3rd Grade - Gateway 2

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 text sets within each unit that the whole class reads build students’ knowledge in some units. In other units, the texts and text sets are in service of supporting students’ development of a specific strategy or skills instead of progressing depth of understanding with a topic.

The eight units contain themes and topics. Over the course of four weeks per unit, students participate in listening, reading, writing, and discussion around a science or social studies topic and Big Question. There are National Geographic videos to build background knowledge for the unit.

The following units explore science content and each week of the unit has a different topic about an overarching topic for the unit.

• In Unit 2, the overall topic is “Nature’s Balance” and the Big Question is “What happens when nature loses it balance?” Over the four weeks, students read texts, stories, riddles, and articles to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn about the following skills: compare and contrast, ask and answer questions, plot, cause and effect, and analyze details. To wrap-up the unit, students can share their ideas about answering the Big Question through trading cards, sharing pictures, creating a riddle, or performing a skit. The following topics are focused on each week: Week 1: Population, Week 2: Conservation, Week 3: Profile of an Ecosystem, Week 4: Comparing Ecosystems.
• In Unit 3, the overall topic is “Life in the Soil” and the Big Question is “What is so amazing about plants?” Over the four weeks, students read texts, poetry, recipes, and articles to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn about the following skills: sequence, evaluate sensory details, text features, and main idea and details. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through making a cartoon, a talk show, performing a skit, or writing a plant poem. The following topics are focused on each week: Week 1: Growing Plants, Week 2: Agriculture and Crops, Week 3: Plant Diversity, and Week 4: Plant Products.
• In Unit 7, the overall topic is “Blast! Crash! Splash!” and the Big Question is “What forces can change Earth?” Over the four weeks, students read texts, poetry, and articles to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn about the following skills: imagery, explain the relationship between events, cause and effect, and determine author’s purpose. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through making a storyboard, giving a news report, performing a dance, or writing an email. The following topics are focused on each week: Week 1: Volcanic Eruptions, Week 2: Studying Earth’s Forces, Week 3: Earthquakes, Tsunamis, and Storms, and Week 4: Earth’s Shifting Surface.

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 “Happy to Help” and the Big Question is “How do people help each other?” Over four weeks, students read texts and poetry to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn the following skills: plot, elements of poetry, character analysis, making comparisons, and point of view. To wrap-up the unit, students can share their ideas about answering the Big Question through drawing a self-portrait, forming a panel, writing a mini-biography, role-playing workers.
• In Unit 4, the overall theme is “Let’s Work Together” and the Big Question is “What’s the best way to get things done? Over four weeks, students read texts, short stories, and fables to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn the following skills: determine theme, compare story elements and themes, and determine importance. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through writing a skit, being a reporter, doing a chore together, writing a letter.
• In Unit 8, the overall theme is “Getting There” and the Big Question is “What tools can we use to achieve our goals?” Over four weeks, students read texts and articles to address the Big Question. Students use the texts to learn the following skills: determine author’s purpose, cause and effect, choose reading strategies, and analyze character. To wrap-up the unit, students share their ideas about answering the Big Question through a talk show, planning a trip, a guessing game, making a map.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 partially meet the criteria that materials contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

The materials include series of texts that build knowledge; however, the materials do not regularly contain a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts.

Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 4, students read Joseph Lekuton: Making a Difference. The focus of this unit is helping others and the teacher reminds students that they read a text the previous week, The World’s Greatest Underachiever. The students complete a chart comparing the point of view in each of the texts. No questions are provided to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas.
• In Unit 2, Week 1, students build knowledge around the Big Question, "What happens when nature loses its balance?" Students watch a video about ecosystems and how they maintain balance or what happens when they do not. Students also complete a concept map. Later in the week, students read When the Pigs Took Over and share information about ecosystems and balance again; however, there are no text-based questions to help students analyze the integration of knowledge.
• In Unit 5, Week 4, students read an interview called, Meet Maycira Costa by Nora Brook and compare Dr. Costa’s ideas to their own ideas about wetlands either from real life or in images. Students are required to use the text to answer questions and to use prior knowledge.
• In Unit 8, Week 4, students read Climbing Toward Her Goal, which is a profile of an archaeologist. Students are reminded about the text they read previously, One Man’s  Goal, and are asked a series of questions to make connections and build comprehension: "How are the mountains Ceruti climbs like the ocean Erden Eruc crossed? What was life like for the Incas of the Llullaillaco?"

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 that they can choose from; however, only some of the projects require students to demonstrate knowledge of a topic through integrated skills. Students have choice in which project they complete and students may elect the projects that do not require knowledge from the unit.

For example:

• In Unit 2, students learn about what happens when nature loses its balance. The project choices require students to show demonstration of knowledge through integration of skills.
• Students write something that can make an ecosystem lose its balance on a piece of paper. They then trade slides with a partner and draw an example of the partner’s ecosystem.
• Students look for pictures of a forest, pond, or other ecosystem and decide whether the place is in balance or out of balance and explain the picture to the class.
• Students write a riddle about something in nature and then share their riddle with other students to see if they can guess it.
• Students write a skit about an ecosystem. The characters are animals, plants, water, etc. They must include information about the home of the characters.
• In Unit 3, students learn about plants. While the majority of the projects require students to demonstrate their knowledge of the topic of plants through an integration of reading, listening, speaking, and writing, some of the projects do not require students to use the text to demonstrate knowledge.
• Students draw a cartoon about an amazing plant and write a caption to show what is so amazing about the plant. They then explain the cartoon to the class.
• Students pretend they have a talk show and invite guests on to talk about some of the information they have learned about plants in the unit.
• Students write a skit about people who work with plants and they must include why the people think the plants are amazing.
• Students write a haiku about their favorite plant. This project shows an understanding of haikus, but does not require students to demonstrate their understanding of plants
• In Unit 6, students learn how to preserve traditions. Many of the project choices do not require students to demonstrate knowledge through an integration of skills.  Some options do not require the use of texts or the discussions to complete.
• Students write song lyrics about their favorite singer or musician and share it with the class.
• Students think of something traditional that a family member has taught them to do. They write or draw a short set of steps to teach a partner about the tradition. While this integrates skills, it does not require students to demonstrate knowledge from the unit.
• Students pretend to be the characters Cruz and Jefferson and they interview each other. While this demonstrates an understanding of a text in the unit, it does not demonstrate knowledge of a topic.
• Students pretend they are making a time capsule and they want to include a letter to future children about a tradition that they want to save. They write this letter and share why it is important to preserve this tradition.
• In Unit 7, students learn about what forces can change Earth and study different natural disasters. In many of the project choices, students demonstrate their knowledge through an integration of skills.
• Students make a storyboard to show what causes a tsunami or how an island forms.
• Students work with a partner to pretend that a natural disaster has taken place and they are news reporters. They create a skit as if they are reporting on the scene from one of the disasters.
• Students work with two or three classmates to create a dance that represents a force of nature. This does not necessarily require students to integrate skills to demonstrate their knowledge of natural disasters.
• Students pretend that they are family members that have just experienced a natural disaster. They write an email telling friends what has happened.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 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 the fourth week of every unit; however, the same routine happens each week, with a different writing prompt. The writing prompts involve different opinion, expository, and narrative assignments; however, the narrative prompts do not vary greatly. In Unit 8, students write a narrative story, following the same directions given in Unit 1. The writing prompts for opinion and expository writing do increase in rigor. 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 nor 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 do not increase in rigor, and at times the skills do not connect across the days. Examples include:

• In Unit 1, Week 3, Day 1, students write a comparison paragraph, and on Day 2, students write a different paragraph about how they clarified something they did not understand in Kemal’s letter. Then on Day 3, students write a prediction on what will happen next in the text, and on Day 4, students write one sentence about how they feel about going to school using words that sound like their own voice. Finally on Day 5, students write a letter to the author Henry Winkler.
• In Unit 4, Week 2, students write about story elements on Day 1 with a group of peers, and on Day 2, they write about how a character changes in Ba’s Business. Then on Day 3, students select one of the readings from the week and write a paragraph describing part of its plot. The focus of the lesson is making sure students write using present tense action verbs. On Day 4, students write comparisons about Ba’s Business and The Bird Bank, but no emphasis is given on the previous lesson on present - tense verbs. On Day 5, students compare the themes of the two stories of the week.  
• In Unit 7, Week 4, students write a paragraph about the main idea of the Background Builder Video and on Day 2, students write a response that states an opinion about the article they read and explain how the text features support their opinions. On Day 3, students focus on writing a description of a photo, map, or diagram, with emphasis on prepositional phrases, but this is not reinforced in the remainder of the writing assignments. On Day 4, students write a paragraph using the author’s purpose, and then on Day 5, students write a paragraph that compares the author’s purposes in the texts from the Unit.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 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.