3rd Grade - Gateway 3

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials are well-designed and take into account effective lesson structure and pacing. 

The Grade 3 materials are divided into twelve modules, with each module taking place over three weeks. The Guiding Principles and Strategies Resource and Teacher's Guide provide extensive information about all components of the module and specific details for each lesson component. Suggested time frames and ranges for each component of a lesson are provided. The materials have multiple lesson parts that are required daily, though the provided time frames will help schools find time for each part of the lesson. Time is built into the schedule each day for whole class instruction, small group instruction, independent practice, collaborative group work, and reflection. 

The Guiding Principles and Strategies Resource provides information to support effective lesson structure and pacing:

• Whole Class Instruction should be 75-120 minutes per day. It should include 10-15 minutes per day of knowledge building and vocabulary instruction, 20-30 minutes of Reading Workshop, 15-30 minutes of foundational skills and/or communication, and 30-45 minutes of working workshop
• Small Group instruction should be 45-60 minutes per day and include independent practice, collaborative work, and teacher-led small group instruction

Each week, the Teacher's Guide also provides a Week at a Glance, which highlights the components of each lesson and the suggested daily times. For example, in Module 1, Week 1, it is suggested that the teacher uses 10-15 minutes to build knowledge and vocabulary, 60-85 minutes for Reading Workshop, 15-30 minutes for foundational skills, 15-30 minutes for communication, and 30-45 minutes of Writing Workshop.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that the student resources include ample review and practice resources, clear directions, explanations, and correct labeling of reference aids (eg. visuals, maps, etc.)

The Grade 3 student materials provide a variety of resources to practice and review skills, including clear directions and explanations for students and labeling to show alignment to the specific module and week.  Printables and anchor charts are easily located on the digital site by sorting in accordance with the labeled heading in the Teacher's Guide as well. Practice opportunities include the student myBook, the Notice and Note Signposts, and the Know It & Show It practice activities. 

The myBook is a write-in student book that provides clear directions and explanations. Each task box is labeled with clear and concise instructions along with a defined box for completing the task. Some examples include:

• Students are given directions to annotate the text to demonstrate their thinking.
• Students are given directions to find evidence in the text to support their understanding of text structure, text features, literary elements, central idea, theme, point of view, and figurative language.
• Students are given clear directions to engage in Collaborative Discussion and respond to questions in myBook.
• Students are given directions to respond to given writing prompts.
• Critical vocabulary is listed beside the boxes where students complete writing tasks.  This is so they can include the important vocabulary words in their writing.

Notice & Signposts are found throughout the reading of texts, which direct students to think more deeply about the texts. This provides clear guidance during the close reading of texts. Some examples of this include:

• In literary texts, students might stop and think about an ‘Aha Moment’, which is when the character reaches a realization about something that shifts his or her understanding.
• In informational texts, students might stop and think about “Number and Stats,” where students analyze the numbers, statistics, and language an author uses to provide precision or to avoid it.

The Know It & Show It book is a resource book that provides students with independent practice to apply comprehension skills that accompany the myBook texts. The activities are labeled with each skill, as well as, the module and the week that the practice aligns. 

The Genre Study Printables for Modules 11 and 12 are labeled correctly to include the module and lesson number. Directions and questions are clear, and the layout is simple and easy to use. Printables include the Genre Maps, Writing in the Genre activities, and the Genre Study printables that support each Genre Study mini-lesson.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials contain a Teacher 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.

The Grade 3 materials include a Teacher's Guide that provides a clear outline of each module, as well as, notes and suggestions on how to present content to students. The Teacher's Guide also includes the objectives of the lesson, explanations of where to find descriptions of routines, and suggested ways to present content.  It also provides possible questions to ask and detailed guidance for each part of the literacy block. The Teacher's Guide also includes scaffolded instruction to address learners’ needs with suggestions and ideas on how to differentiate instruction for those students in need. Within the Teacher's Guide, there are also ideas for how to structure Reading Workshop, literacy centers, vocabulary centers, digital stations, and research-informed instructional routines to support lesson planning. Some of these instructional routines include active viewing, active listening, vocabulary, reading for understanding, close reading, response writing.  Some additional engagement routines include Choral Reading, Partner Reading, Echo Reading, Turn-and-Talk, Think-Pair-Share, Solo Chair, and Collaborative Discussion. 

The Teaching Pal features specific annotations in support of instructional routines, including reading for understanding, close reading, and Collaborative Discussion. It also includes text-dependent questions that are embedded within the text to support teachers with creating engaging text-dependent discussions during and after engaging in the reading of a complex text. The Teaching Pal provides notes for think alouds, tasks, and questions, which are labeled with learning objectives. Each note is also labeled with a Depth of Knowledge for that task, question, or think aloud. 

The Teacher's Guide includes several sections that provide annotations and suggestions on how to present information to students. This includes:

• Module Opener: Provides an essential question, an explanation of the module focus, and a quick overview of the skills students will acquire and practice throughout the module
• Make a Difference: Provides suggestions on forming small groups in guided reading, English language development, setting reading goals, conferences,and skill strategy groups
• Building Knowledge Networks: Provides an image of the Knowledge Map students will use and how to display the Display and Engage for students throughout the module
• Developing Knowledge and Skills: Gives an overview of the knowledge and skills addressed throughout the module
• Inquiry and Research Project: Provides the learning objectives and weekly focus, providing teachers with detailed plans to guide students through completion of each project
• Notice and Note: Provides specific guidance of giving directions, modeling tasks or skills, or asking questions. There is also a chart that shows the lesson, the text, and the comprehension skill and the Notice & Note signpost appears
• Kicking off the Module: Provides guidance to teachers on setting goals with students and making connections with families
• Week at a Glance: Provides teachers with a Weekly Overview that provides detailed information on the instruction included for the week. Colors are assigned to each part as well as the use of icons and symbols. 
• Literacy Centers: Provides teachers with information on the work in which students will engage, materials are needed, and ways the teacher can monitor student progress. In addition, information on the use of technology and digital stations are provided and the location of the printables that accompany these stations. 
• Daily Lesson Plan: Provides the teacher with detailed directions for the use of materials, guiding questions, learning objectives, collaborative strategies, learning mindset, English Learner Support, and Professional Learning. 

The Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook also discusses each part of the lesson plan, describes the materials for each section, and explains the way to use each resource. This section also describes how to use the Weekly Ad Module Assessments and how to use the online digital tools and resources. 

The materials for the Genre Study in the Teacher's Guide also provide teaching instructions and suggestions. The content is accurate, easy to understand, and helpful for educators. It provides detailed teaching instructions and suggestions. 

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials contain a Teacher 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.

The materials include a Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, that provides specific research, rationales, and explanations, that will help teachers build knowledge of the content. The materials also include a Teaching Pal that accompanies the student myBook. The Teaching Pal provides guidance, notes, instructional practices, and strategies as students work through module texts. Teachers also have access to a digital professional learning module to support their understanding of each module. The Teacher's Guide also contains adult-level explanations and examples of the more advanced literary concepts. 

The Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook provides in depth information about the overview of the design of the program, the research behind the design, and guidance for each part of the module in the areas of assessment and differentiation, family connections, classroom community, teaching, and learning. Within this book, the Teaching and Learning section provides explanations to assist the teacher in developing a full understanding of the content. Explanations are provided about Building Knowledge and Language, Foundational Skills, Language and Vocabulary, Reading Worksop, and Writing Workshop. The information presented provides details about best practices to help teachers improve their knowledge of the subject. The Professional Learning Module allows teachers to navigate the learning modules at their own pace. Modules are designed to provide teachers with the learning outcomes, hands-on experience, reflection, and application before teaching the module to students. The Teacher's Guide contains a Preview Lesson Texts section that explains in detailed adult level language the text complexity, connections to other curricular areas, key ideas, and language from the text or texts from the week. 

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials contain a Teacher Edition that explains the role of the specific ELA/literacy standards in the context of the overall curriculum.

Teachers are provided a variety of materials that explain the role of specific ELA/Literacy standards. Supports can be found in the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, Teacher's Guide, the Teaching Pal, Assessments, and the Common Core State Standards resource. 

At the beginning of each module in the Teacher's Guide, there is an Overview page that lists all the essential skills. Then, in the Weekly Overview section, the essential literary skills are listed for vocabulary, reading, communication, and writing for both whole group instruction and small group instruction. The Teaching Plan contains information for the teacher on think alouds, tasks, and questions for the texts in the myBook. Each is labeled with learning objectives and with the Depth of Knowledge. Common Core State Standards are listed for each lesson in an additional document. Assessments are also provided and teachers are able to create a standards-based report to assess and monitor student progress in regards to specific ELA/literacy standards. Lastly, in the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, there is a section called Teaching and Learning that has specific curriculum alignment to the Common Core State Standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials contain an explanation of the instructional approaches of the program and identification of the research based strategies.

In the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, there is a clear explanation of the instructional approaches and the research behind the program and strategies. The materials also contain a Research Foundations: Evidence Base Book that specifically details the instructional approaches and research-based strategies of Into Reading. In this book, research is provided about the instructional model, technology and blended learning, differentiated and personalized learning, foundational reading skills, language and vocabulary development, fluency and comprehension, writing, speaking and listening, social-emotional learning, family and community engagement, and assessments. This book cites over 100 research references. 

The program also includes Professional Learning Modules, which provides explanations of the instructional approaches. Modules are designed to provide teachers with the learning outcomes, hands-on experiences, reflection, and application.

Throughout the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, there are blue boxes, titled Professional Learning: Research Foundations, that state the research theory behind each section. The Research Foundations: Evidence Base Book contains all of the research that supports the program. It describes the research and the ways the program delivers the research theory. The Professional Development Research Foundation provides specific research-based strategies that are included in the program. Some examples include:

• Within the Classroom Community section about establishing classroom routines, it states, “By explicitly teaching routines to students, teachers can (a) set students up for success, (b) decrease the possibility of behavior errors, and (c) reduce the amount of time spent reminding students about the routines on a daily basis” (Myers et al., 2017).
• Within the Assessment and Differentiation section about meeting the needs of accelerated learners, it states, “Teachers must observe and note the progress of students to know how to adjust instruction to keep the accelerated students engaged and motivated while providing additional support as needed” (Houghen, 2012). 
• Research is provided on how students develop word knowledge by stating research from Templeton (2011) and Templeton & Bear (2011). It states, “Children’s understanding about how written words ‘work’ -- their spelling and how this spelling represents the sounds and meanings of language -- is the foundation for reading and writing. This foundation supports children’s fluency in word recognition and writing, and its construction follows a developmental path that can be described in terms of states of word knowledge.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials regularly and systematically offer assessment opportunities that genuinely measure student progress.

Throughout the year, there are multiple opportunities to assess students in order to monitor their progress. Assessments include Daily Formative Assessments, Intervention Assessments, Guided Reading Benchmark Assessments, Weekly Assessments, and Module Assessments. The assessments are explained in detail in the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook in the Assessment and Differentiation section. Assessments are available in both the print version and digitally. When given digitally, teachers are able to use two different reports to monitor progress.

Assessments are used to monitor student progress to plan for interventions. This includes:

• Screening Assessments: Used early in the school year to obtain preliminary information about student performance, screen students for interventions, and determine groups for foundational skills instruction. An Oral Reading Fluency Assessment is also provided to assess fluency, accuracy, and rate.
• Diagnostic Assessments: Used as follow-up assessments as needed for students who scored below expectations on the screening assessments. Assessments include Letter-Sound Correspondence Assessments and Word Identification Assessments.
• Progress Monitoring Assessments: Used every two weeks to measure growth in foundational reading skills. The goal is to identify challenging areas for reteaching, reviewing, practicing, providing checks of students’ beginning reading skills, monitoring the progress of students who are in reading interventions, and helping determine when students are ready to exit an intervention. These assessments take three to five minutes. 

Formative Assessments are also included and provide both Weekly and Module Assessments. These measure comprehension, vocabulary, writing, and grammar skills at the end of each week and at the end of each module. There is a reading section that assesses comprehension and vocabulary and a writing section that assesses grammar and writing skills.  Data reports are provided for the online versions. The assessment report provides class scores for each assessment and analyzes student proficiency data. The standards report assesses students’ progress in standards proficiency. 

There is also a Benchmark Assessment Kit that is used to determine students’ guided reading levels and make instructional decisions. These assessments include both fiction and nonfiction leveled readers. Rubrics are also provided to assess students’ writing and research projects. There are rubrics for narrative writing, informational writing, poetry writing, correspondence writing, argumentative writing, Collaborative Discussions, response writing, and the Inquiry and Research Projects. The writing rubrics assess students in the areas of organization and presentation, development of ideas, and use of language and conventions. The rubric for the Inquiry and Research Project assesses students in collaboration, research and text evidence, content, and  presentation.

The program also includes Reading Surveys to gather information at the beginning and middle of the year and to gather information about reading interests, attitudes, and preferences. The surveys are used to inform instructional planning, support students with self-selected reading, and recommend books. The program also suggests that teachers keep Observation Notes and take notes during individual conferences, guided reading groups, small-group instruction, and independent reading and writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that assessments clearly denote which standards are being emphasized.

Module and Weekly Assessments provide standards alignment. In the print version of the assessments, the answer key provides both the Common Core State Standards and the Depth of Knowledge for each question. In the digital version of the assessments, teachers can access the standards report, which shows students’ progress in standards proficiency. 

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that assessments provide sufficient guidance to teachers for interpreting student performance and suggestions for follow up.

The Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook explains when to give each assessment and the students who need it. It also provides information on ways teachers can support students based on the results gained from the assessments. The Teacher's Guide also provides differentiation guidance for each lesson based on assessment data. This gives teachers information on how to follow-up after assessments for both reteaching and interventions.

The Differentiated Support and Intervention section of the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook provides information on guided reading groups, reading skill and strategy support groups, foundational skills support groups, and best practices for intervention support.  Teachers use Formative Assessments, Progress Monitoring Assessments, and Benchmark Assessments to plan for these different groups. In the Reading Skill and Strategy Support Group, teachers reteach a skill or strategy that has not yet been mastered by a group of students. In the Foundational Skills Group, the teacher provides reinforcement of daily foundational skills lessons during either small-group or one-on-one time. For students who need reinforcement with genres or skills, there are Tabletop Mini-Lessons, which provide teachers with guidance on how to address and reteach students who do not perform well on assessments. 

Data reports are available after students take Weekly and Module Assessments, which provide teachers with data to analyze gaps and gains, to form groups for differentiated instruction, and to locate resources to target students’ needs. The program recommends that teachers use the data reports to determine if students have met the learning objectives for the week or module, look for patterns in students’ errors to choose concepts and skills for reteaching, and decide if students are ready to advance to the next week or module of instruction. 

In addition, for the Weekly Assessments, there is information on how to interpret the data. Teachers use the scores and additional classroom information to determine whether students are ready to advance to the next module or may require reteaching of some concepts and skills. It is suggested that for struggling students, the teacher duplicates the answer key, circles the question numbers answered incorrectly for each assessment, and compare the corresponding skills indicated. The teacher can then look for patterns among errors to determine which skills need more reteaching and more practice.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials should include routines and guidance that point out opportunities to monitor student progress.

The Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook outlines how teachers can use assessment tools to gather data and gain a more complete picture of students’ growth and instructional needs. There are opportunities to monitor progress via Formative Weekly and Module Assessments, Screeners, Progress Monitoring, and Oral Reading Fluency Assessments. Routines and guidance to help monitor progress include Portfolios, Reading Surveys, and Observation Notes. 

In the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, there is a map that shows the suggested timeline to plan instruction and administer assessments throughout the year. This plan includes times to administer the Intervention Assessments, the Guided Reading Benchmark Assessment Kit, Weekly Assessments, Module Assessments, and Daily Formative Assessments.  The program suggests that Daily Formative Assessments are used along with selection quizzes to provide data for small group instruction. The Intervention Assessments are used at the beginning of the year. The follow-up Diagnostic Assessments are used for select students, and Progress Monitoring Assessments are used every two weeks as needed. The Guided Reading Benchmark Assessment Kit is used on an ongoing basis to assess students' reading skills. 

Portfolios are set up at the beginning of the year for each student and contain:

• Formal and Informal Assessments, including the Weekly and Module Assessments, Screening and Diagnostic Assessments, Observation Notes, and Project Rubrics
• Work samples that include work from myBook, completed graphic organizers, writing samples, and photos of Inquiry and Research Projects
• Reading Surveys to show reading interests, attitudes, and preferences
• Observation Notes taken during conferences, guided reading groups, small-group instruction, and independent reading and writing

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that 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.

The Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook has a section called Assessment and Differentiation and within differentiation. There is a section about meeting the needs of special populations that outlines different populations of students and provides the teacher with several instructional focus strategies that can be used to support students with particular needs. 

There are ways built into the program to meet the needs of all students, including guided reading groups, reading skill and strategy groups for students who have not yet mastered the whole-group objective, and foundational skills support to teach prerequisite foundational skills or reinforce daily foundational skills lessons. The materials also provide Tabletop Mini-lessons for students who need additional support with skills taught in the whole group. These lessons involve student-face anchor charts on stand-up charts with the teacher support on the back. It is differentiated skills instruction that can be used with any text. 

In the Meeting the Needs of Special Populations section of the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, there are strategies for various types of learners. Some of these include:

• If the challenge is concept knowledge and oral language, some supports include building background knowledge, teaching academic vocabulary directly, and providing scaffolds. 
• If the challenge is Dyslexia or word-reading skills, some supports include daily instruction in phonemic awareness, building automaticity of high-frequency words, and daily reading of connected texts.
• If the challenge is visual, hearing, physical, or cognitive disabilities, some supports include options for expressing understanding and ideas, provide ways for digital content to be accessible to students, and allow variations in the pace of the lesson. The materials have a section, called Using Digital Features for Accessibility, with information on how to access digital features to assist teachers and work with students who would benefit from digital materials.
• If the challenge is engagement in learning, some supports include exploring topics and texts that are suited to students’ skills and interests, providing clear and specific feedback, and promoting choice to build automaticity.

There is also a section called Supporting English Learners, which helps build teacher understanding of students’ first language and the stages of second language acquisition that can help teachers determine appropriate levels of scaffolding and targeted language support.  There is also a section, called Meeting the Needs of Accelerated Learners, that provides support for students who are exceeding grade-level expectations.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that 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.

The Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook provides information on the stages of language acquisition, ways to support English Language Learners within the materials, and evidence-based strategies and practices to support students whose first language is other than English. Specific examples of this includes:

• There is an overview of the stages of acquiring the English Language. These stages are pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency.
• The materials have Tabletop Mini-lessons that introduce, review, and practice a particular language function. These lessons can be used with any text in the program and are designed to support English Language Learners.
• Evidence-based strategies are provided that can be used in any lesson. Some of the evidence-based strategies including building knowledge by showing videos on module topics, making learning visual by having images on vocabulary cards and anchor charts, and providing sentence frames for both verbal and written responses. 
• In the Teacher’s Edition for each lesson, there are English Learner Supports provided. Supports are broken down into the following categories: light support, such as having students use instructional vocabulary to point out and discuss facts and opinions in the text; moderate support, such as having students identify facts and opinions in the text; substantial support, such as the teacher pointing out facts and opinions in the text and having students say fact or opinion.
• A Language Difference Resource Chart is included to help teachers understand the differences between students’ first language and English. This is an online resource and includes languages such as Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean.

The Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook provides additional support for all students to help them access grade-level texts, which benefits students who are learning English as well. Information is provided on ways to use data to form small groups in foundational skills, strategic interventions, small group instruction, small group weekly instruction, and other customized groups.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials regularly include extensions and/or more advanced opportunities for students who read, write, speak, or listen above grade level.

The materials provide extensions or more advanced opportunities for students who perform above grade level. In the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, there is a section titled Meeting Accelerated Learners, which provides teachers with information and strategies to support accelerated learners. The section provides teachers with information and a description of an accelerated learner, parts of the materials that support accelerated learners, and strategies for supporting accelerated learners in the classroom and throughout the lessons. Lessons also provide extension work for students who are accelerated or finish early. The program defines accelerated learners as students whose skills are above grade level and are ready for more accelerated learning experiences, such as more challenging books, more writing opportunities, or leadership roles. Some specifics from the program include:

• Throughout the program, there are sections labeled Ready for More, which are daily opportunities in small group lessons to extend a skill or strategy.
• Guided Reading Groups and Rigby Leveled Readers provide texts that are above grade-level.
• The Tabletop Mini-lessons provide support as students apply comprehension skills to higher-level texts that they read independently.

Strategies are provided for teachers to consider while planning individual lessons and the culture of the classroom. These include:

• Provide classroom libraries that represent a range of text levels.
• Provide more challenging versions of the activities instead of requiring students to just do more work.
• Use flexible groups and change groups frequently because students may be above level for one skill, but not for another skill.
• Provide opportunities for students to make their own decisions. Accelerated students should take on leadership roles and assist classmates when appropriate.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria that materials provide opportunities for teachers to use a variety of grouping strategies.

The materials provide suggestions and descriptions for a variety of grouping strategies throughout the program. The Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook gives an overview of how these group strategies work, and the Teacher’s Edition uses labels throughout the program to show teachers when the grouping strategy should be used during the lessons. Strategies for groups include small groups, targeted skill groups, and whole class. Groups can be composed for Guided Reading, English Language Support, Skills and Strategies, or Foundational Skills. Teachers use data to form these groups and to change groups throughout the year. 

In the Guiding Principles and Strategies Handbook, there is an overview of recommendations for groupings and various strategies to use to form these groups in a section called Forming Flexible Groups. This section helps teachers maximize small group time by using data to thoughtfully form groups that will optimize student growth. Flexible groups are formed to teach skills that a cohort of students need to learn or review. In addition, Strategic Interventions for Tier 2 and Tier 3 can be implemented using data from multiple measures. More information on these groups include:

• Guided Reading Groups are formed based on the Guiding Reading Benchmark Assessment Kit, Oral Reading Records, and Leveled Reader Quizzes. The program includes the Rigby Leveled Readers, Take and Teach Lessons, and Tabletop Mini-lessons for reading to teach these groups.
• English Language Support Groups are formed based on the state English Language Development Assessments. The materials includes Tabletop Mini-lessons for English Language Development, English Language Support lessons, and language graphic organizers.
• Skills and Strategies Groups are formed based on Daily Formative Assessments and Weekly Assessments. The materials include Tabletop Mini-lessons, reinforcement skills and strategies lessons, and reading graphic organizers.
• Foundational skills groups are formed by Informal Assessments. Foundational skills lessons and foundational skills. Word Study Studio is available for these lessons.

In addition to these groups, teachers are also instructed during whole-group lessons to have students participate in Collaborative Discussions, Turn-and-Talks, Think-Pair-Shares, and Partner Reads. In addition, there are opportunities for students to Echo Read and Choral Read.