3rd grade English Language Arts: how to help at home
What your child learns in 3rd grade English language arts in the Alabama Course of Study, and simple things to try at home.
Focus areas this year
- Reading: reading fluently, characters, main idea and text features
- Writing, speaking and listening: organizing paragraphs, and presenting to others
- Vocabulary and language: building word knowledge and using grammar, spelling and punctuation
Easy ways to practice English language arts at home
- Take turns reading a page aloud, and chat about what happened and why.
- Keep a short journal, with one or two sentences a day to start.
- Hunt for a new word a day and use it at dinner.
- Ask for a prediction before turning the page: “What do you think happens next?”
What each unit covers
Read and Think
Reading short original stories and non-fiction passages, then finding the main idea, details and order of events, making inferences and working out word meanings from context.
Story Elements
Naming the characters, setting, problem and solution of a story, describing how characters feel and what they are like, and finding a story's lesson.
Word Jobs
Finding nouns (naming words), verbs (action words), adjectives (describing words) and adverbs (words that tell how) in sentences.
Punctuation Power
Choosing end marks, using commas in lists and dates, writing contractions and possessives with apostrophes, and putting quotation marks around speech.
Spelling Patterns
Spelling long vowel sounds with vowel teams (ai, ay, ee, ea, oa, ow, igh, ie) and adding -ed and -ing by doubling a letter, dropping a silent e or just adding the ending.
Prefixes & Suffixes
Learning what prefixes (un-, re-, pre-, dis-) and suffixes (-ful, -less, -er, -ly) mean, finding base words and using new words in sentences.
Word Pairs
Synonyms (words that mean the same), antonyms (opposites) and homophones (words that sound alike but are spelled differently, like their, there and they're).
Sentence Smarts
Telling statements, questions, exclamations and commands apart, spotting incomplete sentences and joining ideas with so, but, or and because.
Grammar Gears
Showing who owns something with 's, choosing linking verbs and -ing verbs, using question words like which and whose, and spotting prepositions and interjections.
Reading Patterns
Spotting cause and effect and order of importance, deciding who is telling a story, making inferences from clues, and using an index.
Tales, Poems & Hyperbole
Your child tells fables, folktales, legends and myths apart, reads rhyme schemes and stanzas, and spots sound devices and hyperbole.
Wonder & Find Out
Practices using what you already know, asking focused questions, choosing information from sources, deciding what to include, and noticing diversity and inclusion in stories.
Media Messages
Children sort media by purpose (to inform, persuade or entertain), notice how ads use music, famous people and strong words, tell facts from opinions, and choose good sources for research questions.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practicing the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Alabama report card guide.
Common questions
Take turns reading a page aloud, and chat about what happened and why. Keep a short journal, with one or two sentences a day to start. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Alabama Course of Study 3rd grade English language arts units include Read and Think, Story Elements, Word Jobs, Punctuation Power, Spelling Patterns, Prefixes & Suffixes.
Free printable 3rd grade English language arts practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.