Writing Standards: Recalling and Gathering Information with Notes and Categories (CCSS.W.3.8)
Help Questions
Common Core 3rd Grade ELA › Writing Standards: Recalling and Gathering Information with Notes and Categories (CCSS.W.3.8)
Sources to choose from:
- Kid website article: "How Bees Make Honey" with pictures and simple words.
- Adult science journal about bee genetics and lab studies.
- Interview with a neighbor who keeps bees and talks about daily beekeeping.
Which source is the best place to start your report on how bees make honey?
A video game guide about insects
A weather map showing weekly temperatures
The kid website article about how bees make honey
A hard science journal about bee genetics
Explanation
The kid website is about your topic and uses simple words, so it is relevant and easy to read.
You want to learn how butterflies grow. Here are some sources:
- A kid website with pictures and short paragraphs about butterfly life cycles
- A long science journal article for adults with many advanced words
- An interview with a chef about recipes
- A fantasy story about a dragon
Which source is the best to gather information for your report on how butterflies grow?
The kid website with pictures and short paragraphs about butterfly life cycles
The long science journal article for adults with many advanced words
The interview with a chef about recipes
The fantasy story about a dragon
Explanation
The kid website is on-topic and easy to understand, with pictures and short text. The others are off-topic or too hard.
Notes about golden retriever dogs:
- Golden retrievers are friendly and like to play
- They can be trained to help people as service dogs
- They have thick, golden fur that sheds Categories given: Appearance, Behavior, Jobs
What is the best way to sort your notes into the provided categories?
Sort into Places: Farm, Zoo, Ocean
Sort by alphabetical order only
Appearance: thick, golden fur that sheds; Behavior: friendly and like to play; Jobs: trained to help people as service dogs
Sort by hard vs easy
Explanation
Each note fits the given categories: fur is Appearance, friendly and playful is Behavior, and helping people is a Job.
You need to know what to wear for school tomorrow. Here are sources you could check:
- An interview with a zookeeper about animal care
- A kid-friendly local weather website with icons and a simple forecast for your town
- A long climate research paper with complex graphs for scientists
- A story about a boy in a rainstorm
Which source is the best to gather the information you need?
The interview with a zookeeper about animal care
The kid-friendly local weather website with icons and a simple forecast
The long climate research paper with complex graphs for scientists
The story about a boy in a rainstorm
Explanation
A local, kid-friendly weather site gives clear, current information you can use right away. The others are off-topic or too hard.
Items to sort for a recycling poster: soda can, newspaper, water bottle, cereal box Categories given: Paper, Plastic, Metal
What is the best way to sort the items into the provided categories?
Sort by color: brown, clear, shiny
Sort by where you found them: kitchen vs classroom
Sort by weight: light vs heavy
Paper: newspaper and cereal box; Plastic: water bottle; Metal: soda can
Explanation
Sorting by material matches the given categories: paper items together, plastic item together, and metal item together.
You wrote these notes about weather: thermometer, rainy, windy, rain boots, measures temperature. What is the best way to sort your notes?
Sort by the first letter of each word
Sort into Weather Tools, Weather Types, and Clothing for Weather
Sort into Foods and Animals
Sort by hardest to spell and easiest to spell
Explanation
Grouping by meaning (tools, types, clothing) matches the notes. The other choices are not useful or off-topic.
You took notes about plants: roots take in water, leaves make food, needs sunlight, watering can, soil. What is the best way to sort these notes?
Sort by first letter
Sort into Past and Future
Sort into Food and Sports
Sort into Plant Parts, Plant Needs, and Garden Tools
Explanation
Those categories match the notes by meaning. The other choices are not logical for these notes.
Notes about rainforest animals:
- Jaguars hunt on the ground.
- Sloths hang from tree branches and move slowly.
- Macaws build nests high in trees.
- Leafcutter ants carry leaves along the forest floor.
- Poison dart frogs live among low plants where it is damp.
What is the best way to sort these notes?
By favorite animals and least favorite animals
By where they live in the rainforest: forest floor, understory, canopy
By animal size: small, medium, big
By the alphabet order of the animal names
Explanation
Each fact tells where the animal lives, so sorting by rainforest layer (forest floor, understory, canopy) makes sense.
Diego is writing steps for how to plant a bean seed. He finds:
- A kids' gardening book with pictures and clear step-by-step directions.
- A restaurant menu.
- A college plant biology textbook with complex diagrams and long chapters.
- A travel blog about hiking in the mountains.
Which source should Diego use to take notes for his how-to?
A restaurant menu
A travel blog about hiking
A kids' gardening book with clear steps and pictures
A college plant biology textbook
Explanation
The kids' gardening book is on-topic and easy to understand. The menu and travel blog are off-topic, and the college textbook is too hard.
Notes about weather tools:
- A thermometer shows how hot or cold the air is.
- A wind vane points to the direction of the wind.
- An anemometer shows how fast the wind blows.
- A rain gauge collects how much water falls.
What is the best way to sort these notes into categories?
By color of the tool
By tools I like and tools I don't like
By indoor tools and outdoor tools
By what they measure: temperature, wind, precipitation
Explanation
Sorting by what each tool measures groups them logically: temperature (thermometer), wind (vane and anemometer), and precipitation (rain gauge).