This six-week unit for third grade focuses on inventors and artists from the early 20th century. Students will read biographies of musicians, artists, and inventors from this time period, as well as fiction showing an artist's passion and poetry with different perspectives. They will learn about conjunctions and use them to describe what they learned when composing sentences. Students will create a presentation and write an opinion piece about a favorite poem in the unit. They will also record themselves reading a poem, illustrate it, and post it online for parents. The unit aims to explore how these exceptional inventors and artists decided where to focus their efforts.

1. Isaac School District No.5
ELAS Thematic Unit Overview Grade 3 – Unit 3
2012-2013
Unit 3: Inventors and Artists
DURATION: Six Weeks
In this unit, students read biographies about musicians, artists, and inventors of the early twentieth century.
Students read fiction that shows the passion of an artist; poetry that shows a different way of thinking; and biographies of creative
people living and working in the same time period. They also read about conjunctions, and use them while composing sentences that
describe what they learned about the inventors. They create a slide presentation, and build upon word work on conjunctions by writing
an opinion piece about a favorite poem in the unit. Finally, they record themselves fluently reading a poem, illustrate the poem, and
post the work on the Internet for parents to enjoy.
Essential Questions: Vocabulary:
How did inventors and artists decide where biographies
to put their efforts? complex sentence
compound sentence
Why were these artists and inventors coordinating conjunction
considered exceptional? note taking
presentation
Essential Learning: research questions
simple sentence
People who directly affected history by their subordinating conjunction
actions, inventions, and creativity used
critical thinking skills to produce their works.
Distributed Resources Aligned to Unit 3:
Thomas Edison: A Brilliant Inventor (TIME for Kids, DeMauro)
Henry Ford: Putting the World on Wheels (TIME for Kids, Nabli)
Alexander Graham Bell: Inventor of the Telephone (TIME for Kids, Micklos)
Hidden Worlds: Looking Through a Scientist’s Microscope (Kramer & Kunkel)
Fantastic! Wow! And Unreal!: A Book About Interjections and Conjunctions (Heller)
Underlined vocabulary indicates Tier II word. 1

2. Underlined vocabulary indicates Tier II word. 2