3rd Grade English Language Arts
1) Reading Informational Text
Essentials
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers (RI.1)
Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.(RI.2)
Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.(RI.9)
By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently. (RI.10)
Important
Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect (RI.3)
Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.(RI.4)
Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently (RI.5)
Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text. (RI.6)
Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur) (RI.7)
Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence). (RI.8)
2) Reading Literature
Essentials
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. (RL.1)
Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text. (RL.2)
By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently. (RL.10)
Important
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. (RL.3)
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language (RL.4)
Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.(RL.5)
Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters (Rl.6)
Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting). (RL.7)
Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series). (RL.9)
3) Foundational Skills
Essentials
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words. (RF.3)
Demonstrate basic knowledge of one-to-one letter-sound correspondences by producing the primary sound or many of the most frequent sounds for each consonant.
Associate the long and short sounds with common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.
Read common high-frequency words by sight (e.g., the, of, to, you, she, my, is, are, do, does).
Distinguish between similarly spelled words by identifying the sounds of the letters that differ
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. (RF.4)
Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
4) Language
Essentials
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies. (L.4)
Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word (e.g., agreeable/disagreeable, comfortable/ uncomfortable, care/ careless, heat/preheat).
Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., company, companion).
Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.
Important
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. (L.1)
Independently and legibly write all upper-and lower-case cursive letters.
Produce grade-appropriate text using legible cursive writing.
Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences
Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.
Use abstract nouns (e.g., childhood).
Form and use regular and irregular verbs.
Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.
Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.
Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.
Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
Produce simple, compound and complex sentences.
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. (L.2)
Capitalize appropriate words in titles.
Use commas in addresses.
Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
Form and use possessives.
Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.
Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.
Use conventional spelling for high- frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words (e.g., sitting, smiled, cries, happiness).
Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading or listening (L.3)
Choose words and phrases for effect.
Recognize and observe differences between the conventions of spoken and written standard English.
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. (L.5)
Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (e.g., take steps).
Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe people who are friendly or helpful).
Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered)
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them) (L.6)
5) Writing
Essentials
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. (W.1)
Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.
Provide reasons that support the opinion.
Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons.
Provide a concluding statement or section.
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. (W.2)
Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.
Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.
Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within categories of information.
Provide a concluding statement or section.
Important
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences. (W.3)
Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.
Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.
Provide a sense of closure.
With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.) (W.4)
With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 3.) (W.5)
With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others. (W.6)
Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories. (W.8)
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences (W.10)
Nice To Know
Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic. (W.7)
6) Speaking & Listening
Important
Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic. (SL.1)
Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on the preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.
Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).
Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.
Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.
Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. (SL.2)
Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace. (SL.4)
Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification (See grade 3 Language standards 1 and 3.) (SL.6)
Nice To Know
Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail. (SL.3)
Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details (SL.5)