Reading skills, Weebly Website, Unit Topics, and RACE strategy

READING: Each lesson's skills are linked on the Reading Sub-Pages.

Third grade is utilizing the Journeys Series as well as novels and author studies.

**Check out the East Greenwich Journeys Weebly Website link below! This is a wonderful resource for parents!

click here: Third Grade Journeys Weebly Website

**Students need to use the RACE Strategy when answering open-ended Questions:

  • RACE Strategy

  • RESTATE the important words from the question in your topic sentence.

ANSWER all parts of the question.

CITE evidence from the text.

(Use examples and evidence from the text to support your answer.)

EXPLAIN your details and how the EVIDENCE supports your answer.

Book Reports

October October Book Report

November November Book Report

December December Book Report


Take a Peek into Unit 1

Journeys Lessons 1-5

*This is a glance into the reading unit we are beginning in the classroom. The purpose of this form is to introduce our new unit of study and provide a brief preview.

Unit 1 Theme:

Good Citizens

Lesson Topics: Education, The Court System, Volunteers, Engineering, and Sports

Comprehension Skills::

Story Structure

Analyze Illustrations

Conclusions

Author’s Word Choice

Understanding Characters

Story Message

Compare and Contrast

Cause and Effect

Literal and Nonliteral Meanings

Helpful Comprehension Prompts : To help support your child at home, we have provided question prompts that could be asked to your child to assist them with the comprehension skills. These questions could be used with a book, article, or story of your choice.

Story Structure

  • Where does MOST of the story take place?

  • What happens at the beginning of the story? What happens at the end of the story?

  • What happened AFTER _____ (event from the story)?

Analyze Illustrations

  • Look at the illustration on page, __. What does the illustration tell you about the feelings/mood of the passage?

  • What does the illustration on page __ show you?

Conclusions

  • Conclusion is a smart guess a reader makes about something the author does not say directly. What conclusion can you draw about why _______ (character) did ______ (event from the story)?

Author’s Word Choice

  • On page _, find words that the author used to show that ____ (character) felt _____ (feeling)?

  • Why does the author use ________ (word or phrase) in the story?

Understanding Characters

  • What characters say and do are clues to their feelings, traits, and motivations. Can you describe a character from the story using those ideas?

  • Find a sentence or two that describes _____ (character).

Story Message

  • What was the problem? What was the solution? What did I learn about real life by reading about how characters solved the problem?

  • What was the message/lesson of this story?

Compare and Contrast

  • How are ____ (character) and ____ (character) ALIKE?

  • How are ____ (character) and ____ (character) DIFFERENT?

Cause and Effect

  • A cause is the reason something happens and an effect is what happens as a result. Can you find a cause and effect in this story?

  • Why did ______ (character) do ______ (event from the story)?

Literal and Nonliteral Meanings

  • What does the author mean when he/she writes _____ (phrase)? Is that a literal (exact) or nonliteral meaning?

  • What does the phrase ____ most likely mean?

Vocabulary Strategies:

➯ Context Clues

➯ Dictionary/Glossary

➯ Antonyms

➯ Word Families

➯ Prefix mis-

Authors Area:

*Below are other books written by some of the authors in this unit.

➤Sharon Creech (Lesson 1): Fishing In The Air

➤Tim Egan (Lesson 2): Burnt Toast On Davenport Street

➤Jonah Winter (Lesson 5): Once Upon A Time in Chicago

Reminder:

At the start of every “lesson” a parent letter will be sent home with your child. This letter will name the specific skills of practice for the lesson (Target Vocabulary, Phonics Skill, Vocabulary Strategy, Comprehension Skill, Comprehension Strategy, and Grammar Skill)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Take a Peek into Unit 2

Journeys Lessons 6-10

*This is a glance into the reading unit we are beginning in the classroom. The purpose of this form is to introduce our new unit of study and provide a brief preview.

Unit 2 Theme:

Look and Listen

Lesson Topics: Mammals, Visual Arts, Traditions, Performance Arts, Inventions

Comprehension Skills::

Text and Graphic Features

Analyze Illustrations

Conclusions

Cause and Effect

Literal and Nonliteral Meanings

Sequence of Events

Domain-Specific Vocabulary

Main Idea and Details

Helpful Comprehension Prompts : To help support your child at home, we have provided question prompts that could be asked to your child to assist them with the comprehension skills. These questions could be used with a book, article, or story of your choice.

Text and Graphic Features: (informational text)

  • How do the images help the reader understand ________ (topic)?

  • Why did the author use the image on page __ ?

  • Which section (subheading) would a reader use to learn more about ____ (topic)?

Analyze Illustrations:

  • Illustrations help create the mood, or feeling, of the story. How do the words and the illustration work together and set the mood?

  • Which word best describes the feeling of the illustration?

Conclusions:

  • Why did _________ (character) __________ (main event from the story)? Find a sentence in the story that best supports your answer.

Cause and Effect:

  • What happens when ____________ (event in the story)?

  • What was the effect or result of __________ (event in the story)?

Literal and Nonliteral Meanings:

  • What does the phrase ______ most likely mean?

  • What words does the author use to make _____ seem like a person?

Sequence of Events:

  • Talk about the most important events. Write a brief summary.

  • Label the order of the story. The first event will be labeled 1 , and the last event will be labeled 4.

  • According to the story, what happened first?

  • What sequence of events does this selection tell about?

Domain-Specific Vocabulary:

  • What is the meaning of the word _________ ?

  • What word on page _ are you likely to find in a _____ (resource; ex.:science textbook, medical document, brochure, etc.) What does the word mean?

Main Idea and Details:

  • Which sentence in the paragraph best states the main idea? Name two details in the paragraph that supports your response.

  • What is the main idea of the passage? Find a detail that best supports your answer.

Vocabulary Strategies:

➯Suffixes, -able, -ible

➯Synonyms

➯Context Clues

➯Dictionary/Glossary

➯Shades of Meaning

Authors Area:

*Below are other books written by some of the authors in this unit.

➤Nicola Davies (Lesson 6): One Tiny Turtle & Surprising Sharks

➤Eileen Christelow (Lesson 7): What Do Authors Do?

➤Michael Dooling (Lesson 10): George Washington

Reminder:

At the start of every “lesson” a parent letter will be sent home with your child. This letter will name the specific skills of practice for the lesson (Target Vocabulary, Phonics Skill, Vocabulary Strategy, Comprehension Skill, Comprehension Strategy, and Grammar Skill)

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Take a Peek into Unit 3

Journeys Lessons 11-15

*This is a glance into the reading unit we are beginning in the classroom. The purpose of this form is to introduce our new unit of study and provide a brief preview.

Unit 3 Theme:

Lesson Learned

Lesson Topics: Inventions, Agriculture, American Indian History, People and Animals, & Cooking

Comprehension Skills::

Sequence of Events

Text and Graphic Features

Theme

Point of View

Compare and Contrast

Story Message

Author’s Purpose

Understanding Characters

Formal and Informal Language

Helpful Comprehension Prompts : To help support your child at home, we have provided question prompts that could be asked to your child to assist them with the comprehension skills. These questions could be used with a book, article, or story of your choice.

Sequence of Events:

  • Talk about the most important events. Write a brief summary.

  • Label the order of the story. The first event will be labeled 1 , and the last event will be labeled 4.

  • According to the story, what happened first?

Text and Graphic Features: (informational text)

  • How do the images help the reader understand ________ (topic)?

  • Why did the author use the image on page __ ?

  • Which section (subheading) would a reader use to learn more about ____ (topic)?

Theme

  • A theme is a lesson about life. What is the theme or message, of the story?

  • What is the theme of the author is trying to teach? Use details.

Point of View

  • Authors choose a point of view for their stories.

  • What is the author’s point of view about ____ (topic)? Do you share his/her point of view? Why or why not?

Compare and Contrast

  • How are ______ and _____ (characters or events) the same? How are they different? Compare and contrast how each actions affect the story’s events.

Story Message

  • What message does the author of ___ (story) hope the readers will learn?

  • What message does the author want readers to understand?

Author’s Purpose

  • How has the author organized information? How does it support his/her purpose for writing?

Understanding Characters

  • Understanding characters’ traits, feelings, and motivations helps readers to better explain how characters’ actions contribute to the sequence of events.

  • Why do you think ____ (character) does ______ (event from the story)?

  • How does ____ (character) feel when ____ (event form the story)? How can you tell?

Formal and Informal Language

  • Authors tend to use formal language to describe characters and events and informal language for characters’ dialogue. Remember, quotation marks signal dialogue.

  • Which parts of the story sound informal? Why do other words or phrases sound more formal?

Vocabulary Strategies:

➯ Suffixes -less, -ful, -ous

➯ Idioms

➯ Homophones and Homographs

➯ Prefixes in-, im-

➯ Using a Thesaurus

Authors Area:

*Below are other books written by some of the authors in this unit.

➤Janet Stevens (Lesson 12): Three Billy Goats Gruff

➤ Robert H. Bushyhead (Lesson 13): Togo

➤ Beverly Cleary (Lesson 15): Ramona The Brave

Reminder:

At the start of every “lesson” a parent letter will be sent home with your child. This letter will name the specific skills of practice for the lesson (Target Vocabulary, Phonics Skill, Vocabulary Strategy, Comprehension Skill, Comprehension Strategy, and Grammar Skill)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________