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 Camelby 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. Finally, in Unit 3 students focus more on what it means to be a proficient and independent reader. They continue to read literature about characters who are motivated to learn to read and overcome struggles to do so. Students assess their challenges as readers, and identify strategies to overcome those challenges. This unit includes a heavy emphasis on building reading fluency. Students write a reading contract in the form of a three-paragraph informative essay, in which they describe two of their learning challenges and some strategies to overcome those challenges. As part of the final performance task, they make an eye-catching reading strategies bookmark to help them remember those strategies as they read independently throughout the rest of the year.
Foundational Skills Students will demonstrate conventions of Standard English grammar and usage, focusing upon the functions of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. Students will read grade level high frequency words and read on level text accurately with appropriate rate and expression. Students will learn about the cutting patterns such as VCV and VCCCV. Students will also learn about the use of Y as a vowel and Y in the middle of a word.
Essential Questions
Why are education, books and reading important?
How can I overcome learning challenges?
How can learning cutting patterns help me with my reading and spelling?
How does knowing Y as a vowel and in the middle of a word help me become a better speller and reader?
Reading Literature RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. RL.3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. RL.3.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language. RL.3.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently. RI.3.1Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea. RI.3.4Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
Foundational Reading RF.3.3 Know and apply grade-‐level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
Identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.
RF.3.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
Read on-‐level text with purpose and understanding.
Read on-‐level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings
Use context to confirm or self-‐correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
Writing W.3.2Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.
Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within categories of information.
Provide a concluding statement or section.
W.3.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. Grade-‐specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above. W.3.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 3. W.3.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories. W.3.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-‐specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Speaking and Listening SL.3.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-‐on-‐one, in groups, and teacher-‐led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
Follow agreed-‐upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.
Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.
SL.3.3 Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail. SL.3.5 Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details. SL.3.6 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. Language L 3.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.