# Year 3 English: ten scripted 25-minute lessons

Open [teacher texts and word cards](MATERIALS.md) before the lesson. These shared passages are for the teacher to read and discuss; use a separately chosen text at the learner's taught point when gathering **independent reading** evidence. Each numbered day totals **25 minutes**. During the final prompt, all respond and the teacher closely samples 2–3 focus learners; rotate names and use quiet checks where speech/reading must be individual. [Assessment](ASSESSMENT.md) provides keys, example errors and next teaching. The ACARA Year 3 codes are partial links, never a two-week mastery declaration.

## Day 1 — A setting can change how a story feels

**Codes:** `AC9E3LE03`, `AC9E3LY05`, `AC9E3LY02`. **Aim:** describe story place, problem and a mood change with a text clue. **Bring:** [Story A](MATERIALS.md#story-a--the-trays-on-the-path), blank four-box strip.

1. **Invite · 3 min.** Say: “I will read a made-up story. Notice what Mira sees first and how she feels by the end.” Show title; let learners predict but call it a guess.
2. **Read aloud · 5 min.** Read with pauses at paragraph breaks. After paragraph 1 ask, “What might Mira be worried about? Which sentence gave you that idea?” Finish the story before accepting a final conclusion.
3. **Think aloud · 5 min.** Put four boxes left to right. Sketch `blocked path / Jai explains / ask and move / plan`. Say: “At first Mira is unsure because she fears spoiling a project. At the end she feels relieved; the text tells us so.” Point to “If she moved them…” and “Mira felt relieved.”
4. **Partner retell · 7 min.** Pairs use the four boxes to retell. The listener asks one “how do you know?” question; the speaker returns to a word or event. Invite a different response route: gesture, tactile objects, speech, AAC or sketch.
5. **Discuss preference · 3 min.** Ask which action they would choose first—ask an adult or move the trays—and why. Clarify that the fictional event is not permission to change equipment at their school.
6. **Check · 2 min.** Everyone marks the moment the mood begins to change and supplies one clue. Focus learners' exact words go in the record. If a learner says the path was “scary” without support, ask what the story actually says.

**Access:** adult reading plus large print, a quiet listening point, tactile four-box sequence and private response. Do not label a good retell as independent word reading.

## Day 2 — Read a longer word in useful pieces

**Codes:** `AC9E3LY09`, `AC9E3LY04`. **Aim:** use spoken syllables, known letter patterns and meaningful parts to read longer words. **Bring:** word cards `garden, notebook, remember, careful`; check each learner's prerequisite letter patterns.

1. **Hear it · 2 min.** Say **garden** naturally. Learners tap two beats. Explain that a beat helps us plan, but we still check the letters.
2. **Model and blend · 6 min.** Show **gar-den**. Point to the parts and blend in your local classroom pronunciation; reread the whole word in “garden path”. Show **note-book** and ask what two known words make it. Do not force an unnatural vowel sound from the spelling.
3. **Guided word work · 5 min.** Together read **care-ful**. Link the base **care** to the meaning “showing care”, then reread the whole word. Tap **re-mem-ber** and model the written chunks; state that a syllable split is a reading support, not always a morpheme split.
4. **Partner sort and use · 7 min.** Partners draw a card, tap/say syllables, point through known graphemes and blend. Place it in a story sentence or an original spoken sentence. A learner unsure of an untaught grapheme gets a teacher model and a different known card for independent evidence.
5. **Meaning check · 3 min.** Ask: “What would a careful helper do near a narrow path?” Accept a supported practical idea; distinguish word meaning from decoding.
6. **Check · 2 min.** Show **notebook** and **careful** in changed order. Everyone marks parts and attempts a blend; focus learners read one without a model. Record which pattern was known and any cue given.

**Access:** large/tactile letter cards, visual mouth model, quiet rehearsal or AAC word selection. Never score speech clarity as phoneme knowledge without an accessible route.

## Day 3 — An inference needs a clue

**Codes:** `AC9E3LY05`, `AC9E3LE03`, `AC9E3LY04`. **Aim:** infer Mira's hesitation and self-correct when a statement overreaches. **Bring:** first two paragraphs of Story A and learner-matched independent reading texts.

1. **Question · 2 min.** Say: “Mira did not move the trays at once. Was she frightened of trays, or worried about someone's work? Let's find the clue.”
2. **Model rereading · 5 min.** Read “If she moved them, would she spoil someone's project?” Think aloud: “The question names a project. I infer she was worried about interrupting it. I don't need to invent a new event.”
3. **Guided evidence · 6 min.** Give two statements: `Mira knew who put the trays there` and `Mira wondered if moving them would spoil a project`. Learners point to evidence or say “not shown”; reveal that Jai's explanation arrives later. Ask how the reader's understanding changes.
4. **Reading station · 7 min.** Most learners partner-reread the shared paragraph for meaning; teacher privately listens to 2–3 planned children read a separate matched passage and notes accuracy, phrasing and self-correction. Record title and help. Echoing Story A is not independent fluency evidence.
5. **New inference · 3 min.** Ask why Jai drew a plan at the end. A plausible answer: to remember a better place for the trays, supported by the last paragraph. Accept a distinct supported answer.
6. **Check · 2 min.** Everyone finishes “I infer __ because the story says __.” Sample evidence and inference separately. If the clue is missing, offer a two-line re-read tomorrow.

**Access:** teacher read-aloud for meaning, text magnification, tactile event cards and AAC response. A learner may show the exact line rather than speak.

## Day 4 — Verb choice and tense hold a paragraph together

**Codes:** `AC9E3LA04`, `AC9E3LA07`, `AC9E3LA08`, `AC9E3LY06`. **Aim:** choose a precise past-tense verb and group related events in a paragraph. **Bring:** four event cards, sentence examples from materials.

1. **Notice · 3 min.** Read “Mira looked” and “Mira stared”. Ask what each suggests. Return to Story A to check the stronger choice.
2. **Model · 5 min.** Write `Mira worries.` beside `Mira worried when she saw the blocked path.` Say: “The story happened earlier, so **worried** locates it in the past. **Saw** names a different action.” Underline the verbs.
3. **Paragraph model · 5 min.** Put `saw trays / read sign / worried` in one box and `asked Ms Vale / carried trays` in another. Explain that the first group develops the problem; the next develops the attempt. A paragraph groups a related stage, not an arbitrary number of sentences.
4. **Compose · 7 min.** Children choose two story stages and write or dictate two short paragraphs of 1–2 connected sentences each. Offer action-verb tiles (`noticed`, `asked`, `carried`, `planned`). Partner points to the transition and checks tense consistency.
5. **Edit aloud · 3 min.** Model changing a stray present verb in a past recount. Have learners choose one verb to improve without increasing length just for length's sake.
6. **Check · 2 min.** Everyone revises `Jai carry the trays. Then he draws a plan.` to a consistent past recount, e.g. `Jai carried the trays. Then he drew a plan.` Focus learners explain the change.

**Access:** keyboard, word tiles, speech/AAC composition or a scribe; preserve the child's wording and record which edit was prompted. Motor presentation is separate evidence.

## Day 5 — A small story with a real revision

**Codes:** `AC9E3LE05`, `AC9E3LY06`, `AC9E3LA04`. **Aim:** create an original problem–attempt–result story in two simple paragraphs and improve it after a reader question. **Bring:** [evidence board](../print/evidence-board.svg) turned to its `what happened / what changed` spaces, blank paper.

1. **Offer choice · 2 min.** Say: “Invent a different shared-space problem. It can be a club table, sports-equipment shelf or art corner. Your character will notice, ask and try.” No child must describe a private real incident.
2. **Model a plan · 5 min.** Sketch an invented craft table with a pile blocking the paint pots. Write `before/what goes wrong` in paragraph 1 and `attempt/result` in paragraph 2. State clearly that the example is fictional and not an actual school rule.
3. **Plan with prompts · 6 min.** Ask each learner: “Who? Where? What changes? What can they safely try? How will we know the result?” Learners choose a four-card sequence, a short outline or oral rehearsal.
4. **Create and read · 7 min.** Draft two paragraphs through writing, keyboard, dictation or AAC transcription. Partner listens/reads and asks one real clarification, such as “Where did the box go?” Keep draft visible.
5. **Revise · 3 min.** Child chooses a change: clearer place, verb, order or result. Say: “Show me the sentence you changed and how it helps your reader.” Avoid rewriting the child's story for them.
6. **Check · 2 min.** Everyone indicates the problem and one revision; focus learners' versions feed [Check A](ASSESSMENT.md). If only a list of events appears, plan a paragraph stage together next time.

**Access:** private audience, drawing plus dictated text, object storyboard or AAC. Record narrative design separately from spelling/transcription.

## Day 6 — An information text states what it can tell us

**Codes:** `AC9E3LA03`, `AC9E3LA05`, `AC9E3LY03`, `AC9E3LY05`. **Aim:** navigate headings, identify purpose and separate observation from inference. **Bring:** [Information text B](MATERIALS.md#information-text-b--look-closely-at-a-closed-sample) and [evidence board](../print/evidence-board.svg).

1. **Question · 2 min.** Ask: “If we wanted to compare two closed samples, would Story A give us the steps?” Ask for a reason, then show Text B.
2. **Shared read · 5 min.** Read Text B aloud and point to each heading. Say: “This writer tells a reader how to observe safely, then asks them to compare. It does not claim to know our result before we look.”
3. **Navigate · 6 min.** Ask children to find where to learn `what to look for`, `what not to do`, and `what we still cannot tell`. They point to phrases; teacher checks each choice in the text.
4. **Sort two claims · 7 min.** Put on board `sample A looks darker` and `sample A will grow better plants`. Ask which could be observed from the containers and which needs other evidence. No claim about **actual** sample A is made until the class has a real record.
5. **Audience · 3 min.** Ask who could use this text (a class about to compare samples) and what they would do with it. Contrast a reader enjoying Story A; both may be useful for different purposes.
6. **Check · 2 min.** Everyone points to the section that warns against a broad conclusion and says why. Focus learners' answer is recorded as listening/navigation if teacher read the text.

**Access:** headings in large/tactile cards, read-aloud, screen reader or AAC pointing. Do not call teacher-assisted reading an independent fluency sample.

## Day 7 — A word part changes the message

**Codes:** `AC9E3LY10`, `AC9E3LA10`, `AC9E3LY09`. **Aim:** read meaningful base + prefix/suffix combinations and explain the change. **Bring:** `check/recheck`, `fair/unfair`, `care/careful`, `help/helpful` cards.

1. **Invite · 2 min.** Say: “If I check a record and then **recheck** it, what do I do?” Accept “check again” with an example.
2. **Model · 5 min.** Build `re + check → recheck`. Point to the base and prefix. Read the whole word through, then use it in “We recheck our count.” State that not every word starting `re` has this prefix.
3. **Guided pairs · 6 min.** Build `un + fair → unfair` and `care + ful → careful`. Ask how the meaning changes. Blend/say the whole words at a natural pace; use letter patterns taught locally.
4. **Choice task · 7 min.** Pairs choose two base/change pairs and make a sentence for a real classroom purpose: `It is helpful to label a sample`; `It is unfair to change only one person's rule`. Teacher checks that a learner understands meaning, not just cuts a word visually.
5. **Counterexample · 3 min.** Show **red**. Its first two letters are `re`, but they are not a prefix meaning “again” here. Say: “We check the whole word and its meaning; a matching start is not enough.”
6. **Check · 2 min.** Everyone reads **recheck** and **careful**, marks base and addition, and says the meaning. Focus learners receive a new card **unhelpful** to test transfer. Record untaught grapheme support separately.

**Access:** raised base/prefix/suffix tiles, spoken examples, visual print, AAC meaning choices and private reading. A family language can illuminate a concept, but no unreviewed translation is supplied.

## Day 8 — One paragraph, one connected part of an idea

**Codes:** `AC9E3LA04`, `AC9E3LA10`, `AC9E3LY06`. **Aim:** group related observations and caution in separate simple paragraphs using precise words. **Bring:** Text B, evidence board and a child observation (or explicitly fictional practice if samples unavailable).

1. **Set goal · 2 min.** Say: “A report can help a reader when each paragraph keeps related ideas together.”
2. **Model · 5 min.** Read the `Observe` and `Compare and ask again` paragraphs in Text B. Explain that the first tells **how to look**, the next tells **what to compare and what we still do not know**. Highlight `grain`, `layer`, `evidence` as words needing meaning in context.
3. **Guided sort · 6 min.** Put sentence strips `We kept jars closed`, `A looked darker in our record`, `Colour alone does not show plant growth` under `method / observation / question or limit`. If A did not actually look darker, label that strip a fictional practice sentence.
4. **Learner report · 7 min.** With real authorised records or marked fictional practice, children make two short paragraphs: one about method, one about an observation and remaining question. Offer a heading for each. Ask for an exact visible detail rather than “the soil was good.”
5. **Reader check · 3 min.** Partner points to the sentence that belongs with the method and one that is a claim. Author moves or revises a sentence if it interrupts the idea.
6. **Check · 2 min.** Everyone explains where `We kept both jars closed` belongs and why. Focus learners' report shows whether grouping and vocabulary are meaningful.

**Access:** movable strips, tactile sections, dictated/AAC paragraphs, read-aloud headings. A child need not physically handle a sample to describe a documented observation, but record the source.

## Day 9 — Same topic, different reader

**Codes:** `AC9E3LY01`, `AC9E3LY03`, `AC9E3LY06`. **Aim:** compare purposes/audiences and draft a short useful message for a selected reader. **Bring:** Story A, Text B, two-column evidence board.

1. **Start · 2 min.** Say: “Both texts involve school spaces. Who might read each, and what would they get from it?”
2. **Model comparison · 5 min.** Point to dialogue and plot in Story A, then headings and safe steps in Text B. Say: “A person may enjoy Mira's problem and solution. Someone observing a sample can use Text B's instructions.” Avoid saying a story cannot also teach.
3. **Find proof · 6 min.** Children locate one feature in each text that fits its likely purpose. Ask why a materials/procedure section would matter to a test reader, and how dialogue lets a story reader hear character views.
4. **Write for choice of reader · 7 min.** Learners choose a classmate or an adult at home. Draft 2–3 sentences explaining how to observe a closed sample safely or how a school community could check a proposed path rule. Require a clear purpose, one sourced detail and a question/limit where needed. Local claims need the actual authorised source.
5. **Reader response · 3 min.** Partner says what action or idea the message gives. Author changes one confusing phrase. An adult scribe writes only the child's chosen words.
6. **Check · 2 min.** Everyone selects which text they would consult for closed-sample safety and names the heading or phrase. Sample focus learners and distinguish text navigation from independent reading.

**Access:** choice of audience and written/oral/AAC drafting, private partner, large/tactile headings. Do not ask a learner to reveal private home details.

## Day 10 — Three kinds of evidence, three next moves

**Codes:** `AC9E3LY04`, `AC9E3LY05`, `AC9E3LY06`, `AC9E3LY09`, `AC9E3LY10`. **Aim:** sample longer-word reading, shared-text comprehension and an audience-ready paragraph without conflating them. **Bring:** [Check B](ASSESSMENT.md), unseen word-card order, Text B, private reading station.

1. **Purpose · 2 min.** Say: “Show a way you can read, explain and improve. I will name one useful next step for each part.”
2. **Warm review · 5 min.** Together reread **garden** and **check/recheck** and recall Text B's headings. These familiar demonstrations are practice, not new assessment.
3. **Word sample · 6 min.** All see `notebook, careful, helpful, recheck` in a new order. Quietly hear planned focus learners blend/parse while others work with a partner. Record what was read unaided, which letter pattern/morpheme was prompted and whether meaning was understood.
4. **Meaning and paragraph · 7 min.** Read the final Text B paragraph **aloud**. Ask what appearance cannot prove. Learners then create a short paragraph for a class reader: one observation from actual authorised record **or marked fictional practice**, plus a limit or next question. Keep any adult transcription and prompt visible.
5. **Specific feedback · 3 min.** Respond to the evidence: “You found the word *careful* and explained it. Our next reading practice will be the unfamiliar vowel pattern in *notebook*.” For composition, name a sentence to keep and one useful edit.
6. **Close · 2 min.** Learner chooses one word and one sentence to keep. Teacher records separate word-reading, comprehension and composition decisions; others can be assessed in later stations.

**Feasibility/access:** a 25-minute class activity cannot give everyone an individual oral reading interview. Use several 3–4 minute quiet checks across Days 8–10 and later; record matched independent text separately. Offer large print, tactile tiles, AAC/dictation and a private audience as appropriate.

**Rights:** Original lessons © NeuroForgeIO Pty Ltd 2026, SubjectNest, [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Attribute, link and indicate changes. ACARA content retains [its terms](https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/copyright-and-terms-of-use).