Reading, Writing and Talking about Books in Third Grade

Third grade students begin reading workshop by listening to a book read aloud. Through partner sharing and larger group discussion, they practiced the comprehension skills that they will be applying to their own books and in their book clubs. The year began with helping students choose books that they could read independently. Students use a character trait chart to help them to find just the right word to describe the character in their book. They then write the character trait with an example from their book and a page number on a sticky and collect their stickies on a sticky parking lot. This enables them to share their thoughts with their classmates and their teacher.

 Students are excited to be reading books in small groups. Stink and the Guinea Pig Express, Ruby and the Booker Boys, and Ivy and Bean Book One are the titles that have started our current book group round. Students will have the opportunity to read these various titles along with a number of other books this year. Book group in third grade is a way for students to talk about a shared reading experience and have many opportunities to read for fluency and expression, think deeply about the characters and content, to write and sketch their ideas and then to engage in deep discussions.