3rd Grade Reading · Parent guide
What Reading Level Should
a 3rd Grader Be At?
By the end of 3rd grade, a child should read stories, poems and nonfiction at the high end of the Common Core grades 2-3 band (the band runs 420L to 820L) on their own, without help. A typical 3rd grader reads about 112 words correctly per minute in the spring. They should decode multisyllable words and words with prefixes and suffixes, find the main idea of a text and explain how the details support it, describe a character’s traits and motives, and tell literal language from nonliteral language (like "it’s raining cats and dogs").
Reviewed against the Common Core standards and published reading norms.
3rd Grade Reading Benchmarks
Fluency is the typical (50th percentile) spring score in words read correctly per minute on an unpracticed grade-level passage, from Hasbrouck and Tindal's 2017 compiled oral reading fluency norms. The Lexile range is the Common Core grades 2-3 band from the standards’ Appendix A supplement; by the end of 3rd grade students should read at its high end without help. None of these is a pass or fail cutoff; ask your child’s teacher which reading assessment the school uses and what it shows.
What 3rd Graders Learn in Reading, by Strand
These are the Common Core English Language Arts standards for Grade 3 reading, put into plain English and grouped by strand. Many states use them as written or in an adapted version. The code after each skill is the standard it comes from, and each strand links to the full text on the Common Core site.
Phonics, Word Recognition & Fluency
Common Core RF.3- Know the most common prefixes and suffixes and what they mean (RF.3.3a)
- Decode words with common Latin suffixes such as -able and -tion, and multisyllable words (RF.3.3b-c)
- Read grade-level prose and poetry accurately, at a good pace and with expression (RF.3.4)
Reading Stories
Common Core RL.3- Answer questions by pointing to the text as evidence (RL.3.1)
- Recount fables, folktales and myths and explain how details show the lesson (RL.3.2)
- Describe characters’ traits, motives and feelings and how their actions move the plot (RL.3.3)
- Tell literal from nonliteral language (RL.3.4)
- Use the words chapter, scene and stanza, and tell their own point of view from the narrator’s (RL.3.5, RL.3.6)
Reading Information
Common Core RI.3- Find the main idea and explain how key details support it (RI.3.2)
- Describe cause and effect, sequence and time order in history, science and how-to texts (RI.3.3, RI.3.8)
- Use key words, sidebars and hyperlinks to find information (RI.3.5)
- Compare the key points of two texts on the same topic (RI.3.9)
Vocabulary
Common Core L.3- Use prefixes and suffixes to work out words like disagreeable and preheat (L.3.4b)
- Use a root word to understand related words: company and companion (L.3.4c)
- Tell apart words like knew, believed, suspected and wondered (L.3.5c)
What 3rd Grade Reading Tasks Look Like
Short original passages and questions written to match the standards above, with what a good answer includes.
Character feelings (RL.3.3)
Passage: "When the coach called his name, Leo stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared at his shoes." How does Leo feel? How do you know?
Answer: Nervous or shy. The evidence is that he hides his hands and will not look up. A 3rd grader should point to the words, not just guess.
Main idea and details (RI.3.2)
A paragraph says owls can turn their heads very far, hear tiny sounds from far away and fly almost silently. What is the main idea?
Answer: Owls have special features that make them good hunters. Each detail (turning heads, hearing, silent flight) supports that idea.
Literal or not? (RL.3.4)
In a story, Mom says, "I’m so hungry I could eat a horse." Does she really mean she will eat a horse?
Answer: No. It is nonliteral language that means she is very hungry.
Signs Your 3rd Grader May Be Behind in Reading
Third grade is when reading becomes the way children learn in every subject. Watch for these signs:
- !Stumbles on longer words and skips them instead of breaking them into parts
- !Reads accurately but cannot say what the main idea was
- !Answers "why" questions with a guess and cannot point to where the answer is in the text
- !Takes figures of speech literally ("break a leg")
- !Still prefers short, picture-heavy books and avoids reading for 20 minutes at a time
Short At-Home Activities (10 to 15 Minutes)
Ask "how do you know?"
After any answer about a book, ask your child to show you the sentence that proves it. Pointing to evidence is the first 3rd grade reading standard (RL.3.1).
Nonfiction about their interests
Get two short books or articles on something your child loves, such as sharks or soccer, and ask what one said that the other did not (RI.3.9).
Idiom of the week
Pick one saying ("a piece of cake," "hold your horses"), talk about what it really means, and see who can use it first at dinner.
Prefix and suffix sort
Write words like replay, unkind, careful and painless, then underline the prefix or suffix and say what it adds.
Stop and sum up
At the end of each chapter, ask your child to say what happened in two sentences. If they cannot, reread the last page together.
Find Your Child's Exact Level
Third grade is when reading shifts from learning to read to reading to learn. Our diagnostic checks fluency, vocabulary and comprehension and shows which 3rd grade skills need work, in about 10 minutes.
Start the DiagnosticQuestions Parents Ask
What Lexile level is 3rd grade?
The Common Core’s grades 2-3 text-complexity band runs from 420L to 820L. By the end of 3rd grade, students should read literature and nonfiction at the high end of that band on their own (RL.3.10, RI.3.10). Your child’s Lexile measure on a school test may be above or below the band; ask the teacher what it means for your child.
How many words per minute should a 3rd grader read?
In Hasbrouck and Tindal’s 2017 compiled norms, a typical 3rd grader reads about 83 words correctly per minute in the fall, 97 in winter and 112 in spring. A child well below those numbers often spends so much effort on words that comprehension suffers.
My 3rd grader reads fast but does not remember anything. Why?
Reading fast is not the same as reading for meaning. Ask your child to slow down and stop after each page to say the main idea. Third grade standards ask students to explain how details support the main idea (RI.3.2), which takes attention, not speed.
What is the difference between literal and nonliteral language?
Literal language means exactly what the words say. Nonliteral language, such as idioms, means something else: "it’s raining cats and dogs" means it is raining hard. Third graders are expected to tell the two apart (RL.3.4, L.3.5a).
Why does 3rd grade reading matter so much?
Because 3rd grade is the first year the Common Core expects children to read grade-level stories and nonfiction independently and proficiently by the end of the year (RL.3.10, RI.3.10); in 1st and 2nd grade the standards allow prompting or support. After that, more of what children learn in science and social studies comes through reading, so gaps in decoding or fluency start to slow them down in other subjects too.