The instructional materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Grade 3 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 3 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 1, Week 1, students are asked the following question: “What happens to the students in Room 207 when Miss Swamp is their teacher? Why do you think this happened?”
• In Unit 2, Week 1, students focus on poetry. Students are taught steps for visualizing events in the poem. The teacher facilitates a class discussion and asks the following question: “What do you notice about the shape of this poem? Why do you think the poet decided to write it this way? What does the seal do in the first part of poem? What does it do in second part?”
• In Unit 3, Week 2, students read Julius, the Baby of the World and make inferences about the characters. The teacher asks the following question: “What is Lilly’s problem in the story? What do you know about Lilly? What clues helped you know that?” In their student response journals, student teams of two respond to Lilly’s character in the beginning and end of the story. Then the entire class discusses how Lilly changes.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, students read Boundless Grace. After reading the story, the students create a character web on Grace. Then, the students have a class discussion with text-dependent questions and respond to the following question: “How does Grace’s feeling about her family change between the beginning of the story and the end?”
• In Unit 8, Week 1, students focus on expository text. They determine the essential ideas in expository nonfiction texts. Text-dependent questions are included with each text. For example, students read “Banning Tag,” and examples include the following questions: “What have you learned about different types of tag? What are some of the reasons people give for why tag should be banned?”

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 3 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.

• On a daily basis, students discuss with a partner what they have read during individualized daily reading (IDR). At the start of the year, students talk about their independent reading in broad terms. As the year progresses, the program includes suggestions for sharing their reading using the daily lesson’s strategy.
• Each text provides questions for the teacher to facilitate class discussion. Question variations include Turn and Talk, Think-Pair-Share, and whole class discussion.
• Students often engage in a listening practice activity. Students are paired up and taught the “Turn to Your Partner” strategy. The teacher’s guide explains, “Working with partners gives them a chance to talk about what they are thinking and learning before sharing ideas with the class.” The teacher models the strategy and has students practice it. Facilitation tips are included such as “prompt students to turn and look at the person who is about to speak.” During Making Meaning, Unit 1, Week 2, students are introduced to the Think-Pair-Share strategy.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, after listening to a poem and producing visual representations, students respond to the following: “What does the seal do in the first part of the poem?” The students turn to their neighbors and discuss the question.
• In Unit 3, Week 4, the teacher and students review the text, “The Raft.” The teacher and students review how characters gradually changed in previous texts selections. The teacher introduces the double-entry journal. The students use these books to make inferences of how the character, Nicky, feels in each part of the story. In the Making Meaning Teacher’s Manual, there are teacher prompting questions. When students have completed the task, the teacher facilitates a class discussion describing the changes in Nicky’s character. The teacher records student responses (shared with the whole group) on a class double-entry display. Sample student responses are provided to assist the teacher in anticipating responses.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, students engage in independent reading practice of various texts. They discuss broad questions with partners (i.e., What is your text about? What did you learn from your reading today? Did anything surprise you?).
• In Unit 6, Week 3, the students are discussing information they have learned from studying the text features of three texts. The students make use of Think-Pair-Share to discuss newfound information acquired from a text feature. As the lesson progresses, students share their rationale, in regards to the text features, aloud with their peers.
• In Unit 7, Week 1, students listen to an expository text. On two occasions, the teacher is requested to discontinue reading and provide the following, “Based on what you just heard, what are you wondering? Turn to your neighbor.” At the end of the passage, the teacher facilitates a class discussion and asks, “What did you learn today about rain forest frogs?”

The Grade 3 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 1, Day 1, the teacher reads aloud Miss Nelson is Missing! and emphasizes the word rapped. The teacher asks, “Why might you rap on a someone’s door? Turn to your partner.”
• In Making Meaning Vocabulary Teaching Guide, Week 17, Day 1, the teacher reads aloud Sonia Sotomayor, and the teacher displays word card 99 with industrious from the text. The teacher states: “Olive is learning to play the tuba. She practices for an hour after school each day. Is Olive industrious? Why? Turn to your partner.”
• In Making Meaning Vocabulary Teaching Guide, Week 29, Day 1, the teacher reads aloud Keepers and states, “Based on what you just heard, what do you think the word clenched might mean? Turn to your partner.”
  

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 3 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, there are details on the various cooperative structures in the program. In Grade 3 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.

In the Making Meaning component, there are frequent opportunities to practice speaking and listening skills about what students are reading and researching. Examples include:

• In Unit 2, Week 3, the teacher reads aloud Aunt Flossie’s Hats (and Crab Cakes Later). With partners, they answer questions such as “What did you see in your mind as you listened to this part?” After the read aloud, students have a whole-class discussion using two question prompts and then use Think-Pair-Share to discuss which hat story they like best. The teacher can invite some students to share their answers.
• In Unit 3, Week 3, while reading Amazing Grace the teacher is directed to pause and ask questions including, “How do you think Grace feels?” Each time, students turn and talk with their neighbor. The teacher is directed to have one or two students share responses. After the story is read, the students engage in a discussion, and the teacher is given facilitation questions such as “Do you agree with what Sofia just said? Why?” to help students’ responses.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, Day 2, during individual reading practice, students meet with a partner after reading to share a question they had while reading and what they found out about that question while reading.
• In Unit 9, students write a book recommendation and then share that with the class. After a student shares his/her book recommendation, there are discussion questions for the teacher to ask the student(s) such as: “What questions do you want to ask the speaker about the book she shared?” and “Do you have enough information to decide whether you want to add this book to your summer reading list?"

In the Being a Writer component, there are additional opportunities to practice speaking and listening skills about what students are reading and researching. Examples include:

• In Unit 2, Week 2, students work on peer revision conferences. Students engage in a lesson on how to ask someone to confer with them, how to agree to confer with someone, how to be responsible while conferring, and questions to ask a partner when conferring.
• In the Fiction Genre Writing Unit, Week 4, Day 2, students revisit stories that they heard, written by Kevin Henkes, Students have a whole-group discussion about what they learned about Kevin Henkes and how being an artist helped him in his writing.
• In the Functional Writing Unit, Week 1, Day 1, students learn what functional writing is and engage in a Think-Pair-Share to brainstorm things they know how to take care of that they could write about, which is modeled off of the read aloud, Kittens.
• Students have whole-class discussions that require them to work on their speaking and listening in this component, including in the Poetry Genre Unit, Week 1, Day 1. Students hear the poem “Two Voices in a Tent at Night.” Volunteers share their thinking with the class including what the characters in the poem are feeling and what is funny in the poem.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center for Collaborative Classroom Grade 3 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.

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 through the year. 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.

Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 3, after reading aloud Hello Ocean, students describe a place they really like to be, with sensory details, in their writing notebooks in a quick write opportunity.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, students review all of their written drafts from Unit 1 and select one to develop into a book. For this unit, lessons include interesting words after revising. The teacher models techniques of revising uninteresting words. Additionally, sample drafts are included. The process comprises peer conferences, teacher conferences, and revisions based on mini-lessons such as opening sentences, effective titles, and proofreading. Afterwards, students publish their final drafts and present in the “Author’s Chair.” Following, students complete a self-assessment.
• In Unit 3, Week 1, during Writing About Meaning, Making Meaning, students complete a quick write. They share their opinions about Elizabeth’s decision in “The Paper Princess” to try to rescue the prince. They are instructed to give reasons to support their opinions. Prior to writing, the teacher thinks aloud and models writing.
• In Unit 3, Weeks 1-4, there is a central focus on personal narratives. Students are exposed to several examples of narratives read aloud and discussed as a class. While practicing a skill, students complete daily quick writes (independently developing their own narrative). This culminating activity allows students to write a personal narrative from one of the quick writes and add sensory details, temporal words and phrases, strong openings and endings, revise and proofread, and publish and assess their work.
• In Unit 4, Week 1 and throughout the unit, the teacher creates a class blog. Students reflect on their writing attitudes by responding to reflection questions posted by the teacher.
• In Unit 6, Week 2, students complete daily, on-demand writing by engaging in a Think-Pair-Share on what they will write about and completing a journal entry about the book that was read independently. The teacher uses a “Journal Entry” chart to model expectations for completing class journal entries. Subsequently, students are instructed to include a title and author, events of the story, new learning acquired from the reading selection, and newfound knowledge of text features used.
• In Unit 7, Week 2, students write opinions and use reasons to support them. Also, they edit writing and add transitional words. Students write clear, direct openings and conclusions for a persuasive essay. In Week 3, students confer with a partner and revise their essays. They correct sentence fragments and proofread and publish their essays.
• In Unit 8, Week 2, after reading and discussing various types of poetry, students write original poems.
• 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.

The instructional materials reviewed for Center of Collaborative Classroom Grade 3 meet 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, students engage in personal narrative quick writes and write about topics such as: "What is your earliest memory?" and "When were you really surprised?"
• In the Personal Narrative Genre Unit, students learn about personal narratives, and on Week 2, Day 3, students write about a time they persevered in the face of a challenge.
• In the Fiction Genre Unit, students write their own fiction story. For example, in Week 2, Day 1, students work on visualizing a character before beginning a new fiction piece or continuing with an old one.

Opinion

• In Unit 3, Week 1, Day 3 of Making Meaning, students write their opinions about Elizabeth’s decision to try to rescue the prince in the story The Paper Princess. The teacher models thinking aloud and writing. The teacher reminds students to give reasons to support their opinions.
• In Unit 8, Week 1, Day 4 of Making Meaning, students write an opinion piece about homework after reading two articles on the reasons behind homework.

Informational

• In the Expository Nonfiction Writing unit, students read informational texts about animals and write about interesting things they learned about an animal and what they are still curious about.
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 4 of Making Meaning, students write a newspaper article after hearing the story Brave Harriet.
• In Unit 8, Week 3 , Day 2 of Making Meaning, students hear many fables and discuss themes. On this day, students reread the fable, “The Young Rooster,” discuss the theme or lesson of the fable with a partner, and then record their thinking in their Student Response Book.

The materials reviewed for Center for the Collaborative Classroom Grade 3 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. Grammar and conventions are primarily taught during the Skill Practice portion of Being a Writer, which is out of context from the writing and anchor texts. Students have some opportunities to apply grammar and convention skills to their writing during Being a Writer lessons. 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.3.1a:
• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 2, Being a Writer, the teacher has students brainstorm more interesting adjectives to use in place of the word good. Students also brainstorm words to use in place of big and small. This task is repeated with verbs. “Point out that in addition to adjectives (or descriptive words) like good,big,and small, many verbs (or action words) can be used too often, such as run, walk, sit, and said. Explain that these words can also be replaced with more interesting words.” Students then read through drafts of their own work to find overused adjectives they can replace with something more interesting.
• L.3.1b:
• In Lesson 6, Skill Practice, students learn about singular and plural nouns and irregular plural nouns. “Repeat the process for the remaining sentences, explaining the following rules for forming plural nouns: Sentence pair 1: Add the letter -s to form the plural of most nouns. Sentence pair 2: Add -es to a noun that ends with s, x, sh, or ch. Sentence pair 3: Some nouns form the plural by changing their spelling (goose/geese). These are called irregular nouns.”
• L.3.1c:
• In Unit 5, Week 1, Day 2, Being a Writer, in the extension portion of the lesson the teacher explains the definition of an abstract noun to students, “Write the word curiosity where everyone can see it. Tell the students that curiosity belongs to a group of nouns called abstract nouns. Explain that abstract nouns describe things that cannot be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or heard. Provide examples of other abstract nouns, such as truth, freedom, education, responsibility, information, cooperation, and knowledge, and write them next to curiosity. Point out that none of these nouns is a thing that you can experience with your five senses.” The class then practices coming up with sentences using abstract nouns.
• L.3.1d:
• In Unit 4, Week 5, Day 3, Being a Writing, students find and discuss verbs used in the story, Julius, the Baby of the World. Follow-up teacher questions are also provided, “What do you imagine when you hear the verb [stroked/exclaimed]?” “What do the verbs [twitched and quivered] tell us about [how Lilly might be feeling]?” A teacher note in the margins is also provided for additional practice, “You might point out that the author writes, “Lilly’s fur stood on end” and not, “Lilly’s fur standed on end,” as well as, “But if Lilly did the exact same thing, they said . . .” and not “they sayed.”
• In Lesson 16, Skill Practice, students learn about regular and irregular past-tense verbs. Students first participate in an introductory lesson where they learn how to form and use past tense verbs. Students then participate in guided practice where they work together to choose the correct past tense verb to complete each sentence. Students work in pairs to write a short paragraph using three past-tense verbs.
• L.3.1e:
• In Lesson 15, Skill Practice, students learn about forming simple verb tenses. “Explain to the students that they will practice recognizing and using verb tenses. Explain that a verb tense tells when the action in a sentence takes place. Display the “Simple Verb Tenses” activity (WA10). Read aloud the words present, past, and future. Explain that the present tense tells about something that is happening now, the past tense tells about something that has already happened, and the future tense tells about something that will happen.”
• L.3.1f:
• In Lesson 17, Skill Practice, students learn about subject-verb agreement. Students first participate in an introductory lesson where they learn how to make the subject of the sentence match the verb. Students then participate in a guided practice where they work together to choose the correct verb to complete a sentence in a passage. Students work in pairs to write at least three sentences, using correct subject-verb agreement with singular and plural subjects.
• L.3.1g:
• In Unit Genre Fiction, Week 5, Lesson 4, the teacher explains the differences between verbs and adverbs to students, “Explain that while verbs describe actions, adverbs are words that describe how the actions are done. Explain that adverbs often end in -ly and give more information about the verbs. For example, 'quietly and politely' describe how the penguins 'greeted' each other.” Students also discuss how adverbs add to the story Tacky the Penguin. Students then have the opportunity to look at their own writing to see if there were any places they used or could use adverbs.
• In Lesson 20, Skill Practice, students learn about comparative and superlative adjectives where they learn to add -er and -est to words to complete sentences. Students participate in guided practice where they circle the correct comparative or superlative adjective to complete a sentence. Students work in pairs to write three sentences, using adjectives that compare. One sentence should include a form of the word good.”
• L.3.1h:
• In Lesson 4, Skill Practice, students learn how to use subordinating conjunctions to join two parts of a complex sentence. “Point to the words in the word box: after, because, before, until. Explain that these words are conjunctions, or connecting words, that join the two parts of a complex sentence. Circle the word because in the complex sentence you wrote.”
• In Unit Genre Functional Writing, Week 3, Day 2, the teacher explains the purpose of the coordinating conjunctions and, but, and or to students, ”Explain that authors of directions often use joining words to make writing clearer and easier to understand.” Students then look for and discuss those conjunctions on the Putting on Your Shoes chart. Students then review their own writing to look for coordinating conjunctions or places where they could add these in.”
• L.3.1i:
• In Lesson 3, Skill Practice, students learn how to connect simple sentences using conjunctions and, or, and but to create compound sentences. “Explain that, when we use a conjunction like and to connect simple sentences, we form what is called a compound sentence. Point to the comma in the sentence and explain that we put a comma before the conjunction in a compound sentence.”
• L.3.2a:
• In Unit Fiction Genre, Week 6, Day 3, when discussing interesting titles, the teacher is advised to review title capitalization rules with students, “After the students have discussed the titles, you might point out that most, if not all, of the words in each of these titles are capitalized. Explain that this is generally true of book titles. If the students need more practice with this skill, see Lesson 26 in the Skill Practice Teaching Guide.”
• In Lesson 26, Skill Practice, students learn about capitalizing titles and apply their learning to an “Writing Book Titles” activity during guided practice where they capitalize titles within a passage.
• L.3.2b:
• In Lesson 28, Skill Practice, students learn how to add commas to addresses and complete a “Commas in Addresses” activity during guided practice where they add commas to an addressed envelope. Students work in pairs to write a letter and address an envelope to practice using commas correctly.
• L.3.2c:
• In Lesson 29, Skill Practice, students learn how to add quotation marks and commas for dialogue to their writing. Students participate in a “Commas and Quotation Marks in Dialogue” activity during guided practice where they identify where quotation marks and commas for dialogue are placed in a passage. Students then work in pairs to write dialogue and include quotation marks and commas.
• L.3.2d:
• In Lesson 8, Skill Practice, students learn about possessive nouns. Students participate in guided practice where they circle the correct form of possessive nouns in a passage. Students work in pairs to write a paragraph that includes singular and plural possessive nouns. “Explain that nouns such as boy’s, girls’, and men’s that tell what someone owns are called possessive nouns.”
• In Lesson 10, Skill Practice, students practice using possessive pronouns in a variety of activities. Students read a series of sentences and a passage and must circle the possessive pronouns in each. Students also complete the following writing activity: “Write a short passage about a real or make-believe animal that comes out at night. Use at least three possessive pronouns.” Students also practice choosing the correct possessive pronoun to complete sentences such as, “1. Jonah and Clare went to a pond near ______ school to look for frogs.” (Students choose between his, its, their, her and mine to complete the sentence).
• L.3.2e:
• In Unit 6, Week 3, Day 3, Being a Writer, in a lesson on proofreading, the teacher is instructed to have students “[c]ircle words in their drafts that they are unsure how to spell and look them up in the word bank. Add any words that are not already in the word bank after looking up the correct spelling in a dictionary or other source.” At the end of the lesson the teacher discusses the following questions with students, “What words did you find in your word bank today? How did you check on words that were not in the word bank? What corrections did you make in your draft after reviewing your proofreading notes?”
• L.3.2f:
• In Lesson 16, Being a Writer, students form and use regular and irregular verbs. Display the last “Regular and Irregular Past-tense Verbs” activity (WA16). Explain to the students that you will work together to read each sentence and choose the correct past-tense form of the verb to complete the sentence. Read aloud the first sentence and the answer choices in the word box. “What is the correct way to form the past tense of start? (add -ed) So, which word belongs in the sentence? Invite a volunteer to drag and drop started into the blank. Repeat the process for the rest of the sentences, discussing how the past tense is formed in each case. If necessary, for number 2, remind the students that run is an irregular verb and, therefore, does not end with ed.Have the students work in pairs to write a short paragraph using three past-tense verbs."
• L.3.2g:
• In Unit 3, Week 4, Day 3, Being a Writer, students work on proofreading their drafts for spelling. They consult their word banks within their Student Writing Handbook and discuss other methods of looking for spellings, such as consulting an online dictionary, if the words are not found in their word banks.