4th Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 4 meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content.

The program provides Interim Assessments available in the student edition and online for each unit. There is a separate Ready Assessments book containing three assessments. There are also two versions (Form A and Form B) of the Mid-Unit and Unit assessments for each of the units.

There are three above grade-level questions found in the assessments:

• For Unit 2 Assessment Question 5 the expression provided as a solution by the materials is written with parentheses so that students would add before dividing. Using a numerical expression written with parentheses is aligned to 5.OA.1.
• In the Ready Assessments book Assessment 3 Question 40 the expression provided as a solution by the materials is written with parentheses so that students would add before multiplying. A numerical expression written with parentheses is aligned to 5.OA.1.
• Unit 5 Assessment Forms A and B Question 4d asks students to add fractions with unlike denominators (5.NF.2).

Overall, unit assessment items are aligned to Grade 4 standards. The above grade-level assessment questions could be removed or modified by the teacher without affecting the sequence of learning for students.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 4 meet the expectations for spending the majority of the time on the major clusters of the grade. This includes all the clusters in 4.NBT and 4.NF along with 4.OA.A. To determine focus on major work, three perspectives were evaluated: the number of units devoted to major work, the number of lessons devoted to major work, and the number of instructional days devoted to major work. Of the three perspectives, the number of instructional days is most representative and was used to determine the score for this indicator.

• Grade 4 instruction is divided into six units. Unit 1 addresses 4.NBT. More than half of Unit 2 addresses 4.OA.A. Unit 3 addresses 4.NBT. Unit 4 addresses 4.NF. Therefore, 3.5 out of 6 units, approximately 58 percent, focus on major work of the grade.
• Grade 4 instruction is divided into 33 lessons. Twenty out of 33 lessons, approximately 61 percent, focus on major work of the grade. Seven of the 33 lessons focus on supporting work in support of the major work of the grade. Overall, approximately 82 percent of the lessons focus on major work of the grade.
• Grade 4 instruction consists of approximately 170 instructional days. Approximately 106 days focus on major work of the grade, and approximately 32 days focus on supporting work which supports the major work of the grade. Overall, approximately 81 percent of instructional days are spent on major work of the grade.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 4 meet expectations for supporting content enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade.

Examples of the connections between supporting work and major work include the following:

• Unit 2 Lesson 7 Making line plots (4.MD.4) is connected to fractions on a number line (4.NF.A).
• Unit 5 Lesson 29 Measuring angles (4.MD.C) is connected to fractions (4.NF.B) by having students measure fractions of a full turn of angles.
• Unit 5 Lesson 26 Using the standard formula for area and perimeter (4.MD.3) is connected to grade-level work with multiplication (4.NBT.B).
• Unit 5 Lesson 25 Finding factor pairs (4.OA.4) is connected to the major work of using place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic (4.NBT.B).
• Unit 5 Lesson 27 Creating line plots displaying data in fractions of units (4.MD.4) is connected to the major work of adding and subtracting fractions (4.NF.A and 4.NF.B).
• Unit 5 Lesson 23 Convert Measurements relates (4.MD.1) to use place value understanding and the properties of operations to perform multi-digit operations (4.NBT.5).
• Unit 5 Lesson 24 Time and Money (4.MD.A) is connected to the major work of using all four operations with whole numbers (4.OA.A), fractions and decimals (4.NF.B).
• Unit 5 Lesson 30 Adding and subtracting with angles (4.MD.C) is connected to the major work of using addition and subtraction to solve word problems (4.OA.3).

However, there are times when natural connections between supporting work is not used to enhance and support the major work of the grade. For example, in Unit 2 Lesson 7 the supporting standard 4.OA.4 does not connect to major work of the grade:

• Work with factors and multiples (4.OA.4) is not connected with comparing fractions, using number lines, and ordering common fractions (4.NF.A).
• Finding factors (4.OA.4) is not connected to major work of finding common denominators (4.NF.1).

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 4 meet the expectations for the amount of content designated for one grade-level being viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades. The suggested pacing includes 143 days of lessons, 12 days of Math in Action, and another 15 days for assessment making 170 days of materials. According to the Teacher Guide, pages A42-A43, each lesson is expected to last between 30-45 minutes.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 4 meet the expectation for being consistent with the progressions in the standards. Content from prior grades is identified or connected to grade-level work, and students are given extensive work with grade-level problems.

Overall, materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the Standards. Typically, material related to prior and future grades is clearly identified or related to grade-level work.

The materials relate grade-level concepts to prior knowledge from earlier grades. Each Lesson Overview provides a Learning Progression. The Learning Progression explains connections between prior grades and the lesson. For example, in Unit 1 Lesson 2 the progression states, “In earlier grades students used the greater than ($$>$$) and less ($$<$$) than symbols to compare whole numbers and to compare fractions.” Additionally, each unit begins with a progression overview document. This document connects grade level concepts to specific standards from prior grades, and this document also connects grade-level concepts to future standards. Student prior knowledge is activated and connected to new skills and concepts on the first day of each lesson in Use What You Know. For example, in Unit 2 Lesson 5 students are reminded that they "have looked at multiplication as joining equal groups" and are told that "(m)ultiplication is also a way to compare two numbers."

The instructional materials provide given extensive work with grade-level problems. Lessons provide grade-level problems for students. Students spend three, four, or five days in a lesson working with grade-level standards. During modeled and guided instruction, students explore ways to solve problems using multiple representations and prompts to reason and explain their thinking. The guided practice allows students to solve problems and discuss their solution methods. The independent practice provides students the opportunity to work with problems in a variety of formats to integrate and extend concepts and skills. The Practice and Problem Solving Guide provides additional practice problems for each of the lessons, and the back of the Practice and Problem Solving Guide provides problems for additional skills practice. Each lesson also has math center activities which provide additional practice with grade-level problems.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 4 meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and when the standards require. Overall, materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings and opportunities to provide problems and activities that connect two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains, when these connections are natural and important.

Instructional materials are clearly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings. The units are divided into instruction focused on domains. Grade 4 standards are clearly identified in the Table of Contents and a CCSSM Focus box found at the beginning of each lesson. Additionally, a CCSSM Correlation Chart identifies which lessons address specific standards. Instructional materials shaped by cluster headings include the following examples:

• Unit 1 Lesson 1 Understand Place Value is shaped by 4.NBT.A, generalize place value understandings for multi-digit whole numbers.
• Unit 2 Lesson 5 Understand Multiplication is shaped by 4.OA.A, use the four operations with whole numbers to solve problems.
• Unit 4 Lesson 13 Understand Equivalent Fractions is shaped by 4.NF.A, extend fraction equivalence and ordering.

Instructional 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 the connections are natural and important.

• In Unit 2 Lesson 10 Solving Multi-step Word Problems (4.OA.A) is connected to multiplying whole numbers (4.NBT.A and 4.NBT.B).
• In the Unit 4 Math in Action Use Fractions and Decimals understanding fraction equivalence (4.NF.A) is connected to building fractions from unit fractions (4.NF.B) and using decimal notation for fractions and comparing decimal fractions (4.NF.C).
• Unit 5 Lesson 27 Line Plots connects make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (4.MD.4), to understand a fraction a/b with a >1 as a sum of fractions 1/b (4.NF.3).