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Friday, July 19, 2013

Common Core Language Standard 1 - Grade 3 Resources

Good old grammar! College and Career Readiness Anchor Standard for Language 1 (CCRA.L.1) asks students to "demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar when writing or speaking." The Common Core State Standards delineate exactly what each grade level should teach/learn. Since the standards are so detailed, my blog will feature helpful resources for third, fourth, and fifth grades on different days. We'll start with Grade 3.

L.3.1a tells us that third graders must learn five parts of speech. It reads, "Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences."

To introduce each of these, why not use the Words Are Categorical series by Brian P. Cleary? I have been talking with the librarian at my school about purchasing the series, which includes titles like I, You, and Don't Forget Who: What Is a Pronoun? and Quirky, Jerky, Extra Perky: More About Adjectives, as digital books so we can display them (larger than life!) Mr. Cleary also has a fun website that goes with these books.

For high-tech direct instruction, try PowerPoint presentations, like these from seller Linda du Plessis on Teachers pay Teachers (which also include worksheets):



Everyone knows that practice makes perfect. Like many of us, Bouncing through 3rd Grade, integrates parts of speech into her morning meeting with an organized schedule. Kids like fun and games, so activities like Noun-Verb Sorting (Multiple Meanings A) from Looks Like Language are always a hit.

From my blog title, you know that I'm a bit more traditional. I like compacting my instruction of parts of speech by diagramming just one sentence per day. This handy parts of speech sheet from Scholastic makes a great student reference tool in my classroom. For extra practice, I have found parts of speech worksheets at English for Everyone and Have Fun Teaching.

The last step in the learning cycle is assessment. Quizzes, like these on adjectives and verbs from Linda du Plessis, provide quick checks of specific skills. Or, if you want the whole shebang, Teaching and Tapas has created a third grade assessment that includes each and every Common Core language standard.

L.3.1b requires students to "Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns." First, they need to know the rules. SpellingCity.com offers rules, worksheets, and a guide for which plurals should be taught in which grades according to the CCSS. For extra practice, check out this fun video on YouTube (8:56). After telling students to "write fast!" a noun appears on the screen. Only a few seconds pass before the answer is displayed and a new noun is displayed. Very engaging!

L.3.1c moves on to abstract nouns, such as childhood. Free Teacher Worksheets provides five student sheets with corresponding activities. If you're looking for a visual to print or display, try The Abstract Noun by Robin L. Simmons. Abstract Nouns and Concrete Nouns from k12reader.com is a great way to practice this skill.

L.3.1d asks third graders to "form and use irregular verbs." Let's look at some helpful resources for this standard. Kids love YouTube (and so do I!) This one-minute video featuring Max the Cat will reinforce your instruction of irregular verbs. To continue the fun, try this "I have, who has?" game from Linda du Plessis. This Regular and Irregular Past Tense Verbs worksheet (k12reader.com) gives students some practice, but the Teaching Past Tense Irregular Verbs: Worksheets and Activities from Boggles World ESL really boggle my mind!!! Finally, if you need to look up irregular verb tenses, try the Irregular Verb Dictionary, sponsored by English Page.

L.3.1e states: "Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses." Verb Tenses on YouTube is a short little introductory video (2:29). This worksheet from k12reader.com will give your kids some practice.

Have you tried WorksheetWorks.com yet? If not, check out this page for verb tenses. It's so cool! You choose the verb tense(s) you want to cover, the problem type, and the layout, then bam! Hit the button to generate your worksheet. This site is in Beta testing right now, so I imagine it will soon be a paid site. I know I'm getting a bit off topic, but check out all of their other worksheets. They're awesome!

At this point, you're probably asking yourself, "How many more grammar skills does third grade have? Does the list go on forever?" Well, not quite, but it's a long list! We're more than half-way there, four more to go. Exhausting, I know.

L.3.1f covers "subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement." So much of what I found for this skill was for English language learners, and many of the sites mention that this skill should come naturally to native English speakers. In any case, I did find this Subject-Verb Agreement Practice at Worksheets Plus and a Subject-Verb Agreement game at ABCya!

L.3.1g is a relatively small standard. It may not be the smallest, but it's definitely smaller than some of the others. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Here, students are asked to "Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified." Two sellers at Teachers pay Teachers offer nifty products to address L.3.1g. Comparative and Superlative Adjectives & Adverbs PowerPoint & Worksheets by Linda du Plessis are great for instruction. And for reinforcement, check out Parts of Speech Games ~ Comparative and Superlatives... from Teaching Mrs. T. This set of games includes sorting, drawing, and memory games for parts of speech, comparative/superlative adjectives, and comparative/superlative adverbs.

L.3.1h is all about coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. Who can teach this without Conjunction Junction from Schoolhouse Rock? A webpage from Mrs. DeSoto's 3rd Grade Class provides some simple, easy to understand definitions of these two types of conjunctions. Here are a few places to find practice sheets:


L.3.1i asks students to "Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences." This means they have to write them, folks. Let Justin Bieber teach compound sentences with this video analysis of the lyrics for "Baby" (3:30) ---I love it! Students can practice discriminating between the three sentence types with worksheets like Sentences: Simple, Compound, or Complex? from k12reader.com and What Type of Sentence Is This? from EZ School. Eventually, though, they need to practice combining sentences, which is addressed in English Composition 1.

So that's a wrap on L.3.1. It's a lot to digest. I hope you found at least one helpful resource.

Many thank the folks at Teachers pay Teachers who shared resources for this posting. I hope you'll take the time to check out their stores!

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