Texts | EL Education Curriculum

You are here

ELA 2017 Grade 3 Required and Recommended Texts

Note: MetaMetrics® made changes to the Lexile® levels in June 2017 in order to provide more accurate measures for early readers. These changes affected 32% of all previously assigned Lexile® levels, including some texts for elementary and middle grade readers. The Lexile® levels listed on EL Education materials were added before this shift and do not reflect updated Lexile® levels.

Module 1

Texts and Resources to Buy

Texts that need to be procured. Please download the Trade Book List for procurement guidance.


Text or Resource Quantity ISBNs
Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan
by Jeanette Winter
one per student
ISBN: 9781416994374
My Librarian Is a Camel: How Books Are Brought to Children Around the World
by Margriet Ruurs
one per classroom
ISBN: 9781590780930
Rain School
by James Rumford
one per student
ISBN: 9780547243078
Thank You, Mr. Falker
by Patricia Polacco
one per classroom
ISBN: 9780399257629
Waiting for the Biblioburro
by Monica Brown
one per classroom
ISBN: 9781582463537
More Than Anything Else
by Marie Bradby
one per classroom
ISBN: 9780531094648

Recommended texts for independent reading

Optional texts for students to read on their own to learn more about the topic. You can also download a PDF of this list.

Text Genre Lexile Measure
Remember
by Toni Morrison
Literary 660
Sequoyah
by James Rumford
Informational 620
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and Her Family’s Fight for Desegregation
by Duncan Tonatiuh
Literary 870
The Story Circle / El círculo de cuentos
by Diane Gonzales Betrand
Literary
Light in the Darkness
by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Literary 580
With Books and Bricks
by Suzanne Slade
Informational
A Library for Juana
by Pat Mora
Literary 600
The Upside Down Boy / El niño de cabeza
by Juan Felipe Herrera
Literary 450
When I Was Eight
by Christy Jordan-Fenton
Literary
Book Uncle and Me
by Uma Krishnaswami
Literary
Mango, Abuela, and Me
by Meg Medina
Literary
Tomás and the Library Lady
by Pat Mora
Literary
The Girl Who Hated Books
by Manjusha Pawagi
Literary
Miss Little’s Gift
by Douglas Wood
Literary
Steamboat School
by Deborah Hopkinson
Informational 660
Six Dots: A Story of Louis Braille
by Jen Bryant
Informational 590
First Step: How One Girl Put Segregation on Trial
by Susan E. Goodman
Informational 770
Who Is Malala Yousafzai?
by Dinah Brown
Informational 680
Razia's Ray of Hope: One Girl's Dream of an Education
by Liz Suneby
Literary 680
My Name Is Sangoel
by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed
Literary 440
La Mariposa
by Francisco Jimenez
Literary 750
Freedom's School
by Lesa Cline-Ransome
Literary
Four Feet, Two Sandals
by Karen Lynn Williams and Khadra Mohammed
Literary 620
Biblioburro: A True Story from Colombia
by Jeanette Winter
Informational 640

Module 2

Texts and Resources to Buy

Texts that need to be procured. Please download the Trade Book List for procurement guidance.


Text or Resource Quantity ISBNs
Everything You Need to Know about Frogs: And Other Slippery Creatures
by DK Publishing
1 per student
ISBN: 9780756682323
Bullfrog at Magnolia Circle
by Deborah Dennard
1 per student
ISBN: 9781607270690
Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs: Poems and Paintings
by Douglas Florian
1 per class
ISBN: 9780152052485

Texts included in the module

Texts that are included in the lesson materials.

Text Quantity Publisher
Transparent Wonder
by EL Education
The Amazon Horned Frog
by EL Education
All about the Water-Holding Frog
by EL Education
Poison Dart Frog
by EL Education
Why the Poison Dart Frog Is So Colorful
by EL Education
Why the Frog Has a Long Tongue
by EL Education

Recommended texts for independent reading

Optional texts for students to read on their own to learn more about the topic. You can also download a PDF of this list.

Text Genre Lexile Measure
The Hidden Life of a Toad
by Doug Wechsler
Informational 540
Toad Weather
by Sandra Markle
Literary 530
And the Bullfrogs Sing
by David L. Harrison
Informational
I Don’t Want to Be a Frog
by Dev Petty
Literary 380
Frog in a Bog
by John Himmelman
Informational
Life According to Og the Frog
by Betty G. Birney
Literary
So Cool: Frogs
by Crispin Boyer
Informational
Frogs (Explore My World Series)
by Marfe Ferguson Delano
Informational 620
Frogs
by Laura Driscoll
Informational 150
The Life Cycle of a Frog
by Bobbie Kalman and Kathryn Smithyman
Informational 910
Leaps and Bounce
by Susan Hood
Literary
Frogs
by Gail Gibbons
Informational 600
The Wind in the Willows
by Kenneth Grahame
Literary 1 140
Tuesday
by David Wiesner
Literary
Stink and the Freaky Frog Freakout
by Megan McDonald
Literary 500
A Place for Frogs
by Melissa Stewart
Informational 930
Marsh Music
by Marianne Berkes
Literary
Frogs
by Seymour Simon
Informational
Frogs
by Nic Bishop
Informational 890
Frog Song
by Brenda Z. Guiberson
Informational 950
Face to Face with Frogs (Face to Face with Animals
by Mark W. Moffett
Informational 940
Fabulous Frogs
by Sally Thompson (filmmaker) and David Attenborough
N/A

Module 3

Texts and Resources to Buy

Texts that need to be procured. Please download the Trade Book List for procurement guidance.


Text or Resource Quantity ISBNs
Peter Pan (Classic Starts)
by J. M. Barrie
1 per student
ISBN: 9781402754210

Texts included in the module

Texts that are included in the lesson materials.

Text Quantity Publisher
“Peter Pan: The Author and Historical Context.”
by EL Education
(Included in the module materials)
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens
by J.M. Barrie
+ Show Notes – Hide Notes
(Included in the module materials)
Project Gutenberg, 2008

Recommended texts for independent reading

Optional texts for students to read on their own to learn more about the topic. You can also download a PDF of this list.

Text Genre Lexile Measure
Finding Winnie
by Lindsay Mattick
Literary 590
Where the Red Fern Grows
by Wilson Rawls
Literary 700
The Legend of Hong Kil Dong: The Robin Hood of Korea
by Anne Sibley O'Brien
Literary
Tuck Everlasting
by Natalie Babbitt
Literary 770
Zeely
by Virginia Hamilton
Literary
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by Frank L. Baum
Literary
Arabian Nights (Classic Starts)
by Martin Woodside (Abr.)
Literary
The Call of the Wild (Classic Starts)
by Jack London
Literary
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Classic Starts)
by Howard Pyle
Literary
Pinocchio (Classic Starts)
by Carlo Collodi
Literary
Black Beauty (Classic Starts)
by Anna Sewell
Literary
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (Classic Starts)
by Mark Twain
Literary
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (Classic Starts)
by Lewis Carroll
Literary
The Three Musketeers (Classic Starts)
by Alexandre Dumas
Literary
The Swiss Family Robinson (Classic Starts)
by Johann David Wyss
Literary
Peach Boy and Other Japanese Children’s Favorite Stories
by Florence Sakade
Literary
Nelson Mandela's Favorite African Folktales
by Nelson Mandela
Literary
Tales Our Abuelitas Told: A Hispanic Folktale Collection
by Alma Flor Ada and F. Isabel Campoy
Literary
The Hundred Dresses
by Eleanor Estes
Literary 870
Boy: Tales of Childhood
by Roald Dahl
Informational 1 090
James and the Giant Peach
by Roald Dahl
Literary 870
The Borrowers
by Mary Norton
Literary 780
Some Writer: the Story of E. B. White
by Melissa Sweet
Informational 1 030
Charlotte’s Web
by E. B. White
Literary 680
Winnie-the-Pooh
by A. A. Milne
Literary 790

Module 4

Texts and Resources to Buy

Texts that need to be procured. Please download the Trade Book List for procurement guidance.


Text or Resource Quantity ISBNs
Water Dance
by Thomas Locker
1 per class
ISBN: 9780152163969
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer
1 per class
ISBN: 9780803735118
One Well: The Story of Water on Earth
by Rochelle Strauss
1 per student
ISBN: 9781553379546

Texts included in the module

Texts that are included in the lesson materials.

Text Quantity Publisher
Dry Days in Australia
by Ann Weil
Junior Scholastic , 2007
Real Lives: Angola, Africa
by UNICEF
2016
Population Growth
by USGS
USGS, 2016
Access to Freshwater.
by Triple Pundit
Triple Pundit, 2013

Recommended texts for independent reading

Optional texts for students to read on their own to learn more about the topic. You can also download a PDF of this list.

Text Genre Lexile Measure
Dear Wandering Wildebeest: And Other Poems from the Water Hole
by Irene Latham
Poetry
The Water Walker
by Joanne Robertson
Literary
I Am the Rain
by John Peterson
Literary
The Dust Bowl
by Allison Lassieur
Literary
Water Everywhere
by Jill Atkins
Informational 610
Water
by Emily Neye
Informational
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems
by Joyce Sidman
Poetry
Rivers of Sunlight: How the Sun Moves Water Around the Earth
by Molly Bang and Penny Chisholm
Informational 830
Hydrology: The Study of Water
by Christine Taylor-Butler
Informational 790
A Good Trade
by Alma Fullerton
Literary 1 030
Voices of the Dust Bowl
by Sherry Garland
Informational
Water Rolls, Water Rises: El agua rueda, el agua sube
by Pat Mora
Literary 930
Clean Water (Sally Ride Science)
by Beth Geiger
Informational 930
Water Wow! A Visual Exploration
by Antonia Banyard and Paula Ayer
Informational 1 070
Our World of Water: Children and Water Around the World
by Beatrice Hollyer
Informational 890
Water (National Geographic Kids Reader Level 3)
by Melissa Stewart
Informational 740
Water Is Water
by Miranda Paul
Informational
You Wouldn’t Want to Live Without Clean Water!
by Roger Canavan
Informational 1 070
Every Last Drop: Bringing Clean Water Home
by Michelle Mulder
Informational 1 050
Anna Carries Water
by Olive Senior
Literary
The Water Princess
by Susan Verde
Literary 290
Hope Springs
by Eric Walters
Literary
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain
by Verna Aardema
Literary

Get updates about our new K-5 curriculum as new materials and tools debut.

Sign Up