Third Grade

Unit: Grammar Island

About: Grammar is a way to think about Language.

Essential Understandings (students will understand...)

Grammar is a set of rules consisting of patterns

Each word has a specific function in a sentence

Each part of a sentence leads to a clear understanding of content

Essential Questions (students will keep considering...)

How is language organized?

What function does a specific word have in a sentence?

How do the parts of a sentence provide clarity in speaking and listening?

Content Knowledge (students will know...)

The eight parts of speech: noun, adjective, verb, pronoun, preposition/prepositional phrases, adverb, interjection, conjunction

Grammar Patterns

A subject always has its verb/predicate

A prepositional phrase with preposition, adjective and noun

An adjective always has a noun or pronoun it modifies

A pronoun almost always has an antecedent

A conjunction joins two of the same thing

The subject - action verb - direct object pattern

The subject – linking verb – subject complement pattern

An interjection at the beginning or end of a sentence

Skills (students will be able to/be skilled at)

Identifying and defining the parts of speech

Analyzing each word in a sentence for its function

Expressing complete thoughts through their sentences

Providing details and elaboration in a sentence

Unit: Literary Journeys

Students will independently be able to use their learning to gain metaphoric competence in the areas of comprehension and production.

Essential Understandings (students will understand...)

• Literature helps us learn about ourselves and the world around us.
• Figurative language suggests different ways to think about the text by creating images in the reader’s mind.
• The concept of change is illuminated through varied forms of literature and language.
• Skilled readers analyze literature by examining main ideas, key words, figurative language, and the concept of change

Essential Questions (students will keep considering)

• What can we learn from literature?
• How does figurative language contribute to the meaning of a text?
• How can we understand the concept of change?
• How do skilled readers make sense of unknown words and phrases to effectively analyze literature?

Content Knowledge (students will know)

• Similes are comparisons that use words such as like or as and sometimes then, to compare two objects or ideas.
• Metaphors make a direct comparison.
• Personification is attributing human qualities to an animal, object, idea or force of nature.
• Central ideas or themes are developed and supported by details in a text.
• Poetry is a form of literature that helps us understand the world around us.
• Idioms are expression whose meanings cannot be inferred from the meanings of the words that make it up.
• Analogies involve drawing a comparison in order to show a similarity between two words or concepts.
• Key terms: metaphor, simile, analogy, idiom, personification.

Skills (students will be skilled at...)

• Identifying, analyzing and using figurative language.
• Recognizing the change process in a selection of literature.
• Describing what a selected literary passage means.
• Stating an important idea of a reading.
• Analyzing and interpreting literature through key words, main idea (theme), and figurative languag

Unit: Ancient Egypt

Students will independently be able to use their learning to…

Understand that our world is a collection of interdependent systems that shape and define our lives.

Thematic Generalizations:

1. Systems can be productive or dysfunctional.
2. The interactions and outputs of a system change when the system’s inputs, elements, or boundaries change.
3. Over time, human systems adapt, change in prominence, or are replaced.
4. Systems are interdependent.
5. Many systems are made up of smaller systems.

Essential Understandings (students will understand...)

1. Systems have identifiable elements and definable boundaries.
2. Most systems receive input, material or information, from outside their boundaries and generate output to the world outside their boundaries.
3. The elements of a system interact with each other and with input from outside the system. These interactions shape and determine the behavior of the system.
4. The yearly flooding and receding of the Nile River determined how people lived in Ancient Egypt.
5. Primary sources, such as Hieroglyphs and artifacts, are most reliable in allowing Egyptologists to validate or discredit theories.

Essential Questions (students will keep considering...)

1. How do systems function?
2. How does the geography of a civilization impact its development?
3. How are scientists able to uncover the mysteries of the ancient world?
4. How are systems interdependent?
5. How are systems organized?
6. How does social structure impact a civilization?

Content Knowledge (students will know)

• The 5 thematic generalizations of a System.
• Where Egypt and the Nile are located.
• The Pyramid Structure of Egyptian society: merchant, farmers, government officials, Pharaoh, scribes, soldiers, and artisans.
• Primary and secondary sources.
• The government was a subsystem of the Pyramid Structure and Pharaohs played an important role.

Skills (students will be skilled at...)

• Applying thematic generalizations to various systems, including civilizations, farming, education, and government.
• Comparing and contrasting daily life within different classes of the social structure.
• Comparing and contrasting the daily life of ancient Egyptians to other civilizations.
• Identifying valid primary and secondary sources.
• Analyzing the purpose of monuments in ancient Egypt and the process involved in building them.
• Ordering key historical events chronologically.