FAST ELA Grade 3 key terms

The most important point a text is making about its topic. In a short passage it can often be stated in one sentence, and the other sentences support or explain it.

What a text is about, usually stated in a word or short phrase rather than a full sentence. The topic is broader than the main idea, which says something about the topic.

A fact, example, or reason in a text that helps prove or explain the main idea. Details answer questions like who, what, when, where, why, and how.

A short retelling of a text that includes only the most important ideas and events, in the order they matter. A good summary leaves out small details and personal opinions.

The lesson or big message about life that a story teaches, such as kindness matters or hard work pays off. A theme is not the same as the topic or the plot.

The message a story teaches about how people should act or what they can learn from events. Readers often figure out the lesson by looking at what a character learns or how the story ends.

A person or animal that takes part in a story. Readers learn about characters from what they say, do, think, and how others treat them.

A word that describes what a character is like inside, such as brave, honest, or selfish. Traits are shown through a character's words and actions, not through feelings that last only a moment.

The reason a character acts or wants something in a story. A character's motivation helps explain choices and often pushes the plot forward.

Where and when a story takes place, including the place, time of day, weather, or season. The setting can affect what characters do and how they feel.

The events of a story, told in the order they happen. A plot usually includes a problem, the steps characters take to solve it, and a resolution.

A text structure that presents a difficulty and then explains how it is fixed or resolved. Stories and informational texts both may use this pattern.

The order in which events or steps happen in a text. Words such as first, next, then, and finally signal sequence.

A text structure that explains why something happened and what happened as a result. Signal words include because, so, since, and as a result.

A text structure that shows how two or more things are alike and different. Signal words include both, alike, similarly, however, and unlike.

The way an author organizes information in a text, such as sequence, cause and effect, compare and contrast, or problem and solution. Knowing the structure helps readers follow and remember ideas.

A part of an informational text that helps readers find and understand information, such as headings, captions, bold words, a table of contents, a glossary, or a diagram.

A short title above a section of text that tells what the section is about. Headings help readers locate information and predict what comes next.

Words printed under or beside a picture that explain what the picture shows. Captions give extra information that may not appear in the main text.

A list at the back of a book that gives the meanings of important words from the text, usually in alphabetical order. Readers use it like a small dictionary.

Details, facts, or quotations from a text that support an answer or idea. Good readers point to evidence to show why their thinking is correct.

A smart guess about meaning that a reader makes by combining clues in the text with what the reader already knows. An inference is not stated directly in the words.

A guess about what will happen next in a text, based on clues the author gives and on the reader's own experience. Readers check predictions as they keep reading.

The words and sentences around an unfamiliar word that help a reader figure out its meaning. Clues may be examples, definitions, opposites, or comparisons.

A word part added to the beginning or end of a base word to change its meaning, such as un- in unhappy or -ful in helpful. Prefixes come before the base; suffixes come after.

A word part added to the front of a base word that changes its meaning, such as re- meaning again or pre- meaning before. Knowing common prefixes helps readers decode longer words.

A word part added to the end of a base word that changes its meaning or its part of speech, such as -less meaning without or -er meaning one who does.

The main part of a word that carries its basic meaning, before prefixes or suffixes are added. For example, help is the root of helpful and unhelpful.

A word that means almost the same thing as another word, such as happy and glad. Writers use synonyms to add variety, and readers use them to understand new words.

A word that means the opposite of another word, such as hot and cold. Antonyms in a sentence can help a reader figure out an unknown word's meaning.

Language that means exactly what the words say, without exaggeration or comparison. Readers tell literal from figurative language by checking whether the words could be true as written.

Language that goes beyond the plain, literal meaning of words to create a picture or feeling, such as similes, metaphors, and personification. It is not meant to be understood word for word.

A comparison of two unlike things using the words like or as, such as as quiet as a mouse. A simile helps readers picture something by linking it to something familiar.

A comparison of two unlike things that does not use like or as, saying one thing is another, such as the classroom was a zoo. Metaphors create vivid pictures in the reader's mind.

Figurative language in which a nonhuman thing is given human qualities, such as the wind whispered through the trees. It helps readers imagine objects as if they were alive.

A common phrase whose meaning cannot be figured out from the individual words, such as under the weather meaning sick. Readers learn idioms from hearing and reading them.

The ability to read text accurately, at a good pace, and with expression. Fluent readers recognize words quickly and group words into meaningful phrases.

Using letter-sound knowledge to sound out and read words. Readers decode unfamiliar words by matching letters and letter patterns to the sounds they make.

Two or more letters that work together to stand for one vowel sound, such as ai in rain or oa in boat. Recognizing vowel teams helps readers read words accurately.

A word part with one vowel sound, such as the two parts of rab-bit. Dividing a long word into syllables helps readers sound it out.