Collaborative Literacy
2016

Collaborative Literacy

Publisher
Center for the Collaborative Classroom
Subject
ELA
Grades
K-6
Report Release
05/15/2019
Review Tool Version
v1.0
Format
Core: Comprehensive

EdReports reviews determine if a program meets, partially meets, or does not meet expectations for alignment to college and career-ready standards. This rating reflects the overall series average.

Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Partially Meets Expectations

Materials must meet expectations for standards alignment in order to be reviewed for usability. This rating reflects the overall series average.

Usability (Gateway 3)
NE = Not Eligible. Product did not meet the threshold for review.
Not Eligible
Key areas of interest

This score is the sum of all points available for all foundational skills components across all grades covered in the program.

The maximum available points depends on the review tool used and the number of grades covered.

Foundational Skills
75/84

This score represents an average across grade levels reviewed for: integrated reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language, and promotion of mastery of grade-level standards by the end of the year.

Building Knowledge
168/224
Our Review Process

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Additional Publication Details

Title ISBN
International Standard Book Number
Edition Publisher Year
SIPPS Plus Teacher?s Manual 978-1-61003-209-4 Center for the Collaborative Classroom 2017
SIPPS Plus: Dreams on Wheels and other selection 978-1-61003-213-1 Center for the Collaborative Classroom 2017
CCC Collaborative Literacy Being a Writer Second Edition Student Writing Handbook 978-1-61003-257-5 Center for the Collaborative Classroom 2014
CCC Collaborative Literacy Being a Writer Second Edition Skills Practice Book 978-1-61003-267-4 Center for the Collaborative Classroom 2014
CCC Collaborative Literacy Being a Writer Second Edition Digital Teacher's Manual Set 978-1-61003-402-9 Center for the Collaborative Classroom 2014
CCC Collaborative Literacy Making Meaning Third Edition Student Response Book 978-1-61003-711-2 Center for the Collaborative Classroom 2015
CCC Collaborative Literacy Making Meaning Digital Teacher's Manual Set 978-1-61003-777-8 Center for the Collaborative Classroom 2015
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Report for 5th Grade

Alignment Summary

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet expectations of alignment. The Grade 5 instructional materials partially meet expectations for Gateway 1. Texts are worthy of students' time and attention. Materials partially support students building their ability to access texts with increasing text complexity across the year. Materials partially meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task. Materials provide opportunities for rich and rigorous evidence-based discussions and writing about texts to build strong literacy skills. The materials partially support students' literacy development with foundational skills. The instructional materials for Grade 5 partially meet the expectations of the Gateway 2. Materials partially meet the criteria that texts are organized to support students' building knowledge of different topics, and there is support for students to engage with and grow their academic vocabulary over the course of the school year. Materials meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts and partially meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills. Materials 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. Materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year. Materials provide procedures and support for daily independent reading, primarily found in the Making Meaning component.

5th Grade
Alignment (Gateway 1 & 2)
Partially Meets Expectations
Usability (Gateway 3)
Not Rated
Overview of Gateway 1

Text Quality & Complexity

The instructional materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meet the expectations for text quality and alignment to the standards. The instructional materials partially meet expectations that texts that are appropriately complex and worthy of students' time and attention, providing many opportunities for rich and rigorous evidence-based discussions and writing about texts to build strong literacy skills. Materials address foundational skills to build comprehension and provide questions and tasks that guide students to read with purpose and understanding, making connections between acquisition of foundational skills and making meaning during reading.

Criterion 1.1: Text Quality & Complexity

15/20
Texts are worthy of students' time and attention: texts are of quality and are rigorous, meeting the text complexity criteria for each grade. Materials support students' advancing toward independent reading.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meet the criteria for anchor texts being of publishable quality, worthy of especially careful reading, consider a range of student interests, and meet the criteria for materials reflecting the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards at each grade level. Materials partially meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials supporting students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year. Materials partially meet the criteria that anchor texts and series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text-complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement in the grade level. Materials meet the criteria that anchor and supporting texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a broad range of text types and disciplines as well as a volume of reading. Materials provide numerous opportunities for students to engage with a range and volume of texts (through listening and reading) in order to achieve grade-level reading proficiency. In both the Making Meaning and Being a Writer, students are introduced to new texts and a variety of disciplines and genres.

Indicator 1A
04/04
Anchor texts are of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading and consider a range of student interests.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meet the criteria for anchor texts being of publishable quality, worthy of especially careful reading, and consider a range of student interests.

Texts are of publishable quality and address numerous topics of interest to Grade 5 students. Text types include survival stories, personal narratives, science and social studies texts. There are award-winning texts worthy of careful reading. Texts include multicultural themes, rich language and characterization, and well-crafted prose. Some of these texts include the following:

  • In Unit 1 students engage with a variety of multicultural texts. Sherry Garland’s The Lotus Seed is a story about a Vietnamese refugee. Susan V. Bosak’s Something to Remember Me By won six national awards including the Ben Franklin Award for Best Children’s Book. Norah Dooley’s Everybody Cooks Rice exposes students to various cultures. The main character describes a visit to various homes in search of his brother. During the journey, he learns different methods for preparing rice in his neighbors’ homes. This text includes cultural vocabulary and content knowledge.
  • In Unit 2, students engage with James Harrison’s Rainforests, which is an engaging text that builds student knowledge about rainforests. Students also work with the social studies text, Great Women of the American Revolution by Brianna Hall. Students read about the topic of the popularity of soccer in the United States and at school recess. Each of these texts include content vocabulary and would help build both science and social students content knowledge.
  • In Unit 3, students focus on questioning techniques and wondering strategies with Big Cats by Seymour Simon. This text is highly engaging to Grade 5 students as it contains vivid photographs of big cats.
  • In Unit 7 students read a mix of nonfiction articles about controversial topics this age group would be able to relate to as well as social studies topics that would help build student knowledge. Article topics include the pros and cons of cloning (“Copycats: Why Clone?”), banning junk food ads (“The Debate on Banning Junk Food Ads”), all girls schools vs all boys schools (“All-girls and All-boys Schools: Better for Kids”), and if kids need cell phones (“Do Kids Really Need Cell Phones?”). These texts contain unique text fonts, eye-appealing graphics, current photos of technology, and detailed captions.
  • In Unit 8, students read “Mrs. Buell,” from Hey World, Here I Am, by Jean Little, an ALA Notable Children’s Book. The style of the text is poetry and short stories with a relatable character.


Indicator 1B
04/04
Materials reflect the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards at each grade level.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meet the criteria for materials reflecting the distribution of text types and genres required by the standards at each grade level.

In each unit, text selections for read-aloud texts reflect an appropriate balance of literary and informational texts. The distribution of text types and genres is diverse. Furthermore, a range of genres are covered throughout the entire school year. There is evidence of an assortment of genres in various units. Informational texts include a collection ranging from functional text to social studies and science. In the literary texts, there is a greater emphasis on personal narratives with a limited assortment of poetry, drama, and mythology. There is evidence of a balance between literary and informational texts and the selection of categories. Throughout the year, students are presented with a combination of genres.

Literary text examples representing the balance of text types and genres include the following:

  • The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
  • Something to Remember Me By by Susan V. Bosak
  • “Speech Class” by Jim Daniels
  • Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
  • Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller
  • “Mrs. Buell” from Hey World Here I Am! By Jean Little

Informational text examples representing the balance of text types and genres include the following:

  • Rainforests by James Harrison
  • Great Women of the American Revolution by Brianna Hall
  • Global Warming by Seymour Simon
  • “Survival and Loss: Native American Boarding Schools” by Center for the Collaborative Classroom
  • A River Ran Wild by Lynne Cherry
  • “The Pros and Cons of Year-round Schools” by Center for the Collaborative Classroom


Indicator 1C
02/04
Texts have the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.

Anchor texts in Making Meaning are consistently read aloud to Grade 5 students. This limits the opportunities for students to read Grade 5 complex texts without the scaffold of teacher read-aloud. The majority of the read-aloud texts are within the Grade 5 complexity stretch band; however, students lack opportunities to read texts independently without considerable scaffolding. Examples of texts at the appropriate level of complexity include:

Examples of texts at the appropriate level of complexity include:

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, students listen to The Lotus Seed over two days. The Lexile level is AD810L. The conventionality and sentence structure are moderately complex since the text is written like a poem. The meaning is moderately complex with a clear theme. Knowledge demands are moderately complex.
  • In Unit 3, Week 2, students listen to Big Cats, which has a Lexile of 1050. This text has very complex text structure (for example, there are no guiding headings). The language features are very complex with figurative language, unfamiliar vocabulary, and complex sentence structure.
  • In Unit 4, students listen to Tuck Everlasting over four weeks. The text has a Lexile of 770L. The text has very complex text structure with complex characters. The meaning is very complex with multiple levels of meaning. The knowledge demands are very complex.

Some texts in the Making Meaning component are not at the appropriate level of complexity for Grade 5 students. The reader and task requirements typically contain considerable scaffolding or partner work, in instances when students could complete tasks independently since texts are below the Grade 5 complexity band. Examples include:

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, students listen to Something to Remember Me By, which has a Lexile of 520L. 
  • In Unit 8, Week 3, students listen to "Mrs. Buell" from Hey World, Here I am!, which has a Lexile of 570L. 




Indicator 1D
02/04
Materials support students' increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year. (Series of texts should be at a variety of complexity levels appropriate for the grade band.)

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.

Anchor texts in Making Meaning are consistently read aloud to Grade 5 students. This limits the opportunities for students to read Grade 5 complex texts without the scaffold of teacher read-aloud. The majority of the read-aloud texts are within the Grade 5 complexity stretch band. Examples of texts at the appropriate level of complexity include:Comprehension strategies, discussion questions, and tasks increase in complexity as students engage in the texts over the course of several days, and across weeks of study within a unit. Students, for example, may be asked to apply a strategy taught through an anchor text to their independent reading book. However, the level of scaffolding is consistently the same with the teacher reading aloud anchor and supplementary texts. Students typically engage in class discussion or partner discussion before engaging independently with a task.The organization/placement of texts in general do not promote students encountering opportunities for building grade-level skills as outlined by the standards themselves. Texts are organized thematically without a focus on building knowledge, there is a focus on a progressions of stand-alone skills.

At the beginning of the year, students are required to read and practice the comprehension strategies discussed in class. By the end of the year, students are provided opportunity to read independently for longer periods of time. In addition, students confer with the teacher to discuss the use of their reading strategies. While IDR (Individualized Daily Reading) conferences support students in comprehension of the text, they do not provide assurance for the teacher that students are being adequately supported in growing their comprehension and analysis skills as the year progresses.Students read texts at their independent reading level during Individualized Daily Reading (IDR). An accountability element is built into this component as students are required to share their understanding of what they are reading with their partners, their class, or their teacher.

For example, in Unit 2, students hear the article, “Follow That Ball! Soccer Catching On in the U.S.”

  • On Day 1, the teacher reads the article aloud and asks questions throughout the read aloud. There is a class discussion and partner talk about the text based on the teacher’s scaffolding questions.
  • On Day 2, the students as a class about the article read on Day 1. The teacher asks scaffolding questions. The teacher rereads the text aloud and asks scaffolding questions about text features. The teacher helps the class examine a circle graph in the text. An opportunity to complete independent tasks associated with the anchor text is missed.

In Making Meaning, the comprehension strategies presented in the units do not progress in complexity over the course of the year. Though some strategies are repeated, the level of support remains the same. Examples include:

  • In Unit 1, students listen to and discuss stories, make text-to-self and text-to-text connections, compare similar themes and topics in two stories in the same genre, and explore first- and third-person points of view in fiction.
  • In Unit 2, students use text features to locate key information and better understand expository nonfiction text.
  • In Unit 3, students use wondering/questioning and “Stop and Ask Question” to help them make sense of the text, use schema to articulate all they think they know about a topic before they read expository nonfiction.
  • In Unit 4, students analyze text structure in a novel, including elements of narrative text structure, including character, setting, plot and conflict, use questioning and think about whether their questions were answered explicitly or implicitly to make sense of the novel, and discuss theme.
  • In Unit 5, students make inferences to understand characters and use text structure to make sense in fiction story, make inferences and visualize to make sense of poems, continue to use questioning and text structure, and learn to use a double-entry journal to record their thinking.
  • In Unit 6, students use scheme a to articulate all they think they know about a topic before they read, make inferences to understand characters in historical fiction, fiction, and expository nonfiction as well as to understand causes of events in an expository nonfiction text, continue to use text structure to explore a fiction story.
  • In Unit 7, students use schema to articulate all they think they know about a topic before they read, analyze how information in expository nonfiction articles is organized, explore how articles can inform by highlighting pros and cons and by investigating one side of an issue, explore an author’s opinion, analyze how a functional and expository text is organized, identify what they learn from functional texts, explain how functional texts inform readers, use two functional texts to solve problems, listen to and discuss an expository text, identify what they learn and use text structure from expository text, and explore the text structures and sequence, cause and effect, and compare/contrast in an expository text.
  • In Unit 8, students use schema to articulate all they think they know about a topic before they read, continue to make inferences to understand a narrative nonfiction story, think about important ideas and supporting details in a narrative nonfiction story to build summaries, explore elements of narrative text structure, and include point of view and plot in a narrative nonfiction story.
  • In Unit 9, students synthesize by making judgments and forming opinions about fiction story, use evidence from the story to support their conclusions, and integrate knowledge from three texts on the same topic to speak knowledgeably about the topic.
  • In Unit 10, students reflect on their use of comprehension strategies and their growth as a reader, and and share book recommendations and plans for summer reading.

These samples do show how the program provides practice with reading strategies over the year, but the teacher will have to provide extra support to ensure students can actually demonstrate reading comprehension of appropriately rigorous and complex texts by the end of Grade 5.

Indicator 1E
01/02
Anchor texts and series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement in the grade level.

The materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that anchor texts and series of texts connected to them are accompanied by a text-complexity analysis and rationale for purpose and placement in the grade level. Materials do not include a complete text-complexity analysis for the texts that accompany the lessons in Making Meaning or Being a Writer. There is a general rationale explaining the purpose of whole-class shared reads and small-group texts. There is also a short rationale of genres and text summaries included for the Making Meaning module provided by the publisher.

In the Making Meaning section, a rationale or text complexity analysis is not provided. A list of the books is provided, and a synopsis of the texts is provided.

  • In Unit 1, Week 2, the synopsis provided for Everybody Cooks Rice is as follows: “When Carrie goes from house to house looking for her brother, she discovers that, although her neighbors come from different parts of the world, their dinners share a common ingredient. Ten rice recipes round out this realistic fiction story.”
  • In Unit 2, Week 2, the teacher reads aloud two articles “Follow that Ball! Soccer Catching On in the U.S.,” by unknown and “All Work and No Play: Trends in School Recess” by unknown. The publisher provides the following synopsis of “Follow that Ball! Soccer Catching on in the U.S.”: “This article discusses the growing popularity of soccer in the United States.” The publisher also provides the following synopsis of “All Work and No Play: Trends in School Recess”: “This article discusses the trend toward reducing and eliminating recess time in U.S. schools and highlights some of the benefits of recess.”
  • In Unit 5, Week 1, the teacher reads aloud the poems “The Cafe,” “The Possum,” and “Lightning Strikes” from The Van Gogh Cafe by Cynthia Rylant. The publisher provides a synopsis of the poems as follows: “Six short, fictional stories tell about people finding happiness in the Van Gogh Café, a place where it seems that anything can happen.”
  • In Unit 6, the text, “October Saturday,” is used because the unit focus is fiction and poetry. “During this unit, the students visualize and make inferences to make sense of narrative text and poetry, and they continue to ask questions and analyze the text structure of narrative text.”
  • In Unit 7, Week 4, the teacher reads aloud the book Survival and Loss: Native American Boarding Schools by unknown. This book is also utilized in Week 5 of instruction. The publisher provides the following synopsis of the text: “This informational text concisely summarizes Native American history from the time European explorers arrived in North America. It focuses on the campaign to ‘civilize’ Native American children by sending them to institutions such as the Carlisle Boarding School.”
  • In Unit 8, Week 3, the synopsis provided for “Mrs. Buell” from Hey World, Here I Am! is as follows: “Kate doesn’t think much about grouchy Mrs. Buell until the old woman disappears from her life.”
  • In Unit 9, Week 2, the teacher reads aloud the story “12 seconds from death” by Paul Dowswell. The publisher provides the following synopsis of the text: “Three skydivers make a parachute jump that almost ends in disaster.”

In the Being a Writer section, a rationale or text complexity analysis is not provided. There is a writing and social development focus for each text which can be used as a rationale and/or a part of the reader and task of the text complexity triad.

  • In Unit 2, Week 1, the teacher reads aloud “More about Jon Scieszka” as part of Author Talk compiled by Leonard S. Marcus. The publisher provides the following synopsis of the text: “Jon Scieszka shares about his daily writing routine and revision process.”
  • In Genre, Personal Narrative, the texts are intended to help students explore the genre of personal narrative, so students can write about significant topics from their lives. “They learn about the writing practices of professional authors as they hear, discuss, and write personal narratives.”
  • In Genre, Fiction, Week 3, the teacher reads aloud The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland, The Summer My Father Was Ten by Pat Brisson, and Just a Dream by Chris Van Allsburg. The publisher provides the following synopsis of The Lotus Seed: “A young girl keeps a lotus seed to remind her of Vietnam’s fallen emperor. Decades later in the United States, her grandson plants the seed, and it blossoms in the soil of the family’s new home. A concise history of Vietnam follows this narrative poem.” The publisher also provides the following synopsis for The Summer My Father Was Ten: “A young boy learns a lesson after he dstroys a neighbor’s vegetable garden.” Lastly, the publisher provides the following synopsis for Just a Dream: “Walter is unconcerned about the environment until he has a dream.”
  • In Genre, Expository Nonfiction, Week 1, the teacher reads aloud I Wonder Why Penguins Can’t Fly and other questions about polar lands by Pat Jacobs, Rainforests by James Harrison, and I Wonder Why the Sahara Is Cold At Night and other questions about deserts by Jackie Gaff. The publisher provides the following synopsis of I Wonder Why Penguins Can’t Fly and other questions about polar lands: “Why is Antarctica colder than the Arctic? How are icebergs formed? These questions and more are explored in this book about polar lands.” The publisher also provides the following synopsis for Rainforests: “This expository nonfiction text takes young readers on a journey through the world’s rainforests, from South America to Southeast Asia. Readers explore the parts of the rainforest from canopy to forest floor, and meet many of the plants, animals, and people who call the rainforest home.” Lastly, the publisher provides the following synopsis for I Wonder Why The Sahara Is Cold At Night and Other Questions about Deserts: “The mysteries of the Sahara desert are explored using question-and-answer format.”
  • In Genre, Functional Writing, the texts are intended to explore functional writing. “They read and discuss various types of functional writing and write directions for getting from one place to another. They explore craft elements of functional writing, including completeness, accuracy, and clarity, and they focus on using specific language and details in their writing.” For the social development focus, students work with partners and reach an agreement and make decisions together.
  • In Genre, Opinion, Week 1, the teacher reads aloud an essay “School Uniforms” adapted by Akinyi R. from Teennlnk.com. The publisher provides the following synopsis of the text: “School uniforms eliminate distractions in school, create a less judgemental environment, and save time and money.”
  • In Genre, Poetry, Week 2, the teacher reads aloud two poems “Gentle Sound of Rain” by Lee Emmett and “I Love the Look of Words” by Maya Angelou. The teacher also reads aloud an excerpt “Poet Quotes: What is Poetry?” by unknown. The publisher provides the following synopsis of “Gentle Sound of Rain”: “Rain drops, plops, and splatters in this poem.” The publisher also provides the following synopsis for “I Love the Look of Words”: “Words tumble like popcorn onto the page.” Lastly, a synopsis for the excerpt, “Poet Quotes: What is Poetry?” is provided by the publisher: “Professional poets discuss what poetry is to them.”

An additional resource, Lexile Overview: Read-aloud Texts and Small-group Reading Texts, is available from the publisher. This resource includes a Lexile overview as information on genres, format, Lexile levels, and Fountas and Pinnell levels.

Indicator 1F
02/02
Anchor text(s), including support materials, provide opportunities for students to engage in a range and volume of reading to achieve grade level reading.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meet the criteria that anchor and supporting texts provide opportunities for students to engage in a broad range of text types and disciplines as well as a volume of reading to achieve grade-level reading proficiency.

The instructional materials provide numerous opportunities for students to engage with a range and volume of texts (through listening and reading) in order to achieve grade-level reading proficiency. In both Making Meaning and Being a Writer, students are introduced to new texts and a variety of disciplines and genres. Students are provided daily opportunities to listen to and read a range and volume of texts as well as opportunities to reread previous-read text for different purposes.

For each unit, the instructional materials encompass teacher read alouds followed by students engaging in class discussion and demonstrating their ability to comprehend texts. On subsequent days, students make use of the same text. Teachers utilize the text to teach students a comprehension strategy. Throughout the nine units in Making Meaning, the texts provide a variety of genres and topics. The texts comprise a mix of fiction and nonfiction (i.e., poetry, fables, personal narratives, and expository text). Students explore topics, such as the American Revolution, cats, junk food ads, all girls or all boys schools, kids and cell phones, rainforests, and global warming and volcanos. For example, in Unit 3, Week 1, students engage with the text, Big Cats, which is an expository nonfiction on cats. In Unit 4, Week 1, students engage with the story Tuck Everlasting, which is used throughout the entire unit. There are a range of short texts and longer texts throughout the entire program.

Students also listen to books in the Being a Writer component, and these texts are used as mentor texts. For example, in the Genre Fiction, students hear the stories, The Wreck of the Zephyr, Moira’s Birthday, and Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street. In the next unit, students hear expository nonfiction including, I Wonder Why Penguins Can’t Fly: and Other Questions About Polar Lands, and I Wonder Why the Sahara is Cold at Night: and Other Questions About Deserts and Rainforests.

Students engage in daily independent reading, which begins on the third day of instruction. In the Making Meaning Teacher’s Manual, there is an overview of the plan for student independent reading, which is Individualized Daily Reading (IDR). It is recommended for students to spend approximately 30 minutes per day reading books independently and at their appropriate reading level. Students select books from the classroom library. According to the publisher, a classroom library requires an extensive range of fiction and nonfiction texts at various levels. It is recommended to have 300 to 400 titles in the classroom library. Twenty-five percent of the books should below grade level (by one to two grades), and twenty-five percent should be above grade level (by one to two grades).

Criterion 1.2: Alignment to the Standards with Tasks and Questions Grounded in Evidence

14/16
Materials provide opportunities for rich and rigorous evidence-based discussions and writing about texts to build strong literacy skills.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meet the criteria that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-dependent/specific, requiring students to engage with the text directly. There are some sequences of high-quality, text-dependent/specific questions, activities, and tasks that scaffold students’ understanding of a text that build to a culminating task. Throughout the school year and each lesson, the application of speaking and listening instruction is frequently applied in each program component. Students engage in Turn and Talks, Think-Pair-Shares, and whole-group discussions. Materials meet the criteria for materials including a mix of on-demand and process writing (e.g., multiple drafts, revisions over time) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate. Throughout the course of the school year, students engage with multiple genres and modes of writing in both Making Meaning and Being a Writer. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials including frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information appropriate for the grade level. Students are continuously asked to support analyses and claims with clear information and evidence during discussion. However, there are few opportunities for students to produce evidence-based writing. Materials 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.

Indicator 1G
02/02
Most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-dependent, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text).

The instructional materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meet the criteria that most questions, tasks, and assignments are text-dependent/specific, requiring students to engage with the text directly (drawing on textual evidence to support both what is explicit as well as valid inferences from the text).

The Grade 5 instructional materials meet expectations for alignment to the standards with tasks and questions grounded in evidence. There are sequences of high-quality, text-dependent questions, activities, and tasks that build scaffolding of student understanding of text and provide opportunities to synthesize key information. Throughout independent reading practice, students apply their knowledge of reading and responding to text-dependent questions, making inferences, and synthesizing information on a day-to-day basis.

Throughout each unit, daily questions and tasks require students to extend strategies acquired during the learning process and apply them to similar texts. Question types are a combination of text-dependent and explicit, requiring students to cite evidence. Text-dependent questions appear before, during, and after reading instruction. Students explore questions in whole group, small group, and independent practice.

Examples of questions, tasks, and assignments that require students to engage with the text directly include:

  • In Unit 2, Week 3, students work with Great Women of the Revolution. Afterwards, students partner up to answer the following question: “What did you find out about women who participated in the American Revolution?” Then, the teacher reads another excerpt. Students record five things they found looking at text features in their Student Response Book, page 13. Next, students share with the class. Students explore the index in pairs and as a class. Using their own knowledge, students write their own opinions about which spy is the most heroic and why. Then, the students review the “Timeline of Women’s Contributions to the American Revolution.” Using the aforementioned structure for a timeline, students develop a timeline comprising events from the current school year. Throughout the year, students can contribute additional data to their timelines.
  • In Unit 3, Week 2, students write about the following based on Big Cats: “What reasons does the article give for why big cats are endangered?”
  • In Unit 4, Week 3, each day, the teacher reads aloud Tuck Everlasting and pauses at various sections. Students write questions about the text. Students place checkmarks next to questions answered in the text. Afterwards, the students pinpoint which questions were directly and indirectly answered (by identifying clues). Students discuss their findings with a partner. The teacher asks students to respond to the following: “What is a question that got you and your partner talking about the story? Is that question answered directly, or did you figure out the answer from clues? What clues?”
  • In Unit 6, Week 3, students are asked the following based on Global Warming: “What did you learn about the effects of global warming on coastal areas?”
  • In Unit 9, Week 1, students write an opinion essay on “Zoo.” Within the writing sample, students summarize their understanding and provide text evidence to support specific reasons for recommending or disapproving the source.
  • In Unit 9, Week 2, students read “12 seconds from death” and respond to the following: “What did you find out about skydivers in the first part of the story? What are the important events of the story?”


Indicator 1H
01/02
Sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent questions and tasks build to a culminating task that integrates skills (may be writing, speaking, or a combination).

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the expectations for having sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent/specific questions and tasks that build to a culminating task that integrates skills (may be writing, speaking, or a combination).

There are some sequences of high-quality text dependent/specific questions, activities, and tasks that scaffold students’ understanding of a text that build to a culminating task. Opportunities exist for students to synthesize key information from text at times. However, the majority of these are identified as optional extension activities or optional writing about reading activities.

In the Making Meaning component of the materials, after interacting with a text for several days, students often participate in a Writing about Reading activity. However, this is identified as an optional activity. In some of the activities, students do integrate some things they have learned and practiced during the week. Some examples include:

  • In Unit 2, Week 3, students write opinions about heroines. After reading Great Women of the American Revolution, specifically studying Elizabeth Burgin, Ann Bates, and Lydia Darragh, who worked as spies during the Revolutionary War. They reread sections of their stories, then determine which heroine they believe was most heroic. “Which of these spies do you think is most heroic? Why?”
  • In Unit 6, Week 3, students hear the text, Global Warming. During this time, students are required to make inferences to completely understand cause and effect (in expository nonfiction books). Students respond to the following: "What did you learn about global warming and climate? What did you learn about the greenhouse effect? What human activities are causing much of the current warming of our planet?" In their student response journals, students record answers to the following prompt: "Why does Seymour Simon say that human activities contribute to the increase in greenhouse gases?" While these questions do work together to provide the student with demonstrating some things read, there is not a culminating opportunity here for the student to provide the teacher with current literacy development-- and what might be needed.
  • In Unit 9, Week 1 of Making Meaning, students read a summary of “Zoo,” and write an opinion with scaffolded instruction. The teacher asks the following question: "How might you summarize 'Zoo?'" Then, the teacher provides a sample. The teacher says the following: "What might someone who recommends this story say about it?" Students discuss responses with partners. Afterwards, the teacher asks the following: "What might someone who doesn’t recommend the story say about it?" Students discuss responses with partners. Students then write their opinion, which is not part of the Write about Reading Section.

In the Being a Writer section, students hear a mentor text and discuss it before writing for the day. The teacher asks text-dependent questions prior to students writing to help direct their attention to the focus skill. For example, in the Expository Nonfiction Genre Unit, students hear the first half of Global Warming in Week 2, Day 2 before being asked what they learned about global warming. Then, students begin writing their own expository nonfiction. Rubrics are provided for a general assessment of both published and unpublished work.

In addition, after learning a skill through shared reading, students apply their learning to their independent reading books. While this is a daily culminating task, it does not require students to synthesize and apply what they learned

Indicator 1I
02/02
Materials provide frequent opportunities and protocols for evidencebased discussions that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax. (May be small group and all-class.)

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meet the criteria for materials providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions (small groups, peer-to-peer, whole class) that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

The materials provide daily opportunities and protocols for students to engage in evidence-based discussion in a variety of contexts (i.e., small group, partner, and whole class). Evidence-based discussions promote mastery of grade-level speaking and listening standards. There are opportunities available to assess all students’ speaking and listening abilities. Throughout the program, there is are social development objectives. Weekly objectives encompass listening respectfully to thought processes of peers. Every lesson comprises questions that students can discuss through speaking and listening opportunities.

During class discussions in Making Meaning (including the Vocabulary Teaching Guide), modeling and practice with academic vocabulary is provided. Resources include, but are not limited to, Making Meaning Teacher Manuals, Making Meaning Vocabulary Teaching Guide, and Making Meaning Student Response Book. Cooperative Discussion Structures included the following: Turn to Your Partner, Think-Pair-Share, Think-Pair-Write, and Heads Together (located in the introduction of understanding the program section of the Making Meaning Teacher’s Manual). In the Vocabulary Teaching Guides, vocabulary lessons are present for four days with continuous reviews on the fifth day of instruction. Each lesson makes use of vocabulary from weekly anchor texts and offer fifteen to twenty minutes of instruction.

  • In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 3, the teacher reads aloud Something to Remember Me By and asks: “What is happening in the story so far? Turn to your partner. What is happening in the story story now? Turn to your partner.”
  • In Unit 4, Week 3, the teacher is facilitating a class discussion on conflict. Students respond to the following: “What are some of the conflicts or problems in the story? What do you think might happen next?” If students struggle with responses, then the teacher is prompted to provide the answer. The teacher has the option of pointing out conflicts and problems in the story.
  • In Unit 6, Week 1, the teacher reads aloud Richard Wright and the Library Card and asks students to answer the following questions with a partner: “What is the plot of this story (happens in the story)? Turn to your partner. What conflicts are there in the story? Turn to your partner.”
  • In Unit 7, student groups read aloud text and use the “Heads Together” strategy to engage in discussion about the reading selection. Using “Copycat,” the teacher facilitates a pros and cons class discussion.
  • In Unit 7, Week 5, students are using the “Heads Together” discussion technique to answer the question, “What questions can we ask (Franklin) about the expository text structure he noticed?” The teacher is directed to have a few volunteers share their journal entry with the class.

The Grade 5 vocabulary program consists of 30 weeks of lessons as well as ongoing review activities. Students work with the words from the text.

  • In Making Meaning Vocabulary Teaching Guide, Week 4, Day 1, the teacher reads aloud, “Follow That Ball! Soccer Catching On in the U.S.” The teacher reads aloud the caption, which contains the word surge. The teacher displays word card 19 with the word surge on it and reminds students that surge means a sudden increase. Using “Think-Pair-Share,” students discuss, “What does the surge of water look like? What does it sound like? Open your eyes. Turn to your partner. Prompt 1: The surge of water [looks/sounds] like…”
  • In Making Meaning Vocabulary Teaching Guide, Week 23, the teacher reads aloud from Harry Houdini and tells students they will learn the word master. The teacher models master in sentences. Using “Think-Pair-Share,” students discuss: “What is a skill you have mastered or are trying to master? Turn to your partner. Prompt 1: A skill [I have mastered/I am trying to master]...”


Indicator 1J
02/02
Materials support students' listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching (including presentation opportunities) with relevant follow-up questions and supports.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 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.

Throughout the school year and each lesson, the application of speaking and listening instruction is frequently applied in each program component. Students engage in Turn and Talks, Think-Pair-Shares, and whole-group discussions. In the Teacher’s Manual, page xxv, there are details on the various cooperative structures in the program. In third grade specifically, “turn to your partner and “Think-Pair-Share” are the most common structures. Students work on elaborating on their understanding of the text. Across the year’s scope of academic materials, teachers receive guidance on leading students in evidence-based discussions. Examples include:

  • In Unit 1, Week 2, the students practice a Think-Pair-Share. The teacher reads Everybody Cooks With Rice and conducts two Think-Pair-Share activities to discuss what is happening in the story. Then, he or she facilitates a class discussion on text-to-self connections with three questions. On the second day, the teacher facilitates a Think-Pair-Share, and students recall the previous story. Student partners share their thoughts on the story’s point of view and provide evidence to support their thinking. Two volunteers share responses with the class. The teacher displays the cover of Something to Remember Me By (a previously-read text), and student partners discuss the point of view. Volunteers share with the class.
  • In Unit 5, Week 1, students recall the first three chapters of “The Van Gogh Café.” Students practice asking and answering questions about the story and then sharing that with a partner. The partner repeats back what he/she heard in order to make sure the student is being an active listener.
  • In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 1, the teacher begins the lesson by reviewing how to be in a conversation by reviewing prompts to extend a conversation such as, "Tell me more of your thinking about..., and let’s talk a little more about..." Then after the students hear the story, Richard Wright and the Library Card, they discuss plot prompts with a partner.
  • In Unit 9, Week 4, Day 1, after hearing The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, students work with partners to summarize the book. The teacher is instructed to walk around the room and provide additional prompts to supports speaking and listening such as, "What is this book about?"

In addition to having opportunities for speaking and listening in Making Meaning, there are additional opportunities in Being a Writer. Examples include:

  • In Unit 2, Week 1, after hearing The Frog Prince and The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, students learn about the author Jon Sciezka and discuss with a partner in a Think-Pair-Share what they learned about his writing process.
  • In the Fiction Writing Unit, Week 3, students read the passage from Just a Dream with a partner to discuss and underline words and phrases that reveal the main character’s personality. This is followed with a whole-class discussion.
  • In the Opinion Writing Unit, Week 1, students begin writing by working with a partner to discuss and reflect on the writing from the year. Students take turns talking about some of the things they have written this year, and then a whole-class discussion is conducted where partners share what they learned from their partner.
  • In the Poetry Writing Unit, students hear various poems such as “Gentle Sound of Rain” in Week 2, and students participate in a whole-class discussion about the sounds of the poem. Some questions include: “What rhyming words do you notice in this poem?” and “Why do you think the poet included so many words that have the /sh/ sound?”


Indicator 1K
02/02
Materials include a mix of on-demand and process writing (e.g. multiple drafts, revisions over time) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meets the criteria for materials including a mix of on-demand and process writing (e.g., multiple drafts, revisions over time) and short, focused projects, incorporating digital resources where appropriate.

The materials include daily, on-demand writing tasks and opportunities for completing multiple drafts and revisions based on writing mini-lessons. Teachers gain support from digital resources and additional commentary describes its use for lessons. Throughout the units, there are project-aligned extension activities. Each day, students write independently. Throughout the course of the school year time spent writing increases. Students write from 10 to 15 minutes in Unit 1 and increase to 30 minutes by Unit 8. As students engage in independent writing activities, they respond to prompts that link prior learning from the previous lesson. Students repeatedly engage in the cycle of prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing as they participate in the genre units of Being a Writer. The genre units, focus on personal narrative, fictional narrative, expository (or informative) nonfiction, functional (or explanatory) nonfiction, opinion writing, and poetry. Students hear, read, and discuss good examples of each genre. They learn about elements of a genre as they brainstorm ideas, quick write, and write multiple drafts. Students then select a draft to develop and revise for publication in the class library.

  • In Unit 1, Week 3, quick writes include the following, “After listening to Water Dance read aloud, write ‘I could be’ sentences from the point of view of an object in your writing notebooks.”
  • In Unit 3, Week 2, there is an optional technology extension in which students research reputable websites about leopards. Afterwards, they write paragraphs about their newfound learning. They are instructed to head their paragraphs with text features.
  • In Unit 3, Week 1, students are writing a personal narrative and generating writing ideas from their own lives. They draft personal narratives on a single, interesting event from their own life. In Week 2, students continue to draft their event, adding sensory details. In Week 3, students review their drafts and select one to develop, revise, proofread, and publish. They add sensory detail, review verb tenses, and explore strong opening sentences and endings to draw the story’s events to a close.
  • In Unit 3, Week 4, students revise grammar and spelling and write the final version for publishing, adding their writing to a class book. Afterwards, they present their writing sample in the Author’s Chair.
  • In Unit 4, Week 1, and throughout the unit, the teacher creates a class blog. Students reflect on their newfound knowledge about writing informational reports.
  • In Unit 5, Weeks 1-6, students research and write a nonfiction topic that interests them.
  • In Unit 6, Weeks 1-3, students read examples of functional writing and write directions.
  • In Unit 7, Weeks 1-3, students read several examples of persuasive articles and write an opinion on a topic of their choice.
  • In Unit 8, Week 1 during the Making Meaning lessons, students produce on-demand writing samples in their Student Response Books. They make inferences to aid with the importance of understanding and remembering “A River Ran Wild.” Before students complete this assignment, the teacher introduces expectations for this type of task. He or she models thought and writing process about important story events.
  • Opportunities to use technology are also embedded in the curriculum. Students are given opportunities for digital storytelling. It is suggested that the stories be shared online, emailed to parents, or stored for others to view on the computer, tablet, or other device.


Indicator 1L
02/02
Materials provide opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 meets the criteria for materials providing opportunities for students to address different text types of writing that reflect the distribution required by the standards.

Writing prompts include opinion, narrative, and informative/explanatory writing throughout the program. Additionally, students write poetry. Throughout the course of the school year, students engage with multiple genres and modes of writing in both Making Meaning and Being a Writer. In Being a Writer, every writing sample stems from a study of mentor texts as exemplars of the genre studied. Genres include personal, narrative, fiction, expository nonfiction, functional, opinion, and poetry. Performance tasks are included for narrative, argumentative, and informative/explanatory writing. In the Assessment Sourcebook, teachers and students can access scoring rubrics and record sheets. Examples include:

Narrative

  • In Unit 1, Week 2 of Being a Writer, Quick Writes are introduced. Students can write personal narratives using some of the following prompts: “What is your earliest memory?" "When did something strange happen to you?" and "When were you really surprised?”
  • In the Personal Narrative Genre Unit, students begin by writing a personal narrative about an object that is special to them in Week 1, Day 1.
  • In the Fiction Genre Unit, students learn how to generate fiction story ideas and write a fiction story using a picture in Week 2, Day 1.

Informational/Expository

  • In Unit 1, Week 1 of Being a Writer, students learn how to generate ideas for writing using a text. For example, students hear the poems “Lemonade” and “Backyard Bubbles” and respond to the prompt, “What patterns or other interesting things did you notice as you read these poems?”
  • In Unit 4, Week 2 of Making Meaning, while reading Tuck Everlasting, students write about the setting of the novel. Then in Unit 4, Week 4, of Making Meaning, students write about the changes encountered by the main character, Winnie, over the course of the novel.
  • In Unit 5, Week 1 of Being a Writer, students read nonfiction texts about topics that interest them and engage in a research project that culminates in an informational essay.
  • In Unit 6, Week 1, Day 4 of Making Meaning, students write about what is the same and what is different in Richard Wright and the Library Card and Uncle Jed’s Barbershop.

Opinion

  • In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 4 of Making Meaning, after hearing the book Rainforests, students write an opinion piece on which bird they think is the most interesting and why.
  • In Unit 3, Week 1 of Making Meaning, using the reading selection, students write a paragraph to express their opinion of Jerry Spinelli’s ideas about radio and television.
  • In the Opinion Genre Unit, students write a persuasive essay on a topic of their choice.


Indicator 1M
01/02
Materials include frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for materials including frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information appropriate for the grade level. Students are regularly encouraged to support analyses and claims with clear information and evidence during discussions. However, there are few opportunities for students to produce evidence-based writing.

Writing about Reading in both the Making Meaning and Being a Writer components provide students with opportunities to write opinions about and make connections to texts they listen to and discuss, but since these activities are optional, students are not regularly required to produce evidence-based writing. Protocols are outlined in the Teacher Editions, which states: "Writing About Reading. These activities provide the students with opportunities to write opinions about and make connections to texts they hear and discuss in the Being a Writer program. Although the activities are optional, they provide a valuable opportunity for your students to practice writing opinions in response to texts, and we encourage you to do them. These activities can be done at the end of a lesson or at another time. The Writing About Reading activities build in complexity across grades. In grades K–2, the students write personal opinions in response to texts. Starting in grade 1, students are expected to provide reasons to support their opinions. In grade 3, in addition to writing about personal opinions, the students begin to more closely analyze the texts, backing up inferences with textual references. In grades 4–5, the latter is the primary focus of the Writing About Reading activities. Students write and include textual references to support their inferences."

Potential opportunities for students to respond to texts include lessons and practice such as the following representative examples. Although these examples are both evidence-based prompts, the Writing about Reading sections are optional, so all students may not get these opportunities. Additionally, time is not built into lessons to complete these writing tasks, so the teacher may have to redesign and provide extra planning to assure students have access to this work. Although students often discuss and reflect on genre writing, students do not consistently use texts to pull information or evidence to support their published writings.

  • In Unit 3, Week 2, Day 2, in Write About Reading, teachers think aloud and model about the setting of the Tucks’ home, and what it reveals about the Tuck family. Students then write about the setting of Tuck Everlasting, and what it reveals to them about the Tucks. However, there is no guidance for the think-loud or model that is to be provided by the teacher. There is no guidance for students in how to analyze the text, or structure or develop their writing with well-defended claims or clear information based on the text.
  • In Making Meaning, Unit 5, Week 1, Day 3, students are read the text “Big Cats,” the teacher then models a think aloud about how lions and tigers are alike, and finally, students write about how lions and tigers are alike and different. To complete this writing, students will use details from the text.
  • In Unit 6, Week 2, students continue to think about and discuss inferences as they listen to the expository nonfiction book, Hurricanes. On Day 2, students are asked to write opinions about which of two accounts is more interesting after listening to the excerpt from Hurricanes, “First- and Secondhand Accounts of Hurricane Katrina”. A think-aloud model is provided. There is no guidance for students in how to analyze the text, or structure or develop their writing with well-defended claims or clear information based on the text. While students are encouraged to refer to the texts as they write, guidance and explicit direction on using text-focused examples is not clear.
  • In Unit 7, Week 2, Day 2, students review the article, “All-girls and All-boy Schools: Better for Kids”. Students highlight evidence, and participate in a class discussion with questions such as, “What evidence did you and your partner underline that supports the opinion that all-girl and all-boy schools are a good idea?”, How does [“male students in all-boys schools scored better in reading and writing than male graduates of coeducational schools”] help support the opinion that all-girls and all-boys schools are a good idea?”, “What other evidence did you find that [having separate all-girls and all-boys schools helps students do better in school]? On Day 3, students underline evidence in and discuss other articles, including “Do Kids Really Need Cell Phones?”. They do not engage in evidence-based writing to analyze these topics. There is an Extension option to research and write an article expressing a similar or opposing opinion about kids and cell phones, based on their research.
  • In Unit 4, Week 1, students write a paragraph as their opinion about what happens in Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street. Students are directed to state their opinion and give facts or details from the story to support their opinions. Although these are evidence-based prompts, the Writing about Reading sections are optional, so students may not get these opportunities. Additionally, time is not built into the lesson to complete the writing task.

Three Guided Writing Performance Tasks are provided. There is one narrative, one informative, and one opinion task. In these tasks, students are not provided opportunities to demonstrate independent evidence-based writing. These include teacher directions, student directions, source materials, graphic organizers, research questions, and scoring rubrics for the research questions. Each one-week unit consists of five days of lessons. Students work as a class, in pairs, and independently to complete each step of the performance task. Students are first introduced to and then practice using strategies to complete the tasks. The Guided Practice Performance Task includes extensive support and is in collaboration with partners. The Writing Performance Task Preparation Guide states, “However, if you feel that your students are ready to complete a performance task independently after completing two of the units, the final Guided Practice Performance Task in this guide can be administered as a practice test. Simply administer the final performance task without the instructional support.” Even if a teacher chooses to complete one Guided Performance Task independently, students would not have adequate practice to demonstrate independent mastery of producing evidence-based writing that supports careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information.

The Reading Assessment Practice Guide unit of instruction provides does provide students with opportunities to read and write evidence-based answers. However, the unit is taught at the end of the year in preparation for the guided-performance tasks rather than being incorporated throughout the school year.

Indicator 1N
02/02
Materials include 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.

The materials reviewed for Center for the Collaborative Classroom Grade Grade 5 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.

Over the course of the year, students have opportunities to learn grammar and convention standards both in and out of context. The Grade 5 program has multiple opportunities for whole-class instruction aligned to the grade 5 language standards. Teacher and students are encourage to use the language of the standards. For example, they form and use the perfect verb tenses. In addition to word study and vocabulary mini-lessons, students are taught specific skills as they are during reading and writing lessons. Students receive direct instruction using the mentor text, dictionaries, and through access to class charts. After the specific standard has been taught, students then apply it to their own writing. Grammar and conventions are primarily taught during the Skill Practice portion of Being a Writer. Students have additional opportunities to apply grammar and convention skills to their writing during Being a Writer lessons. Students are instructed to include these skills in their Student Writing Handbook to use as a checklist when they work on their own writing. The materials also include a Skill Practice Note in the writing lessons that guides teachers to the Skill Practice lesson for grammar and convention practice. While grammar and conventions standards are addressed in the materials, opportunities are missed to vary application styles for learners and to apply skills more frequently to their writing drafts.

Materials include instruction of all grammar and conventions standards for the grade level. Examples of each language standard include:

  • L.5.1a:
    • In Unit 2, Week 2, Lesson 15, Conventions of Writing, the teacher displays "Example Interjections Chart." The teacher states: “One way to make dialogue more realistic is to use interjections. An interjection is a word that exclaims, protests, or commands.” During Peer Practice, students read interjections from the lesson and use one orally. In Quick Write, students are to: “Write a brief paragraph that includes two sentences of realistic dialogue. Your dialogue should include at least one interjection to show emotion and one or more commas to indicate a pause in what the speaker is saying.”
    • In Lesson 2, Skill Practice, students learn how to make compound sentences by adding a coordinating conjunction. “Explain that when we join two simple sentences with related information we use a special kind of conjunction, or connecting word, called a coordinating conjunction. Point to the coordinating conjunctions and, but, or, and so in the word box. Remind the students that they used two of these conjunctions, and and or, to form compound subjects and compound predicates. Explain that when we use a coordinating conjunction to connect simple sentences with related information or ideas, we form what is called a compound sentence. Point to the comma in the sentence and explain that we put a comma before a coordinating conjunction in a compound sentence.”
  • L.5.1b:
    • In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 10, students learn how to use past perfect tense. The teacher displays Unedited Text and models past perfect tense. In Peer Practice, students read each other’s stories and identify incorrect verb tenses.
    • In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 1, Being a Writer, the extension portion of the lesson focuses on the past perfect tense in the context of the story, Never the Monkey. “Point out that Jerry Spinelli uses a special verb tense to show that he had watched those other track meets before he raced in the 50-yard dash. He puts the helping verb had before attended. Explain that when writers want to show that one action in the past happened before another action in the past, they add a form of the helping verb to have to a past tense of the main verb. Tell the students that this verb tense is called the past perfect tense. Explain that perfect, in this sense, means “completed”; the tense shows that one action was completed before another.”
    • In Lesson 13, Skill Practice, students learn about perfect tense verbs. Students first complete participate in a model lesson with the teacher and then guided practice with a “Perfect Verb Tense Activity.” Students work in pairs to write a paragraph using at least four perfect tense verbs. “Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using at least four perfect tense verbs. They can be any combination of verbs in the present, past, or future perfect tense.”
  • L.5.1c:
    • In Unit 1, Week 1, Lesson 15, Conventions of Language, the teacher displays the Verb Tense Chart and models writing revised sentences with correct verb tense use. During Peer Practice, students rewrite a practice sentence with correct verb tenses. In Quick Write, students complete the following assignment: “Write four new sentences, one using a past tense verb, one using a present tense verb, one using a future tense verb, and one using a progressive tense verb.”
    • In Lesson 12, Skill Practice, students learn about simple verb tenses that help clarify the order of events (past, present, future). The teacher models identifying the helping and main verb in a set of sentences and then stating if the verbs occurred in the past, present, or future. Students then participate in a guided practice of a “Verb” activity where they continue identifying linking verbs, main verbs, helping verbs, and verb tense. Students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using at least one past tense, one present tense, and one future tense verb. “Have a volunteer read the first sentence of the passage aloud. Ask: When is the action taking place in this sentence? (a few years ago) Which form of the verb should we circle? (were) Repeat the process with the rest of the passage. After all the verbs have been circled correctly, have a volunteer read the completed passage aloud. Then work with the students to identify the action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs. Write AV, LV, or HV above each verb accordingly.”
  • L.5.1d:
    • In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 10, Write Realistic Fiction, the teacher displays the Unedited Text and conducts a think aloud about correct form and use of past perfect tense. During Peer Practice, students read each other’s realistic fiction stories and note incorrect verb tenses. During Independent Writing, students are directed to pay attention to their use of verb tenses as they edit their work.
    • In Lesson 13, Skills Practice, students practice proofreading sentences by correcting incorrect verb forms, “The San Francisco 49ers have won the Super Bowl five times since 1982.” Students are also provided with a passage to read and must circle the correct form of each verb in the sentence, for example, “Suddenly, the car reached the top of the track and we (are, were) zooming toward the ground.”
    • In Lesson 15, Skill Practice, students learn how to identify incorrect shifts in verb tenses. "Tell the students that in this lesson they will learn how to avoid incorrect shifts in verb tenses. Explain that when writing a passage, it is important to use the same verb tense throughout the passage unless there is a clear reason to change it. Good writers move back and forth in time only when it makes sense.”
  • L.5.1e:
    • In Unit 3, Week 1, Lesson 15, Conventions of Language, the teacher displays Conjunctions Modeling text, which contains three types of conjunctions: coordinating, subordinating, and correlative. During peer practice, students complete Conjunction Practice Text, which requires students to identify the type of conjunction used. In Quick Write, students complete the following assignment: “Write three sentences explaining the function of each type of conjunction.”
    • In Unit 6, Week 2, Day 5, Being a Writer, the teacher explains the use of the conjunctions either/or and both/and, “Explain that authors of functional writing sometimes use the conjunctions either/or and both/and to make their directions clearer and easier for readers to understand. Write the conjunctions either/or and both/and where everyone can see them. Below them, write the following sentence: When you enter our building, either take the elevator or go up the stairs to the second floor. Explain that the sentence is from a set of directions.” Students then look for places in their own writing where they could use either/or and both/and.
    • In Lesson 21, Skill Practice, students learn about correlative conjunctions. Students participate in a teacher modeling introduction using a “Correlative Conjunction” activity where they learn about conjunction pairs. Students then participate in guided practice where students identify correlative conjunctions in a passage and use drag and drop to place the correct conjunction pairs in a sentence. Students work in pairs to write a short passage, using at least three of the following conjunction pairs: either/or, neither/nor, both/and, not only/but also. Read the first sentence aloud and have the students identify the correlative conjunction in it. (both) “Ask, Which conjunction belongs in the blank? Why? (The conjunction and belongs in the blank because and is used to join two related ideas together, and the word both tells us that the two ideas in this sentence are related.) Invite a volunteer to the whiteboard to drag and drop and into the blank and to read the completed sentence aloud. Then ask, Does the phrase both your body and your brain show a choice, a combination, or an addition? (a combination).”
  • L.5.2a:
    • In Unit 5, Week 3, Lesson 4, Process Writing, the teacher displays the Draft and states: “But as I reread these sentences, they don’t seem to flow well. I’ve started too many sentences in the same way with the I’m going to use some modifying phrases to vary the beginning of some of my sentences.” During Peer Practice, students revise their writing to includes phrases at the beginning of some sentences to vary sentence patterns. During Independent Writing, students are to look for ways to vary the beginning of sentences as they revise their work.
    • In Unit 6, Week 3, Day 2, Being a Writer, using the passage, Directions to the Movie Theater, the teacher explains how commas in a series are used. For example after reading the sentence, “Once on Grand Avenue you’ll walk past a pet store, a bike shop, and a fruit stand.” The teacher asks, “What series do you see in this sentence? Turn to your partner. If necessary, point out that “a pet store,” “a bike shop,” and “a fruit stand” are a series of things—in this case, a series of landmarks. Underline the series in the sentence, and then reread the rest of the directions aloud.” After examining more series in the directions the teacher asks, “What do you notice about how commas are used in a series? [pause] Turn to your partner. If necessary, point out that commas are used between the items (things) in a series. Point out that in a series of three or more items, the word and or or is used after the final comma.” When it’s time for students to review their own writing the teacher asks them to consider, “Where have you used commas in a series in your directions? Where might you be able to revise your directions to add a series with commas?”
    • In Lesson 25, Skill Practice, students learn about commas in a series. The lesson includes an introduction where students circle where they see commas in a passage that is displayed. Students then participate in guided practice and identify where they see items in a series in a displayed passage and where they should place commas. Students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using items in a series. Have them circle the commas that separate the items and underline the items in each series. “Remind the students that commas can be used to separate words or phrases in a sentence. Explain that in a series or list, of three or more things in a sentence, commas are used to separate the items. Point out that a comma followed by and or or appears before the last item.”
  • L.5.2b:
    • In Unit 3, Week 3, Lesson 13, Writing to Sources, students learn how to edit their writing to include a comma to separate an introductory unit. The teacher displays Unedited Text and states: “My first sentence uses the conjunction _____. I’ve used a comma after yield to separate the dependent clause from the independent clause that follows it.”
    • In Unit 7, Week 3, Day 3, Being a Writer, using the text, School Uniforms, the teacher explains the use of commas after an introduction, “Point out that some of the sentences in School Uniforms begin with an introductory word, phrase, or clause followed by a comma. Explain that introductory words and phrases are often transition words, such as moreover and in conclusion.” After looking for examples in the text, the teacher is instructed to, “If necessary, explain that using a comma after introductory words, phrases, and clauses makes sentences easier for readers to understand. Point out that the comma separates the introductory word, phrase, or clause from the main idea of the sentence.” Students also proofread their own writing to make sure they used commas after any introductory phrases or words they may have used.
    • In Lesson 26, Skill Practice, students learn about commas after introductory words and phrases. Remind the students that commas tell a reader when to pause. For example, a comma is used to separate an introductory clause from the rest of the sentence. Explain that in this lesson the students will learn when to use a comma to separate an introductory word or phrase from the rest of a sentence.”
  • L.5.2c:
    • In Unit 2, Week 3, Lesson 13, Write Realistic Fiction, students learn how to edit for correct comma usage. The teacher displays Unedited Text in order to model how to edit for comma usage. In Peer Practice, students identify other places where commas are missing.
    • In Lesson 27, Skill Practice, students learn about using commas to set off yes and no, tag questions, and nouns of direct address. The teacher introduces the lesson using an activity that identifies each new term: nouns of direct address, tag questions, and yes and no, and models each by adding commas to a set of sentences that contains each new term. Students then participate in guided practice and add commas to a passage. Students work in pairs to write a dialogue, using at least one noun of direct address, one introductory yes or no, and one tag question. “Display the 'Commas to Set Off Yes and No, Tag Questions, and Nouns of Direct Address' activity (WA9). Explain that this is a dialogue between two classmates, Zeke and Alma. Ask the students to listen for the pause in your voice as you read the first item aloud. Then ask, 'Where did I pause?' (after the boy’s name, Zeke) Write in the comma after the name, Zeke. Tell the students that Zeke is a noun of direct address; it names the person who is being spoken to. A comma is used to separate the noun of direct address from the rest of the sentence. Ask, Why might you want to pause after a noun of direct address.”
  • L.5.2d:
    • In Lesson 29, Skill Practice, students practice adding correct punctuation to the titles of poems, songs, magazine articles, books and movies. For example, “I wrote a poem about Shackleton and called it Brave Explorer.” Students are also instructed to: “Write a list that includes a book, a magazine article, and a television show title. Punctuate the titles correctly.”
  • L.5.2e:
    • In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 2, Being a Writer, the teacher explains the importance of correct spelling in writing, “Point out that published pieces of writing need to include correct spelling and have as few errors as possible. Today and tomorrow the students will proofread their drafts, or check them for spelling, punctuation, and capitalization errors.” The teacher then instructs students to circle words in their drafts that may be misspelled. The teacher is then instructed to “Have a few volunteers report the words they circled. Ask the students to open their Student Writing Handbooks to the Word Bank section. Explain that this section contains an alphabetical list of correctly-spelled words that students their age often use in writing. Ask the students to each look up the first word they circled in their word banks, check the spelling, and correct it in their drafts, if necessary.”
  • L.5.3a:
    • In Skill Practice, students practice combining sentences such as, “He saw dust and glue everywhere. He shook his head.” Students are also provided with a paragraph to read and instructed to, “Correct the sentence fragments and run-on sentences.” Sentences from the passage include, “Kings in ancient times ruled over separate cities they often tried to bring people from different cities together as one nation. Didn’t usually work.

Materials include opportunities for students to demonstrate application of skills both in and out of context. For example:

  • In the Skill Practice portion of Being a Writer, students first learn new grammar and convention standards through teacher model and guided practice. Students then apply their knowledge in context through either writing a set of sentences or writing a paragraph that contains the new focus skill.
  • In Lesson 13, Skill Practice, students form and use the perfect verb tenses (e.g., I had walked; I have walked; I will have walked). “Display the third “Perfect Verb Tenses” activity ( WA8). Tell the students that next they will read a passage and work together to choose the correct perfect tense form of each verb shown in parentheses. Isaiah kicked two goals in Saturday’s game. He had kicked one goal in the game last week. Most likely, our team will go to Finals again this year. By the end of today, the Tigers will have won more games than all the other teams together. Read the first sentence pair aloud and the three verb choices above it. If necessary, point out that beat (rather than beated) is the past tense form of the verb beat. Then ask, Which perfect tense—present, past, or future perfect—should we use to complete the second sentence? (past perfect) Why? (The action of beating the Cobras took place in the past, and the action of losing took place even before that.) Drag and drop 'had lost' into the blank. Repeat the process for the remaining sentences. Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using at least four perfect tense verbs. They can be any combination of verbs in the present, past, or future perfect tense.”
  • In Lesson 12, Skill Practice, students use verb tense to convey various times, sequences, states, and conditions. “Display the third “Verbs” activity ( WA3). Explain to the students that they will read the passage and circle the form of the verb that correctly completes each sentence. Have a volunteer read the first sentence of the passage aloud. Ask, 'When is the action taking place in this sentence?' (a few years ago) 'Which form of the verb should we circle?' (were) Repeat the process with the rest of the passage. After all the verbs have been circled correctly, have a volunteer read the completed passage aloud. Then work with the students to identify the action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs. Write AV, LV, or HV above each verb accordingly. Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using at least one past tense, one present tense, and one future tense verb.”
  • In Lesson 13, Skill Practice, “Display the third “Perfect Verb Tenses” activity ( WA8). Tell the students that next they will read a passage and work together to choose the correct perfect tense form of each verb shown in parentheses. Read the first sentence pair aloud and the three verb choices above it. If necessary, point out that beat (rather than beated) is the past tense form of the verb beat. Then ask, 'Which perfect tense—present, past, or future perfect—should we use to complete the second sentence?' (past-perfect) 'Why?' (The action of beating the Cobras took place in the past, and the action of losing took place even before that.) Drag and drop had lost into the blank. Repeat the process for the remaining sentences. Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using at least four perfect tense verbs. They can be any combination of verbs in the present, past, or future perfect tense.”
  • In Lesson 14, Skill Practice, “Display the second “Perfect Verb Tenses” activity ( WA12). Tell the students that they will read a passage containing several progressive tense verbs. Explain that the helping verbs are missing and that the class will work together to choose the correct form of be to complete each sentence. Continue working through the story, inviting volunteers to drag and drop the correct form of be into each blank and read the completed sentence aloud. After all of the helping verbs have been placed correctly, read the completed story aloud. Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using at least three progressive tense verbs. They can be any combination of verbs in the present progressive, past progressive, or future progressive tense.”
  • In Lesson 15, Skill Practice Teaching, students recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense. “Display the third “Shifts in Verb Tense” activity ( WA17). Tell the students that they will read a passage and decide together which verbs should change to make the tenses correct. Have the students read the passage to themselves. Then ask, 'When does the event in this passage take place—the past, present, or future?' (the past) 'How do you know?' (The writer says last week.) Then read the first sentence aloud and point out the present tense verb works. Ask, 'Why is this verb in the present tense if the story takes place in the past?' Students might say: 'The writer starts by telling who the story is about and what she does for work. The sentence is not telling about something that happened.' 'I agree with Karena. Justin’s mom works at the station currently, not just in the past.' Read the next sentence aloud and have one or two volunteers identify the verb and its tense. (comes; present) Ask, 'Is this verb in the correct tense?' (No.) 'How should it be changed, and why?' (It should be changed to the past tense, came, because the writer is telling about something that happened last week.)' Confirm the answer by clicking 'comes' to change it to 'came'. Read the next sentence aloud and have one or two volunteers identify the two verbs in it and their tenses. (explained, past; operates, present) Lead the students to understand that both verbs are correct because the action of explaining took place in the past, but the action of operating is still true in the present.”
  • In Lesson 25, Skill Practice, students use punctuation to separate items in a series. “Display the next 'Commas in a Series' activity ( WA2). Have a volunteer read the first sentence aloud. Ask, 'What series of items can you find in this sentence?' (dreamers, beginners, hopefuls) Then ask, 'Where should commas be placed to separate the items in this series?' (after dreamers and beginners) Invite one or two volunteers to respond. Write commas between items in the series. Repeat the process for the next two sentences in the paragraph. Point out that neither of the last two sentences has a series in it. Discuss with the students the different types of items separated by commas. Help them understand that the items can be different lengths and can be made up of different parts of speech, such as a series of nouns or a series of predicates. Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using items in a series. Have them circle the commas that separate the items and underline the items in each series.”
  • In Lesson 26, Skill Practice, “Display “Commas After Introductory Words and Phrases” activity (WA6). Tell the students that they will read a paragraph that is missing some commas. Explain that you will work together to find introductory words and phrases that need to be set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma. Have a volunteer read the first sentence aloud. Ask, 'Which words make up the introductory phrase that should be set off from the rest of the sentence with a comma?' Guide the students to see that the words 'Most days after school' make up the introductory phrase, and that 'Jeremy and I hang out together' forms a complete sentence. Add a comma after school and have a volunteer read the entire sentence again, emphasizing the pause at the comma. Continue guiding the students through the paragraph. Have volunteers read the sentences aloud and tell where commas belong as you add them. Note that, in the sixth sentence and in the final sentence, no comma is required because the introductory phrase has fewer than four words. Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using introductory words and phrases. Remind them to add commas as needed to set off introductory words and phrases of four words or more.”

Materials provide opportunities for students to grow their fluency language standards through practice and application. For example:

  • Skill Practice comprises of 30 mini-lessons that also includes five review lessons throughout the course of the year. Student also have opportunities to practice application of language standards during Being a Writer lessons over the course of the year.
  • In Lesson 3, Skill Practice, students use a comma to separate an introductory element from the rest of the sentence. “Display the next 'Dependent and Independent Clauses' activity ( WA11). Tell the students that you will read a paragraph containing complex sentences that are missing a subordinating conjunction. Explain that you will work together to choose the conjunction that best combines the dependent and independent clauses. Point to and read aloud: 'I like being the oldest kid in my family and I get to stay up later than my sisters.' Ask, 'How are the two clauses related?' (One is a reason, or cause, for the other. The second clause tells the reason why the narrator likes being the oldest.) 'Which subordinating conjunction can we use to join the clauses?' (because) Drag and drop the conjunction into the blank. Ask the students why a comma is not needed in this complex sentence. (Because the dependent clause comes after the independent clause.) Continue guiding the students through the paragraph, reading the sentences aloud and helping the students to choose the correct subordinating conjunction for each complex sentence. Invite volunteers to come to the whiteboard to drag and drop the correct conjunction into each blank. For sentences 4 and 6, have the students drag and drop a comma into the space after the dependent clause. Once all of the conjunctions and commas have been placed, read the completed paragraph aloud. Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph, using simple and complex sentences.”
  • In Lesson 27, Skill Practice, students use a comma to set off the words, yes and no (e.g., Yes, thank you), to set off a tag question from the rest of the sentence (e.g., It’s true, isn’t it?), and to indicate direct address (e.g., Is that you, Steve?). “Display the 'Commas to Set Off Yes and No, Tag Questions, and Nouns of Direct Address' activity (WA10). Tell the students that they will read more sentences that are missing commas. Explain that you will work together to decide where commas need to be added to set off yes or no at the beginning of a sentence, or a tag question. Read the first sentence aloud and ask, 'Where should we add a comma in this first sentence?' Guide the students to see that there should be a comma after Ricki, which is a noun of direct address. Insert a comma after Ricki. Continue guiding the students through the rest of the passage, reading the sentences aloud, helping volunteers choose the places where commas are needed, and discussing why commas should go there. After all the commas have been added, read the paragraph aloud and discuss with the students how the commas indicate pauses in the sentences. Have the students work in pairs to write a dialogue, using at least one noun of direct address, one introductory yes or no, and one tag question.”

Materials promote and build students’ ability to apply conventions and other aspects of language within their own writing. For example:

  • In Being a Writer, students apply grammar and conventions skills to their own writing during proofreading and revising lessons.
  • In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 3, Being a Writer, students work towards publishing their writing drafts through proofreading for punctuation and capitalization. Students copy the “Proofreading Chart” into their Student Writing Handbooks as a guide to use during Writing Time.
  • In Lesson 29, Skill Practice, students use underlining, quotation marks, or italics to indicate titles of works. “Display the 'Punctuating Titles' activity ( WA18). Tell the students that they will read a paragraph with the titles of different types of media that need to be underlined or set off with quotation marks. Explain that they can use context clues from the paragraph to identify each type of title. Read the first sentence aloud. Then have volunteers take turns reading the sentences aloud and going to the whiteboard to add the necessary title punctuation. Review the rules for setting off titles as necessary to help the students punctuate the titles correctly. Have the students work in pairs to write a paragraph that includes the titles of different types of media.”
  • In Lesson 21, Skill Practice, students use correlative conjunctions (e.g., either/or, neither/nor). “Display the third 'Correlative Conjunctions' activity (WA17). Tell the students that they will work together to complete the passage using the conjunctions in the word box. Read the first sentence aloud and have the students identify the correlative conjunction in it. (both) Ask, 'Which conjunction belongs in the blank? Why?' (The conjunction and belongs in the blank because and is used to join two related ideas together, and the word both tells us that the two ideas in this sentence are related.) Invite a volunteer to the whiteboard to drag and drop and into the blank and to read the completed sentence aloud. Then ask, 'Does the phrase both your body and your brain show a choice, a combination, or an addition?' (a combination) Continue working through the paragraph, having volunteers choose conjunctions and then drag and drop them into the blanks. After all of the conjunctions have been placed, read the entire passage aloud. Pause after each sentence to have volunteers decide whether the conjunction pair shows a choice, a combination, or an addition. Have the students work in pairs to write a short passage, using at least three of the following conjunction pairs: either/or, neither/nor, both/and, not only/but also.

Over the course of the year’s worth of materials, grammar and convention instruction is provided in increasingly sophisticated contexts. For example:

  • There are 29 lessons in the Skill Practice Teaching Guide that explicitly teach language, conventions and grammar skills that are connected to unit lessons in the Being a Writer component. These skills are to be used as a checklist when students proofread their own writing and are added to the checklist as they are learned.
  • Being a Writer materials include a Skill Practice portion that addresses language and convention standards in a systematic progression. The lessons progress throughout the year to ensure all standards are addressed through teacher model, guided practice, and application. Progression in the Skill Practice includes: Sentences, Nouns and Pronouns, Verbs, Modifiers and Other Parts of Speech, and Punctuation.


Criterion 1.3: Tasks and Questions: Foundational Skills Development

03/06
Materials in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language targeted to support foundational reading development are aligned to the standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for the Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks addressing grade-level CCSS for foundational skills to build comprehension by providing instruction in phonics, word recognition, and reading fluency in a research-based and transparent progression. Opportunities for students to learn Grade 5 phonics and decoding skills and strategies are limited. Over the course of the year, students receive instruction in foundational skills to build comprehension through the application of word analysis skills during IDR, and during additional resources found within Appendix A, D, and IDR mini-lessons. Materials partially meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks guiding students to read with purpose and understanding and to make frequent connections between acquisition of foundation skills and making meaning from reading. Over the course of the year, materials provide students with limited opportunities to demonstrate mastery of the application of word analysis skills to grade level text. Materials partially meet the criteria for instructional opportunities being 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. Few 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 during IDR.

Indicator 1O
01/02
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.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for the Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks addressing grade-level CCSS for foundational skills to build comprehension by providing instruction in phonics, word recognition, morphology, and reading fluency in a research-based and transparent progression.

A Vocabulary Teaching Guide, with weekly lessons that build students’ vocabularies by teaching words taken directly from Making Meaning read-alouds. There are many instances for the teacher to model and share the meaning of the word and how it changes when affixes are attached. There are limited opportunities for students to apply their knowledge and independently transfer the decoding and word analysis skills to determine meaning of a word within text.

Intervention materials for phonological awareness, phonics, and sight words in grades 1-12 are provided in SIPPS (Systematic Instruction in Phonological Awareness, Phonics, and Sight Words). SIPPS Plus is an intervention material for students who read at Grade 1 or Grade 2. SIPPS Challenge is suggested for intervention with students in grades 4-12. Students learn strategies to decode and spell multisyllabic words.

Limited opportunities are provided over the course of the school for students to apply phonics skills when reading unfamiliar multisyllabic new words in and out of context. While word cards are provided for vocabulary words, these words are introduced in the context of teacher read alouds and students are not provided with adequate opportunities to decode and read words with prefixes, suffixes, roots, in-context themselves. One lesson does provide practice in applying these word analysis skills in context is in Mini-Lesson #6 in the appendices of the Making Meaning Vocabulary Teacher’s Manual. In this lesson, the class created a chart with helpful strategies for decoding unknown words and students had the opportunity to apply those strategies when reading a text with a partner. “Look carefully at the word. Ask yourself:

  • − Do I recognize any parts of the word?
  • − Look for a prefix or suffix you know.
  • − Look at the part of the word to which the prefix or suffix is added. Ask yourself: Is this part a word I recognize? Do I know its meaning?
  • − Ask yourself: Is it a compound word? Look for two or more words you know inside the unfamiliar word.
  • − Use what you know about the parts of the word to figure out its meaning.
  • − After you have figured out the meaning of the word, reread the sentence(s). Ask yourself: Does the meaning make sense?”

This lesson is the main lesson on word analysis for Grade 5 students. At the end of the mini-lesson, the teacher is to tell students to refer to the Word-analysis Strategies chart when they read during IDR or any time they are reading. Multiple explicit opportunities as to how to decode words and use combined knowledge of letter-sound correspondences and syllabication patterns to read unfamiliar multisyllabic words are not in the materials.

Materials (questions & tasks) support students’ use of combined knowledge of all letter sound correspondences, syllabication patterns, and morphology, according to grade level. For example:

  • Few prefixes are taught over the course of the school year. For example, using Appendix C, the only two prefixes taught over the course of the school year are dis- (ising the words - dissatisfied, discontinue, disadvantage and discourteous) and pre- (using the words prejudice and preteen). The only two suffixes taught over the course of the school year were -er (using the words moocher, deserter, consumer and supporter) and -less (using the words thoughtless, motionless, selfless, defenseless and heartless). There are four latin roots taught over the course of the school year mem (using the word memento), mot (using the word motionless), judice (using the word prejudice) and act (using the word interact).
    • In Week 4, Day 1, dissatisfied
    • In Week 4, Day 3, discontinue
    • In Week 6, Day 3, disadvantage
    • In Week 14, Day 1, discourteous
    • In Week 14, Day 1, prejudice
    • In Week 18, Day 3, preteen
    • In Week 2, Day 1, moocher
    • In Week 13, Day 1, deserter
    • In Week 17, Day 3, consumer
    • In Week 22, Day 3, supporter
    • In Week 13, Day 1, thoughtless
    • In Week 13, Day 3, motionless
    • In Week 14, Day 3, selfless
    • In Week 20, Day 3, defenseless
    • In Week 21, Day 1, heartless
    • In Week 1, Day 3, memento
    • In Week 13, Day 3, motionless
    • In Week 14, Day 1, prejudice
    • In Week 18, Day 1, interact
  • In Making Meaning, Week 22, Day 3, when students are learning about the suffix -er, the teacher displays the word card and then the teacher explains the meaning of the word, “Display word card 132 (WA7) and have the students say the word supporter. Point to the suffix -er in supporter and review that -er is a suffix that means a “person who.” Explain that when you add the suffix -er to the word support, which means “help or favor,” you make the word supporter, which means a “person who supports, or helps or favors, a particular person, group, or plan.”’ The teacher then leads a discussion on the word using prompts such as, “What might you do to show you are a supporter of your friend’s homework club?”


Indicator 1P
01/02
Materials, lessons, and questions provide instruction in and practice of word analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected text and tasks.

The materials reviewed for Center for the Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks guiding students to read with purpose and understanding and to make frequent connections between acquisition of foundation skills and making meaning from reading.

Over the course of the year, materials provide students with limited opportunities to demonstrate mastery of the application of word analysis skills to grade level text. Word analysis skills are primarily taught during the Vocabulary portion of Making Meaning. Appendix C in the Making Meaning Vocabulary Teaching Manual, provides teachers with a helpful chart to determine when various lessons on prefixes, suffixes, synonyms and antonyms would be addressed. These lessons are primarily teacher led and miss the opportunity to provide student practice and application of skills. Lessons center around a sentence from the anchor text containing the focus word. The teacher models defining the focus word using word cards and providing the meaning of the prefix or suffix being taught. Students then discuss prompts containing the focus word with partners. Materials also contain a review of focus words during the lessons in the following week. Students receive vocabulary instruction that provides lessons for vocabulary words identified from the books read in class, including those with suffixes and prefixes. Students do not apply word analysis skills to text to help determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and learning is primarily isolated. Opportunities are missed to provide direct instruction for those students that require support in decoding multi-syllable and irregularly spelled words to read the text independently. There are also missed opportunities for students to engage with words in more meaningful ways.

Opportunities are limited over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate mastery of the application of word analysis skills to grade level text. The word analysis lessons are teacher centered. For example:

  • In Week 13, Day 3, Making Meaning, the teacher explains how to break apart the word “motionless” “Point to the root mot in motionless on word card 76 (WA5) and explain that mot is a root. Review that a root is a “word or part of a word that is used to make other words.” Remind the students that many roots come to English from other languages. Explain that mot comes from Latin, a language that was spoken by the people of ancient Rome. Tell the students that in Latin, mot means “move.” Point to the suffix -less in motionless, and review that -less is a suffix that means “without.” Explain that if you know the meanings of the suffix -less and the root mot, you can put them together to figure out that motionless means “without motion, still, or not moving.”’
  • In Week 14, Day 1, Making Meaning, the teacher explains how the meaning of the different parts of the word “prejudice,” “Point to the prefix pre- in prejudice and explain that pre- is a prefix that means “before.” Remind the students that a prefix is a “letter or group of letters that is added to the beginning of a word to make a new word.” Point to judice in prejudice and explain that judice is a Latin root that means “judgment.” Explain that adding the prefix pre- to the root judice makes the new word prejudice. Explain that prejudice is forming an opinion or making a judgment about someone before you know the person; point out that prejudice can be based on the person’s race, religion, or other characteristic.”
  • In Appendix C, the teacher is provided with “Independent Word-Learning Strategies,” charts. These charts are titled by strategy and then list the week and words that are taught using that strategy. For example, the teacher can easily see that using the latin roots mem and memor to determine word meanings is taught in Week 1 using the word memento on Day 3.

Materials include supports for students to demonstrate they have made meaning of the grade-level text. For example:

  • In Unit 8, Week 1, Day 1, Making Meaning, when reading a River Ran Wild aloud to the class, the teacher has students discuss questions such as, “What did you learn about the river valley in the part of the story you just heard? Turn to your partner.” “What was the way of life of the Native Americans who settled along the river, and how did it change?” “What effect did machines and factories have on the Nashua River during the industrial revolution?”
  • In Unit 8, Week 2, Day 3, Making Meaning, students reread a passage for Harry Houdini. As they read the passage, students stop and think about the important ideas in that part of the story they just heard. Working in pairs, they share their thinking. As students read independently, they think about both important ideas and supporting details in text.


Indicator 1Q
01/02
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.

The materials reviewed for Center for the Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria for instructional opportunities being 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.

Fluency is addressed during Individualized Daily Reading of the Making Meaning portion of the materials. Students practice silent reading daily during IDR (Individualized Daily Reading) for up to 30 minutes a day. During that time, the teacher confers with individual students and completes an IDR Conference Note page, noting each student's rate and accuracy. There is a checklist available to teachers to use during the IDR conferences on what fluency should look like at different levels. The teacher uses the anchor text as a read aloud to students; however opportunities are missed for the students to practice oral reading fluency with rate, accuracy, and expression using the core text. The materials offer many teacher directed opportunities with read alouds, however, there are few student opportunities to work independently with fluency. While prose and poetry are supported over the course of the year in the core reading materials, further opportunities are missed for students to practice orally reading additional prose and poetry to practice rate, accuracy, and expression. Students learn about self-monitoring and fix-up strategies in the Reading Assessment Preparation Guide, as well as Appendix A (IDR Mini-lessons) found within the Making Meaning core materials. The Mini-Lessons are the same since Grade 1.

Few opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate accuracy and fluency in oral and silent reading. Some that are included follow:

  • In Appendix A, IDR Mini-lessons, Mini-lesson 4, students listen to the teacher read “Excerpt from Something to Remember Me By” while modeling reading with expression and without expression. “Tell the students that fluent readers use their voices to show the personality of a character, or what the character is like, and how he or she is feeling.” With a partner, students practice reading with expression using the “Excerpt from Something to Remember Me By.” After reading, students answer the following questions: What did you notice about your reading when you read the excerpt?” What did you notice about how your partner read?”
  • In Appendix A, IDR Mini-lessons, Mini-lesson 5, students learn how to read texts in meaningful phrases. The models chunking an excerpt from Rainforests and the students then practice chunking/phrasing with a partner. Students then practice chunking/phrasing using their IDR books with a partner. “Have partners take turns reading their pages aloud to each other, chunking the text as they read.”

Materials support 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). For example:

  • In Unit 9, Week 1, Day 1, the teacher reminds students of the strategies they can use if their understanding of a story breaks down during independent reading time, “Remind the students that it is important to stop, think about what they are reading, and use the questions on the chart to help them monitor their comprehension. If a student does not understand what she is reading, the student should use one or both of the “fix-up” strategies of rereading and reading ahead.” At the end of independent reading time the teacher leads a class discussion on their use of the strategies, “Why is it important to stop as you are reading and ask yourself if you understand what you have read?” “How do rereading and reading ahead help you make sense of text?” “Which comprehension strategy do you find the most helpful when you’re not understanding something you’re reading? Why?”
  • In Reading Assessment Preparation Guide, Day 4, students read the passage, Low Bridge, Everybody Down, and stop occasionally to make sure they understand what they just read. Students place a checkmark next to places in the passages where they had to use a fix-up strategy. “If they do not understand something, they are to put a checkmark next to that part of the passage and then use a “fix-up” strategy to try to fix the problem.”
  • In Appendix A, Making Meaning Teacher’s Manual, Mini Lesson #2, Self-Monitoring and Using Fix-Up Strategies, the teacher introduces the strategies students will be learning about today, ‘Explain that one strategy the students can use when they realize they do not understand what they read is to reread and read ahead.” The teacher models reading using this strategy, “My book is Celia Cruz, Queen of Salsa by Veronica Chambers. [Read a passage aloud and then pause.] I’ll ask myself: Do I understand what I’ve read so far? Do I know what most of the words mean? Although I understand most of what I read, I was confused by an unfamiliar word: chores. What can I do to figure out what chores means? First, I’ll go back and reread the passage slowly and carefully. As I reread, I will look for clues to help me figure out the meaning of this word….” The teacher introduces and models using more fix-up strategies throughout the lesson. By the end of the lesson, the class has created a Fix-Up Strategies chart.
  • In Appendix A, Making Meaning Teacher’s Manual, IDR Mini-lesson 6, students are introduced to word-analysis strategies they might use to help them determine the meanings of unfamiliar words when reading independently. In Grade 5, the lesson focuses on using a known prefix or suffix and base word, using known Greek or Latin roots, and using context clues to verify that a meaning makes sense. The students use a Word Analysis Strategies poster that includes questions for students to use while they are independently reading.
Overview of Gateway 2

Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the expectations of the Gateway 2. Materials partially meet the criteria that texts are organized to support students' building knowledge of different topics, and there is support for students to engage with and grow their academic vocabulary over the course of the school year. Materials meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts and do not meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integrated skills. Materials 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. Materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year. Materials provide procedures and support for daily independent reading, primarily found in the Making Meaning component.

Criterion 2.1: Building Knowledge with Texts, Vocabulary, and Tasks

24/32
Indicator 2A
02/04
Texts are organized around a topic/topics (or, for grades 6-8, topics and/or themes) to build students' ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

Within the units of Making Meaning the instructional materials are organized around literary and informational texts and the teaching of reading comprehension strategies. Texts are not consistently organized by topic and students have limited opportunities to build knowledge and vocabulary about topics consistently. Examples include but are not limited to:

In Genre Opinion Writing of Being a Writer, the read-aloud texts are about television and the use of animal testing. There are two texts about television: “WARNING: Too much TV is Hazardous to Your Health” and “Television: The Most Disparaged Resource of the Information Age.” After the reading those texts, student have the knowledge needed to write an opinion essay. There are two texts about the use of animals for experimentation: “Animal Experimentation Saves Lives” and “Animal Testing: Here is the Truth.”

In Genre Nonfiction Expository of Being a Writer, the read-aloud texts are about Earth and nature. Students hear the following texts: I Wonder Why Penguins Can’t Fly and other questions about polar lands, I Wonder Why the Sahara is Cold at Night and other questions about deserts, Rainforests, Extreme Earth Records, and Global Warming. Students exploring these texts will engage with the expository nonfiction, but will not necessarily be provided connections to create knowledge building beyond the single texts unless the teacher creates these connections.

Other text sets in Grade 5 Making Meaning are not organized by topic; rather, they are organized around the skills practiced. Examples include:

  • In Unit 2, the title of the unit is Using Text Features: Expository Nonfiction. Students listen to the texts Rainforests by James Harrison, “Follow That Ball! Soccer Catching On in the U.S.” (author unknown), “All Work and No Play: Trends in School Recess” (author unknown), and Great Women of the American Revolution by Brianna Hall. Students focus on the skills of using text features to better understand expository nonfiction texts, books and articles and use text features to locate key information. To provide students opportunity to build knowledge on a topic, the teacher will have so supplement the unit with other texts.
  • In Unit 3, the title of the unit is Questioning: Expository Nonfiction. Students listen to Big Cats by Seymour Simon. This text is utilized for both Week 1 and Week 2. Students focus on the skills of using questioning to help them make sense of the text, use schema to articulate all they think they know about a topic before they read, and learn the procedure for “Stop and Ask Questions.”
  • In Unit 4, the title of the unit is Analyzing Text Structure: Fiction. Students listen to Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. It is utilized as the only text for all 4 weeks of instruction. Students focus on the skills of analyzing text structure in a novel, including the story elements, character, setting, plot, and conflict, using questioning to make sense of a novel, think about whether their questions are answered explicitly or implicitly in a novel, use questioning to make sense of a novel, and explore an important theme in a novel. The use of the single text in this unit will support the outlined instruction but will not support their building knowledge or growing vocabulary beyond the plot and text structures within the novel.
  • In Unit 7, the title of the unit is Analyzing Text Structure: Expository Nonfiction. Students listen to “Copycat: Why Clone?” (author unknown), “The Debate on Banning Junk Food Ads” (author unknown), “All-girls and All-boys Schools: Better for Kids” (author unknown), “Do Kids Really Need Cell Phones?” (author unknown), “How to Make an Origami Cup” (author unknown), “Blue Line Train Schedule” (author unknown), “Ashton Hammerheads Schedule for September 2015” (author unknown), “Frontier Fun Park” (author unknown), Survival and Loss: Native American Boarding Schools (author unknown). Survival and Loss: Native American Boarding Schools is utilized in both Week 4 and Week 5 instruction. Students focus on the skills of analyzing how the information in expository nonfiction articles is organized, explore how articles can inform by highlighting pros and cons, explore how articles can inform by investigating one side of an issue, explore authors’ opinion, analyze how the information in functional texts is organized, identify what they learn from functional texts, explore how functional texts inform readers, use two functional texts to solve problems, hear and discuss an expository text, identify what they learn from an expository text, and explore the text structures of sequence, cause/effect, and compare/contrast in an expository text. Students engaging in this text work will not necessarily build knowledge on a topic or topics, however, as the texts are disconnected and not linked with intentional knowledge building, and to create that the teacher will have to provide other instructional supports.


Indicator 2B
02/04
Materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts.

The materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom 5 partially meet the criteria that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts.

In Making Meaning students are asked questions about the read alouds that require students to think about the process of reading and discussing text with classmates; however, most of the questions are focused on this process and not on deeply analyzing the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. Some representative examples illustrating this include (but are not limited to) the following:

  • In Unit 4, Week 4, students continue to discuss Tuck Everlasting. As a class, students discuss the following: "What kind of person is Winnie now compared to the beginning of the story? What in the story makes them think that?" This focus on plot and key points is open-ended, and the teacher will need to be prepared to guide students to choosing relevant text-focused information to support.
  • In Unit 7, Week 1, students are reading persuasive articles and analyzing arguments for and against topics. For example, students read “The Debate on Banning Junk Food Ads” and discuss arguments for banning ads. They answer the following: "What arguments are against it? What pros and cons did they find in the article?" These questions focus on the surface level of the material, rather than homing in on the structural components or providing other detail work. 
  • In Unit 9, Week 1, students read a summary of “Zoo” and write an opinion with scaffolded instruction. The teacher asks, “How might you summarize 'Zoo?'" Next, the teacher asks, “What might someone who recommends this story say about it?” Students discuss their thoughts with partners. Then the teacher asks, “What might someone, who doesn’t recommend the story, say about it?” Students discuss responses with partners. These questions do provide support for collaborative discussions, but do not support closer examination of the craft, language,  and structure of materials. 
  • In Unit 5, Week 1 students are making inferences about poems and narrative texts during independent reading. In student response journals students complete graphic organizers in the form of a double entry journal describing what they read and then what they inferred about each part. Students are asked,"What is happening in the part of the text that you read today? How do you know? Are those things stated directly, or are you inferring them from clues? What clues?" Some students may unpack their reading to the depth of analysis here, but the teacher will have to build in supports for those who demonstrate  basic comprehension only. 

In Being a Writer students are asked questions about the read alouds that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts.

  • In Unit 4, Week 2, Day 2 students read the text The Sweetest Fig and asked, “What words or phrases describe Monsieur Bibot?” This focus on the descriptive language supports the expectations of this indicator. 
  • In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 4 the Teacher Edition states, “Show the table of contents on page 3 and point out that the author organized the information into smaller topics, or subtopics, within the larger topic of rainforests. Subtopics in the book include who lives there (for example, “Rainforest peoples”) and how the rainforest is being destroyed (for example, “Rainforests in danger”) This detailed work around the text is an example of how the program supports that deeper analysis of craft and structures. 
  • In Unit 8, Week 1, Day 2 students are asked, “What examples of personification do you notice? What words does the poet use to write about the sea as if it were a person?” 
Indicator 2C
02/04
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 instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom 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 materials in Grade 5 contain some coherently sequenced sets of text-dependent questions and tasks. In Making Meaning and Being a Writer, the questions provided frequently ask students to refer to an individual text, and some help build students’ understanding. Questions provided don’t always lead students to analyze or integrate knowledge. Opportunities to integrate knowledge and ideas across multiple texts are typically offered only as extension tasks.

In Making Meaning and Being a Writer, students use a text over the course of several days. Each day, to a limited extent, questions and tasks require students to integrate knowledge about the text. Examples include:

  • In Unit 2, Week 3 in Making Meaning, students work with “Great Women of the Revolution.” Afterwards, student partners respond to the following question on Day 1: “What did you find out about women who participated in the American Revolution?” On Day 4, students discuss: “What did you learn about Elizabeth Burgin? What did you learn about Ann Bates?” This type of questioning is frequently utilized. It encourages literal recall and retelling, but is not conducive to analysis and integration of knowledge.
  • In Unit 4, Week 3, Day 2 in Making Meaning, students listen to an excerpt from “Tuck Everlasting”. Text-dependent questions include, “What has happened in these two chapters?” “What are some of the conflicts or problems in the story?” “What do you think might happen next?” On Day 3, students explore story climax and are asked, “What exciting and interesting event happened in yesterday’s reading involving the Tucks and the man in the yellow suit?” Students learn that after the story’s climax, characters often change in some way. This exemplifies a sequence of questions that lead to deeper understanding.
  • In Unit 7, Week 1 in Making Meaning, students hear an article on about cloning. Students are asked text-dependent questions such as: “What have you learned so far about cloning?” On Day 2, students are asked: “What are some ways that cloning might help people? What are some ways that cloning might be dangerous?”
  • In Unit 8, Week 1 in Making Meaning, the teacher reads aloud the text, A River Run Wild and asks the following: “What was the way of life of the Native Americans who settled along the river? How did it change? What effect did machines have on the Nashua River during the industrial revolution? How did the river become clean again?”
  • In Genre Personal Narrative, Week 2, Days 1-2, students hear Still Firetalking. On Day 1, students answer: “What challenges did Patricia face as a child? What did you learn from others?” On Day 2, students answer: “What ideas for stories did Patricia get from her own life? What did you learn about the process Patricia goes through to make a book?” Students begin to write their own personal narrative after listening to the personal narrative.
  • In Genre Opinion Writing, Week 1, Day 1, students hear “WARNING: Too Much TV is Hazardous to Your Health.” During the read aloud, students answer: “What is the author trying to do in this essay?” After the read aloud and after students read the text with a partner, students answer: “What is the author trying to convince us to believe? How do you know? Did this essay change what you believe? Why or why not?” These questions about the text lead to helping students write an opinion essay.

Most question sets address literal aspects of the article, only occasionally requiring inference. Most inferential questions are based on explicit information in the text. Therefore, many of the questions and tasks are not sufficient in leading students to analyze ideas within and across texts. Few opportunities are included in the materials for students to independently integrate knowledge and ideas across multiple texts. Regular opportunities are not provided throughout the year-long materials to meet the criteria of this indicator. Examples include:

  • In Unit 2, Week 2 of Making Meaning, students are introduced to the text, “Follow that Ball! Soccer Catching on in the U.S.” Students learn about text features of articles and are encouraged to notice text features in other texts. On Day 1, the teacher asks: “What is this article about?" On Day 2, students listen to the text again and complete activities in their Student Response Books. On Day 3, students skim the text and look for headings and subtitles. On Day 4, students examine and discuss the bar graph, “Minutes of Recess Per Day” and answer text-dependent questions in their Student Response Books. There is little focus on how text features contribute to deeper understanding of the content.
  • In Unit 3, Week 1 of Making Meaning, students hear a fictional story about animals, Big Cats. Students can integrate knowledge and ideas in the Writing about Reading task: “Have the students write about how lions and tigers are alike and different.” However, the there are only two questions leading up to the task which include, "What information do we learn about lions in this passage?" and "What information do we learn about tigers in this passage?" These questions do not require students to analyze knowledge or ideas.
  • In Unit 4, Week 3 of Making Meaning, students are asked "What are some of the conflicts or problems in the story? What do you think might happen next?" as it relates to Tuck Everlasting, which is the text that they are currently reading. Students are asked to discuss with the class and their partners about which of their questions were answered and which were not. However, there is not a coherent sequenced set of questions requiring students to analyze the conflicts and problems. Students are only asked questions that are not specifically related to the text being discussed. For example, students are asked, "What is a question that got you and your partner talking about the story?"
  • In Unit 5, Week 1 of Making Meaning, students listen to "The Cafe" and "The Possum," which are the first two chapters of the book The Van Gogh Cafe. Teachers are asked,"Reread the passage on page 5 that begins “Marc bought the cafe seven years ago ...” and ends “It seems right for her.” Ask:Q What do you know about Clara based on what you heard in this section?Q Clara says, “Kansas is like a tall person relaxing.” What do you think that means?" Though students are asked to pull information from the text to create an inference, students are not analyzing ideas, but instead creating an inference about a singular detail.
  • In Unit 8, Week 3 of Making Meaning, students hear Hey World, Here I Am! Students are asked to write summaries of the text and answer the following questions when analyzing one another's summaries: "Which summaries give a clear idea of what this story excerpt is about? Why do you think so? Heads together." Students integrate knowledge of the text into their analysis of one another's summaries; however, students do not integrate knowledge to analyze the ideas presented within the text.
  • In the Being a Writer section, students read various nonfiction texts in the Expository Nonfiction Unit about the earth and nature such as I Wonder Why the Sahara is Cold at Night, Rainforests, and Extreme Earth Records. Text-dependent questions are asked after each text, such as “What did you learn about global warming that you were curious about?” In Week 2, Day 2, students take all of these texts to help write their own nonfiction essay, which supports students in integrating ideas across multiple texts.


Indicator 2D
02/04
The questions and tasks support students' ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g., combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

In the Grade 5 materials, the opportunity to use integrated skills in culminating projects is inconsistent. There are some opportunities in the Writing about Reading activities, journal entries, and writing pieces for students to demonstrate knowledge of a topic or skill. In most lessons or tasks, students’ oral and written responses provide the teacher with information about students’ readiness to move forward in the materials. Some of these tasks provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate comprehension and knowledge of a topic or topics, but are not necessarily culminating tasks. Many fall under the Extension or Technology Extension sections, which may be perceived as optional. According to the publisher, “In both Making Meaning and Being a Writer, Writing about Reading activities provide multiple opportunities to analyze a single text in response to a sequence of questions presented by the teacher, and then write a response to the literature using text evidence to support opinions or conclusions.”

In Expository Nonfiction of Being a Writer, students immerse themselves in nonfiction texts about topics of interest to them and their partners. Students choose a topic to research together in some depth. Each pair of students write, revise, and publish an informational report about that topic. At the end of the unit, students present their reports by reading them aloud from the author’s chair.

In Unit 2, of Making Meaning, students discuss text features. Students hear the text, Rainforests, and on the second day go back into the text while teacher asks questions, such as “How might these photographs and captions help a reader better understand these pages about rainforest destruction?” However, the Writing about Reading task does not align to these tasks during the day. The students are asked to write their opinions about which rainforest birds are the most interesting.

In Unit 5, Week 2 of Making Meaning, students make inferences about various poems. On Day 4, in the optional Writing about Reading activity, students are provided a new poem called “Circles.” Students are asked questions and tasked with writing about visualizations and inferences from the poem.

In Unit 8, Week 1, students hear the text, A River Ran Wild about the history of the Nashua River in Massachusetts. The teacher asks students, “What did you learn about the river valley in the part of the story you just heard?” The end of week optional Writing about Reading prompt is for students to write about visualizations of a specific portion of the text.

Indicator 2E
04/04
Materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 5 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. Tier 2 vocabulary words and concept words are highlighted for each Read Aloud lesson. Students are provided with explicit vocabulary instruction. Words are first introduced in context. Then students are provided student-friendly definition of the word and examples of the way it is used. Students engage actively with the word in meaningful ways when they first encounter it, such as by applying it to their own experiences. Students practice using the word through engaging activities. Students are provide multiple exposures to the word over an extended period of time.Teachers teach strategies that students can use to learn words independently, such as recognizing synonyms, antonyms, and words with multiple meanings, and using context to determine word meanings. There is also an ongoing review of vocabulary words as the weeks progress.

Students practice using the words they are learning in both partner and whole-class conversations. Questions require the students to make real-life connections between the words and their own experiences. In lessons and review activities, the students explore the nuances of word meanings and relationships among words, including synonyms, antonyms, and shades of meaning. Students are formally taught grade-appropriate strategies they can use to figure out word meanings when reading independently. These include using context, identifying multiple meanings, recognizing idioms, and using prefixes, suffixes, and roots.

In the Making Meaning component, suggested vocabulary is included for teachers to review while reading aloud. For example, In Unit 1, Week 1, Day 1, the Teacher’s Manual states, “Read the story aloud slowly and clearly, showing the illustrations as you read. Clarify vocabulary as you encounter it in the text by reading the word, briefly defining it, rereading it in context, and continuing (for example, “‘She hid the seed in a special place under the family altar’— an altar is a ‘table in a house to honor a family’s ancestors’—‘under the family altar, wrapped in a piece . . .’ ”)”

In the Vocabulary Teaching Guide, students learn new words that were introduced in the suggested vocabulary words from the read aloud in Making Meaning and review previously taught words. The Teacher’s Manual suggests that vocabulary lessons come the week after the Making Meaning Read Aloud. For example, in Week 26, the words taught are from the read-aloud story from Making Meaning called “Zoo”. They include significant, insignificant, intrigue, cluster, grotesque, and throng. Words reviewed this week are cantankerous, clash, deteriorate, dilapidated, and supporter. The word-learning strategy is recognizing antonyms. The teacher introduces the word significant by reading a passage from “Zoo” and then telling students the meaning. The teacher then facilitates discussion: "Who are some significant people in your life?" Then the antonym insignificant is introduced and a game of “insignificant or significant" ensues. The teacher describes things and students determine if it is significant or not.

Concept words are also introduced. These words do not appear in the read-aloud texts in Making Meaning reading lessons. The Teacher’s Manual states, “We teach a concept word because it enables us to introduce or review an important independent word-learning strategy, such as recognizing antonyms or using a prefix to determine a word’s meaning.”

Teacher guidance and support includes both print and digital components, assessment forms, reproducible word cards, family letters and other reproducibles, and professional development media.

Indicator 2F
04/04
Materials include a cohesive, year-long plan to support students' increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students' writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet the criteria that materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.

There is evidence of materials incorporating writing instruction aligned to the grade level standards. These materials span across the course of the school year. Throughout each lesson, students respond to prompts and practice writing skills. During independent writing, the teacher makes use of conferences with guiding questions. There is evidence of a Skill Practice Book that addresses writing conventions (i.e., mini-lessons on sentences, parts of speech, capitalization, and punctuation). Teachers are given protocols for teaching the lessons, and students are given models through guided writing and shared writing. Student writing is assessed through observations (conferencing) and student writing samples.

Within the program are nine units of study. Units one and two establish the writing community, and three through eight are genre studies that focus on narrative, expository nonfiction, functional nonfiction, opinion writing, and poetry. Towards the year's end, students are introduced to expository nonfiction and opinion writing units. All units start with an immersion period, and students practice listening to and reading several example writings of the genres. During the midpoint, students selects one draft to develop, revise, proofread, and publish for the classroom library. Unit nine provides students with opportunities to reflect on their growth as writers and members of the classroom writing community.

  • In Being a Writer, Week 1, Functional Genre, students explore and learn the elements of functional writing, discuss the audience and purpose, and follow and write directions. Students write directions to secret objects in the classroom. They think-pair-share their ideas. Furthermore, students confer in groups and offer feedback. Following, they participate in shared writing: Writing Directions to Draw a Secret Pattern.
  • In Unit 3, Week 1, students write and tell about how lions and tigers are alike and different. After reading “Big Cats,” the teacher models a think aloud and writing sample.
  • In Unit 3, Week 3, students revise their personal narrative drafts. They imagine what is happening and add sensory details.
  • In Unit 9, Week 4, students use notes from the previous day to construct a book review. The teacher models writing a review from the notes taken and reminds students to include a summary, an opinion, and their rationale for recommending the book. Using the “Questions to Ask When Giving Feedback” chart, partners provide feedback.


Indicator 2G
04/04
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.

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 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.

Students have opportunities to learn and practice the skill of research through various projects, including one unit devoted to research.

  • In the Expository Nonfiction unit, there is evidence of a research project. Throughout the student’s writing time, they focus on working through the research process. Students engage in a research topic on nature. They make use of the following sequence.
    • Make a list of interesting things in nature.
    • Narrow the list.
    • Browse nonfiction materials found in the school library and
    • Write questions and research an explicit characteristic of nature.
    • Turn questions into search queries.
    • Research and take notes on a specific aspect of nature.
    • Draft and revise.
    • Proofread and complete a final copy.
    • Publish and permit volunteers an opportunity to share out.
  • In Unit 3, Week 2, there is a “Research and Write about Leopards” extension activity. The students develop questions as a class and then research online the answers to the questions. They then write a paragraph about what they learned.


Indicator 2H
04/04
Materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

The materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

Materials provide procedures and support for daily independent reading, primarily found in the Making Meaning component. Independent Daily Reading (IDR) is included in all lessons and gives the students opportunities to practice the reading skills they have learned, build stamina, and foster a love of reading. It is recommended for students to spend up to thirty minutes per day independently reading. They may select texts from the classroom library. The program provides recommendations for setting up the classroom library. For example, the classroom library “needs a wide range of fiction and nonfiction texts at various levels.” This would include three hundred to four hundred titles (where twenty-five percent are below grade level by one to two grades and twenty-five percent are above grade level by one to two grades).

Guidance with reading conferences is included and helps hold the students accountable for their reading, as well as give the teacher an opportunity to assess each student’s reading progress. A Family Letter is included at the end of each unit to highlight the skills that have been taught and to give information to parents as to how they can support their child's reading life at home. Also included is a proposed schedule for independent reading and a tracking system, which may include a student component.

During conferences, students and teachers monitor reading progress. There is a resource sheet that outlines the process. The teacher may use the document to confer with individual students and offer suggestions to improve reading growth. Throughout each unit, the program recommends for teachers to conference with each student once. Formative and summative assessment tools are included in the Assessment Resource Book. There are a multitude of opportunities for students to reflect on reading. Examples include but are not limited to the following:

  • In Unit 2, Week 2, Day 2, students are reminded to read silently, in their nonfiction texts, for fifteen to twenty minutes. Students are instructed to notice text features and discuss their newfound learning. The teacher confers with each student to determine text features used in texts.
  • In Unit 5, Week 2, during independent reading, students practice reading and making inferences. They read for fifteen minutes. Following, they reread the same section and think about inferences made. Students place self-stick notes, at their starting points, and read silently for thirty minutes. With a partner, they turn and talk about their inferences. They place a sticky, at their stopping point, and resume reading for another fifteen minutes. As students are reading, they refer to the class ”Questions to Use When Making Inferences” chart. Teachers ask prompting questions to encourage discussion.
  • In Unit 6, Week 3, students independently read and think about inferences. The teacher confers with the students. As a group, students are asked one question related to the clues in inferences and another about cause and effect.
  • In Unit 7, Week 4, the teacher instructs students to read their social studies textbook for independent reading time. Students think about the facts learned. They read selections of choice for thirty minutes, and volunteer to share information read.


Criterion 3.1: Use & Design

NE = Not Eligible. Product did not meet the threshold for review.
NE
Indicator 3A
00/02
Materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.
Indicator 3B
00/02
The teacher and student can reasonably complete the content within a regular school year, and the pacing allows for maximum student understanding.
Indicator 3C
00/02
The student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.).
Indicator 3D
00/02
Materials include publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.
Indicator 3E
Read
The visual design (whether in print or digital) is not distracting or chaotic, but supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject.

Criterion 3.2: Teacher Planning

NE = Not Eligible. Product did not meet the threshold for review.
NE
Materials support teacher learning and understanding of the Standards.
Indicator 3F
00/02
Materials contain a teacher's edition with ample and useful annotations and suggestions on how to present the content in the student edition and in the ancillary materials. Where applicable, materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning.
Indicator 3G
00/02
Materials contain a teacher's edition that contains full, adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literacy concepts so that teachers can improve their own knowledge of the subject, as necessary.
Indicator 3H
00/02
Materials contain a teacher's edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.
Indicator 3I
00/02
Materials contain explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research-based strategies.
Indicator 3J
Read
Materials contain strategies for informing all stakeholders, including students, parents, or caregivers about the ELA/literacy program and suggestions for how they can help support student progress and achievement.

Criterion 3.3: Assessment

NE = Not Eligible. Product did not meet the threshold for review.
NE
Materials offer teachers resources and tools to collect ongoing data about student progress on the Standards.
Indicator 3K
00/02
Materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.
Indicator 3L
Read
The purpose/use of each assessment is clear:
Indicator 3L.i
00/02
Assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.
Indicator 3L.ii
00/02
Assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow-up.
Indicator 3M
00/02
Materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.
Indicator 3N
Read
Materials indicate how students are accountable for independent reading based on student choice and interest to build stamina, confidence, and motivation.

Criterion 3.4: Differentiation

NE = Not Eligible. Product did not meet the threshold for review.
NE
Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so that they demonstrate independent ability with grade-level standards.
Indicator 3O
00/02
Materials provide teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards.
Indicator 3P
00/04
Materials regularly provide all students, including those who read, write, speak, or listen below grade level, or in a language other than English, with extensive opportunities to work with grade level text and meet or exceed grade-level standards.
Indicator 3Q
00/02
Materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.
Indicator 3R
00/02
Materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

Criterion 3.5: Technology Use

NE = Not Eligible. Product did not meet the threshold for review.
NE
Materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning. Digital materials are accessible and available in multiple platforms.
Indicator 3S
Read
Digital materials (either included as supplementary to a textbook or as part of a digital curriculum) are web-based, compatible with multiple Internet browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, etc.), "platform neutral" (i.e., are compatible with multiple operating systems such as Windows and Apple and are not proprietary to any single platform), follow universal programming style, and allow the use of tablets and mobile devices.
Indicator 3T
Read
Materials support effective use of technology to enhance student learning, drawing attention to evidence and texts as appropriate.
Indicator 3U
Read
Materials can be easily customized for individual learners.
Indicator 3U.i
Read
Digital materials include opportunities for teachers to personalize learning for all students, using adaptive or other technological innovations.
Indicator 3U.ii
Read
Materials can be easily customized for local use.
Indicator 3V
Read
Materials include or reference technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other (e.g. websites, discussion groups, webinars, etc.).