Transitions Between Grades a Big Shock: "I wish we had some sort of warning"

Today on the airplane I sat next to a mom and her daughter who is in the 3rd grade. We got to talking about where we were from and why we were travelling, and the mother shared with me what a big jump it was for her daughter when she came into the 3rd grade from 2nd grade. I have always heard (and seen) that there is a lot more work in the 3rd grade. Not just homework, but class work as well. A big part of this, I think, is that testing begins in the 3rd grade so there is more pressure on students to do well.
The mom today shared that it was even more than just more homework. In the 2nd grade, her teacher did not do any text book work. Then when her daughter got to the 3rd grade her teacher was asking them to do work straight out of the text book. Instructions like, "Turn to page 200 and answer questions 15-20" were foreign to her, yet her teacher expected the work to be done correctly without further help.
Obviously, there is some lack of communication going on between the grades and the teachers in the schools. I feel like this problem could be fixed if the teachers were clear about what was to be expected in the coming grade so that the students are prepared when they come in. If the students do not know how to simply read a text book, then they are definately not going to be learning the information that the text book is saying. Being straighforward is key. And communicating with parents should always be a main priority for teachers.