Mendham Township School District
Reading Curriculum
Grade 3
Grade 3 Unit 1: Building a Reading Life
Stage 1: Desired Results
Reading Level Benchmark: M
Unit Goals:
Readers will develop an independent reading life.
Readers will build reading stamina.
Readers will get to know their own reading identities and establish goals/habits to make their reading
the best it can be.
Readers will establish reading partnerships that positively influence the reading community.
Readers will be resourceful using all strategies that help them solve problems while reading
independently.
Readers monitor reading habits by keeping detailed reading logs.
Essential Questions:
How can you make reading the best it can be?
How do readers read with stamina?
How do you find and create a reading identity?
Why are reading partnerships important?
How can partners help build positive reading lives?
How do you interact with a reading partner?
What are problem solving strategies to use while reading independently?
Skills/Knowledge:
Students will read with independence.
Students will choose and care for just-right books.
Students will read with accuracy and fluency.
Students will read with purpose and understanding.
Students reflect upon reading experiences in a reader’s notebook.
Students will set personal goals to create positive reading experiences.
Students will set personal and class goals to increase stamina.
Students will use metacognition while reading independently “to read themselves awake.”
Students will use accountable talk strategies when discussing books with partners.
Students will retell sections of their stories to their reading partners.
Students will write post-its to show thinking and to use while discussing books with partners.
Students will write book buzzes to positively influence their classmate’s reading lives.
Common Core Standards for ELA:
RL.3. 1, 10
FS.3. 3, 4
Stage 2-Assessment Evidence
Evidence:
Observations
Accountable Talk
Running Records
Reading Conferences
Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
Reading Logs
Reading Responses
Spelling Inventory
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Teaching Points:
1. Reflect upon positive and negative reading experiences in reader’s notebooks to change reading lives
for the better.
2. Set realistic reading goals based on previous experiences.
3. How to select just-right books.
4. How to keep detailed reading logs in order to monitor reading habits.
5. How to read with focus eyes on text, persistence and determination (setting stamina goals).
6. Model how real reading is thinking (real reading salad). Readers do not read on auto-pilot.
7. Readers read with their mind on fire and record their thoughts on post-its.
8. Readers create a 3D surround-sound movie in their minds while reading and monitor for breakdowns
in understanding.
9. Readers approach books like they are gold rather than reading like they are curmudgeons.
10. Readers hurdle hard words never detouring from the trail of the story (monster truck metaphor).
11. Reading partnerships help build our reading lives (partner reading interviews).
12. Readers read in the company of others so they can discuss what they read and analyze reading log
data.
13. Readers retell parts of their books (big step summaries) that are necessary for deeper discussion.
14. Reading partners listen to help each other grow ideas.
15. Readers write book buzzes to help influence and inspire each other’s reading lives.
Differentiation:
The unit includes presentation of material through multiple modalities such as visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic to address the unique learning styles of all students.
Assign, assess and modify if necessary to address the specific needs of the learner.
Students will select from authentic literature at their independent and instructional reading levels.
The teacher will individually conference with each student to address specific needs of the reader.
Resources:
Various mentor texts, and level appropriate trade books
A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 3, Common Core Reading and Writing Workshop, Lucy
Calkins, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, 2011
Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3-5, A Curriculum for the Reading Workshop, Lucy Calkins,
Kathleen Tolan, Mary Ehrenworth,Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University,
2010.
Grade 3 Unit 2: Following Characters into Meaning: Envisioning & Predicting
Stage 1: Desired Results
Reading Level Benchmark: M/N
Unit Goals:
Readers will think deeply about and learn from the characters in their books.
Readers will utilize comprehension strategies to better understand the text.
Readers will develop their abilities to write well about reading.
Readers will move fluidly from aesthetic reading to professorial/analytic reading.
Readers will discuss their characters with their partners to deepen their understanding of the book.
Essential Questions:
What does it mean to think deeply about a character?
What are the comprehension strategies (reading tools) that we can use to better understand the text?
How do we deepen our ideas about character through writing?
How can we help our partners to grow their ideas about characters?
What is aesthetic reading?
What is analytic reading?
Skills/Knowledge:
Students will develop their skills at envisioning to better understand the characters in their stories.
Students will develop their skills at predicting to better understand the characters in their stories.
Students will develop their skills at questioning to better understand the characters in their stories.
Students will develop their skills at connecting to better understand the characters in their stories.
Students will develop their skills at inferring to better understand the characters in their stories.
Students will develop their skills at synthesizing to better understand the characters in their stories.
Students will record and extend their ideas about characters in writing using thinking stems.
Students will ask each other questions to help each other grow ideas about their books.
Common Core Standards for ELA:
RL.3. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
FS.3. 3, 4
Stage 2-Assessment Evidence
Observations
Accountable Talk
Running Records
Reading Conferences
Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
Reading Logs
Reading Responses
Spelling Inventory
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Teaching Points:
1. Readers envision as they read (See Comprehension Connections for specific lesson ideas).
2. Readers predict as they read (See Comprehension Connections for specific lesson ideas).
3. Readers question as they read (See Comprehension Connections for specific lesson ideas).
4. Readers make connections as they read (See Comprehension Connections for specific lesson ideas).
5. Readers infer as they read (See Comprehension Connections for specific lesson ideas).
6. Readers synthesize what they have read (See Comprehension Connections for specific lesson ideas).
7. Readers make movies in their minds while reading to become the character in a book.
8. When readers notice that they are reading on emotional auto-pilot, they need to focus on seeing
through the eyes of the character.
9. Readers walk in the character’s shoes and remember times when they lived through something similar
in order to use their feelings and insights to better comprehend the character’s experience.
10. Readers revise their mental movies according to the story’s details.
11. Readers empathize with the main character to anticipate what the character will do next.
12. Readers read in such a way that they are connected with the character so that envisioning, predicting,
and thinking about a character happen all at once in a whoosh!
13. Readers use conversational prompts with their partners to help them deepen their ideas about their
characters:
What kind of person is the character?
Do you like him/her? Why or why not?
Why do you think the character did that?
Why do you think the character is feeling that way?
Do you think he/she did the right thing?
What do you think will happen next?
Differentiation:
The unit includes presentation of material through multiple modalities such as visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic to address the unique learning styles of all students.
Assign, assess and modify if necessary to address the specific needs of the learner.
Students will select from authentic literature at their independent and instructional reading levels.
The teacher will individually conference with each student to address specific needs of the reader.
Resources:
Various mentor texts, and level appropriate trade books
A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 3, Common Core Reading and Writing Workshop, Lucy
Calkins, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, 2011
Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3-5, A Curriculum for the Reading Workshop, Lucy Calkins,
Kathleen Tolan, Mary Ehrenworth,Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University,
2010.
Grade 3 Unit 3: Following Characters into Meaning: Synthesizing, Inferring, and Growing
Ideas about Characters
Stage 1: Desired Results
Reading Level Benchmark: N
Unit Goals:
Readers will move fluidly from aesthetic reading to professorial/analytic reading.
Readers will learn alongside of their characters and apply those lessons to their own lives.
Readers will discuss their characters with their partners to deepen their understanding of the book.
Readers will develop theories about their characters.
Readers will deepen their understanding of characters by expanding upon their original theories.
Essential Questions:
What is the difference between aesthetic reading and analytic reading?
What can I learn from the characters I read about in my books?
How can I apply what I learn from the characters in my books to my own life?
How can discussing a book with a partner help deepen my understanding of the book?
What is an inference?
How do I draw inferences about my characters?
What is a character theory?
How do I create a theory about a character?
How do I use writing to expand upon my theories?
How can creating theories help deepen my understanding of the book?
Skills/Knowledge:
Students make inferences about their characters to develop theories about them.
Students will use the narrative framework of fictional stories to develop analytic theories about their
characters.
Students will use partner discussions to deepen their original theories about characters.
Students will use thinking prompts to expand upon their original theories in writing.
Common Core Standards for ELA:
RL.3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
FS.3. 3, 4
Stage 2-Assessment Evidence
Observations
Accountable Talk
Running Records
Reading Conferences
Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
Reading Logs
Reading Responses
Spelling Inventory
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Teaching Points:
1. Readers read like professors to grow intellectual ideas about the book (developing theories).
2. Readers notice their character’s actions and use them as windows to help them understand them as a
person.
3. Readers notice when their characters act out of character and use these moments to learn more about
them.
4. Readers notice how other characters treat their character and use this information to inform their ideas
about them.
5. Readers use precise language to describe their characters and their actions.
6. Expert readers pay attention to the characters’ wants, needs, and motivations and the obstacles that get
in their way to develop theories about them (“Bringing a Narrative Frame to Theories About
Character”).
7. Expert readers notice when their heart is racing and expect their character to face a test. Then, we
construct theories about our characters based on how they responded to the test.
8. Reading partners can use thinking prompts to help their partners grow their theories about a character.
9. Readers use “Theory Machines” to deepen their theories about characters outside the pages of the
book.
10. Readers use “Prompts to Grow Their Ideas,” to deepen their theories about their characters outside the
pages of the book.
11. Expert readers think of the lesson the character has learned and wonder how this book might change
the way they behave in their own lives.
Differentiation:
The unit includes presentation of material through multiple modalities such as visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic to address the unique learning styles of all students.
Assign, assess and modify if necessary to address the specific needs of the learner.
Students will select from authentic literature at their independent and instructional reading levels.
The teacher will individually conference with each student to address specific needs of the reader.
Resources:
Various mentor texts, and level appropriate trade books
A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 3, Common Core Reading and Writing Workshop, Lucy
Calkins, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, 2011
Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3-5, A Curriculum for the Reading Workshop, Lucy Calkins,
Kathleen Tolan, Mary Ehrenworth,Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University,
2010.
Grade 3 Unit 4: Navigating Nonfiction
Stage 1: Desired Results
Reading Level Benchmark: N
Unit Goals:
Readers read nonfiction texts to learn new concepts and information.
Readers activate their schema before reading nonfiction texts to gain a deeper understanding of the
concepts.
Readers identify the authors’ slants and use those slants to inform how they read nonfiction books.
Readers grow ideas to deepen their understanding and develop theories about the nonfiction texts.
Essential Questions:
How are fiction and nonfiction books similar and different?
How do we use our reading strategies differently when reading nonfiction texts?
What is schema?
How do we use our schema to help us read nonfiction books?
How do we organize the information we read in a nonfiction text so that we can remember it?
What is an author’s slant?
How should we change our reading of a book once we determine the author’s slant?
How do we develop theories about nonfiction texts?
How do we grow our theories about nonfiction texts?
How do we teach others what we have learned in nonfiction texts?
Skills/Knowledge:
Students will be able to activate schema.
Students will be able to make connections with their schema.
Students will be able to ask and answer questions as they read.
Students will be able to create boxes and bullets to organize the information they read in nonfiction
texts.
Students will be able to identify author slants.
Students will be able to deepen their understanding of nonfiction texts by developing theories.
Common Core Standards for ELA
RI. 3. 1- 10
FS.3. 3, 4
Stage 2-Assessment Evidence
Observations
Accountable Talk
Running Records
Reading Conferences
Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
Reading Logs
Reading Responses
Spelling Inventory
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Teaching Points:
1. Readers study nonfiction books like scientists and record noticings about various nonfiction texts.
2. Readers read nonfiction with energy and power, revving their minds up for reading by previewing
books.
3. Readers rev their minds up for reading by activating schema (schema rollers).
4. Readers activate their schema and make connections with their text.
5. Readers of nonfiction ask questions just like readers of fiction, except they do it differently.
6. Readers identify technical words specific to the topics of the text and use text features to define those
words.
7. Readers use the boxes and bullets strategy on their hand to mentally recall main ideas and supporting
details. Readers ask themselves…”What did I just read?”
8. Readers write boxes and bullets to record main ideas and supporting details.
9. Readers of nonfiction become experts of the topics they read and teach others the information from
the text.
10. Readers realize how they are feeling about a nonfiction topic, and investigate how the author caused
them to have those feelings (author’s slant). Readers try to identify those slants and let it inform how
they read a book.
11. Readers grow ideas about nonfiction by talking to their reading partners.
12. Readers grow ideas about nonfiction by writing responses to thinking prompts.
13. Readers teach others what they have learned in their nonfiction reading through presentations,
artwork, and multimedia.
Differentiation:
The unit includes presentation of material through multiple modalities such as visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic to address the unique learning styles of all students.
Assign, assess and modify if necessary to address the specific needs of the learner.
Students will select from authentic literature at their independent and instructional reading levels.
The teacher will individually conference with each student to address specific needs of the reader.
Resources:
Various mentor texts, and level appropriate trade books
A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 3, Common Core Reading and Writing Workshop, Lucy
Calkins, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, 2011
Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3-5, A Curriculum for the Reading Workshop, Lucy Calkins,
Kathleen Tolan, Mary Ehrenworth,Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University,
2010.
Grade 3 Unit 5: Social Issues
Stage 1: Desired Results
Reading Level Benchmark: O
Unit Goals:
Readers think critically about fiction books by reading through a social issues lens.
Readers discuss social issues identified in books to gain different perspectives on the topics.
Readers use characters’ experiences to learn about social issues in the world.
Readers use the knowledge gained by reading critically to develop their own theories and opinions
about social issues in the world.
Essential Questions:
What is a social issue?
How do we identify social issues in books?
How do characters and events teach us about social issues?
How can we further develop our opinions and ideas about social issues?
How does reading about social issues in books impact our lives?
Skills/Knowledge:
Students will be able to make text-to-world connections while reading through a social issues lens.
Students will be able to identify social issues in their books.
Students will be able to determine importance of the scenes in the books.
Students will be able to deepen their understanding of social issues by reading critically.
Students will be able to form opinions about social issues after reading.
Common Core Standards for ELA:
RL.3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10
RI.3. 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 10
FS.3. 3, 4
Stage 2-Assessment Evidence
Observations
Accountable Talk
Running Records
Reading Conferences
Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
Reading Logs
Reading Responses
Spelling Inventory
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Teaching Points:
Students create a graffiti wall to activate their background knowledge on social issues.
Readers read critically by putting on lenses that allow them to see social issues in books.
Readers talk to partners to gain different perspectives on the topics and events in their books.
Critical readers not only identify the social issues in their books, but also ask themselves, “What does
this book teach us about the issue?” and follow that up by asking, “Do we agree or disagree?”
One way readers learn about the issues in their books is by studying what the character desires and
wondering why he or she might long for these things.
Another way readers can learn about the issues in their books is by studying the characters’ problems
and asking themselves why they have these problems.
Another way readers can learn about the issues in their books is by looking at the character’s reactions
to the issues they face.
Another way readers can learn about the issues in their books is by asking themselves if they agree or
disagree to their characters’ actions and reactions in their books.
Another way readers can learn about the issues in their books is by paying attention to crucial scenes
and thinking, “what does this important scene tell me about what this social issue is really about?”
Readers recognize that there may be two or more main social issues in a book and several other minor
issues.
Another way readers can learn about the issues in their books is by looking at who has the power in a
book and thinking about what the author might be trying to teach us about the issues that live in this
book.
Readers can and should challenge the text that they are reading by asking themselves, “Am I okay
with how this group is being represented? Does this fit with what I have seen in the world? Is there
something the author seems to want me to know about being a member of that group? Does this fit
with my life?”
Readers discuss what they have learned about their social issues with partners to grow their ideas
about the social issue as it relates to their lives and the world.
Readers become so invested in the social issues they read about that they propose solutions to those
issues.
Readers bring the same critical lens that they read with to their daily lives. When this happens, they
write descriptively and reflectively about their new or changing observations of the world.
Differentiation:
The unit includes presentation of material through multiple modalities such as visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic to address the unique learning styles of all students.
Assign, assess and modify if necessary to address the specific needs of the learner.
Students will select from authentic literature at their independent and instructional reading levels.
The teacher will individually conference with each student to address specific needs of the reader.
Resources:
Various mentor texts, and level appropriate trade books
A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 3, Common Core Reading and Writing Workshop, Lucy
Calkins, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, 2011
Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3-5, A Curriculum for the Reading Workshop, Lucy Calkins,
Kathleen Tolan, Mary Ehrenworth,Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University,
2010.
Grade 3 Unit 6: On-Demand Reading Strategies
Stage 1: Desired Results
Reading Level Benchmark: O/P
Unit Goals:
Readers use strategies to chunk on-demand reading passages.
Readers use strategies to answer multiple-choice and open-ended questions.
Essential Questions:
What is a narrative text?
What is an expository text?
How can we chunk the information in a narrative text?
How can we chunk the information in an expository text?
What strategies can we use to answer multiple-choice questions?
What strategies can we use to answer open-ended questions?
Skills/Knowledge:
Students will be able apply skills and strategies from previous genre units to dissect reading passages.
Students will be able to use various strategies to answer multiple-choice and open-ended questions.
Common Core Standards for ELA:
RL.3. 1-10
RI.3. 1-10
FS.3. 3, 4
Stage 2-Assessment Evidence
Observations
Accountable Talk
Running Records
Reading Conferences
Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
Reading Logs
Reading Responses
Spelling Inventory
Please Note:
We STRONGLY recommend reading Unit Seven: Test Preparation in the Grade 3 TC Reading Workshop
Curricular Plan in its entirety. It is enormously helpful and packed with strategies you can use in the
workshop teaching of test preparation (keep in mind that “Poetry” is not on the NJASK, but TC also writes
for a NYC audience). When teaching this unit, use the gradual release into independence framework outlined
on page 116. The following lessons would be the teaching points to begin each day’s workshop. There should
be time left at the end of the unit to give students practice tests on both narrative and expository passages.
Teaching Points:
NARRATIVE:
Readers identify narrative text and use a framework to organize the information (character, setting,
problem, solution).
Readers are alert for what kind of people the characters are.
o What do they want?
o What challenges do they face?
o How do they overcome those challenges?
o How do they change?
o What do they achieve?
o What lessons are learned?
Readers identify different types of multiple choices questions and use different strategies to answer
them by asking themselves…”What is this question asking me to do?” (Ex. main idea questions, detail
questions, inference questions).
Readers can spot different categories of questions through tricky wording.
Readers answer multiple choice questions by using the strategies cross out, look back and hide &
think.
Readers use the strategy Restate, Answer, Evidence/Explain, Evidence/Explain, Wrap Up to answer
open-ended questions.
EXPOSITORY:
Readers identify expository text and use a framework to organize and chunk the information
(boxes/bullets in the margins).
Readers stop frequently while reading and ask themselves…”What did I just read?”
Readers identify the different types of multiple choices questions and use different strategies to
answer them by asking themselves…”What is this question asking me to do?” (Ex. main idea
questions, detail questions, inference questions).
Readers can spot different categories of questions through tricky wording.
Readers answer multiple choice questions by using the strategies cross out, look back and hide &
think.
Readers use the strategy Restate, Answer, Evidence/Explain, Evidence/Explain, Wrap Up to answer
open-ended questions.
(Lessons follow a pattern of whole group work, heavy partner work, less partner support, and independent
work).
Differentiation:
The unit includes presentation of material through multiple modalities such as visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic to address the unique learning styles of all students.
Assign, assess and modify if necessary to address the specific needs of the learner.
Students will select from authentic literature at their independent and instructional reading levels.
The teacher will individually conference with each student to address specific needs of the reader.
Resources:
Various mentor texts, and level appropriate trade books
A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 3, Common Core Reading and Writing Workshop, Lucy
Calkins, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, 2011
Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3-5, A Curriculum for the Reading Workshop, Lucy Calkins,
Kathleen Tolan, Mary Ehrenworth,Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University,
2010.
Grade 3 Unit 7: Informational Reading and Writing in the Content Areas
Stage 1: Desired Results
Reading Level Benchmark: P
Unit Goals:
Readers learn factual information from informational texts.
Readers become experts about a topic and share that information with other readers.
As researchers, readers focus on certain parts of the text to get the information they need.
Essential Questions:
What is an informational text?
What does it mean to conduct research?
How do we record the information we learn?
How do you determine the most important parts of a text?
How do you generate essential questions about your topic?
How do you find the answers to your own essential questions?
Skills/Knowledge:
Students will be able to conduct research about an unfamiliar topic (Bronx Zoo animal).
Students will be able to identify important and unimportant parts in order to read more quickly.
Students will be able to break apart the main topic into smaller sub-topics.
Students will be able to focus their reading on answering their own specific questions.
Students will be able to focus their reading by concentrating on what they find fascinating.
Students will be able to grow ideas about their research topic.
Students will be able to gather information to support the writing of their informational text.
Common Core Standards for ELA:
RI.3. 1-10
FS.3. 3, 4
Stage 2-Assessment Evidence
Observations
Accountable Talk
Running Records
Reading Conferences
Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA)
Reading Logs
Reading Responses
Spelling Inventory
Stage 3- Learning Plan
Teaching Points:
Students select an animal to research after reading the information on the Bronx Zoo website.
Readers are researchers who read fairly quickly getting a broad overview of the topic and writing
down important or new words.
Readers mark information that might be important with post-its and reading on.
Readers make sure they are connecting important information with the text features rather than just
looking at interesting pictures.
After overviewing a topic, readers break apart the topic in smaller sub-topics and focus their reading
on answering their own specific questions.
Readers focus their research by generating essential questions about their topic by asking
themselves…
o What information do I know about this topic?
o What am I curious to learn more about?
o What questions do I have?
o How might I find some of the answers to my questions?
o What are my hypotheses to my questions?
Researchers search for answers to their questions as a way to guide their study.
Another way readers can focus their research is by concentrating on what they find fascinating about
the topic.
Researchers organize what they learn into boxes and bullets.
Researchers may not read a text from beginning to end but instead searching for important
information.
Researchers notice signal words such as all, most, few, but; these words almost always indicate
important information for the readers.
Researchers help the information they have learned settle in their minds by sharing it with partners.
Differentiation:
The unit includes presentation of material through multiple modalities such as visual, auditory, and
kinesthetic to address the unique learning styles of all students.
Assign, assess and modify if necessary to address the specific needs of the learner.
Students will select from authentic literature at their independent and instructional reading levels.
The teacher will individually conference with each student to address specific needs of the reader.
Resources:
Various mentor texts, and level appropriate trade books
A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 3, Common Core Reading and Writing Workshop, Lucy
Calkins, Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University, 2011
Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3-5, A Curriculum for the Reading Workshop, Lucy Calkins,
Kathleen Tolan, Mary Ehrenworth,Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, Columbia University,
2010.
