Paraphrasing helps students make connections with prior knowledge, demonstrate comprehension, and remember what they have read. Through careful explanation and thorough modeling by the teacher in this lesson, students learn to use paraphrasing to monitor their comprehension and acquire new information. They also realize that if they cannot paraphrase after reading, they need to go back and reread to clarify information. In pairs, students engage in guided practice so that they can learn to use the strategy independently. Students will need prompting and encouragement to use this strategy after the initial instruction is completed. The lesson can be extended to help students prepare to write reports about particular topics.

Michigan. The Mitten State. Surrounded by the Great Lakes, filled with many natural wonders and a rich history. Learn about Michigan in our third grade offering from the Michigan Open Book Project.

What do you think makes Michigan special? You might be thinking that Michigan is special because it is your home. Maybe it is special because the people you care about live in Michigan. These are wonderful reasons. This resource will help you learn about many other ways that Michigan is special.

In the first chapter you learned about geography, one of the important areas of social studies. You explored the geography of Michigan and its many special natural characteristics. What do people do with the natural characteristics of Michigan? They put them to use! They plant crops in the soil. They use wood from trees to build houses. What do they do with water??? Lots and lots of things! There is a special name for things in nature that people find useful: natural resources. In this section you will learn how natural resources are important in another area of social studies: economics.

You have learned that there are different areas of social studies. You have learned about geography. You have also learned about economics. In this chapter you will learn about civics. You will discover that civics is the study of government. It is also the study of the role people play in government. But, wait! What is government?

You have learned that there are different areas of social studies. You have learned about geography. You have also learned about economics. In this chapter you will learn about history. You will discover that history is what happened in the past.

Children create top hats out of paper by reading or listening to directions that use simple terms from geometry. After making the hat, they measure their heights with and without the hat, and then take a picture wearing the hat.

This lesson encourages students' natural curiosity about spiders and builds on their prior knowledge. After a shared reading of Diary of a Spider by Doreen Cronin, students work cooperatively using a strategy called Fact–"Faction"–Fiction to identify what they know, gather information, and create their own multimedia diaries using PowerPoint. Although the topic example used here is spiders, this lesson is easily adaptable to any content area topic.

After the whole class has learned about historical figures and events that helped develop cultural traditions that we participate in today, all students will get a R.A.F.T. to write from a particular ROLE, to a particular AUDIENCE, in an assigned FORMAT, and on a TOPIC. Then higher level students will work on an assignment to evaluate traditions/celebrations for how well they teach us about the culture. This lesson was developed by NCDPI as part of the Academically and/or Intellectually Gifted Instructional Resources Project. This lesson plan has been vetted at the state level for standards alignment, AIG focus, and content accuracy.

In this lesson, students will actively read Rachel Carson and Her Book That Changed the World using the suggested reading strategies. Part of an OurStory module entitled Discover and Protect Nature, this activity includes a list of challenge words, active reading suggestions, and background information.

This resource contains resources that will help students understand that writers use different structures to organize nonfiction texts and that readers need to know a variety of reading strategies appropriate for the text and their purpose for reading such text. Reading strategies to use before, during, and after reading are shared as well as graphic organizers.

This lesson, "Skim, Scan, and Scroll," taken from a research skills unit, is a step towards students completing a written research report. Here, students learn to read informational text, looking for supporting details. After the skills of skimming and scanning printed and electronic texts are modeled by the teacher, students practice the skills on their own.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 3rd Grade ELA.

This resource accompanies our Rethink 3rd Grade ELA course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning.  

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 3rd Grade English Language Arts. 

Per the ReadWriteThink website: In this collaborative inquiry unit, the real gold is the inquiry skills and content area knowledge that students develop. The class works in small groups, each focusing on one aspect of the same big topic, such as the Gold Rush. After skimming related texts, the class brainstorms people, places and things associated with the topic and develops a list of five or six main subtopics. Students then work in small groups to research one of the subtopics, practicing specific research skills as they work. Finally, students choose an activity, such as an oral report, trivia game, or newspaper, to teach what they have learned to the rest of the class. Group accountability and individual responsibility are built in to this lesson process. While this unit uses the Gold Rush as an example, any event or geographical area could be substituted.

Students will read all about the body's largest organ- skin. Readers will learn many facts about skin, including how it protects the body, the layers of skin, and skin color. This article is appropriate for strong upper elementary readers.

Students brainstorm in small groups to answer questions about the skin as an organ, read online informational selections about the integumentary system and complete an "e-sheet" (online worksheet) to show their understanding.

Students will identify the different parts of trees and the purposes they serve and how these features help them live in different environments. Students will also read the book "A Tree is Nice" by Janice May Udry.