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North Carolina Standards

North Carolina 3rd Grade ELA Standards

All 39 North Carolina English language arts standards for 3rd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in North Carolina Department of Public Instruction's document, linked at the end of this page.

39 standards

Reading Foundational Skills

3 standards
RF.3.2
Write neat, readable pages by hand in both print and cursive, like a final copy of a report or a letter.
RF.3.4
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.3.5
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

Reading 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 a fable, folktale or myth from another culture, name its lesson or moral, and show which details in the story teach it.
Common Core RL.3.2
RL.3.3
Describe a story’s characters and explain how what they do moves the events along, like a fib that causes a chain of trouble.
RL.3.4
Work out what words and phrases mean in a text and point out the words that most shape its meaning, like a word showing a character is furious.
RL.3.5
Use words like chapter, scene and stanza when talking about a story, play or poem, and tell how each part builds on the one before.
Common Core RL.3.5
RL.3.6
Separate their own view from the narrator’s or a character’s, like saying the wolf thinks he is right but I do not.
Common Core RL.3.6
RL.3.7
Explain how details in a story’s pictures add to what the words say, like an illustration showing the mood or the setting.
RL.3.9
Compare and contrast the lessons, settings and plots of stories one author wrote about the same characters, like books in a series.
RL.3.10
By the end of the year, read stories, poems and plays at the top of the 2nd to 3rd grade range well and on their own, tying them to what they know.

Reading Informational

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 events, ideas or steps in a nonfiction text connect, using words like first, next, because and as a result.
Common Core RI.3.3
RI.3.4
Work out what school words like compare and subject words like habitat mean in a text on a grade 3 topic.
Common Core RI.3.4
RI.3.5
Use text features like sidebars and indexes and search tools like keywords and links to quickly find facts on a topic.
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 they understand a nonfiction text by drawing on both its pictures, like maps and photos, and its words.
RI.3.8
Describe how an author links ideas across sentences and paragraphs to back up points, like by comparing, showing cause and effect or using steps.
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
By year’s end, read nonfiction at the high end of the 2nd to 3rd grade range well and independently, connecting it to what they know and have lived.

Writing

6 standards
W.3.1
Write an opinion piece that names the topic, states the opinion, gives reasons in order, links them with because or for example, and ends with a closing.
Common Core W.3.1
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 a story, real or made up, that sets the scene, introduces the characters, uses dialogue and time words like later, and ends with a sense of closure.
Common Core W.3.3
W.3.4
With adult help, use technology to write and publish work, including typing and word processing, and to work with others, like sharing a draft online.
W.3.5
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.3.6
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

Speaking and Listening

5 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
Give a report, tell a story or describe an experience with fitting facts and details, speaking clearly in full sentences at a pace listeners can follow.
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

Language

6 standards
L.3.1
Use third grade grammar, like verbs that match their subjects, tenses such as had walked, faster as an adverb, and sentences joined with because or when.
L.3.2
Capitalize titles, punctuate dialogue with commas and quotation marks, use commas in addresses, form possessives, and spell using word families and endings.
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 and multiple-meaning words in third grade texts using context, prefixes like dis- and re-, related words and a glossary or dictionary.
L.3.5
Tell apart literal and figurative meanings, like a heart of gold, and small differences in words for certainty or mood, like guessed, thought and knew.
L.3.6
Learn and correctly use everyday, school and subject words for third grade, including words for place and time like beneath, after that and meanwhile.

The official North Carolina documents

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