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Common Core ELA3rd GradeSpeaking & Listening

SL.3.6: Speak in Complete Sentences When It Counts

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.6 · Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas.

Spin Who Explains NextAll 42 3rd Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

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 here for specific expectations.)

Common Core State Standards, Grade 3, Speaking & Listening · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What SL.3.6 Means in Plain English

Third graders answer in complete sentences when someone asks them to explain or add detail: sharing a result with the class, telling the teacher how they solved a problem. “Yes” or “Three” is fine for a quick check; “How do you know?” needs a full sentence with a reason.

Second graders (SL.2.6) produced complete sentences when the task called for them. Third grade ties those sentences to the grammar of L.3.1 and the word choices of L.3.3, so the detail lands. Fourth grade (SL.4.6) tells formal settings from informal ones and uses formal English when it fits.

SL.3.6 I Can Statements

  • I can answer in a full sentence when someone asks me to explain.
  • I can add the detail or reason the question asks for.
  • I can tell when a short answer is enough.

SL.3.6 Worked Example

After a shadow-tracing activity, the teacher asks a group what they noticed. Two answers, and the difference is whether the class can follow them.

Prompt

Your group traced a classmate’s shadow on the blacktop with chalk three times: in the morning, at lunchtime and right before dismissal. The teacher asks, “What did you notice, and why do you think it happened?”

Not YetLong. Then short. Then long again. ’Cause the sun.Fragments the class has to decode: long when, short compared to what? “’Cause the sun” points at a reason without saying it.
Meets the StandardOur shadow was long in the morning, shortest at lunchtime and long again before dismissal. The last time, it pointed the other way. I think it changed because the sun was low in the sky in the morning and afternoon but high up at lunchtime.Each sentence has a subject and a verb, so the class knows exactly what happened and when. Because carries the reason inside a complete sentence, which is the detail the teacher asked for.
Moves to Use
Answer the question you were asked, starting with who or what.Give the detail the listener asked for: what, when, how you know.Put the reason in the same sentence with because.Match the verb to the subject: the shadow was, the shadows were.Save one-word answers for quick checks, like “Yes” or “Three.”

Common Mistakes with SL.3.6

Fragments when an explanation was asked for

“Because the sun.”

Try this: Offer a frame, “I think ___ because ___,” for the first few explanations, then remove it once students use it unprompted.

Demanding full sentences for everything

A teacher waits for a full sentence after “Do you have a pencil?”

Try this: Teach the cue: quick checks get quick answers, while why and how questions get full sentences with a reason.

One long run-on

“And then we traced it and it was long and then we came back and it was short and then…”

Try this: Have the student stop at each “and then,” say that step as its own sentence, and start the next one fresh.

Where SL.3.6 Fits

Comes BeforeSL.2.6Produce complete sentences when the task calls for detail or clarification.
AlongsideL.3.1Use standard grammar when speaking, including subject-verb agreement and complex sentences.L.3.3Notice how spoken English differs from written English, and choose words for effect.
Comes NextSL.4.6Tell formal situations from informal ones and use formal English when appropriate.

Practice SL.3.6

Random Name PickerFree ToolAfter a science activity or a math share, spin a name, ask “How do you know?”, and listen for a full sentence with a because.How do you know?Science shareMath share
Spin a Name

Quick Check

  1. What does the strong answer say that the weak one leaves out?
  2. Which sentence in the strong answer gives the reason, and which word joins it?
  3. Does every answer in class need a complete sentence? Give an example.

SL.3.6: Other Names

SL.3.6CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.3.6

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.