Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Common Core State Standards, Grade 3, Writing · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026
What W.3.3 Means in Plain English
Third graders write stories, true or made up, that open by setting the scene and introducing who is in it. Events unfold in a natural order, marked by time words like a second later, with dialogue and feelings along the way, and the ending makes the story feel finished.
Second graders (W.2.3) recount one event or a short sequence with actions, thoughts, feelings and time words. Third grade adds dialogue, a situation set up at the start, and the choice to invent the story. Fourth grade (W.4.3) asks for sensory details and a wider range of transitions.
W.3.3 I Can Statements
I can set up the situation and introduce my narrator and characters.
I can use dialogue and show actions, thoughts and feelings.
I can use time words to show order and end my story well.
W.3.3 Worked Example
Both stories are about the same picture day, but only one lets the reader live through it.
Prompt
Write a story about picture day. It can be real or made up. Show what the characters say, do and feel, and use time words so the reader knows the order.
Not YetIt was picture day. I spilled juice on my shirt. Then I got my picture taken and it was a good day.The events are in order, but the problem is never set up, nobody speaks, nothing shows how the narrator felt, “then” is the only time word, and “a good day” is a label, not an ending.
Meets the StandardOn picture day, I wore my new shirt with tiny sailboats on it, and I had promised Mom I would keep it clean until my photo. At snack time, my juice box squirted grape juice down the front, and my stomach dropped. “Wear my sweater over it,” my friend Esme whispered, and a minute later I was buttoned into a fuzzy purple sweater with sleeves past my fingers. When the photographer called my name, I rolled up the sleeves, sat up straight and smiled anyway. Two weeks later the photos came home, and Mom laughed so hard at the purple sweater that she stuck my picture right on the fridge.The first sentence sets the situation and the narrator’s promise. Esme’s line moves the action, the dropping stomach shows the feeling, the time words (at snack time, a minute later, two weeks later) carry the order, and the picture on the fridge closes the story.
Moves to Use
Open by setting the situation: where, when and what the problem is.Let a character speak when it moves the story forward.Show feelings through actions and body clues, like a stomach that drops.Put time words like a minute later and two weeks later between events.End with a moment that closes the story, not with “The end.”
Common Mistakes with W.3.3
Dialogue that goes nowhere
“Hi,” said Esme. “Hi,” I said. “What’s up?” she said.
Try this: Keep a line of dialogue only if it moves the story or shows a feeling, and cut the greetings that do neither.
Then, then, then
“Then I spilled my juice. Then I put on a sweater. Then I got my picture taken.”
Try this: Post a time-word chart (a second later, after lunch, that night, the next morning) and have students swap out every second then.
An ending that just stops
The last line is “The end,” right after the photographer snaps the picture
Try this: Ask “How did it all turn out, and how did you feel?” and have students answer it in the final sentence.
Story Starter GeneratorFree ToolAn opening line that drops students into a situation, so the story starts where W.3.3a wants it: with a scene and a character.NarrativeGrade 3Opening line