3Rd grade words to know: Academic vocabulary words for 3rd graders

Choosing Words to Teach | Reading Rockets

The teacher’s edition for a fourth-grade anthology suggests teaching the following words before inviting students to read an excerpt from Charlotte’s Web (White, 1952): comfort, cunning, endure, friendless, frolic, lonely, soaked, and stealthily. Why do you think these words were selected? One obvious reason for selecting words to teach is that students do not know the words. Although cunning, endure, frolic, and stealthily are probably unfamiliar to most fourth graders, comfort, friendless, lonely, and soaked are probably not. Familiarity does not seem to be the principle used to make the selection. What about importance or usefulness? Are the selected words useful for writing or talking? Would the words be important to know because they appear in other texts with a high degree of frequency? Some — but not all — of the words might be considered useful or important. Thus, the question remains: Why were the words selected? The purpose of this chapter is to consider what principles might be used for selecting words to teach.

Useful words

As a way to begin thinking about which words to teach, consider that words in the language have different levels of utility. In this regard, we have found our notion of tiers, as discussed in Chapter 1, to be one helpful lens through which to consider words for instructional attention. Recall that Tier One consists of the most basic words — clock, baby, happy — rarely requiring instruction in school. Tier Three includes words whose frequency of use is quite low, often being limited to specific domains — isotope, lathe, peninsula — and probably best learned when needed in a content area. Tier Two words are high-frequency words for mature language users — coincidence, absurd, industrious — and thus instruction in these words can add productively to an individual’s language ability.

Identifying Tier Two words in texts

To get an idea of the process of identifying Tier Two words, consider an example. Below is the opening paragraph of a retelling of an old tale (Kohnke, 2001, p. 12) about a donkey who is under a magical spell that forces him to do the chores for a group of lazy servants. The story would likely be of interest to third and fourth graders.

Johnny Harrington was a kind master who treated his servants fairly. He was also a successful wool merchant, and his business required that he travel often. In his absence, his servants would tend to the fields and cattle and maintain the upkeep of his mansion. They performed their duties happily, for they felt fortunate to have such a benevolent and trusting master.

The underlined words are those we identified as consistent with the notion of Tier Two words. That is, most of the words are likely to appear frequently in a wide variety of texts and in the written and oral language of mature language users. (Note: We chose this paragraph because there were so many candidate Tier Two words; however, most grade-level material would not have so many words in only one paragraph. )

One “test” of whether a word meets the Tier Two criterion of being a useful addition to students’ repertoires is to think about whether the students already have ways to express the concepts represented by the words. Would students be able to explain these words using words that are already well known to them? If that is the case, it suggests that the new words offer students more precise or mature ways of referring to ideas they already know about. One way to answer the question is to think about how average third and fourth graders would talk about the concepts represented by the Tier Two words. We think that students would be likely to offer the explanations shown in the accompanying list.

Adding the seven target words to young students’ vocabulary repertoires would seem to be quite productive, because learning the words would allow students to describe with greater specificity people and situations with which they already have some familiarity. Note that these words are not simple synonyms of the familiar ones, however, instead representing more precise or more complex forms of the familiar words. Maintain means not only “keep going,” for example, but also “to continue something in its present condition or at its present level.” Benevolent has the dimension of tolerance as well as kindness.

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Selecting from a pool of words

The decision about which words to teach must also take into account how many words to teach in conjunction with any given text or lesson. Given that students are learning vocabulary in social studies and science as well as reading or language arts, there needs to be some basis for limiting the number of words so that students will have the opportunity to learn some words well.

Now consider which of the words will be most useful in helping students understand the above paragraph. For the seven words noted there, our thinking is that fortunate is particularly important because the fact that the servants thought they were lucky is an important condition of the story. Similarly, benevolent plays an important role in setting up the story, as the servants appreciate their master’s kindness and do not want to upset their pleasant living situation. If one other word were to be selected, a good choice would be merchant. Merchant is a word that comes up in fourth- and fifth-grade social studies textbooks in discussions of colonization of the Americas (e.g., “European merchants were eager to locate new resources like tobacco and indigo which could be found in the colonies”; or “Colonial merchants were dismayed by the taxes on English goods which meant higher prices for their customers but no more profit for themselves”).

The other candidate words, tend, required, performed, and maintain, are also words of strong general utility, and the choice of whether to include any more words is based solely on considering how many words one thinks students can usefully handle.

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You try it

Below is another excerpt from the tale about the donkey under the magical spell described above (Kohnke, 2001, p. 12). You might find it useful to try your hand at identifying Tier Two words. You will get to see our choices below the excerpt, so that you can compare your selections with ours.

The servants would never comment on this strange occurrence [finding the kitchen clean even though none of them were seen doing the cleaning], each servant hoping the other had tended to the chores. Never would they mention the loud noises they’d hear emerging from the kitchen in the in middle of the night. Nor would they admit to pulling the covers under their chins as they listened to the sound of haunting laughter that drifted down the halls to their bedrooms each night. In reality, they knew there was a more sinister reason behind their good fortune.

Which words did you select? Trying to be all-inclusive, selecting any words that might fit Tier Two, we chose comment, occurrence, tended, mention, emerging, admit, haunting, reality, sinister, and fortune. We considered them Tier Two words as we viewed them as fairly “general but sophisticated words.” That is, they are not the most basic or common ways of expressing ideas, but they are familiar to mature language users as ordinary as opposed to specialized language. The concepts embodied in each word are ones that students already have some understanding of, as shown in the accompanying list.

Now, the notion of tiers of words is not a precise one, and the lines between tiers are not clear-cut, so your selection may not match ours. Thinking in terms of tiers is just a starting point — a way of framing the task of choosing candidate words for instruction (see the accompanying box). Even within Tier Two, some words will be more easily familiar and some will be more useful than others. For example, our hunch is that admit, reality, and fortune are likely known to most fourth or fifth graders; that tended is not often used in a way that is key to understanding; and that fifth graders may already associate haunting with scary things — a Halloween context — which is fitting for this story. Thus we ended up with comment, occurrence, mention, emerging, and sinister. We judged the first four of these to be most useful across a range of contexts, and we chose sinister because it is a strong word with emotional impact that is used in literature to describe fictional characters as well as in nonfiction, such as when describing a group’s sinister plans to invade another’s territory.

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Considerations beyond Tier Two

There is nothing scientific about the way words are identified for attention in school materials. Some words are obvious candidates, such as selecting the word representation for a social studies unit on the American Revolutionary War era. But beyond the words that play major roles, choices about what specific set of words to teach are quite arbitrary. Teachers should feel free to use their best judgment, based on an understanding of their students’ needs, in selecting words to teach. They should also feel free to treat words in different ways. As Chapters 3, 4, and 5 will show, Tier Two words are not only words that are important for students to know, they are also words that can be worked with in a variety of ways so that students have opportunities to build rich representations of them and of their connections to other words and concepts.

In many texts, however, there may be several unfamiliar words that do not meet the criteria for Tier Two words but which nevertheless require some attention if students are to understand a selection. Consider the following excerpt from the short story “My Father, the Entomologist” (Edwards, 2001, p. 5):

“Oh, Bea, you look as lovely as a longhorn beetle lifting off for flight. And I must admit your antennae are adorable. Yes, you’ve metamorphosed into a splendid young lady.”

Bea rolled her eyes and muttered, “My father, the entomologist.” “I heard that, Bea. It’s not nice to mumble. Unless you want to be called a … Mumble Bea!” Bea’s father slapped his knee and hooted. Bea rolled her eyes a second time.

The first day of fifth grade, and my father tells me I look like a longhorn beetle. Bea shuddered at the thought. She absolutely detested bugs.

With fourth and fifth-grade students in mind, we have divided the 12 underlined words from the story into the following three categories:

The first column contains words that are important to the story but that can be dealt with very quickly. Longhorn beetle does not call for attention — students will understand it as a type of insect, and more knowledge is not needed to understand the story.

Antennae and entomologist are needed to understand the situation the author uses to set up the story, but the two words can be quickly described as “those things that stick out from an insect’s head” and “a scientist who studies insects.” More precise information is not required for this selection.

Metamorphosed can be explained as simply changed or grown, but to get the humor intended here, the information needs to be given that it is the type of change that certain insects go through, such as when a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. But, again, no more precision is required, and this is not the place to go through the elaborate explanation about the process or how it occurs. That should occur in a science unit about insects.

The words in the next two columns have more general applications and are consistent with Tier Two words. The words in the second column — obsessed, detest, and despise — are most substantively related to the plot of the story, which is about a father who is obsessed with bugs and his daughter who detests and despises them. Detest and despise create a kind of “two-fer” situation, in that they are very close synonyms that could be introduced together and used interchangeably.

The rest of the words do not play key roles in the story, nor is their unfamiliarity likely to interfere with comprehension. So, which other words are attended to, if any, is simply a matter of choice and convenience. That is, a decision as to the number of words taught might be made on the basis of how many a teacher wants to make room for at the moment. Factors in this decision may include, for example, how large the current vocabulary load is in the classroom, the time of year, and the number and difficulty of other concepts presently being dealt with in the curriculum.

Assume that there is room for several more words from this story. It might be convenient to teach splendid and shuddered, because they could take advantage of concepts already established for the story. Shuddered fits well, since something that is detested might well make one shudder. Splendid is also a good fit, as in: “Bea’s dad thinks bugs are splendid, but Bea detests them.” Or “If you’re obsessed about something, you might think it’s splendid.” These two words would also be favored because they have a bit more dimension to them than mumble, muttered,or hurl. This is not to say that mumble, muttered,or hurl should not be taught, but simply that, presented with the choice of words to work with, splendid and shuddered seem to lend themselves to a wider diversity of possible uses.

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What if there are not enough words?

Now let us consider a text that does not seem to offer much for vocabulary development because all of the words in the text are familiar to students. An approach in such a case could be selecting words whose concepts fit in with the story even though the words do not appear. For example, if the story features a character who is a loner, introduce the words hermit, isolated,or solitary; if a problem is dealt with, present it as a dilemma or conflict; if a character is hardworking, consider if he or she is diligent and conscientious. Think in terms of words that coordinate with, expand, or play off of words, situations, or characters in a text.

Bringing in words whose concepts fit with a story is especially salient when young children are just learning to read and there are only the simplest words in their text. Consider a story in which two children (Pam and Matt) try on a number silly hats, some of which are very big and two of which are exactly alike. A number of words came to mind, and we chose absurd, enormous, and identical. Next we suggest how those words might be introduced to young children:

• In the story, Pam and Matt had very, very silly hats. Another way to say that something is very, very silly is to say that it is absurd. When something is absurd, it is so silly it’s hard to believe.
• Some of the hats that Pam and Matt wore were so big that all you could see were their feet. Another way to say that something is very, very big is to say that it is enormous. Enormous means “very big — very, very big.”
• Pam and Matt put on red hats that were almost exactly alike. A way to say that two things are exactly alike is to say that they are identical. Identical means “exactly alike.”

Words don’t need to be completely unfamiliar to students in order to be good candidates for instructional attention. Words might be selected for attention that may be familiar to students but which illustrate the power of an author’s choice of words to reveal information about a character or situation. For example, notice the underlined words in the following excerpt, which is taken from a sixth-grade unit on Egypt (Banks et al., 1997, p. 87). The topic is Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh.

Hatshepsut
Hatshepsut was a princess and the wife of a pharaoh. She seized the chance to become pharaoh herself when her husband died. Her young stepson was supposed to become the new pharaoh of Egypt. Hatshepsut proclaimed, however, that the ten-year-old boy was too young to rule on his own. In this way she succeeded in being named co-ruler.

Hatshepsut’s Trading Journey
In the eighth year of her reign, Hatshepsut organized the biggest trading expedition of her career. An expedition is a group of people who go on a trip for a set reason. The goal of Hatshepsut’s expedition was to trade with Egypt’s neighbors to the south in Punt. Historians think Punt may have been in what is today Ethiopia or Somalia…

The huge caravan of scribes, soldiers, artists, and attendants set off along a dusty road that led east to the Red Sea. There they loaded their cargo onto five sleek ships for the long journey south.

The only word identified for attention by the publisher in this segment is expedition, which is explained within the text. The two underlined words — seized and sleek — offer possibilities for drawing students’ attention to the effect of an author’s choice of words and help the topic come alive.

That Hatshepsut “seized” the chance to become pharaoh reveals something about her character that would make for an interesting discussion. For example: “It says that Hatshepsut seized the chance to become pharaoh. Seize means ‘to grab something or take control of it firmly.’ So, what does that tell us about Hatshepsut? Was she afraid of being pharaoh? Do you think she was eager to become a ruler?”

Similarly, that the expedition sailed off in “sleek” ships communicates the prosperity and style of the Egyptian civilization. Discussion could prompt thinking in that direction: “Sleek is a word used to describe something graceful and stylish, that marks its owner as well-to-do. ‘They sailed off in sleek ships.’ What picture does that give us of Egypt?” Additionally, words like ambitious and calculating could be introduced to characterize Hatshepsut.

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An example for older students

The examples provided thus far were drawn from texts for readers in the intermediate grades. Although the same principles apply to selecting words from texts for students in the upper grades, they may play out a bit differently. Thus, we present a discussion of the words that might be selected for Agatha Christie’s “In a Glass Darkly” (1934), a story that is likely to be of interest to students in eighth or ninth grade. It is a rather brooding tale that moves from a murderous premonition to unrequited love, jealousy, and near tragedy before resolving happily. The story begins as the narrator, while staying with a friend, sees a vision of a man strangling a woman. The woman turns out to be his friend’s sister, Sylvia, with whom he falls in love. But Sylvia is engaged to the man he saw in his vision. He tells her of the vision, and she breaks her engagement. For years, the narrator is unable to tell her of his feelings for her. Finally, love is revealed and they marry. But he is deeply jealous, a feeling that results in his nearly strangling his wife — until he notices in the mirror that he is playing out the scene of his premonition.

The language of the story is sophisticated but not particularly difficult. Most words will likely be at least passingly familiar to many readers in eighth or ninth grade. However, many of the words are probably not of high frequency in the students’ vocabularies, and thus an opportunity presents itself for students to work with these words and gain fluency with them. Here are the 30 words from the story that we identified as Tier Two words:

Of the 30 words, we decided to focus on 10 of them: essential, altered, well-off, devoted, entrenched, inevitable, sobering, revelation, upshot, and disinterested.

Ten words may be a lot to develop effectively for one story, but we see it as a workable number because many of them will already be familiar. Also, two of the words could be introduced rather briefly with little or no follow-up work. These are altered, which could be defined simply as “permanently changed,” and well-off, which could simply be given the synonym wealthy. The reason for attention to these two words is that they could cause confusion at the local level in the story if not understood.

Two other words were also chosen because they could cause confusion in a part of the story. These are upshot and disinterested. The narra-tor talks of the upshot of his decision to tell Sylvia that he saw a vision of her fiancé choking her. Because of the context and feel of the story, we thought upshot might be interpreted as some sort of physical violence, instead of simply “the result of.” The word disinterested meaning “not being involved in a particular situation” is often confused with uninterested, meaning “not interested,” and the story provides a good opportunity to introduce that distinction.

Five words seem to convey the mood and emotional impact of story developments: devoted, entrenched, inevitable, sobering, and revelation. And the word essential was chosen because “one essential detail” turns out to be a key plot device — that is, in his premonition, the narrator notices a scar on the left side of the choker’s face. The essential detail he fails to account for is that he is seeing this in a mirror, so the scar is actually on the right. The five words can be used to describe the plot as follows: The narrator is devoted to Sylvia, although entrenched in a jealousy that causes inevitable problems. Only a sobering revelation (that essential detail) saves him, his marriage, and his wife.

A couple of points should be emphasized here. The words were selected not so much because they are essential to comprehension of the story but because they seem most closely integral to the mood and plot. In this way, the vocabulary work provides both for learning new words and for enriching understanding of literature. This decision was made possible because there was a large pool of words from which to choose. Sometimes choices are more limited, and sometimes the best words are not so tied to the story. In such cases, a decision might be made to select words that seem most productive for vocabulary development despite their role in the story.

For the six words we consider to be most important to teach, some characteristics of the words themselves also drove our selections. Sobering was selected because its strongest sense for students might be as the opposite of drunk. So, the context of the story provides a good opportunity to overcome that and introduce its more general sense. The others, essential, devoted, entrenched, inevitable, and revelation, have wide potential for use and are not limited to specific situations or stereotypical contexts. Yet, they seem to be strongly expressive words that can bring emotional impact to contexts in which they are used.

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An example for young children

We turn now to selecting words to enhance the vocabulary repertoires of young children — those who are just learning to read. We make two immediate distinctions between vocabulary work with intermediate and older students and work with students in the earliest grades, typically kindergarten though early second grade. The first is that we consider the best sources for new vocabulary to be trade books that teachers read aloud to children rather than the books children read on their own. In Chapter 4 we will make our case for that position. The second distinction is that in contrast to introducing words before a story, in our work with young children we have found it most appropriate to engage in vocabulary activities after a story has been read.

There are two reasons we decided that vocabulary activities for young children should occur after a story. First, if a word is needed for comprehension, since the teacher is reading the story she is available to briefly explain the word at the point in the story where it is needed (e.g., “A ukulele is a kind of guitar”; or “When ducks molt, they lose their feathers and can’t fly until new ones grow”). Second, since the words that will be singled out for vocabulary attention are words that are very likely unfamiliar to young children, the context from the story provides a rich example of the word’s use and thus strong support for the children’s initial learning of the word.

The basis for selecting words from trade books for young children is that they are Tier Two words and words that are not too difficult to explain to young children. Here, we present our thinking for selecting three words for instructional attention from The Popcorn Dragon (Thayer, 1953), a story targeted to kindergartners.

In our review of The Popcorn Dragon for Tier Two candidate words, we first identified the following seven: accidentally, drowsy, pranced, scorched, envious, delighted, and forlorn. From the pool of seven, we decided to provide instruction for three: envious, delighted, and forlorn. We considered three issues in making our choices. First, we determined that the concept represented by each word was understandable to kindergartners; that is, 5-year-olds understand the concepts of wanting something someone else has (envious), being very happy (delighted), and being very sad (forlorn). Second, it is not too difficult to explain the meanings of those words in very simple language, as illustrated in the previous sentence! And, third, each word has extensive possibilities for use. In particular, the words are found in numerous fairy tales; that is, there is often some character who is envious of another, and there are characters who are delighted or forlorn about the turn of events. The words, however, are not restricted to make-believe; they can all be used in describing people in common situations.

We found the other candidate words — pranced, accidentally, scorched, and drowsy — interesting and potentially useful, but we saw scorched and pranced as narrower than the ones we chose, and drowsy and accidentally as not quite so interesting. We hasten to make the point that this is all a matter of judgment. The final decisions about which words to teach may not be as important as thoughtful consideration about why to teach certain words and not others.

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What about words being on grade level?

A concern that surfaces in deciding which words to teach is whether words are appropriate for students at certain grade levels. Key to this concern is to understand that no formula exists for selecting age-appropriate vocabulary words despite lists that identify “fifth-grade words” or “seventh-grade words.” There is simply no basis for determining which words students should be learning at different grade levels. For example, that coincidence is an “eighth-grade word” according to a frequency index means only that most students do not know the word until eighth grade. It does not mean that students in seventh or even third grade cannot learn the word or should not be taught it.

There are only two things that make a word inappropriate for a certain level. One is not being able to explain the meaning of a word in known terms. If the words used to explain a target word are likely unknown to the students, then the word is too hard. The other consideration for word selection is that the words be useful and interesting — ones that students will be able to find uses for in their everyday lives. Of course, this is a matter of judgment, best decided by those who know the individual students. Work we have done with kindergarten and first-grade children shows that sophisticated words can be successfully taught to young children. For example, kindergartners readily applied nuisance to disruptive classmates, and understood what was happening when a commotion occurred in the hall; first graders could easily discern argumentative peers from those who acted dignified!

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In summary

In evaluating words as possible candidates for instruction, here are three things to keep in mind:

1. How generally useful is the word? Is it a word that students are likely to meet often in other texts? Will it be of use to students in describing their own experiences?

For example, students are likely to find more situations in which to apply typical and dread than portage and brackish.

2. How does the word relate to other words, to ideas that students know or have been learning? Does it directly relate to some topic of study in the classroom? Or might it add a dimension to ideas that have been developed?

For example, what might knowing the word hubris bring to a middle school student’s understanding of the battles at Lexington and Concord, which set the Revolutionary War in motion?

3. What does the word bring to a text or situation? What role does the word play in communicating the meaning of the context in which it is used?

A word’s meaning might be necessary for understanding a text. Or understanding its meaning might allow an enriched insight about the situation being presented, such as in the case of Hatshepsut’s seizing power and her expedition traveling in sleek ships.

Keep in mind that there is no formula for selecting age-appropriate vocabulary words despite lists that identify “fifth-grade words” or “seventh-grade words.” As long as the word can be explained in known words and can apply to what students might talk or write about, it is an appropriate word to teach.

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Your turn

We invite you to use what you have learned in this chapter to make some decisions about which words you will teach.

1. Select a text that your students will be reading. It can be a story, or an excerpt from a chapter book or novel, or a social studies textbook.
2. List all the words that are likely to be unfamiliar to students.
3. Analyze the word list:
   • Which words can be categorized as Tier Two words?
   • Which of the Tier Two words are most necessary for comprehension?
   • Are there other words needed for comprehension? Which ones?
4. On the basis of your analysis, which words will you teach?
   • Which will need only brief attention?
   • Which will you give more elaborate attention to?

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What Should Kids Learn By 3rd Grade?

What Should Kids Learn By 3rd Grade? | Alexander Tutoring

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Third-grade education — especially curriculums for critical subjects like math, reading, science, writing, and history — varies depending on the school’s city or state, academic goals, even individual teacher preferences.

Differences in state-level curriculums can make it difficult, or even impossible, to determine what your third grader should know. For example, even though similarities between Ohio’s third-grade language arts curriculum and Virginia’s third-grade reading requirements include significant concept overlap, the order of instruction is completely different. Where Ohio launches its English curriculum with significant reading comprehension and text analysis sections, its Virginia counterpart jumps straight into prefixes and homophones, before extensive coverage of verb tenses. 

If your third-grader is excelling in his or her studies, accelerated classes might be a possibility. Conversely, third-graders falling behind or struggling to understand basic science and art concepts might benefit from grade-specific tutoring on a flexible schedule. Familiarizing yourself with basic third-grade learning precepts is the first step toward determining where your third-grader’s education ranks.  

What Do Third-Graders Learn?

Understandably, it’s impossible to assess the efficiency of a third-grade curriculum without understanding the specific concepts a third-grader should know. Standardized testing begins in third grade, issued on a per-state basis to assess individual student education and progress toward fully understanding concepts. 

There are basic subjects a third-grade student should know, no matter the city, state, or district in which they are educated.

Third-Grade Math

At this mathematical level, students will learn and build upon the basics of multiplication tables, for both integers and fractions. These specific lessons can include:

• Introductions to both multiplication and division;
• Comprehension of fractions as equal and unequal parts and expressing those fractions as phrases and complete sentences;
• Place models to the thousands;
• Shapes like quadrilaterals;
• Calculation of a shape’s perimeter;
• Calculation of a shape’s area;
• Expression of time across digital and analog applications.

These and other core concepts help to formulate a basis of understanding for a third-grader’s mathematical education.

Third-Grade Reading

At a third-grade reading level, students increase their understanding of basic vocabulary, reading comprehension skills, and word recognition. These specific lessons often include:

• Stories assigned by level, indicating the difficulty of vocabulary and complexity of storyline;
• Reading comprehension exercises that include compare-and-contrast elements and sequencing checks, to ensure students are processing information correctly while listening or actively reading;
• Focus on compound words;
• Regularly new learned and applied vocabulary terms;
• Lessons in poetry and poem composition.

Even simple, third-grade reading lessons can form the basis for more complex comprehension in future grades and successive lessons.

Third-Grade Science

Third-grade science can cover a wide variety of potential topics, including earth and its surface, space and the planets, the human body, and animal classifications. These lessons can include:

• Changes to the Earth’s surface and evidence for these changes;
• Natural events like earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes;
• Thermometer reading and factors which influence changes to weather and climate;
• The basic science of force and motion;
• Plant and animal identification, and fundamental differences between living things;
• Specific animal classification studies;
• Body systems and functions, including the skeletal system and its role as infrastructure.

Featuring a wide array of potential scientific lessons — everything from amphibians to African wild dogs — third-grade science helps to improve your student’s capacity to learn and retain fundamental lessons on life and its functions.

Third-Grade History/Social Studies

Third-grade students already possess an ever-growing understanding of history in light of social events, and that comprehension is further bolstered by lessons on map reading, rudimentary geography, colonial American living, and more. Third-grade history/social studies curriculums should include:

• Comparison of the similarities and differences between cultures;
• Study of influential persons throughout history;
• Details on American and British colonial life;
• Economic basics on the production of goods and services, capital, and the relationship between products and labor;
• U.S. state capitals.

Geographic and economic-based concepts outline the foundational history and social studies lessons, where students improve their understanding of government, geography, and everyday life across cultures.

Third-Grade Writing

Third graders should already possess a fairly developed understanding of written language. Lessons in further writing instruction allow third-grade students to write more complex content and leverage newly learned prepositions, punctuation, and other grammatical concepts. Specific third-grade writing lessons can include:

• Writing prompts tailored to third-grade capabilities;
• Instruction on character development and developing plot;
• Specific narrative elements like transition words and prepositional phrases;
• Diagnosis and writing of sentence types;
• Generation of story and content titles.

Lessons in third-grade writing prepare students for even more complex content, including essays, claim defense, and paragraph formation.

Third-Grade Words to Know

By the third grade, students should possess a rudimentary understanding of certain vocabulary terms. These words-to-know often include the following categories:

• Basic academic vocabulary terms appropriate for third-graders;
• Commonly-used spelling words during third-grade spelling tests;
• Sight words that third-graders should recognize;

These and other sight words, commonly recognized spelling words, and basic academic terms ensure that your third-grade student is thoroughly prepared for even more challenging words in future grades.

Is My Child On Grade Level?

It’s natural to wonder where your third-grader ranks compared to other students, and how well they’re acclimating to current academic requirements. One great way to determine your child’s progress is simply by asking during a parent-teacher conference, along with any other questions that better inform your understanding of your child’s performance.

It’s also important to regularly check in on your student, to gauge their feedback toward lessons taught in class. Do they see any concepts as particularly easy or challenging? How do they feel about the teaching style? Are there particular subjects that interest or bore your student? The answers to these questions for your third-grader can help you more appropriately gauge how well they’re progressing toward the next grade jump.

How to Help Children Who Are Falling Below Grade Level

Some children simply require a little extra attention or academic help, to realign their progress with where a typical third-grader stands. Distance learning, difficulty concentrating, learning disabilities, or even your child’s opinions toward class can influence the degree to which they retain the concepts taught in class. Ultimately, you can arrive at a solution to address your child’s academic issues once you understand why they’re falling behind. If your child finds specific subjects challenging or difficult to master, grade level-specific academic tutoring is always a viable option.

Helping children with learning disabilities can mean becoming an advocate for your child’s overall wellness and recognizing which individual academic concepts are understandable for him or her. Distance learning can be difficult for parents and students alike, though certain distance learning strategies can make success more attainable. Commonly, third-grade students find mathematical concepts especially challenging, which is where math tutoring can help them retain taught lessons, develop increased self-confidence and rejoin the class’s progress.

Sight Words All 3rd Grade Students Need to Know

A student that is well educated in sight words will have a much easier time not only reading any type of text, but also with spelling the sometimes tricky words. After all, many of the sight words can’t be deciphered using phonics skills. 

One of the toughest words for a child learning to read through decoding skills is the word “the”. It is a simple three-letter word. But you can’t break it apart through phonics. Students just have to learn to know it by sight. Same with the words are, they, said, again, and numerous more simply because the early phonics lessons don’t really pertain to these types of words. 

3rd Grade Sight Words

For students in 3rd grade, it would be wise to have a number of lessons dealing with sight words. Again, not just reading them, but spelling the words as well. 

In the past, the Dolch list was the primary sight words list that teachers had their students learning. But for the last several decades, there is a more up-to-date list for educators and children. 

Fry’s Instant Sight Words is a list of words created by Dr. Edward Fry in an effort to help students learn the most commonly used words in text. For instance, his research revealed that the first 25 words on this list make up one-third of all written material regardless if it is in textbooks, newspapers, novels, or comic books. 

The first 100 words on the Fry List make up half of all written material regardless of the age level of the text. Furthermore, the first 300 words make up 65 percent of all written material. 

As you can see, knowing the words on Fry’s Instant Sight Words list could be a game-changer for students that are struggling with their literacy skills. And there are plenty of ways on how to teach sight words. You are only limited by your creativity!

With that in mind, start with the first 300 words and once they are mastered, started adding another ten words a week. There are 1,000 total words on Fry’s Instant Sight Words list, so an educator can compose quite a number of lessons around this material. 

The First Hundred Words (Words 1-100) 

Second Hundred (Words 101 – 200) 

Third Hundred (Words 201 – 300)

Put the New Vocabulary to Work

Make certain the students are using the new words they are learning. This can be done by giving them extra reading time every day and having them write their own stories as well.

LightSail is a comprehensive online literacy platform that enables students instant access to thousands of books. But that is not all! LightSail also allows students to publish their own writing on the LightSail platform for all to read. In fact, educators can create lessons through LightSail where they assign individual books to read for their students and then can have the students publish their summary of the book, too. With all of the extra sight words they are learning, this is the perfect opportunity for them to put their new literacy skills to the test. 

Posted on 10.Oct.21 in Literacy Strategies

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8 Vocabulary Strategies That Stick

Confession Time:  Reading is probably my least favorite subject to teach.  Scandalous I know!  I am more of a hands-on, out of your seat type and it is hard to make reading just that.  I think it is why I have enjoyed vocabulary so much.  I can take vocabulary and turn it into a hands-on activity.

Alright, alright.  This activity isn’t actually hands-on, but hey, you have to start somewhere!  At the beginning of my unit, I incorporate a bit of phonics work while introducing my vocabulary for the week.  I cover all the letters of one of the words, except for the first letter.  I ask the students to give me 3 good guesses as to what the word could be.  Then I uncover the next letter and ask if the words they gave me would still work.  If not we think of 3 more words.  Then we add a third letter and the students give 3 more word guesses.

I have my students make one straight line facing me in the classroom.  I ask students questions about the words and when they answer it correctly, they walk around our desks to the back of the line.  I try to make the questions short and fast, so I can keep the line moving.  For example, the first time or two the students go through the line, I simply ask them to read the word.  This helps my struggling readers become more familiar with identifying the words.  Next level up, I will ask them to tell me what the word means or to act it out.  Then, they might have to use the word in a sentence.

This is my favorite out of all the activities, because I have seen my struggles succeed with this method.  We make vocabulary sorts with cardstock paper and my students sort them once per day.  It takes just 5-10 minutes, but the pay off has been rewarding.  Sometimes I type up my sorts and other times my students create their sorts.  My favorite way is to have the students create three columns and write the words in one column, the definitions or synonyms in the middle and sentences with the vocabulary words missing in the last column.  We do this on cardstock paper, cut out the rows and then draw matching symbols on the back of the matching word, definition and sentence.  Then they cut those three pieces apart.  We keep them in a sandwich back and practice them once a day.  It also makes for a quick and easy homework assignment.

If you have tablets in the classroom, my favorite app is Quizlet. (You can also play from the computer.)  I have been using it for free the last 3 years and I have built up a nice list of vocabulary activities.  For example, I have every singe one of our science vocabulary words saved in the app by chapter.  You can search for a vocabulary list that others have created or you can create your own.  Our favorite activity is called “match” or “scatter” (same concept, but on the computer it is called “match” and on the tablet it is called “scatter”)..  It is just like memory match.  Oh, and did I mention it is FREE?

This is a get ’em up and moving game.  I have blogged about it before at my Amber from TGIF blog, so check that post out here.  But here is the quick summary:  Students walk around the room while music is being played and stop at the closest corner when the music stops.  I will have the vocabulary words (say 2 words to a corner) taped up in that corner.  I will announce the definition, sentence with the vocabulary word left out, or an antonym or synonym.  If they are standing at the corner of that word, then they are out.  We keep playing until we get most everyone out.

Have students make a poster or mini book with their vocabulary words.  Have them draw a picture to describe their word, write a definition, a synonym or antonym, or use it in a sentence.  Want some pre-made posters or mini-books to use?  Check out my vocabulary resource in my TpT store.

This probably isn’t a new concept, but maybe you haven’t tried it in awhile because you forgot about it!  Write the vocabulary words on note cards and have a student pick one and then try to act it out.  The class (or teams) try to guess.  Make two teams and compete against one another.

Have students hold one of the vocabulary words up on their forehead (without having looked at the card first).  They can mill around the room and ask different students different questions until they are positive they know what the word is.  They should ask yes or no questions like, “Do I start with a vowel?” or “Can I use this in the classroom?”  P.S. Some teachers have the headbands from the Headbandz game, but I have seen some teachers use plain headbands from the ladies hair department and they work great!

What other vocabulary strategies work for you in your classroom?  I am always looking for new ways to practice!

important reading skills for 3rd grade

Want to help your third-grader master the basics of reading and writing? Here are some of the skills your child will be learning in the classroom.

Reading & writing

Determining meaning of unknown words

Use a variety of strategies for determining the meaning of unknown words.

Example:

• Use what a sentence says to figure out the meaning of an unknown word or phrase in that sentence (use context clues to determine the meaning of a word).
• Use an understanding of prefixes and suffixes to figure out what words mean (e.g. heat/preheat, care/careless).
• Use resource materials (like glossaries and dictionaries) to determine the meaning of words and phrases.

Figurative language and relationships

Understand figurative language and word relationships.

Example:

• Know the difference between literal and non-literal meanings of words and phrases (e.g. “take steps”; “something’s fishy”)
• Explain the differences in shades of meaning among related words (knew, believed, suspected)
• Use what is known about root words to understand new words with the same root (company, companion)

Read third grade text fluently

Read third grade text fluently and with expression, without pausing to figure out words and phrases.

Example:

Who is telling this part of the story? What can we learn about the main character from his actions? How is this illustration similar to the illustrations in other books in this series? Why did the main character react that way? What, in the text, makes you think so?

What is the main idea of this article? How do you know? What does this diagram show us? Why is a photo included in this part of the article?

Paying attention to details

Pay close attention to the details in a text, getting information from the words, illustrations, and graphics.

Retelling stories

Retell stories, fables, folktales, and myths from many cultures, use details from the text to explain their central message.

Comparing and contrasting texts

Compare and contrast two texts about the same topic or written by the same author.

Making connections

Describe the connections between specific sentences and paragraphs and the overall text (e. g. comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in series).

Engaging with a variety of texts

Actively engage with a variety of rich and challenging texts to build a foundation of knowledge in literature, science, social studies, and other subjects.

Example:

• “Charlotte’s Web” by E. B. White
• “Tops & Bottoms” by Janet Stevens
• “A Medieval Feast” by Aliki
• “The Story of Ruby Bridges” by Robert Coles
• “Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11” by Brian Floca

Basic rules of English

Use basic rules of English grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Example:

• Explain the function of nouns (people, places, things, or ideas), verbs (words that describe an action or state of being) and adjectives (descriptive words) in sentences.
• Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
• Spell common words correctly, use spelling rules and patterns when writing words.
• Use dictionaries to check and correct spelling.

Writing structured stories

Write a story with a clear beginning, middle, and end, using dialogue and description.

Tip: Write and stage a play.

Drama and performance can hook both lovers and non-lovers of reading and writing into enjoying language. Here’s one idea to try with your third-grader: Write and stage a play! Gather a group of your child’s friends and have them choose a favorite book. Help them pick a scene they love from the book and write a simple script—just by writing down what the characters said (or might have said). Help them pick a character to act out, find some props and dress-up clothes for costumes, and you’re set to go!

Tip: Encourage writing about holidays.

Writing can be an important addition to your holiday observances. Invite your child to write and illustrate stories about her favorite holiday traditions. Encourage her to add lots of details by using all her senses in descriptions: How the potato pancakes smell at Hanukkah, how the candles glisten at Kwanzaa, what the Christmas carols sound like, how the wrapping paper feels as she rips open her presents. Make the story into a book—either on the computer or handwritten and stapled together—and save as a new family tradition to read and reread each year.

Informational pieces

Write an informational piece that introduces a topic, groups related information clearly, uses facts and details, and ends with a concluding statement or section.

Opinion pieces

Write an opinion piece that introduces a topic or text, states an opinion, clearly organizes and explains the reasons for the opinion.

Using technology

Produce and share writing using technology (including keyboarding skills) with guidance and support from adults.

Listening & speaking

Presenting information orally

Speak in complete sentences with appropriate detail, at an understandable pace, when presenting information orally.

Participating in conversations

Participate in conversations about topics and texts being studied, listening carefully to the ideas of others, and asking and answering questions in order to gather more information or deepen understanding of the topic.

Main ideas & supporting details

Determine the main ideas and supporting details from media presentations or books read aloud.

Research & inquiry

Short research projects

Independently conduct short research projects to gather information from print and digital sources and build knowledge about a topic.

Take notes and sort information

Take brief notes and sort information into categories.

For tips to help your third-grader in English Language Arts class, check out our third grade English Language Arts tips page.

TODAY’s Parenting Guide resources were developed by NBC News Learn with the help of subject-matter experts, and align with the Common Core State Standards.

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Parent Toolkit is a one-stop resource for parents produced by NBC News Learn.

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What a child should know in 3rd grade

Tips for parents… What a child should know in 3rd grade. If you have information about what your child should know and be able to do, it will be easier for you to help him, control him and get the desired result…

• know names of components addition and subtraction

Sum: Addendum + addendum = sum value.

Difference: Minuend – Subtract = difference value.

Perimeter is the sum of all sides Area is a value that shows how much space a figure occupies.

• be able to find the perimeter. For example, A rectangle has a length of 5 cm and a width of 3 cm. Find its perimeter. “P = 5 + 5 + 3 + 3 = 16 cm OR P = ( 5 + 3) x 2 = 16 cm”

To find the perimeter , you need to add all the sides OR add the length and width and multiply it all by 2.

P = (a + b) x 2 where a is the length and b is the width.

• be able to find the area of ​​a rectangle. For example, A rectangle has a length of 5 cm and a width of 3 cm. Find its area. (S = 5 x 3 = 15 sq. cm)

To find the area, multiply the length by the width. S = a x b where a is the length and b is the width.

• know the multiplication table and out-of-table multiplication and division (13×5, 205:5)
• calculate multi-digit numbers
• calculate the values ​​of numeric expressions containing 2-3 actions (with and without brackets)
• solve equations and inequalities;
• express the length, mass, area of ​​measured objects using different units of measurement;
• express time using different units
• solve compound problems in 2-3 steps
• solve simple problems at speed

We solve the problems in mathematics (grade 3) and solve the problems of finding the area and perimeter

Russian language

(for example, Hint , where A – ending, prompt – basis , tale – root, under – prefix, to – suffix).