Third Grade ELA Curriculum

Third Grade is a time when students as moving from “learning to read” to “reading to learn”. Students who are reading at the level of a typical third grader are beginning to enjoy longer chapter books, especially books that are part of a series. They enjoy familiar plot organization and recurring characters. Third graders are able to use a range of strategies when drawing meaning from the text. They use word identification strategies appropriately and automatically when encountering unknown words. They learn to make connections between different texts and understand the varying structures of different genres of text. Third graders are expected to think critically about their reading, locating and using appropriate text evidence to justify their reading responses.

Third graders begin to use writing as a tool for thinking and learning. They have a growing understanding of the structures of narrative, expository, and opinion writing and how to take into consideration the audience for their written pieces. By the end of third grade, students are expected to be able to write multi-paragraph pieces to explain, tell a story, or express an opinion. Third grade writers use mostly conventional spelling, and consistently apply basic rules of capitalization and punctuation.

Instructional Area	Instructional Materials	Units of Study / Learning Objectives
Word Work	Wilson Fundations Level 3	By the end of third grade, students will be able to: Identify word structures such as vowels, consonants, blends, digraphs, digraph blends, and trigraphs. Identify six syllable types: closed, vowel-consonant-e, open, r-controlled, vowel teams, consonant –le Identify, read, and spell words that are the “exceptions” to these six syllable types. Read and spell single and multisyllabic words containing all six syllable types. Read and spell words with additional sounds or silent letter. Identify and know the meaning of most common Latin suffixes. Add prefixes and suffixes to basewords and read and spell those words and know when these endings change the spelling of the basewords. Read and know meaning of homophones. Apply correct capitalization and punctuation when writing sentences
Reading	Our third grade reading units were developed by White Plains teachers and were recently aligned to Common Core Standards. In 2016-17, some teachers are replacing White Plains units with some or most of the Third Grade Reader’s Workshop Units of Study from the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project	Units of Study Include: Exploring Character to Deepen Understanding of Narrative Reading to Identify Point of View Building Interpretations of Poetry Inferring in Fables, Folktales, and Myths Identifying and Understanding Animal Adaptations (a cross-curricular science-based unit) Book Clubs
Writing	Our third grade writing units were developed by White Plains teachers and were recently aligned to Common Core Standards. In 2016-17, some teachers are replacing our own units with some or most of the Third Grade Writer’s Workshop Units of Study from the Teacher’s College Reading and Writing Project	Units of Study Include: Bringing Characters to Life: Writing Personal Narratives Writing to Share our Opinions Responding to Poetry Responding to Fables, Folktales, and Myths How Animals Survive: Informational Writing Writing in the Footsteps of a Mentor.