Standard
3rd Grade Social Studies and Science Prompts CCSS Training
Subject/Lesson
Social Studies Pages 16-19
Standard 1
Opinion
Writing Situation:
In your social studies textbook on pages 16-19 you read about different physical features
of places you can live. Consider the benefits of living near the ocean or in the mountains.
Writing Directions:
Write an opinion paragraph about which area of California you think is the best place to
live. Explain your choice. Be sure to include at least two of the highlighted words from
the text in your paragraph.
When you write your opinion paragraph, remember to:
 Consider weather for outdoor activities
 Provide reasons to support your opinion
 Use linking words and phrases to connect opinion and reasons
 Provide a concluding statement
Social Studies Pages 10-37
Writing Situation:
You have just read Chapter 1 in your social studies textbook, which describes the
features of the surface of the earth.
Standard 3
Narrative
Writing Directions:
Write a narrative paragraph describing a community that work together to protect its
environment. Include physical features: lakes, rivers, oceans, mountains, valleys, or
resources special to the community. Explain why and how the community saved its
natural resources.
When you write your narrative paragraph, remember to:
 Establish a setting
 Describe how the community worked together
 Use phrases to signal event order
 Provide a sense of closure
Standard 2
Informative /Explanatory
Social Studies (End of Chapter 1)
Writing Situation:
You have just read chapter 1 Our Geography, this chapter tells about our community, the
physical features of the land made by nature and humans and the four regions in
California.
Writing Directions:
After reading chapter 1, write an informative paragraph explaining why fewer people live
in the desert than the lowlands; be sure to use details from the text.
When you write your informative paragraph, remember to:
 Introduce your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases to connect ideas
 Use the following vocabulary words in your paragraph: desert, lowlands
 Provide a concluding statement
Social Studies Pages 92-95
Writing Situation
In your social studies textbook, on pages 92-95, you read about the tribes of California
and their geographical groups.
Writing Directions:
Write about your life living in one of the four geographical groups. Include the following
vocabulary: shelter, tribe.
Standard 3
Narrative
When you write your narrative paragraph, remember to:
 Establish a setting specific to your tribe
 Have a beginning, middle, and end using time and sequence words
 Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts; feelings
 Provide a sense of closure
Standard 1
Opinion
Social Studies Pages 92-97
Writing Situation:
In your social studies book on pp. 94-97, you read about different tribes of CA. Which
include Indians of the Northern Coast, Indians of the Central Valley and Mountains,
Indians of the Southern Coast and Indians of the Desert
Writing Directions:
Consider the differences of the tribes in CA. Write a paragraph about which tribe you find
the most interesting. Describe the geographic location and features. Give 3 reasons that
support your choice. Be sure to refer to both pictures and texts. Use the following
vocabulary words in your paragraph: shelter, tribe, and natural resources.
Remember to:
 Introduce your topic (select your tribe)
 Develop your topic with three reasons that support your opinion
 Use linking words and phrases to connect your opinion and reasons
 Provide a concluding statement
Social Studies pp. 132-137, 138-139, 140-141, 142-147
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Writing Situation:
Read pp. 132-133 in your SS book on “Newcomers Bring Change”. Review the following
vocabulary words:
newcomers- Europeans who came to colonize America.
missions- religious communities in CA
reservations- areas of land reserved, or set aside, for Native Americans.
Writing Directions:
Based on what you read, write a paragraph explaining the effect the Europeans had on
the Native American’s way of life. Use the following vocabulary words in your paragraph:
mission, reservation, Rancheria.
Remember to:
 Introduce the topic
 Develop the topic with facts
 Use linking words and phrases
 Provide a concluding statement
Writing Situation:
In your social studies book on pp.132-137, you read about the lives of California Indians
today and long ago. Think about the changes they have encountered throughout the
years.
Writing Directions:
Write one paragraph describing how the life of the California Indian has changed. Use
the vocabulary words: missions, reservations and rancherias in your paragraph.
Remember to:
 Introduce your topic
 Develop your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement
Social Studies Pages 174-179
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Writing Situation:
In your social studies textbook you have read about explorers leaving their home land to
explore and unknown land.
Writing Directions:
Using pages 174-179 identify the three explorers and what they saw, in chorological
order. Write an informative paragraph describing why an explorer might want to leave his
home to explore an unknown land. Explain the reasons for leaving and what he hoped to
accomplish.
When you write your informative paragraph, remember to:
 Introduce the topic
 Develop the topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases
 Provide a concluding statement
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Social Studies
pp. 174-179, 182-187, 190-195
Writing Situation:
Read pp. 183-187 in your Social Studies book on Early communities. Think about how
the early communities were started.
Writing Directions:
Write about who started the early communities in California. Include the following
vocabulary words: settlement, settler, presidio, pueblo, and missions.
Remember to:
 Introduce your topic (topic sentence)
 Develop with facts and details (complete sentences)
 Use linking phrases (also, another)
 Provide a concluding statement
Standard 1
Opinion
Writing Situation:
In our social studies book on pp.174-195 we learned about explorers, settlers, and
pioneers. Imagine that new land has been discovered off the coast of California.
Writing Directions:
Write a paragraph describing the land and tell whether or not you would like to explore
and settle in the new land.
Remember to:
 Introduce your topic (include your decision about whether or not you want to
explore and settle in the new land)
 Develop your topic with facts and details that support your decision using
knowledge from the challenges we read about.
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement
Social Studies pp. 224-231
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Note: The following is not a prompt you would hand to students. It is one that the
teacher would direct. This works best as a whole group activity.
Writing Situation:
Teacher Notes: As a class read p. 227 and learn how to interview a person about
school history. Have students think about someone in the community that they can
interview. Develop questions as a class to ask a community member (historian) about
the community in which you live. During the interview direct students to take notes as
they listen to the person answer the questions. Write down some of his/her exact words.
Provide students with a graphic organizer to take notes. (You may have to model note
taking on the board to remind students to add to their graphic organizers.
Writing Directions:
Write a paragraph including answering the following question: Based on your interview
with______how has your community changed over time?
Remember to:
 Include a topic sentence (include the city)
 Develop the topic sentence (include supporting details from the interview)
 Use transition words/time order words
 Provide a concluding statement
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Note: The following prompt is appropriate for a school that is older.
Writing Situation:
On pages 228-229, you read about the historical sites in California. The selection
described changes from long ago to today. Our school site can be considered a historical
site. Think about what it looks like today. What parts of the building and the school yard
most likely were different from 40 years ago?
Writing Directions:
Write a paragraph describing how your school site may have changed and how it may
have stayed the same from long ago to today. Be sure to use the following vocabulary
words in your paragraph: historical site and community.
When you write your paragraph, remember to:
 Introduce your topic
 Develop your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement
Standard 1
Opinion
Social Studies Pages 252-255
Writing Situation:
In your social studies textbook on pages 252-255 you read and studied about rules and
laws for a community and a government.
Writing Directions:
In an opinion paragraph, identify the three most important responsibilities of a community
government. Then state your opinion by selecting the most important responsibility of a
community government; be sure to use evidence from the text.
When you write your opinion paragraph, remember to:
 Provide reasons to support your opinion
 Use three vocabulary words highlighted in the text (pages 252-255)
 Use linking words to connect reasons
 Provide a concluding statement
Science Prompts
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Science Pages 38-41
Writing Situation:
On pages 38-41 the science textbook describes the desert, its plants and their
adaptation. An adaptation is a special feature or behavior that helps a living thing
survive. For example, a bear’s claws are an adaptation that helps it catch fish.
Writing Directions:
Write an informative paragraph describing what adaptations the saguaro cactus has to
help it survive in the harsh desert climate. Use the following vocabulary words in your
paragraph: adaptation, desert, plant
When you write your informative paragraph, remember to:
 Introduce the topic
 Develop the topic with facts and definitions
 Use linking words and phrases
 Provide a concluding statement
Science Pages 72-76
Writing Situation:
On pages 72-76 in your science textbook, you read about the arctic tundra. The section
described how plants and animals have adapted to live in this biome.
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Writing Directions:
Write an informative paragraph describing the adaptations needed for either plants or
animals to survive. Select two highlighted words from the text to include in your
paragraph.
When you write your informative paragraph, remember to:
 Introduce the topic
 Use facts and details
 Use linking words
 Provide a concluding statement
Science Page 80 (End of Chapter 1)
Standard 1
Opinion
Writing Situation:
You have just read chapter 1 in your science textbook, which tells about adaptations in
the land environment that helps animals and plants survive.
Writing Directions:
After studying the land environments (desert, grasslands, forest, and arctic tundra), write
an opinion paragraph stating in which environment you would prefer to live in. State
three reasons why you would live there, and be sure to include vocabulary words from
chapter 1 such as: climate and biome.
When you write your opinion paragraph, remember to:
 Describe the features of your choice
 Use linking words and phrases
 Provide a concluding statement
Science pp. 82-94
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Writing Situation:
On pp. 90 and 91 in your science book, you read about 3 types of water environments:
saltwater environments, freshwater environments, brackish environments.
Writing Directions:
Write a paragraph describing water environments. When you write your paragraph,
remember to:
 Include your topic
 Develop your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement
*suggestion include vocabulary words that students should use.
Science pp. 130-137
Writing Situation:
In your Science book on pp. 130-137 you read about how living things changed their
environment. You learned that competition is the struggle among living things for food,
water, and other needs.
An environment is all the living and nonliving things that surround living things.
Writing Directions:
Write a paragraph describing how beavers change the environment in both harmful and
helpful ways use the following vocabulary words: competition, environment, harmful
and helpful.
Remember to:
 Include your topic
 Develop your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
* Suggestions to the teacher: Brainstorm with students using a T-chart or Venn Diagram
to compare how beavers are harmful and helpful.
Writing Situation:
On page 136 in your science book, you learned three ways to minimize pollution in our
environment. Reduce means to use less of something. Reuse means to use something
again, and recycle means to turn old things into new things. Pollution is what happens
when harmful materials get into the air, water or land.
Writing Directions:
Consider the benefits of the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). Write a paragraph about
what you do at home or at school to cut down on pollution. Describe the ways you
practice the 3R’s. Be sure to use the vocabulary words listed above.
Remember to:
 Include your topic
 Develop your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement
Science pp.272-279
Writing Situation:
On p.273 in your science book, you completed an Inquiry Activity where your group sorted 8
objects (matter) into 2 groups based on their properties.
Directions for Writing:
Write a reflecting paragraph explaining how you decided to classify the items into different
groups. Include the names of the categories, which item you put in each category, and what
properties they have that are alike or not alike that made you decide to classify them in that way.
How could you have sorted the items using different properties? Use the vocabulary words,
properties, matter, classify, and category in your paragraph.
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Remember to:
 Introduce your topic
 Develop your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement
Science pp. 284-291
Writing Situation:
On pp.286-287 in your science book, you read about physical changes. The section
explained how physical changes cause matter to look differently. You can create a
physical change to a piece of paper by tearing it, coloring it or crumpling it into a ball.
Think about the physical changes you can make to a rock.
Standard 2
Informative/Explanatory
Writing Directions:
Write an informative paragraph that explains at least two physical changes you could
make to a rock. Be sure to define it within your paragraph Use the following vocabulary
in your paragraph: physical change, mixture, and matter.
Remember to:
 Introduce your topic
 Develop your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement
Writing Situation:
During a science activity, we will watch the physical changes in a banana on a plate. Pay
attention to chemical change and the process. Be sure to keep a daily log of your
observations of the physical changes.
Writing Directions:
Write a paragraph describing the physical change of a banana on a plate.
Process:
 Observe a banana for five days.
 Daily, draw a picture and write three adjectives
 On the 5th day, write a paragraph using:
- Vocabulary words
- Topic sentence
- Time and order words
- Description
- conclusion
Remember to:
 Introduce your topic
 Develop your topic with facts and details
 Use linking words and phrases such as also, another, and, more, but.
 Provide a concluding statement