5th Grade - Gateway 1

The instructional materials reviewed for Zearn Grade 5 meet the expectations for assessing grade-level content and, if applicable, content from earlier grades.

• Zearn has two components to the program, Independent Digital Lessons and Teacher-Led Instruction. The summative assessments are located in the Teacher-Led Instruction section of the program.
• The summative assessments in each Mission include a Mid-Module and End-of-Module assessment.
• Each assessment question has been linked to one or more of the standards which are specified in the rubric.

The instructional materials focus on grade-level content.

• Mission 3: In the Mid-Module Assessment, students add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators by replacing given fractions with equivalent fractions in such a way as to produce an equivalent sum or difference of fractions with like denominators (5.NF.1) and solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions referring to the same whole (5.NF.2).
• Mission 5: In the Mid-Module Assessment, students recognize volume as an attribute of solid figures and understand concepts of volume measurement (5.MD.3), measure volumes by counting unit cubes, using cubic cm, cubic in, cubic ft, and improvised units (5.MD.4), and relate volume to the operations of multiplication and addition and solve real world and mathematical problems involving volume (5.MD.5)
• Mission 6: In the End-of-Module Assessment, students write simple expressions that record calculations with numbers, and interpret numerical expressions without evaluating them (5.OA.2), generate two numerical patterns using two given rules (5.OA.3), use a pair of perpendicular number lines, called axes, to define a coordinate system, with the intersection of the lines arranged to coincide with the 0 on each line and a given point in the plane located by using an ordered pair of numbers, called its coordinates (5.G.1), and represent real world and mathematical problems by graphing points in the first quadrant of the coordinate plane (5.G.2).

The Mission 1 End-of-Module Assessment has one problem which assesses future grade-level standards. The End-of-Module Assessment Task problem 4b & 4c asks students to solve a word problem to the thousandths place. Students are limited in 5.NBT.7 to perform operations with decimals to the hundredths place. The problem reads: “4. Dr. Mann mixed 10.357 g of chemical A, 12.062 g of chemical B, and 7.506 g of chemical C to make 5 doses of medicine. 4b-Find the actual amount of medicine mixed by Dr. Mann. What is the difference between your estimate and the actual amount? 4c. How many grams are in one dose of medicine? Explain your strategy for solving this problem.” The off-grade level items could be removed without affecting the sequence of learning for the students or the mathematical integrity of the materials.

The instructional materials reviewed for Zearn Grade 5 meet the expectation for spending the majority of class time on the major clusters of the grade. This includes all clusters within 5.NBT and 5.NF along with 5.MD.C.

According to Missions and Standards Overview for Grade 5, the materials contain 6 Missions, 138 Lessons, and 34 Weeks, with 4 lessons per week.

• All 6 Missions include one or more major clusters of Grade 5. 100 percent of the Missions focus on major work of the grade.
• 27 of the 34 Weeks of instruction are spent on major work of Grade 5, approximately 79 percent.
• There are a total of 138 Lessons, and approximately 107 Lessons focus on the major work of Grade 5 (or 78 percent of the Lessons).

The most representative perspective for this indicator is Weeks, with Zearn spending approximately 78 percent of instructional time on the major work of the grade.

The instructional materials reviewed for Zearn Grade 5 meet expectations for their use of supporting content as a way to enhance coherence by engaging students in the major work of the grade.

During the Independent Digital Lessons, students develop fluency in Number Gyms and Blasts, engage in Math Chats, and do independent practice in the Tower or Power sections of the lessons. In Teacher-Led Instruction, the teacher presents Whole Group Fluency, Small Group Lessons, and Whole Group Word Problems to engage students with the content further. In both the Independent Digital Lessons and Teacher-Led Instruction, students have multiple opportunities to engage with supporting standards connected to the major work of the grade.

• Mission 1 lessons support cluster 5.NBT.A. In these lessons, students solve problems involving place value with decimal fractions. Students use the area model, vertical number lines, and place value strategies to solve problems.
• Mission 2 lessons support cluster 5.NTB.B. In these lessons, students solve problems involving base-ten operations including multiplying multi-digit whole numbers, dividing whole numbers and using all four operations with decimals to hundredths. Students use place value patterns, area models, the standard algorithm, partial products, and estimation to develop fluency of operations for whole number and decimal values.
• Mission 3 lessons support cluster 5.NF.A. In these lessons, students solve problems involving adding and subtracting fractions. Students use number lines, area models, equivalent fractions, and benchmark numbers to develop strategies for adding and subtracting fractions.
• Mission 4 lessons support cluster 5.NF.B. In these lessons, students solve problems involving multiplying and dividing fractions and decimals. Students use tape diagrams, drawings, repeated addition, partitions, unit fractions, and several other strategies to develop the understanding of multiplying and dividing fractions.
• Mission 5 lessons support cluster 5.MD.C. In these lessons, students solve problems involving volume and how it relates to multiplication and addition strategies. Students initially build and count cubes to determine the volume, then they compose and decompose prisms using layers. This allows students to then develop multiplication strategies for determining volume. Later, students also develop visual models and equations to solve real world problems.

The instructional materials reviewed for Zearn Grade 5 meet the expectation for having an amount of content that is viable for one school year in order to foster coherence between grades.

The Independent Digital Lessons are broken up into four main components: Fluency, Guided Practice, Independent Practice, and Bonus. The components have different titles depending on the lesson and how the student is progressing through the program. The Teacher-Led Instruction is broken into six sections: Whole Group Fluency, Small Group Lessons, Whole Group Word Problems, Optional Homework, Assessments, and Optional Problem Sets.

The suggested time frame for completing the 138 Independent Digital Lessons and Teacher-Led Instruction is approximately 34 weeks. This provides material for 170 days. A typical day consists of 15 minutes of Whole Group Fluency and Word Problems, 30 minutes of individual digital content and 30 minutes of small-group, direct teacher instruction. There are also 12 summative assessments in the Zearn program.

The instructional materials reviewed for Zearn Grade 5 meet the expectations for being consistent with the progressions in the Standards.

The materials identify and explicitly connect grade-level work to prior or future grades. Users of the materials will find these connections throughout the materials. The materials give all students extensive work with grade-level problems. The following are places that clearly demonstrate the progressions of the Standards and the connections from grade to grade:

• Each Mission has a summary. This summary explains how the lessons work through the progression of Grade 5 and make applicable connections to past or future content. For example, the Mission 1 Summary states: “This opening Mission is a culmination of 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade. Additionally, students extend their understanding of decimal fractions to the thousandths place and more sophisticated patterns of our base ten system.”.
• On the teacher home page for many Missions there is a box titled "Foundational Digital Lessons.” This identifies what concepts from previous Topics and Lessons are connected to the current topic. For example, in Mission 3 students work on standards 5.NF.1 and 5.NF. 2. Foundational Digital Lessons that prepare students for the work of Grade 5 are identified as Grade 3 Mission 5 (G3M5) and Grade 4 Mission 5 (G4M5) which focus on standards 3.G.2 and 3.NF.1-3, as well as 4.NF.1-4, 4.MD.2, 4.MD.4, and 4.OA.5.
• In early Missions, the Whole Group Fluency link identifies essential skills from previous grades on which the Topic builds. For example, in Mission 2, Whole Group Fluency Module 2, Topic B: The Standard Algorithm for Multi-Digit Whole Number Multiplication, the teacher materials state the following: “In Topic B, place value understanding moves toward understanding the distributive property by using area models to generate and record partial products (5.OA.1, 5.OA.2), which are combined within the standard algorithm (5.NBT.5).”
• Students have extensive work with practice problems. Students have daily fluency practice, guided practice, and independent practice when using the digital lessons and when working in Teacher-Led Instruction with the teacher.

Overall, Lesson Summaries identify and explain connections between previous grade level, current grade level, and future content including the Lesson, Mission, and/or grade where the content appears.

The instructional materials reviewed for Zearn Grade 5 meet the expectations for fostering coherence through connections at a single grade.

Materials include learning objectives that are visibly shaped by CCSSM cluster headings.

• Mission 3, Topic B: Making Like Units Pictorially and Topic C: Making Like Units Numerically are visibly shaped by 5.NF.A, “Use equivalent fractions as a strategy to add and subtract fractions.”
• Mission 4, Topic E: Multiplication of a fraction by a fraction is visibly shaped by 5.NF.B, “Apply and extend previous understanding of multiplication and division to multiply and divide fractions.”

Materials include problems and activities that sometimes serve to connect two or more clusters in a domain or two or more domains where connections are natural and important.

• Mission 2, Topic D: Measurement Word problems with Whole Number and Decimal Multiplication connect 5.OA.A to 5.MD.A. Students use the four operations with whole numbers to write simple expressions in order to convert measurement units within a given measurement system.
• Mission 5, Topic B: Volume and the Operations of Multiplication and Addition connect 5.MD.C to 5.NBT.B. During this Mission, students find the volume of solid figures composed of two non-overlapping right rectangular prisms by adding the volumes of the non-overlapping parts (5.MD.C), which requires the multiplication of multi-digit whole numbers (5.NBT.B).