Grade 3 English Language Arts: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 3 english language arts in the New Brunswick Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Interactions: Expression. Describe and discuss thoughts, feelings, experiences, ideas, and opinions.
- Interactions: Exchanges. Ask and respond to questions to clarify information, explore possibilities, or identify solutions to a problem.
- Interactions: Reception. Receive and critically reflect on the ideas and opinions of others.
- Reading: Word Study. Differentiate sounds in spoken language.
- Reading: Fluency. Read with accuracy and expression.
- Reading: Vocabulary. Use a range of vocabulary when communicating.
- Reading: Reading Comprehension. Construct meaning from printed text when reading independently.
- Reading: Text Analysis. Select and engage with a variety of text forms for specific uses.
- Representations: Spelling. Apply appropriate spelling conventions when creating written works.
- Representations: Sentence Structure. Compose sentences and short paragraphs.
- Representations: Composition. Organize ideas and create written and media texts.
- Representations: Text Analysis. Select information from multiple sources to support ideas and construct meaning.
Easy ways to practise 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
Speaking & Listening
How a speaker's eyes, posture, gestures and movements help communicate, and what good listening looks like. Some families show respect in other ways, such as looking down, and the questions note this.
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).
ABC Order & Dictionary
Putting words in alphabetical order to the first, second and third letter, and using dictionary guide words to find the right page.
Word Jobs
Finding nouns (naming words), verbs (action words), adjectives (describing words) and adverbs (words that tell how) in sentences.
Sentence Smarts
Telling statements, questions, exclamations and commands apart, spotting incomplete sentences and joining ideas with so, but, or and because.
Punctuation Power
Choosing end marks, using commas in lists and dates, writing contractions and possessives with apostrophes, and putting quotation marks around speech.
Reading Patterns
Spotting cause and effect and order of importance, deciding who is telling a story, making inferences from clues, and using an index.
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.
Fact or Opinion?
Telling facts (which can be checked) from opinions (what someone thinks), and spotting opinion words like best and cutest.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Working below
- 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 practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Excelling
- 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 New Brunswick 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 New Brunswick Curriculum Grade 3 english language arts units include speaking & listening, spelling patterns, prefixes & suffixes, word pairs, abc order & dictionary, word jobs.
Free printable Grade 3 english language arts practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.