Monday, August 29, 2011

Third Grade Reading and Language Arts Academic Vocabulary


Third Grade Reading and Language Arts Academic Vocabulary

atlas
A book of maps or a book of tables, charts, pictures on one subject.
Mr. Taylor has a world atlas in his classroom.

abbreviation
A shorter form of a word or phrase, i.e. AZ for Arizona.
The abbreviation for the United States of America is U.S.A.

adverb
A word that modifies a verb by identifying time, place, speed, etc.
Quickly is an adverb in the sentence "Jose quickly finished his homework. "

antonyms
A word opposite in meaning to another word.
Cold is the antonym of hot.

apostrophe
The mark used to show a letter or letters have been left out of a word or phrase or to show ownership.
Example of letters left out: You've is short for "you have" and an apostrophe shows that "have" is missing two letters.
Example of ownership: Mr. Taylor's class reads several books each year.
Example of ownership: The apostrophe in the sentence "Mr. Taylor's class reads several books each year." shows the class belongs to Mr. Taylor.

bias
One meaning of "bias" is to like or dislike one thing over another.
Claudia has bias for chocolate over all other candy.

chronological order
To arrange events in the order they occurred.
In chronological order, our class has computer lab on Monday, music on Tuesday, gym on Wednesday, library on Thursday, and art on Friday.

complete sentence
A complete sentence includes at least a subject and a verb.
"Claudia ran." is a complete sentence.

context clues
Words, phrases or sentences around a new word that helps the reader make a logical guess about the meaning of the new word.
Use context clues to figure out what a new word means.

contraction
A word or phrase shortened by leaving out one or more letters or sounds.
"You'll" is the contraction of "you will."


compound word
A compound word is made when two words are joined to form a new word.
The words "shoe" and "string" are joined to form the compound word "Shoestring."

biography
The history of a persons life.
If you become famous, someone will write your biography.

describe
To tell or write about something.
Please describe your backpack.

declarative
A sentence that makes a statement.
"The earth is round." is a declarative sentence.

dictionary
A book of alphabetically listed words with their meanings and other information.
Students need a dictionary when they go to college.

exclamatory
A sudden, angry outcry; to cry out; shout; or speak suddenly in surprise, etc.
"Lillian, be quiet! shouted her mother is an exclamatory phrase.

fact
Something that really happened; truth; actuality; things as they exist.
It is a fact that the moon revolves around the earth.

fairy take
A fairy tale is a type of short story with fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments.
The story "Jack and the Beanstalk" is a fairy tale.

folk tale
A story or legend originating and traditional among a group of people (folk = people), especially one forming part of the spoken tradition of the everyday people.
The stories about Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox are folk tales.

interrogative
Asking a question.
"Do you like chocolate ice cream?" is an interrogative.

index
One meaning of "index" is an alphabetical list of names, subjects, etc., together with page numbers where they can be found--usually placed at the end of a book.
In this book, the index says there is information about the moon on pages 31 and 73.

instructions
Education; teaching; lessons or a list of steps to be followed to complete an assignment.
(1) Every teacher at Rio Vista gives instructions to their students. (2) It is hard to use a TV remote without reading the instructions.

main characteristics
The most important things that identify a person, plant, object--or anything in the universe.
The main characteristics of most cars are four wheels, a body where the driver and passengers sit, a steering wheel, an engine, and headlights and taillights.

nonfiction
Books and stories which only include real people, animals, plants, science, events, etc.
A book about birds in Tucson is a nonfiction book.

main idea
The main idea of a passage or reading is the the most important thought or message. (In contrast to the term topic, which refers to the subject under discussion.)
The main idea of Mr. Taylor's instructions is that it is important to follow directions.

multi-meaning words
Words which have more than one meaning.
Multi-meaning words will have the different meanings listed and numbered (1, 2, 3, etc.) in the dictionary.

opinion
A person's belief based on what seems true, or probable; a person's judgment.
Many people have the opinion that French cooking is the best in the world.

organization
A group of persons organized for some specific purpose, such as a club, business, team, etc.
The Rio Vista band is an organization of students with an interest in music.

personal narrative
A story that tells a story based on a personal experience of the writer.
Jasmine wrote a personal narrative about a trip to visit her grandmother.

plural
More than one of something.
The plural of bone is bones.

plot
The arrangement of the main events in a book, story, poem, or film, also known as the "story line."
The plot of most mysteries starts with a murder.

point of view
A way of viewing things; an attitude or the position from which something is observed or considered; a standpoint.
It is Mr. Taylor's point of view that students must be held responsible for completing their work.

possessive
The form of a word that shows ownership.
The possessive form of John is John's. For example, to say John owns the airplane, you would say "It is John's airplane."

predicate
In a sentence, the verb (action word) or the verb and words that describe the verb.
"Runs fast" is the predicate in the sentence "Magaly runs fast."

prefix
A prefix is placed at the beginning of a word to change its meaning.
In the word "unhappy," "un-" is the prefix.

prefixes
Prefixes are placed at the beginning of words to change their meanings.
The prefixes we will see often are "pre-" (before), "post-" (after), "un-" (opposite of), "anti-"(against), "hemi-" (half), "non-" (absence of), "out-" (exceeding), "trans-" (across), etc.
The sentence "John was unhappy in preschool" has two prefixes.

punctuation (commas)
Special marks in sentences or phrases that make the sentences or phrases easier to understand. Some common punctuation marks are: .  ,  '  ;  ?  !
The comma ( , ) tells where to pause or take a breath.

root word
A word that can start to build the meaning of many words.
"Corn" is the root word of : popcorn; cornflower; cornmeal; cornbread; and cornmeal: all the words mean something about corn.

run-on sentence
A run-on sentence is a sentence in which two or more independent clauses (i.e., complete sentences) are joined without appropriate punctuation ( ; ) or a conjunction (and, for, nor, but, or, yet and so).
"Sydney and Sabrina were in the band Sydney played the saxophone Sabrina played percussion" is an example of  three run-on sentences.

introduction
The introduction is at the beginning of a story and it tells you what the main idea(s) will be; it lets you
"meet" the main idea.
An introduction to your teacher lets you meet.

singular
In grammar, the form of a word that says there is only one of something.
In the sentence "There was only one Juliana in the class, but there were two Gabriels," Juliana is singular and Gabriels is plural.

sign
The word "sign" has many meanings. Among them are: to write your name (signature); a symbol with a specific meaning ( $ meaning dollars); and hand gestures that give information (sign language).
When you vote in any election, you have to sign your name.
story elements (character, setting, plot)
The who, what, where and why--the parts that make up a story.
In Harry Potter, the main characters are Harry, Hermione, and Ron; the setting is Castle Hogwarts; and the plot is to learn to be wizards and keep Harry safe from Voldemort.

schedule
The way things are planned to happen in our lives, schools, or work.
Sometimes Mr. Taylor's class schedules a trip to the gem and mineral show in February.

subject
The person, place or thing that does the action in a sentence.
In the sentence "Michael finished his report before lunch," "Michael" is the subject, and "finished" is the action (verb).

suffixes
Letters or syllables added to the end of a word to change its meaning.
Suffixes such as "-ish" and "-er" can be added to the word "small" to change its meaning to smallish and smaller.

summarize
To state briefly; to shorten to its most important parts.
Mr. Taylor asked us to summarize the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Sorcer's Stone.

supporting details
They come after the topic sentence, making up the body of a paragraph. What do they do? They give details to develop and help the reader better understand the topic sentence (main idea).
If your topic sentence is "Harry Potter has a special wand," you could add supporting details about the wand, such as where he got it, what it's made of, and why it's a special wand.

synonyms
Different words that have the same meaning.
Synonyms of "bend" are curve and twist.

verb (types and functions)
A word that in a sentence that  tells you the action (bring, read, walk, run, learn), or a state of being (be, exist, stand).
In the sentence "Anthony ran his race and is now standing next to the track," "ran" (the action) and "standing" (state of being) are both verbs.

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