3rd Grade - Gateway 2

The materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the criteria for texts being organized around a topic/topics or themes to build students’ ability to read and comprehend complex texts independently and proficiently. The series of texts in each collection are cohesive and are related to the anchor texts. All modules develop student’s knowledge through structured learning activities that provide effective scaffolding of content leading to students comprehending texts independently and proficiently. Examples include:

• In Module 1, the module is organized under the topic, The Sea. Students study why people explore the sea. Students also study how poets and writers explore the sea through words and images and how scientists use technology to discover new species. Students read literature, informational text, and art to answer the question: "Why do people explore the sea?" Students read and discuss multiple texts to answer the questions, “How do artists explore the sea? Why and how do scientists explore the sea? Why and how do scientists explore sea creatures? Why do people explore the sea?” Texts students read include, Picture Books (Informational) such as The Fantastic Undersea Life of Jacques Cousteau, by Dan Yaccarino, Giant Squid: Searching for a Sea Monster, by Mary M. Cerullo and Clyde F. E. Roper, and Shark Attack! by Cathy East Dubowski. They also read the Picture Book (Literary) Amos & Boris, by William Steig. Students then study the poem, The Sea Wind, by Sara Teasdale and stories such as, The Lion and the Mouse, and The Full Text of Aesop’s Fables. Students also look at works of art and films related to the sea.
• Module 3 is organized under the topic, A New Home. Students explore the immigrant experience through the lens of stories to answer the question, “How do stories help us understand immigrants’ experiences?” Students read and discuss multiple texts to answer the questions: “What challenges do immigrants face in a new country? Why do people immigrate to America? How do immigrants respond to challenges in a new country?” Students read picture books (Literacy) such as Grandfather’s Journey, by Allen Say, Tea with Milk, by Allen Say, The Keeping Quilt, by Patricia Polacco, and Family Pictures, by Carmen Lomas Garza. Students also read the picture book (Informational) Coming to America: The Story of Immigration, by Betsy Maestro. Finally, students readcTwo Places to Call Home, by Jody Kapp (a Cobblestone article). Students examine photographs and videos as well as listen to historical accounts related to immigration.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations that materials contain sets of coherently sequenced questions and tasks that require students to analyze the language, key ideas, details, craft, and structure of individual texts. The Implementation Guide notes: “Craft Questions teach students the elements of strong craft—writing, speaking, and listening—so that students become adept at applying these skills for a variety of purposes. Students explore the author’s craft and word choices, analyze the text’s structure and its implicit meaning, and attend to other unique features of the text. Students begin by examining high-quality exemplars of the craft. Then they receive progressive direct instruction in the skills necessary to practice and master the craft. Annotation during the first read aims to develop the habit of monitoring understanding of a text as students read. In subsequent reads, annotation focuses readers on deeper understanding, such as distinguishing among purpose, claim, and conclusion, noticing authors’ crafting of literary elements or text features, and/or supporting learning goals relevant to the text (e.g., character analysis, influence of setting).”

Examples include:

Module 1:

• In Lesson 20, students are asked, “What do you think the word choices in the first paragraph on page 16 suggest about the main idea of the paragraph?"
• In Lesson 26, students are asked, “What text features do authors use to organize information?”

Module 2:

• In Lesson 4, students are asked, “What does the title of the assemblage suggest about the objects in the assemblage?”
• In Lesson 22, students are asked, “How does Robert Burleigh connect these ideas in these sentences?”

Module 3:

• In Lesson 19, students reread the introductions they wrote and identify or add at least two details that explain how the character feels about arriving at Ellis Island.
• In Lesson 16, students are asked, "According to clues in the text, what do you think the author means when she describes the Statue of Liberty as inspiring?”

Module 4:

• In Lesson 8, students are asked, “What do you remember about the characteristics of the stories we’ve read, like Hatchet and Woods Runner? What makes them different from poetry?”
• In Lesson 27, students explore Sal’s and Phoebe’s bravery by analyzing the characters’ fears and actions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for materials containing a coherently sequenced set of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts. Each module contains focus questions that are included with a set of texts. Content Framing and Craft questions are asked of both single and multiple texts to integrate and build knowledge in order for students to reach the module’s learning goals. All lessons include coherently sequenced sets of text-dependent questions and tasks that require students to analyze the integration of knowledge. Students also participate in at least one Socratic Seminar where multiple texts are discussed as well as completing New Read Assessments which provide students with texts they have not read before to demonstrate their ability to analyze the integration of knowledge and ideas.

For example, in Module 1, students study the focus question, “How do artists explore the sea?” Students then analyze both single and multiple texts by answer Content Framing and Craft questions. Students read the text The Sea Wind, by Sara Teasdale and answer, “What is the central message of 'The Sea Wind?'" Students also read the texts, The Boating Party, by Mary Cassatt and The Gulf Stream, by Winslow Home to answer questions such as, “What is the central message of a painting?”

Each End-of-Module Task ensures that students are analyzing the integration of knowledge and ideas across both individual and multiple texts. For example, the Unit 4 End-of-Module Task states, “Research the life and work of Alvin Ailey, William Carlos Williams, Jackson Pollock, or Marian Anderson, and then write a multi-paragraph essay answering the following question: 'Why is the artist important?' Begin each paragraph with a topic sentence, and develop your explanation with details and evidence from multiple texts. Include a thesis statement, connect your ideas with linking words, and include a closing sentence in each paragraph.”

The instructional materials for Grade 3 meet the expectations that questions and tasks support students’ ability to complete culminating tasks in which they demonstrate their knowledge of a topic (or, for grades 6-8, a theme) through integrated skills (e.g. combination of reading, writing, speaking, and listening).

Each module has several Focusing Question Tasks that scaffold the material to aid in the successful completing of the End-of-Module task. The materials contain sets of high-quality sequences of text-dependent questions and activities that build to each culminating task. Many tasks are focused on pieces of writing; however, students engage in speaking and listening as well as reading and writing to prepare for tasks, providing learning through integrated skills.

For example, in Module 2, the End-of Module task states, “Your class is creating a website called “Learning About Space.” Post an essay to the website that answers this question: In your opinion, what is the most important thing people have done to learn about space?” To prepare for this, students answer questions and complete tasks such as:

• Write a multiple-paragraph explanatory essay that explains to families how Galileo helped people learn about space.
• Write a multiple-paragraph essay that answers the following question: Would you like to have been an astronaut on the Apollo 11 mission?
• Write a multiple-paragraph opinion essay about which piece of art or text belongs in a library exhibit about space.
• Participate in a Socratic Seminar: Explain the cause-and-effect relationships between Galileo’s actions and the ideas of other people.
• Participate in a Socratic Seminar: Discuss why John F. Kennedy “chose the Moon,” and discuss if they would have done the same.
• Participate in a Socratic Seminar: Discuss which piece of art to include in an exhibit about space and assess their own participation.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations that materials include a cohesive, year-long plan for students to interact with and build key academic vocabulary words in and across texts. Vocabulary is taught both implicitly and explicitly, using words in the core and supplementary texts. As texts are read multiple times, students gain new vocabulary. Explicit vocabulary instruction focuses on Content Specific Vocabulary, Academic Vocabulary, and Text Critical Vocabulary. Materials focus on elements of vocabulary, such as abstract or multiple meanings, connotation, relationships among words, and morphology.

Vocabulary Routines can be found in the Resources section of the Implementation Guide and include routines and instructional examples such as the Frayer Model, Morpheme Matrix, Outside-In, Relationship Mapping, and Word Line. Teachers utilize Word Walls and Vocabulary Journals for students to record newly-acquired words and vocabulary strategies.

Appendix B includes vocabulary support that explains the implicit and explicit vocabulary instruction. For example, Core lessons, 75-min. daily: vocabulary study that is essential to understanding the text at hand. Instructional strategies are explicitly introduced and practiced during vocabulary instruction and put into practice during a reading of the text. Vocabulary Deep Dives: vocabulary instruction and practice that advances students’ knowledge of high-value words and word-solving strategies, focusing on aspects such as abstract or multiple meanings, connotation, relationships across words, and morphology. The appendix also includes a Module Word List and a list of words that would pose a challenge to student comprehension.

Module examples of vocabulary instruction include:

• In Module 1, Lesson 19, “Collaboratively, complete the Frayer model for habitat: Definition: The natural environment of plants and animals. Characteristics: In nature; where animals or plants live; can be on land or in water (for sharks). Examples: The ocean, the woods, the desert, the jungle. Nonexamples: An apartment building, a house, a farm (not “in nature”); exercising daily, reading daily, going to bed on time (these are habits, not habitats).”
• In Module 2, Lesson 27, Deep Dive: Vocabulary, “Morpheme Refresher: Remind students that -ion is a suffix studied in Module 1 meaning “action or condition.” Draw students’ attention to the Morpheme Map to refresh their prior knowledge of –ion and that it typically changes a verb to an abstract noun (idea, quality, or state; not concrete).”
• In Module 3, Lesson 15, in pairs, students use their prior knowledge of the prefix bi– and use of context clues to determine the meaning of the word bilingual.
• In Module 4, Lesson 5, “What do you notice about the word revelation in these sentences?”In the first sentence, revelation has to do with what religion and. The people “raise their palms in revelation” as they “step and sway with the warmth of the spirit” during a church service.In the first sentence, revelation is not capitalized.In the second sentence, Revelations is capitalized because it is the name of the dance Alvin Ailey created to honor “the traditions of True Vine Baptist Church.”

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectation for materials supporting students’ increasing writing skills over the course of the school year, building students’ writing ability to demonstrate proficiency at grade level at the end of the school year.

Through explicit learning-to-write instruction, teachers gradually release responsibility for a specific writing strategy through a series of lessons. One or more of the following Craft Stages shapes each lesson. (Implementation Guide)

• Examine: Students analyze how an exemplar models one or more writing strategies. The exemplar can come from authentic texts, class collaborative writing, or a module resource.
• Experiment: Students practice applying a target strategy. Scaffolded tasks provide significant support by limiting
  the volume of writing, providing parts of a writing piece, or focusing on a relatively simple topic.
• Execute: Students plan or draft a full writing piece, paying particular attention to applying the target strategy to
  support the purpose of the task.
• Excel: Students revise, edit, and respond to feedback on the pieces they drafted in the Execute stage, focusing on the target strategy. They reflect on their use of the strategy to refine their thinking about its use in current and future writing.

Students write an average of twenty or more minutes of writing pers lesson and are given explicit instruction of writing strategies. Students write both on-demand and process writing while accessing complex texts. There are a variety of writing performance tasks and Craft Lessons address 5 features; Structure, Development, Style, Conventions and process.

Students study Mentor texts and get feedback from the teacher, a peer, and themselves as well as being provided with writing checklist and rubrics to ensure that writing skills are grown throughout the year.

Examples of materials supporting students’ increasing writing skills include, but are not limited to:

• In Module 1, Lesson 2, students examine writing a topic statement by discussing the craft question, “ Why is a topic statement important?” Students are told to think about their ideas and that a good writer may ask themselves, “What am I writing about?” The answer to this question is the topic statement.“What do I want to say about my topic?” The answer to this question will be the evidence and elaboration that you include in a paragraph.” Students then go on to discuss the focal point of the text the class is reading.
• In Module 2, Lesson 9, students excel at writing an explanatory paragraph by working in pairs to answer the Craft question, “How do I improve at using topic statements and grouping related information together in an explanatory paragraph?” Writers reread their own work and then use a peer editor to get feedback. Students then revise based on the feedback.
• In Module 2, Lesson 17, student examine word choice from the text, Moonshot by Brian Floca to explain how Brian Floca’s use of onomatopoeia in Moonshot helps describe the Moon landing.
• In Module 3, Lesson 19, students execute writing an introduction by answering the Craft question, “How do I engage and orient the reader in narrative writing?” Students review their notes and, with a partner, orally rehearse the sentences before writing them by saying aloud what they plan to write in exactly the way it will be written. Students individually draft an introduction to their narratives.
• In Module 4, Lesson 33, students work on a Deep Dive: Style and Conventions to answer the Craft Questions: How do I improve my writing through revision? and use a checklist to review their End-of-Module writing.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations that materials include a progression of focused research projects to encourage students to develop knowledge in a given area, by confronting and analyzing different aspects of a topic using multiple texts and source materials. Modules are divided into Focus Questions that build knowledge of a topic using multiple texts. The focus questions all build to the End-of-Module Task that encompasses a module’s worth of texts and source materials. Students also complete shorter research projects throughout the modules. Teachers are also encouraged to use pausing points to complete student-led research projects. In every grade, at least one EOM Task focuses on a sustained research project. In addition, students conduct a variety of short research projects throughout the year.

Examples include:

• In Module 2, students research the moon in Lesson 30 to learn about the research process and to help prepare for the End-of Module Task, “Your class is creating a website called “Learning About Space.” You are going to post an essay to the website that answers this question: In your opinion, what is the most important thing people have done to learn about space?” Students use multiple texts and multimedia sources from throughout the unit to complete the task.
• In Module 4, the End-of-Module task is a sustained research project. Students use the core texts, the back matter of the texts, and additional preselected resources to research the lives of great artists. Students create short oral presentations, use technology to interact and collaborate with their peers, and publish their work. In the End-of-Module Task, students work in groups to synthesize what they have learned about an artist and his or her work and explain the significance of the artist’s contributions.

The instructional materials reviewed for Grade 3 meet the expectations for materials providing a design, including accountability, for how students will regularly engage in a volume of independent reading either in or outside of class. The majority of lessons require some independent readings of text followed by text-specific questions and tasks that reflect student accountability. Students are asked to annotate texts. Additionally, most homework assignments include independent readings and tasks that require students to produce evidence of reading and to keep an independent reading log.

Examples include, but are not limited to:

• Appendix D: Volume of Reading outlines independent reading: Students may select from these recommended titles that support the module content or themes. These texts and Volume of Reading Reflection Questions can be used as part of small-group instruction or as part of an independent and/or choice reading program.
• In Module 1, Lesson 21, students read aloud a fluency passage on Handout 19A three to five times to a listener at home to practice fluent reading, focusing on accuracy, phrasing, and reading with expression as they read. Students and listeners put a checkmark in the box in the first three rows under “Day 3.” In addition, students independently read for thirty minutes and record their reading on Independent Reading Logs.
• In Module 3, Lesson 11, students independently read Passage 2 on Handout 11B (Dialogue from Tea with Milk). Students follow the directions on the handout, highlighting the dialogue (the exact words the character uses) and circling and labeling the following items: quotation marks, commas, speaker tags, and capital letters.