Year 3
The English curriculum is built around the three interrelated strands of language, literature and literacy. Teaching and learning programs should balance and integrate all three strands. Together, the strands focus on developing students' knowledge, understanding and skills in listening, reading, viewing, speaking, writing and creating. Learning in English builds on concepts, skills and processes developed in earlier years, and teachers will revisit and strengthen these as needed.
In Years 3 and 4, students experience learning in familiar contexts and a range of contexts that relate to study in other areas of the curriculum. They interact with peers and teachers from other classes and schools in a range of face-to-face and online/virtual environments.
Students engage with a variety of texts for enjoyment. They listen to, read, view and interpret spoken, written and multimodal texts in which the primary purpose is aesthetic, as well as texts designed to inform and persuade. These encompass traditional oral texts including Aboriginal stories, picture books, various types of print and digital texts, simple chapter books, rhyming verse, poetry, non-fiction, film, multimodal texts, dramatic performances and texts used by students as models for constructing their own work.
The range of literary texts for Foundation to Year 10 comprises Australian literature, including the oral narrative traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, as well as the contemporary literature of these two cultural groups, and classic and contemporary world literature, including texts from and about Asia.
Literary texts that support and extend students in Years 3 and 4 as independent readers describe complex sequences of events that extend over several pages and involve unusual happenings within a framework of familiar experiences. Informative texts include content of increasing complexity and technicality about topics of interest and topics being studied in other areas of the curriculum. These texts use complex language features, including varied sentence structures, some unfamiliar vocabulary, a significant number of high-frequency sight words and words that need to be decoded phonically, and a variety of punctuation conventions, as well as illustrations and diagrams that support and extend the printed text.
Students create a range of imaginative, informative and persuasive types of texts including narratives, procedures, performances, reports, reviews, poetry and expositions.
(source: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au)
Achievement Standard
Receptive modes (listening, reading and viewing)
By the end of Year 3, students understand how content can be organised using different text structures depending on the purpose of the text. They understand how language features, images and vocabulary choices are used for different effects.
They read texts that contain varied sentence structures, a range of punctuation conventions, and images that provide extra information. They use phonics and word knowledge to fluently read more complex words. They identify literal and implied meaning connecting ideas in different parts of a text. They select information, ideas and events in texts that relate to their own lives and to other texts. They listen to others' views and respond appropriately using interaction skills.
Productive modes (speaking, writing and creating)
Students understand how language features are used to link and sequence ideas. They understand how language can be used to express feelings and opinions on topics. Their texts include writing and images to express and develop, in some detail, experiences, events, information, ideas and characters.
Students create a range of texts for familiar and unfamiliar audiences. They contribute actively to class and group discussions, asking questions, providing useful feedback and making presentations. They demonstrate understanding of grammar and choose vocabulary and punctuation appropriate to the purpose and context of their writing. They use knowledge of letter-sound relationships including consonant and vowel clusters and high-frequency words to spell words accurately. They re-read and edit their writing, checking their work for appropriate vocabulary, structure and meaning. They write using joined letters that are accurately formed and consistent in size.
(source: www.australiancurriculum.edu.au)
- Plus Plan
Reading Response Task Cards
Explore reading comprehension with your students using this set of reading response task cards.
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Author's Purpose Pie Poster Set
Display this set of Author’s Purpose Pie posters to help students remember the various reasons authors write.
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Subject Verb Agreement Worksheets – Compound Subjects
Enhance student understanding with subject-verb agreement worksheets that provide various activities using compound subjects.
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Monitoring Comprehension Anchor Charts
Display these Monitoring Comprehension Anchor Charts to help students with sentence starters and ways to monitor their comprehension while reading.
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Making Predictions Graphic Organiser Pack
Enhance reading comprehension by using these Making Predictions Graphic Organiser templates in your classroom.
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Is It True? Active Listening Activity
Improve listening skills in the classroom with an engaging 'Is It True?' Active Listening Activity.
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Past, Present and Future Tense Worksheets
Provide students with additional verb tense practise with worksheets focusing on changing verbs into past, present and future tense.
- Free Plan
Verb Tenses Quiz Worksheet
Assess your students' knowledge of verb tenses with this 5-question quiz.
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Factual Description Text Type Poster With Annotations
Display this factual description with annotations to help students identify the structure of this type of text.
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How to Stay Healthy – Procedural Writing Project
Get your students writing high-quality procedure texts with this fun “How to Stay Healthy” procedural writing project.
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Procedural Writing Prompt Task Cards
Need some procedural writing ideas? Download these task cards to use as a writing activity during your procedure writing unit.
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For and Against Worksheets
Explore 'for' and 'against' arguments for five different topics with this set of 'for' and 'against' sorting activities.
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-Less Suffixes Worksheet
Build vocabulary skills with a suffix worksheet featuring the suffix -less.
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Roll to Create a Silly Book Title – Differentiated Writing Activity
Print a differentiated literacy activity using dice and a chart to create a silly book title and storybook.
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Reading Response Journal Task Cards
9 reading comprehension task cards focusing on a different skill.
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Informative Writing Bump It Up Wall – Year 3
A visual display for your classroom to help students ‘bump up’ their informative writing.
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Sensory Poems Poster and Template
Use this sensory poem example and accompanying template to teach your students how to write a sensory poem.
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Inference Car Classifieds - Worksheet
A series of car classifieds worksheets to use when teaching your students how to infer information from written texts.
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Explanation Text Writing Task – How Does a Plane Fly?
A scaffolded writing task for students to complete when learning about the explanation text type.
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Discussion Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about discussions, including an annotated example.
- Free Plan
Advertisement Text Type Poster With Annotations
A poster about advertisements, including an annotated example.
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Inference vs Prediction - Presentation
A teaching presentation outlining the similarities and differences between inference and prediction.
- Free Plan
Bumping-Up Procedure Texts Worksheet
Download these procedural writing worksheets to get your students bumping-up some simple procedure texts.
- Plus Plan
120 Comprehension Strategy Question Cards
A set of 120 open-ended question cards to help students apply comprehension strategies when reading.
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Comprehension - Roald Dahl
A comprehension activity using a biography of Roald Dahl.
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How To Make A Sandwich – Procedural Writing Activity
Get your students writing a procedure for their favourite sandwich with this example procedure text and writing scaffold.
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Eagles Fact File and Report Writing Scaffold
Support your students in writing an information report about eagles with this fact file and writing scaffold.
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Sequencing Text - Worksheet
A worksheet to use when teaching students how to understand sequence when reading.
- Plus Plan
Collaborative Language Teaching Slides
Introduce collaborative language to your students with this easy-to-use slide deck that provides practical examples for developing confident, respectful communication.
- Plus Plan
Author's Purpose Worksheet Set
Assess reading comprehension by using this comprehensive Author's Purpose Worksheet Set.
- Free Plan
Free Author’s Purpose Handout
Use this Author’s Purpose Handout in the form of a brochure to explore the different reasons authors write.
- Plus Plan
Subject Verb Agreement Collective Nouns Worksheet Pack
Download this subject-verb agreement collective nouns worksheet pack to help your students master tricky singular and plural verb choices when using collective nouns.