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New York Standards

New York 3rd Grade ELA Standards

All 27 New York English language arts standards for 3rd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

27 standards

Reading Standards (Literary and Informational Text)

9 standards
Key Ideas and Details
3R1
Ask and answer questions that send you back to exact details in a text to prove an answer or a conclusion drawn from clues.
Official wording
Develop and answer questions to locate relevant and specific details in a text to support an answer or inference. (RI&RL)
3R2
Find the lesson or central idea of a text, show how key details support it, and summarize sections, like a fable that teaches honesty.
Official wording
Determine a theme or central idea and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize portions of a text. (RI&RL)
3R3
Describe what characters are like, want and feel using story details, and explain how events or steps in nonfiction connect using words like first, next and because.
Official wording
In literary texts, describe character traits, motivations, or feelings, drawing on specific details from the text. (RL) In informational texts, describe the relationship among a series of events, ideas, concepts, or steps in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. (RI)
Craft and Structure
3R4
Work out what words and phrases mean, including figures of speech like as busy as a bee and school or subject words like habitat.
Official wording
Determine the meaning of words, phrases, figurative language, and academic and content-specific words. (RI&RL)
3R5
Name the parts of stories, plays and poems, like chapters, scenes and stanzas, and use text features like headings and captions to understand nonfiction.
Official wording
In literary texts, identify parts of stories, dramas, and poems using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza. (RL) In informational texts, identify and use text features to build comprehension. (RI)
3R6
Talk about how your own view of what happens in a text may differ from the author's, narrator's or a character's view, like disagreeing with a character's choice.
Official wording
Discuss how the reader’s point of view or perspective may differ from that of the author, narrator or characters in a text. (RI&RL)
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
3R7
Explain how particular pictures or text features add to what the words say, like setting a mood or showing where and when key events happen.
Official wording
Explain how specific illustrations or text features contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a text (e.g., create mood, emphasize character or setting, or determine where, when, why, and how key events occur). (RI&RL)
3R8
Explain how an author backs up claims with reasons and evidence, like the facts a text uses to argue that recess helps students learn.
Official wording
Explain how claims in a text are supported by relevant reasons and evidence. (RI&RL)
3R9
Tell kinds of writing apart, like fables, poems and biographies, and link a text to other texts, ideas, cultures, time periods and your own life.
Official wording
Recognize genres and make connections to other texts, ideas, cultural perspectives, eras, personal events, and situations. (RI&RL)

Reading Standards: Foundational Skills

2 standards
Phonics and Word Recognition
3RF3
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.
Official wording
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.aIdentify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and suffixes.bDecode multi-syllabic words.cIdentify, know the meanings of, and decode words with suffixes.dRecognize and read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
Fluency
3RF4
Read third-grade texts of every kind aloud correctly, at a steady pace and with expression over repeated readings, and use context and rereading to self-correct.
Official wording
Read grade-level text with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.aRead grade-level text across genres orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.bUse context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

Writing Standards

6 standards
Text Types and Purposes
3W1
Write an argument that states a claim, gives reasons and evidence in a logical order, uses exact words and linking words like because, and ends with a conclusion.
Official wording
Write an argument to support claim(s), using clear reasons and relevant evidence.aIntroduce a claim, supported by details, and organize the reasons and evidence logically.bUse precise language and content-specific vocabulary.cUse linking words and phrases to connect ideas within categories of information.dProvide a concluding statement or section.
3W2
Write to explain a topic, grouping related facts, definitions and details, adding helpful pictures, using exact terms and linking words, and adding a conclusion.
Official wording
Write informative/explanatory texts to explore a topic and convey ideas and information relevant to the subject.aIntroduce a topic and organize related information together.bDevelop a topic with facts, definitions, and details; include illustrations when useful for aiding comprehension.cUse precise language and content-specific vocabulary.dUse linking words and phrases to connect ideas within categories of information.eProvide a concluding statement or section.
3W3
Write a real or imagined story that sets up the situation and characters, shows their actions, thoughts and feelings, uses time words like later, and has an ending.
Official wording
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.aEstablish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters.bUse descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.cUse temporal words and phrases to signal event order.dProvide a conclusion.
3W4
Show a reaction to a text, author, theme or life experience by creating something, like a poem about a character or a comic strip of a scene.
Official wording
Create a response to a text, author, theme, or personal experience (e.g., poem, play, story, artwork, or other).
Research to Build and Present Knowledge
3W6
Do research to answer questions, including ones you thought of yourself, and learn more about a topic, like how volcanoes form.
Official wording
Conduct research to answer questions, including self-generated questions, and to build knowledge.
3W7
Gather information from your experience or several sources, take short notes, and sort the facts into categories you are given, like food, shelter and habitat.
Official wording
Recall relevant information from experiences or gather information from multiple sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

Speaking and Listening Standards

6 standards
Comprehension and Collaboration
3SL1
Come to discussions ready from your reading, follow class norms, ask questions, connect your remarks to others', explain your ideas and respect differences.
Official wording
Participate and engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse peers and adults, expressing ideas clearly, and building on those of others.aCome to discussions having read or studied required material; draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.bFollow agreed-upon norms for discussions by actively listening, taking turns, and staying on topic.cAsk questions to check understanding of information presented and link comments to the remarks of others.dExplain their own ideas and understanding of the discussion.eConsider individual differences when communicating with others.
3SL2
Find the main ideas and supporting details in information shared in different ways, like a chart, a set of numbers or a talk given aloud.
Official wording
Determine the central ideas and supporting details or information presented in diverse texts and formats (e.g., including visual, quantitative, and oral).
3SL3
Ask and answer questions to judge a speaker's view, adding fitting details and explanation, like questioning a guest about why school should start later.
Official wording
Ask and answer questions in order to evaluate a speaker’s point of view, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.
Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas
3SL4
Give a short talk about a topic, book or experience with facts and descriptive details, speaking clearly and not too fast.
Official wording
Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
3SL5
Add pictures, audio, video or other visuals to a presentation to highlight key facts or details, like a photo of a monarch's wings in a butterfly report.
Official wording
Include digital media and/or visual displays in presentations to emphasize certain facts or details.
3SL6
Recognize when a situation calls for formal school English and when casual talk fits, like a class report compared with chatting at lunch.
Official wording
Identify contexts that call for academic English or informal discourse.

Language Standards

4 standards
Knowledge of Language
3L3
Notice how casual speech differs from academic and written English, and pick the fitting style and words for effect when you speak or write.
Official wording
Recognize differences between the conventions of spoken conversational English and academic English; signal this awareness by selecting conversational or academic forms when speaking or writing.aChoose words and phrases for effect.bRecognize and observe differences between the conventions of spoken and written standard English.
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
3L4
Work out unknown or double-meaning words using sentence clues, added prefixes and suffixes like dis- or -less, shared roots, and glossaries or beginning dictionaries.
Official wording
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies, including, but not limited to the following:aUse sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.bDetermine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word (e.g., agreeable/disagreeable, comfortable/ uncomfortable, care/careless, heat/preheat).cUse a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., company, companion).dUse glossaries or beginning dictionaries to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.
3L5
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.
Official wording
Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.aDistinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (e.g., take steps).bUse words for identification and description, making connections between words and their use (e.g., describe people who are friendly or helpful).cDistinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered).
3L6
Learn and correctly use everyday, academic and subject-area words, including ones that tell where and when, like across the river or the next morning.
Official wording
Acquire and accurately use conversational, general academic, and content-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went out for dessert).

The official New York documents

New York State Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards, Copyright 2017, New York State Education Department, used with permission.

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved.

The plain-English lines are EMStudio's own explanations, shown beside the official wording. They are not part of the standards.