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Virginia Standards

3rd Grade English SOL

All 20 Virginia English standards for 3rd grade, each explained in plain English. The official wording is in Virginia Department of Education's document, linked at the end of this page.

20 standards

Foundations for Reading

1 standard
3.FFR.3
Read and spell vowel-team and r-controlled words like toast and burn, use syllable types and affixes to read and spell longer words, and read sight words quickly.

Developing Skilled Readers and Building Reading Stamina

1 standard
3.DSR
Read third grade texts fluently, handle books at the top of the grades 2 to 3 range, back answers with text evidence, read on topics, and use fix-up strategies when lost.

Reading and Vocabulary

1 standard
3.RV.1
Unlock hard words with roots, affixes, synonyms and context clues, use the right homophone, check a glossary, dictionary or thesaurus, and use new words in talk.

Reading Literary Text

3 standards
3.RL.1
Name a story's theme topic, like friendship, and its lesson, summarize it through the main problem and solution, and describe a character's traits, motives and changes.
3.RL.2
Discuss how characters and setting move a plot, explain how sensory words shape a reader's picture, name a story's narrator and a poem's speaker, and spot genre traits.
3.RL.3
Set a purpose by previewing pictures, compare a story with a nonfiction text on a shared theme, and compare the themes, settings and plots of one author's series books.

Reading Informational Text

3 standards
3.RI.1
Find the main idea of a whole text and each paragraph, summarize using words like first and because, and explain how an author backs up points with reasons and evidence.
3.RI.2
Describe how structures like cause and effect, problem and solution or time order differ, use sidebars and links to find facts fast, and name the author's purpose.
3.RI.3
Use what they know to learn, compare key points of two texts on a topic, connect events, science ideas or steps in a text, and write about reading with text support.

Foundations for Writing

2 standards
3.FFW.1
Keep printing neat while forming every capital and lowercase cursive letter, joining letters smoothly in words and names, and signing their first and last name.
3.FFW.2
Spell longer words syllable by syllable, add prefixes and suffixes correctly, like unhappy or careful, and spell third grade sight words quickly and accurately.

Writing

3 standards
3.W.1
Know how stories, reports and opinion pieces are organized, and write narratives that flow, informative pieces with facts, opinions with reasons, and responses to texts.
3.W.2
Write a strong paragraph through planning and drafting, with a clear topic sentence, details that support it, transition words like also and next, and a closing sentence.
3.W.3
With help from classmates and adults, revise for stronger ideas, order, flow and word choice, then edit for format, capitals, grammar, punctuation and spelling.

Language Usage

2 standards
3.LU.1
Rearrange simple and compound sentences, fix fragments, compare with words like taller and tallest, use verbs like jumped and swam that agree, and avoid double negatives.
3.LU.2
Put commas in lists, dates, addresses and letters, use apostrophes in contractions and possessives, capitalize holidays, names and places, and check spellings.

Communication and Multimodal Literacies

3 standards
3.C.1
Discuss topics with partners, groups and the teacher, following agreed rules, tying comments to what others said, asking and answering questions, and staying involved.
3.C.2
Give an organized oral report, story or account, with facts and vivid details, a clear voice at a steady pace, and formal or casual language to suit the audience.
3.C.3
Create a simple presentation that pairs speech or text with images, audio or video to strengthen the topic, like a slideshow report on a local landmark.

Research

1 standard
3.R.1
Ask questions on a topic, note facts from books, sites and interviews, sort evidence noting which sources are more reliable, share results, and credit title and author.

The official Virginia documents

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