English Language Arts

    NEW Reading Program- EL Learning 

Tewksbury Public Schools have adopted the EL Education Reading Program in Grades K-6. The third grade goal is to complete Modules 1-3. In addition students will continue in the Fundations phonics program.

EL Module 1 Overview

This module uses literature and informational text to introduce students to the power of literacy and how people around the world overcome learning challenges. It is intentionally designed to encourage students to embrace a love of literacy and reading. In Unit 1, students begin to build their close reading skills; they hear stories read aloud, read works in their entirety, and read more challenging excerpts closely. Throughout their readings, students determine the gist, identify the central message, and consider what key details convey that message in the text. In Unit 2, students consider how geography and where one lives in the world affects how one accesses books. Students continue building knowledge and vocabulary related to world geography as they study excerpts from My Librarian Is a Camel by Margriet Ruurs, which describes how librarians overcome geographic challenges to get children books. Students apply their learning by writing a simple informative paragraph about how people access books around the world, focusing on the role of specific librarians or organizations they studied.

EL Module 2 Overview

In this module, students will use literacy skills to become experts—people who use reading, writing, listening, and speaking to build and share deep knowledge about a topic. The module begins with students reading poetry and pourquoi tales about different kinds of frogs to generate “why” questions. At the end of the unit, they write their own fictional pourquoi narratives to attempt to answer some of their “why” questions. In Unit 2, students research to find out the real answers to their frog questions and write paragraphs to communicate their research.

In Unit 3, students will form research groups to become experts on various “freaky” frogs—frogs that have unusual adaptations that help them to survive in extreme environments throughout the world. Students will build their reading, research, writing, and collaborative discussion skills through studying their expert frog. Throughout the module, students will consistently reflect on the role of literacy in building and sharing expertise. They will demonstrate their expertise through a Freaky Frog book and trading card to educate students in grades 2 and 3.

EL Module 3 Description

What can we learn from reading literary classics? In this module, students consider the answer to this question through a case study of Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. In Unit 1, students begin reading Peter Pan. At the beginning of the unit, they also read an informational text about the author and historical context. As students read chapters of Peter Pan, they make connections between what they have read in Peter Pan and the issues presented in the informational text. Students also consider how each new chapter of Peter Pan builds on the events in previous chapters. In the second half of the unit, students analyze character traits and actions and compare their point of view to the point of view of the characters.

Once students have finished reading Peter Pan, in the second half of Unit 2, they write a book review explaining whether they would recommend the story to a friend. They finish the unit by participating in a discussion about their opinions of the book. In Unit 3, students revise a scene of Peter Pan using some of the reasons students would not recommend the story to a friend. After revising one part of the story, they create a presentation explaining why and how they have revised that scene. For the performance task, students read aloud their revised scenes to an audience before explaining how and why they revised the scene.