Oglethorpe Point Elementary School

Third Grade

Third grade students visit the library weekly with their whole class, but are also allowed to visit independently or in small groups throughout the week as needed. 

Third grade students are allowed to check out two books at a time. Their weekly checkouts are unlimited - as long as they only have two books out at a time. 

Your child’s class library day is:
Collins/Young - Monday
Smith/Langford - Wednesday

Third grade students participate in most of our independent reading incentives, including our quarterly reading cafés and reading store, our end of the year reading clubs, and our “I Put Reading on the Map” program.

Reading Cafés and Goals:

Reading Cafés are held quarterly (Fall/October, Winter/December, Spring/March, and End of the Year/May). Third grade students read books and take comprehension quizzes (Accelerated Reader) in order to participate. They must meet an independent reading goal that is set for them each quarter. At the beginning of the year, our third grade students take a reading assessment that helps us determine their independent reading level. This level is largely based on vocabulary/word complexity and follows the ATOS readability measure. Once the students have taken this reading measure, our Accelerated Reader program calculates a goal that is based on reading at your student’s independent reading level and for 20 minutes a school day (we do not count weekends and holidays since the students cannot take their comprehension quiz during those days). You can find your student’s reading zone and quarterly reading goal by logging in to Accelerated Reader (more information below).

Students may quiz on books they have read at home or books they have read in the classroom and with teachers. All quizzes should be taken at school. Parents can login to AR at home in order to check their child’s progress. The AR login is located under the Students tab on our school website. 

Reading Cafés are hosted during lunch by our fabulous PTA. Weather permitting, students eat their lunches outside in the courtyard and then participate in fun games and activities. 

Reading Stores are held in December, March, and May. Students get to “spend” their hard-earned reading points at the store. Points not used will roll-over to the next store, but must be used by our final store in May. Café and Club points are NOT deducted from store points.

Reading Star Wall & Clubs:

Once third graders accumulate 10 reading points, their star goes on the wall in the main hallway. Their star moves up according to their accumulated points. 

75 Point Club - if a third grader’s star reaches 75 points, he or she will be invited to our end of the year reading ice cream party in May. 

100 Point Club -  if a third grader’s star reaches 100 points, he or she will be invited to our end of the year Reading Club Field Trip in May. 

*Points are based on the amount of words in a book. 1 point equals roughly 5,000 words, or a typical early chapter book (such as Junie B. Jones or Magic Tree House).

Third graders participate in I Put Reading on the Map. 

I Put Reading on the Map

At the beginning of third grade, Mrs. Bowles will send each student an invitation to join the “3rd Grade I Put Reading on the Map” Google Classroom. Once students have joined, they can find their own copy of their reading log in the Classwork section. Here they will record the books that they are reading. In addition to being in the correct category, books must also be in the student’s reading zone (informational books can be read at grade level), and they must make an 80% or higher on the comprehension quiz in Accelerated Reader. All books MUST be read during the current school year. 

Parents can help their children at home. From home, students can login to both their AR account to see completed work and also their Google Classroom to see their log. Third grade is the year that teachers will step back a little and allow the students to become much more independent in their drive to complete their log. So parents can help by checking in weekly to make sure your child is reading and logging books. Setting the expectation of completing their log and providing reminders will help third graders tremendously. 

Coming Soon:  “How to Navigate Accelerated Reader” clip that will show you where you can find your child’s quarterly goals, reading zone, and all of the books they have read, etc..  

The last day to take Accelerated Reader quizzes is May 1, 2026. So all reading goals must be met by this date. 

*Please visit the Digital Literacy button on the library homepage in order to view the lessons covered by grade level.