Third Grade Project Arrow

Building classroom norms and culture

• Creativity kickoff
• Aesop Fables preview (“The Miser”)
• Introduction to depth and complexity

Making generalizations and the concept of change

• What is change?
• Forming generalizations

Literary elements

• Use literary elements to analyze text for deeper understanding
• Aesop’s fables (“The Miser”)

Analysis and interpretation of literature: ‘Shells’

• Determining a theme
• Figurative language
• Character perspective and how it impacts the conflict
• “Shells”
• Change matrices
• Depth and complexity frame

Analysis and interpretation of literature: ‘Sachiko Means Happiness’

• Symbolism
• Character perspective
• Literary elements
• Connection to change
• Conflict leads to change
• “Sachiko Means Happiness”
• “The Wolf and the Lion”

Analysis and interpretation of literature: M.C. Escher and ‘Free Fall’

• Understanding symmetry and tessellations as they relate to change
• Explore the text and illustrations to notice literary elements and details within the illustrations
• Sequence of illustrations to determine plot and climax
• Summarizing by using parts or sections of the text to summarize the events
• “Day & Night” and “Free Fall”

Creative problem solving

• Introduction to the creative problem solving process
• Apply idea to popular tales for understanding
• Use in open ended tasks related to literature or real life situations
• “The Three Little Pigs, Late For School”

Analysis and creative problem solving in text: ‘Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain’ and informational texts

• Cause and effect relationships
• Repetition in text
• Application of creative problem solving
• Review of five generalizations of change
• How change impacts people and our relationships by causing us to respond
• Understand that change can be natural or caused by humans
• Summarize central idea
• Review text structure
• Compare creative problem solving across folktale and informational text
• “Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain”
• Paired informational texts

Analysis and creative problem solving in literature: ‘The Crow and the Pitcher’

• Applying creative problem solving process as well as integrating understanding of consequences and implications, theme and concept
• “The Crow and the Pitcher”

Analysis and interpretation of literature: ‘The Green Book’

• Develop reasoning and creative problem solving skills through literature
• Generalizations of changes and how the characters responded to change
• Compare and contrast
• Figurative language (imagery)
• “The Green Book”

Analysis and interpretation of literary elements and change: ‘Artist’ and artwork

• Review generalizations of change
• Focus on literary elements, inference skills and theme
• Personification of nature
• Utilize text to highlight the elements of change and begin the exploration of character changes throughout the quarter
• “Artist”
• Paired visual imagery through art
• Utilize See, Think, Wonder Strategy

Literary analysis and the concept of change ‘The Green Man’ and informational texts

• Analyze character development and traits using details from the text
• Analyze the impact the setting has on the character’s development
• Exploring the concepts of change in nature and within a character
• Identify possible parallels of the ideas of change in the informational texts and “The Green Man”
• Provide evidence to support thinking of theme (in literature) or central idea (informational text

Literary analysis and interpretation: ‘The Fisherman and His Wife’

• Annotate the text to guide students in gathering and interpreting evidence to come to a deep understanding of the story
• Provide evidence to support thinking of theme
• Analyze character development and traits using details from the text
• Exploring the concepts of change in nature and within a character
• “The Fisherman and His Wife”

Analysis and creative problem solving in literature: ‘The Ugly Duckling’ and author biography

• Analyze character development and traits using details from the text
• Exploring the concepts of change in nature and within a character
• Generate examples within the text that illustrate the generalizations of change
• Compare and contrast the life of Hans Christian Anderson to that of the ugly duckling
• “The Ugly Duckling”

Analysis and interpretation of literature using poetry, the concept of change: ‘Poem for Rodney’ and other poetry

• Analyze and interpret poems, author’s message and theme
• Explore the concept of change in a personal context
• Discuss the structure of poetry and compare and contrast with prose (stories)
• “Poem for Rodney” and other poetry

Introduction to systems and ancient Egypt

• To develop an understanding of the concept of systems
• To understand structure, function, and pattern as key systems concepts
• To use maps to locate specific places in the world
• To introduce the idea of chronology and put events in chronological order
• Develop an understanding of a hierarchy of needs as it affects the development of civilizations

The Nile, floods and farming in ancient Egypt

• To understand the text and context of a primary source document
• To understand how the Nile contributed to the civilization and its survival

The writing system and reasoning about languages

• To introduce the writing system of ancient Egypt
• To explore the history of translating Egyptian hieroglyphs
• To understand the education system in ancient Egypt

Architecture and the Egyptian pyramids

• To understand how a division of labor supports the development of civilizations
• To introduce the purpose and history of the pyramids of ancient Egypt

Egyptian mythology, the pharaohs

• To explore the role that religion played in ancient Egypt and the myths about Egyptian gods
• To begin to explore the system of leadership and government in the ancient Egyptian society

Grammar Island

Grammar is a year-round ongoing topic

• Parts of speech
• Parts of a sentence