Third Grade Reading Activities & Curriculum Standards

Third Grade Reading – What are the Standards and Curriculum

Third grade is a time of highly visible progress within the concepts of reading, language arts and writing. Students increasingly take a more active role in this area of learning. While guided reading is still present, children are also able to read more independently.

Within Time4Learning’s third grade reading program you can expect your child will improve literacy skills through a multi-faceted approach using both online learning curriculum and hands-on activities. Solid assessment and positive reinforcement will provide the necessary support for them to succeed.

Utilizing a comprehensive reading curriculum, Time4Learning creates a strong foundation for your third grader in the following language arts strands.

5 Steps to Teach Third Grade Reading

1. Vocabulary Development: Vocabulary development remains a vital part of a third grade reading program. Word building presents a key to greater understanding and higher levels of comprehension.
2. Reading Comprehension: Our third grade reading program uses a combination of guided reading and independent reading exercises for children to be able to display their understanding of the material presented.
3. Language Arts & Reading Comprehension: Time4Learning’s third grade curriculum stresses the importance of language arts. Within this section of our reading program your child will find a number of learning activities that are primarily based on reading comprehension, writing skills, and vocabulary.
4. Literary Response: Another vital component of the third grade reading program is literary response and analysis using a third grade reading list. Through guided reading, students are introduced to a wide variety of significant works of reading level appropriate children’s literature.
5. Writing Applications and Reading Strategy: With an ever expanding vocabulary and better grasp of grammar, third grade students are now ready to prepare for tougher writing assignments.

Vocabulary Development

Vocabulary development remains a vital part of a third grade reading program. Word building presents a key to greater understanding and higher levels of comprehension. With Time4Learning’s third grade reading curriculum your child will be taught to:

• Develop an expanded vocabulary to create more in-depth sentences
• Recognize and use complex word families when reading to decode unfamiliar words
• Use sentence and word contexts to find meanings of unknown words
• Practice using a dictionary to find meanings and other features of unknown words
• Decipher word meanings with the knowledge of prefixes (e.g., un-, re-, pre-, bi-, mis-, dis-) and suffixes (e.g., -er, -est, -ful)
• Understand antonyms, synonyms, homophones, and homographs

Reading Comprehension

Our third grade reading program uses a combination of guided reading and independent reading exercises for children to be able to display their understanding of the material presented. Time4Learning third grade students will learn to:

• Read with fluency, with a focus on comprehension
• Recognize and use complex word families when reading to decode unfamiliar words
• Generate and respond to essential questions, make predictions, and compare information from several sources
• Determine the underlying theme or author’s message
• Identify the speaker or narrator of a story
• Use a “Think Aloud” process of summarizing, predicting, visualizing, questioning, and clarifying with extensive scaffolding and support
• Detect sequential order, fact and opinion, cause and effect, author’s purpose, inferences, and comparing and contrasting story elements

Language Arts & Reading Comprehension

Time4Learning’s third grade curriculum stresses the importance of language arts. Within this section of our reading program your child will find a number of learning activities that are primarily based on reading comprehension, writing skills, and vocabulary. Independent learning activities (ILA), think alouds, interactive guided instruction and read & respond lessons will build and develop working knowledge of language arts skills and give students plenty of practice. Your child will learn to:

• Recognize and use complex word families when reading to decode unfamiliar words
• Decipher multi-syllabic words
• Practice the conventions of spelling
• Develop more difficult classification skills (cat compared to animals; banana compared to food)
• Follow simple multiple-step written instructions appropriate to a third grade reading level
• Interpret information from diagrams, charts, and graphs
• Recognize the similarities of sounds in words and rhythmic patterns such as alliteration and onomatopoeia in guided reading selections
• Use titles, tables of contents, chapter headings, glossaries, and indexes to locate information in text

Literary Response

Another vital component of the third grade reading program is literary response and analysis using a third grade reading list. Through guided reading, students are introduced to a wide variety of significant works of reading level appropriate children’s literature. Time4Learning’s third grade reading students will learn to:

• Recognize and use complex word families when reading to decode unfamiliar words
• Identify structural features of the text
• Explain literary elements such as theme, plot, setting, and characters
• Distinguish common forms of literature such as poetry, drama, fiction, and non-fiction, as well as the basic plots of classic fairy tales, myths, folktale, legends, and fables from around the world
• Describe a featured character based upon the author’s description and/or the character’s interaction within the story

*Reading Standards are defined by each state. Time4Learning bases its use of reading standards on the national bodies that recommend curriculum and standards and the interpretations of it by a sampling of states notably Florida, Texas, and California.

Writing Applications & Reading Strategy

With an ever expanding vocabulary and better grasp of grammar, third grade students are now ready to prepare for tougher writing assignments. Moving beyond simple paragraphs, Time4Learning third grade students will be taught to:

• Recognize and use complex word families when reading to decode unfamiliar words
• Specify noun forms (singular, plural, regular, irregular), verbs, adjectives, sentence types (declarative, interrogative, exclamatory), sentence structure (subject, predicate), subject verb agreement and proper punctuation
• Understand the formula for the writing process
• Write for a particular audience
• Identify prewriting strategies, elements of a paragraph, research techniques and the writing process

Speaking is another fundamental ingredient of language arts. Time4Learning incorporates this strand within the third grade reading strategy by training students to:

• Select letter patterns and learn to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts
• Read narrative and expository text aloud, fluently and accurately, and with appropriate pacing, intonation, and expression
• Ask questions and support answers by connecting prior knowledge with literal information found in, and inferred from, the text

Time4Learning offers the option to move at your child’s unique pace, enabling your third grader to grow in confidence and skill. You’ll witness the positive impact continue to grow as these foundational literacy skills are secured.

In third grade language arts, Paul Bunyan's Blue Ox Babe teaches about Tall Tales in the lesson Tall Tale Squares.

In this lesson, students are asked to answer a riddle using clues within a picture.