Students are currently working in our Opinion Writing Unit. Third graders are full of opinions and are eager to persuade others. This unit channels those opinions into writing that can make a difference. In this unit, students learn to introduce topics, support these by listing reasons, using transition words to connect the various parts of their pieces and to conclude. This unit moves writers from writing opinion speeches to forming cause groups to support various causes. Across the unit, there is a focus on considering audience and considering word choice in light of audience. This unit has two major goals. The first is to help writers live more wide-awake lives, taking in all that is happening around them--injustices, small kindnesses, and so on--and writing about these in ways that move others to action and new thinking. The second major goal is to help writers become increasingly more adept at opinion writing in ways that provide the beginning steps for more formal essay writing.

Reading

Students are currently working in our Information Writing Unit. In this unit, students will read to learn by choosing topics they are already passionate about and seeking to learn even more than they may already know. This unit spotlights skills and habits essential to readers of expository nonfiction: reading with a pencil, determining importance, finding main idea and supporting details; figuring out and using new content-specific vocabulary; and comparing and contrasting information learned across texts.