5th Grade - Gateway 1
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Focus & Coherence
Gateway 1 - Meets Expectations | 85% |
|---|---|
Criterion 1.1: Focus | 2 / 2 |
Criterion 1.2: Coherence | 4 / 4 |
Criterion 1.3: Coherence | 6 / 8 |
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet the expectations for focus on major work and coherence. The instructional materials meet the expectations for focus through their assessments and design concerning class time spent on major work. The instructional materials partially meet the expectations for coherence, and they show strengths in having an amount of content that is viable for one school year and fostering coherence through connections within the grade.
Criterion 1.1: Focus
The instructional materials reviewed meet the expectation for not assessing topics before the grade-level in which the topic should be introduced. Overall, there are no assessment items that align to topics beyond Grade 5.
Indicator 1a
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet the expectations for focus within assessment. There are no above grade-level assessment questions, and the assessments include material that is appropriate for Grade 5. Probability, statistical distributions, similarity, transformations and congruence do not appear in the assessments.
In the teacher’s edition, assessments for each unit are listed including portfolio opportunities recommending which student work would be appropriate. Assessments are found in the Assessment Sourcebook.
Examples of quality assessments include:
- Unit 6 Session 2.9 Resource Master A50: This assessment is used to assess addition and subtraction of decimals. The students are asked to solve and show how they solved problems. “In Darston it rained 2.26 inches on Monday and 0.33 inch on Tuesday. How much more did it rain on Monday than on Tuesday?”
- Unit 7 Session 1.11, Resource Master A56: This assessment is used to assess dividing of fractions. The students are asked to solve each story problem, show a representation, and write an equation. “Six students equally shared ½ of a pan of brownies. What fraction of the whole pan of brownies did each student eat?”
Criterion 1.2: Coherence
Students and teachers using the materials as designed devote the large majority of class time in each grade K-8 to the major work of the grade.
The instructional materials reviewed meet the expectation for students and teachers devoting the large majority of class time to the major work of the grade when the materials are used as designed. Overall, the materials spend at least 65% of class time on the major work of Grade 5.
Indicator 1b
Instructional material spends the majority of class time on the major cluster of each grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet the expectations for spending the majority of class time on the major clusters of the grade. Overall, approximately 75 percent of class time is spent on major work of the grade.
The instructional materials are separated into eight units. Each unit is composed of two or three Investigations, and each Investigation is divided into sessions. The Implementing Investigations guide states in Part 4 (Classroom Routines) within the Overview that each session includes a Classroom Routine activity that is “introduced as a session activity and are then used outside of math time (e.g., during morning meeting, just before or after lunch or recess, or at the beginning or end of the day) or integrated into the math lesson as the first 10 minutes of a 70-minute math block.” The Ten-Minute Math activity provides practice with current skills or review of previously learned skills. Each session requires sixty minutes. Three perspectives were used when calculating major work of the grade: number of investigations, number of minutes (including Ten-Minute Math), and number of sessions (excluding Ten-Minute Math).
- Approximately 17 of the 23 investigations focus on major work of the grade. This represents approximately 74 percent of the investigations.
- If the Ten-Minute Math activity times are added into the session minutes, approximately 7780 of the minutes focus on major work of the grade. This represents approximately 74 percent of the minutes.
- Approximately 113 of 134 sessions focus on or support the major work of the grade. This represents approximately 84 percent of the sessions.
The third perspective, number of sessions, is the most reflective of the instructional materials because it is based on the sessions which includes the instructional activities, review, and practice but does not include the Ten-Minute Math activity that is done outside of math time. As a result, approximately 75 percent of the materials focus on major work of the grade.
Criterion 1.3: Coherence
Coherence: Each grade's instructional materials are coherent and consistent with the Standards.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the expectations for being coherent and consistent with the Standards. The instructional materials show strength in having an amount of content that is viable for one school year, but due to not always identifying work that is off grade-level, the materials are not always consistent with the progressions in the Standards. The materials do foster coherence through connections within the grade, but few of those connections are between major work of the grade and supporting work.
Indicator 1c
Supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet expectations that supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Supporting standards are not always used to support major work of the grade and often appear in lessons with few connections to the major work of the grade.
Although some attempts to connect supporting work to major work are made, students can often complete problems aligned to supporting work without engaging in the major work of the grade.
- In Unit 3 Session 3.6 students represent and interpret data on a line plot by comparing to find the largest and smallest mixed number (5.MD.2), but they do not use the data to perform any mathematical operations.
- In Unit 8, Sessions 1.1 through 1.5, students sort shapes by their attributes, categorize triangles and quadrilaterals, and identify triangles and quadrilaterals that can fit into more than one category (5.G.B).
Occasionally supporting standards are used to support the major work of the grade.
- In Unit 3 Session 3.4 two word problems ask students to perform mathematical operations to combine fractions (5.NF.A) found in data on a line plot (5.MD.2).
Indicator 1d
The amount of content designated for one grade level is viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet the expectations for the amount of content being viable for one school year.
- The instructional materials are divided into 8 units that have a total of 134 sessions.
- Each session is designed to be completed in 60 minutes. Each session is accompanied by a Ten-Minute Math activity that is designed to be completed in 10 minutes outside of math time.
- Each unit consists of 2-3 Investigations. Each investigation ranges from 4-11 class sessions
- Each unit takes between 2.5 to 5.5 weeks to complete according to the “Grade 5 Curriculum Units and Pacing Chart” on page 9 of the Implementing Investigations in Grade 5 guide. Each unit includes an additional 2.5 days beyond the days required to finish the sessions. These days could be used to complete the Intervention, Practice, and/or Extension activities that are included at the end of each investigation.
- These instructional materials include approximately 158 days.
Indicator 1e
Materials are consistent with the progressions in the Standards i. Materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. If there is content from prior or future grades, that content is clearly identified and related to grade-level work ii. Materials give all students extensive work with grade-level problems iii. Materials relate grade level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades.
The materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the expectations for being consistent with the progressions in the Standards. In general, the materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards, but content from future grades is not clearly identified. The materials provide extensive work with grade-level problems for most standards, but the materials do not relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades.
The materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards, but content from future grades is not clearly identified. An example of unclear identification includes:
- Unit 5 Session 1.7 introduces students to a fictitious animal called a Fastwalker whose annual rate of growth is not linear. This content more closely aligns to 8.F.3, but it is not clearly identified as content from a future grade.
The materials give all students extensive work with grade-level problems.
- The materials have different types of practice for students during each lesson. There are Teaching Resources in the Resource Masters and Activities in the Student Activity Book which are both aids during lessons. There are Daily Practice and Homework pages in the Student Activity Book which are indicated to be session follow-ups that review and practice grade-level content.
- Recommendations for differentiation allow students to primarily work with grade-level tasks.
- The materials give students extensive work with most domains. However, 5.NF.B is addressed mainly in Unit 7. The materials do not provide any spiraling or application in other units for 5.MD.C to tie these standards to other math in the grade level.
The materials do not consistently relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades. The scope and sequence found in the Implementing Investigations book gives some limited information relating to knowledge from earlier and future grades by listing major topics and which units in prior and future grades address those topics. Each unit has a “Connections: Looking Back” section at the beginning of the unit. Several units specifically refer to work from prior grades without providing explicit connections to specific standards.
- Unit 1 says the unit builds on the work done in Grades 3 and 4 “as students developed an understanding of the operations of multiplication and division and the relationship between the two operations.”
- Unit 2 describes how students, in earlier grades, identified two and three dimensional shapes and worked with measurement which prepared them for measuring and finding area in Grade 5.
- Unit 3 builds on the work students have done in Grades 3 and 4, as they worked with fractions including representing fractions on number lines and adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators.
- Unit 5 refers back to work done in Grades 3 and 4 where students investigated mathematical situations and patterns governed by rules.
- Unit 6 refers to work done in Grade 3 and 4 as well as earlier in Grade 5 to build understandings of fractions and mixed numbers including equivalences.
- Unit 7 builds on the work done in Grade 4 when students multiplied a fraction by a whole number.
- Unit 8 builds on Grades 3 and 4 work with polygons including triangles and quadrilaterals and with work in measurement including finding perimeter and area.
Indicator 1f
Materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards i. Materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings. ii. Materials include problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain, or two or more domains in a grade, in cases where these connections are natural and important.
The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards.
The materials begin each investigation with a planner that lists objectives for each session, and in the session materials, Math Focus points are listed at the beginning of each session. The instructional materials include objectives and Math Focus points that are visibly shaped by the CCSSM cluster headings for Grade 5.
- In Unit 1 Session 3.6 students compare division problems that involve multiples of 10 and work on strategies for solving division problems (5.NBT.B).
- In Unit 3 Session 2.3 students solve problems involving addition of fractions using clock and rectangle representations (5.NF.A).
- In Unit 3 Session 3.4 students represent a set of measurement data that includes fractions on a line plot and use that data to solve problems (5.MD.B).
The instructional materials include problems and activities that connect two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains.
- In Unit 5, Sessions 1.3 through 1.7 have students creating tables of data from given rules, 5.OA.B, and this is connected to 5.G.A as students graph the tables of data on coordinate planes and use the graphs to solve real-world problems.
- In Unit 6, Sessions 2.5 through 2.8 connect 5.NBT.A with 5.NBT.B as students use their understanding of the place value system to add and subtract decimals to hundredths.