English Language Arts — Grade 3

The Birchbark House

This study guide was created by a group of third grade enrichment students. They were planning to read this book but could find no published guide to go with it. They decided to create their own as they read.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts and Social Studies)

By Carolyn Ridgway.

Cause and effect

Students will identify and interpret cause and effect as expressed in poetry.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)

By Rochelle Mullis.

Narrative Writing - Using exact words

The learner will recognize exact verbs in literature and then use more exact verbs when writing a narrative.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)

By Georgette Rush.

Lesson plans on the web

3, 2, 1...Blast off! Vocabulary instruction using a virtual trip to the moon

Students learn new vocabulary by taking a virtual field trip to the moon. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 2–3 English Language Arts and Science)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Acquiring new vocabulary through book discussion groups

While reading the text Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco, students identify words that are unfamiliar to them. Working collaboratively in small groups, they discuss the meaning of these new words using context clues from the text, prior knowledge, and print and online resources. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Alliteration all around

In this lesson, students are introduced to alliteration through picture books by Pamela Duncan Edwards. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Book report alternative: Examining story elements using story map comic strips

Students use a six-paneled comic strip to create a story map, summarizing a book or story that they've either read as a class or independently. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Buzz! Whiz! Bang! Using comic books to teach onomatopoeia

This lesson uses comic strips to introduce students to onomatopoeia, words that imitate the natural sound associated with an action or an object. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Creating family timelines: Graphing family memories and significant events

Students explore family memories, interview family members, and create a timeline of important events in their lives. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Dear Librarian: Writing a persuasive letter

Inspired by the actions in Beverly Cleary’s book Emily’s Runaway Imagination, in this lesson plan, students write to their school librarian, requesting that a specific text be added to the library collection. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Delicious, tasty, yummy: Enriching writing with adjectives and synonyms

This lesson for third- and fourth-grade students teaches them what adjectives are and then uses a webbing strategy to help them develop lists of adjectives and their synonyms. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Fables and trickster tales around the world

Students become familiar with different folklore traditions and genres, as well as the process of the oral transmission of culture and history. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities

Graphing plot and character in a novel

This lesson uses The Watsons Go To Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis to introduce plot sequence and the importance of symbolism. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

How big are "Martin's Big Words"? Thinking big about the future

Using Martin's Big Words: The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as other resources, students explore diction used by Dr. King and compose a reflective writing piece. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

My family traditions: A class book and a potluck lunch

In this lesson, students read a bilingual children’s book and create a class book, which includes their artwork, information about their ancestral countries, descriptions of their own unique family traditions, and family recipes. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

My world of words: Building vocabulary lists

In this lesson, students select vocabulary words based on their personal interests, research the words, and create word journals to share with the class. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Our classroom: Writing an owner's manual

This lesson helps to establish a sense of community with students collaboratively writing an “owner’s manual” that describes expectations and guidelines for the classroom. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Q is for duck: Using alphabet books with struggling writers

This lesson introduces pattern writing to students by challenging them to examine the structures of various alphabet books in order to create individual pages for a collaborative book project. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE

Quilting: The story of the Underground Railroad

Students use the Internet to research the dangers that escaping slaves faced along the Underground Railroad and the factors that helped the slaves make it to freedom. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts, Visual Arts Education, and Social Studies)

Provider: National Geographic

Shape poems: Writing extraordinary poems about ordinary objects

In this lesson, students use an online interactive tool to write shape poems about a familiar object. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)

Provider: IRA/NCTE