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Common Core ELA3rd GradeReading: Informational

RI.3.4: Figure Out Academic and Science Words

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.4 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

Get the Frayer ModelAll 42 3rd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 3, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.3.4 Means in Plain English

Third graders work out two kinds of words in nonfiction: school words that show up in every subject, like opposite and contain, and subject words like attract and repel in a science text on magnets. The clues are usually in the sentence or the one next to it.

Second grade (RI.2.4) worked out words in a text on a grade 2 topic. Third grade names the two kinds, general academic and domain-specific, and grade 3 subjects bring harder ones. Fourth grade (RI.4.4) asks the same of grade 4 topics, with words like erosion and circuit.

RI.3.4 I Can Statements

  • I can use clues in the text to figure out a new word.
  • I can tell a science word from a word used in every subject.
  • I can explain a new word in my own words.

RI.3.4 Worked Example

Repel is explained right in the passage, twice over, and the weak answer guesses instead of reading the words around it.

Read the Story
Every magnet has two ends, called poles: a north pole and a south pole.Hold the north pole of one magnet near the south pole of another, and the two magnets attract. They pull toward each other and snap together.Now turn one magnet around. Two north poles repel, pushing each other away, and two south poles do the same. Repel is the opposite of attract.Magnets attract objects that contain iron, such as steel paper clips. They do not attract wood, plastic or aluminum foil.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: What does repel mean in this passage? Which words helped you figure it out?
Not Yet“Repel means the magnets stick together.”The student spotted a magnet word and guessed. Sticking together is what attract means, and the passage says repel is its opposite.
Meets the Standard“Repel means to push away. Right after the word, the text says the north poles are ‘pushing each other away.’ It also says ‘Repel is the opposite of attract,’ and attract means to pull together.”The meaning is in the student’s own words, and two clues from the text back it up: the phrase that explains the word and the sentence that names its opposite.
Question Stems to Use
What do you think this word means? What makes you think so?Read the sentence before and after. What clue do you see?Is this a science word or a word you could use in any subject?What word means the opposite? How does that help?Put your meaning in place of the word. Does the sentence still make sense?

Common Mistakes with RI.3.4

Guessing from the look of the word

“Repel sounds like rebel, so it means fighting.”

Try this: Send students back to the sentence first: read the words right after the new one, where authors of science texts often explain it.

Using the everyday meaning

“Poles are tall sticks, like a flagpole.”

Try this: Ask “What does this word mean in this text?” and compare the science meaning with the everyday one on a two-column chart.

Skipping the school words

Students learn attract and repel but stall on contain and opposite

Try this: Teach general academic words on purpose, since they appear in every subject, and point them out when they show up in science.

Where RI.3.4 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.2.4Work out the meaning of words and phrases in a text on a grade 2 topic.
AlongsideL.3.4Use sentence clues, prefixes, root words and glossaries to work out unknown words.L.3.6Learn and use grade 3 academic and subject words accurately when speaking and writing.
Comes NextRI.4.4Work out general academic and subject words in a text on a grade 4 topic.

Practice RI.3.4

Vocabulary Worksheet GeneratorFree ToolWord, definition, sentence and picture practice from the unit’s list, mixing science words like attract and pole with school words like contain.Science wordsSchool wordsGrade 3
Make a Worksheet

Quick Check

  1. What does attract mean in the passage?
  2. What are poles?
  3. Would a magnet pick up a steel paper clip or a piece of aluminum foil? How do you know?

RI.3.4: Other Names

RI.3.4CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.4

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.