3rd Grade

3rd Grade has two, one hour ELA blocks of instruction. The first hour focuses on creating authentic learning experiences through literacy by incorporating Science and Social Studies Standards into in depth learning modules. The second hour is an Additional Literacy and Language Block, known as ALL Block, which gives additional small group time with grammar, fluency, vocabulary, independent reading, and spelling . They have four overarching topics of study through the school year. The first module of study focuses on how different areas of the world having learning struggles based on their economic and geographic differences. 

Unit 1:  Students explore different challenges students around the world face with access to education by reading the texts, Waiting for the Biblioburro, Rain School, and Nasreen's Secret School. Students will identify the central message of these texts and how that is communicated through key details. 

Unit 2:  In Unit 2, students focus more specifically on how children around the world have difficulty accessing books. This is highlighted in the text, My Librarian is a Camel, which is used by students to conduct research and write an informative paragraph describing how  students overcome these challenges. 

Unit 3:  Students will reflect on their own learning challenges, using the text, More Than Anything Else, to prompt discussion and ideas. They then record an audiobook as they practice fluency in one of the stories read throughout this module. 

Guiding Questions:

1.  Why are education, books and reading important?

Module 3 "jumps" into the Wide World of Frogs. Students explore narratives about frogs and then become experts by researching different types of frogs and their environments.

Unit 1:  The unit begins by piquing student interest about frogs through a series of short poems. These poems lead students into learning about "why" questions and ultimately leads to them writing their own pourquoi tale about how something came to be. 

Unit 2:  In Unit 2, students move from narrative text to studying informational text, using the book, Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures, to gather information and answer research questions. They then focus in on one specific frog and become an expert in order to write an informative paragraph.

Unit 3: Students take what they learned about the research process in the previous units and write an informative essay about a frog of their choice. The essay is critiqued and revised by both teacher and pers and they compile all writing in a book about freaky frogs.

Guiding Questions:

1. How do experts build knowledge and share expertise about a topic?

2. How do frogs survive?