Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 1 –
Poetry Suggestions
Grandpa's Stories by Langston Hughes
The pictures on the television
Do not make me dream as well
As the stories without pictures
Grandpa knows how to tell
Even if he does not know
What makes a Spaceman go,
Grandpa says back in his time
Hamburgers only cost a dime,
Ice cream cones a nickel,
And a penny for a pickle.
Your World by Georgia Douglas Johnson
Your world is as big as you make it
I know, for I used to abide
In the narrowest nest in a corner
My wings pressing close to my side
But I sighted the distant horizon
Where the sky-line encircled the sea
And I throbbed with a burning desire
To travel this immensity.
I battered the cordons around me
And cradled my wings on the breeze
Then soared to the uttermost reaches with rapture, with power, with ease!
Aunt Sue's Stories by Langston Hughes
Aunt Sue has a head full of stories.
Aunt Sue has a whole heart full of stories.
Summer nights on the front porch
Aunt Sue cuddles a brown-faced child to her bosom
And tells him stories.
Black slaves
Working in the hot sun,
And black slaves
Walking in the dewy night,
And black slaves
Singing sorrow songs on the banks of a mighty river
Mingle themselves softly
In the flow of old Aunt Sue's voice,
Mingle themselves softly
In the dark shadows that cross and recross
Aunt Sue's stories.
And the dark-faced child, listening,
Knows that Aunt Sue's stories are real stories.
He knows that Aunt Sue never got her stories
Out of any book at all,
But that they came
Right out of her own life.
The dark-faced child is quiet
Of a summer night
Listening to Aunt Sue's stories.
The Telephone by Robert Frost
'When I was just as far as I could walk
From here to-day,
There was an hour
All still
When leaning with my head against a flower
I heard you talk.
Don't say I didn't, for I heard you say--
You spoke from that flower on the window sill-
Do you remember what it was you said?'
'First tell me what it was you thought you heard.'
'Having found the flower and driven a bee away,
I leaned my head
And holding by the stalk,
I listened and I thought I caught the word--
What was it? Did you call me by my name?
Or did you say--
Someone said "Come" -- I heard it as I bowed.'
'I may have thought as much, but not aloud.'
"Well, so I came.'

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 1 – Stories Worth Telling Again and Again
Poetry Suggestions
Mother to Son by Langston Hughes
Well, son, I'll tell you:
Life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
It's had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet on the floor—
Bare.
But all the time
I'se been a-climbin' on,
And reachin' landin's,
And turnin' corners,
And sometimes goin' in the dark
Where there ain't been no light.
So, boy, don't you turn back.
Don't you set down on the steps.
'Cause you finds it's kinder hard.
Don't you fall now—
For I'se still goin', honey,
I'se still climbin',
And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.
By Myself by Eloise Greenfield
When I'm by myself,
And I close my eyes,
I'm a twin.
I'm a dimple in a chin.
I'm a room full of toys.
I'm a squeaky noise.
I'm a gospel song.
I'm a gong.
I'm a leaf turning red.
I'm a loaf of brown bread.
I'm whatever I want to be.
And anything I care to be.
And when I open my eyes,
All I care to be
Is me.
Nani by Alberto Rios
Sitting at her table, she serves the sopa de arroz to me instinctively, and I watch her, the absolute mama, and eat words
I might have had to say more out of embarrassment. To speak, now-foreign words I used to speak, too, dribble down her mouth as she serves me albondigas. No more than a third are easy to me.
By the stove she does something with words and looks at me only with her back. I am full. I tell her
I taste the mint, and watch her speak smiles at the stove. All my words make her smile. Nani never serves herself, she only watches me with her skin, her hair. I ask for more.
I watch the mama warming more tortillas for me. I watch her fingers in the flame for me.
Near her mouth, I see a wrinkle speak of a man whose body serves the ants like she serves me, then more words from more wrinkles about children, words about this and that, flowing more easily from these other mouths. Each serves as a tremendous string around her, holding her together. They speak nani was this and that to me and I wonder just how much of me will die with her, what were the words
I could have been, was. Her insides speak through a hundred wrinkles, now, more than she can bear, steel around her, shouting, then, What is this thing she serves?
She asks me if I want more.
I own no words to stop her.
Even before I speak, she serves.
For want of a nail (Traditional)
For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 1 – Stories Worth Telling Again and Again
Poetry Suggestions
You are Old, Father William by Lewis Carroll
"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head –
Do you think, at your age, it is right?
"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."
"You are old," said the youth, "as I mentioned before,
And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door --
Pray, what is the reason for that?"
"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment -- one shilling a box --
Allow me to sell you a couple?"
"You are old," said the youth, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak --
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"
"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,
And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."
"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose --
What made you so awfully clever?"
"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said his father. "Don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs."

By Marchette Chute
Beneath the waters
Green and cool
The mermaids keep
A swimming school.
The oysters trot;
The lobsters prance;
The dolphins come
To join the dance.
But the jellyfish
Who are rather small
Can't seem to learn
The steps at all
Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3 rd
Grade: Unit 2 –
Poetry Suggestions
Do Oysters Sneeze? by Jack Prelutsky
Do oysters sneeze beneath the seas, or wiggle to and fro, or sulk, or smile, or dance awhile
…how can we ever know?
Do oysters yawn when roused at dawn, and do they ever weep, and can we tell, when, in its shell, an oyster is asleep?
by Lilian Moore
When these small stones were in clear pools and nets of weed tide-tumbled teased by spray they glowed moonsilver, glinted sunsparks on their speckled skins.
Spilled on the shelf they were wet-sand jewels wave-green still flecked with foam.
Now gray stones lie dry and dim.
Why did we bring them home?

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3 rd
Grade: Unit 2 –
Poetry Suggestions
The Waves by Gertrude M. Jones
The little waves ran up the sand,
All rippling, bright and gay.
But they were little robbers,
For they stole the sand away,
And when they'd tossed it all about,
They piled it in the bay.
One day, there came a clever man;
He walked along the shore,
And when he saw the crested waves
Creep higher than before,
Said he, "I'll build a harbor wall,
And you'll come here no more."
So then he started working;
Stone after stone he brought.
The little waves beat at the wall;
By day and night they fought,
Their white hair streaming in the wind,
Their manner quite distraught.
But when the wall was finished,
Like other of their ilk,
They tiptoed round the harbor
As sleek and smooth as silk,
And purred around the fishing boats,
Like kittens lapping milk.
A Sand Witch for a Sandwich by Emily Sweeney
I walked the beach on a sunny day
And soon found a shell with which to play.
I made a castle, I made a moat,
I poured in water to sail my boat.
I made a farm and a racetrack, too,
And then a figure that sort of grew
Taller and taller as I piled more sand.
Then I shaped a face with one wet hand.
Oh, what a face—with an ugly beak
And a tall, tall hat that came to a peak!
I looked with pride at my ugly witch,
While all around I dug a ditch.
To keep her safe from the incoming tide,
I dug it deep on every side.
The waves rolled in and then slid back.
I waited for their we attack.
One little wave crept up the beach,
But my sand witch it could not reach.
One, two, three waves filled the ditch.
Another wave took a nip at the witch.
A whitecap pushed with all his might
And ate that witch in one big bite!
I laughed as the water swished round my feet,
For sandwiches are made to eat!
By Rudyard Kipling
A Wave
Gussie Osborne
I sat on the beach and a beautiful wave
Came tumbling right up to me.
It threw some pink shells on the sand at my feet,
Then hurried straight back out to sea.
It ran away swiftly and leaped up in foam;
It bumped other waves in its glee.
I think it was hurrying to gather more shells,
To bring as a present for me.
Oh! hush thee, my baby, the night is behind us
And black are the waters that sparkled so green.
The moon, O'er the combers, looks downward to find us
At rest in the hollows that rustle between.
Where billow meets billow, there soft by the pillow.
Oh, weary wee flipperling, curl at thy ease!
The storm shall not wake thee, no shark shall overtake thee
Asleep in the storm of slow-swinging seas.

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3 rd
Grade: Unit 2 –
Poetry Suggestions
By Carl Sandburg
A LONE gray bird,
Dim-dipping, far-flying,
Alone in the shadows and grandeurs and tumults
Of night and the sea
And the stars and storms.
Out over the darkness it wavers and hovers,
Out into the gloom it swings and batters,
Out into the wind and the rain and the vast,
Out into the pit of a great black world,
Where fogs are at battle, sky-driven, sea-blown,
Love of mist and rapture of flight,
Glories of chance and hazards of death
On its eager and palpitant wings.
Out into the deep of the great dark world,
Beyond the long borders where foam and drift
Of the sundering waves are lost and gone
On the tides that plunge and rear and crumble.
By Violet L. Cuslidge
I held a sea shell to my ear,
And listened to its tale
Of vessels bounding o'er the main
And all the ships that sail.
It sang of brilliant water flowers—
The bright anemones
That bloom beneath the ocean waves—
Tossed in from seven seas.
Each time I harken to this song,
I hear the breakers moan,
And fancy that a warning bell
Rings from a lighthouse lone.
No longer need I wish to go
Where foam-capped billows swell,
For I've an ocean of my own
Withing this pearly shell.
By John Gardner
Slowly, slowly, he cruises
And slowly, slowly, he chooses
Which kind of fish he prefers to take this morning;
Then without warning
The Barracuda opens his jaws, teeth flashing,
And with a horrible, horrible grinding and gnashing,
Devours a hundred poor creatures and feels no remorse.
It's no wonder, of course,
That no little fish much likes the thing,
And indeed, it occasionally strikes the thing,
That he really ought, perhaps, to change his ways.
"But," (as he says
With an evil grin)
"It's actually not my fault, you see:
I've nothing to do with the tragedy;
I open my mouth for a yawn and —ah me!—
They all
swim
in."

by Edward Lear
I
They went to sea in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they went to sea:
In spite of all their friends could say,
On a winter's morn, on a stormy day,
In a Sieve they went to sea!
And when the Sieve turned round and round,
And every one cried, 'You'll all be drowned!'
They called aloud, 'Our Sieve ain't big,
But we don't care a button! we don't care a fig!
In a Sieve we'll go to sea!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.
II
They sailed away in a Sieve, they did,
In a Sieve they sailed so fast,
With only a beautiful pea-green veil
Tied with a riband by way of a sail,
To a small tobacco-pipe mast;
And every one said, who saw them go,
'O won't they be soon upset, you know!
For the sky is dark, and the voyage is long,
And happen what may, it's extremely wrong
In a Sieve to sail so fast!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.
III
The water it soon came in, it did,
The water it soon came in;
So to keep them dry, they wrapped their feet
In a pinky paper all folded neat,
And they fastened it down with a pin.
And they passed the night in a crockery-jar,
And each of them said, 'How wise we are!
Though the sky be dark, and the voyage be long,
Yet we never can think we were rash or wrong,
While round in our Sieve we spin!'
Far and few, far and few,
Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3 rd
Grade: Unit 2 –
Poetry Suggestions
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.
IV
And all night long they sailed away;
And when the sun went down,
They whistled and warbled a moony song
To the echoing sound of a coppery gong,
In the shade of the mountains brown.
'O Timballo! How happy we are,
When we live in a Sieve and a crockery-jar,
And all night long in the moonlight pale,
We sail away with a pea-green sail,
In the shade of the mountains brown!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.
V
They sailed to the Western Sea, they did,
To a land all covered with trees,
And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart,
And a pound of Rice, and a Cranberry Tart,
And a hive of silvery Bees.
And they bought a Pig, and some green Jack-daws,
And a lovely Monkey with lollipop paws,
And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree,
And no end of Stilton Cheese.
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.
VI
And in twenty years they all came back,
In twenty years or more,
And every one said, 'How tall they've grown!
For they've been to the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone,
And the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
And they drank their health, and gave them a feast
Of dumplings made of beautiful yeast;
And every one said, 'If we only live,
We too will go to sea in a Sieve,---
To the hills of the Chankly Bore!'
Far and few, far and few,
Are the lands where the Jumblies live;
Their heads are green, and their hands are blue,
And they went to sea in a Sieve.

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3 rd
Grade: Unit 3 –
Poetry Suggestions
Paper I by Carl Sandburg
Paper is two kinds, to write on, to wrap with,
If you like to write, you write,
If you like to wrap, you wrap.
Some papers like writers, some like wrappers.
Are you a writer or a wrapper?
Paper II by Carl Sandburg
I write what I know on one side of the paper and what I don't know on the other.
Fire likes dry paper and wet paper laughs at fire.
Empty paper sacks say, "Put something in me, what are we waiting for?"
Paper sacks packed to the limit say, "We hope we don't bust."
Paper people like to meet other paper people.
The Folk Who Live in Backward Town by Mary Ann Hoberman
The folk who live in Backward Town
Are inside out and upside down.
They wear their hats inside their heads
And go to sleep beneath their beds.
They only eat the apple peeling
And take their walks across the ceiling.
Jimmy Jet And His TV Set by Shel Silverstein
I'll tell you the story of Jimmy Jet --
And you know what I tell you is true.
He loved to watch his TV set
Almost as much as you.
He watched all day, he watched all night
Till he grew pale and lean,
From "The Early Show" to "The Late Late Show"
And all the shows between.
He watched till his eyes were frozen wide,
And his bottom grew into his chair.
And his chin turned into a tuning dial,
And antennae grew out of his hair.
And his brains turned into TV tubes,
And his face to a TV screen.
And two knobs saying "VERT." and "HORIZ."
Grew where his ears had been.
And he grew a plug that looked like a tail
So we plugged in little Jim.
And now instead of him watching TV
We all sit around and watch him.

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3 rd
Grade: Unit 4 –
Poetry Suggestions
The Star-Spangled Banner by Francis Scott Key
O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O’er the ramparts we watch’d were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov’d home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with vict’ry and peace may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv’d us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - “In God is our trust,”
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
More info at: http://amhistory.si.edu/starspangledbanner/thelyrics.aspx
The Flag Goes By
by Henry Holcomb Bennett
HATS off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!
Blue and crimson and white it shines,
Over the steel-tipped, ordered lines.
Hats off!
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by.
Sea-fights and land-fights, grim and great,
Fought to make and to save the State:
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;
Days of plenty and years of peace;
March of a strong land’s swift increase;
Equal justice, right and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe;
Sign of a nation, great and strong
To ward her people from foreign wrong:
Pride and glory and honor,—all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.
Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 4 –
Poetry Suggestions
George Washington by Rosemary and Stephen Vincent Benet
Sing hey! for bold George Washington,
That jolly British tar,
King George’s famous admiral
From Hull to Zanzibar!
No – wait a minute – something’s wrong –
George wished to sail the foam.
But, when his mother thought, aghast,
Of Georgie shinning up a mast,
Her tears and protests flowed so fast
That George remained at home.
Sing ho! for grave Washington,
The staid Virginia squire,
Who farms his fields and hunts his hounds
And aims at nothing higher!
Stop, stop, it’s going wrong again!
George liked to live on farms,
But, when the Colonies agreed
They could and should and would be freed,
They called on George to do the deed
And George cried ― Shoulder arms!
‖
Sing ha! for Emperor Washington,
That hero of renown,
Who freed his land from Britain’s rule
To win a golden crown!
No, no, that’s what George might have won
But didn’t, for he said,
― There’s not much point about a king,
They’re pretty but they’re apt to sting
And, as for crowns – the heavy thing
Would only hurt my head.
Washington Monument by Night by Carl Sandburg
The stone goes straight.
A lean swimmer dives into night sky,
Into half-moon mist.
Two trees are coal black.
This is a great white ghost between.
It is cool to look at.
Strong men, strong women, come here.
Eight years is a long time
To be fighting all the time.
The republic is a dream.
Nothing happens unless first a dream.
The wind bit hard at Valley Forge one
Christmas.
Soldiers tied rags on their feet.
Red footprints wrote on the snow…
…and stone shoots into stars here
…into half-moon mist to-night.
Tongues wrangled dark at a man.
He buttoned his overcoat and stood alone.
In a snowstorm, red hollyberries, thoughts, he stood alone.
Women said: He is lonely
…fighting …fighting …eight years…
The name of an iron man goes over the world.
It takes a long time to forget an iron man.
… … …
… … …

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 4 –
Poetry Suggestions
A Nation’s Strength by Ralph Waldo Emerson
What makes a nation’s pillars high
And its foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?
It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.
Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.
And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.
Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor’s sake
Stand fast and suffer long.
Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...
They build a nation’s pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 5 –
Poetry Suggestions
Eating While Reading by Gary Soto
What is better
Than this book
And the churn of candy
In your mouth,
Or the balloon of bubble gum,
Or the crack of sunflower seeds,
Or the swig of soda,
Or the twist of beef jerky,
Or the slow slither
Of snow cone syrup
Running down your arms?
What is better than this sweet dance
On the tongue,
And this book
That pulls you in?
It yells, “Over here!”
And you hurry along with a red, sticky face.
Catch a Little Rhyme
by Eve Merriam
Once upon a time
I caught a little rhyme
I set it on the floor but it ran right out the door
I chased it on my bicycle but it melted to an icicle
I scooped it up in my hat but it turned into a cat
I caught it by the tail but it stretched into a whale
I followed it in a boat but it changed into a goat
When I fed it tin and paper it became a tall skyscraper
Then it grew into a kite and flew far out of sight...
Barefoot Days by Rachel Field
In the morning, very early,
That's the time I love to go
Barefoot where the fern grows curly
And grass if cool between each toe,
On a summer morning-O!
On a summer morning!
That is when the birds go by
Up the sunny slopes of air,
And each rose has a butterfly
Or a golden bee to wear;
And I am glad in every toe--
Such a summer morning-O!
Such a summer morning!
The City by Langston Hughes
In the morning the city
Spreads its wings
Making a song
In stone that sings.
In the evening the city
Goes to bed
Hanging lights
About its head.
Skyscrapers by Rachel Field
Do skyscrapers ever grow tired
Of holding themselves up high?
Do they ever shiver on frosty nights
With their tops against the sky?
Do they feel lonely sometimes
Because they have grown so tall?
Do they ever wish they could lie right down
And never get up at all?

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 5 –
Poetry Suggestions
I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed---and gazed---but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
Spring Grass
Poem by Carl Sandburg
Spring grass, there is a dance to be danced for you.
Come up, spring grass, if only for young feet.
Come up, spring grass, young feet ask you.
Smell of the young spring grass,
You're a mascot riding on the wind horses.
You came to my nose and spiffed me.
This is your lucky year.
Young spring grass just after the winter,
Shoots of the big green whisper of the year,
Come up, if only for young feet.
Come up, young feet ask you.
The Grass by Emily Dickinson
The grass so little has to do,–
A sphere of simple green,
With only butterflies to brood,
And bees to entertain,
And stir all day to pretty tunes
The breezes fetch along,
And hold the sunshine in its lap
And bow to everything;
And thread the dews all night, like pearls,
And make itself so fine,–
A duchess were too common
For such a noticing.
And even when it dies, to pass
In odors so divine,
As lowly spices gone to sleep,
Or amulets of pine.
And then to dwell in sovereign barns,
And dream the days away,–
The grass so little has to do,
I wish I were the hay.
The Grass on the Mountain transcribed by Mary Austin, from Paiute American
Indian
OH, a long time
The snow has possessed the mountains.
The deer have come down, and the big horn,
They have followed the sun to the south
To feed on the mesquite pods and the bunch grass.
Loud are the thunder drums
In the tents of the mountains.
Oh, a long time now
Have we eaten chia seeds
And dried deer’s flesh of the summer killing.
We are wearied of our huts,
And the smoky smell of our garments.
We are sick with desire of the sun
And the grass on the mountain.

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 6: Fantastic Adventures with Dragons, Gods, and Giants
Short Stories/Poems
Adventures Of Isabel
By Ogden Nash
Isabel met an enormous bear,
Isabel, Isabel, didn't care;
The bear was hungry, the bear was ravenous,
The bear's big mouth was cruel and cavernous.
The bear said, Isabel, glad to meet you,
How do, Isabel, now I'll eat you!
Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry.
Isabel didn't scream or scurry.
She washed her hands and she straightened her hair up,
Then Isabel quietly ate the bear up.
Once in a night as black as pitch
Isabel met a wicked old witch. the witch's face was cross and wrinkled,
The witch's gums with teeth were sprinkled.
Ho, ho, Isabel! the old witch crowed,
I'll turn you into an ugly toad!
Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,
Isabel didn't scream or scurry,
She showed no rage and she showed no rancor,
But she turned the witch into milk and drank her.
Isabel met a hideous giant,
Isabel continued self reliant.
The giant was hairy, the giant was horrid,
He had one eye in the middle of his forhead.
Good morning, Isabel, the giant said,
I'll grind your bones to make my bread.
Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,
Isabel didn't scream or scurry.
She nibled the zwieback that she always fed off,
And when it was gone, she cut the giant's head off.
Isabel met a troublesome doctor,
He punched and he poked till he really shocked her.
The doctor's talk was of coughs and chills
And the doctor's satchel bulged with pills.
The doctor said unto Isabel,
Swallow this, it will make you well.
Isabel, Isabel, didn't worry,
Isabel didn't scream or scurry.
She took those pills from the pill concocter,
And Isabel calmly cured the doctor.

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 6: Fantastic Adventures with Dragons, Gods, and Giants
Short Stories/Poems
A Dragon's Lament by Jack Prelutsky
I'm tired of being a dragon,
Ferocious and brimming with flame,
The cause of unspeakable terror
When anyone mentions my name.
I'm bored with my bad reputation
For being a miserable brute,
And being routinely expected.
To brazenly pillage and loot.
I wish that I weren't repulsive,
Despicable, ruthless and fierce,
With talons designed to dismember
And fangs finely fashioned to pierce.
I've lost my desire for doing
The deeds any dragon should do,
But since I can't alter my nature,
I guess I'll just terrify you.
The Dragons Are Singing Tonight by Jack Prelutsky
Tonight is the night all the dragons
Awake in their lairs underground,
To sing in cacophonous chorus
And fill the whole world with their sound.
They sing of the days of their glory,
They sing of their exploits of old,
Of maidens and Knights, and of fiery fights,
And guarding vast caches gold.
Some of their voices are treble,
And some of their voices are deep,
But all of their voices are thunderous,
And no one can get any sleep.
I lie in my bed and I listen,
Enchanted and filled with delight,
To songs I can hear only one night a year--
The dragons are singing tonight .

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 6: Fantastic Adventures with Dragons, Gods, and Giants
Short Stories/Poems
Life Doesn’t Frighten Me by Maya Angelou
Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hail
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Bad dogs barking loud
Big ghosts in a cloud
That new classroom where
Boys pull all my hair
(Kissy little girls
With their hair in curls)
They don’t frighten me at all.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Mean old Mother Goose
Lions on the loose
They don’t frighten me at all
Don’t show me frogs and snakes
And listen for my scream,
If I’m afraid at all
It’s only in my dreams.
Dragons breathing flame
On my counterpane
That doesn’t frighten me at all.
I go boo
Make them shoo
I make fun
Way they run
I won’t cry
So they fly
I’ve got a magic charm
That I keep up my sleeve,
I can walk the ocean floor
And never have to breathe.
Life doesn’t frighten me at all
Not at all
Not at all
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
I just smile
They go wild
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Tough guys in a fight
All alone at night
Life doesn’t frighten me at all.
Panthers in the park
Strangers in the dark
No, they don’t frighten me at all.

Common Core Curriculum Maps – ELA
3rd Grade: Unit 6: Fantastic Adventures with Dragons, Gods, and Giants
Short Stories/Poems
The Tale of Custard the Dragon
By Ogden Nash
Belinda lived in a little white house,
With a little black kitten and a little gray mouse,
And a little yellow dog and a little red wagon,
And a realio, trulio, little pet dragon.
Now the name of the little black kitten was Ink,
And the little gray mouse, she called her Blink,
And the little yellow dog was sharp as Mustard,
But the dragon was a coward, and she called him
Custard.
Custard the dragon had big sharp teeth,
And spikes on top of him and scales underneath,
Mouth like a fireplace, chimney for a nose,
And realio, trulio, daggers on his toes.
Belinda was as brave as a barrel full of bears,
And Ink and Blink chased lions down the stairs,
Mustard was as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard cried for a nice safe cage.
But up jumped Custard, snorting like an engine,
Clashed his tail like irons in a dungeon,
With a clatter and a clank and a jangling squirm
He went at the pirate like a robin at a worm.
The pirate gaped at Belinda's dragon,
And gulped some grog from his pocket flagon,
He fired two bullets but they didn't hit,
And Custard gobbled him, every bit.
Belinda tickled him, she tickled him unmerciful,
Ink, Blink and Mustard, they rudely called him
Percival,
They all sat laughing in the little red wagon
At the realio, trulio, cowardly dragon.
Belinda giggled till she shook the house,
And Blink said Week!, which is giggling for a mouse,
Ink and Mustard rudely asked his age,
When Custard cried for a nice safe cage.
Pistol in his left hand, pistol in his right,
And he held in his teeth a cutlass bright,
His beard was black, one leg was wood;
It was clear that the pirate meant no good.
Belinda paled, and she cried, Help! Help!
But Mustard fled with a terrified yelp,
Ink trickled down to the bottom of the household,
And little mouse Blink strategically mouseholed.
Belinda embraced him, Mustard licked him,
No one mourned for his pirate victim
Ink and Blink in glee did gyrate
Around the dragon that ate the pyrate.
Belinda still lives in her little white house,
With her little black kitten and her little gray mouse,
And her little yellow dog and her little red wagon,
And her realio, trulio, little pet dragon.
Belinda is as brave as a barrel full of bears,
And Ink and Blink chase lions down the stairs,
Mustard is as brave as a tiger in a rage,
But Custard keeps crying for a nice safe cage. Suddenly, suddenly they heard a nasty sound,
And Mustard growled, and they all looked around.
Meowch! cried Ink, and Ooh! cried Belinda,
For there was a pirate, climbing in the winda.