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Massachusetts Standards

Massachusetts 3rd Grade ELA Standards

All 42 Massachusetts English language arts standards for 3rd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

42 standards

Reading Standards for Literature

9 standards
RL.3.1
Ask and answer questions about a story and point to the exact words in it that prove each answer, not a guess from memory.
Common Core RL.3.1
RL.3.2
Retell fables, folktales, and myths from many cultures, find the lesson or moral, and explain how key details in the story show it.
RL.3.3
Describe a character’s traits, feelings and reasons for acting, and explain how what the character does moves the story along.
Common Core RL.3.3
RL.3.4
Figure out what words and phrases mean in a story or poem, telling literal meanings from figurative ones, like a heart of gold.
RL.3.5
Identify the parts of fiction, like a problem and solution, and describe how each later part of a story builds on what came before.
RL.3.6
Tell how their own point of view differs from that of a story's narrator or characters.
RL.3.7
Explain what a story’s pictures add to its words, such as making a scene feel scary or showing how small a character is.
Common Core RL.3.7
RL.3.9
Compare the themes, settings and plots of two books in the same series, like two stories about the same detective.
Common Core RL.3.9
RL.3.10
Read third grade fiction, poetry, and drama from many cultures and genres on their own and with understanding, like chapter books and myths.

Reading Standards for Informational Text

10 standards
RI.3.1
Ask and answer questions about a story and point to the exact words in it that prove each answer, not a guess from memory.
Common Core RL.3.1
RI.3.2
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
RI.3.3
Explain how historical events, science or math ideas, or steps in a process relate in a text, using time, order, and cause and effect words like first, then, and because.
RI.3.4
Figure out what general academic and subject-specific words mean in a third grade text, like habitat in a science book.
RI.3.5
Use a book’s headings, bold key words and sidebars, or a website’s search box and links, to find facts on a topic fast.
Common Core RI.3.5
RI.3.6
Tell their own opinion apart from the author’s, like noticing that a writer thinks zoos are good while they are not sure.
Common Core RI.3.6
RI.3.7
Show understanding of a text using its maps, photos, words, numbers, and symbols, like telling where, when, why, and how key events took place.
RI.3.8
Explain how the sentences and paragraphs of an informational text fit together, like a cause and its effect or steps in order.
Common Core RI.3.8
RI.3.9
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
RI.3.10
Read and understand third grade nonfiction independently, from history and science books to math explanations and technical directions.

Reading Standards for Foundational Skills

2 standards
RF.3.3
Say the main sound of each consonant, know the long and short sounds of a, e, i, o and u, and read common sight words like the, of and you.
Common Core RF.K.3
RF.3.4
Read 1st-grade books aloud smoothly and accurately with expression, understand them, and reread when a word or sentence does not make sense.
Common Core RF.1.4

Writing Standards

9 standards
W.3.1
Write opinion pieces that introduce the topic, state an opinion, list supporting reasons joined with words like because or for example, and end with a conclusion.
W.3.2
Write an informative piece that introduces a topic, groups related facts and definitions, links them with words like also, and closes with a final sentence.
Common Core W.3.2
W.3.3
Write stories or poems with a clear setup and order, dialogue, feelings, figurative language, time words, and an ending, using rhyme or repeated sounds in poems.
W.3.4
Develop and organize writing to suit its task, purpose, and audience, like a persuasive letter to the principal or a report for classmates.
W.3.5
Plan, revise, and edit to strengthen writing, using correct third grade grammar and conventions and choosing fitting vocabulary.
W.3.6
Use technology, including typing on a keyboard, to create and publish writing and to work with others.
W.3.7
Do a short research project on one topic, like reading a few books about honeybees and writing down what was learned.
Common Core W.3.7
W.3.8
Gather facts from memory, books or websites, jot short notes, and sort them into the categories the teacher gives, like food and habitat.
Common Core W.3.8
W.3.10
Write regularly, from a report built over several days to a journal entry finished in one class, for different subjects, purposes and readers.
Common Core W.3.10

Speaking and Listening Standards

6 standards
SL.3.1
Join discussions on grade 3 topics prepared, follow the group’s rules, ask questions to check understanding, stay on topic and build on others’ ideas.
Common Core SL.3.1
SL.3.2
Tell the main idea and key details of a read-aloud, a video, a chart or a talk.
Common Core SL.3.2
SL.3.3
Ask a speaker questions about what they said and answer questions about it with enough detail to be clear.
Common Core SL.3.3
SL.3.4
Report on a topic, text, or math solution, tell a story, or share an experience with facts and details, speaking clearly at a steady pace with fitting words.
SL.3.5
Record themselves reading a story or poem smoothly and at a good pace, and add a picture or chart when it helps make a point.
Common Core SL.3.5
SL.3.6
Answer in full sentences when the situation calls for it, giving extra detail or clearing up a point when someone asks, like during a book talk.

Language Standards

6 standards
L.3.1
Use correct grammar in simple, compound, and complex sentences, with agreeing subjects, verbs, and pronouns, fitting tenses and conjunctions, and comparative forms like faster.
L.3.2
Capitalize the first word of a sentence and the word I, name the period and question mark, and spell simple words the way they sound, like kat for cat.
Common Core L.K.2
L.3.3
Notice the difference between formal and casual English, like Good morning, Mrs. Lee versus Hey, and choose which fits the moment.
Common Core L.2.3
L.3.4
Figure out unknown or multiple-meaning words with context, prefixes and suffixes, roots, and dictionaries, and use abbreviations and symbols like N for north or > correctly.
L.3.5
Connect words to real life, like naming foods that are spicy or juicy, and tell apart close words like toss, throw and hurl or thin, slender and scrawny.
Common Core L.2.5
L.3.6
Learn and use third grade conversation, academic, and subject words correctly, including words for place and time like beneath, after, and during.

The official Massachusetts documents

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