The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria for anchor texts being of publishable quality and worthy of especially careful reading and consider a range of student interests.

The read-aloud modeled reading texts are of publishable quality and worthy of careful reading; however, the other texts, including those found in shared reading and interactive reading are not all of publishable quality. Many of the well-known anchor texts are included only as modeled reading in the Teacher Edition. There is very limited representation of well-known authors or widely-accepted works of children's literature except for the modeled reading at the start of each theme. Expository texts provide interesting information or engaging illustrations around the theme, but the highest quality texts are those in the modeled readings

Below are examples of publishable, high quality texts. These texts are worthy of students' time and attention, and worthy of multiple readings. The texts listed below are engaging, contain strong content and academic vocabulary, and are thought-provoking. Examples include:

• A Symphony of Whales by Steve Schuch
• Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
• On This Spot by Susan E. Goodman
• Yellowstone National Park: Land of Wonders by Marjorie Murray
• Chickens May Not Cross the Road and Other Crazy (but true) Laws by Kathi Linz
• “A Big Town with a Small Idea” by John Andrews
• “A Light in Our Tent” by Tonya Leslie
• Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco
• Why the Opossum’s Tail is Bare a Cherokee Tale retold by P. Okeyson
• Female Firsts by Michelle Sale
• “History’s Witness” by Molly Smith
• Space Trash by Peter Ernst

Below are examples of texts that are not considered publishable, high-quality texts. The majority of these texts are simple, with explicit language and themes, and a predictable storyline. Because of these features, the texts are not appropriate for rereading.

• The Great Butterfly Flutterby by Margaret Fetty
• Danger Lurks in the Sinkhole by Mike Graf
• Scrappy Steve by Margaret Fetty
• A Big Town with a Small Idea by John Andrews

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria for texts having the appropriate level of complexity for the grade according to quantitative analysis, qualitative analysis, and relationship to their associated student task.

While some texts are in the appropriate grade level Lexile band for text complexity, the qualitative features of the majority of the texts are either slightly complex or moderately complex. The texts are read aloud. The associated student tasks do not bring texts to an appropriate complexity level.

One of the first literary texts students hear is The Great Butterfly Flutterby, which has a Lexile measure of 550. All of the qualitative features are only slightly complex. Another example, is in Unit 2, Theme 3, Week 1, where students engage with the biography Snowflake Bentley, which has a Lexile of 830. However, while the language features are very complex, the purpose and text structure is only slightly complex. Similarly, in Unit 3, Theme 5, Week 2, students hear the story, An Adventure in Time, which has a Lexile of 550 but has qualitative features that are only slightly complex.

Informational texts are similar in that the Lexiles fall within the lower end of the Lexile Band, but the qualitative features are only slightly complex. For example, in Unit 6, Theme 12 and Unit 8, Theme 16, students hear Reach for the Stars! and Space Trash respectively, with Lexiles of 650, but only slightly complex qualitative features. In Unit 4, Theme 8, Week 2, students hear the story Wild Weather which is within the grade level Lexile band, but has basic sentence structure and simple vocabulary. Simple ideas and events are presented clearly, making the qualitative features only slightly complex.

The small group readers have a range from Level J to Level Q, which converts to a Lexile range of 400-700, which is the appropriate band for grade three for small group instruction. The curriculum considers level J - L to be "intervention", M - O to be "on target", and levels P - Q to be "enrichment". While the majority of the small group readers are within the Lexile band for Grade 3, they do not represent the descriptors given by the program. For example, A Blue Birthday and What is Gravity? are both level J texts, used for intervention. However, the Lexiles of the two texts are 510 and 490, respectively, which puts them in the Grade 3 grade level band. Mr. Kean’s Garden has a Lexile of 540, which is in the low end of the Grades 2 - 3 Lexile band, but is considered a Level O, and has a lower Lexile than some of the Level M texts. In the enrichment texts, some of the texts are appropriate, such as Sports on the Edge with a Lexile of 890, but others have Lexiles that are too low for being above grade level expectations, such as Simon’s Scoop, which has a Lexile of 660.

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria for materials, questions, and tasks address grade-level CCSS for foundational skills by providing explicit instruction and assessment in phonics and word recognition that demonstrate a research-based progression.

Literacy by Design materials provide consistent, explicit instruction in phonics and word recognition over the course of the year. There is a progression of phonics skills that are taught over the course of the year starting with short vowels, leading to long vowels, suffixes, word families and homophones. Students are taught word recognition, phonics and tasks and questions are sequenced for grade level in both the small group and the whole group with starting with multiple syllable words and ending with suffixes and prefixes in theme 15. The assessment system also provides ongoing assessment of phonics and word recognition through its theme level tests, plus the mid-year and end-of -year tests. Suggestions are provided for how teachers can find extra support for students in need of more instruction and practice. The assessments are located in the appendices. Opportunities to further Grade 3 students’ word analysis skills are missed in the early themes because the materials contain whole class review foundational skills such as initial consonant sounds, short vowels, and vowel teams.

Materials contain explicit instruction of phonics and word recognition consistently over the course of the year. Examples include:

• The introduction to the Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide states that phonics and word study are correlated to reading levels. The levels for Grade 3 are J-Q. Sound-symbol patterns, including vowel patterns, r-controlled vowels and word families, consonant patterns and diphthong word families, and consonant patterns occur within levels J-M. For example:
  • In Level J, Small Group Reading, Lesson 1, students learn the ue vowel pattern. Students use the magnetic board to practice with the b, l, and ue tiles. Students also form other words with this pattern. In Lesson 1, there is a review the word families ew, aw, and awn.
  • In Level K, Small Group Reading, Lesson 1, students learn orn and ire word families, with r-controls. Students review the definition and use the magnetic board to form words using r-control.
  • In Level L, Small Group Reading, Lesson 1, students learn the consonant patterns -dge and -tch. Students review the definition and use the magnetic board to form words.
• Word study, including prefixes and suffixes, occurs within levels N-Q. For example:
  • In Level O, Small Group Reading, Lesson 1, the focus is on the suffixes -ful and -less. Students review the definition and build suffix sentences using words from the story.
  • In Level P, Small Group Reading, Lesson 1, the focus is homonyms. Students review the definition and build homonyms in sentences of their own.
  • In Level Q, Small Group Reading, Lesson 1, the focus is on synonyms. Students review the definition and build synonyms in sentences of their own. They also look at antonyms with a similar activity.
• In Theme 11, Week 2, Lesson 6, Interactive Reading, the teacher explains that the prefix un- means, “the opposite of or not.” The teacher is then provided with the following instructions to have students complete an activity with the prefix un - , “Have partners create question and answer pairs. One students asks a questions using a word with un-, such as Do you unfold your shirts and hang them up? Then the partner answers the question by saying he or she does the opposite: No, I fold my shirts and put them in a drawer, Have them use these words: unbuckle, unhappy, uncover, unwilling.”
• In Theme 11, Week 2, Lesson 7, Interactive Reading, the class works again with the prefix un- and the teacher is instructed to complete the following activity with students, “Read the article, What is a Comet? on page 342. Ask students to listen for words beginning with the prefix un- (unusual, unaided, unseen, unreal, undiscovered). Have students work in pairs to complete the prefix un- in Context on page 343 of the sourcebook.”
• In Theme 12, Week 1, Modeled Reading, the teacher provides students with a definition for prefixes, “A prefix is a word part that can be added to the beginning of a root word to change the word’s meaning. The prefixes non-, in-, and dis- mean ‘not.’ Some words with these prefixes are nonliving, invisible, incomplete, distrust, and disagree.” The class then practices adding prefixes to change the meanings of a series of words.
• In Theme 14, Week 2, the teacher provides students with a definition for suffixes, “Suffixes are word parts added to the end of some words. Suffixes change the meaning of the word. Tell students -ful means “full of,: -able means “able to”and -less means “not having” or “without.”’ The class then plays the following game, “Ask students to choose a word from the spelling list that has a suffix. Tell students not to reveal the word they chose. Next have them take turns giving the class a “clue,” such as My suffix word means “without pain.”’

Tasks and questions are sequenced to application of grade-level work (e.g., application of prefixes at the end of the unit/year; decoding multi-syllable words) except early Themes contain review foundational skills. Examples include:

• A review of initial consonants and short vowels takes place within Theme 1, at the beginning of the year. Consonant blends and word families occur in Theme 2.
• In Theme 4, students study particular word families (ai, ay, ea, ee, ie, igh, oa, and ow).
• In Theme 6, students study silent consonants. In Theme 7, they study synonyms, antonyms, and multiple-meaning words.
• In Theme 7, Week 2, Lesson 9, students work on learning how to read multiple-meaning words.
• In Theme 8, students learn homonyms and word endings.
• In Themes 11 and 12, prefixes are taught.
• Suffixes are studied in Themes 14 and 15.
  • In Theme 15, Week 2, Lesson 9, students identify using the Sourcebook on page 467, ly and -fully suffix words.
• In Theme 16, Week 1, Lesson 1, students are taught about consonant doubling. The teacher than explains words that last letter is a consonant is doubled before adding the endings, -er, -ed, and -ing.

Multiple assessment opportunities are provided over the course of the year to inform instructional adjustments of phonics and word recognition to help students make progress toward mastery. Examples include:

• The Assessment Guide for Grade 3 contains Theme Progress Tests and test practice aligned to the Comprehensive Teacher’s Guide units. Word study is included in each of the Theme Progress Tests, which are given on the last day of each Theme. For example:
  • In Theme 1 there is a multiple-choice question on initial consonants, “Which word has the same initial consonant as raspberry?” It also asks the students to select the correct word with a short vowel sound. This is below grade level though.
  • In Theme 5, the assessment includes four questions about diphthongs. “Which word in sentence 1 has the same vowel sounds as the word found?” This is below grade level though.
• Mid-year and End-of-Year review tests are cumulative. The mid-year test contains questions about word families, long vowels, synonyms and antonyms, multiple-meaning words, and homonyms. ‘Which word has the same meaning as the word divided?” The end-of-year review texts prefixes, synonyms, and word solving strategies using root words.
• The teacher can utilize the Rigby Reads diagnostic assessment twice a year to give a baseline assessment and in order to determine progress. The teacher can document once at the beginning and and the end of the year.
• There is a Benchmark Book Assessment that students can take 3-4 times a year or more as necessary in order to guide instruction.

Materials contain explicit instruction of word solving strategies (graphophonic and syntactic) to decode unfamiliar words. Examples include:

• In Theme 6, Week 1, Lesson 3, students work on identifying words with silent consonants w, b and h in context.
• In Theme 7, Week 2, Interactive Reading, teachers are instructed to, “Reteach using fix-up strategies by reading a portion of It’s Not My Fault!, modeling an example of each type of strategy: using illustrations, using phonics, reading on, and breaking a word into parts to understand unclear information.”
• In Theme 15, Week 2, Interactive Reading, when reading the story The Lazy, Lazy Hare, the teacher is instructed to, “Reteach using fix-up strategies by modeling decoding and word analysis with an unfamiliar or challenging word in the story.”

In Sourcebook Volume 2, (pp. 450-451), after the teacher models using fix-up strategies in the text, Rachel: The Story of Rachel Carson, students are told, “Fix-up strategies, such as using letter sounds and word parts, will help you figure out the meaning of a word. First sound out the word. If you have never heard the word, look at word parts, such as endings. They may give you a clue about the word’s meaning. Use a chart like the one below to help you.” The chart contains columns for the word the student got stuck on and possible strategies the child could use to decode the unknown word.

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that materials, lessons, and questions provide instruction in and practice of word analysis skills in a research-based progression in connected text and tasks.

Literacy By Design materials include opportunities for students to complete tasks in order to learn word analysis skills. The skills are similar in nature each week and include brief instruction. There are opportunities for students to complete activities that are in- and out-of-context. Assessments are provided in the materials such as the Theme assessments, but reviewers were unable to evaluate all the assessments for word analysis in-context including evaluating word analysis in Rigsby Reads.

Multiple and varied opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to learn, practice, and apply word analysis skills in connected texts and tasks. Examples include:

• In Theme 5, Week 2, students practice finding oy, oi words in context: “Together read the directions for the activity on page 157 of the sourcebook. Ask students to write down the oi and oy words in An Adventure in Time (voice, annoying, choice, enjoyed, boy, point, joined) and then to add more oi and oy words to share with a partner.”
• In Theme 7, Week 1, part of the synonyms and antonyms in-context activity includes the following instructions: “Read Ask a Scientist! aloud. Ask students to look for words that have the same or opposite meanings. Have students work in pairs to complete Synonyms and Antonyms in context on page 201.”
• In Theme 7, Week 2, students listen for multiple meaning words such as “saw, watch, waves, bound, dash and safe” while the teacher reads aloud the story A Ten-Year-Old Hero.
• In Theme 11, Week 2, Interactive Reading, Lesson 6, the teacher explains that the prefix un- means, “the opposite of or not.” The teacher is then provided with the following instructions to have students complete an activity with the prefix un-: “Have partners create question and answer pairs. One students asks a questions using a word with un-, such as ‘Do you unfold your shirts and hang them up?’ Then the partner answers the question by saying he or she does the opposite: No, I fold my shirts and put them in a drawer, Have them use these words: unbuckle, unhappy, uncover, unwilling.”
• In Theme 11, Week 2, Interactive Reading, Lesson 7, the class works again with the prefix un- and the teacher is instructed to complete the following activity with students, “Read the article What is a Comet? on page 342. Ask students to listen for words beginning with the prefix un- (unusual, unaided, unseen, unreal, undiscovered). Have students work in pairs to complete The Prefix un- in Context on page 343 of the sourcebook.”
• In Theme 12, Week 1, Modeled Reading, the teacher provides students with a definition for prefixes, “A prefix is a word part that can be added to the beginning of a root word to change the word’s meaning. The prefixes non-, in-, and dis- mean “not.” Some words with these prefixes are nonliving, invisible, incomplete, distrust, and disagree.” The class then practices adding prefixes to change the meanings of a series of words.
• Word study, including prefixes, suffixes, and root words, occurs within levels N-Q at Grade 3. For example:
  • Level O, Small Group Reading Lesson 1, focuses on the suffixes -ful and -less. Students review the definition and build suffix sentences using words from the story. They also look at plural -s, -es, and -ies.

Some materials include word analysis assessment to monitor student learning of word analysis skills. Examples include:

• There is a benchmark assessment and evaluation kit. This assessment is said to give teachers ongoing progress monitoring for students in the area of word study and comprehension. Teachers individually administer this assessment several times a year and the texts are fiction and nonfiction.
• There is another assessment called Rigby Reads that is an evaluation and diagnostic tool to help the teacher evaluate students' word analysis skills. This assessment is given at the beginning and end of the year or when a new student moves into the teachers’ class. This provides teachers with information about a students’ word analysis skills in order for them to access books at their reading level. This assessment is used twice a year rather than for monitoring and adjusting instruction of word analysis skills.

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that instructional opportunities are frequently built into the materials for students to practice and achieve reading fluency in oral and silent reading, that is, to read on-level prose and poetry with accuracy, rate appropriate to the text, and expression.

Materials include opportunities for students to have access to small group readers where they practice a variety of fluency strategies. Students have opportunities to practice oral and silent reading. Also, included are different assessments in order to help the teacher identify how students are doing in overall fluency. Opportunities to practice and apply re-reading and self-correction are limited. Opportunities to practice and build fluency with poetry are limited.

Multiple opportunities are provided over the course of the year in core materials for students to demonstrate sufficient accuracy and fluency in oral and silent reading. Examples include:

• In Theme 1, Week 1, Teach Fluency, Use Punctuation to Inform Meaning, “Model reading page 14 of the sourcebook aloud, pausing for commas and periods and reading sentences with questions marks or exclamation marks with expression. Have students echo read the text with you to practice using punctuation.”
• In Theme 2, Week 1, Teach Fluency: Read in Phrases, “Discuss how good readers read phrases or groups of several words together at a time. This makes their reading sound smooth and clear. Use choral reading as you reread a portion of page 44. Model reading in phrases as students read together and follow your phrasing.”
• In Theme 3, Week 1, Teacher Fluency, Use Punctuation to Inform Meaning, “Tell students that good readers use punctuation as they read to help them understand the text. Use echo reading as you reread a portion of page 76. As you read, draw attention to the commas, periods and exclamation points.”
• The Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide states on page T14 that fluency skills are modeled in whole class instruction, and that systematic and explicit fluency instruction exists in every small group reading lesson. There are Fluency Readers for independent reading and practice and Fluent Reader software for repeated practice and assessment. All the fluency lessons are grounded in the readings. For example:
  • In Level L, Small Group Reading, students practice reading, “Savannah’s Concert.” Students are encouraged to practice a couple of different paragraphs for fluency practice. When students return to the group, they read their paragraphs out loud. On page 84, students in the area of fluency focus on reading for emotion. The teacher models how to read with emotion using pages 10 and 11 and then students take turn reading the text with emotion.
  • In Level M, Small Group Reading, the teacher introduces a fluency focus on stressing words with special type treatment and reading in phrases. The teacher models chunking a reading into phrases for smoother reading. Students then take turns reading the text section they have practiced.

Materials support reading or prose and poetry with attention to rate, accuracy, and expression, as well as direction for students to apply reading skills when productive struggle is necessary. Opportunities were missed over the course of the school year to have students pay attention to rate, accuracy and expression when reading poems. Examples include:

• In Theme 1, Week 2, students read the poem “No Place Like Greenville.” The instructions are: “Have partners read the poem together softly. Then ask them to think about the exaggerations the poet used and how they create a picture for the reader.” No mention is made of rereading the poem to build fluency or work on specific fluency skills.
• In Theme 3, Week 2, Lesson 7, students read the poem “Jack and Jill.” The teacher explains that the rhythm is the beat in poetry that is used to move the rhythm of the poem up and down.
• In Theme 3, Week 2, students read the poem “My Shadow.” The instructions for the lesson are to, “Have partners of mixed abilities reread the poem together, each reading four lines at a time. Have them stop to identify each pair of rhyming words at the end of their turns: me, see; head, bed; grow, slow; ball, all.”

Materials support students’ fluency development of reading skills (e.g., self-correction of word recognition and/or for understanding, focus on rereading) over the course of the year (to get to the end of the grade-level band). Opportunities are modeled by the teacher, but student practice opportunities are limited. Examples include:

• In Theme 7, Week 1, Think Aloud, Use Fix-Up Strategies, “Donna O’Meara says the lava tube is ‘exposed.’ ‘Exposed’ is a hard word. One way to figure out what the word means is to read on. As we read on, we learn that the water can “seal the tube.” This means that the tube must be visible, so the word “exposed” must mean “can be seen.”
• In Theme 13, Week 1, Think Aloud, Monitor Understanding: Strategic Reading, “After reading this section I’m not sure I understand what to do if I think there should be a new law. I need to choose a reading strategy to help me understand. I will reread these paragraphs more slowly. Oh! I think I understand now. If I have an idea for a law, I can write down my idea and then have people sign the paper. That way, my state leaders will now that many other people also want this law. Then the government officials can decide whether or not to make the law. To make sure I understand the rest of this text, I am going to read more slowly.”

Assessment materials provide teachers and students with information of students’ current fluency skills and provide teachers with instructional adjustments to help students make progress toward mastery of fluency. Examples include:

• With the Fluent Reader Software, students choose from five text passages, three from fluency readers and two that are unseen. Students listen and read along. Then students record themselves reading, and they listen to the playback, comparing their recordings to the fluent reader.
  • The software evaluates students’ initial reading rates and measures their progress up against the words per minute goal. The teachers use a fluency rubric to assess where students are at in this area.
• Teachers use the Rigby READS diagnostic test for reading level placement. This includes fluency as one of the five-pillars.
• There are no fluency questions in any of the 16 theme progress tests or in the mid-year or final year exams.
• The fluency assessment rubric and tracking form are provided in the Appendix of the Small Group Reading Teacher’s Guide. There is also instruction in taking and analyzing an oral reading record. The materials do not say how student mistakes will be used to help students make progress toward mastery in fluency.