5th Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that texts are organized around a topic/topics (or, for grades 6-8, topics and/or themes) to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently.

The eight units contain themes and topics. Over the course of four weeks per unit, students participate in listening, reading, writing, and discussing around a science or social studies topic and Big Question. The science units focus on a topic that helps to build knowledge, while the social studies topics seem to build skills around a theme. There are National Geographic videos to build background knowledge for each unit.

The following units explore science content and each week of the unit has a different topic about the overarching topic. The units are centered around a topic that helps to build knowledge. Samples of the units include:

• In Unit 3, the overall topic is “Nature’s Network” with a Big Question, “What is nature’s network?” Over the four weeks, students read realistic fiction, fiction, science reports, an interview, and science articles to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn about the following skills: plot, determine importance, compare text structure, relate concepts, main idea and details, and identify supporting details. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through making a food chain, acting out a food web, performing a play, or writing an ode. The following topics are focused on each week: Week 1: Ecosystems, Week 2: Ecosystems, Week 3: Ocean Exploration, and Week 4: Ocean Life.
• In Unit 5, the overall topic is “Every Drop” with a Big Question, “Why is water so important?” Over the four weeks, students read a science feature, science articles, realistic fiction, a legend, a Zuni legend, and an Australian legend to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn about the following skills: main idea and details, make connections, explain relationships between ideas, explain interactions between events, review and integrate ideas, determine main idea, analyze character, compare characters, determine theme, integrate ideas, and compare theme. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through making a poster, making a presentation, writing a legend, or creating a plus-minus chart for the pros and cons of each type of media and use their charts to make a decision. The following topics are focused on each week: Week 1: Water Supply, Week 2: Water Systems, Week 3: Water Sources, and Week 4: Water Sources.
• In Unit 7, the overall theme is “Talking About Trash” with a Big Question, “Why should we care about garbage?” Over the four weeks, students read a persuasive article, an essay, a magazine article, a web article, a short story, and poems to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn about the following skills: author’s viewpoint, synthesize, explain author’s reasons and evidence, form generalizations, use multiple sources to solve a problem, compare, review and integrate ideas, goal and outcome, draw conclusions, determine theme, explain elements of a poem, and compare approaches to theme. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through writing and reciting a poem, performing a skit, giving a speech, or creating a piece of art. The following topics are focused on each week: Week 1: Earth’s Resources, Week 2: Managing Resources, Week 3: Environmental Issues, and Week 4: Environmental Issues.

Other units that are the social studies texts focus more on skills and strategy and are centered around a theme. Examples of text sets focused on thematic learning that support students skills and strategy development, but do not build knowledge on a topic or set of topics include:

• In Unit 1, the overall theme is “Crossing Between Cultures” and the Big Question is “How can where you are change you who you are?”. Over four weeks, students read a diary entry, oral history, email, autobiography, and a historical article to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn the following skills: character development, preview and predict, analyze viewpoint, describe viewpoint, compare and contrast, monitor and clarify, fact and opinion, and explain relationships. To wrap-up the unit, students can share their ideas about answering the Big Question through writing a letter, giving a tour, creating a documentary, making a collage.
• In Unit 4, the overall theme is “Justice” and Big Question is “What is justice?”. Over four weeks, students read a tale, history articles, first-hand accounts, a biography, and a social studies article to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn the following skills: theme, make inferences, interpret figurative language, analyze viewpoints, sequence, and compare text structures. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through making a collage and writing a summary, researching protest songs, holding a debate, and holding a mock press conference in a project titled “Meet the Reporters”.
• In Unit 6, the overall theme is “The Wild West” and the Big Question is “What does it take to settle a new land?”. Over four weeks, students read a history article, an essay, historical accounts, a letter, plays, and a narrative poem to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn the following skills: cause and effect, visualize, explain relationships between events, identify author’s purpose, review and integrate, compare viewpoints, explain the structure of a poem, determine theme, and compare themes. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through completing a project titled “On the Road” where they imagine that they are moving to an unsettled area and create a packing list, write an explanation about why they chose the items, and explain why they chose to leave some items behind; putting on a comedy show; conducting an interview; and creating a photo-essay.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that the questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, listening).

At the end of each unit, students complete Unit Projects. Students have a choice of four different projects; however, only some of the projects require students to demonstrate knowledge of a topic through integrated skills. Since students have choice in which project they complete, they may elect the projects that do not require knowledge from the unit.

For example:

• In Unit 2, students study the power of the sun. The whole class is required to write a blog that tells about how the power of the sun affects people and nature. Project choices enable students to either demonstrate understanding of a text or demonstrate understanding of knowledge, but not all choices require both.
• Students write a letter to an astronaut and include questions they would like to know about the Sun.
• Students hold a pretend press conference with a partner about the first solar oven at school. Students are required to prepare interesting facts and details from the text.  
• Students write and perform a myth from the unit. This requires knowledge of a text, but not necessarily knowledge of a topic.
• Students write a song or chant with a partner to introduce one of the text selections.
• In Unit 4, students learn about justice. All students make a poster about justice before picking one of the project choices. The project choices require knowledge of the term, justice, in order to complete each project.
• Students make a collage of headlines that have to do with justice from magazines and newspapers. While this requires knowledge of the term justice, students are not required to integrate the skills of speaking, listening, or reading.
• Students work in a group to research protest songs, or songs that shine a light on injustice. Students put the songs together in a book and write an introduction that tells about each song.
• Students work with a small group of students to hold a debate about an issue people are talking about now in the school or community. Students write arguments for and against the issue on index cards. This integrates reading, speaking, writing, and listening and requires an understanding of the term, justice.
• Students role play a press conference with real people and the story characters in the unit. Students ask questions about the fight for equal rights.
• In Unit 6, students learn what it takes to settle a new land. Prior to the project choices, students write a description of what Rhyolite or another boom town was like, which requires both knowledge and an integration of skills; however, not all of the project choices require a demonstration of knowledge from the unit or an integration of skills.
• Students write a list of things they would take with them if they had to move to a new place.
• Students choose people to represent characters from the play, The Road to Rhyolite. They prepare questions to ask characters about their lives in the west.
• Students write three jokes about living in a new place and then put on a comedy show to share them with the class.
• Students find pictures that show what life was like for settlers who went west. Students then arrange the photos to make a photo essay and write one to two sentences to describe each place.
• In Unit 8, students learn how one idea can change the future. Prior to making a project choice, all students write an article for a teen magazine explaining how one idea can change lives. This requires students to demonstrate their knowledge of a topic through integration of skills; however, not all of the project choices require students to demonstrate knowledge through an integration of skills.
• Students choose a business that they would like to start and write all the steps they would need to get the business started.
• Students organize an activity that would help raise money for their school.
• Students think of something that they could not live without and make up a funny or serious song about what the world would be like without that thing.
• Students research to find a business that was started by a kid and then present it to the class. While this integrates the skills of reading and speaking, it does not require knowledge from the unit.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that materials support students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.

Materials include multiple and varied opportunities for both on-demand and process writing tasks that span the year’s worth of instruction. Students write daily through multiple means, such as one minute power writing, writing about what they read, and writing to improve grammar.  Students also write on Day 5 of small group reading time. Students participate in a week-long writing project each week; however, not all writing tasks increase in rigor from the beginning to the end of the school year. Week-long writing projects are introduced during Week 4 of every unit, but the same routine happens each week, with only a difference in the writing prompt. Each writing project begins with students studying a model, prewriting and completing a RAFT, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing.

Daily writing skills lessons do not consistently increase in rigor or lead to students independently demonstrating grade level proficiency by the end of the year. The same guidance and supports are provided throughout the year. Each week students write each day, but the progression of writing lessons does not increase in rigor, and at times the skills do not connect across the days to support increasing independence. Examples include:

• In Unit 2, Week 1, Day 1, students write a paragraph about a character. On Day 2, students write questions about the science fiction story, How the Sun Got His Hat. On Day 3, students write a paragraph that explains how the illustration contributed to the meaning of the story. On Day 4, students use vivid words to write a description of the moon. On Day 5, students write a paragraph that states an opinion.
• In Unit 5, Week 3, Day 1, students write about characters in the story. On Day 2, students write a paragraph about how making connections helped them understand Bobby’s report. On Day 3, students write a few sentences explaining how an author uses elements of the setting to compare key parts of the story, but then on Day 4, students write short stories using sound words. Finally on Day 5, students work in pairs to write their own poems.
• In Unit 8, Week 2, Day 1, students write sentences to compare how Gates and Allen started their business in Starting Your Own Business. On Day 2, students respond to an article by writing about the subject’s relationships’ with others and expressing opinions about what impressed them the most about her accomplishments. On Day 3, students write three questions to ask the subject of the article they read. On Day 4, students write a paragraph to compare the information given in two news articles. However, on Day 5, students write a paragraph explaining the most important advice they would give to someone starting their own business.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 5 partially meet the criteria that materials provide a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class.

Independent reading is mentioned in this program; however, materials do not include a plan for how it is implemented and a system for accountability for how students will engage in a volume of independent reading both inside and outside of the classroom. While all the information for independent reading is found in the Small Group Reading Guide, materials do not explain when this should occur in or outside of the classroom nor for how long each day. There is no recording device provided nor accountability for how much students read or how well students read.

The Teacher Edition provides an independent reading routine but it does not include specific information. It suggests that teachers select topics and provide a rich collection of books to choose from, though teachers need to select these books. Recommended Books for each unit are listed in the Teacher Edition and are identified by fiction and nonfiction and are connected to the overall unit and topic/theme. It is suggested that the books include known texts, classroom favorites, and picture books. Students should be supported in selecting their books of interest for independent reading according to the Teacher Edition, but how a teacher should do this is not explicitly stated. After independent reading, materials suggest that students should share their reading experiences and summarize what they read. Teachers are encouraged to extend the independent reading by giving extension activities, such as rewriting the story with a different ending or writing a letter to the author.