Main Idea, Opinions & Narratives

The big idea

Your child finds the main idea of paragraphs and whole articles and sorts details into facts, examples and reasons. Then your child writes an opinion paragraph with reasons, linking words and a conclusion. After the Quarter 1 review, three weeks of narrative writing build a complete story with a focused moment, sensory details, correctly punctuated dialogue and a problem that gets solved.

Standards in plain words

• RI.3.1 Asks and answers questions about a nonfiction text and points to the words that show the answer.
• RI.3.2 Finds the main idea of a nonfiction text and explains how the key details support it.
• RI.3.3 Explains how events, science ideas or steps connect, using words for time, order and cause and effect.
• RI.3.4 Works out the meaning of school words and subject words in a nonfiction text.
• RI.3.8 Describes how sentences and paragraphs connect, for example by comparing, by cause and effect, or by order.
• W.3.1 Writes opinion pieces that state an opinion, give reasons, use linking words and end with a conclusion.
• W.3.3 Writes real or imagined stories with characters, dialogue, details, time-order words and a clear ending.
• SL.3.3 Asks and answers questions about what a speaker said, with useful detail.
• L.3.2 Uses capitals, commas, quotation marks, possessives and correct spelling, and checks spellings in a dictionary.
• L.3.3 Chooses words for effect and notices how spoken and written English differ.
• RF.3.3 Uses phonics and word parts, including prefixes, suffixes and syllables, to read new words.
• L.3.1 Uses correct grammar: parts of speech, plurals, verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, comparing words, joining words and different kinds of sentences.
• SL.3.1 Takes part in discussions: comes prepared, follows the rules, asks questions, builds on others' ideas and explains their own.

Anchor texts

• Original articles in the lessons: the sea otter and camel paragraphs and 'Animal Builders'
• Original mentor texts: the game-night opinion paragraph and the personal narrative 'The Lost Mitten'
• 'The Tortoise and the Hare' (Aesop, public domain), mapped on a story arc in Week 12

Watch across the unit

• Watch for: Choosing one interesting detail as the main idea of a whole article.

  Try: Ask 'Do all the sentences tell about this?' and read the headings and first sentences before deciding.

• Watch for: Writing a fact ('Dogs have four legs') or a reason that only repeats the opinion.

  Try: Ask 'Could someone disagree with this?' for the opinion and 'What makes it the best?' to push for a new reason.

• Watch for: Putting the comma outside the quotation marks, or ending a story with 'and then I woke up.'

  Try: Say 'The comma is part of the speech, so it stays inside the house,' and reread the problem sentence to check the ending solves it.