Grade 3 ELA Colorado Standards

Participate cooperatively in group activities.

Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.

Come to discussions prepared, having read or studied required material; explicitly draw on that preparation and other information known about the topic to explore ideas under discussion.

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (for example: gaining the floor in respectful ways, listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under discussion).

Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.

Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.

Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.

Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.

Communicate using appropriate language in informal and formal situations.

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.

Distinguish different levels of formality.

Speak clearly, using appropriate volume and pitch for the purpose and audience.

Select and organize ideas sequentially or around major points of information that relate to the formality of the audience.

Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details.

Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.

Apply strategies to fluently read and comprehend various literary texts.

Use Key Ideas and Details to:

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

Use a variety of comprehension strategies to interpret text (attending, searching, predicting, checking, and self-correcting).

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.

Summarize central ideas and important details from a text.

Describe and draw inferences about the elements of plot, character, and setting in literary pieces, poems, and plays.

Describe characters in a story (for example: their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Use Craft and Structure to:

Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.

Use signal words (such as before, after, next) and text structure (narrative, chronology) to determine the sequence of major events

Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.

Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to:

Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (for example: create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).

Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (for example: in books from a series).

Use Range of Reading and Complexity of Text to:

By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Read grade level text accurately and fluently, attending to phrasing, intonation, and punctuation.

Apply strategies to fluently read and comprehend various informational texts.

Use Key Ideas and Details to:

Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

Identify a main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text

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.

Use Craft and Structure to:

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

Use text features and search tools (for example: key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

Use semantic cues and signal words (for example: because and although) to identify cause/effect and compare/contrast relationships.

Use Integration of Knowledge and Ideas to:

Use information gained from illustrations (for example: maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (for example: where, when, why, and how key events occur).

Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (for example: comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.

Use Range of Reading and Complexity of Text to:

By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Apply knowledge of spelling patterns (orthography), word meanings (morphology), and word relationships to decode words and increase vocabulary.

Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

Identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.

Decode words with common Latin suffixes.

Decode multisyllable words.

Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression.

Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word (for example: agreeable/disagreeable, comfortable/uncomfortable, care/careless, heat/preheat).

Use knowledge of word relationships to identify antonyms or synonyms to clarify meaning.

Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (for example: company, companion).

Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (for example: take steps).

Identify real-life connections between words and their use (for example: describe people who are friendly or helpful).

Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (for example: knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered).

Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (for example: After dinner that night we went looking for them).

Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.

Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that includes reasons.

Provide reasons that support the opinion.

Use linking words and phrases (for example: because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons.

Provide a concluding statement or section.

Write informative/explanatory texts developed with facts, definitions, and details, ending with a related concluding statement.

Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

Use linking words and phrases (for example: also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within categories of information.

Provide a concluding statement or section.

Write real or imagined narratives that use descriptive details, have a clear sequence of events, and provide closure.

Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.

Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.

Provide a sense of closure

Use a recursive process to plan, draft, revise, and edit writing, applying knowledge of the conventions of grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.

Use abstract nouns (for example: childhood).

Form and use regular and irregular verbs.

Form and use the simple (for example: I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.

Vary sentence beginnings, and use long and short sentences to create sentence fluency in longer texts

Ensure pronoun-antecedent agreement.

Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.

Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences using coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

Demonstrate command of the conventions of Standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Capitalize appropriate words in titles.

Use commas in addresses.

Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.

Form and use possessives.

Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words (for example: sitting, smiled, cries, happiness).

Use spelling patterns and generalizations (for example: word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.

Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.

Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

Choose words and phrases for effect.

Recognize and observe differences between the conventions of spoken and written standard English. )

With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose.

With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing.

With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.

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 discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Gather, interpret, and communicate information discovered during short research projects.

Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.

Interpret and communicate the information learned by developing a brief summary with supporting details.

Develop supporting visual information (for example: charts, maps, illustrations, models).

Present a brief report of the research findings to an audience.

Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.

Oral Expression and Listening

Reading for All Purposes

Research Inquiry and Design

Writing and Composition