Grade 3 • Language Arts • Writing

Grade 3 Language Arts

Writing

Your child will write for various audiences addressing a variety of purposes: to inform or explain, to persuade, and to express personal ideas. They will control sentence structure, word choice, and the conventions of spelling, capitalization, and punctuation. The Being a Writer program is designed to help students build these writing skills. Throughout the program students hear and discuss examples of good writing and use it as a model to draft, revise, and publish their own writing. The program also helps the class become a community of writers in which everyone feels welcome.

Third Grade Writing Units

The Writing Community
The Writing Process
Personal Narrative
Fiction
Expository Nonfiction
Functional Writing
Opinion Writing
Poetry
Revisiting the Writing Community

Writing Tips

Encourage your child to write often.
Provide an area in your home for writing with special materials (pencils, different types of paper, markers, envelopes).
Praise your child’s writing.
Share letters and cards from friends and relatives with your child.
Encourage journal writing for special occasions (trips, family events, planning a birthday party).
Have your child help you compose shopping lists, notes and letters to friends, and invitations.
Encourage your child to write stories.
Allow your child to take risks on a rough draft. Be your child’s partner for changing and correcting his or her writing.
Encourage your child to write thank you notes, invitations, letters to others, lists of things to do, and items to take on a trip.

Handwriting Tips and resources

Practice at least 30 minutes per week.
Practice writing the letter in the air, on the carpet, in shaving cream, on a sibling's or parent's back.
Cursive Letter Formations Links to an external site.
Handwriting paper Links to an external site.