Third Grade Reading Power Pix
Developed by Kate Bowski
Design & idea created by Chris Biffle
For more information, visit
Whole Brain Teaching
Third Grade Reading Power Pix
This document highlights 22 topics specific to 3rd grade Reading as
defined by the Common Core State Standards. Based on an idea conceived
by Chris Biffle, founder of Whole Brain Teaching, these pictures can be used
to actively teach students the core concepts of a 3rd grade reading program.
Each Power Pix references the standards in which the word is addressed:
Reading: Literature (RL) and Reading: Informational Text (RI).
Using Power Pix and Whole Brain Teaching methods, learning becomes
multi-modal, thereby solidifying the concepts in students’ brains. When used
as a teaching tool, the Power Pix help the teacher with gestures and
definitions to attach to each concept. Whether printed out or projected on a
screen, these Power Pix give the students a visual reference for all major
Reading concepts. When posted in the room, the Power Pix become an
interactive resource for students to use as a review tool. Imagine filling every
spare moment of classroom time by having students review with each other
content specific topics. Now that’s maximizing instruction!
The following slide shows how to use each pix.
Common Core Standard
Reading: Literature (RL)
Reading: Informational Text (RI)
Question and Answer for the topic
Grade Level
Concept Word –
colors represent
syllables to help
students with
pronunciation
Picture
representing
the key word of
the standard
Gesture
The blue background on these slides identifies them as part of the
Language Arts concepts. Math concepts have a red background.
Sample Power Pix Lesson
Each WBT lesson follows a format.
1. Question – tell students the question and they repeat
2. Answer – give the answer with a gesture.
3. Expand – use examples to scaffold instruction about concept
4. Evaluate – quick assessment to guide instruction
5. Critical Thinking – students begin to internalize the concept
Question: What does it mean to compare?
Answer: To compare means to tell how things are similar.
Teaching Suggestions:
Use Coach B’s Common Core Ebook, “What is comparing?” to introduce the
idea of comparing.
Move students away from pictures and ask them to find similarities between
given people, places, or things.
Using stories read in class, compare characters, settings, and plots.
Sample Power Pix Lesson (con’t.)
Q/T (Quick Test):
Comparing is telling how things are alike.
The gesture for comparing is wiggling our fingers.
Is this a comparison? A hand has five fingers and a foot has five toes.
Is this a comparison? Birds have feathers but fish don’t have feathers.
Is this a comparison? Chairs have four legs and desks have four legs.
Critical Thinking:
Use Coach B’s “What is Comparing?” Ebook to generate student written
sentences using sentence frames. For example:
Think about all the cars you have seen. Write sentences comparing
them.
Cars have many similarities. First, they all have _________. Second,
each one has _______. Third, all cars have ______. Finally, _____.
Tie comparing into your curriculum:
Rocks and minerals are similar because ____________________.
Addition and multiplication are similar because _______________.
Causes of the Civil War and the American Revolution can be compared.
For example, _______________________.
Question: What is an author?
Answer: A person who writes a text.
RL 3.6
thor
Gesture: Hold left hand palm up. “Write” on it with right index finger.
Third
Grade
Question: What is cause and effect?
Answer: When one event makes another happen.
Third
Grade
RI 3.3,
3.8
fect
Gesture: Put both hands out to your sides. Swing one hand overhead and down onto your other hand.
Question: What is a central message?
Answer: The lesson or moral the story teaches.
Third
Grade
RL 3.2
tral
sage
Gesture: Draw a circle on open palm. (moral/lesson) Point to head. (teaches)
Question: What is a character trait?
Answer: The type of person a character is based on what they say, think, or do.
RL 3.3
ac
Gesture: Using two fingers on each hand, walk your fingers through the air, as if they were characters
running around in a story. Then make talking motion with hand, point to head, churn arms like a steam
train.
Third
Grade
Question: What does it mean to compare?
Answer: To tell how things are alike.
RL 3.9
RI 3.9
pare
Gesture: Clasp hands together.
Third
Grade
Question: What is a conclusion?
Answer: A final outcome. It brings something to an end.
RL 3.5
clusion
Gesture: With hands flat and open next to each other, close them as if you were closing a book.
Third
Grade
Question: What does it mean to contrast?
Answer: To tell how things are different.
RL 3.9
RI 3.9
trast
Gesture: Bump fists together then move them apart.
Third
Grade
Question: What is a detail?
Answer: Details are facts or ideas that support the main idea.
RI 3.2,
3.9
tails
Gesture: Move hands down front of body 3 times as if showing layers. (facts) Put hands in air as if holding
something above head. (support)
Third
Grade
Question: What is fiction?
Answer: Fiction is a made up story.
RL 3.2
tion
Gesture: Wave finger in air as if saying “no”. Open hands like a book.
Third
Grade
Question: What is figurative language?
Answer: Words or phrases that add spice to our writing.
RL 3.4
ur tive
guage
Gesture: Make talking gesture by mouth, shake hand (like a salt shaker), use finger like writing.
Third
Grade
RL 3.3
Question: What is an inference?
Answer: When I put together what I know with what the author writes to draw
a conclusion.
ference
Gesture: Point to head. “Write” on hand with finger. Close hands together as if closing a book.
Third
Grade
Question: What is a main idea?
Answer: The big idea of the whole story or paragraph.
RI 3.2
de
Gesture: Hold palm up and draw a circle with your finger around your palm.
Third
Grade
Question: What is a metaphor?
Answer: A metaphor is a comparison of two things without using like or as.
RL 3.4
Third
Grade
aphor
like
as
Gesture: Clasp hands together. (compare) Shake finger (no). Hold out one palm and then the other. (like or as)
Question: What is a narrator?
Answer: Someone who tells a story.
Third
Grade
RL 3.6
ra
Gesture: Hold hands open as if reading a book then make talking gesture with hand.
Question: What is nonfiction?
Answer: Nonfiction is a text full of facts and information.
RI 3.2
fiction
Gesture: Open hands like a book. Move hands 3 times down front of body as if showing layers.
Third
Grade
Question: What is setting?
Answer: The time or place where a story takes place.
RL 3.9
ting
Gesture: Point to watch on arm (time) and circle hands in front of you with palms flat (place)
Third
Grade
Question:What is plot?
Answer: The events in the beginning, middle and end of a story.
RL 3.9
Gesture: Move hand left, middle, and right across body.
Third
Grade
Question: What is perspective?
Answer: A way of looking at things.
RL 3.6
RI 3.6
spec
Gesture: Put hands up to eyes like holding binoculars.
Third
Grade
Question: What is a problem?
Answer: A question or conflict characters work through.
RL 3.5
lem
Gesture: Hold hands out to side and shrug shoulders. Pound fist on open palm as if hammering.
Third
Grade
RL3.3
RI 3.3, 3.8
Question: What is a sequence?
Answer: An order in which things happen.
quence
Gesture: Hold up 1, 2, then 3 fingers.
Third
Grade
Question: What is a simile?
Answer: A simile is a comparison of two things using like or as.
RL 3.4
ile
like
as
Gesture: Clasp hands together. (compare) Hold out one palm and then the other. (like or as)
Third
Grade
Question: What is a text feature?
Answer: Things like photos, maps, or bold words that help me understand a text.
RI 3.5
tures
Gesture: Pretend to take a picture, draw a box, make fists and open them wide one at a time for “bold
words”.
Third
Grade