4th Grade - Gateway 3

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the expectations that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing.

The materials are designed to immerse students in all areas of the standards and provide explicit lesson structure with embedded teacher direction as well as recommendations for supporting all learners. The teacher guide clearly instructs the teacher throughout each lesson on its implementation before, during, and after the readings and activities. There is clearly defined tiered vocabulary for each section as well as recommendations for scaffolded support throughout.

Every lesson is effectively broken down into time frames for coverage of material. At the beginning of each lesson there is “Lesson at a Glance” that maps out the skill being covered, grouping suggestions for students, the time each skill section should take, and the materials that will be needed. For example, in Unit 1 Lesson 3 the Lesson at a Glance breaks the lesson down in a chart showing 35 minutes for reading activities, 35 minutes for a writing activities, and 20 minutes for a speaking and listening activity.

The Contents page of each unit states the topic of each lesson, the skills to be addressed in that lesson (reading, writing, speaking/listening, language, etc.) and the time allotted for each.

Materials include a curriculum map located in the program guide that tracks the “Knowledge Domains” that students will be working in through each grade. In each unit, students are immersed in a domain topic that centers on science, social studies, or literature. Included as a unit is also a “Core Quest” designed to immerse students in a writing, speaking, and listening experience that continues throughout more than one unit.

• For example, the program guide states that, “During this Quest students will observe, interact with, and follow the exploits of the Contraption, a mechanical device that appears one day in the classroom (projected on a screen.) In each lesson, students create pieces of writing that they can use to interact with the Contraption and solve its puzzles.”

Out of the 8 Domains (units) in grade four, 2 are based in science, 2 social studies, and 4 literature. The science domains include a unit in ‘Geology’ and the “Eureka; Student Inventor” quest. The social studies domains have units that cover ‘Empires in the Middle Ages’ and ‘American Revolution’. The literature domains include, ‘Personal Narratives’, ‘Poetry’, ‘Contemporary Fiction’ (including excerpts from The House on Mango Street), and Treasure Island.

• For example, in the Teacher Guide for Unit 1, the intro states, “This unit examines the genre of personal narratives, which consists of works of nonfiction written by a first-person narrator involved in the events being described.”
• The Introduction to Unit 5 states, “The Reader for this unit, The Changing Earth, includes complex text and prepares students in Grade 4 for the increased vocabulary and syntax demands aligned texts will present in later grades. The Changing Earth focuses on the composition of the earth and the forces that change Earth’s surface.”
• Unit 2 explores the Middle Ages in Europe and the Islamic Medieval Empires. The introduction in Unit 2 states, “Separated by the Mid-Unit Assessment, the two topics of study are tied by a common past (the decline of the Roman Empire) and intersecting events such as the Crusades and the movement of knowledge, philosophy, and science from Greek into Arabic into Latin.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet expectations that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, and explanation, and correct labeling of reference aids (e.g., visuals, maps, etc.).

Materials include but are not limited to photos, captions, glossaries, charts, diagrams, illustrations, sentence strips, graphic organizers, rubrics, digital images, labeled supports, activity pages, timing reminders, tiered vocabulary charts, notes to teachers, image cards, writing prompts and journals.

• In Unit 2 Lesson 6 there is an example of a table for the Spelling Word/Definition/and Example Sentence. The Lesson states, “After writing and pronouncing the words, use the following chart to define each word and provide an example of how to use it in a sentence.”

• An example of a check-in for understanding from Unit 8, Lesson 8 states, “Check in with students. Provide reinforcing or corrective feedback: • It looks like you have identified two interesting characters for your story. How could you use sensory details to help the reader imagine what the characters smell, hear, or see?”

• An example of a graphic organizer used for writing in the Unit 6 Pausing Point, assists students to determine a story’s climax, rising action, falling action, introduction and resolution. “Look at the vignette, “A Rice Sandwich.” Place the events in the story in the chart below.”

• A checklist in the Unit 4, Lesson 5 Inventor’s Notebook for the Eureka Challenge asks, “Does your letter include a simple machine? Does your letter explain how Mi-Shell should transport the cookies? Does your letter explain how Mi-Shell should travel?”

Teacher and student resources include clear directions. Activities that are completed with teacher guidance have directions included throughout the lessons. Suggestions for grouping, additional supports, challenge ideas and direct instruction are clearly defined, explained and embedded throughout. Each lesson provides the ‘primary focus’ and advance preparation’ of the lesson, the ‘formative assessment(s)’ ‘lesson at a glance’, and ‘recommendations for universal access’ and a ‘check for understanding’ section. Activity pages correspond correctly to the teacher guide and make finding information seamless and efficient.

• An example of a challenge question from Unit 1, Lesson 5 states, “What do you think the author means by “you know for sure that you’re a child and she has stopped being one”?
• An example of a way for teachers to check for understanding in Unit 7, Lesson 7 states, “A checklist in the Unit 4 Inventor’s Notebook for the Eureka Challenge.”

• An example of teacher support can be seen in Unit 5, Lesson 12 where it states, “Help students create a simple flow chart to summarize the first two paragraphs on Reader p. 76.

• Clear directions for teachers is seen in Unit 2, Lesson 22 where the review vocabulary section states, “Have students turn to the table of contents of the Reader, locate chapter 14, and turn to the first page of the chapter. • Preview the core vocabulary words before reading the chapter.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the expectations for materials including publisher-produced alignment documentation of the standards addressed by specific questions, tasks, and assessment items.

Alignment to the CCSS is documented in multiple places throughout the curriculum. The alignment chart for the CCSS standards are documented in the 3-5 Program Guide, and in the contents pages of each unit. At the beginning of every lesson under ‘Primary Focus of the lesson” the standards being addressed are clearly stated as well as within the formative assessments for what is being measured. The same is true for the Unit Assessments in which the standards being measured are also found under the “primary focus” and formative assessments given through the activity pages. Within the sidebars of the teacher guide there are standards listed within the scaffolding of the lesson for “emerging/expanding/extending” the learning.

• For example, the Introduction in Unit 1 states, “The readings we have selected for the unit are all grade-appropriate in content and text complexity. In addition, the texts have substantial literary merit and represent a spectrum of the American experience, written as they are from a variety of racial, cultural, and geographic perspectives.”

• Examples of formative assessments are found at the start of each lesson. The formative assessments in Unit 2, Lesson 18 include a map activity; “Sequence events related to the spread of Islam throughout Muhammad’s life [RI.4.3; ELD.PI.4.6]” and a sequence activity; “Sequencing Events Sequence events related to the spread of Islam throughout Muhammad’s life. [RI.4.3; ELD.PI.4.6]”

• Unit 4, Lesson 6 provides an example of standards being addressed in the sidebar for scaffolding titled, ‘Writing Interacting via Written English’ [PI.4.2] and it states emerging, expanding and bridging scaffolds for students at differing levels.

• In Unit 7, Lesson 7, there is a ‘Mid-Unit Assessment’ that gathers formative data to ensure understanding of content. It states, “This is a good opportunity to use the Tens scoring system to gather formative assessment data. Information about the Tens scoring system appears in the Teacher Resources section of the Unit 1 Teacher Guide. You may wish to pause one day before proceeding to Lesson 8 so you can assess students’ comprehension of the domain content presented in the Reader thus far."

Instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for materials containing 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. Materials include teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning. Materials provide support instructional planning in multiple ways. The Teacher Guide gives clear annotations and suggestions on how to present content. At the beginning a unit, teachers are encouraged to read the introduction, alignment chart, assessments, and to review the pausing points for the lessons. At the beginning of each lesson, teachers are encouraged to use the Lesson at a Glance to review the primary focus and formative assessments. There is also an Advance Preparation section included in the Universal Access section that helps to support teachers. Throughout the lessons, sidebars are included to support teachers in how to present materials to both support and challenge student learning. There are also Additional Support activates at the end of lessons that provide assessment and remediation in skills lessons. Teachers are directed to consider whether additional activities in the Assessment and Remediation Guide or Decoding and Encoding Supplement should be utilized for students who may need additional support. Teachers are also instructed to review Language Studio content for English Language Learner students

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for materials containing a teacher’s edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum. The Program Guide for grades 3-5 contains explicit instruction on the role of the standards in the overall curriculum. It details the qualitative and quantitative text complexity of each unit, language demands from literal to complex language including tiered vocabulary, the structure of text and breakdown of literature, informational and nonfiction text, as well as close reading and use of text dependent questions including literal, inferential and evaluative questions.

An explanation of the Quantitative Text Complexity is explained on page 56 of the Program Guide; “By 3rd grade students are increasingly reading grade level complex text independently. They also continue to be exposed to above-grade Read-Alouds. In 4th and 5th grade, students are exclusively reading grade-level complex text that increases in challenge from the beginning to the end of the grade.”

An explanation of the Qualitative Text Complexity is explained on page 56 of the Program Guide; “Qualitative Text Complexity requires a range of judgments, some of which are by necessity subjective (Which is more complex, Anna Karenina or War and Peace? Descartes or Aristotle?). In 3rd–5th grade students are exposed to texts that are increasingly open to multiple interpretations and have many layers of meaning.”

The Program Guide details the language conventions in each grade on page 56; “In 4th and 5th grade, the language demands of texts increases. Students spend significantly longer considering the precise use of words, including figurative and ambiguous phrasing, starting with the first unit (Personal Narrative). The poetry units in 4th and 5th grade expose students to poems that range from highly complex, archaic language, to seemingly simple but ironic text (such as William Carlos Williams’s “This is Just to Say”).”

The Program Guide page 60 details the types of text dependent questions that are addressed in every lesson.

• “Literal questions assess students’ recall of key details from the text. These are text- dependent questions that require students to paraphrase and/or refer back to the portion of the text where the specific answer is provided. Literal questions generally address Reading Standards for Literature n1 RL.4.1) and/or Reading Standards for Informational Text 1 (RI.X.1).”
• Inferential questions ask students to infer information from the text and to think critically. These are also text dependent, but require students to summarize and/or refer back to the portions of the text that lead to and support the inference they are making. These questions generally address Reading Standards for Literature 2–5 (RL.X.2– RL.X.5) and/or Reading Standards for Informational Text 2–5 (RI.X.2–RI.X.5).”
• Evaluative questions ask students to build on what they have learned from the text using analytical and application skills, often to form an opinion or make a judgment. These questions are also text-dependent, but require students to paraphrase and/or refer back to the portion(s) of the text that substantiate the argument they are making or the opinion they are offering. Evaluative questions might ask students to: Compare and contrast the point of view from which different stories are narrated, addressing Reading Standards for Literature 6 (RL.X.6)”

In grade 4, the breakdown of genre within the 8 Domains (units) are: 2 based in science, 2 social studies, and 4 literature. The science domains include a unit in ‘Geology’ and the “Eureka; Student Inventor” quest. The social studies domains have units that cover ‘Empires in the Middle Ages’ and ‘American Revolution’. The literature domains include, ‘Personal Narratives’, ‘Poetry’, ‘Contemporary Fiction’ (including excerpts from The House on Mango Street) and ‘Treasure Island’.

The instructional materials for Grade 4 meet the criteria for materials containing explanations of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies. A Research Guide:The CKLA CA Curriculum: Links to Research on Teaching and Learning serves as a companion to the Program Guide. The guide discusses the research in English Language Arts instruction including but not limited to print and phonological awareness, phonics and word recognition, reading fluency, prosody, vocabulary and background knowledge.

The Program Guide also includes footnotes to research as they are explaining their educational approaches. Also, during the English Language Learner section of the Program guide, teachers are provided with a Research Base: Why this Matters Explanation for instructional approaches.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for materials regularly and systematically offering assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress. Assessments include Daily Checks for Understanding, Daily Formative Assessments, Content and Mid Unit Assessments, and Unit Placement and Assessments Benchmark Tests.

Checks for understanding are designed to allow teachers to amend instruction within the context of the lesson. Formative assessments range from in-the-moment adaption to opportunities for individual, small group, and whole class reteach and review. Checks for Understanding and Formative Assessments also provide information to decide whether additional supports and practice (found at the end of the lesson and in the additional guides) are appropriate. Mid-unit, end-of-unit, and benchmark assessments should be used to direct remediation, Pausing Point days, and to differentiate instruction.

There is ongoing tracking of student progress:

• Student Progress Record. This form may be used against a large range of student activities to track how students are progressing over time and compared with others in the class.
• Mid-and end-of-unit assessments

There are a range of formal assessment opportunities that are are accompanied by directions and support for analysis of performance. They are also accompanied by assessment charts to record student progress. These assessment opportunities include, but not limited to:

• Spelling Assessments
• Grammar and Morphology Assessments
• Reading Comprehension Assessments
• Writing Assessments

There are three benchmark assessments: Beginning of Year, Middle of Year, and End of Year. Students are offered additional support and remediation depending on their performance on benchmark assessments.

The materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for assessments clearly denoting which standards are being emphasized. There are multiple ways that students are assessed throughout each unit including formative assessments, mid-unit assessment, pausing points, and end-unit assessments. Within each form of assessment, it is clear what standards are being addressed.

Examples of formative assessments and the standards that are being emphasized in them are as follows:

• Unit 2, Lesson 21, using Activity Page 21.1 students will, “Answer factual questions about the Umayyad dynasty using evidence from the text. [RI.4.1; ELD.PI.4.6]”
• Unit 7, Lesson 4, using Activity Page 4.3 the student will, “Review Quotation Marks: Write sentences using quotation marks and commas. [L.4.1, 2b; ELD.PII.4.1; ELD.PIII.4]

Within the Unit Assessment of Unit 7, Lesson 17, the Teacher Guide explains the unit assessment analysis of qualitative and quantitative text stating, “The texts used in the reading comprehension assessment, “Benjamin Franklin and the Revolutionary War” (informational text) and “A Fictional Excerpt from a Boy’s Diary, Written in New York City, New York—July 11, 1776” (literary text), have been profiled for text complexity using the quantitative measures described in the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts, Supplement to Appendix A, “New Research on Text Complexity,” (CoreStandards.org/resources). Both selections fall within the Common Core 4th–5th Grade Band.

The materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for assessments providing sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.

Assessment keys are provided, as well as multiple suggestions and protocols for teachers to provide feedback such as:

• Teacher questioning to check for misconceptions.

• Wrap-Up questions and Checks for Understanding to check for comprehension.
• Writing feedback to provide immediate feedback and suggestions during the writing process.
• Student work to monitor students’ mastery of skills.
• Peer-to-peer feedback to provide immediate feedback on student performance.

There are a number of other tools that support teachers in providing specific feedback to students and monitoring and tracking student progress over time.

• Rubrics
• Portfolios
• Editing Checklist

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for including routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

Each lesson includes a formative assessment that is highlighted at the start of the lesson. These assessments are used to track student mastery of objectives.

• In Unit 3, Lesson 7, the formative assessments listed include a speaking and observational checklist and answering inferential questions about Whitman’s use of metaphor in the student poet’s journal.

There are also Checks for Understanding throughout the lessons to be used by the teacher to determine if students are ready to move on to the next part of the lesson. The Check for Understanding questions are meant for quick formative assessments that happen during instruction to assess if students have mastered the key content and skills in the lesson.

• In Unit 7, Lesson 2, the Check for Understanding is a “Think-Pair-Share. Present to students: The Sons of Liberty did not provide an accurate account of the Boston Massacre. Why do you think they changed the story? Circulate through pairs and listen to students as they develop their arguments, providing input as needed.

Instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for materials providing teachers with strategies for meeting the needs of range of learners so the content is accessible to all learners and supports them in meeting or exceeding the grade-level standards. Materials provide modeling, formative assessments, language and visual supports, and background knowledge in each lesson to ensure student understanding.

Materials include sidebar notes that include suggestions for emerging, expanding, and bridging students. The sidebars also include access, support ,and challenge notes that provide strategies for meeting the needs of a range of learners. Examples of sidebar strategies include:

• In Unit 6, Lesson 2
  • Emerging- Remind students what the x/y axes represent. Go through each character one at a time and help students and where they t on the graph, referring to evidence.
  • Expanding- Remind students what the graph represents. Help t great- grandmother on the graph, referring to evidence, then ask them to tell you where Esperanza and Zeze would go.
  • Bridging- Remind students what the graph represents, and support them to plot the characters.
  • Support- If this graph seems too complex for your students to work on independently, you can guide them through this activity as you did the rst time. They could also work with partners.
  • Challenge- As you work as a class, allow a few students to come up and complete the large graph at the front of the room, and to take on the teaching role.

• In the Advance Preparation section at the beginning of each lesson there are Universal Access instructions. For example, in Grade 4, Unit 2, Lesson 20, states, “Create a modified version of Activity Page 20.1 that includes page numbers to reference. Select and prepare a historical fiction picture book to read aloud. Create a reference guide for story elements including a definition and example for each.

The materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for regularly providing 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. All students engage with grade level text. Side bar supports are provided to ensure that students are supported during lessons. The Universal Access for each lesson provides additional supports for students who read, write, speak or listen below grade level. Lessons also include pausing Points which provide additional instruction on new skills at the end of each unit for small group work, reteaching, and differentiated instruction. Assessment and Remediation Guide/Encoding and Decoding Supplements can be used for additional lessons that support students who need extra practice or remediation on foundational skills and comprehension.

Materials include a Language Studio resource that provides lessons that focus on reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, and grammar to advance English Language Learner proficiency levels. The activities in Language Studio help teachers guide students in constructing meaning through interaction with the text and with each other. Such instruction supports ELs of all proficiency levels by helping them access grade-level content knowledge, make meaning, and develop academic English and effective expression across the disciplines.

English Language Studio

Instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for regularly including extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level. Materials provide multiple opportunities for challenge, and enrichment, including:

• Challenge sidebars throughout the lesson providing stretching questions and activities.
  • Unit 1, Lesson 3,“Ask students to identify traits of characters in their narratives. How do the characters change? Remind them that showing is more compelling than telling, and challenge them to show these traits in the paragraph”
• Pausing Point days include additional activities and more complex text for excelling students.
  • Pausing Point in Grade 4, Unit 5 states, “Use the first day of the Pausing Point to assess the content knowledge students have acquired by reading The Changing Earth. Use the following Remediation and Enrichment suggestions to plan activities for the remainder of the first Pausing Point day.” It further details that, “If students have mastered the content and skills in the Geology unit, their experience with the domain concepts may be enriched by the following activities: Students may read the enrichment selections contained in the Reader. One selection, “The Rock Towns of Cappadocia,” describes the cave-like rock houses located in Cappadocia, Turkey, as well as rock carvings on Easter Island. The Activity Book contains activity pages students can complete as they read these selections.”
• Independent Reading. There are a large number of “above level” books that are available for students through CKLA Independent Reading. These allow students to expand their knowledge with more challenging material.

There are also daily opportunities to allow students go deeper into the topic. Lessons in the Knowledge Strand offer opportunities for independent and small group research that can be extended by asking for alternative sources or deeper analysis.

Instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet the criteria for providing opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies. Students are grouped in partners, small groups, and whole class. Teachers are provided with guidance on how to group students such as an page 54 of the Program Guide, “Teachers should use a range of strategies—sometimes employing students of the same comprehension level into the same group, and at other times mixing those with a higher comprehension with those that are struggling. Extension activities within the Pausing Points provide a large range of additional collaborative learning opportunities. These include large group activities such as rehearsing and performing Read-Alouds, plays, and other literary works in front of an audience.”

Examples of how grouping strategies are used in materials include:

• Partner discussion: Partner discussions are used in all units. Students host informal discussions and rules-based formal discussions.
• Think-Pair-Shares: Students discuss a topic, build on the remarks of others, and link their comments to evidence in the text.
• Small group discussion: Multiple opportunities for small group instruction and expression are present.
• Whole class discussion: Whole class discussion takes place daily. These provide ample opportunities for students to model and practice Effective Expression.