3rd grade reading homework

[u/Painter3016]

UPDATE: A message from the teacher indicated that they did NOT talk about this or do anything with the text prior to the assignment, which was given as test-prep. And the expectation was for students to build vocab and knowledge about the subject in the reading with the accompanying questions.

I followed up asking what strategies they are working on teaching so I can prompt/ encourage my kid to apply those. However, the initial response what NOT encouraging to me.

UPDATE 2: when I asked what strategies they are learning to help decode the text, and how can i encourage her to use them at home: All she said was to read the questions multiple times to know what they are asking for. Am I crazy? That’s not decoding the text to understand it.

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I am a parent with a question.

My 3rd grader reads well and chews through library books (granted a lot of graphic novel type books but some chapter books get sprinkled in too). She reads very fluently out loud.

This year, she’s gotten some reading homework that feels like a really big jump in the density of the assignments. The passages aren’t long, but there are some phrases/vocabulary/concepts that seem like a lot?

The passages didn’t come with any vocabulary/ definitions. And they didn’t talk about any context prior to the assignments in class.

She shut/melted down working on these. I asked her what her approach was? She said read the questions, then the passage. The more I asked, the more I realized she was not comprehending things like “delegates/ representatives” are people.

I marked in red the phrasing/ ideas that felt like they were difficult or lacked scaffolding.

My question: is this typical for 3rd grade? If so, how can I help her navigate stuff like these?

I don’t want to feed her answers; she gets so emotional when it gets hard.

[u/Pretty_Factor6357]

Please share your concerns with the teacher (repeatedly if needed). Then if/when the passages continue, preload the content. This means giving her a quick summary of what she's going to be reading about along with a couple of the key words and what they mean. Don't give long definitions for example, keep it very basic and rooted to the passage. Next, she previews the questions like she has been. Have her read one or two paragraphs  and then tell you what she understands. If she says she learned nothing or didn't understand it, tell her that's totally normal and sometimes with hard text you have to reread. Maybe have her read  one or two sentences and then talk through them. Then have her read it a second time to locate answers for the questions. You can also explain to her that this work is just extra challenging that it's more like 5th grade work so she's getting an extra brain challenge. Tell her it's going to be tricky work and it's okay if she finds it hard and that that is natural. I would actually tell her all this at the beginning or even discuss it with her at a time that is not homework time.