Third Grade Idea Sharing
Shauna Juarez, Literacy Coach at Alvin School (SMBSD) has created banners that include the theme title, the theme concept, and supporting pictures for each theme. Download them and use them on your focus wall. (The files are somewhat large, so please be patient as they download.) Theme 1 Theme 2
Theme 3 Theme 4
Theme 5 Theme 6
The link below will take you to the Vocabulary Page where you will find pictures for each key vocabulary word in the Houghton Mifflin anthology selections.
Vocabulary Page
The link below will take you to the Reading Writing Workshop page where you will find posters for each genre taught in the Second Grade Reading Writing Workshop. You will also find student self-check posters as well as "Tips" posters from each lesson within the RWW.
Writing Page
The link below will give you a table that lists the comprehension strategy, comprehension skill, spelling and structural analysis elements, and the grammar focus for each week of the Third Grade Houghton Mifflin Reading program.
Third Grade Reading at a Glance
Victoria Gonzalez, Third Grade teacher at Liberty Elementary (SMBSD), created an Impact 2 Grant entitled "The Art Part of Language Arts." Click on the link below and download full directions and digital photos for each story selection in the third grade Houghton Mifflin anthology. Some files are large, so be patient. Thanks, Victoria, for sharing!
Theme 1 Theme 2
Theme 3 Theme 4
Theme 5 Theme 6
Appendix 1 Theme 5 Appendix 2 Theme 5
Appendix 3 Theme 5
The Florida Center for Reading Research (Reading First Eastern Technical Assistance Center) has developed a wealth of Student Center Activities. These activities might be used during Universal Access Time or during intervention lessons.
Each activity comes with complete directions as well as any materials that might be needed for the lesson. Activities are listed under various subheadings (Phonemic Awareness, Fluency, Comprehension, etc.) and each contains multiple pages. Downloading these materials may take a bit of time, but they are worth the wait. If you don't want to print everything, click on File, then Print, then click the circle in front of Pages and enter the page numbers you want to print (e.g., 36-42).
Student Center Activities
Support for Theme 1:
Click on the links below to see a simplified version of the story vocabulary. Each vocabulary word has a picture that supports the definition. If you are creating vocabulary charts in your classroom and you want your students to generate the definition for each word (that they later confirm with dictionary work) then these pictures will be useful. If you want vocabulary words with definitions use Melinda King's links below. Theme 1, Selection 1: The Lost and Found
Are you looking for ideas for Universal Access Time. Here are a couple of ideas that were created to support or extend concepts and skills taught in the theme.
The Lost and Found: Sea Creatures "Expanding Your Vocabulary" web
Story Comparison chart for The Lost and Found and The Lunch Room
What is a sentence? This poster features all the teaching bullets for the Grammar Skills lesson on page 51K.
Writing a Friendly Letter: This one-page poster features the Guidelines for writing a friendly letter found on page 51M.
Slip these two pages (back-to-back) into a plastic sleeve. Then have your students use an erasable marker to insert the commas and periods in their proper locations. This supports the "Improving Your Writing" lesson on page 51N.
Support for Theme 2:
SELECTION 1: The Keeping Quilt: Click on the links below to see a simplified version of the story vocabulary. Each vocabulary word has a picture that supports the definition. If you are creating vocabulary charts in your classroom and you want your students to generate the definition for each word (that they later confirm with dictionary work) then these pictures will be useful. If you want vocabulary words with definitions use Melinda King's links below. Theme 2, Week 1: The Keeping Quilt
The Teacher Read Aloud for Week 1 is entitled "What Turkeys Eat for Thanksgiving." If your students have never seen a wild turkey, these photos will help build their background knowledge.
Wild hen turkey Wild tom turkey
Writing Paragraphs That Compare and Contrast: This poster features the teaching bullets on page 157N.
SELECTION 3: The Talking Cloth:
The Teacher Read Aloud for this week is "Storytelling Trees." The links below feature pictures to help support your students understanding of the story:
Saxman Village (Tlingit) lodge (Ketchikan) with totel poles
Totel pole carvers at Saxman Village
The Practice portion of the Comprehension Skills lesson on pages 205A-B asks students to create a cluster map for the story character, Amber. The link below can be used for this activity.
Cluster map for the story character Amber
The Information and Study Skills lesson on page 205C of the Teacher's Edition is on Taking Notes. The link below provides a visual representation of the teaching bullets found in the lesson. In addition, the questions for small group research found on Transparency 2-21 have been typed for the Practice portion of the lesson. Use these questions with information from Denver University's website about adinkra cloth or any other resources you may have available.
Taking Notes
Questions for research
Website for Making Adinkra cloth
SELECTION 4: Dancing Rainbows
The Teacher Read Aloud for this week's selection is "Punxsutawney Phil: The King of Groundhog Day." The link below will give you pictures to help build your students' background information.
Punxsutawney Phil
Support your students understanding and retention of the key vocabulary words with these pictures.
The Genre Lesson on page 215 in the Teacher's Edition lists the key points for Expository Nonfiction. This link lists these key points on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch poster.
Expository Nonfiction
The Writer's Craft lesson on page 223 of the Teacher's Edition is about Similes. This mini-poster defines simile and gives a few examples.
Similes
The Writing Skills lesson this week is about Writing a News Article (pages 231M-N). The Guidelines for Writing a News Article are listed on this poster.
Writing a News Article
Melinda King (Parker-Bennett-Curry School, Bowling Green, Kentucky) has been as busy as Mark Quig (see Second Grade Teacher Idea Sharing page)! Using Mark's format she has created packets featuring the key instructional elements for each story selection in the third grade Houghton Mifflin Reading program. Check it out! You might want to use a poster maker to enlarge each page for your focus wall. Just remember: The print on your focus wall needs to be large enough so that even the back row of students can see it!
Theme 4, Selection 3 features a problem-solution essay during a Writing Skills lesson (page 99M). Theme 4 Reading Lions writing assessment asks students to write a problem-solution essay. The poster below provides a guideline for writing a problem-solution essay.
Problem-Solution Essay
Focus Wall Parent Letters
To make your focus wall truly interactive and reflective of your students, send these letters home when you launch each theme.
Theme 1
Theme 2
Theme 3
Theme 4
Theme 5
Theme 6
These comprehension strategy pages can be made into posters for your classroom. Each offers a student-friendly checklist with picture/icons to help students use the strategies as they read.
Phonics/Decoding
Predict/Infer
Question
Summarize
Evaluate
Monitor/Clarify
Don't forget to check out the Comprehension Pages on the website, too.
Link to Comprehension Pages
