Reading Grade 3 Informational Texts

1. Give students 90 seconds to skim "How Bridges Stand Up" without reading every word: headings ("Pushing and Pulling," "Beam Bridges," "Arch Bridges," "Suspension Bridges"), bold words (compression, tension, piers, abutments), and the diagram.
2. Ask: "Which section do you think will be hardest, and why?" Take predictions ("Arch Bridges — abutments is a weird word"). Explain that previewing tells you where to slow down.

1. Read section 1 aloud: "Every bridge has to deal with two forces. Compression is a pushing force that squeezes things together. Tension is a pulling force that stretches things apart. A good bridge is built so that neither force can break it."
2. Write a first attempt on the notes sheet: "Tension is a pulling force." Ask: "Is that what the whole section is mostly about?" No — it is one fact. Cross it out and write: "Bridges must be built to stand up to pushing and pulling forces."
3. Read section 2: "The simplest bridge is a beam bridge, a flat beam resting on a support at each end. When a heavy truck drives across, the top of the beam is squeezed by compression while the bottom of the beam is stretched by tension. That is why long beam bridges need extra supports, called piers, in the middle." Stop and say: "I slowed right down on the second sentence."
4. Name the cause aloud: "It was a long sentence with two things happening." Match the strategy: reread in chunks — "the top is squeezed" / "the bottom is stretched." Then use the diagram: the arrows on the top of the beam point inwards, the arrows underneath point outwards.
5. Write the section 2 main point: "Beam bridges get squeezed on top and stretched underneath, so long ones need piers." Write in the hard box: "Long sentence — reread in chunks and used diagram."
6. Show the strategy card and point out that each kind of hard has its own fix. "Just read it again" does not fix a word you have never met.

“Name what made it hard. Different hard things need different fixes. A new word needs the glossary or a clue. A long sentence needs reading in chunks. A new idea needs the diagram.”

1. Students read section 3 alone: "An arch bridge curves upward. The weight on top pushes along the curve and down into the ground at each end. These strong ends are called abutments. Because the arch turns the weight into compression, stone arches built by the Romans are still standing today."
2. They write a main point and fill the hard box. Expected main point: "Arch bridges push weight along the curve into the ground, which makes them last a long time." Likely hard spot: "abutments" — fixed by the clue in the sentence before ("the ground at each end").
3. Pairs compare main points. If one partner wrote "The Romans built stone arches," ask: "Is that what the section is mostly about, or a fact that proves it?"
4. Take two hard-box answers aloud and check the strategy matched the cause.

“Read the whole section first, then decide what it is mostly about. Do not write the first fact you find.”

1. Students complete the printable practice sheet: they read the passage themselves and answer its questions.
2. Students who finish read section 4 and add its main point to their notes sheet: "Suspension Bridges. A suspension bridge hangs its road from thick steel cables. The cables run over tall towers and are pulled tight by tension. This lets the bridge cross very long distances, such as wide rivers and bays." (Everyone reads it for the exit ticket.)

1. Take one main point and one "what made it hard and what I did" from three students. Praise a specific cause and fix over "it was hard."