Grade 3 English Chapter 9: Reading Informational Text
Student lessons | Practice | Teacher guide | Grade 3
Read the short original passages and cite details. The school and garden examples are fictional. These lessons are part of a developing course.
Day 1: Main Idea and Supporting Details
Learn: A main idea tells what a passage is mostly about. Supporting details give examples or information that help explain that idea. Read all the sentences, name the topic, and choose an idea broad enough to include the important details.
Example: Passage: Students at Oak School started a small garden. They loosened the soil, planted bean seeds, and watered the rows. Each week, they recorded the plants’ growth in a notebook. The garden helped students practice caring for plants and recording observations.
Day 2: Headings and Text Features
Learn: A heading names the topic of a section. A label names a part of a picture or diagram. Readers can use these features to locate information and then check the sentences or image for the answer.
Example: Passage heading: Watering the Garden. The students checked the soil each morning. If the soil felt dry, an adult helped them water it. A diagram of a watering can has labels for the handle and spout.
Day 3: Sequence and Cause and Effect
Learn: A sequence tells the order of events or steps. Cause and effect explains why something happens and what happens as a result. Words such as first, next, and because can signal relationships, but the details still need to make sense.
Example: Passage: First, Maya filled a tray with soil. Next, she placed a bean seed in each small hole and covered it. Because the soil was dry, an adult helped her add water. After several days, green shoots appeared.
Day 4: Facts and Opinions
Learn: A fact is a statement that can be checked with evidence. An opinion expresses a belief, preference, or judgment. A statement does not become a fact just because someone says it confidently; readers should ask how it could be checked.
Example: Passage: The class measured one bean plant at 12 centimeters on Monday. The class measured the same plant at 15 centimeters on Friday. Maya said, ‘Bean plants are the most beautiful plants in the garden.’
Day 5: Independent Reading Check
Learn: Read the passage independently. An adult may read the directions but should not supply answers. Use details from the passage when explaining your response.
Example: Passage heading: A Garden Visitor. One morning, Leo saw a bee visit three yellow flowers. He drew the bee in his notebook and counted the flowers again. Leo wrote, ‘The bee visited three flowers.’ Later, he said, ‘Bees are the most interesting garden visitors.’
Standards Connection
Partial instruction and practice toward 2021 Alabama English Language Arts Grade 3 standards 19 and 23–25. A wider variety of texts, features, structures, and independent evidence are still needed to assess coverage and mastery.