3rd Grade

Unit 6: Taking a Stand

Summary of Unit: 

During this unit, students will be reading a variety of texts and forming opinions based on what they have read. Students will work on supporting their opinions with reasons and evidence from their readings. 

Reading: 

Curriculum: In this unit we will be returning to the genre of nonfiction.  Students will read different nonfiction texts and take a closer look at point of view, main idea, key details, text features, and they will continue to support their thinking with relevant information from the text.  Students will also be reading and partaking in debates.  

Home Connection: While reading with your child at home, have them continue to read for 25-35 minutes each night. This is important to build stamina, vocabulary, background knowledge, and reading comprehension. You can also have your child practice reading aloud. Encourage him/her to read with fluency and expression! Your child should stop and ask questions before, during, and after they read. This will help them understand and analyze each part of the text.  

Materials: Unit texts, graphic organizers, scaffolds, Fiction & Nonfiction question prompts, Anchor Charts

Writing: 

Curriculum:  Students will be working on opinion writing in this unit.  Students will begin the unit by learning about debates, choosing a side and sticking to it.  They will also learn about the difference between a reason and evidence.  After conducting extensive research, students will then produce an opinion piece to answer the question: Do animals belong in captivity?  

Based on their readings of both sides of the debate, students will have to form an opinion and support their point of view with reasons and text evidence. Students will be expected to introduce their topic, make a claim, provide reasons and evidence to support their opinion, and write a conclusion paragraph.  Students should also be able to connect their opinion and reasons with linking words and phrases that help their writing flow smoothly from one idea to the next. 

Home Connection: 

• To support opinion writing, you can ask your child questions that encourage them to choose a side and support why they chose that side.  For example, you can ask your child:
  • Are video games okay for kids? Prove it!  
  • Would you rather be able to fly or be able to turn invisible? Why?
  • Are plastic bottles handy or harmful? Prove it! 
  • Should students have to wear uniforms to school? Why or why not? 
  • Would you rather have a very strict teacher but learn a lot or have a very nice teacher but not learn much? Why? 

Materials: Notebook, pencil, graphic organizers, opinion writing scaffolds, and unit texts. 

Math:

Curriculum: During this unit students will focus on learning the attributes of two-dimensional shapes, especially quadrilaterals.  Students will look at different types of quadrilaterals such as trapezoids, parallelograms, rectangles, rhombuses, and squares.  They will learn how these quadrilaterals are defined in terms of the attributes of their sides and angles.  Students will move on to learning about convex and concave polygons.  They will use these attributes to differentiate between different polygons.  

         After learning about the different attributes the shapes have, students will use this knowledge to classify shapes by identifying common characteristics within a group of shapes.  They will tell how polygons or quadrilaterals are alike and how they are different.  

       Last students will determine the perimeter of various shapes.  They will explore the relationship between area and perimeter by analyzing shapes with the same area and different perimeters of shapes with the same perimeter and different areas. 

Home Connection:  One way to include this math unit at home is by looking at different geometric shapes in art designs, mosaics, quilts or banners- have your child discuss what they see in the designs.  Count the different types of shapes and describe the shapes using attributes taught.  Students can also create their own designs by using different shapes. 

Materials: Colored pencils, Grid paper, Various Shapes

Art: 

3rd grade artists will be studying Mary Blair. Mary Blair was an American artist, animator, and designer. She was known for producing art and animation for The Walt Disney Company, and drawing concept art for such films as Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and Cinderella. Students will be creating a castle inspired by Mary Blair using geometric shapes, lines and bright colors. They will learn how artists get inspiration from other artists and reflect upon their finished artwork. This helps an artist develop their skills and grow.

Music:

Third Grade musicians are learning to perform as a cohesive ensemble utilizing pitch, posture and tone. They are learning to work as an ensemble to perform folk dances from around the world. They will be putting together a fictional fairytale in the coming weeks and telling the story with song and dance. 

Home Connection: Practice your singing

Student Voice: 

Check out our Unit 5 Reflections. 

In this unit we learned about elements of fairy tales.  We read various cultural stories and discussed similarities and differences among the texts. 

Unit 5 Reflection