Benchmark Books and Indicators - Third Grade:SPRING

Fantastic Mr. Fox
By Roald Dahl

Text Characteristics

  • Texts begin to have a variety of characters (protagonist, antagonist, etc.)
  • Texts contain descriptive language for character development.
  • Texts are longer and read over many sessions.
  • Chapters can contain smaller, concise stories (episodes) within the larger book.
  • Few or no pictures.
  • Plot becomes more complex.
  • Themes begin to be developed through inferences.
  • Texts can contain more than one form/feature.
  • Stories become more sophisticated through the use of idioms, similes, and metaphors, etc.

Reader Behaviors

  • Rereads and self-corrects regularly.
  • Reads with fluency, intonation, and phrasing.
  • Integrates cues from meaning, structure, and visual sources.
  • Monitors for meaning: checks to make sure what has been read makes sense, sounds right, and looks right.
  • Reading rate when silent reading is much higher than oral reading.
  • Begins to be able to quickly scan for information or to check meaning.
  • Able to comprehend and synthesize previously read material and apply to new reading.