3rd Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content. For this indicator, the review team examined all summative assessments. There are several test items that would need to be modified or omitted because of their alignment to above grade-level standards. Overall, the amount of modifications or omissions needed does not significantly impact the underlying structure of the instructional materials.

• Each module has “Check-Ups” which contain questions that require students to select the correct answer or provide a written response, “Performance Tasks” which are used to measure depth of understanding, and “Interviews” which assess students’ ability to rote count fluently. There are also four “Quarterly Tests” in Modules 3, 6, 9 and 12 which assess all learning targets from the three modules just taught (tests 1 and 2) or from the previous three modules (tests 3 and 4).
• Module 1, Interview 2, assesses 4.MD.A.1 (students use pints, quarts and gallons to estimate and measure liquid volume). This assessment could be replaced by one of the other assessment options.
• Module 10, Check-Up 2, Question 3, assesses 4.MD.C.5 (measure and compare angles using nonstandard units). This item could be omitted, or the assessment could be replaced by one of the other assessment options.
• The following items assess 4.NBT.B.4 (standard algorithm for addition) and the teacher could change the directions to allow students to use any strategy:
  • Module 8, Check-up 2, Item 2
  • Module 8, Performance Task 1, Items 1 and 2
  • Quarterly Test 3, Items 11 and 12 (labeled)
  • Module 11, Check-Up 1, Items 1 and 2 (labeled)
  • Quarterly Test 4, Items 4 and 5
  • Module 11, Performance Task 1
• The following items assess 4.NBT.B.5 (multiplication) and these items or assessments could be omitted:
  • Module 3, Interview 1
  • Quarterly Test 1, Item 5
  • Module 9, Performance Task 1
  • Quarterly Test 2, Item 7

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for focus within major clusters. Overall, the instructional material spends the majority of class time on the major clusters of each grade.

To determine focus on major work, three perspectives were evaluated: the number of modules devoted to major work, the number of lessons devoted to major work, and the amount of time devoted to major work. The number of lessons devoted to major work, approximately 67 percent, is aligned with this indicator because it specifically addresses the amount of standards instruction devoted to major work.

• Grade 3 instruction is divided into 12 modules with 12 lessons in each module. Of the 144 lessons, 96 are aligned to major work of Grade 3. Therefore, approximately 67 percent of instruction would be focused on major work.
• Grade 3 instruction is divided into 12 modules. 10 of the 12 modules have instruction in half or more of the module that is focused on major work of Grade 3. Therefore, approximately 83 percent of instruction would be focused on major work.
• Grade 3 instruction is designed to be taught over 180 days (15 days per module). Of the 180 days, 96 days of instruction focus on major work of Grade 3. Therefore, approximately 53 percent of student instruction would be focused on major work.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for having an amount of content designated for one grade level as viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades. Overall, the amount of time needed to complete the lessons is appropriate for a school year of approximately 140-190 days.

• There are 12 modules, each with 12 lessons, making a total of 144 lessons.
• Lessons are designed to take 45-60 minutes.
• Additional instructional time can be added using “More Math” activities which include investigations, problems solving activities, enrichment activities, and cross-curricular activities.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for materials being consistent with the progressions in the standards. Overall, the instructional materials identify and connect prior or future grade-level work to current grade-level work. Additionally, students are consistently provided extensive work with grade-level work, and connections are made to prior knowledge from earlier grades.

i. Materials develop according to the grade-by-grade progressions. Prior and future content is clearly identified and relates to grade-level work.

• Prior grade level topics taught are identified:
  • Lesson 10.11 and 10.12 reasoning with shapes and their attributes (2.G.1).
  • Lessons 1.1 and 1.2 working with 3-digit numbers (2.NBT.3).
  • Lesson 1.3 comparing 3-digit numbers (2.NBT.4).
  • Lesson 1.4 rounding 3-digit numbers (2.NBT.1).
  • Lessons 4.1-4.7 working with 4-digit numbers (2.NBT.3).
  • Lesson 4.6 comparing 4-digit numbers (2.NBT.4).
  • These lessons are used to build prior knowledge to introduce the addition and subtraction of larger numbers.
• Future grade level topics taught are identified:
  • Lesson 1.10 introduces gallons (4.MD.1) and has students make liquid comparisons, not conversions.
  • Lesson 10.9 introduces angle measurement (4.MD.5) and has students making comparisons using pattern blocks, not protractors, for measurement.
  • Lessons 8.2-8.5 specifically ask students to use the standard algorithm for subtraction (4.NBT.4).

ii. Materials consistently give students extensive work with grade-level problems.

• Differentiated instruction, at grade level, is available for each lesson (Extra Help, Extra Practice, and Extra Challenge). Connections to lessons in prior grades related to the standard being taught are also available.
• Opportunities for enrichment, at grade level, are available for each module. Additionally there are separate investigations and problem solving activities for each module. They allow for small groups of students to gather, analyze and represent data to provide more extensive practice with the content.
• Opportunities for fluency practice, and practice of grade-level content from previous lessons, is available in each module under “Ongoing Practice.”
• Fundamental games provide practice to reinforce concepts and computational skills at grade level.
• Reviewer Note: Represent and interpret data (3.MD.B) is only addressed in three lessons: picture graphs lesson 7.10, bar graphs lesson 7.11 and line plots lesson 7.12. These lessons MAY NOT be enough to cover the true depth of the standard and supplemental material may need to be provided.

iii. Some materials relate grade-level concepts explicitly to prior knowledge from earlier grades.

• 3.OA.5, in lesson 3.3, has students develop their multiplication knowledge by using place-value understandings from prior grades to double quantities.
• Strong connections are made between the array models and the concept of equal groups learned in Grade 2 to the multiplication learning in Grade 3.
• Work with subtraction strategies begins with a review of the count-back and count-on strategies as well as work to subtract across key benchmarks such as 100.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade, where appropriate and required by the standards. The standards are referred to throughout the materials. Overall, materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings.

• A comprehensive listing of the CCSSM and the correlating exercises are found under the drop down menu on the home page.
• The cluster headings are clearly identified by hovering over the lesson title.
• Learning Targets are clearly marked in the materials. The learning targets identify objectives and standards of each module.
• Connections are made to prior, grade-level content.

The instructional materials include problems and activities that serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain and two or more domains in a grade in cases where the connections are natural and important. The materials connect two or more clusters within the grade.

• Working with liquid volume (3.MD.2) is connected to problem solving (3.OA.8) in lesson 1.12.
• Partitioning shapes (3.G.2) is related to fraction work (3.NF.1) in lessons 4.9-4.12.
• Using distributive property (3.OA.5) is used to calculate area (3.MD.7) in lesson 10.6.