Standard Course of Study :: English Language Arts — Grade 3

LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Goal 2

The learner will apply strategies and skills to comprehend text that is read, heard, and viewed.

Objective 2.06

Summarize main idea(s) from written or spoken texts using succinct language.

Resources aligned to this objective

Beans and how they grow
The students will incorporate computer skills, math, and literature with books such as: Miss Rumphius and The Reason for a Flower.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts, Computer Technology Skills, and Science)
By Betty Black.
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.
"Kid-Created" Biographies
In this lesson plan, the students will create biographies on the people they know best-- their teachers! The students will use various skills to collect information, organize details, publish the biographies and present the information.
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Information Skills, English Language Arts, and Computer Technology Skills)
By Gregg Farr, Lynn Beatty, and Tricia Freeze.

Lesson plans on the web

Be a reading detective: Finding similarities and differences in ideas
In this lesson, students use graphic organizers and clue words to compare and contrast items in nonfiction writing. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Book clubs: Reading for fun
In this lesson, small groups of students create, organize, and run book clubs in order to promote reading for fun. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Daily book boost
Each day at the end of their independent reading time, students give “book boosts,” one-minute raves about books they’ve read. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
A daily DEAR program: Drop everything and read!
This lesson gives teachers the tools necessary to implement a DEAR-Drop Everything and Read program in their class. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Exploring cause and effect using expository texts about natural disasters
In this lesson, students explore the nature and structure of expository texts focusing on cause and effect. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Exploring how section headings support understanding of expository texts
Provides a model, practice, and assessment in the sorting and categorizing of main concepts through the awareness and understanding of section headings. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Go west: Imagining the Oregon Trail
Students compare imagined travel experiences of their own with the actual experiences of 19th-century pioneers. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
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
Guided comprehension: Summarizing using the QuIP strategy
Introduces students to the comprehension strategy of summarizing. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Inferring how and why characters change
This lesson uses a think-aloud procedure to model how to infer character traits and recognize a character's growth across a text. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Integrating literacy into the study of the Earth's surface
In this lesson that incorporates trade books, read-alouds, and dialogue journals, students are introduced to the bodies of water on the Earth's surface, including ponds, streams, rivers, lakes, and oceans. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Science)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Literature as a catalyst for social action: Breaking barriers, building bridges
In this lesson, picture books are used to invite students to engage in critical discussion of complex issues of race, class, and gender. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Literature Circles: Getting started
This lesson explores Literature Circles, a collaborative activity to supplement a reading program in a literature-based classroom. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Not "Indians," Many Tribes: Native American Diversity
Students will heighten their awareness of Native American diversity as they learn about three vastly different Native groups in a game-like activity using archival documents such as vintage photographs, traditional stories, photos of artifacts, and recipes. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 and 5 English Language Arts and Social Studies)
Provider: National Endowment for the Humanities
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
Question and answer books—From genre study to report writing
In this lesson that looks at question and answer books as a genre study, students explore the content and format of these books, establish how they are different from and similar to other nonfiction texts, and discuss their possible uses for doing and presenting research. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE
Research Building Blocks: "Organize This!"
Students complete a written report on a state symbol. (Learn more)
Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts)
Provider: IRA/NCTE