South Dakota ELA 3.W.8.a

ELA3rd GradeWriting

The Standard

3.W.8: Gather and recall information from experiences and print and digital sources.

Take brief notes on sources.

South Dakota English Language Arts Standards (2025)

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students read or listen to a short source and jot down key facts. They use short phrases in their own words and keep track of where each fact came from.
What Mastery Looks Like: Given two fact cards, a student writes two or three useful notes without copying whole sentences. The notes are accurate and show which card they came from.
Common Misconceptions: Students may copy full sentences instead of making brief notes. They may change a fact while shortening it, record every detail, or forget which source gave them the fact.
How to Assess It: Exit ticket: Read the Beaver Facts card, 'Beavers build dams from sticks and mud, and the dams make ponds that help keep beavers safe,' then write two short notes in your own words and add the card title.

Lesson moves

Give pairs two animal fact cards; have them underline key facts and write short notes on sticky notes under each card title.
Write 'Owls hunt mostly at night' on the board; ask, 'What short note keeps the fact without copying the sentence?'
Play note or copy: display 'Frogs start life as tadpoles'; teams write a short note, then check whether they copied the sentence.
Hand out seed packets; students jot planting depth and sunlight needs in two short notes before filling a class planting chart.

Free download

A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to 3.W.8.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.

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