English in Year 3
In Year 3, we continue to develop the children's understanding of spelling, punctuation and grammar, building on the work from Year 2. This year, we will encourage children to embed their knowledge to create longer pieces of writing and will begin to encourage children to structure their sentences and writing in a more exciting way.
Year 3 end of year expectations for writing:
Composition |
Plan my writing using the structure and vocabulary used in other books to help me |
Plan my writing by discussing and writing down ideas within a given structure |
Draft my writing by saying sentences out loud, adding interesting vocabulary and simple sentence structures |
Begin to use paragraphs as a way to group related ideas |
Write stories with settings, characters and a plot |
Use layout features in non-fiction texts, eg. headings and sub-headings |
Evaluate the effectiveness of my own writing |
Suggest changes to grammar and vocabulary including use of a/an, conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs |
Check a piece of writing for spelling and punctuation errors, including full-stops, commas, question, exclamation and speech marks |
Read what I have written out loud to a group, using the tone and volume of my voice to make the meaning clear |
Vocabulary, Grammar and Punctuation |
Identify word families based on common root words, eg. solve, dissolve, solution |
Use the correct form of ‘a’ or ‘an’ |
Use present perfect form of verbs, eg. ‘he has gone out’ instead of ‘he went out’ |
Choose appropriate nouns or pronouns for clarity and cohesion and to avoid repetition |
Extend sentences by using a wider range of conjunctions, including when, if, because, although |
Express time, place and cause using conjunctions, adverbs and prepositions eg. when, while, then, before, during |
Begin to use inverted commas (speech marks) for direct speech |
Begin to use commas after fronted adverbials |
Spelling and Handwriting |
Spell further homophones - mail/male etc. |
Spell words that are often misspelt (English Appendix 1: 3/4 Word List – see below) |
Place the possessive apostrophe accurately in words with regular plurals: e.g. girls’, boys’ and in words with irregular plurals: e.g. children’s |
Spell words with prefixes un-, dis-, mis-, re-, pre- |
Spell words with prefixes super-, anti- |
Add suffixes –ing and –ed to words of more than one syllable eg. beginning |
Use the suffix –ly, eg. sadly, usually |
Use the suffix -ation e.g information |
Check the spelling of a word in a dictionary using the first 2 or 3 letters |
Write simple sentences correctly from dictation including words and punctuation taught so far |
Use diagonal and horizontal strokes to join letters in my writing and understand which letters should not be joined |
Make my handwriting more consistent and easy to read with down-strokes parallel and lines spaced to allow for ascenders and descenders |
Words I should be able to spell (Y3/4 Word List):
accident(ally) actual(ly) address answer appear arrive believe bicycle breath breathe build busy/business calendar caught centre century certain circle complete consider continue decide describe different difficult disappear early earth eight/eighth enough exercise experience experiment extreme famous favourite February forward(s) fruit |
grammar group guard guide heard heart height history imagine increase important interest island knowledge learn length library material medicine mention minute natural naughty notice occasion(ally) often opposite ordinary particular peculiar perhaps popular position possess(ion) possible potatoes pressure probably promise |
purpose quarter question recent regular reign remember sentence separate special straight strange strength suppose surprise therefore though/although thought through various weight woman/women |
Word Reading |
Use my knowledge of root words, prefixes and suffixes to read out loud and to understand the meaning of new words, including dis-, mis-, il-, in-, im-, ir-, -ly |
Recognise exceptions to spelling rules and understand that some words are not spelt the way they sound |
Comprehension |
Listen to and discuss fiction, poetry, plays and non-fiction books |
Read books that are structured in different ways and reading for a range of purposes |
Read a wide range of books, including fairy stories, myths and legends and tell other people about them |
Identify and discuss themes in a wide range of writing |
Prepare poems and play scripts to read aloud and to perform, showing understanding through intonation, tone, volume and action |
Recognise some different forms of poetry, (e.g. free verse, narrative poetry) |
Use a dictionary to check the meaning of words that I have read |
Discuss my understanding of books and explain the meaning of words in context |
Ask questions to improve my understanding of a text |
Identify and summarise the main ideas from one paragraph of a text |
Interpret characters’ feelings, thoughts and motives from their actions and back this up with evidence |
Predict what might happen in a story based on what the writer says |
Discuss words and phrases used in books that capture the reader’s interest and imagination |
Identify how language, structure and presentation affect meaning, including paragraphs, headings, sub-headings, speech-marks |
Pick out and write down information from non-fiction texts |
Discuss books that have been read to me and books that I have read, and listen to other people’s opinions about them |