3rd Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for focus within assessment. Overall, the instructional material does not assess any content from future grades within the summative assessment sections of each module.

• No above-grade-level content was assessed on mid-module or end-of-module assessments.
• All assessments, rubrics and topics relate to Grade 3 standards or below.
• The summative assessments focus on grade level topics.
• The mid-module and end-of-module summative assessments, which focus on fractions, use only the denominators of 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8.
• Some of the exit tickets used for formative assessment require students to use denominators beyond the grade level. After clarifying that these exit tickets are not part of the summative assessment program, they were not considered in the review of this indicator. These exit tickets have been addressed on the Eureka website.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectation for focus by spending the majority of the time on the major clusters of the grade. This includes all clusters within the 3.OA, all clusters in 3.NF and clusters A and C from 3.MD.

More than 65% of the lessons are explicitly focused on major work, with major work often included within supporting-work lessons as well.

Of seven modules, modules 1, 3 and 4 address major work exclusively. Module 2 devotes about half of the lessons to major work. Module 5 devotes a few lessons to additional and supporting work.

Modules 6 and 7 spend the majority of the time on additional and supporting work with a few major work lessons included.

Of the 29 assessment days, 19 are devoted to major work.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for their use of supporting content as a way to enhance coherence. For Grade 3, reviewers focused on the use of data and shapes as methods for supporting operations and fractions.

• In module 5, students are partitioning shapes into equal parts and labeling each part as a unit, supporting their work on fractions.
• In module 5, students are using a ruler as a number line.
• In module 5, students are marking paper strip rulers into fractional parts.
• In module 6, students are creating scaled bar graphs using multiplication.
• In module 6, students are using data to perform operations and to identify equivalent fractions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for this indicator by providing a viable level of content for one school year.

• Materials provide for 180 days of instruction and assessment.
• Lessons are expected to be 60 minutes.
• Lessons generally include fluency practice, application problems, concept development and a student debrief.
• The materials are structured so that a teacher could make modifications if necessary.
• While a district, school or teacher would not need to make significant changes to the schedule set forth, reviewers indicated concerns about the volume of the lessons.
• Some lessons may take longer than indicated.
• Days are included at the end of the year for culmination activities and preparation for summer practice.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 are consistent with the mathematical progressions in the standards, meeting the expectation for this indicator.

• The types of problems included in the application problems show an increasing level of difficulty in multiplication.
• Foundational standards from Grade 2 are included for each module.
• In later modules, standards from earlier in the school year are listed as foundational standards. For example, 3.OA.1 and 3.OA.2 are covered in module 1 and then listed as foundational standards in module 3. Standards 3.MD.5, 3.MD.6 and 3.MD.7 are taught in module 4 and then listed as foundational standards in module 7.
• Problem sets in each module offer students extensive work on grade-level problems.
• Students are asked to multiply and divide with 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 before working with 6, 7, 8 and 9.
• Students are reminded of their work in Grade 2 with fractional halves, thirds, and quarters before working with sixths.
• The differentiation sections give teachers suggestions for supporting struggling students while continuing to expect that students work on grade-level problems.
• Suggestions for supporting English language learners (ELLs) continue to reflect the high level of expectations for these students.
• Teacher notes include suggestions for advanced students to continue working within their grade level while deepening their understanding of the content.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 foster coherence through grade level connections.

• The title for module 5, "Fractions as Numbers on the Number Line," is shaped by the cluster heading, "Develop Understanding of Fractions as Numbers."
• In module 1 the lesson objective, "Model the Relationship Between Multiplication and Division," is related to the cluster heading, "Understand Properties of Multiplication and the Relationship Between Multiplication and Division."
• Module 4 is called "Multiplication and Area," which is informed by the cluster heading that includes the words "relate area to multiplication."
• Connections are made between measurement problems and fluent addition and subtraction within 1,000 and place value in module 2.
• Connections are made between measurement and geometry in module 7.
• Module 5 relates geometry to fractions.