Skip to main content
Texas Standards

3rd Grade ELA TEKS

All 65 Texas English language arts standards for 3rd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is one click away under each one.

65 standards

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, discussion, and thinking--oral language

5 standards
The student develops oral language through listening, speaking, and discussion.
3.1(A)
Listen closely in a discussion, ask questions that clear up confusing points, and add comments that stay on the subject.
Official wording
listen actively, ask relevant questions to clarify information, and make pertinent comments;
3.1(B)
Carry out, repeat back and give spoken directions that have several connected steps, like how to set up a science station.
Official wording
follow, restate, and give oral instructions that involve a series of related sequences of action;
3.1(C)
Talk clearly and on topic, looking at listeners, keeping a steady pace and volume, saying words plainly and using correct grammar.
Official wording
speak coherently about the topic under discussion, employing eye contact, speaking rate, volume, enunciation, and the conventions of language to communicate ideas effectively;
3.1(D)
Work well in a group by following the rules and routines the class agreed on, like taking turns and sharing materials.
Official wording
work collaboratively with others by following agreed-upon rules, norms, and protocols; and
3.1(E)
Hold polite conversations in any setting, like greeting a visitor, waiting for a turn to speak and saying thank you.
Official wording
develop social communication such as conversing politely in all situations.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--beginning reading and writing

4 standards
The student develops word structure knowledge through phonological awareness, print concepts, phonics, and morphology to communicate, decode, and spell.
3.2(A)
Decode longer words by syllable type, patterns like eigh and ough, syllable breaks, prefixes and suffixes, compound words and contractions, and read sight words.
Official wording
demonstrate and apply phonetic knowledge by:idecoding multisyllabic words with multiple sound-spelling patterns such as eigh, ough, and en;iidecoding multisyllabic words with closed syllables; open syllables; VCe syllables; vowel teams, including digraphs and diphthongs; r-controlled syllables; and final stable syllables;iiidecoding compound words, contractions, and abbreviations;ivdecoding words using knowledge of syllable division patterns such as VCCV, VCV, and VCCCV with accent shifts;vdecoding words using knowledge of prefixes;videcoding words using knowledge of suffixes, including how they can change base words such as dropping e, changing y to i, and doubling final consonants; andviiidentifying and reading high-frequency words from a research-based list;
3.2(B)
Spell longer words by syllable type and syllable breaks, plus homophones, compound words, contractions, and words with prefixes and suffixes, like hoping and cried.
Official wording
demonstrate and apply spelling knowledge by:ispelling multisyllabic words with closed syllables; open syllables; VCe syllables; vowel teams, including digraphs and diphthongs; r-controlled syllables; and final stable syllables;iispelling homophones;iiispelling compound words, contractions, and abbreviations;ivspelling multisyllabic words with multiple sound-spelling patterns;vspelling words using knowledge of syllable division patterns such as VCCV, VCV, and VCCCV;vispelling words using knowledge of prefixes; andviispelling words using knowledge of suffixes, including how they can change base words such as dropping e, changing y to i, and doubling final consonants;
3.2(C)
Put a list of words in ABC order by looking as far as the third letter, like cap, car and cat.
Official wording
alphabetize a series of words to the third letter; and
3.2(D)
Write whole words, sentences and answers neatly in cursive, with clear spaces between the words.
Official wording
write complete words, thoughts, and answers legibly in cursive leaving appropriate spaces between words.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--vocabulary

4 standards
The student uses newly acquired vocabulary expressively.
3.3(A)
Look up a word in a print or online dictionary to find what it means, how to break it into syllables and how to say it.
Official wording
use print or digital resources to determine meaning, syllabication, and pronunciation;
3.3(B)
Use clues in the sentence and the ones around it to work out new words and words with more than one meaning, like bat or bark.
Official wording
use context within and beyond a sentence to determine the meaning of unfamiliar words and multiple-meaning words;
3.3(C)
Work out and use words built with prefixes and suffixes like dis-, non-, pre-, -ness and -ful, such as dislike, nonstop and kindness.
Official wording
identify the meaning of and use words with affixes such as im- (into), non-, dis-, in- (not, non), pre-, -ness, -y, and -ful; and
3.3(D)
Spot, explain and use synonyms, antonyms, homophones, homographs and idioms found in a text, like big and large or raining cats and dogs.
Official wording
identify, use, and explain the meaning of antonyms, synonyms, idioms, homophones, and homographs in a text.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--fluency

1 standard
The student reads grade-level text with fluency and comprehension.
3.4
Read 3rd-grade texts aloud smoothly, at a good pace, with few mistakes and with expression that fits the meaning.
Official wording
use appropriate fluency (rate, accuracy, and prosody) when reading grade-level text.

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--self-sustained reading

1 standard
The student reads grade-appropriate texts independently.
3.5
Choose your own books and read them alone, staying with the reading for a long stretch at a time.
Official wording
self-select text and read independently for a sustained period of time.

Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

9 standards
The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts.
3.6(A)
Decide why you are reading before you begin, both for assigned books and ones you choose, like to learn facts or to enjoy a story.
Official wording
establish purpose for reading assigned and self-selected texts;
3.6(B)
Ask questions before, during and after reading to understand a text better and learn more, like what will happen next.
Official wording
generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information;
3.6(C)
Guess what comes next using headings, pictures, the kind of text and how it is built, then check and fix the guess while reading.
Official wording
make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures;
3.6(D)
Picture in your mind what is happening in a text to understand it better, like imagining a stormy sea in a story.
Official wording
create mental images to deepen understanding;
3.6(E)
Link what you read to your own life, to other books and to the wider world, like a story about moving to a new town.
Official wording
make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society;
3.6(F)
Figure out what the text hints at but does not say, and point to clues in the text that support that thinking.
Official wording
make inferences and use evidence to support understanding;
3.6(G)
Sort through the details in a text to decide which ones carry its most important ideas.
Official wording
evaluate details read to determine key ideas;
3.6(H)
Put together ideas from what you read with what you already know to form a new understanding.
Official wording
synthesize information to create new understanding; and
3.6(I)
Notice when a text stops making sense and fix it by rereading, using what you know, asking questions or writing notes in the margins.
Official wording
monitor comprehension and make adjustments such as re-reading, using background knowledge, asking questions, and annotating when understanding breaks down.

Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

7 standards
The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed.
3.7(A)
Explain how books, videos and other sources, including ones you choose yourself, connect to your own life.
Official wording
describe personal connections to a variety of sources, including self-selected texts;
3.7(B)
Write a response to a story or an informational text that shows you understood what it says.
Official wording
write a response to a literary or informational text that demonstrates an understanding of a text;
3.7(C)
Back up your answer about a text with details and examples taken from it.
Official wording
use text evidence to support an appropriate response;
3.7(D)
Retell a story or article in your own words, keeping its meaning and the order of events correct.
Official wording
retell and paraphrase texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order;
3.7(E)
Work actively with a text by taking notes, marking it up, writing freely about it or drawing pictures of it.
Official wording
interact with sources in meaningful ways such as notetaking, annotating, freewriting, or illustrating;
3.7(F)
Use new words you have learned when you talk or write about a text, like describing a character as generous.
Official wording
respond using newly acquired vocabulary as appropriate; and
3.7(G)
Talk about the particular ideas in a text that matter most to what it means.
Official wording
discuss specific ideas in the text that are important to the meaning.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--literary elements

4 standards
The student recognizes and analyzes literary elements within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse literary texts.
3.8(A)
Figure out a story's theme and tell it apart from its topic, like the topic friendship versus the theme that true friends help.
Official wording
infer the theme of a work, distinguishing theme from topic;
3.8(B)
Explain how the main characters and the smaller characters in a story are connected and affect each other.
Official wording
explain the relationships among the major and minor characters;
3.8(C)
Break down a story's plot, including the order of events, the main problem and how it gets solved.
Official wording
analyze plot elements, including the sequence of events, the conflict, and the resolution; and
3.8(D)
Explain how the time and place of a story shape what happens, like a blizzard trapping characters in a cabin.
Official wording
explain the influence of the setting on the plot.

Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

6 standards
The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts.
3.9(A)
Show you know the features that set folktales, fables, fairy tales, legends and myths apart, like the lesson at the end of a fable.
Official wording
demonstrate knowledge of distinguishing characteristics of well-known children's literature such as folktales, fables, fairy tales, legends, and myths;
3.9(B)
Explain rhyme patterns, sound devices like repetition and alliteration, and parts like stanzas in many kinds of poems.
Official wording
explain rhyme scheme, sound devices, and structural elements such as stanzas in a variety of poems;
3.9(C)
Talk about the parts of a play, like its characters, the lines they speak, where it takes place and how it is split into acts.
Official wording
discuss elements of drama such as characters, dialogue, setting, and acts;
3.9(D)
Recognize a central idea and its evidence in informational text, features like tables, graphs, timelines and bold words, and patterns like cause and effect.
Official wording
recognize characteristics and structures of informational text, including:ithe central idea with supporting evidence;iifeatures such as sections, tables, graphs, timelines, bullets, numbers, and bold and italicized font to support understanding; andiiiorganizational patterns such as cause and effect and problem and solution;
3.9(E)
Spot the claim in an argument, tell facts from opinions, and figure out who the author is trying to persuade.
Official wording
recognize characteristics and structures of argumentative text by:iidentifying the claim;iidistinguishing facts from opinion; andiiiidentifying the intended audience or reader; and
3.9(F)
Recognize the features of texts that mix words with images, sound or video, like websites and digital slideshows.
Official wording
recognize characteristics of multimodal and digital texts.

Author's purpose and craft: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

7 standards
The student uses critical inquiry to analyze the authors' choices and how they influence and communicate meaning within a variety of texts. The student analyzes and applies author's craft purposefully in order to develop his or her own products and performances.
3.10(A)
Explain why an author wrote a text and the message they want readers to take away.
Official wording
explain the author's purpose and message within a text;
3.10(B)
Explain how the way a text is organized helps the author do what they set out to do, like steps in order for a how-to text.
Official wording
explain how the use of text structure contributes to the author's purpose;
3.10(C)
Explain why an author uses print and picture features like bold words, captions and diagrams.
Official wording
explain the author's use of print and graphic features to achieve specific purposes;
3.10(D)
Describe how an author's word pictures, plain and figurative language like similes, and sound words like buzz and splash serve a purpose.
Official wording
describe how the author's use of imagery, literal and figurative language such as simile, and sound devices such as onomatopoeia achieves specific purposes;
3.10(E)
Identify literary devices in a text, including whether the story is told by a character using I or by an outside narrator.
Official wording
identify the use of literary devices, including first- or third-person point of view;
3.10(F)
Talk about how an author's word choices give the writing its own personality, or voice.
Official wording
discuss how the author's use of language contributes to voice; and
3.10(G)
Find and explain hyperbole, or extreme exaggeration for effect, like I have a million things to do.
Official wording
identify and explain the use of hyperbole.

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--writing process

5 standards
The student uses the writing process recursively to compose multiple texts that are legible and uses appropriate conventions.
3.11(A)
Get ready to write by picking a genre that suits the topic, purpose and readers, using tools like brainstorming, freewriting or idea webs.
Official wording
plan a first draft by selecting a genre for a particular topic, purpose, and audience using a range of strategies such as brainstorming, freewriting, and mapping;
3.11(B)
Turn a draft into a clear, organized piece with an introduction, a conclusion and an interesting main idea backed by details.
Official wording
develop drafts into a focused, structured, and coherent piece of writing by:iorganizing with purposeful structure, including an introduction and a conclusion; andiideveloping an engaging idea with relevant details;
3.11(C)
Revise a draft by adding, cutting, combining or moving ideas so sentences and word choices are clearer and flow better.
Official wording
revise drafts to improve sentence structure and word choice by adding, deleting, combining, and rearranging ideas for coherence and clarity;
3.11(D)
Edit a draft for complete sentences, verb tense, nouns, pronouns, comparing adjectives, conjunctions, capitals, commas, apostrophes and correct spelling.
Official wording
edit drafts using standard English conventions, including:icomplete simple and compound sentences with subject-verb agreement;iipast, present, and future verb tense;iiisingular, plural, common, and proper nouns;ivadjectives, including their comparative and superlative forms;vadverbs that convey time and adverbs that convey manner;viprepositions and prepositional phrases;viipronouns, including subjective, objective, and possessive cases;viiicoordinating conjunctions to form compound subjects, predicates, and sentences;ixcapitalization of official titles of people, holidays, and geographical names and places;xpunctuation marks, including apostrophes in contractions and possessives and commas in compound sentences and items in a series; andxicorrect spelling of words with grade-appropriate orthographic patterns and rules and high-frequency words; and
3.11(E)
Share finished writing with the right readers, like posting a story on a class blog or reading it to a younger class.
Official wording
publish written work for appropriate audiences.

Composition: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts--genres

4 standards
The student uses genre characteristics and craft to compose multiple texts that are meaningful.
3.12(A)
Write true stories about your own life and poems, using the features and writer's techniques each form calls for.
Official wording
compose literary texts, including personal narratives and poetry, using genre characteristics and craft;
3.12(B)
Write short informational pieces that teach readers about a topic, built around one clear central idea, using the features of the genre.
Official wording
compose informational texts, including brief compositions that convey information about a topic, using a clear central idea and genre characteristics and craft;
3.12(C)
Write opinion essays that state a view and give reasons, using the features and techniques of persuasive writing.
Official wording
compose argumentative texts, including opinion essays, using genre characteristics and craft; and
3.12(D)
Write letters and notes, like a thank-you note to a guest speaker or a letter to a pen pal.
Official wording
compose correspondence such as thank you notes or letters.

Inquiry and research: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts

8 standards
The student engages in both short-term and sustained recursive inquiry processes for a variety of purposes.
3.13(A)
Come up with questions about a topic to explore, both for quick looks and for bigger research projects.
Official wording
generate questions on a topic for formal and informal inquiry;
3.13(B)
Make a research plan and carry it out with an adult's help, like listing steps, sources and due dates.
Official wording
develop and follow a research plan with adult assistance;
3.13(C)
Find and collect useful facts from different sources, like books, websites and interviews.
Official wording
identify and gather relevant information from a variety of sources;
3.13(D)
Tell primary sources, like a diary or photo from the time, apart from secondary sources, like a textbook.
Official wording
identify primary and secondary sources;
3.13(E)
Show you understand the information you found, like explaining it in your own words or answering questions about it.
Official wording
demonstrate understanding of information gathered;
3.13(F)
Know the difference between putting a source's ideas in your own words and copying them as your own.
Official wording
recognize the difference between paraphrasing and plagiarism when using source materials;
3.13(G)
Make a works cited page that lists the books and websites used in a project.
Official wording
create a works cited page; and
3.13(H)
Share research results in a fitting way, like a written report, a speech or a slideshow with pictures and sound.
Official wording
use an appropriate mode of delivery, whether written, oral, or multimodal, to present results.

The official Texas documents

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for English Language Arts and Reading, 19 Texas Administrative Code Chapter 110, adopted by the Texas State Board of Education.

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