This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 3rd grade English Language Arts content.
In this lesson, students explore the definition of a hero (Amelia Earhart) and use the interactive Venn diagram to identify the most common characteristics of a hero. Information and photographs concerning Amelia Earhart's story are provided in this link.
Book Creator is a simple and free online app that even very young students may use to make interactive multimedia-rich eBooks.
This activity for gifted learners might serve as a writing activity as part of a larger unit focused on scientific and/or historical non-fiction texts. Students will take part in close readings of a variety of informational texts throughout the unit focusing on text structure, sequence of events, cause/effect, use of illustrations/photographs/diagrams/etc. In this activity, gifted learners will work independently to close read Boy Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! By Kathleen Kudlinski. Using evidence from the book, students will craft an opinion piece arguing that oftentimes (especially in science) “being wrong is actually right,” in other words…it’s a good thing. They will prove this using evidence from Boy Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs! and extend the idea to another area of science or history…such as early thoughts about the Earth, moon and sun, or another area of science/history in which they already have an intense interest. 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.
As a way to support teachers with English Language Arts (ELA) instruction during the pandemic, the NCDPI ELA team created choice boards featuring standards-aligned ELA activities.The intended purpose of these choice boards is to provide a way for students to continue standards-based learning while schools are closed. Each activity can be adapted and modified to be completed with or without the use of digital tools. Many activities can also be repeated with different texts. These standards-based activities are meant to be a low-stress approach to reinforcing and enriching the skills learned during the 2019-2020 school year. The choice boards are to be used flexibly by teachers, parents, and students in order to meet the unique needs of each learner.Exploration activities are provided for a more self-directed or guided approach to independent learning for students. These activities and sites should be used as a way to explore concepts, topics, skills, and social and emotional competencies that interest the learner.
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Science created this resource as part of an online workshop series, but you are welcome to use or modify it for your classroom. It includes a video and written directions for creating nature journals and tips for incorporating them into your classroom. For information on taking any the Nature Neighborhood online workshops for CEUs or EE credit, visit: https://naturalsciences.org/learn/educators/online-workshops.
In this lesson after viewing the video, students develop an informed opinion about which animal makes a better pet, cats or dogs. Students complete a T-chart and use information from the video to write an opinion paragraph. A rubric for assessment is included.
In this lesson, students will access their school- or district-approved search engine to research ways to help an African community. Prior to the research class period, the teacher should model the process using a template (see attached example) that will guide the students in gathering information. During the research class period, the teacher will monitor the students' research and assist as necessary with finding sites, writing down important information, etc. Students will then create a persuasive essay outlining reasons the rest of their third grade classmates should help support a fundraising project in support of that community. Throughout the writing process, the teacher will provide feedback as necessary (see lesson plan below) and monitor the students' progress. This lesson was developed by Amber Honeycutt as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.
The students will create a persuasive letter to the school administration asking/persuading them to help raise money for Water for South Sudan. This lesson was developed by Margaret Derrick as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.
This activity provides students practice with clearly and effectively introducing a topic along with practice writing their opinion and stating it clearly in a way the reader understands.
Sstudents will write a letter to a newspaper editor about the abolition of slavery. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.
Students will read a description of a conclusion, a prompt, a template, and a checklist. The students wil then write in order to complete the template and respond to the checklist questions. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.
Students will read a prompt and write a response about saving water or electricity. Students will then draw a picture to accompany their writing. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.
Students will read a prompt that includes probing questions in order to write an essay about the meaning of freedom. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.
Students will read a description and examples of thesis sentences. Students will then read various topics and write a thesis sentence for each topic. This resource supports English language development for English language learners.
In this lesson, students combine vocabulary exploration with word play by planning their own vocabulary parade, modeled on the activities in the text after a read-aloud of the picture book, Miss Alaineus: A Vocabulary Disaster. Students brainstorm a list of vocabulary terms from a recent unit of study and then design concrete ways to illustrate the terms. The presentation of terms can be in the form of a parade, or a video, which might play during parent conferences or open house.
After the whole class has learned about local laws and how they are made, local government officials including city council and the mayor, and how local laws are written and can be changed, higher level students will research a local community problem/issue via the internet and/or by interviewing citizens. They will then write a letter to the mayor and/or city council bringing attention to the community problem and offering a solution. 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.
The NC Kids' Exploration Journals are a fun educational tool to help youth explore their communities and natural surroundings! Each journal contains: 18 multidisciplinary activities with guided prompts, 6 lined journal pages for recording observations and reflections, and 4 blank pages for individual creativity.
The digital versions of the journal are designed to be printed out for students either as individual activities or in its entirety so that they can explore their school yard, local park, or own backyard. Though designed for 1st - 5th-graders, older audiences may enjoy them too! They are also available in both English and Spanish languages.
While supplies last, hard copies of the journals are currently available for free to teachers by contacting karen.ipock@ncdcr.gov.
Higher-level students will individually identify a problem in the school, and they will think critically to find ways to solve the problem. Then each student will write a persuasive letter to the principal describing the problem, detailing why it is a problem, and offering a solution to solve the problem. Students will have experience with real-life problem-solving through this project. 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.
After the teacher has read books about wants versus needs, managing money to buy wants and needs, bartering, trading, producers and consumers, resources, and scarcity, she will lead a discussion with the whole class about identifying local businesses in the community, how a market economy works, and how businesses both pay out and make money. Then higher level students will work on a R.A.F.T. project. They will assume the “ROLE” of a business owner, a producer, or a consumer, and they will write to a particular “AUDIENCE” (ex. business owner, consumer, producer) with a particular “FORMAT” (business letter, friendly letter, poem) about a given “TOPIC”. 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.