3rd Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Classroom Mathematics Grade 3 meet expectations that they assess grade-level content.

In i-Ready, Teach and Assess, Ready Classroom Mathematics, there are two versions of Unit Assessments: Form A and Form B for each unit. Form A assessments are editable. Form A assessments include a standards correlation chart, DOK levels, as well as a correlation to the lesson(s) related to each assessment item. Form B assessments do not include this feature. In addition, in i-Ready, Teach and Assess, Assessments, Comprehension Checks are also available and can be used as an alternative to print mid- and end-unit assessments. Probability, statistical distributions, similarities, transformations, and congruence do not appear in the assessments. 

Examples of assessment items from the Classroom Resources aligned to grade-level standards include:

• In Unit 3, Assess, Mid Unit Assessment, Form A, Item 10 states, “A rectangle is 9 feet long and 7 feet wide. What is the area of the rectangle? Show your work.” (3.MD.7B)
• In Unit 5, Assess, End of Unit Assessment, Form B, item 11, “Mel has a bucket containing 8 tennis balls. The mass of each tennis ball is 60 grams. What is the total mass of the tennis balls? Show your work.” (3.MD.A.2) 
• In Unit 4, Assess, End of Unit Assessment, Form A, Item 3, a picture of 6/8 is shown.  The item asks, “Which fraction names an amount that is greater than the fraction shown in the model?” Multiple choice options are: “A. $$\frac {3}{8}$$, B. $$\frac {5}{6}$$, C. $$\frac {5}{12}$$, D. $$\frac {4}{8}$$” (3.NF.A.3D)

Examples of assessment items from the Assess and Teach, Assessments, aligned to grade-level standards include:

• In Comprehension Checks, Comprehension Checks Details, Unit 1, Item 10 states, “There are 527 students watching a school play. A teacher rounds to tell how many students are watching the school play. Drag a number into each box to complete the sentences.  Rounded to the nearest ten, there are Response area students watching the school play. Rounded to the nearest ten, there are ____ students watching the school play. Rounded to the nearest hundred, there are ____ students watching the school play.” The numbers that students can drag and drop are 550, 503, 520, 500, 600, and 540. (3.NBT.1)
• In Comprehension Checks, Comprehension Checks Details, Mid-Unit 2 (Lessons 4-9), Item 5 states,  “The students in 4 classes are selling tickets for their school play. There are 20 students in each class.  Each student sells 6 tickets. How many tickets do the students sell in all?” (3.NBT.A.3 )
• In Comprehension Checks, Comprehension Checks Details, Unit 6, Item 7 asks students to solve the following item, “Teagan has a flower garden shaped like a triangle. The perimeter is 29 meters. The length of 2 sides of Teagan’s garden are shown below. What is the unknown side length?” (3.MD.D.8)

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Classroom Mathematics Grade 3 meet expectations for spending a majority of instructional time on major work of the grade. 

• The approximate number of units devoted to major work of the grade (including assessments and supporting work connected to the major work) is 5 out of 6, which is approximately 83%.
• The number of lessons devoted to major work of the grade (including assessments and supporting work connected to the major work) is 33 out of 39, which is approximately 85%.
• The number of days devoted to major work (including assessments and supporting work connected to the major work) is 132 out of 156, which is approximately 85%. 

An instructional day level analysis is most representative of the materials because the number of sessions within each topic and lesson can vary and each lesson includes specific objectives aligned to standards. When reviewing the number of instructional days for the Ready Classroom Mathematics Grade 3 materials, approximately 85% of the days are focused on the major work of the grade.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Classroom Mathematics Grade 3 meet expectations that supporting work enhances focus and coherence simultaneously by engaging students in the major work of the grade. Supporting standards are used to support major work of the grade and often appear in lessons with connections to the major work of the grade.

Throughout the materials, supporting standards/clusters are connected to the major standards/clusters of the grade. The following are examples of the connections between supporting work and major work found in Classroom Resources:

• In Lesson 26, Session 1, Explore, the materials connect supporting standard 3.MD.B and the major work standard 3.NF.A, as students use rulers to measure items to fractions of an inch and then graph the data on line plots with fractional scales.
• In Lesson 28, Session 3, supporting standard 3.NBT.2 is connected to major work standard 3.MD.2, as students solve one-step word problems including addition and subtraction. The materials state, “Maria has a cooler full of 8 liters of lemonade. She wants to put the lemonade into pitchers to place on the tables at her party. Each pitcher holds two liters. How many pitchers does Maria need?” 
• In Lesson 33, Session 2, supporting work of 3.G.2 is connected with major work of 3.NF.1, 3.NF.3b, and 3.NF.3d, as students partition shapes into equal parts and tell what fraction of the total area of the shape is colored. Students also work with equivalent fractions to determine what area of the shapes are colored.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Classroom Mathematics Grade 3 meet expectations that the amount of content designated for one grade level is viable for one year.  

As designed, the instructional materials can be completed in 167 days consisting of: 

• There are 129 days of lessons. 
• There are 9 days for unit assessments, 6 days for i-Ready diagnostic assessments, and 6 days for review, for a total of 21 days. 
• There are 12 days for Math in Action activities. 
• There are 5 days dedicated to lesson 0 at the beginning of the school year to set up instructional routines with students that will be used throughout the year. 

According to Ready Classroom Mathematics Implementation, sessions are designed to be 45-60 minutes in length.  Pacing information from the publisher regarding viability for one school year can be found in the document titled “Yearly Pacing” found in the “Program Implementation” tab on the home page for each grade level. The “Yearly Pacing” includes a list of units, lessons within each unit, and the number of days each lesson encompasses, a note that lessons are 45-60 minutes in length and number of days for assessments. Pacing information is also verified in the “Classroom Resources” tab in each unit for each lesson in the “Lesson Overview and Family Connection” that includes a “Lesson Pacing Guide” with more detailed information that lists sessions and minutes for each lesson.

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Classroom Mathematics Grade 3 meet expectations for the materials being consistent with the progressions in the Standards. Content from prior grades is identified and connected to grade-level work, and students are given extensive work with grade-level problems. ​

Overall, the materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions in the standards and prior year content is identified as prerequisite skills at the lesson level. In the Unit Overview, the Learning Progression provides a correlation to standards for each lesson, and a chart that shows how each lesson within the unit is connected to a lesson in a future grade. For example, Unit 4, Lesson 21, Understand Fractions on a Number Line (3.F.2a and 3.NF.2b) is linked to Grade 4, Lesson 17, Understand Equivalent Fractions (4.NF.1) and Lesson 18, Compare Fractions (4.NF.2). Additional support for teachers can be found in the Unit Flow and Progression Videos in Beginning of Unit. 

Lessons are taught over several sessions (3-5 days) that support the progression of the standards, For example, Lesson 24 has multiple sessions that focus on 3.NF.A.3d, comparing fractions with the same denominator. In Session 1, students use drawings and number lines to reason about the size of fractional pieces and compare fractions with the same numerator or denominator. Students are then asked to answer questions such as, “Which fraction is greater?” and “When comparing two fractions with the same denominator, how can the numerators tell you which fraction is greater? Explain.” In Session 2, students use pictures, number lines to develop their understanding of the concept. For example, students are required to “Write the fractions shaded below each model” when presented with two visual models and “Circle the fraction that is greater.” 

The materials give all students extensive work with grade-level problems. Units consist of lessons, which are designed to last between three and five days. Within each lesson, days are broken into Explore, Develop, and Refine sessions. Develop and Refine sessions have ample practice problems for students to understand and apply concepts, and Develop sessions also include Fluency and Skills Practice pages. Each unit also includes a Math in Action lesson, which provides further work with grade-level problems over two days. In addition, each lesson includes math center activities and enrichment activities, which both provide more work with grade level concepts. For example:

• Lessons 20 - 26 (all sessions) address 3.NF.A (Develop understanding of fractions as numbers). Students understand what a fraction is and use a number line, understand and find equivalent fractions, compare fractions using symbols, measure length and plot data on line points, and use fractions in the Math in Action lesson.
• Unit 2 focuses on 3.OA.A (Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division). Lessons 4 - 7 and Lesson 10 present opportunities for students to understand multiplication, multiply with factors of 0 - 8, and 10, and solve problems. Students continue their study of multiplication exploring place value and the connections between multiplication and division. In Unit 3, students apply their understanding of multiplication to finding area.  
• Unit 5 addresses 3.MD and provides extensive work with time, liquid volume, mass, and a Math in Action solving measurement problems.

The instructional materials explicitly connect prior learning to grade-level content. In the Lesson Overview, the Learning Progression identifies the mathematics taught in earlier grades or earlier in the grade, and connects it with the mathematics in the lesson. In Small Group Differentiation, Prepare, there is a link to Prerequisite Lessons. The Family Letter can also contain information on the learning progressions for students. For example,

• In Lesson 7, Lesson Overview, Prerequisite Skills include, “Understand multiplication of whole numbers. Use a multiplication equation to represent and solve a word problem.”
• In Lesson 9, Lesson Overview and Family Connection states, “In Grade 4 students will continue to use place value understanding as well as area models and partial products to multiply three- and four-digit numbers by a one-digit number and to multiply 2-digit numbers by 2-digit numbers.”
• In Lesson 20, the Learning 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. In Grade 3 students develop a more formal understanding of fractions. In this lesson students focus on the meaning of fractions and name fractions by the number of equal parts in the whole, such as sixths or eighths. Students learn about the structure of fractions, identifying the denominator as the equal number of parts in the whole and the numerator as the number of parts being considered. Students identify unit fractions, such as $$\frac {1}{3}$$, $$\frac {1}{4}$$, $$\frac {1}{6}$$, and $$\frac {1}{8}$$, by using models with one part shaded out of a number of equal parts. Students apply their understanding of unit fractions to understand greater fractions that are built from unit fractions, such as $$\frac {2}{3}$$, $$\frac {3}{4}$$, $$\frac {4}{6}$$, and $$\frac {5}{8}$$.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Ready Classroom Mathematics Grade 3 meet expectations that materials foster coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the Standards. Overall, the materials include lesson objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings. 

The instructional materials identify a Learning Objectives in each Lesson Overview, and in the Student Workbook, Learning Targets are provided for students. Examples of lesson objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings in Classroom Resources include:

• In Lesson 2, Learning Objectives state, “Add three-digit numbers using place-value reasoning and describe any necessary regroupings.” This lesson objective is shaped by standard cluster 3.NBT.A which states, “Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic.”
• In Student Workbook, Lesson 8, the Learning Target states, “apply properties of operations as strategies to multiply and divide.” This learning target aligns with 3.OA.B, Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division.
• In Student Workbook, Lesson 14, Sessions 1-3, the learning target for students to understand “a plane figure which can be covered without gaps or overlaps by n unit squares is said to have an area of n square units.” This learning target aligns with 3.MD.C, Geometric measurement: understand concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and addition.

There are many instances of problems and activities within the materials that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains in a grade in Classroom Resources. For example: 

• Lesson 12 connects clusters 3.AO.A (Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division) and 3.OA.C (Multiply and Divide within 100), as students use multiplication charts and fact families to determine the unknown whole number in multiplication and division equations within word problems.
• Lesson 18 connects cluster 3.OA.D with 3.OA.A and 3.OA.C, as students solve two-step word problems using the four operations by modeling with an equation with an unknown before solving.  In Session 3, Problem 8 states, “Tabitha has a bag with 24 marbles. There are 6 marbles on the ground. She puts all of the marbles together on the ground and makes rows of 5. How many rows of marbles, r, does Tabitha make? Write an equation that can be used to solve the problem.  Then solve the problem. Show your work.”
• In Lesson 26 connects 3.MD.B (Represent and Interpret Data) and 3.NF.A (Develop Understanding of Fractions as Numbers), as students use rulers to measure to the nearest quarter inch and then graph the data on line plots with fractional scales.