Georgia Milestones Assessment System English Language Arts Grade 3

Jordan and his uncle walk on a wooden boardwalk near Savannah. Tall marsh grass grows on both sides. The air smells like wet leaves. A fiddler crab slips into a hole beside the boards.

Jordan steps toward the edge. His shoe almost leaves the wood. Uncle Theo sets a hand on Jordan's shoulder. "The grass hides soft mud," he says.

Jordan pulls his foot back onto the boards. He points at the crab hole instead of stepping off. They walk to a bench at the end of the boardwalk.

Jordan sits and watches the grass sway. He stays behind the rail. "The crabs can have the mud," he says.

The library in Athens is busy after school. Nina needs a book about owls for a class project. She walks past the computers and into the children's room.

A low shelf has a label that says Birds. Nina slides out a book with a barn owl on the cover. The first page shows places where barn owls live.

Mr. Hale, the librarian, is stacking chairs. Nina does not shout to him. She walks over and whispers, "May I check this out?" He nods and checks out the book with her card.

Nina tucks the book under her arm. She still has to write her project, but she has the book she needs.

Mr. Diaz's class visits a pecan grove in Georgia on a cool morning. Workers have spread a sheet under a tree. When the branches shake, pecans drop onto the sheet.

The class may take only whole pecans. Cracked pecans stay in a bucket for the grower. Students count whole pecans and drop them into sacks.

They fill 4 sacks. Each sack holds 6 pecans they counted for a display. Lena pats the last sack and grins. Mr. Diaz ties every sack shut so none will spill on the bus.

At school, those sacks will sit on the science table. A card will tell how the class gathered them. No one will eat the display pecans.

Room 12 keeps a weather chart beside the window. Each morning one student draws a picture for that day. The class has used the chart for two weeks.

How to Read the Chart

A sun means the sky was clear at recess. A cloud means clouds covered most of the sky. A raindrop means rain fell before lunch. An empty box means that school day has not come yet.

On Monday, Priya draws a sun. On Tuesday, she draws a cloud. On Wednesday, rain hits the glass, so she draws a raindrop. She leaves the Thursday box empty because Thursday has not come yet. If she forgets a picture, she reads the heading How to Read the Chart.

Ms. Reed's class has not gone to Stone Mountain. The students write a made-up story about a class trip. In that story, a yellow bus parks near a huge gray rock.

In the story, the class walks a path at the bottom of the rock. The students do not climb the steep side. A made-up guide, Mr. Cole, says the rock is granite. He lets them touch a smooth spot. After they touch the rock, they eat apples on a bench. Then they ride the yellow bus back.

None of this happens in real life. A poster in the real classroom says, "Our made-up trip."

Amir draws the gray rock and the yellow bus. Under the picture he writes, "We only imagined the visit."

Many peach trees in Georgia rest during cool weather. In spring, pink flowers open on the branches. When the flowers fall, small green fruit starts to grow in their place.

Picking Time

The heading Picking Time tells about this step. Pickers take peaches that smell sweet and feel a little soft. They leave hard green peaches on the tree. A peach with a dark, soft bruise from a bump goes into a different bucket.

Workers set the best crates in the shade. Hot sun can make the fruit soft too fast. A shaded crate stays cooler on the way to a store.

A bird feeder hangs outside a school window in Augusta, Georgia. During quiet time, the class watches the tray. One Monday, three red cardinals land on the seeds. Two small wrens sit on the fence.

A bold cardinal pecks at the seeds and flaps its wings. The wrens do not fly over. Bella frowns and taps the glass. Then she stops. The class rule is to watch the birds without scaring them.

Bella folds her hands and sits still. A minute later, one wren hops onto the tray. Her frown changes into a smile. She writes, "3 cardinals and 1 wren on the tray," in the log. The other wren stays on the fence, and Bella does not tap the glass again.

At a kitchen table in Valdosta, Grandma June opens a cloth bag of cotton squares. Some squares are blue with tiny stars. Others are yellow with no pattern.

"We will stitch these into a quilt," she says. To stitch means to sew with a needle and thread. She shows Wes how to move the needle up and down along a pencil line.

Wes sticks his finger and drops the needle. His eyes get shiny, but he does not walk away. He picks up the needle, takes a breath, and starts the line again.

Grandma June does not take the cloth from him. She covers the sore finger so the needle will not stick him again. Wes finishes one side of the square before dinner.

Rain falls for two days, and the creek behind a park in Columbus, Georgia, runs fast. Brown water covers the stepping stones. Nate and his sister Lula come down the path with a soccer ball.

Nate puts a foot toward the first stone. The water tugs at his shoe. Lula grabs his sleeve and pulls him back onto the grass. "The field is dry," she says.

Nate looks at the stones, squeezes the ball, and turns away from the creek. They kick the ball on the field instead. On the way home, Nate says, "The stones will show when the water drops." He does not return to the creek.

A peanut plant grows in a sunny field in south Georgia. Green leaves and small yellow flowers stay above the ground. After a flower blooms, a thin stem called a peg grows down.

Under the Soil

The peg pushes into the dirt, and a peanut forms at its tip. People cannot see the peanut while it is underground. Farmers watch the leaves. Yellow leaves are a clue that it may be time to dig.

Machines lift the plants and shake off the soil. The peanuts dry in the open air before they are stored. Wet peanuts can spoil and turn moldy, so drying helps. The heading Under the Soil names the part of the plant people cannot see yet.

The school bus in Rome, Georgia, is noisy on Friday afternoon. Kenji holds a trumpet case across his lap. His friend Alma is still on the sidewalk, talking with a teacher.

A boy in the aisle asks, "Is this seat free?" Kenji shakes his head. He sets his hand on the empty place and watches the door. He does not smile yet.

Alma climbs on and sees his hand. She sits, and Kenji moves the case to the floor. His shoulders drop, and he grins. "I saved it," he says.

The bus rolls past a park. Kenji and Alma talk about the concert until the driver calls their stop.

The science table holds a tank of tadpoles. At the start, six tadpoles swim with long tails and no legs. One week later, two of them have tiny back legs.

Tank Rules

Keep the lid on the tank. Feed the tadpoles only the food flakes in the blue cup. Do not tap the glass. Wash your hands after you touch the lid. The heading Tank Rules is posted for every helper.

Omar wants a closer look. He leans toward the glass, then pulls his hand back before he taps it. He reads the rules again and sprinkles flakes from the blue cup one time. He writes, "Two tadpoles have back legs," in the notebook. The lid stays closed.

The Saturday market in Albany, Georgia, opens at eight in the morning. Rosa and her father sell honey in small glass jars. Each jar has a yellow lid. Their sign says one jar costs three dollars.

A customer chooses two jars. Father is busy with another shopper. Rosa stands up straight and says, "I can help you." Her voice shakes, but she carries the jars to the money box.

The customer pays six dollars. Rosa counts the bills twice and puts them in the box. She gives the customer both jars and says, "Thank you." Father looks over and nods. Rosa wipes her hands on her apron and smiles at the next person in line.

Barred owls live in woods across Georgia. Their feathers are brown and white, and their eyes are dark. In the daytime, a barred owl often rests on a high branch.

Night Hunter

This owl hunts after dark. It listens for small animals moving in the leaves. Soft feathers on its wings help it fly without loud flaps. A quiet flight lets it get close to the animal it hunts.

The animal an owl hunts is called prey. Prey may be a mouse or a frog. The owl swallows pieces of its food. Later it coughs up a pellet of fur and tiny bones. The heading Night Hunter fits this owl because the hunting happens after dark.

The class play is tomorrow in the school gym in Decatur, Georgia. At practice, Hana plays a baker. Her line is, "The pies are ready." She says it the first time. The second time, the words are gone.

Hana's cheeks feel hot. She stares at her shoes. Her friend Luis does not laugh. He shapes the words with his mouth but makes no sound.

Hana sees his mouth and says, "The pies are ready." Ms. Brooks asks the group to do the scene again. This time Hana says the line with no help.

After practice, Hana writes the line on a small card and puts the card in her pocket. "I can peek at the words if I forget," she tells Luis.

The class hangs a big map of Georgia beside the door. Students may look at the map. They may not write on it. Theo almost marks a river with a pen. Then he stops and caps the pen.

Map Key

Blue lines stand for rivers. Green shapes stand for parks. A black star marks Atlanta. The teacher says Atlanta is the state capital, so the star shows that city. A red dot marks Dublin, the town where the class lives.

Theo reads the heading Map Key. He finds the blue line closest to the red dot and says it is a river near Dublin. His pen stays in his pocket. The heading helps students remember what each color means.

On a warm night in Waycross, the yard is dark except for a porch lamp. Tiny lights blink over the grass. Dad says the lights are fireflies.

Nia cups her hands around one firefly. A soft light glows between her fingers. She looks at a jar on the step and wants to keep the insect.

The firefly stops glowing. Nia bites her lip. She opens her hands, and the firefly rises over the bushes. Its light blinks again.

Nia leaves the jar on the step. She sits and counts nine blinks. Then she goes inside to wash her hands.