Grade 3: Module 1

Unit 1: Homework
Resources (For Families)
 Overcoming Learning Challenges Near and Far

Unit 1: R
 eading Literary Texts: Overcoming Learning
Challenges—School and Education

Common Core State Standards addressed: RL.3.1, RL.3.2, RL.3.3, RL.3.4, RL.3.10, SL.3.1a, SL.3.1b,
SL.3.1c, SL.3.3, SL.3.6, and L.3.4

Guiding Questions and Big Ideas

Homework Resources

■ Why are education, books, and reading important?

■ Education, books, and reading are important because they help us learn about and make sense
Unit 1:

of the world, and escape into the lives of other people and other worlds.

Please note: The guiding question and big idea are framed in the context that education, books,
and reading are important for college and career readiness.

What will your student be doing at school?

In this unit, students read literary texts about children who face challenges with access to
school and education and how they overcome those challenges. As a class, they read Waiting for
the Biblioburro by Monica Brown, Rain School by James Rumford, and Nasreen’s Secret School1
by Jeanette Winter to analyze the challenges the main characters face with access to school
and education and how those challenges are overcome. They determine the central message or
lesson of each story and how it is conveyed through details in the text.

Independent research reading is launched in this unit. Students receive independent read-
ing journals to record information about the time they spend reading, as well as to respond to
prompts about their reading. They are also given vocabulary logs for recording new vocabulary.
Students are expected to record academic vocabulary in the front of their vocabulary logs and
topical vocabulary in the back.

Working to become an ethical person is a habit of character that is emphasized in this unit.
These are the specific effective learning skills students will focus on:

■ I show empathy. This means I understand and I share or take into account the feelings, sit-
uation, or attitude of others.
■ I behave with integrity. This means I am honest and do the right thing, even when it’s diffi-
cult, because it is the right thing to do.
■ I show respect. This means I appreciate the abilities, qualities, and achievements of others
and treat myself, others, and the environment with care.
■ I show compassion. This means I notice when others are sad or upset and try to help them.

1
Please note: Nasreen’s Secret School by Jeanette Winter is a true story about the challenges in access to school/education faced
by a girl in Herat, Afghanistan. In this story, Nasreen’s father is taken away by soldiers without explanation, and her mother
leaves to go looking for her father, leaving Nasreen in the care of her grandmother. The story also explains that girls and women
are not allowed outside alone, and girls are forbidden from attending school. Nasreen faces great danger as she overcomes her
challenges to school and education. These issues are discussed sensitively in the classroom, but this may be something you want
to speak to your student about at home both before and after reading the book.

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 Unit 1: Homework Resources

How can you support your student at home?

■ Talk to your student about the guiding question and big ideas in relation to being ready for
college and/or careers in the United States, in which reading plays a very important role.
■ Talk to your student about the texts he or she is reading in the classroom, particularly if any
of the topics raised might be sensitive for your child.
■ Read narrative books, if possible about characters who overcome challenges, and talk to
your student about the gist (what the text is mostly about) and the central message or les-
son (what the author wants the reader to take away from the text) and how it is conveyed
through details in the text.

Unit 1: Homework

In this unit, homework focuses on research reading and breaking words into affixes and roots.

Research reading: Your student is expected to independently research the topic by reading
topic-related books of his or her choice for approximately 20 minutes each day and responding
to a prompt of choice in the front of the independent reading journal. These are usually books
your student will bring home from school; however, they may be topic-related books chosen by
the student at the public or home library. Prompts for independent reading can be found in the
homework materials provided.

Choice reading: If your student would also like to independently read and respond to a book of
free choice, he or she may use the back of the independent reading journal. Prompts for inde-
pendent reading can be found in the homework materials provided.

Vocabulary logs:
■ In the front, students record new academic vocabulary: words you might find in infor-
mational texts on many different topics. For example, the words challenges, questions, and
explain are words that could be found in books on any topic.
■ In the back, students record new topical vocabulary: words about a particular topic. For
example, the words tadpoles, frogspawn, and amphibian are words that would be found on
the topic of frogs.

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 Overcoming Learning Challenges Near and Far

Lesson Lesson Content Homework Practice Due In Anticipated Date*

1 Students infer the module 1. Read and reflect on the 1. Lesson 2. Students are
topic based on quotes and module guiding question. not required to hand in
images from module texts. anything; they just need to
be prepared for a reflective
discussion if they have
something they would like
to share with the group (not
mandatory).

2 Independent research reading 1. Research reading for 1. N/A

launch and generating collabo- 10 minutes
Homework Resources

rative discussion norms

3 Students hear the text Waiting 1. Research reading for 1. N/A

for the Biblioburro by Monica 10 minutes
Unit 1:

Brown read aloud. They find

the gist, recount the story, and
determine its lesson.

4 Students hear the text Rain 1. Research reading for 1. N/A

School by James Rumford 10 minutes
read aloud. They then work in
triads to find the gist, recount
the story, and determine its
central message or lesson.

5 Students closely read an 1. Affixes Practice I 1. Lesson 7

excerpt of Rain School to 2. Research reading for 2. N/A
explain how the central mes- 10 minutes and record new
sage or lesson is conveyed vocabulary in vocabulary
through the text’s details. log
Students receive vocabulary
logs.

6 Students learn how to write 1. Affixes Practice II 1. Lesson 7

a short constructed response 2. Research reading and 2. Teacher will check inde-
and receive independent answering prompt pendent reading journals
reading journals. strategically.

7 Students participate in a small 1. Research reading and 1. Teacher will check inde-
group collaborative discus- answering prompt pendent reading journals
sion about their research strategically.
reading text for the mid-unit
assessment.

8 Students hear the text 1. Research reading and 1. Teacher will check inde-
Nasreen’s Secret School by answering prompt pendent reading journals
Jeanette Winter read aloud. 2. For ELLs: Language Dive: strategically.
They work in triads to find the Part I Practice 2. Lesson 9
gist and recount the story.
They then work independently
to determine the central mes-
sage or lesson of the story.

*Teacher note: Please complete the Anticipated Date column according to your schedule.

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 Unit 1: Homework Resources

Lesson Lesson Content Homework Practice Due In Anticipated Date*

9 Students closely read an 1. Research reading and 1. Teacher will check inde-
excerpt of Nasreen’s Secret answering prompt pendent reading journals
School to explain how the 2. For ELLs: Language Dive: strategically.
central message or lesson is Part II Practice 2. Lesson 10
conveyed through the text’s
details.

10 Students practice writing short 1. Research reading and 1. Teacher will check inde-
constructed responses and answering prompt pendent reading journals
participate in a peer critique strategically
on spelling, capitalization, and
punctuation.

11 Students read a new literary 1. Research reading and 1. Teacher will check inde-
text and answer selected answering prompt pendent reading journals
response and write short con- strategically.
structed responses to answer
questions for the end of unit
assessment.

*Teacher note: Please complete the Anticipated Date column according to your schedule.

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 Overcoming Learning Challenges Near and Far

Independent Reading
(For Families)

Directions: Remember to record responses to research reading in the front of your inde-
pendent reading journal and responses to choice reading in the back. Try to choose a dif-
ferent prompt each time.

Record any new vocabulary in your vocabulary log. Remember, academic vocabulary is
Homework Resources

recorded in the front, and domain-specific vocabulary (words about the topic) is recorded
in the back. Mark vocabulary found during independent reading with a symbol such as an
asterisk (*).
Unit 1:

Record:
• Date
• Title and author of your reading book
• Pages you have read
• Prompt
• Response

Example:
Date: 04/08/2015

Book Title and Author: “My Librarian Is a Camel” by Margriet Ruurs

Pages Read: Thailand, pages 28–29

Prompt: What is the main idea of the text you read? What are some of the key details, and how
do they support the main idea?

Response: The main idea is that elephants help some students in the Omkoi region of
Thailand get books and learn. Some of the key details that support this main idea are that
more than 20 elephants are being used to carry books, and in each trip the elephants visit
seven or eight villages. The elephants carry metal slates on their backs to teach students to
read and write.

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 Unit 1: Homework Resources

Consider using the following independent reading prompts*:

• What challenges are faced? How are they overcome?
• What is the main idea of the text? What are some of the key details, and how do they
support the main idea?
• What do the illustrations (photographs, maps) tell you? How do they help you to under-
stand the words?
• What questions do you now have after reading? What would you like to learn more
about? Why?
• What does the text tell you about the importance of reading, books, or education?
• What are the most important facts you learned from reading?
• What is the most interesting fact you learned today? Why?
• How does what you read today connect to something you have learned in lessons?
• Choose one new word from your reading today and analyze it on a vocabulary square:

Definition in your own words Synonyms (words that mean the same)

Words with the same affix or root Sketch

Translation in home language (if appropriate):

*Some of the prompts will not be appropriate for the text students are reading. Invite students to choose a prompt that works
for the text they have just read.

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 Overcoming Learning Challenges Near and Far

Affixes Practice I
(For Families)
Name:   Date:

Directions: Use the charts to break the following words into roots and affixes.

1. Unfeeling:
Homework Resources

Prefix Root Suffix

Unit 1:

2. Enjoyable:

Prefix Root Suffix

3. Indestructible:

Prefix Root Suffix

4. Enlarged:

Prefix Root Suffix

5. Disagreeable:

Prefix Root Suffix

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 Unit 1: Homework Resources

Affixes Practice I
(For Families)
Name:   Date:

Directions: Use the charts to break the following words into roots and affixes.

1. Preheated:

Prefix Root Suffix

2. Improved:

Prefix Root Suffix

3. Unbreakable:

Prefix Root Suffix

4. Enriched:

Prefix Root Suffix

5. Disappeared:

Prefix Root Suffix

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 Overcoming Learning Challenges Near and Far

Language Dive (for ELLs)

(For Families)
Name:   Date:

1. Look at the scrambled sentence below from Nasreen’s Secret School. Write it in the
correct sequence:

because girls are forbidden to sat at home all Poor Nasreen

Homework Resources

attend school. day,

Unit 1:

2. Sketch the meaning of the sentence: Poor Nasreen sat at home all day, because girls
are forbidden to attend school.

3. Use crayons or colored pencils to underline:

• Poor Nasreen in red
• sat at home all day, in blue
• because girls in red
• are forbidden to attend school. in blue

4. Circle the word because.

5. Think:

• What do the red underlines mean?

• What do the blue underlines mean?
• Why did the author write because?

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 Unit 1: Homework Resources

Language Dive (for ELLs)

(For Families)
Name:   Date:

1. Read the two sentences in the boxes. Use because to connect the two sentences and
make one sentence. Write the one sentence on the lines below the boxes.

Poor Nasreen sat at home all day. Girls are forbidden to attend school.
effect cause

2. Read the two sentences in the boxes. Use because to connect the two sentences and
make one sentence. Write the one sentence on the lines below the boxes.

I enjoy the pictures in the book. They are colorful.

effect cause

3. Complete the two sentences. Use information about yourself.

I sat at home all day because

because

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