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Tennessee Standards

Tennessee 3rd Grade ELA Standards

All 42 Tennessee English language arts standards for 3rd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

42 standards

Foundational Literacy: Phonics and Word Recognition

1 standard
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when decoding isolated words and in connected text.
3.FL.PWR.3
Know what common prefixes and suffixes mean, read words ending in -ly, -less, or -ful, sound out longer words like fantastic, and read tricky grade-level words.
Official wording
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when decoding isolated words and in connected text.aIdentify and define the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.bDecode words with common Latin suffixes, such as -ly, -less, and -ful.cDecode multi-syllable words.dRead grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Foundational Literacy: Word Composition

1 standard
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when encoding words; write legibly.
3.FL.WC.4
Spell one, two, and three syllable words using spelling rules, spell common and irregular words correctly, check a dictionary or thesaurus, and write every letter in cursive.
Official wording
Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when encoding words; write legibly.aUse spelling patterns and generalizations in writing one-, two-, and three-syllable words.bUse conventional spelling for high-frequency words, including irregular words.cConsult reference materials, including a dictionary and thesaurus, as needed to check and correct spellings.dWrite legibly in manuscript; write all lower and uppercase cursive letters.

Foundational Literacy: Fluency

1 standard
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
3.FL.F.5
Read 1st-grade books aloud smoothly and accurately with expression, understand them, and reread when a word or sentence does not make sense.
Official wording
Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.aRead grade-level text with purpose and understanding.bRead grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.cUse context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding of words; reread as necessary.
Common Core RF.1.4

Foundational Literacy: Sentence Composition

1 standard
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when speaking and conventions of standard English grammar and usage, including capitalization and punctuation, when writing.
3.FL.SC.6
Explain what each part of speech does, use plurals, verb tenses, and comparisons like faster and fastest, make subjects and verbs agree, punctuate dialogue, and write a focused paragraph.
Official wording
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when speaking and conventions of standard English grammar and usage, including capitalization and punctuation, when writing.aExplain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs as used in general and in particular sentences.bForm and use regular and irregular plural nouns.cUse abstract nouns.dForm and use regular and irregular verbs.eForm and use simple verb tenses.fEnsure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.gForm and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs correctly.hUse coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.iProduce simple, compound, and complex sentences.jCapitalize appropriate words in titles.kUse commas in addresses.lUse commas and quotation marks in dialogue.mForm and use possessives.nWrite a cohesive paragraph with a main idea and detailed structure.

Foundational Literacy: Vocabulary Acquisition

3 standards
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases by using context clues, analyzing meaningful word parts, and consulting general and specialized reference materials, as appropriate.
3.FL.VA.7a
Work out unknown or double-meaning words using the sentence around them, prefixes and suffixes, shared roots like help and helpful, and glossaries or dictionaries.
Official wording
Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.iUse sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.iiDetermine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word.iiiUse a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root.ivUse glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.
3.FL.VA.7b
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.iDistinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context.iiIdentify real-life connections between words and their use.iiiDistinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty.
Common Core L.2.5
3.FL.VA.7c
Learn and correctly use everyday, school, and subject words, including ones that show place and time, like beneath or afterward.
Official wording
Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and time relationships.

Reading: Key Ideas and Details

6 standards
Read closely to determine what a text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text.
3.RL.KID.1
Ask and answer questions about a story and point to the exact lines in the text that show their answers.
Official wording
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as a basis for the answers.
3.RI.KID.1
Ask and answer questions about a nonfiction text, pointing to the exact facts and sentences that back up each answer.
Official wording
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as a basis for the answers.
Determine central ideas or themes of a text and analyze their development; summarize the key supporting details and ideas.
3.RL.KID.2
Retell a fable, folktale or myth from another culture, name its lesson or moral, and show which details in the story teach it.
Official wording
Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
Common Core RL.3.2
3.RI.KID.2
Find the main idea of an informational text, retell its key details, and explain how those details back up the main idea.
Official wording
Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
Common Core RI.3.2
Analyze how and why individuals, events, and ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.
3.RL.KID.3
Describe the characters in a story and explain how what they do moves the events along.
Official wording
Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
3.RI.KID.3
Explain how events, ideas or steps in a nonfiction text connect, using words like first, next, because and as a result.
Official wording
Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
Common Core RI.3.3

Reading: Craft and Structure

6 standards
Interpret words and phrases as they are used in a text, including technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word choices shape meaning or tone.
3.RL.CS.4
Figure out what words and phrases mean in a text and tell literal meanings from figurative ones, like feeling blue versus a blue shirt.
Official wording
Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language (e.g., feeling blue versus the color blue).
3.RI.CS.4
Figure out what words and phrases mean in a third grade science or social studies text.
Official wording
Determine the meaning of words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of a text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relate to each other and the whole.
3.RL.CS.5
Talk about parts of stories, plays, and poems using words like chapter, scene, and stanza, and describe how each part builds on the ones before.
Official wording
Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part of a text builds on earlier sections.
3.RI.CS.5
Use text features like headings, sidebars, and search tools to quickly find information on a given topic.
Official wording
Use text features to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.
3.RL.CS.6
Tell their own view apart from the narrator's or a character's, and name the point of view a story is told from, like first or third person.
Official wording
Distinguish reader perspective from that of the narrator or the perspectives of the characters and identify the point of view of a text.
3.RI.CS.6
Tell apart their own view on a topic and the view of the author who wrote the text.
Official wording
Distinguish reader point of view from that of an author of a text.

Reading: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

5 standards
Integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse formats and media, including visually and quantitatively, as well as in words.
3.RL.IKI.7
Explain how the pictures in a story add to what the words say, like showing a character's mood or the setting.
Official wording
Explain how illustrations in a text contribute to what is conveyed by the words.
3.RI.IKI.7
Use both the pictures and the words in a nonfiction text to show they understand it, like reading a map alongside a history passage.
Official wording
Use information gained from illustrations and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of a text.
Delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, including the validity of the reasoning as well as the relevance and sufficiency of the evidence.
3.RI.IKI.8
Explain how the reasons an author gives back up particular points in a text.
Official wording
Explain how reasons support specific points an author makes in a text.
Analyze how two or more texts address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches an author takes.
3.RL.IKI.9
Compare the themes, settings, and plots of stories one author wrote about the same or similar characters, like books in one series.
Official wording
Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters.
3.RI.IKI.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.
Official wording
Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
Common Core RI.3.9

Reading: Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

2 standards
Read and comprehend complex literary and informational texts independently and proficiently.
3.RL.RRTC.10
Read and understand stories and poems at the top of the second to third grade level on their own.
Official wording
Read and comprehend stories and poems at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
3.RI.RRTC.10
Read and understand stories and nonfiction at the top of the second to third grade level on their own.
Official wording
Read and comprehend stories and informational texts at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Speaking and Listening: Comprehension and Collaboration

3 standards
Prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with varied partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing one’s own ideas clearly and persuasively.
3.SL.CC.1
Come ready to discuss third grade topics and books, add to what partners say, and share their own ideas clearly.
Official wording
Prepare for collaborative discussions on 3rd grade level topics and texts; engage effectively with varied partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing one’s own ideas clearly.
Integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media formats, such as visual, quantitative, and oral formats.
3.SL.CC.2
Find the main ideas and supporting details in information shared through pictures, numbers, or spoken words, like a chart or a video.
Official wording
Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text presented in diverse media such as visual, quantitative, and oral formats.
Evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.
3.SL.CC.3
Ask a speaker questions about what they said and answer questions about it with enough detail to be clear.
Official wording
Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.
Common Core SL.3.3

Speaking and Listening: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas

3 standards
Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning; the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
3.SL.PKI.4
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.
Common Core SL.3.4
Make strategic use of digital media and visual displays of data to express information and enhance understanding of presentations.
3.SL.PKI.5
Add sound or pictures when it helps highlight or bring out certain facts or details, like a photo in a presentation.
Official wording
Add audio or visual elements, when appropriate, to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details.
Adapt speech to a variety of contents and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.
3.SL.PKI.6
Speak in full sentences when the setting calls for it, to give details or explain something a listener asked about.
Official wording
Speak in complete sentences, when appropriate to task and situation, to provide requested detail or clarification.

Writing: Text Types and Protocol

3 standards
Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
3.W.TTP.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.
Official wording
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.aIntroduce a topic or text.bDevelop an opinion with reasons that support the opinion.cCreate an organizational structure that lists supporting reasons.dProvide a concluding statement or section.eUse linking words and phrases to connect opinion and reasons.fApply language standards addressed in the Foundational Literacy standards.
Common Core W.3.1
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content.
3.W.TTP.2
Write to explain a topic, introducing it, grouping related facts with pictures if helpful, adding definitions and details, using linking words and exact language, and ending with a conclusion.
Official wording
Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information.aIntroduce a topic.bGroup related information together, including illustrations when needed, to provide clarity to the reader.cDevelop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.dProvide a conclusion.eUse linking words and phrases to connect ideas within categories of information.fUse precise language to inform about or explain the topic.gApply language standards addressed in the Foundational Literacy standards.
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective techniques, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences.
3.W.TTP.3
Write a real or made-up story with a narrator and characters, events in a natural order, dialogue and feelings, time words like later, and a clear ending.
Official wording
Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using an effective technique, such as descriptive details and clear event sequences.aEstablish a situation by using a narrator, including characters, and organizing an event sequence that unfolds naturally.bUse dialogue and/or descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events, or to show the response of characters to situations.cUse temporal words and phrases to signal event order.dProvide a sense of closure.eApply language standards addressed in the Foundational Literacy standards.

Writing: Production and Distribution of Writing

3 standards
Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
3.W.PDW.4
With help, write clearly so the ideas, their order, and the style match the task, the reason for writing, and the reader.
Official wording
With guidance and support, produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
3.W.PDW.5
With help from classmates and adults, plan, revise, and edit to make writing stronger, fixing grammar and spelling learned so far.
Official wording
With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Foundational Literacy standard 6 up to and including grade 3.)
Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.
3.W.PDW.6
With adult help, use technology to create, publish, and share writing with others, typing a whole piece in one sitting.
Official wording
With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing, as well as to interact and collaborate with others; demonstrate sufficient command of technological skills to type a complete product in a single sitting as defined in W.1-3.

Writing: Research to Build and Present Knowledge

3 standards
Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects based on focus questions, demonstrating new understanding of the subject under investigation.
3.W.RBPK.7
Complete small research tasks that grow what they know about a subject, like how frogs change from eggs to adults.
Official wording
Conduct short research projects that build general knowledge about a topic.
Integrate relevant and credible information from multiple print and digital sources while avoiding plagiarism.
3.W.RBPK.8
Use their own experiences or print and digital sources to answer a question, and with help take short notes and sort facts into given groups.
Official wording
Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources to answer a question; with support; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.
Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.
3.W.RBPK.9
Use evidence from stories and nonfiction in their writing, applying third grade reading skills.
Official wording
Include evidence from literary or informational texts, applying grade 3 standards for reading.

Writing: Range of Writing

1 standard
Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.
3.W.RW.10
Write often, in long projects and quick pieces, for many tasks, purposes, and readers across subjects, to build writing fluency.
Official wording
Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences; promote writing fluency.

The official Tennessee documents

Tennessee Academic Standards for English Language Arts, Tennessee Department of Education, tn.gov/education.

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.