3rd Grade Unit 1

Week 1

“First Day Jitters” pgs. 10-31

1.  What do Sarah’s actions tell about her character?

2.  Who is Sarah?

3.  Who do you think Mr. Hartwell is?

4.  Why is he trying to get Sarah out of bed? (p. 17)

  1. To get ready for school

5.  Why does Sarah not want to go to school? (p 18)

  1. New school; Does not want to start over

6.  Mr. Hartwell says, “What will people thin if you aren’t there?” (p 22) How did she respond? “They will think I am lucky…” Why? What do you think? How would you feel if you could choose to stay home?

7.  What are the clues that show Sarah is nervous when going to school? (p 27)

  1. “hands cold and clammy”; “She couldn’t breathe.”; “I feel sick,” Sarah said. “Sarah slumped down in her seat.”

8.  Who is Mrs. Burton? (p 27) What can you tell me about her character? (p 28 & 29)

  1. Principal
  2. Busy, walked quickly, calming “Don’t worry. Everyone Is nervous.”

9.  What is the surprise ending to the story (p 31) Why is it a surprise? Is or was it what you expected?

10.  What can you learn about teachers from this story? (writing- a couple of sentences)

11.  Do the pictures help you know who Sarah is?

  1. P 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 28, 31

12.  Compare the pictures on pgs 20 & 21. Are they the same children? Why do they look so different on the two pages?

Vocabulary and Strategies:

1.  Jitters

2.  Nervous

3.  Scared

  1. Say-spell-say
  2. Draw picture of meaning
  3. Play charade and act out meaning if possible
  4. Say word and definition- repeat, repeat, repeat
  5. Stump the Teacher: students come up with questions about the story and/or the vocabulary words.
  6. Pay $ for finding vocabulary words in other subject area readings

Week 2

“Dear Juno”

1.  How would you describe the letter that Juno receives? Use examples/words from the text. (p 44)

2.  How does Juno treat the letter he receives? Why do you think he treats it that way? (p 47)

3.  Describe what he pulled out of the envelope. Why did he smile when he saw those things? (p 48)

4.  How did Juno figure out that his Grandma had a new cat? What does that tell you about Juno’s personality? (p 51)

5.  What else did Juno figure out about Grandma from the letter? (p 51)

6.  What does Juno mean by “I did read it,” on page 53? (p 53)

7.  What does the illustration on page 49 tell you about the letter? (p 49)

8.  From Juno’s drawings to his grandmother, what is important to him? (p 60)

9.  How do you know that Juno’s grandmother cares about him? Give evidence from the story.

Week 3

“Whose Habitat is That?”

1.  Who is the “they” in the first sentence? Why did the author choose “they” instead of the name? (p 78)

2.  What evidence shows that the black bears are content? (p 78)

3.  In this selection, what does “making themselves at home,” mean? How are they making themselves at home? (p 79)

4.  What is urban sprawl? (p 79-80)

5.  How does urban sprawl affect communities? ( p 79-80)

6.  How does urban sprawl affect New York? New Jersey? Florida? (p 78-80)

7.  What are the animals resorting to? (p 80)

8.  How are communities addressing the problems caused by urban sprawl? (p 80)

9.  (Writing) Whose habitat is this? Write and support your decision with information from the text.

10.  (Class Discussion/More Writing) What resources does Utah have to protect animals?

11.  Are there any examples of urban sprawl in your community?

Questions for Vocabulary Words:

1.  Neighborhood:

  1. What is your neighborhood like?
  2. What would a fish, or bird or … neighborhood like?

2.  Content: multiple meaning

  1. What would be the contents of a lunch box?
  2. What does a content baby look like, sound like?

3.  Addressing:

  1. Why is it important to address problems?
  2. What is a problem you are addressing?

4.  Resort: multiple meaning

  1. What would you resort to doing if the power went out?
  2. What is the difference between a resort and Lagoon?

Week 4

“Penguin Chick”

1.  What do birds generally make nests of? What do penguins do for nests? Why? (p 92)

2.  Why does the penguin father stay with the egg? What does the text say? (p 93)

3.  What is required of the father while taking care of the egg? (p 96-97)

4.  How does the chick get its first meal? (Or What is required of the mother?) (p 100)

5.  What changes occur to allow the chick to spend more time away from its parents? (p 104-107)

6.  What tells us the penguin is finally an adult? (p 109)

7.  Tell some of the important things a penguin chick needs in order to grow up.

Week 5

“The Perfect Pet”

1.  What is the problem at the beginning of the story? (p 122)

2.  The sub heading reads, “The Element of Surprise” Explain the surprise. (p 124-125)

3.  From the text, what does “catch them off guard” mean? How do the parents react to being caught off guard? (p 126-127)

4.  What are the two ways the author uses the word “scratch”? (p 129)

5.  What does Elizabeth do and say to show her character? (p 131)

6.  Doug was the perfect pet. Explain why using the text. (p 132-133)

7.  How did her parents react to the perfect pet? What did they do and say? (p 136-139)

8.  How was Elizabeth’s problem solved? (p 139)

9.  How did her character traits help her solve the problem? (Inference)