3rd Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 3 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. The Mid-Unit and Unit Assessments contain grade-level content questions.

Assessments contain grade-level content questions. Examples of questions include the following:

• Ready Assessments book Assessment 2 Problem 5 asks students which pair of figures show an equivalent fraction and has four pairs of differently-partitioned and shaded rectangles. (3.NF.3a)
• Ready Assessments book Assessment 3 Problem 17 asks students to select the equations that are true and to mark all that apply. The selections are: “a. 5 x 8 = 40, b. 8 x 6 = 48, c. 7 x 4 = 28, and d. 9 x 9 = 72.” (3.OA.7)

Overall, unit assessment items are aligned to Grade 3 standards.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 3 meet the expectations for spending the majority of the time on the major clusters of the grade. This includes all the clusters in 3.OA and 3.NF along with 3.MD.A and 3.MD.C. 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 3 instruction is divided into six units. Units 1 and 3 address 3.OA. Unit 4 addresses 3.NF. More than half of Unit 5 addresses 3.MD.A and 3.MD.C. Therefore, 3.5 out of 6 units, approximately 58 percent, focus on major work of the grade.
• Grade 3 instruction is divided into 33 lessons. Twenty-four out of 33 lessons, or approximately 73 percent, focus on major work of the grade.
• Grade 3 instruction consists of 167 instructional days. Approximately 126 out of 167, approximately 75 percent, of the instructional days focus on major work of the grade.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet expectations for supporting content enhancing 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 5 Lesson 26 Representing data sets (3.MD.3) is connected to label fractions/mixed numbers on the number line (3.NF.2).
• Unit 5 Lessons 24 and 25 Representing scaled picture and bar graphs (3.MD.3) is connected to solve problems using addition, subtraction, and multiplication (3.OA.A).
• Unit 6 Lesson 33 Partitioning shapes into equal parts (3.G.2) is connected to understanding of fractions as numbers (3.NF.1).
• In Unit 6 Math in Action Working with shapes and their attributes (3.G.A) is connected to determining area measurement (3.MD.C).
• Unit 5 Lesson 26 Measure Length and Plot Data on Line Plots (3.MD.4) is connected to understanding fractions on the number line and representing fractions on a number line (3.NF.2).
• Unit 2 Lesson 10 Using Place Value to Multiply (3.NBT.A) is connected to the properties of multiplication (3.OA.B).

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Grade 3 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 137 days of lessons, 15 days of Math in Action, and another 15 days for assessment making 167 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 3 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 4 Lesson 14 the progression states, “In Grade 2 students used fraction language to describe dividing shapes into equal parts. They divided squares, circles, and rectangles into equal parts and named the parts as halves, thirds and fourths. Through their work with models, students began to understand the concept of dividing a whole into equal parts.” 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 3 Lesson 11 students use their prior work with multiplication and division to begin exploring multiplication and division word problems.

The instructional materials provide given extensive work with grade-level problems. Lessons provide grade-level problems for students. Students spend three 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 3 meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards. Overall, the materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings and 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 3 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 4 Understand the Meaning of Division is shaped by 3.OA.A, represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division.
• Unit 5 Lesson 21 Solve Problems About Time is shaped by 3.MD.A, solve problems involving measurement and estimation of intervals of time, liquid volumes, and masses of objects.
• Unit 4 Lesson 16 Understand Equivalent Fractions is shaped by 3.NF.A, develop understanding of fractions as numbers.

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 5 Lesson 22 working with liquid volume (3.MD.A) is connected to solving problems involving the four operations (3.OA.D). In Unit 3 Lesson 12 understanding the properties of multiplication and the relationship to division (3.OA.B) connects to solving multi-step problems using the four operations (3.OA.D).