FAST ELA Grade 3 flashcards
FAST ELA Grade 3 · Build recall with a focused review session.
33 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.
- Character traits
- Words describing what a character is like inside, such as kind or brave. Traits are inferred from what the character says, does, and thinks.
- Setting
- The time and place in which a story happens. Setting can influence a character's problem and the events of the plot.
- Plot
- The sequence of events in a story, usually moving from a problem through a turning point to a resolution.
- Theme
- The message about life or human nature that a story conveys. A theme is stated as a complete sentence, not a single word.
- First-person point of view
- A narrator who is part of the story and uses words like I and we. The reader knows only what this narrator observes.
- Dialogue
- The exact words a character speaks, placed inside quotation marks. Each new speaker usually begins a new paragraph.
- Main idea
- The most important point an informational text makes about its topic. Key details throughout the text support or explain it.
- Text features
- Parts of a text other than the main paragraphs, such as headings, captions, bold words, diagrams, and glossaries, that help readers find and understand information.
- Cause and effect
- A text structure that explains why something happened and what resulted. Signal words include because, so, and as a result.
- Compare and contrast
- A text structure that shows how two or more things are alike and how they are different. Signal words include both, unlike, and however.
- Author's purpose
- The reason an author writes a text, such as to inform, explain, persuade, or entertain. Purpose shapes the words and details chosen.
- Fact and opinion
- A fact can be proven true; an opinion is a belief or feeling. Opinion words include best, should, and beautiful.
- Context clues
- Hints in nearby words and sentences that help a reader figure out an unknown word's meaning, such as definitions, examples, or contrasts.
- Synonym and antonym
- A synonym is a word with nearly the same meaning as another word. An antonym is a word with the opposite meaning.
- Simile
- A figure of speech that compares two different things using the words like or as, such as brave as a lion.
- Metaphor
- A figure of speech that states one thing is another without using like or as, such as the classroom was a zoo.
- Personification
- A figure of speech in which a nonhuman thing is given human qualities, such as leaves dancing in the wind.
- Idiom
- A common phrase whose meaning cannot be figured out from the individual words, such as under the weather meaning sick.
- Prefix re-
- A prefix meaning again or back. Adding it to a base word changes the meaning, as in reread, which means read again.
- Suffix -less
- A suffix meaning without. Adding it to a noun creates an adjective, as in hopeless, which means without hope.
- Homophones
- Words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings, such as to, too, and two, or there, their, and they're.
- Sequence structure
- A text structure that presents events or steps in time order. Signal words include first, next, then, and finally.
- Problem and solution
- A text structure that describes a difficulty and one or more ways it is or could be fixed.
- Author's claim
- The main point an author argues is true. Reasons and evidence in the text are given to support the claim.
- Firsthand account
- A description of an event written or told by someone who was actually present. It reflects that person's own observations.
- Secondhand account
- A description of an event written by someone who was not present, based on information from other people or sources.
- Closed syllable
- A syllable ending in one or more consonants, which usually makes the vowel short, as in cat, rabbit, and hopping.
- Silent e pattern
- A pattern in which a final silent e makes the earlier vowel long, changing hop to hope and cap to cape.
- Vowel team
- Two or more letters that work together to spell one vowel sound, such as ai in rain, ee in feet, and oa in boat.
- Consonant digraph
- Two consonants that spell a single sound, such as sh, ch, th, and wh. Unlike blends, the separate sounds are not heard.
- R-controlled vowel
- A vowel followed by r, which changes the vowel's sound, as in car, for, her, bird, and turn.
- Open syllable
- A syllable that ends in a single vowel, which is usually long, as in go, hi, and the first syllable of robot.
- Fluency
- Reading text accurately, at a steady rate, and with expression. Repeated reading of the same passage is one way to build it.