4th Grade - Gateway 3

The materials contain no methods to inform stakeholders information about the program and suggestions on how families can help support student progress and achievement. 

Families can log into the Fishtank curriculum online and access information on their own, but this is not something that is required or provided. In addition, there is a sample letter that teachers can send home about independent reading. In the sample, it states the unit topic, essential questions, and ways to support at home. However, there is only one sample, so teachers would have to create their own letter for each unit.

Assessments offer accommodations that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and skills without changing the content of the assessment.

• No evidence found for this indicator.

The materials engage students across the year in writing, reading, speaking, and listening as required by the standards; however, the approaches to learning tasks and the types of tasks assigned do not vary widely. Each lesson is organized in three parts: Building Knowledge and Skills, Engaging with the Text, and Building Deeper Meaning. The reading expectations, discussion structures, Language Supports, and overall lesson format are similar across most lessons. The references to guidance documents and supplemental materials are similar across lessons and grades. Teachers have a lot of flexibility within the curriculum leading to the possibility that approaches to learning tasks are the same across the year. For example, there are several protocols for speaking and listening, but they are rarely required in a specific lesson. 

In writing, teachers are provided a K-5 Writing and Feedback Support guide for each type of writing genre, which offers suggestions on how to help students who are struggling. Guidance is teacher facing and completely dependent on teacher choice.  

Many instructional tasks and supports are the same across Grades 3-5. For example, Language Supports such as sentence stems for students to use in discussion are the same sentence stems used in each grade and remain the same across the year. 

Materials provide few multi-modal opportunities for students to question, investigate, sense-make, and problem-solve using a variety of formats and methods. The units frequently employ the same routines, strategies, and discussion formats. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Science Unit 1, Lesson 22, students “Explain the ways people and climate are responsible for the increase in wildfires.” Teacher directions state, “Split the class into three groups. Give each group of students a different article. Have students first read the article independently for evidence that shows how humans and climate are impacting the number of wildfires. Then students should reread the article with their group, deciding which details are the most important. To help students build meaning use the Key Questions below. Depending on student needs, students can answer the questions orally, annotate in the margins, or write their answer. While students are answering the Key Questions, circulate to gauge student understanding. Provide additional supports where needed.

  • What evidence does the author include to show that people are responsible for the increase in wildfires?

  • What evidence does the author include to show that climate is responsible for the increase in wildfires?”

After the activity, the directions state, “Have each group present the key ideas from their article with the class. Have students take notes on their classmates' presentations in order to use the information when they are writing. After listening to the different presentations, have students write two to three sentences explaining how both people and climate are responsible for the increase in wildfires.”

• In Social Studies Unit 3, Lesson 18, students are split into partners to research a “radical” from a list of political activists. Students respond to questions about the radical and then create a mini poster to represent their radical, including a sentence describing the radical.  Students perform a gallery walk to look at the posters, and if time permits, they also present to the class about their poster.

Students have some opportunities to share their thinking, however there are limited opportunities for them to demonstrate changes in their thinking over time, and to apply their understanding in new contexts. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Literature Unit 2, Lesson 8, students engage in a turn and talk about the significance of the story they’ve just read. Then the directions state, “Move on to the second question by starting with a stop and jot giving students time to think. Have students share out and evaluate each other's answers. This is an opportunity to disagree or build on using specific evidence from the text. Have students write one or two sentences that explain how The Story of the Paper of Happiness may influence Minli.”

Materials occasionally leverage the use of a variety of formats and methods over time to deepen student understanding and ability to explain and apply literacy ideas. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Social Studies Unit 3, Lesson 10, students analyze and debate unit essential questions using details and understandings from the text. 

• In Literature Unit 4, Lesson 20, students analyze how a theme or topic is treated in each of the myths from the unit by comparing and contrasting the treatment of similar themes and topics. Students are given time to prepare talking points using the Discussion Graphic Organizer. The teacher leads the group in a whole-class discussion.  

Materials provide for some ongoing review, practice, self-reflection, and feedback. Materials provide multiple strategies, such as oral and/or written feedback, peer or teacher feedback, and self-reflection. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• The Teacher Tools section provides general guidance for writing feedback that can be used with students. This includes a variety of generalized formats and types. These suggestions are not embedded in the lessons. 

Materials provide a clear path for students to monitor and move their own learning. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• No evidence found.

The materials include guidance for grouping strategies in the Teacher Tools provided on the website. The documents provide explanations for how to conduct various groupings and advantages provided by each of the groupings. The guidance provides protocols for partner discussions, small groups discussions, and whole class discussions. Individual lesson plans include suggestions for when to use each type of discussion, but teachers have flexibility in which specific grouping protocol best meets the needs of their class, allowing the potential for the same grouping strategy to be used throughout the year. However, materials do not provide guidance on how to determine which students should be paired together or how to mix groups. 

Materials provide grouping strategies for students. Materials provide for varied types of interaction among students. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Literature Unit 2, Lesson 11, students discuss questions with a partner before independently reading. Students then turn and talk about the reading. 

• In Science and Social Studies Unit 2, Lesson 4, students read the text using a combination of partner and independent reading.

• In Science and Social Studies Unit 4, Lesson 5, the directions state, “Break students into groups. Assign each group a section of text to read, either light energy, sound energy, or nuclear energy. Have students read the text. After reading, teams should decide which details are most important and should be included in a description of the energy form. Groups should then create a mini-poster that describes the key aspects of the energy form.

Materials provide limited guidance for the teacher on grouping students in a variety of grouping formats. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The “Preparing for Academic Discourse” section of the materials presents information about group students for discussions. The materials state, “There are three main types of academic discourse: partner discourse, small-group discourse, and whole-group discourse, each with their own respective protocols.Over the course of a lesson, students may engage in all three types of academic discourse as they grapple with and explore key unit texts and content.” 

• This same section also provides information about selecting tasks for discourse and provides extensive information on how to support discourse including a wide variety of rubrics, graphic organizers, and recording forms, however it does not include information about how to select students to participate in this wide variety of discussion formats.

• The “Types of Academic Discourse Section provides a wide variety of small group and partner discussion opportunities, including protocols and benefits, but there is no information included about how to select students for these groupings. 

Materials provide a balance of images or information about people, representing various demographic and physical characteristics.

 There are no printed images that accompany the program other than graphic organizers, therefore all images would be contained in the texts and articles selected for the units. 

A stated focus of the curriculum is inclusive education and that students can build an understanding and appreciation of cultures and civilizations that may be different from their own by reading a variety of culturally relevant and diverse texts. On the About Us page of the Fishtank website, the publishers share their rationale for being culturally relevant in choosing texts and topics: “We are committed to developing curriculum that resonates with a diversity of students’ lived experiences. Our curriculum is reflective of diverse cultures, races and ethnicities and is designed to spark students’ interest and stimulate deep thinking. We are thoughtful and deliberate in selecting high-quality texts and materials that reflect the diversity of our country.”

Materials and assessments depict different individuals of different genders, races, ethnicities, and other physical characteristics. Depictions of demographics or physical characteristics are portrayed positively across the series. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following: 

• The Grade 3 units include texts and topics on African American and Hispanic folktales, Native American perspectives on Thanksgiving, world religions, and Indigenous peoples.

Materials and assessments balance positive portrayals of demographics or physical characteristics. Materials avoid stereotypes or language that might be offensive to a particular group. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• In Literature Unit 1, Lesson 2, students read the text, Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel by Nikki Grimes. The Target Task writing prompt asks students to respond to the writing prompt: “What is Dyamonde like? How do you know?” The sample response indicates information about Dyamond that portrays here as an average student who is observant, but judgmental and explores the complexities of internal thought-- thus providing depth to her character and making her relatable to third grade students. The text also describes Dyamonde as having a “can-do attitude”. The teacher discusses what this means with the class. 

• In Social Studies Unit 2, Lesson 11, students read “Notes from a Wampanoag Child” (Letters 1 and 2). Throughout the reading, students are asked questions that examine the position of the Wampanoag and why they viewed the Pilgrims as potentially harmful to their people. They also explore the perspectives of the settlers and the Wampanoag. The Wampanoag are portrayed as individuals who are seeking to understand the intentions of the other group who has come to their land and trying to assure the safety of their families and their livelihood. 

Materials provide representations that show students that they can succeed in the subject, going beyond just showing photos of diverse students not engaged in work related to the context of the learning. 

• This element is not present in the materials as there are not photographs included in the student materials. 

The materials provide some support for teachers to draw on students’ home languages during instruction. General suggestions and strategies are included in the Supporting English Learners section of the program. Specific, lesson-level guidance is not available. 

Materials provide minimal suggestions and strategies to use the home language to support students in learning ELA.  

The materials include the Teacher Tools section of the website with minimal guidance for teachers to draw upon students’ home language to facilitate learning. In the program, teachers are encouraged to consider the home languages of students when grouping them for partner or small group work. Suggestions include, but are not limited to:

• When planning for instruction, teachers are encouraged to consider the role that English learners will play in grouped settings and how they will be grouped. 

• The materials suggest that English Learners should interact with a variety of speakers in a variety of situations based on the demands of the task. 

Materials present multilingualism as an asset in reading, and students are explicitly encouraged to develop home language literacy and to use their home language strategically for learning how to negotiate texts in the target language. Teacher materials include guidance on how to garner information that will aid in learning, including the family’s preferred language of communication, schooling experiences in other languages, literacy abilities in other languages, and previous exposure to academic or everyday English. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The Supporting English Learners materials encourage teachers to allow students to complete assignments in either English or their home language, to allow graphic organizers and other tools to be completed in their home language, and to show students how the English word is a cognate of the word in their home language during vocabulary instruction. However, these are general recommendations and are not explained further or supported within the individual lessons.

The materials provide a Guiding Principles document where the publisher states that they believe selected texts must “both affirm scholars’ cultures and expose them to great literature.” To engage students, teachers are expected to hold high expectations that ensure academic success. This includes teachers helping students develop positive ethnic and cultural identities along with helping them achieve academically. Teachers are encouraged to support students’ ability to recognize, understand, and critique current events and social inequalities. 

Materials make connections to the linguistics, cultures, and conventions used in learning ELA. Materials make connections to the linguistic and cultural diversity to facilitate learning. Examples include, but are not limited to, the following:

• The publisher provides minimal guidance on how teachers can accomplish this, and they primarily recommend that individual schools engage in their own equity and antiracism work in order to ensure the curriculum is brought to life in a way that honors and represents the students in their classrooms. 

• According to the program, in order for a classroom to be truly culturally responsive, teachers need to know their students and customize units and lessons to be inclusive. 

• The publisher includes links to resources from Teaching Tolerance as a guide for teachers to initiate critical conversations with students to facilitate these relationships. 

• The Preparing to Teach and ELA Unit section provides deep dives for teachers as they examine all lessons and the unit as a whole to consider the students in their classroom, the texts and other resources that will be used, historical and social contexts, any biases that may come into play (e.g., those of the author, the teacher, the class), and a variety of other considerations that will allow the teacher to prepare for rigorous conversations. 

Materials integrate technology such as interactive tools, virtual manipulatives/objects, and/or dynamic software in ways that engage students in the grade-level/series standards, when applicable.

• No evidence found for this indicator

Materials include or reference some digital technology that provides opportunities for teachers and/or students to collaborate with each other, when applicable. 

• The materials allow teachers to utilize the Student Handouts through Google Drive in order to use Google Classroom, but no guidance or recommendations for digital tools to collaborate are present. There are no additional digital platforms referenced beyond Google. Students are generally collaborating in discussion, small groups, or pairs but not digitally.

The visual design (whether in print or digital) supports students in engaging thoughtfully with the subject, and is neither distracting nor chaotic. 

• The materials follow the same format across Grades 3-5. The set color scheme is a variety of soft blues and all downloadable materials include the logo for Fishtank.

• Graphic organizers are constructed simply with tables and text that are easily readable for students. 

• The majority of materials follow a very standard format organized in boxes or tables. 

• All texts are actual books that schools need to purchase and include a variety of novels and nonfiction texts with colorful and detailed images.

Materials provide some teacher guidance for the use of embedded technology to support and enhance student learning, when applicable.

• The materials are housed in a digital format online. Entire units and student worksheets are downloadable, and links to supplemental materials are available to download, such as the Vocabulary Package or additional student tasks. 

• There is limited inclusion of technology use as the materials do not provide digitally interactive elements beyond the student handouts, though some lessons include websites or videos as supporting materials. For example, in Literature Unit 3, Lesson 3, materials include the YouTube video, “What is Dyslexia?” by TEDEd, as the focus text. The materials state, “Watch the video two times. The first time through students just listen. On the second watch, have students take notes to help them answer the key questions.” A list of questions is provided to help students prepare for a discussion on dyslexia.

• The handouts for each lesson are embedded so they can be printed, altered, or connected to Google Classroom. Each lesson that uses a handout has a rectangular yellow icon labeled, Create Student Handouts. The text box next to the button reads: “With Fishtank Plus, you can easily turn the Target Task for this lesson into student handouts. And within our Student Handout Editor, you can customize them with your personal touches, or send them directly to Google Classroom.” Once the teacher clicks the button, the lesson handouts appear as digital text boxes and three blue icons at the top of each indicate where teachers can Download Target Task, Edit Target Task, or Send to Google Drive.