Fort Dodge Community School District

All Fort Dodge Community Schools will be closed March 27 - April 2 for spring break. We will see everyone again on April 3.

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Third Grade Literacy Overview

The Reading/Language Arts curriculum for third grade follows a balanced literacy approach which provides experiences for students in reading, writing, listening and speaking. Balanced literacy is a research based approach which has shown to increase student achievement. Within the balanced literacy approach, students participate in whole group instruction with grade level text as well as small group instruction in which a student works with text at his/her instructional level. Small group instruction consists of a student-teacher ratio of no more than 6 students per teacher. Students are instructed in the research based five components of reading which include phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, comprehension and vocabulary

Parent Reading Handbook : For information about ways that you can assist your child in learning to read and enjoy reading.

By the end of third grade, students will be proficient in the following Iowa Core Standards:  

Foundational Skills

  • Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words
  • Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension

Reading Literature (Fiction)

  • Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers
  • Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures, and determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text
  • Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
  • Employ the full range of research-based comprehension strategies, including making connections, determining importance, questioning, visualizing, making inferences, summarizing, and monitoring for comprehension
  • Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language
  • Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems, when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections
  • Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters
  • Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).
  • Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series)
  • 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

Reading Informational Text

  • Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers
  • Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea
  • Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect 
  • Employ the full range of research based comprehension strategies, including making connections, determining importance, questioning, visualizing, making inferences, summarizing and monitoring for comprehension
  • Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area
  • Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently
  • Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text
  • Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur)
  • Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).
  • Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented by two texts on the same topic
  • By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently

Writing

  • Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons
  • Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly
  • Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
  • With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose
  • With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing
  • With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others
  • Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic
  • Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories

Speaking and Listening

  • 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
  • Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantatively, and orally
  • Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail
  • Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace
  • 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
  • Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification

 

 

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