Writing Standards (Grade 3)
Grade 3 writing has two faces on the ELA test: short constructed responses (a few sentences that answer a reading question with evidence) and longer pieces in the three grade 3 text types. The standards also require planning, revising, editing, and gathering information from sources, so organization and sentence control are scored alongside ideas.
The three text types
- Opinion: State a point of view, give reasons, and support each reason with evidence or an example. Use linking words such as because, therefore, and for example.
- Informative/explanatory: Name a topic, group related information into parts, explain with facts and definitions, and use text features such as headings.
- Narrative: Establish a situation, introduce characters, use clear event sequence and descriptive detail, include dialogue where it helps, and provide a sense of closure.
Worked example
Prompt: Should recess be longer? Weak: 'Yes, because recess is fun and everyone likes it.' Strong: 'Recess should be fifteen minutes longer. In our class, students who run at recess come back calmer and finish math faster. That shows more movement helps learning, not just fun.' The strong answer takes a position, gives a reason tied to a result, and links the evidence back to the claim. 'Fun' is a feeling, not evidence.
Traps
Retelling the passage instead of answering the prompt; giving a reason that merely repeats the opinion; listing events without sequence in a narrative; piling up facts without grouping them in an informative piece; editing spelling only while subject-verb agreement and run-ons remain; copying source sentences without explaining them.