Minnesota Academic Standards 3rd Grade ELA Activities

MN.3.1. Reading Benchmarks: Literature K-5

Key Ideas and Details

3.1.2.2. Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

3.1.3.3. Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.

Craft and Structure

3.1.4.4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language, including figurative language such as similes.

3.1.5.5. Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

3.1.10.10. By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature and other texts including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

3.1.10.10.a. Self-select texts for personal enjoyment, interest, and academic tasks.

MN.3.2. Reading Benchmarks: Informational Text K-5

Key Ideas and Details

3.2.2.2. Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

3.2.3.3. Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.

Craft and Structure

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

3.2.5.5. Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

Integration of Knowledge and Ideas

3.2.7.7. Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).

3.2.8.8. Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).

Range of Reading and Level of Text Complexity

3.2.10.10. 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.

3.2.10.10.a. Self-select texts for personal enjoyment, interest, and academic tasks.

MN.3.3. Reading Benchmarks: Foundational Skills K-5

Phonics and Word Recognition

3.3.0.3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

3.3.0.3.a. Identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.

3.3.0.3.b. Decode words with common Latin suffixes.

3.3.0.3.c. Decode multisyllable words.

3.3.0.3.d. Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words, including high-frequency words.

Fluency

3.3.0.4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

3.3.0.4.b. Read on-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings

3.3.0.4.c. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

MN.3.6. Writing Benchmarks K-5

Text Types and Purposes

3.6.2.2. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

3.W.2.b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.

3.W.2.c. Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within categories of information.

3.W.2.d. Provide a concluding statement or section.

3.6.3.3. Write narratives and other creative texts to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

3.W.3.c. Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.

3.W.3.d. Provide a sense of closure.

Production and Distribution of Writing

3.6.5.5. With guidance and support from peers and adults, use a writing process to develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, drafting, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 3 on page 41-42.)

Range of Writing

3.6.10.10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

3.6.10.10.a. Independently select writing topics and formats for personal enjoyment, interest, and academic tasks.

MN.3.8. Speaking, Viewing, Listening and Media Literacy Benchmarks K-5

Media Literacy

3.8.7.7. Distinguish among, understand, and use different types of print, digital, and multimodal media.

3.8.7.7.c. Check for accuracy in pictures and images.

3.8.8.8. With prompting and support, create an individual or shared multimedia work for a specific purpose (e.g., to create or integrate knowledge, to share experiences or information, to persuade, to entertain, or as artistic expression.)

3.8.8.8.a. With prompting and support, critique each found image under consideration for use in a multimedia project for its appropriateness to purpose, its effectiveness in conveying the message, and its effect on the intended audience and justify its use in the project.

MN.3.10 Language Benchmarks K-5

Conventions of Standard English

3.10.1.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

3.10.1.1.a. Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.

3.10.1.1.b. Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.

3.10.1.1.d. Form and use regular and irregular verbs.

3.10.1.1.e. Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.

3.10.1.1.f. Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.

3.10.2.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

3.10.2.2.b. Use commas in addresses.

3.10.2.2.d. Form and use possessives.

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

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

Vocabulary Acquisition and Use

3.10.4.4. Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.

3.10.4.4.a. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.

3.10.4.4.b. Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word (e.g., agreeable/disagreeable, comfortable/uncomfortable, care/careless, heat/preheat).

3.10.4.4.c. Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., company, companion).

3.10.4.4.d. Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.

3.10.5.5. Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings to develop word consciousness.

3.10.5.5.a. Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (e.g., take steps).

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

3.10.6.6. Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).