GLE-RW3
COLORADO MODEL CONTENT
STANDARDS FOR READING AND WRITING
3rd Grade Level Expectations
Standard 1:
Students read and understand a variety of materials
By the end of third grade, students will be fluent readers with a full range of reading
strategies to apply to reading a wide variety of increasingly difficult narrative and expository text at the third grade level. This requires:
1.1 an understanding of the text that shall include, but not necessarily limited to, students
being able to do the following:
- adjust reading pace to accommodate purpose, style, and difficulty of material;
- summarize text passages;
- apply information and make connections from reading.
1.2 an integration of cueing systems that shall include, but not necessarily limited to,
students being able to do the following:
- apply word attack skills to read new and unfamiliar words (graphophonics);
- use sentence structure, paragraph structure, text organization, and word order
(syntax);
- use and apply background experience and context to construct a variety of
meanings over developmentally appropriate complex texts (semantics);
- use strategies of sampling, predicting, confirming, and self-correcting quickly,
confidently, and independently (graphophonics, syntax, and semantics).
Standard 2:
Students write and speak for a variety of purposes and audiences
Third grade students will:
2.1 generate topics through prewriting activities (for example, brainstorming,
webbing, mapping, drawing, K-W-L charts, group discussion);
2.2 align purpose (for example, to entertain, to inform, to communicate) with
audience;
2.3 write a first draft with the necessary components for a specific genre;
2.4 revise draft content (for example, organization, relevant details, clarity);
2.5 edit revised draft using resources (for example, dictionary, word lists and banks,
thesaurus, spell checker, glossary, style manual, grammar and usage reference);
2.6 proofread revised draft;
2.7 present final copy according to purpose (for example, read aloud, display, publish,
mail, send, and perform).
Standard 3:
Students write and speak using conventional grammar, usage, sentence
structure, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.
Third grade students will:
3.1 know and use standard, age-appropriate spelling, grammar, word usage (for
example, basic subject-verb agreement, complete simple sentences, appropriate
verb tense, regular plurals);
3.2 write legibly.
Standard 4:
Students apply thinking skills to their reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing.
Standard 5:
Students read to locate, select, and make use of relevant information from a variety of media, reference, and technological sources.
Third grade students will:
5.1 gather, organize, and accurately, clearly, and sequentially report information gained
from personal observations and experiences such as science experiments, field trips,
and classroom visitors;
5.2 record observations (for example, logs, lists, graphs, charts, tables, illustrations);
5.3 report events sequentially;
5.4 write a concluding statement;
5.5 use resources (for example, video tapes, magazines, informational books, reference
materials, interviews, guest speakers, Internet) and report information in their own
words;
5.6 list resources used by title.
Standard 6:
Students read and recognize literature as a record of human experience
6.1 identify a regular beat and similarities of sound in words in responding to rhythm and
rhyme in poetry;
6.2 identify words appealing to the senses or involving direct or indirect comparisons in
literature;
6.3 compare tales from different cultures by tracing the exploits of one character type or by
observing the use of such natural phenomena as the seasons, constellations, land
formations, or animal behaviors;
6.4 read, respond to, and discuss a variety of literature such as folk tales, legends, myths,
fiction, rhymes and poems, non-fiction, and content-area reading.
