Third Grade Readers

Third Grade readers are in the thick of studying fictional characters. Students are learning about how to create mind movies by studying the authors words. We're teaching the students to have real and strong conversations about their books by using evidence from what they are reading to support their thoughts. Just a few of the lessons we've taught: 1. Creating Mind Movies by reading the words and developing a picture in your mind. 2. Rereading when your movie becomes "blurry" 3. Stepping into the character's shoes by using your senses to further build your mind movie. 4. Using empathy to make connections to what the character is going through. 5. Establishing an opinion about a character, building onto that opinion by gathering more information and possibly revising your thoughts. Students are also working to response in written form about their readings. Tomorrow students will be writing a letter about something they are reading at their desk (Just RIght Books!) and not only summarizing their reading but also stating their thoughts on mind movies and opinions of the character. Students will be graded on both their ability to response appropriately showing their thinking but also on their ability to write a letter in letter form, use appropriate capitalization and punctuation.

Third Grade Writers

What are the expectations for a Third Grade Writer in September/October? Students will develop a "Small Moment Story" which is a personal narrative. Students have spent a lot of time generating ideas which come from their own lives and experiences. From there, they draft their stories and begin revising their work based off of lessons we teach in class. Some of the lessons we have taught include, but are not limited to... Mini-Lessons: • Generating Ideas (Starting with Turning Points, Starting with Strong Feelings, “Rehearsing” versus Brainstorming, Effective Leads and Strong Endings, “Stretching the Heart”) • Revising (What Am I Really Trying to Say? Listening for Significance in Seed Ideas) • Drafting (The Heart of the Story, Borrowing Techniques for Great Authors) Please feel free to send me an email for any additional questions regarding writing instruction! There is SO MUCH involved in our instruction, including small groups and conferences to target individual needs.

Picture This! Using Mental Imagery While Reading

Check out this article on mental imagery. We are studying visualizing in Reading, which will then make our writing even better. Reading Rockets is an awesome website with many ideas and ways to help your student.


Picture This! Using Mental Imagery While Reading | Reading Topics A-Z | Reading Rockets

Pages on the Blog

Make sure to check out the extra pages on the blog such as Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop and Word Work. I'll be posting examples of anchor charts from our class and explanations about what we are learning. Since our students keep notebooks in Reading and Writing, it often makes it difficult to understand what they are learning and how it is assessed. I hope to clear this up for you guys!