3rd Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the expectations of indicator 1a. Many of the literary texts are published texts which provide opportunities for students to engage in especially careful reading, are on topics of interest to Grade 3 students, and include rich, captivating language. Most of the informational texts were written for the series and are not works published outside the program, and many of these are brief and lack content-area vocabulary and well-crafted language.

The anchor texts for Grade 3 include texts created by award-winning authors and illustrators, such as Patricia MacLachlan, Peter Reynolds, Susan E. Goodman, and Kathleen Kudlinski and cover topics of interest to Grade 3 students in a variety of genres, including historical fiction, narrative nonfiction, biographies, and science fiction. Some examples of quality texts include but are not limited to:

• Unit 1, Lesson 1, A Fine, Fine School by Sharon Creech - This is a text that is easily relatable for Grade 3 students since the setting is a school. During this humorous fiction narrative, the principal learns that some important lessons are learned and taught outside the school. The author uses creative word repetition and the illustrations contain fascinating details.
• Unit 2, Lesson 5, Bat Loves the Night by Nicola Davies - This text is a narrative nonfiction account from an award-winning author and scientific researcher of a mother bat’s nocturnal activities. It includes rich, captivating language such as, “Gliding and fluttering back and forth, she shouts her torch of sounds among the trees.” The text also includes lifelike illustrations, interesting facts about bats at the bottom of each page, related to the vocabulary-laden (e.g., echolocation, nocturnal, batlings) narrative text on the top or middle of each page.
• Unit 3, Lesson 12, Tops & Bottoms, a Newberry Award winning text by Janet Stevens - This text is a trickster tale that tells the story of a cunning rabbit who tricks a bear into doing all of the work of planting a garden while the rabbit reaps the rewards of the harvest. It includes rich, colorful illustrations, and an engaging storyline.
• Unit 4, Lesson 16, Judy Moody Saves the World! by Megan McDonald - In this humorous fiction text it is easy to relate to Judy’s frustration with trying to do something that seems like an insurmountable task. This text contains engaging dialogue between relatable characters who are also Grade 3 students.
• Unit 5, Lesson 21, Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan - This historical fiction text has spectacular adjectives such as “slick,” “wild-eyed,” and “smoothest,” and vivid verbs such as “whooped,” “leaned,” and “clattered.”
• Unit 6, Lesson 26,The Foot Race Across America by Rob Hale - This narrative nonfiction includes engaging elements such as dialogue and photographs from the time period that include photos from the race.

While there are a variety of topics and a range of student interests addressed throughout the year, many texts that have been created for the series are brief and lack engagement for Grade 3 students. Examples include but are not limited to:

• Unit 3, Lesson 14, Kids and Critters is a very short text with large pictures and a fake announcement which overwhelms the pages limiting what students get to read.
• In Unit 5, Lesson 23, Moving the U.S. Mail is a short text with short, simple sentences which do not go into the detail that would interest students nor build their comprehension of the work. For example, “Transportation has improved,”“people rushed west,” and “The mail moved faster than ever.”
• In Unit 6, Lesson 30, Acting Across Generations is a brief text with just six paragraphs, and, while the text is intended to function like a news article, the text lacks a byline. Few academic words are included.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the expectation of supporting students’ increasing literacy skills over the course of the school year. While the anchor texts and paired selections typically fall within the grade band, the scaffolding of each text for reader and task is similar and comparable for each text regardless of complexity and demands of each text. This may not ensure students are supported to access and comprehend complex grade-level texts independently at the end of the year.

As the year progresses, students read texts at a variety of complexity levels. For each text, the routine for reading and analyzing the text is similar and does not change based on text complexity. Examples of the similar and comparable scaffolding for each text regardless of complexity include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, most of the anchor texts have Lexiles ranging from 600-960 with slightly complex qualitative features. Two texts, Destiny’s Gift and Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates, are above the grade level band, but contain reader and task scaffolding similar to texts with less complexity. For example, in Lesson 1, for A Fine, Fine School, which is less complex than Destiny’s Gift, the teacher is directed to motivate students by asking students to read to find out what makes the school a fine, fine school. To help foster independence, the teacher is directed to have motivated readers read the story together. In Lesson 3, for Destiny’s Gift, the scaffolding of reader and task of a more complex text than A Fine, Fine School, directs the teacher to motivate students by asking students to read to find out what Destiny’s gift is. To help foster independence, the teacher is directed to have motivated readers read the story together. The lesson plans include three days of reading A Fine, Fine Day as well as three days to read a more complex text, Destiny’s Gift. On day 1 of both texts, students complete a guided retelling. On day 2 of the reading of the text, students complete a performance task to state their opinion. On day 3 of the reading of the text, students read the text independently and complete two pages in the Reader’s Notebook.
• In Unit 5, Lesson 22, students read the most complex anchor text, The Journey: Stories of Migration, in the materials. The text contains very complex text structure (compare-and-contrast text structure to present science concepts about two migratory animals) and very complex language features with sophisticated descriptions of unfamiliar domain-specific vocabulary. For reader and task considerations, the teacher is directed to use similar scaffolding of less complex texts, such as A Fine, Fine Day in Unit 1, Lesson 1. The plans direct the teacher to motivate students by asking students who enjoy reading about animals to share what they hope to learn from the selection. To foster independence, the teacher is directed to have motivated readers read the text together. Three days of reading are allotted to the reading of The Journey: Stories of Migration, which is the same number of days allotted to reading a less complex text. Students complete a guided retelling. On day 2, students state their opinion as part of the performance task. On day 3, students independently read the text and complete two pages of the Reader’s Notebook.

Although texts in Grade 3 increase in complexity, the scaffolding across texts remains constant and the same level of support is recommended across the units, which may not support students' abilities to access increasingly rigorous text over the course of the school year.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the expectations for text dependent questions, tasks, and assignments requiring students to engage directly with the text and to draw on textual evidence to support what is explicit as well as valid inferences. Though there are text dependent questions to accompany each anchor and supporting text, students are seldom asked to draw their own conclusions or inferences. Inferences are often given with students having to find evidence to support the already stated inference. The text dependent questions provided are not adequate to support students mastering of this skill.

Students are asked text-dependent questions throughout the daily lessons. These questions are included in the Teacher Read Aloud, Read the Anchor Text, Guided Retelling, Dig Deeper second read of the anchor text, Your Turn discussion, Independent Reading Reader’s Guide, Connect to the Topic, Compare Texts, and Small Group Instruction. Answering text-dependent questions is modeled throughout instruction.

Examples of text-dependent questions found throughout the units include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson 2 students are asked, “What conclusion can you draw about Sequoyah's beliefs about written language? A written language is very important because it allows people to send messages over long distances, to keep records of trades, and to pass down their history and culture.”
• In Unit 2, Lesson 9 students are asked, “How does Baachan feel about Jiichan going on his rounds? She is worried that it might be too much for him, but she realizes it is important to him. How do you know this? Baachan shows she is reluctant when she says, “I don’t know” and “I suppose.” But then she offers to make candies for his rounds.”

Examples of text-dependent questions found that illustrate how inferences are often given with students having to find evidence to support the already stated inference include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 3, Lesson 15 students are asked, “Which sentence from the story shows that, at first, Ramona doesn’t care if dinner turns out badly? “It would serve them right if it tasted awful.” Why does Beezus decide that she and her sister should try to cook a good meal? She realizes that they will have to eat whatever they cook.”
• In Unit 4, Lesson 20 students discuss the sun, “Think about why the sun is important to the scientists in Life on the Ice and to the people in The Raven. In a small group, use text evidence to discuss and explain your ideas. Listen carefully to each other. Ask questions if you are not sure about something.”
• In Unit 5, Lesson 21 students are asked, “How does the illustration on page 219 help you to understand the mood at the dinner table? Everyone is smiling and enjoying being together, even Sal. Papa is taking another helping of Sarah’s stew. Everyone looks interested as Sarah talks.”
• In Unit 6, Lesson 29 students are asked, “What details support the idea that a spelling bee champion must be hardworking and able to handle pressure? A spelling bee champion has to win several smaller spelling bees before getting to the national spelling bee. He or she has to practice each day and learn how to spell words most adults don’t even know in front of large groups of people.”

Examples of text-dependent tasks and assignments found throughout the units include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 2, Lesson 10 students reread Young Thomas Edison independently and complete the Reader’s Notebook task exploring Thomas Edison’s early life by looking at objects as a tour guide for a museum. Students explain why each of the items has been placed in the museum using information from the text.
• In Unit 4, Lesson 18 students are asked to have a classroom conversation. “Have students continue the discussion of A Tree Is Growing by explaining their answer to the three questions. Remind students to explicitly draw from the text, as well as the text and graphic features, when explaining their own ideas about the first two questions. See Interactive Lesson:Speaking Constructively.” The three questions are: Why is it difficult to tell the age of a tree in the tropical rain forest? Why do some trees look dead in the winter? What is really happening to these trees? What kinds of trees grow where you live? What do you know about those trees?
• In Unit 5, Lesson 22 students reread The Journey:Stories of Migration independently and complete the Reader’s Notebook task of conducting an interview with Locust and Whale answering questions such as: What makes you migrate? What do you do on your migration that is similar to what locusts do? When spring comes, why do you migrate again?

There are also “Text to Self” and “Text to World” questions that are not always text-dependent but relate to the theme or topic of the text being read. An example is found in Unit 3, lesson 15 after reading the text Imagine a Recipe, students are asked to perform a short skit that shows what happened when they made something in the kitchen. Students are also asked to use the internet to find a recipe for a food from another country. Students are to copy the ingredients and directions, print out a picture, and put the recipe in a class cookbook.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria for providing frequent opportunities and protocols for evidence-based discussions that encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax. Opportunities for discussion are provided but are often not evidence-based and do not encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax. There is not a year-long approach available to developing skills over the course of they year. There is minimal teacher direction given to support teachers in conducting evidence-based discussions that model the use of academic vocabulary and syntax.

There are both evidence-based and non evidence-based discussions and modeling throughout materials. The anchor text and supporting texts provide text-based questions and sample answers for discussion, but do not give protocol or direction for conducting the discussions. Academic vocabulary is introduced at the beginning of each lesson through Vocabulary in Context Cards. Students participate in Talk About Over activities with the cards. These words are highlighted in the lessons texts and are also revisited in the Vocabulary Reader.

Examples of evidence-based discussions and modeling include but are not limited to:

Unit 1, Lesson 2, Teacher Think Aloud

• The teacher models discussion by stating, “From the beginning, Ms. Brown thought Cardigan stole her pie even though other people were there when it disappeared. I can infer that she is quick to judge people she doesn't know.”

Unit 3, Lesson 12, Collaborative Conversation

• Students are directed to, “Continue your discussion of Tops and Bottoms by using text evidence to explain your answers to these questions: What type of character is Bear? What type of character is Hare? How does the author let you know that Hare intends to trick Bear? Do you think Bear deserves to be tricked? Why or why not?”

Unit 5, Lesson 25, Teacher Think Aloud

• The teacher models discussion by stating, “Informational texts give facts about a topic. I see a photograph of a mountain on pages 346 and 347, and there are headings throughout the text. The headings tell me what each section is about. I think this selection is an informational text.”

Unit 6, Lesson 26, Compare Texts, Text to Text

• Students are directed to, “Have students use details from the texts in this lesson to support their responses to the following questions: What problems do The Foot Race Across America and Paca and the Beetle explore? In what way do Andy, Beetle, and the speaker of “Fast Track” have the same goal?”

Examples of discussions and modeling that are not evidence-based and do not encourage the modeling and use of academic vocabulary and syntax are:

Unit 1, Lesson 2, Talk About It

• Teachers are directed to, “Read the collaborative discussion prompt with students. Remind students to follow discussion rules as they share their knowledge of courtroom trials. Students are asked to discuss, “What do you know about courtroom trials? What would you like to know? Share your ideas with your classmates. What did you learn from others? Listen carefully, ask questions, and take turns speaking.”

Unit 2, Lesson 8, Day 5 Speaking and Listening lesson

• Students practice telling a story. Students are directed to work individually to write a story using descriptive words and phrases to add effect to their story. Students then organize in small groups where students take turns to tell their stories and ask each other questions.

Unit 3, Lesson 11, Talk about It

• Teachers are directed to, “Read the collaborative discussion prompt with students. Remind students to follow discussion rules as they use their drawings to describe sports equipment to a partner. Students are asked to discuss, “Think about a sport you play or watch. What types of equipment do the players use? Sketch your ideas. Include a caption explaining the equipment’s purpose. Share your ideas with your classmates.”

Unit 5, Lesson 23, Day 5 Speaking and Listening lesson

• Students discuss how to recount an experience and review speaking and listening tips such as “Choose interesting facts and descriptive details to accurately recount your experience. Use words, such as first, next, last, after, and before to help listeners understand the order of events. Speak clearly and at an understandable pace. Be prepared to answer questions about your experience.” Students then share an interesting experience they have had and answer questions about this experience.

Interactive Listening and Speaking Lessons for discussion are also provided. These lessons are not evidence-based and do not connect to texts. Sentence starters are provided for English Language Learners.

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet expectations for supporting students’ listening and speaking about what they are reading and researching (including presentation opportunities) with relevant follow-up questions and evidence.

Protocols and routines for speaking and listening are presented in the Interactive Lessons. These lessons include rules for a good discussion, speaking constructively, listening and responding, giving a presentation, and using media in a presentation. These protocols are not located in the Student Edition.

Students practice listening comprehension during the weekly read aloud. Students are asked follow-up questions during the read aloud. Students read and respond to questions during the reading of the anchor texts and supporting text in whole class discussion and partner talk.

Each lesson includes teacher think alouds and a Speaking and Listening lesson on Day 5. The Speaking and Listening lessons do not always connect to the text or texts being read, do not always support what students are reading and researching, and do not always include relevant follow-up questions. There is limited instruction to support students mastering these presentation skills. For example:

• In Unit 3, Lesson 11, day 5 students are asked to discuss information presented quantitatively. Students are directed to break into small groups to conduct a short research project. The direction given states, “Ask each group to consider what they would like to know about a sport. Then have them choose a topic related to sports that they would like to research. Explain to students that the topic should be one for which they can find information through charts or graphs.”
• In Unit 5, Lesson 22, day 5 students select a poem or story that they have read to create an audio recording. Students are to page through selections in their student book or choose from the class library. Students then practice, create an audio recording, and share with the class.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the expectation of materials including a mix of on-demand and process writing and short, focused projects incorporating digital resources where necessary.

Students write on demand after each anchor text during the Write to Reading. This provides a limited amount of practice with on-demand writing prompts.. These prompts are short text-based writing prompts with little direction for the students and/or teacher.

• In Unit 4, Lesson 17, students are asked to respond to the prompt, “Phillip Currie found Barnum Brown’s bone bed after the rest of the team had gone back to camp. What do you think might have happened if Philip had returned with the rest of his team? Would he have found the bone bed? Use text evidence to support your answer.” There is a Writing Tip box for students: “As you write, check that you use the correct verb tense to tell about action that happened in the past.” There is an additional support box on one page of the teacher’s edition for teachers to use during instruction to help students answer the prompt and an Interactive Lesson link is provided.

Students focus on one mode of writing across each unit. These modes include narratives, informational essays, and opinions. After each lesson, there is a writing lesson which includes a model writing. During the last two weeks of a unit, students follow the steps of the writing process through publishing. There is a limited amount of practice with the writing mode when students are working through the lessons. In the first lessons, students do not write, but rather read about writing and look at model writings. The first time students are writing independently is during the end of unit performance task. This provides limited practice of process writing.

• In Unit 2: Look and Listen, the mode of writing taught is an opinion essay. In lessons 6-9, students are reading examples of a response paragraph, an opinion piece, a multiple paragraph response, and then a prewrite for a response to literature. After the final lesson of the unit, lesson 10, the students go through the entire writing process for the opinion essay unit performance task.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the expectations of materials providing frequent opportunities for evidence-based writing to support careful analyses, well-defended claims, and clear information. Most tasks are independent of the main selection texts, and they do not build over the course of the year. Performance Task writings can often be answered without the use of the texts or cannot be answered with the information provided by the texts. There are some opportunities that engage students in practicing argument/opinion, informative/explanatory, and narrative writing; however, the writing tasks do not increase in rigor over the course of the year.

Examples of writing that does not require students to use evidence from the text include but are not limited to:

• In Unit 1, Lesson 2, “Prompt: Write a dialogue in which two characters make a plan for an empty lot in their community” (Projectable 2.7).
• In Unit 6, Lesson 28, “Prompt: Write a paragraph explaining how to do an activity you enjoy” (Projectable 28.6).

Additional instructional supports are needed for teachers to guide students’ understanding of developing ideas, building components of structured writing, and integrating evidence from texts and other sources. Students are asked to use text evidence, but there is little guidance to the teacher on how to teach students to use text evidence. Most questions are preceded by or followed by the prompt “Cite Text Evidence,” however, students are not instructed on how to find or cite evidence from the text. Students are provided with a writing tip that is sometimes related to the text evidence and other times, the tip is related to grammar or other writing aspects.

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the expectation that materials, questions, and tasks address grade-level CCSS for foundational skills to build comprehension by providing instruction in phonics, word recognition, vocabulary, and reading fluency in a research-based and transparent progression.

Materials provide review lessons of Grade 2 and Grade 1 phonics standards in Units 1, 2, and 3. If a teacher is unable get to Units 4, 5, and 6, Grade 3 students miss out on consistent grade-level standards for phonics and word recognition standards. For example, in Unit 1, for 5 weeks, phonics lessons include studying words with the following patterns: VCCV, VCe, diphthongs, long o, and long i. These patterns correspond to the spelling of each week. In Unit 2, phonics lessons including studying words with VCV, three-letter clusters, silent letters, and vowel diphthongs. These patterns correspond to the spelling of each week. In Unit 3, the materials contain phonics lessons based on Grade 2 language standards for contractions.

Common prefixes, a Grade 3 Foundational Skills standard, are taught starting in Unit 1, Week 5, during vocabulary instruction. The first prefix taught is mis-. The next common prefixes taught are in Unit 3, Lesson 14 with in- and im-. In Unit 4, Lesson 19 during vocabulary instruction, students learn three prefixes in one week (pre-, re-, and bi-). In Unit 5, Lesson 21, students learn non- during vocabulary instruction. In Unit 5, Lesson 24, students learn re- and un- in the spelling instruction and relearn pre-, re-, and bi- during phonics instruction. In Unit 6, Lesson 29, students learn un- and dis- during vocabulary instruction. A sequence of instruction for teaching prefixes is not consistent and coherent.

Latin suffixes, a Grade 3 standard, are taught starting in Unit 2, Week 6 in vocabulary instruction. Students learn -able and -ible. In Unit 3, Lesson 11, during vocabulary instruction, students are taught three suffixes in one week: -less, -ful, and -ous. In Unit 4, Lesson 17, during vocabulary instruction, students are taught -ly. In Unit 5, Lesson 23, students learn -er and -est and during phonics instruction, students are taught -ful, -y, -ous, -ly, and -er. The spelling during that lesson is focused on -ful, -ly, and -er. In Unit 5, Lesson 25, students are taught -less, -ness, and -able, and the spelling focuses on -less and -ness. In Unit 6, Lesson 26, students are taught -ion during vocabulary instruction, and, during phonics instruction, students are taught -tion, -sion, and -ture as part of syllable instruction. A sequence of instruction for teaching suffixes is not consistent and coherent.

Instruction for decoding multisyllable words begins in Unit 1, Lesson 1 and continues through Unit 3 with below grade level phonics. Other phonics lessons include teaching how to decode syllables such as in Unit 1, Lesson 5, Day 1: “I’ll look at the first syllable. I think the igh will have a long i sound: /f/ /i/ /t/, fight. I’ll look at the second syllable. I decode the syllable: /ar/, er. I put the two syllables together: fighter” (p. T390). Students then practice blending the sounds rather than putting two syllables together. During Daily Phonics, there are some opportunities for students to identify syllables such as in Unit 1, Lesson 2: “Say the following words and have students clap the number of syllables: envelope, valentine, homework, dynamite, and snowflake” (p. T137). Unit 4 emphasizes syllables in the phonics lessons about VCCCV word patterns. In Unit 5, the materials include suffix syllable learning opportunities such as learning how the suffix -ly adds another syllable. In Unit 6, there is an emphasis on common final syllables (-tion, -sion, and -ture) and two syllable decoding (Lesson 28 and Lesson 29).

The materials contain opportunities for students to practice reading aloud grade-level text fluently with accuracy, stress, appropriate pace/rate, expression/intonation, attention to punctuation and appropriate phrasing. Fluency is emphasized daily.

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the expectation that materials, questions, and tasks guide students to read with purpose and understanding and help them to make frequent connections between acquisition of foundational skills and making meaning from reading.

The instructional materials contain directions to the teacher to set the purpose for the reading of each anchor text. For example, in Unit 4, Lesson 19, the teacher sets the purpose: “Tell the students that good readers use what they learn from previewing the selection, what they already know about the genre, and what they want to learn from reading the selection to set a purpose for reading” (p. T305). Then students are to set their own purpose for reading the text. There is a missed opportunity for students to set their own purpose for reading the anchor text without hearing the teacher model setting the purpose.

During vocabulary instruction of each lesson, there is a lesson called Vocabulary in Context, which provides students the opportunity to learn eight vocabulary words in context prior to reading the anchor text.

• On Day 1, anchor text vocabulary is introduced with the use of Context Cards.The cards contain images of the word and a sentence with the word in it. The teacher provides the definition of each vocabulary word. Students are asked to use the Talk It Over activities on those cards.
• During the reading of the anchor text, there may be text-dependent questions referring to the vocabulary that was learned in the Vocabulary in Context lesson. For example, in Unit 1, Lesson 4, students are asked about one vocabulary word in the context of the anchor text: “Why would the opening of the bridge cause such excitement?” (p. T308).
• Day 2 contains Daily Vocabulary Boost, which has students review the anchor text vocabulary words with the Context Cards and students participate in the Talk It Over activity.
• On Day 3, the teacher reviews the anchor text vocabulary (and some newly added vocabulary words) and then students connect the vocabulary words and their use. Also,during the Daily Vocabulary Boost students are to answer some questions to help them connect vocabulary words from the anchor text.
• On Day 4, students practice anchor text vocabulary by discussing the vocabulary words based on questions. Also on Day 4, students learn a vocabulary strategy to help students understand some of the weekly vocabulary terms. For example, in Unit 1, Lesson 4, students are taught about Word Families and adding prefixes or suffixes to the anchor text vocabulary. The student practice is for students to create a list of words with affixes and endings from the anchor text and then apply the vocabulary strategy to figure out the meaning of the words.
• On Day 5, the Opening Routines, students practice a vocabulary strategy. During Daily Vocabulary Boost, students practice reviewing the anchor text vocabulary meanings. Also on Day 5, students are taught domain-specific vocabulary.

While students practice word analysis skills with the anchor text vocabulary and the Day 4 Vocabulary Strategy lesson, opportunities to practice other word analysis skills in text are limited to specific tasks that do not connect with the anchor text or paired text. For example, in Unit 2, Lesson 8, students are taught the phonics pattern kn- and wr-. During Day 1, students practice reading words with the spelling patterns and write a dictated sentence. In Apply, students pick two words to write into a sentence and then students practice writing kn- and wr- words in a cloze activity. On Day 2, the phonics patterns are practiced in the Opening Routines. In Day 3, students practice the patterns with a cloze activity. On Day 4, students use their independent reading text to find words that begin with the pattern. Most practice opportunities to read text that uses the phonics pattern is limited to cloze sentence activities and searching for the pattern in texts.