JPS

Third Grade Literacy Tool Kit

Alignment Jackson's Elementary Committee

JPS Mission

Jackson Public Schools, an innovative urban district committed to excellence,

will provide every student a quality education in partnership with parents and the

community.

Alignment Jackson Purpose

Our Children, Our Community, Our Success

The Purpose of Alignment Jackson, Inc. is to facilitate community-wide

collaboration in support of Jackson Public School’s strategic plan to improve student achieve-

ment.

Alignment Jackson Elementary Committee Vision

All students are empowered and equipped to succeed because they can read, write,

problem solve and think critically on grade level.

Al i g n m e nt J ack s o n E l e me n ta r y C o m mi t t ee M emb er s

Dr. Michelle King Jeanette S. Whisenton

Kristina Gaylor Ingrid Adams

Vera Johnson Jara Miller

Amber May Lucy Barton

Kelly Butler Emily Grossenbacher

Ashley Melancon Dr. Kimberly Smith

Chauncey Spears Chavanne McDonald

Dr. William Merritt Dr. Mitchell Shears

Kesia Horton Patty Furr

Cassandra Welchin Shawna Davie

Anthony Johnson LaKisha Boykins

The Purpose of This Literacy Toolkit

T h i s t o o l k i t w a s d e v e l o p e d a s a r e s o u r c e t o s e r v e a s a g u i d e f o r t h i r d g r a d e r e a d i n g t u t o r s a n d p a r e n t s t o s u p p o r t t h e T h i r d G r a d e L i t e r a c y P r o m o ti o n A c t . T h i s

t o o l k i t w i l l h e l p y o u n a v i g a t e y o u r c h i l d ' s j o u r n e y f r o m p r e - k i n d e r g a r t e n t h r o u g h 3 r d g r a d e . I t i s d e s i g n e d t o

h e l p y o u t r a c k a n d s u p p o r t p r o g r e s s t o e n s u r e t h a t o u r s t u d e n t s a r e r e a d i n g o n g r a d e l e v e l a t t h e e n d o f t h i r d

g r a d e .

What’s Inside

Third Grade Literacy Based Promotion Act

Third Grade Literacy Explanation & Expectations

Third Grade Readiness Standards

A Parent’s Guide for Success

Literacy Activities and Helpful Resources

Resource Activities for Sheila Rae the Brave (3rd Grade Required Reading)

Try to create a quiet place at home for child to study and concen-

trate, every day. Try to sit down with your child each day to for

about 15 to 30 minutes while your child works on homework. This

will help you to understand what your child is working on at school

and what skills your child may be having difficulty in understanding.

The following are five areas in which you can help your child at home to make reading a fun part of your child’s daily routine: Phonemic awareness is the ability to perceive sounds in words

Activity 1: Rhyming Activities - Parents can incorporate rhyming activities by reading aloud books that have words that sound alike. The books they read can contain nonsense rhymes, nursery rhymes, familiar jingles, or just lots of words that sound alike. Repetitive words and phrases, as well as patterns in the text, work best. Dr. Seuss books are excellent resources to help children develop phonemic awareness. Some of the best are Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, and One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish. Parents can buy those books or check them out from the library.

Activity 2: Syllable Manipulation - A syllable is a word part. Manipulating a syllable means work-ing with syllables in a concrete way. The most common methods of manipulating syllables include clapping, tapping fingers, and snapping fingers for each word part. For example, as you pass in front of a McDonald’s, you might say, "There is McDonald’s. Let's clap to see how many syllables are in McDonald’s." You and your child would then clap hands to each syllable in the word McDonald’s.

Phonics is the relationship between letters and sounds. Activity 1: Look for letters in your house or neighborhood. Point out and talk about the letters

you see and the sounds they make as you read words on signs, labels, menus, and the TV. Activity 2: Writing is a great way to practice phonics skills with your child. Have her help you

write a shopping list, birthday card, or an email. Encourage your child to find a picture from

the newspaper, magazine, or the internet. Cut it out, glue it on paper, and create a story

about it.

Activity 3: Play word games such as Boggle Jr., or Scrabble Jr.,

Fluency is the ability to read the text easily.

Activity 1: Reading and re-reading easy books is a great way to build your child’s reading fluen-cy. Have your child select a favorite book and read it aloud two or three times. This ap-proach, called repeated readings, is one of the best ways to promote reading fluency.

Activity 2: Echo reading helps to build reading fluency. You read a phrase, sentence, or para-graph aloud then your child then reads the same phrase, sentence, or paragraph afterwards, like an echo. Continue this pattern until you have read a book, story, or page of text with your child.

A Parent’s Guide for Helping Your

Child to Become a Better Reader

Activity 3: Review basic sight words with your child to make sure that he or she knows these

words automatically. Knowing these common words on sight will help to improve your child’s reading accuracy and rate. A list of the Dolch Sight Words is attached to this guide.

Activity 4: Have your child practice reading a text aloud while riding in the car or on the bus. Your child will stay busy and entertained, and this extra practice can make a big difference in your child’s reading fluency.

Activity 5: Set aside reading practice time every day. Even 5 minutes of reading fluency practice using any of the activities listed above will help to develop your

child’s reading fluency.

Vocabulary are words that a student can read and understand.

Activity 1: Talk with your child and try to use new and interesting words. Exposing your child to new words is a great way to build your child’s interest in learning words.

Activity 2: Encourage your child to read as often as possible. Children who read more have larger vocabularies and tend to do better in school.

Activity 3: Learning common prefixes can help your child learn many new words. For example, the prefixes “dis,” “re,” and “un” are the most common ones in the English language. If chil-dren can identify these prefixes, they can unlock the meaning of many new words. Have your child look for these prefixes when reading and listen for them in conversations. Work with your child to brainstorm as many words with each prefix as you can. Write these words and prefixes on a sheet of paper and post it on your refrigerator.

Activity 4: Start a family vocabulary box. As your child discovers a new word, have your child to

write it on an index card, add them to the box, and use the words in conversation.

Comprehension is the understanding and comprehension of what is read. a. Making Connections

Readers constantly make connections as they read; connections to their own lives, an-other book, or real world events. Ask your child the following questions:

-What does this book remind you of? -Have you experienced any of the events or situations in this book? -Can you understand how the character was feeling? Why? -What do you know about the book’s topic? -Does this book remind you of another book?

b. Visualizing Readers create pictures in their minds as they read. If they aren’t able to,

comprehension is lost. Perhaps background knowledge isn’t solid enough for the child to understand the text or perhaps he or she needs to reread for understanding. You could have your children make stops while reading aloud to describe the pictures in their minds. They could even draw for you what they see. You could ask the following questions:

-What do you picture as you read this paragraph? -When reading this story did you make pictures in your head?

-How did these pictures help you understand the story better?

c. Questioning When readers question the text before, during, and after they read, they attend more

closely to the text, clarify meaning, make predictions, and focus their attention on what’s important. It is critical for readers to understand some of the most interesting questions that aren’t always answered in the story.

-Before Reading

What do you think will happen? Why do you suppose…

-During Reading What do you think? What do you wonder? How come… What does this word mean? How can I figure out using clues from the

text?

-After Reading What would have happened if… I wonder why the author… I wonder where we could look to find out more about…

d. Inferring More than simple prediction, inferring happens when readers can take what they

know and what is written in the book to read between the lines. The ability to infer helps the reader get to the why of the story and draw conclusions. You can help your child use inference by asking the following questions:

-Why did you think that would happen? -Why did the author write the story in that way? -Why do you think the character feels that way?

-Why did the character do that?

e. Determining Importance Readers need to prioritize as they read. Be sure your child pays attention to first and

last lines of a paragraph, titles, heading, captions, fonts, illustrations, italics, and bold faced print. Start a discussion before reading by asking what your child knows about the topic and what he or she would like to learn what kind of message is the author sending, and what are the main ideas?

Complete Dolch Sight Word List

Sight Words are words that are recognized immediately (on sight) without phonetically de-coding or sounding out parts. When children learn these words they become better read-

ers. It helps with fluency and comprehension. You can create flash cards to make games for your child to learn these words.

Pre-primer: a, and, away, big, blue, can, come, down, find, for, funny, go, help, here, I, in, is, it, jump, little, look, make, me, my, not, one, play, red, run, said, see, the, three, to, two, up, we, where, yellow, you Primer: all, am, are, at, ate, be, black, brown, but, came, did, do, eat, four, get, good, have, he, into, like, must, new, no, now, on, our, out, please, pretty, ran, ride, saw, say, she, so, soon, that, there, they, this, too, under, want, was, well, went, what, white, who, will, with, yes 1st Grade: after, again, an, any, as, ask, by, could, every, fly, from, give, giving, had, has, her, him, his, how, just, know, let, live, may, of, old, once, open, over, put, round, some, stop, take, thank, them, then, think, walk, were, when 2nd Grade: always, around, because, been, before, best, both, buy, call, cold, does, don't, fast, first, five, found, gave, goes, green, its, made, many, off, or, pull, read, right, sing, sit, sleep, tell, their, these, those, upon, us, use, very, wash, which, why, wish, work, would, write, your 3rd Grade: about, better, bring, carry, clean, cut, done, draw, drink, eight, fall, far, full, got, grow, hold, hot, hurt, if, keep, kind, laugh, light, long, much, myself, nev-er, only, own, pick, seven, shall, show, six, small, start, ten, today, together, try, warm

Sheila Rae the Brave

· Theme: Being brave means making wise choices too.

Build Background Knowledge

Share with the students a time you were lost as a child. Make it interesting (if you have to embellish a bit, that's okay!). Ask them to turn to an elbow buddy and share a time they were lost or frightened.

Allow a few children to share their stories. Then tell them they are going to read a book called Shelia Rae. the Brave. Discuss what the word "brave" means. Brainstorm on a T-Chart some synonyms and antonyms for "brave." You will use this during the read aloud.

Interactive Read Aloud

Make predictions about the book before and during reading. What might Sheila Rae be brave about? What do you think Shelia Rae is going to do and why?

As you read the book, stop at strategic points to share your thinking with the children (thinking about reading).

On the T-Chart, point out specific words that were brainstormed. Underline or circle them in a different color. For example, "I think Shelia Rae is showing "fearlessness" in this part of the story. I'm going to circle that word to remind me." If the word isn't on the chart, feel free to add it.

Sheila Rae the Brave

Lesson Plan

Content Standards:

Decoding and Word Recognition

Know and use complex word families when reading to decode unfamiliar words.

Vocabulary and Concept Development

-Use knowledge of antonyms, synonyms, homophones, and homographs to determine the meanings of words

-Use sentence and word context to find the meaning of unknown words.

-Use a dictionary to learn the meaning and other features of unknown words.

Background: This is a vocabulary development lesson for the third grade, which addresses a “into” strategy – vocabulary.

Objective: TLW demonstrate the ability to (1) distinguish between vivid and vague verbs and (2) uti-lize a dictionary to determine word classifications.

Anticipatory Set: TTW ask the class if they were happy and in a good mood, would they be more likely to walk or skip? TLW will share and discussion will take place. TTW then ask TL if they needed to say something where only one person was to hear what was said, would they say the words or whisper them?

Access Prior Knowledge: TTW ask TL what is a verb? TTW ask for examples from TL.

Input: TTW use shared reading to introduce and read the book to the students.

Check for Understanding: TTW discuss the book with the students, checking for comprehension by asking questions regarding favorite characters, favorite parts of the story, and new invented endings for the story.

Input: TTW discuss the idea of vivid and vague verbs.

Check for Understanding: TTW ask the students to give examples of vivid replacements for the vague verbs that he will list on the whiteboard.

Modeling: TTW physically demonstrate the difference between walking and creeping.

Check for Understanding/Student Modeling: TTW ask for two volunteers. TTW ask volunteer one to demonstrate the difference between looking and then peeking. TTW then ask volunteer two to demonstrate the difference between walking and stomping.

Input: TTW tell the students that they will hear the story again. This time, they will be searching for all the verbs used in the book. TTW instruct TL to raise their hands when they hear a verb.

Input/Guided Practice: TTW does a second shared reading, stopping to call upon those students who have raised their hands. When a verb is identified, it will be written on a blank word wall that has been labeled with three columns. The verbs will be placed in the middle column by TT.

Input: TTW tell the students that they will now work down the list, determining whether a verb is vivid or vague.

Guided Practice: TLW determine the status of each verb, and TTW write the verbs again in either of the two left or right columns that have been labeled vivid and vague.

Input: TTW instruct TL to write the list of vague verbs in their journals, and to come up with alternative but vivid verbs to replace them. TTW inform TL that they may use dictionaries to determine if a word is a verb, and they may use a thesaurus to find their vivid replacements.

Evaluation/Assessment: TTW observe student responses to the story as it is read through the second time, and note participation in discussions. TTW assess the writing done in the journals.

Adaptations: The nature of the shared reading and group discussion in this lesson plan lends itself nicely to all levels of learners, including ELLs. ELLs and other special needs learners could be accommodated by working on an abbreviated version of the list of verbs, and in some cases where ELLs do not have the complexities of language to understand the nuances of vivid versus vague verbs; they could perhaps work with antonyms.

Name: _

Shelia Rae. The Brave Story Retelling

Start at the top of the chain. Write the main characters and the setting. In the link to

the RIGHT, write the problem. In the link to the LEFT, put the solution. In the remain-

ing 3 links, write 3 important events that led to the solution. Draw a picture in the middle showing the problem.

Third Grade Suggested Reading Books

Additional books by Kevin Henkes

Chrysanthemum

Julius, the Baby ofg the World

A Weekend With Wendell

Lilly’s purple Plastic Purse

Additional Recommended Reading

Be Good to Eddie Lee by Virginia Fleming

Cam Jensen The Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds by David A. Adler

Mrs. Katz and Tush by Patricia Polacco

Through Grandpa’s Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan

Uncle Jed’s Barbershop by Margaree King Mitchell

Other 3rd Grade book picks:

Frindle, by Andrew Clements

Charlotte’s Web, by E.B. White

The Quiltmaker’s Gift, by Jeff Brumbeau

Geronimo Stilton Series, by Geronimo Stilton

A Drop of Water, by Walter Wick

Additional Reading Books

Non-Fiction Books

Wild Tracks!: A Guide to Nature’s Footprints by Jim Arnosky

Lon Po Po: A Red Riding Hood Story from China by Ed Young

How Much is a Million? By David M. Schwartz

Guyku by Bob Raczka

The Boy on Fairfield Street by Kathleen Krull

Abe’s Honest Words: The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Doreen Rappaport

Animals in the House: A History of Pets and People by Sheila Keenan

Between Earth & Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places by Joseph Bruchac

A Dazzling Display of Dogs by Betsy Franco

Farmer George Plants a Nation by Peggy Thomas

Helpful Websites and Resources

Barksdale Reading Institute: Kelly Butler—Director of Program Strategy

kbutler@msreads.org—www.msreads.org

Jackson Public School District—www.jackson.k12.ms.us—

Summer Reading Program—page

National Institute for Literacy: www.nifl.gov—1-800-228-8813

American Library Association—ala.org

http://www.parenttoolkit.com/

Jackson Hinds Library—http://www.jhlibrary.com/

MPB—www.mpbonline.org

Parents for Public Schools—http://ppsjackson.org/

United Way—www.myunitedway.com

arbookfind.org

www.ABCya.com

www.ABCmouse.com

www.pbskids.org

Www.myownreader.com

Www.readworks.org

www.scholastic.com

www.starfall.com

www.storylineonline.com

Applications- Aesop’s Quest, Brainpop, Speech with Milo, and Story Builder

Read about Reading

Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about print

By Marilyn Jager Adams, 1990

Put Reading First: The Research Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read K-3

By the National Institute for Literacy

Research-based Methods of Reading Instruction Grades K-3

By Sharon Vaughn & Sylvia Linan-Thompson

Meaningful Differences in the Everyday Experience of Young American Children by Betty Hart & Todd Risley, 1995

The Barksdale Reading Institute

O t h e r H e l p f u l T i p s

M a k e t h e M o s t o f y o u r L i b r a r y B y n o w , y o u r c h i l d s h o u l d h a v e a l i b r a r y c a r d a n d b e f a m i l i a r w i t h y o u r l o c a l l i b r a r y . E n c o u r a g e h e r t o d e v e l o p h e r o w n t a s t e i n r e a d i n g a n d b o r r o w b o o k s t h a t i n t e r e s t h e r . M a k e s u r e t h a t s h e h a s ti m e a t h o m e , a w a y f r o m c o m p u t e r s a n d t e l e v i s i o n , t o f o c u s o n r e a d i n g i n d e p e n d e n t l y .

I n c l u d e N o n - fi c ti o n B o o k s M a k e s u r e t o i n c o r p o r a t e n o n - fi c ti o n b o o k s i n t o y o u r c h i l d ’ s r e a d -i n g l i s t , s u c h a s b o o k s a b o u t h o w p l a n t s g r o w o r h o w m a c h i n e o p -e r a t e , d e p e n d i n g o n h e r i n t e r e s t s . I f s h e ’ s i n t e r e s t e d i n d i n o s a u r s a n d o t h e r a n i m a l s , a p p o i n t h e r t h e f a m i l y “ a n i m a l d e t e c ti v e , “ a n d h a v e h e r p r e s e n t a n e w a n i m a l t o t h e f a m i l y e v e r y w e e k .

U s e I n c e n ti v e s t o E n c o u r a g e R e a d i n g

M o d e l g o o d r e a d i n g h a b i t s f o r y o u r c h i l d b y m a k i n g s u r e t h a t s h e s e e s y o u a n d o t h e r a d u l t s e n j o y i n g r e a d i n g . T h i s w i l l h e l p h e r v i e w r e a d i n g i n a p o s i ti v e l i g h t . N e v e r l e a v e h o m e w i t h o u t r e a d i n g m a -t e r i a l s f o r b o t h o f y o u . A l w a y s h a v i n g a b o o k o r m a g a z i n e o n h a n d f o r m o m e n t s l i k e a w a i t a t a d o c t o r ' s o ffi c e , a l o n g c a r r i d e , o r j u s t w a i ti n g i n t h e c a r t o p i c k u p a s i b l i n g h e l p s y o u r c h i l d u n d e r s t a n d t h a t r e a d i n g i s a n e n j o y a b l e a c ti v i t y t h a t s h e c a n d o a t a n y ti m e .

K e e p a D i c ti o n a r y a n d T h e s a u r u s A c c e s s i b l e

K e e p a d i c ti o n a r y a n d a t h e s a u r u s a c c e s s i b l e i n t h e h o u s e , a n d b o o k m a r k s s o m e d i c ti o n a r y s i t e s o n l i n e , s o t h a t w h e n a n u n f a m i l i a r w o r d c o m e s u p y o u r c h i l d c a n e a s i l y c o n s u l t t h e s e h a n d y r e f e r -e n c e s . E n c o u r a g e h e r t o a l w a y s l o o k u p w o r d s s h e d o e s n ’ t k n o w . Y o u r 3 r d g r a d e r w i l l b e d e v e l o p i n g m o r e s o p h i s ti c a t e d t e x t u a l a n a l -y s i s s k i l l s , h i s a b i l i t y t o w r i t e a n d o r g a n i z e i n f o r m a ti o n w i l l i m -p r o v e , a n d h e w i l l b e g i n l e a r n i n g t o t h i n k c r i ti c a l l y a n d s u p p o r t s h i s i d e a s w i t h e v i d e n c e .

www.parenttoolkit.

This book was compiled by members of the Alignment Jackson Elementary Committee:

V e r a J o h n s o n — P a r e n t s f o r P u b l i c S c h o o l s A n g e l a P . G r a v e s — J P S L e a d T e a c h e r L a n g u a g e A r t s K e l l y B u t l e r — T h e B a r k s d a l e R e a d i n g I n s ti t u t e D r . W i l l i a m M e r r i tt — J P S P r i n c i p a l D r . K i m b e r l y S m i t h — J P S P r i n c i p a l J e a n e tt e S . W h i s e n t o n — J P S L e a d L i b r a r i a n