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Rules and Laws

3rd grade nonfiction passage about government and community: 156 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

3rd grade nonfiction government and community 156 words

Rules and Laws

Every group of people needs rules. At home, a rule might be to wash your hands before dinner. At school, a rule might be to walk in the hallway. Rules help people stay safe and get along.

A community has rules too, and they are called laws. A law is a rule that everyone in a city, state, or country must follow. Laws tell drivers to stop at a red light. They say that people must not take things that belong to someone else.

Leaders make laws. In many cities, a city council makes the laws. In the United States, Congress makes laws for the whole country. People vote to choose many of these leaders.

If a person breaks a law, there may be a penalty, such as paying a fine. Courts decide what should happen when someone is accused of breaking a law.

Good laws are fair to everyone, and they help keep people safe.

Questions

  1. Why do groups of people need rules? in the text

  2. What is a law? in the text

  3. What is one example of a law from the passage? in the text

  4. Who makes laws for the whole country? in the text

  5. What do courts do? in the text

  6. How is a school rule different from a law? think about it

Words to know

rule
a statement that tells people what they must or must not do
law
a rule that everyone in a city, state, or country must follow
Congress
the group of leaders that makes laws for the United States
vote
to make a choice that is counted along with everyone else's
court
a place where judges decide what happens when a law is broken
fine
money a person must pay for breaking a law

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put rule, law, Congress, vote, court and fine on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 6 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Rules and Laws"?

It was written for 3rd grade. It has 156 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.6. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 5 ask for something the text says directly and 1 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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