Congratulations third grade teacher! Teaching third grade is such a fun experience. The kids are still excited about school and easily impressed by things like crayons. Yet, they can be quite independent, especially by mid year.
Now that you know you will be teaching third grade, you are probably starting to wonder what resources you might want to have in your classroom.
I have compiled a list of my very favorite resources for third grade. I hope it helps!
Books
I’m starting with my book recommendations because I think that books are the most important part of ANY classroom! A good classroom library is a must.
It doesn’t have to cost a fortune though. You can get books from garage sales, used book stores, and even from your friends. I highly recommend putting a post on your personal Facebook page asking if any of your friends have books that their children have outgrown. It’s a great way to grow your library.
Click HERE to read more about organizing your classroom library.
Chapter Books
Here are some of my favorites (most are part of a series):
- Wimpy Kid
- Wayside School
- Humphrey
- Lemonade War
- Ever After
- The One and Only Ivan
- Who Was/Is
Picture Books
I use these during read aloud or as mentor texts during writing.
- Wordy Birdy
- Pig the Pug
- After the Fall
- Thank You, Mr. Falker
- Eraser
Math Centers
Math centers and small groups completely changed the way that I taught math. I would NEVER go back to completely teaching in whole group! Math centers and small group instruction make it much easier to differentiate my instruction. Every student doesn’t need the same thing, so why waste time teaching everyone exactly the same way? Plus, math centers are engaging!
If you are looking for more info on how to start and run successful math centers, check out THIS video series that I created.
I highly recommend THESE math centers. They are consistent. The centers will look very similar all year and this means that you don’t have to spend nearly as much time teaching the expectations and directions. Also, you can use the centers in any order that you choose because they aren’t specific to any month or holiday. I love this because we don’t all have the same pacing guide!
Click HERE to read more about these centers.
Writing Materials
Teaching writing can be one of the toughest subjects. Many teachers don’t teach it at all, or just brush over the standards by giving their students a journal prompt during reading centers. I totally get it! Without great resources and training, I had no idea how to teach writing and it frustrated me.
Writing Professional Development Course
The Not So Wimpy Writing Masterclass is only available a couple of times per year. Make sure to get on the waitlist so that you know when it opens again!
Free Guide to Writing Lessons
Lots of teachers have told me that they just don’t know what lessons they should teach during writing workshop. I put together THIS free guide to make it easier for you to decide what lessons to include when you are planning your mini lessons. Enjoy!
Year-Long Units
Now that you know what to teach, you are ready to create your writing lesson plans. But that takes time. A lot of time. So I decided to create them for you!
My writing units include lesson plans, mentor text passages, anchor charts, student printables and task cards for the entire year. These resources for third grade are so easy to use that you can leave them for a substitute if you need to!
Click HERE to learn more about my third grade writing units.
Grammar
Grammar is hard! There are so many rules that our students have to memorize and this can make the lessons rather boring.
Grammar Curriculum
I noticed that most curriculum did not include enough engaging materials and did not break down the grammar skills into small enough pieces. Therefore, I decided to create my own grammar curriculum!
My grammar units include an activity for every day of the week.
Monday: PowerPoint to introduce the skill
Tuesday: Interactive notebook activity
Wednesday: Writing activity
Thursday: Task card scoot
Friday: Assessment
I broke down the language standards into very small pieces that will make it easier for your students to learn all of the skills.
Click HERE to learn more about my grammar units.
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Free Grammar Posters
It can be handy to have a resource that students can reference as they learn new skills during the year. You can add a poster to your display each week as you teach the new skills.
Click HERE to grab this freebie!
Reading
Some teachers have a reading curriculum that they love. Many do not. I have created some resources to help you to teach and practice reading skills and standards. I think that the most important aspect of any reading resource is whether or not it helps to increase a student’s love for reading.
Reading Units and Centers
These reading units can be used as a supplement to a reading curriculum or they can be used in place of curriculum.
Each unit was designed to be used over a two week time frame. They each include:
- a powerpoint to introduce the skill or strategy
- two interactive notebook activities
- five centers
- three passages with questions that can be used during reading groups or as assessments
Click HERE to read more about these reading units.
Book Clubs
I also love using book clubs. I used book clubs with all of my reading groups. It really helped to increase their love for reading and helped them to choose new books for their independent reading time.
If you want to learn more about how I ran my book clubs, you can watch THIS video. These booc club resources for third grade an be used with any book.
Click HERE to read more about my book club resource.
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Vocabulary
Teaching vocabulary is a must! It will improve your students’ reading comprehension, writing word choice, and standardized testing scores. That’s big!
I found that adding ten minutes of vocabulary to my daily instruction made a huge difference. I love having a routine!
Monday: introduce word definitions and sentences
Tuesday: antonyms and synonyms
Wednesday: roots, prefixes and suffixes
Thursday: draw pictures to represent the words
Friday: play a review game and take an assessment.
I put together a resource that includes everything that you need to teach, practice and assess vocabulary words. I carefully researched and chose tier 2 words that show up often in grade level text and on standardized tests.
Click HERE to read more about my vocabulary resource.
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Facebook Group
Teaching is tough! Don’t do this alone!
I have a Facebook group for third grade teachers. It is the perfect place to ask for suggestions or tips when you are having a tough day.
Click HERE to join the group.
I have shared so many great resources for third grade, but don’t get overwhelmed! Keep in mind that the most important thing that you need in your third grade classroom is a positive relationship with your students. You can do that without centers or anchor charts or reading menus. I believe in you!
Have a Not So Wimpy day,
Grab these FREE 60 writing prompts for grades 2-5.
Thank You for all of your great ideas and resources! I love to look at everything and get some wonderful ideas for my classroom. 🙂 Debbie Bailey
Do you have any of your files on teacher pay teacher for PDFS?!! I want to use your materials but can’t because they are all on zips? Please Help. Thank You
Paige Lunsford
[email protected] .com
Hello Paige!
Thank you for reaching out wondering about the file types we use. We try to include all the materials and guides for our resources which make the files quite large. To save on space, and for ease of downloading files, the files are zipped together. When you download a file that is zipped you can unzip it to see what is included. Unzipping opens files in PDF. Think of a zipped file as your teacher bag with all the contents held together in one place. When you open the bag, you can then take out each individual page or unit. I’ve included a link to one of our free TpT resources so you can practice. Hope that helps! If you have any trouble or have any other questions, please feel free to reach out again!
https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Grammar-Third-Grade-Activities-Common-and-Proper-Nouns-3402541