Third Grade Units, Lessons and Activities

Field Trip to Angel Island Immigration Station

While teaching third grade at Katherine Delmar Burke School in San Francisco, CA I planned and implemented whole and small group lessons in math (using the TERC program), social studies and language arts. Often these lessons also included a visual art aspect. Lesson development focused on differentiating for students with varying abilities, including those with learning differences and providing learning experiences inside and outside of the classroom. I developed and taught social studies units focused on government and elections, geography and continuity and change in San Francisco. I designed and implemented a comprehensive word study program using elements from Fountas and Pinnell, Words Their Way and Scholastic Spelling. I also used the Responsive Classroom program to foster social/emotional growth. Below are a few of the lessons that I taught to my third grade students. I hope you enjoy looking at them!

Guerilla Poetry

Guerilla poets write inspirational messages and share them in unexpected public places. For this lesson, the students read a variety of poems with five line stanzas using repetition and wrote their own inspirational poems. They edited and published a final draft of the poem which we compiled into a book for the class. They chose their favorite line from their poem and shared it with the entire school community by writing it in the walkways and entryway at our school with sidewalk chalk.

Introduction to Guerilla Poetry: Powerpoint
Guerilla Poetry Plan and Photos

San Francisco Neighborhood Study- Then and Now 

The overarching theme of third grade social studies at our school is continuity and change in San Francisco. We study how the landscape and population has changed over time and the events that caused these changes. We begin by studying the Ohlone, the Native Americans that initially inhabited San Francisco, move to studying immigration with a focus on Chinese Immigration and end our study by focusing on San Francisco as it is today. The San Francisco Neighborhood Study is a project that emerged from student interest and questions about the city that we live in. The final product of the neighborhood study stems from a collaborative project in which two girls from each third grade class are matched up to create a team a four girls. The girls had to demonstrate their ability to work well in a team to create a comprehensive guide to San Francisco which they titled "Jump Into San Francisco." The catch was that every place in the book had to be free! Check out the amazing product they created and the steps they took to get there.

San Francisco: Then and Now Plan and Photos

Resources: 
SF Family Questionnaire
SF Comprehension Questions 
SF Field Trip Journal

Me on the Map- Zoom In and Zoom Out Geography Project

Throughout third grade students learn about who they are and how they want to contribute to their community. We also discuss WHERE they are in relation to other people. Our social studies focus is continuity and change over time in San Francisco, so students begin the year by determining where they are on maps. They use Google Earth, atlases and other maps to find given locations and explore the Earth. They begin with their city (San Francisco) and slowly zoom out to their region (San Francisco Bay Area), state (California), country (The U.S.A.), continent (North America) and finally their planet (Earth). They used this information for a mapping project that served as a resource for the remainder of the school year.

"Zoom In and Zoom Out" Mapping Project- Guidelines and Photos

Word Study- Word Discovery Activity