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Indiana Standards

Indiana 3rd Grade ELA Standards

All 34 Indiana English language arts standards for 3rd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Indiana Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

34 standards

Reading Foundations

5 standards
3.RF.1
Use the six main syllable patterns to help sound out unfamiliar words, like breaking napkin into nap and kin.
3.RF.2
Read third-grade words with blends and common spelling patterns, like qu, doubling a consonant before ing as in cutting, and y changing to ies as in babies.
3.RF.3
Use harder word families, like the ight family in bright and flight, to read unfamiliar words.
3.RF.4
Read longer words built from roots, prefixes and suffixes, plus irregular contractions like won’t and possessives like children’s and James’s.
3.RF.5
Read third-grade or harder texts aloud smoothly and correctly, with expression that shows they understand what they read.

Reading Comprehension

13 standards
3.RC.1
Ask and answer questions to show they understand a text, pointing to specific parts of it to support each answer.
3.RC.2
Retell folktales, fables and tall tales from different cultures and identify their themes, like the lesson in a fable about a greedy dog.
3.RC.3
Describe characters’ traits, motives and feelings, and explain how what they do moves the plot forward.
3.RC.4
Tell the difference between their own point of view and that of the narrator or characters, like disliking a choice a character is proud of.
3.RC.5
Find the main idea of an informational text, retell its key details, and explain how those details back up the main idea.
Common Core RI.3.2
3.RC.6
Describe how a series of historical events, science ideas or steps in a process connect in a text, using words like first, next, because, problem and solution.
3.RC.7
Use text features like maps, pictures, charts and bold or italic type to find information and understand a text.
3.RC.8
Identify when a nonfiction text is organized as a problem and its solution, or tells events in the order they happened.
3.RC.9
Tell facts apart from opinions, and explain the reasons and facts an author gives to support each point in a text.
3.RC.10
Read two books or articles on the same topic, such as two about sharks, and tell how their big points and details are alike and different.
Common Core RI.3.9
3.RC.11
Use clues from the surrounding words, phrases and sentences, and features like maps, pictures and charts, to work out unknown words.
3.RC.12
Identify how words relate, including synonyms, antonyms, homographs, homonyms and words with several meanings, like bat the animal and a baseball bat.
3.RC.13
Figure out a new word from a familiar word that shares its root, like help and helpless, and notice when a prefix or suffix has been added to a root.

Writing

8 standards
3.W.1
Write clearly in print or cursive, with even gaps between letters, between words, and a margin at the edges of the page.
3.W.2
Write opinion pieces in different forms that state a view up front, give organized reasons joined by linking words, and end with a conclusion.
3.W.3
Write informative pieces that introduce a topic, group related facts and details, link ideas with words like also, add photos or maps when helpful, and conclude.
3.W.4
Write stories in different forms that introduce the characters and situation, tell events in clear order with details and dialogue, use transitions, and end well.
3.W.5
Draft by choosing and organizing ideas for the topic and genre, revise for ideas and word choice using references, edit for conventions, and publish with technology.
3.W.6
Research a question, like how their town was named, in books, websites or interviews, judge which sources are more reliable, note facts in their own words, and share them.
3.W.7
Write with abstract nouns like hope, regular and irregular verbs in simple tenses, comparing words like faster and fastest, and simple, compound and complex sentences.
3.W.8
Capitalize titles, historical eras, brand names and special events, punctuate possessives, dialogue and addresses, and spell tricky words, affixes and common patterns.

Communication and Collaboration

8 standards
3.CC.1
Take an active part in partner, group and teacher-led discussions of third-grade topics and texts, adding to others’ ideas and sharing their own clearly.
3.CC.2
Explore ideas in a discussion by bringing in what they have read and other information they know.
3.CC.3
Ask questions to check they understand what was presented, stay on the topic, and connect their comments to what others said.
3.CC.4
Retell, paraphrase and explain the key ideas and details from a read-aloud or from information shown in pictures, charts, graphs or spoken aloud.
3.CC.5
Ask a speaker questions about what they said and answer questions about it with enough detail to be clear.
Common Core SL.3.3
3.CC.6
Give a report about a topic or book, or tell events in time order, using fitting facts and vivid details and speaking clearly at a pace listeners can follow.
3.CC.7
Create spoken presentations that stay focused, using media like pictures or slides when helpful to highlight certain facts or details.
3.CC.8
Tell apart why media messages are made, whether to inform, entertain, persuade, explain events or pass on culture, like a news report versus an ad.

The official Indiana documents

The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Indiana's standards, not the official wording, which Indiana Department of Education publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.