reading at an appropriate rate means reading at just the right speed—not too fast and not too slow. Model reading aloud p. 21, then ask your student to read aloud p. 22. By not rushing, he or she is less likely to miss an important context clue.”
• In Unit 2, Part 1, Lesson: The Story of How the Sea Became Salty, the teacher notes state, “While your student is reading, assess his or her fluency. Explain that reading at an appropriate rate means reading at just the right speed—not too fast, not too slow. Reading at the proper speed keeps the listener interested. Have your student follow along as you model reading aloud from ‘Why the Sea Is Salty.’ Then, have your student read aloud a portion of Chapter 1 or 2 at an appropriate rate.”
• In Unit 3, Part 1 Lesson: Run! Volcanic Eruptions, the teacher notes state, “While your student is reading, assess his or her fluency. Focus on how your student pronounces difficult words. Encourage him or her to break the word down into parts and help sound it out. Encourage your student to write the word in his or her ELA Journal along with the breakdown parts to remind him or her how the word is pronounced."