3rd Grade ELA (Colorado Academic Standards)

Standard 1: Oral Expression and Listening

• RWC.3.1.1 Work with others respectfully and cooperatively in group activities. (being checked)
  • 1. Hold a range of discussions with different partners, building on others' ideas and sharing your own clearly.
  • 1.a. Come ready to discuss, drawing on reading, study and what you know.
  • 1.b. Follow agreed norms such as taking turns, listening with care and speaking one at a time.
  • 1.c. Ask clarifying questions, stay on topic and link comments to what others said.
  • 1.d. Explain your own ideas and what you now understand after the discussion.
  • 2. Find main ideas and supporting details in a read-aloud or in visual, numeric or oral information.
  • 3. Ask and answer questions about a speaker's information, adding fitting detail.
• RWC.3.1.2 Use suitable language in casual and formal situations. (being checked)
  • 1. Report on a topic, tell a story or describe an experience with accurate facts and vivid detail at a clear pace.
  • 2. Recognize different levels of formality in speaking situations.
  • 3. Adjust volume and pitch to suit purpose and audience while speaking clearly.
  • 4. Organize ideas in order or around key points suited to the audience and formality.
  • 5. Make engaging audio recordings of stories or poems read fluently, adding visuals when helpful.
  • 6. Use complete sentences when the task calls for detail or clarification.

Standard 2: Reading for All Purposes

• RWC.3.2.1 Use strategies to read and understand a range of literary texts fluently. (being checked)
  • 1. Key ideas and details
  • 1.a. Ask and answer questions about a text, pointing to the text as the basis for answers.
  • 1.b. Use comprehension strategies such as attending, searching, predicting, checking and self-correcting.
  • 1.c. Retell fables, folktales and myths from many cultures, find the central lesson and show how details convey it.
  • 1.d. Summarize the central ideas and important details of a text.
  • 1.e. Describe and infer plot, character and setting in stories, poems and plays.
  • 1.f. Describe characters' traits, motives or feelings and how their actions shape events.
  • 2. Craft and structure
  • 2.a. Work out word and phrase meanings in context, telling literal from nonliteral language.
  • 2.b. Use signal words (before, after, next) and text structure to put major events in order.
  • 2.c. Use terms such as chapter, scene and stanza and explain how each part builds on earlier ones.
  • 2.d. Tell your own point of view apart from the narrator's or characters'.
  • 3. Integration of knowledge and ideas
  • 3.a. Explain how pictures add to a story's words, e.g. setting mood or highlighting characters.
  • 3.b. Compare themes, settings and plots of stories by one author about the same or similar characters.
  • 4. Range of reading and text complexity
  • 4.a. By year's end, read literature at the top of the grades 2–3 band independently and proficiently.
  • 5. Read grade-level passages accurately and fluently, attending to phrasing, intonation and punctuation.
• RWC.3.2.2 Use reading strategies to understand informational texts fluently. (being checked)
  • 1. Key ideas and details
  • 1.a. Ask and answer questions about a text, pointing to specific details as support.
  • 1.b. Find the main idea, retell key details and explain how they support it.
  • 1.c. Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text and the focus of each paragraph.
  • 1.d. Explain how events, science ideas or steps relate through time, sequence or cause and effect.
  • 2. Craft and structure
  • 2.a. Work out general academic and subject-specific words in grade 3 topic texts.
  • 2.b. Use text features and search tools such as keywords, sidebars and hyperlinks to find information quickly.
  • 2.c. Tell your own point of view apart from the author's.
  • 2.d. Use signal words such as because and although to spot cause-effect and compare-contrast.
  • 3. Integration of knowledge and ideas
  • 3.a. Use pictures, maps and photos with the text to understand where, when, why and how events happen.
  • 3.b. Describe logical links between sentences and paragraphs, such as comparison, cause and effect or sequence.
  • 3.c. Compare the key points and details of two texts on one topic.
  • 4. Range of reading and text complexity
  • 4.a. By year's end, read history, science and technical texts at the top of the grades 2–3 band independently.
• RWC.3.2.3 Use spelling patterns, word meanings and word relationships to decode words and build vocabulary. (being checked)
  • 1. Use grade-level phonics and word analysis to decode words.
  • 1.a. Identify and define the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.
  • 1.b. Decode words with common Latin suffixes.
  • 1.c. Decode multisyllable words.
  • 1.d. Read grade-level words with irregular spellings.
  • 2. Read accurately and fluently enough to understand.
  • 2.a. Read on-level text with a purpose and understand it.
  • 2.b. Read grade-level prose and poetry aloud accurately, at a good rate and with expression.
  • 2.c. Use context to confirm or fix word reading and understanding, rereading as needed.
  • 3. Work out unknown and multiple-meaning words from grade 3 texts using several strategies.
  • 3.a. Use sentence context to infer meaning.
  • 3.b. Work out a new word made by adding a known affix to a known word.
  • 3.c. Use word relationships such as antonyms and synonyms to clarify meaning.
  • 3.d. Use a known root to work out an unknown word with the same root.
  • 3.e. Use print or digital glossaries and beginner dictionaries to check precise meanings.
  • 3.f. Work out general academic and subject-specific words in grade 3 subject texts.
  • 4. Show understanding of figurative language, word relationships and shades of meaning.
  • 4.a. Tell literal from figurative meanings of words and phrases in context.
  • 4.b. Link words to real-life uses, e.g. describing people who are friendly or helpful.
  • 4.c. Tell apart shades of meaning in words for mental states or degrees of certainty.
  • 5. Use everyday, academic and subject-specific words accurately, including words for place and time.

Standard 3: Writing and Composition

• RWC.3.3.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a view with reasons. (being checked)
  • 1. Introduce the topic or text, state an opinion and set up a structure that lists reasons.
  • 2. Give reasons for the opinion.
  • 3. Link opinion and reasons with words such as because, therefore, since and for example.
  • 4. Write a concluding statement or section.
• RWC.3.3.2 Write informative texts with facts, definitions and details and a related conclusion. (being checked)
  • 1. Introduce a topic, group related information and add pictures when they help.
  • 2. Build up the topic with facts, definitions and details.
  • 3. Link ideas within categories with words such as also, another, and, more and but. (being checked)
  • 4. Write a concluding statement or section.
• RWC.3.3.3 Write real or imagined narratives with descriptive details, clear event order and closure. (being checked)
  • 1. Set up a situation, introduce a narrator or characters and order events naturally.
  • 2. Use dialogue and describe actions, thoughts and feelings to build events and show reactions.
  • 3. Use time words and phrases to show the order of events. (being checked)
  • 4. Give a sense of closure.
• RWC.3.3.4 Plan, draft, revise and edit, applying grammar, capitalization, punctuation and spelling conventions. (being checked)
  • 1. Use standard English grammar when writing or speaking.
  • 1.a. Explain what nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs do in general and in sentences.
  • 1.c. Use abstract nouns, e.g. childhood.
  • 1.d. Form and use regular and irregular verbs.
  • 1.e. Form and use simple verb tenses: past, present and future.
  • 1.f. Make pronouns agree with the nouns they replace.
  • 1.g. Form comparatives and superlatives of adjectives and adverbs and pick the right one.
  • 1.h. Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
  • 1.i. Build simple, compound and complex sentences.
  • 1.j. Vary sentence openings and mix long and short sentences for flow in longer texts.
  • 2. Use standard capitalization, punctuation and spelling when writing.
  • 2.a. Capitalize the right words in titles.
  • 2.b. Use commas in addresses.
  • 2.c. Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
  • 2.d. Form and use possessive nouns.
  • 2.e. Spell high-frequency and studied words correctly, including adding suffixes.
  • 2.f. Use spelling patterns and rules such as word families, syllable patterns and word parts.
  • 2.g. Use reference materials such as beginner dictionaries to check spelling.
  • 3. Use knowledge of language and conventions when writing, speaking, reading or listening.
  • 3.a. Choose words and phrases for effect.
  • 3.b. Notice differences between spoken and written standard English.
  • 4. With adult guidance, produce writing whose development and organization suit task and purpose.
  • 5. With peer and adult support, improve writing by planning, revising and editing.
  • 6. With adult guidance, use technology, including keyboarding, to produce, publish and share writing.
  • 7. Write routinely over short and long time frames for many discipline-specific tasks and audiences.

Standard 4: Research Inquiry and Design

• RWC.3.4.1 Gather, interpret and share information from short research projects. (being checked)
  • 1. Do short research projects to learn more about a topic.
  • 2. Interpret and share findings in a brief written summary with supporting details.
  • 3. Make visual supports such as charts, maps, pictures or models.
  • 4. Give a brief report of research findings to an audience.
  • 5. Recall experiences or collect facts from print and digital sources, take short notes and sort them into categories.