3rd Grade Common Core ELA Standards

ELA is comprised of four areas: reading, writing, language, and speaking and listening. Below are all the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for literacy.

Before you start reading the standards, watch this really helpful video called Learning to Read the Core.

Here's a standards spreadsheet of all the ELA standards next to each other.

Reading Literature

Key Ideas and Details




Craft and Structure

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.



Integration of Knowledge and Ideas


(RL.3.8 not applicable to literature)


Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.3.10 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.

Reading Informational Texts

Key Ideas and Details


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.


Craft and Structure

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.10 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.

Reading: Foundational Skills

Phonics and Word Recognition

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3a Identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3b Decode words with common Latin suffixes.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3c Decode multisyllable words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.3d Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.4a Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.4b Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.3.4c Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.


Text Types and Purposes


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.1a Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.1b Provide reasons that support the opinion.


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.1d Provide a concluding statement or section.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2a Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2b Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2c Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more,but) to connect ideas within categories of information.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.2d Provide a concluding statement or section.





CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.3d Provide a sense of closure.

Production and Distribution of Writing

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1.3 above.)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 3 here.)

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.6 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.

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.3.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.


(W.3.9 begins in grade 4)

Range of Writing


Speaking and Listening

Comprehension and Collaboration


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1a 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.


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1c Ask questions to check understanding of information presented, stay on topic, and link their comments to the remarks of others.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.1d Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.2 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.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.3 Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.

Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas



CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.3.6 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. (See grade 3 Language standards 1 and 3 here for specific expectations.)


Conventions of Standard English

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1a Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1b Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1c Use abstract nouns (e.g., childhood).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1d Form and use regular and irregular verbs.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1e Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1f Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.*

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1g Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1h Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.1i Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2a Capitalize appropriate words in titles.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2b Use commas in addresses.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2c Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2d Form and use possessives.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2e Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words (e.g., sitting, smiled, cries, happiness).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2f Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.2g Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.

Knowledge of Language

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.3a Choose words and phrases for effect.*

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.3b Recognize and observe differences between the conventions of spoken and written standard English.

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.4a Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.


CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.4c Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., company, companion).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.4d Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5a Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (e.g., take steps).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5b Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe people who are friendly or helpful).

CCSS.ELA-Literacy.L.3.5c Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered).



