3rd - 5th Grade
3rd Grade
By the end of third grade, your child should be able to do the following tasks in each area.
Listening
- Pay attention in groups.
- Understand grade-level information.
Speaking
- Speak clearly. Know when to talk with a soft or loud voice.
- Ask and answer questions.
- Be a part of conversations and group discussions.
- Use words related to school subjects. For example, math, science, or history words.
- Stay on topic, use eye contact, and take turns in conversation.
- Summarize a story.
- Explain what she learned in school.
Reading
- Understand phonics, or how sounds and words go together.
- Use word analysis skills. This means knowing root words, prefixes, and suffixes. For example, he can add the prefix “bi” to the root word “cycle” for “bicycle.” Or, he can add the suffix “ist” to the root word “cycle” for “cyclist.”
- Use clues from a story to help understand what she reads.
- Predict and explain what will happen next in stories. Compare stories and tell how stories are different.
- Ask and answer questions about what he reads.
- Use what she knows to learn about new topics.
- Read grade-level books with few mistakes.
- Reread and correct errors.
Writing
- Plan, organize, revise, and edit.
- Write stories, letters, and short reports.
- Use details in writing. Spell simple words correctly. Correct most spelling without help. Use a dictionary to correct spelling.
4th Grade
By the end of fourth grade, your child should be able to do the following tasks in each area.
Listening
- Listen to and understand information.
- Form opinions based on what she hears.
- Listen for specific reasons, such as to learn, enjoy, or convince.
Speaking
- Use words correctly in conversation.
- Use language for many reasons, like asking questions, arguing, and joking.
- Understand some figurative language. This is language that uses words in new or different ways. For example, “This classroom is a zoo!”
- Take part in group discussions.
- Give correct directions to others.
- Summarize ideas in his own words.
- Organize information so it is clear.
- Give clear speeches.
Reading
- Read for specific reasons.
- Read grade-level books smoothly and with few mistakes.
- Use what he knows to understand new material.
- Follow written directions.
- Take brief notes.
- Link what she learns in one subject to other subjects.
- Learn meanings of new words by looking at word origins, synonyms, and other meanings.
- Use reference materials, like a dictionary.
- Talk about the author’s reason for writing a story and about the writing style.
- Read and understand different types of writing, like fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
- Make inferences from texts. This means that she guesses what a writer means when it is not stated clearly. She uses clues in the story and what she knows from her life to guess.
- Talk about what she reads in her own words, called paraphrasing.
Writing
- Write stories and explanations. Write many paragraphs about the same topic.
- Develop a plan for writing that includes a beginning, a middle, and an end.
- Organize writing around a main idea.
- Edit final copies for grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
5th Grade
By the end of fifth grade, your child should be able to do the following tasks in each area.
Listening
- Listen and draw conclusions in different classes.
Speaking
- Make planned speeches. She should know her audience and include information for that group.
- Deliver a speech. He should keep eye contact and use gestures and a loud voice.
- Take part in class discussions.
- Summarize main points.
- Report about information from group activities.
Reading
- Read grade-level books smoothly and with few mistakes.
- Learn meanings of new words by looking at word origins, synonyms, and other meanings.
- Decide what information is important when reading.
- Read different types of text, like fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
- Describe how a character and a plot develop.
- Talk about poetry and what poems might mean.
- Study an author’s language and style.
- Use reference materials to support opinions.
Writing
- Write for a variety of reasons.
- Use many different words when writing.
- Vary sentence structure.
- Revise writing to make it clearer.
- Edit final copies.