Ohio Standards
Ohio 3rd Grade ELA Standards
All 45 Ohio English language arts standards for 3rd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Ohio Department of Education and Workforce's document, linked at the end of this page.
45 standards
Reading Literature
9 standardsRL.3.1
Show you understand a story, play or poem by asking yourself questions as you read and answering questions with evidence from the text.
RL.3.2
Retell stories like fables, folktales and myths from many cultures, then state a theme, what it means and how details in the text build it.
RL.3.3
Describe characters' actions, feelings, traits and viewpoints using text details, and explain how their choices move the events along.
RL.3.4
Figure out what words and phrases mean in a story and tell when one is not meant literally, like it’s raining cats and dogs.
RL.3.5
Describe how stories, plays and poems are put together differently, using words like chapter, scene and stanza.
RL.3.6
Tell whether a story is told in first or third person, pointing to clues in the text such as the pronouns the narrator uses.
RL.3.7
Explain how particular parts of a story's pictures support or add to the words, like showing how a character feels or what a setting looks like.
RL.3.9
Point out how stories by one author, or about similar characters, are alike or different in their themes, settings and plots.
RL.3.10
Read and understand grade 3 stories and poems with support as needed, drawing on what you know and have lived to link them to yourself or other texts.
Reading Informational
10 standardsRI.3.1
Show you understand a nonfiction text, like a science or history article, by checking yourself with questions and answering with text evidence.
RI.3.2
Find the main idea of a nonfiction text and name key details, explaining how each one supports that main idea.
RI.3.3
Explain how the way a text is organized, such as events in order, steps or a science idea built up, adds to its meaning, using words like first, next and because.
RI.3.4
Work out what academic and subject words mean in a nonfiction text, like erosion in a science article or colony in a history book.
RI.3.5
Use text features like headings, charts, legends and links to find facts, and interpret how they back up the text in print and online.
RI.3.6
Name the author's point of view in a text, compare it with your own, and decide whether the author would side with or against a given view.
RI.3.7
Use nonfiction features like maps, a table of contents, an index or a glossary along with the words to explain where, when, why and how key events happen.
RI.3.8
Describe how each point an author makes links to the facts and examples given to back it up.
RI.3.9
Find what is alike and different in the main points and key details of two texts about one topic, like two articles on bats.
RI.3.10
Read and understand grade 3 nonfiction with support as needed, connecting it to what you already know, your own life and other texts.
Reading Foundations
2 standardsRF.3.3
Decode words by syllable type, like vowel teams and consonant-le, and by word parts like prefixes, suffixes and Latin roots, and read high-frequency words quickly.
RF.3.4
Read decodable and grade 3 texts aloud with 95 percent accuracy and good expression, reaching 112 words correct a minute by year end, and reread when lost.
Writing Foundations
3 standardsWF.3.1
Write letters clearly in print or cursive, at a speed that lets you focus on your ideas and keep up while writing paragraphs or taking notes.
WF.3.2
Spell multisyllable words by syllable type, sight words with one tricky part, and patterns like blends, prefixes and suffix rules such as changing y to i.
WF.3.3
Write sentences with a subject and predicate, fix fragments and run-ons, use a, an and the correctly, and abbreviate days, months, titles, units and places.
Writing
9 standardsW.3.1
Write opinion pieces that open with a topic sentence, state an opinion, give reasons with examples, use linking words, and end with a conclusion.
W.3.2
Write informative pieces that introduce a topic, develop it with facts, definitions and details, connect ideas with linking words, and wrap up with a conclusion.
W.3.3
Write real or imagined stories with events in order, a narrator or characters, dialogue, feelings, time words like later, and a clear ending.
W.3.4
With less and less adult help, write alone and with others, organizing and developing ideas to fit the task, purpose and reader.
W.3.5
Plan, revise and edit writing, with adult help that fades over time, to make it clearer and better organized and to fix capitals, punctuation and spelling, using feedback.
W.3.6
As adult help fades, use digital skills like typing and tools like slideshow apps to create and publish writing.
W.3.7
Do short research projects alone and with others, gathering facts from several sources, noting observations, and writing brief reports on a topic.
W.3.8
Use your own experiences or sources to take short notes, sort the evidence into categories, and answer a set question in writing.
W.3.10
Write often, in one sitting or over several days, planning, drafting, editing and revising for different subjects, purposes and readers.
Speaking and Listening
6 standardsSL.3.1
Take part in pair, group and class discussions on grade 3 topics, coming prepared, following discussion rules, building on others' remarks and asking for clarification.
SL.3.2
After a read-aloud, video or talk, tell or write the main ideas and key details, including facts shown in charts, graphs or pictures.
SL.3.3
After listening to a speaker, ask questions to get more detail and answer others' questions with added detail and examples.
SL.3.4
Share a story, report or personal experience out loud with fitting facts and vivid details, speaking clearly at a pace listeners can follow.
SL.3.5
Create a multimedia presentation of a story or poem, like a slideshow with audio, adding visuals when they help show how main ideas or themes develop.
SL.3.6
Tell apart formal and informal language in different speaking and listening settings, like a class report versus a chat with friends.
Language
6 standardsL.3.1
Explain what nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs do, and correctly use plurals, irregular verbs, simple tenses, comparisons, conjunctions and complex sentences.
L.3.2
Capitalize titles, punctuate addresses and dialogue with commas and quotation marks, write possessive nouns, and spell grade 3 words using patterns and word parts.
L.3.3
Notice the difference between formal and casual English, like Good morning, Mrs. Lee versus Hey, and choose which fits the moment.
L.3.4
Figure out unknown words using context clues, known prefixes and suffixes, endings like -ed or -est, and Latin and Greek roots, like bi in bicycle.
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.
L.3.6
Use everyday, academic and subject words learned from talk, reading and read-alouds, including words for feelings and actions like proud or eager.
The official Ohio documents
- Ohio's Learning Standards: English Language Arts, revised 2026 · adopted 2026 for K-8, 2017 for 9-12 · published July 2026
- Ohio's Learning Standards: English Language Arts, 2017 · replaced · adopted February 2017 · K-8 replaced in 2026, 9-12 carried forward
The plain-English lines on this page are EMStudio's own explanations of Ohio's standards, not the official wording, which Ohio Department of Education and Workforce publishes in the documents above. Codes and strand names identify each standard.