Year 3 English
Reading
By the beginning of year 3, pupils should be able to accurately read books written at an age-appropriate interest level and at a speed that is sufficient for them to focus on understanding what they read, rather than on decoding individual words. As their decoding skills become increasingly secure, teaching should be directed more towards developing their vocabulary and the breadth and depth of their reading, making sure that they become independent, fluent and enthusiastic readers who read widely and frequently. They should be developing their understanding and enjoyment of stories, poetry, plays and non-fiction, and learning to read silently. They should also be developing their knowledge and skills in reading non-fiction about a wide range of subjects and learning to justify their views about what they have read, with support, at the start of year 3.
Most pupils will not need further direct teaching of word reading skills: they will be able to decode unfamiliar words accurately, and need very few repeated experiences of this before the word is stored in such a way that they can read it without overt sound-blending. Teaching comprehension should be taking precedence over teaching word reading directly. Any focus on word reading should support the development of vocabulary.
Reading – word reading
Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
By the beginning of year 3, pupils should be able to accurately read books written at an age-appropriate interest level and at a speed that is sufficient for them to focus on understanding what they read, rather than on decoding individual words. As their decoding skills become increasingly secure, teaching should be directed more towards developing their vocabulary and the breadth and depth of their reading, making sure that they become independent, fluent and enthusiastic readers who read widely and frequently. They should be developing their understanding and enjoyment of stories, poetry, plays and non-fiction, and learning to read silently. They should also be developing their knowledge and skills in reading non-fiction about a wide range of subjects and learning to justify their views about what they have read, with support, at the start of year 3.
Most pupils will not need further direct teaching of word reading skills: they will be able to decode unfamiliar words accurately, and need very few repeated experiences of this before the word is stored in such a way that they can read it without overt sound-blending. Teaching comprehension should be taking precedence over teaching word reading directly. Any focus on word reading should support the development of vocabulary.
Reading – word reading
Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
- apply their growing knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes (etymology and morphology) as listed in English Appendix 1, both to read aloud and to understand the meaning of new words they meet
- read further exception words, noting the unusual correspondences between spelling and sound, and where these occur in the word.
Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
Develop positive attitudes to reading and understanding of what they read by:
- Listening to and discussing a wide range of fiction, poetry, plays, non-fiction and reference books or textbooks.
- Reading books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes.
- Using dictionaries to check the meaning of words that they have read.
- Increasing their familiarity with a wide range of books, including fairy stories, myths and legends, and retelling some of these orally.
- Discussing words and phrases that capture the reader’s interest and imagination.
- Preparing poems and play scripts to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone, volume and action.
- Recognising some different forms of poetry.
- Identifying themes and conventions in a wide range of books.
Understand what they read, in books they read independently by:
- Checking that the text makes sense to them discussing their understanding and explaining the meaning of words in context.
- Drawing inferences such as inferring characters' feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions.
- Identifying main ideas drawn from more than 1 paragraph and summarising these.
- Retrieving and recording information from non-fiction.
- Predicting what might happen from details stated.
- Asking questions to improve their understanding of a text.
- Identifying how language, structure, and presentation contribute to meaning.
- Participating in discussion about both books that are read to them and those they can read for themselves, taking turns and listening to what others say.
Writing
Writing: Composition
Pupils should have opportunities to write for a range of purposes and audiences which will underpin the form of writing eg narrative, explanation or description.
Pupils should understand, through being shown these, the skills and processes that are essential for writing: that is, thinking aloud to explore and collect ideas, drafting, and re-reading to check their meaning is clear, including doing so as the writing develops.
Pupils should be taught to monitor whether their own writing makes sense in the same way that they monitor their reading, checking at different levels.
Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
Writing: Composition
Pupils should have opportunities to write for a range of purposes and audiences which will underpin the form of writing eg narrative, explanation or description.
Pupils should understand, through being shown these, the skills and processes that are essential for writing: that is, thinking aloud to explore and collect ideas, drafting, and re-reading to check their meaning is clear, including doing so as the writing develops.
Pupils should be taught to monitor whether their own writing makes sense in the same way that they monitor their reading, checking at different levels.
Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
Plan their writing by :
- Discussing writing similar to that which they are planning to write, in order to understand and learn from its structure, vocabulary and grammar.
- Discussing and recording ideas.
- In narratives, creating settings, characters and plot.
- In non-narrative material, using simple organisational devices (eg headings, sub-headings)
- Composing and rehearsing sentences orally (including dialogue), progressively building a varied and rich vocabulary.
- Organising paragraphs around a theme.
- Assessing the effectiveness of their own and others’ writing and suggesting improvements
- Proposing changes to grammar and vocabulary to improve consistency, including the accurate use of pronouns in sentences.
Writing: Transcription
Pupils should learn to spell new words correctly and have plenty of practice in spelling them.
As in Years 1 and 2, pupils should continue to be supported in understanding and applying the concepts of word structure (see English Appendix 2).
Pupils need sufficient knowledge of spelling in order to use dictionaries efficiently.
Statutory requirements
Pupils should learn to spell new words correctly and have plenty of practice in spelling them.
As in Years 1 and 2, pupils should continue to be supported in understanding and applying the concepts of word structure (see English Appendix 2).
Pupils need sufficient knowledge of spelling in order to use dictionaries efficiently.
Statutory requirements
Spelling (see English Appendix 1)
Pupils should be taught to:
Pupils should be taught to:
- Use further prefixes and suffixes and understand how to add them (see English Appendix 1 )
- Spell words that are often misspelt
- Place the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular plurals and in words with irregular plurals
- Use the first 2 or 4 letters of a word to check its spelling in a dictionary.
- Write from memory simple sentences, dictated by the teacher, that include words and punctuation taught so far.
Writing: Vocabulary, grammar and punctuation
Grammar should be taught explicitly: pupils should be taught the terminology and concepts set out in English Appendix 2, and be able to apply them correctly to examples of real language, such as their own writing or books that they have read.
At this stage, pupils should start to learn about some of the differences between Standard English and non-Standard English and begin to apply what they have learnt [for example, in writing dialogue for characters].
Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
Grammar should be taught explicitly: pupils should be taught the terminology and concepts set out in English Appendix 2, and be able to apply them correctly to examples of real language, such as their own writing or books that they have read.
At this stage, pupils should start to learn about some of the differences between Standard English and non-Standard English and begin to apply what they have learnt [for example, in writing dialogue for characters].
Statutory requirements
Pupils should be taught to:
Develop their understanding of the concepts set out in English Appendix 2 by:
- Learning the grammar for Year 3 in English Appendix 2.
- Choosing nouns or pronouns appropriately for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition.
- Using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions to express time and cause.
- Using and punctuating direct speech
- Using and understanding the grammatical terminology in English Appendix 2 accurately and appropriately when discussing their writing and reading.
Writing: Handwriting
Pupils should be using joined handwriting throughout their independent writing. Handwriting should continue to be taught, with the aim of increasing the fluency with which pupils are able to write down what they want to say. This, in turn, will support their composition and spelling.
Pupils should be taught to:
Pupils should be using joined handwriting throughout their independent writing. Handwriting should continue to be taught, with the aim of increasing the fluency with which pupils are able to write down what they want to say. This, in turn, will support their composition and spelling.
Pupils should be taught to:
- Write neatly and legibly with handwriting generally joined, consistent in size and spacing.
- Use the diagonal and horizontal strokes that are needed to join letters and understand which letters, when adjacent to one another, are best left unjoined
- Increase the legibility, consistency and quality of their handwriting