Grade 3 English Language Arts: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 3 english language arts in the Nunavut Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Uqausiliriniq: communication and language, creative and artistic expression, and reflective and critical thinking.
- Comprehension: listen, view and read to understand a range of texts.
- Production: speak, write and represent ideas clearly for different audiences and purposes.
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
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.
Fact or Opinion?
Telling facts (which can be checked) from opinions (what someone thinks), and spotting opinion words like best and cutest.
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.
Reading Patterns
Spotting cause and effect and order of importance, deciding who is telling a story, making inferences from clues, and using an index.
Listening & Talking Together
Practises listening for key ideas, using non-verbal cues and turn taking, asking thoughtful questions, giving evidence, and sharing thoughts and preferences in a group.
Sounds, Letters & Fluent Reading
Practises sound awareness (segmenting, blending and changing sounds), letters in different fonts, recognizing common and tricky words quickly, and using punctuation to read with expression.
Wonder & Find Out
Practises using what you already know, asking focused questions, choosing information from sources, deciding what to include, and noticing diversity and inclusion in stories.
Plan Your Writing
Practises choosing a topic from experience, thinking about audience and purpose, using planning tools such as webs and organizers, and telling narrative, informational, descriptive and persuasive writing apart.
Make Writing Better
Practises adding descriptive words, joining ideas with connecting and transition words, noticing when writing doesn't make sense, revising with feedback, and neat handwriting and word processing.
Posters, Slides & Media
Practises multimodal texts (posters, slide shows, videos, photo essays), planning a layout, choosing visuals and fonts, and picking the best way to share a message with an audience.
My Learning Goals
Practises self-monitoring, choosing strategies, using criteria and rubrics, using feedback, setting specific goals for listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and representing, and tracking progress.
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 practising 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 Nunavut 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 Nunavut Curriculum Grade 3 english language arts units include read and think, story elements, word jobs, punctuation power, spelling patterns, prefixes & suffixes.
Free printable Grade 3 english language arts practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.