Introduction

 

This Supplement is designed to be used with the Massachusetts English Language Arts Curriculum Framework (2001), which contains learning standards written for two-year grade spans from 1-2 through 11-12.  The Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) for English Language Arts is based on these standards. Massachusetts students are currently assessed in English language arts at grades 3, 4, 7, and 10. However, the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act requires annual testing in reading at each grade from grades 3 through 8, beginning with a first operational test in spring 2006.  Therefore Department staff, working with committees of educators, drafted grade-level standards for grades 3, 5, and 7, as presented in this Supplement.  These grade-level standards are based on the twelve Framework standards that have always served as the basis for MCAS reading assessments.  In drafting these standards, the Department has not changed the Curriculum Framework.  Rather, the standards presented in this Supplement, when used with those already available in the Framework, offer educators, students, and parents detailed guidance about the learning expected at each grade level from grades 3 through 8.

 

 

 

Grade 3 Standards

 

Language Strand

Continue to address the grades PreK-2 standards as needed.

 

Standard 4: Vocabulary and Concept Development

Students will understand and acquire new vocabulary and use it correctly in reading and writing.

 

·         Recognize that words are constructed of many parts: letters, syllables, root words, prefixes, and suffixes.

·         Recognize that prefixes can change the meanings of root words (for example, agreeable/disagreeable, happy/unhappy, tell/retell).

·         Identify roots of words (for example, -graph is a common root in autograph, photograph, biography).

·         Recognize that many English words have Greek or Latin roots.

·         Recognize that some words and phrases have both a literal and a non-literal meaning (for example, take steps).

·         Identify playful uses of language (for example, riddles, crossword puzzles, tongue twisters).

·         Determine the meanings of unknown words by using their context.

·         Use the context of the sentence to determine the correct meaning of a word with multiple meanings.

·         Determine the meanings of words using a beginning dictionary.

·         Identify and apply the meanings of the terms antonym, synonym, and homophone.

 

Standard 5: Structure and Origins of Modern English

Students will analyze standard English grammar and usage and recognize how its vocabulary has developed and been influenced by other languages.

 

·         Distinguish between a statement and a question.

·         Identify three basic parts of speech: adjective, noun, verb.

·         Identify correct mechanics (for example, end marks, capitalization, comma in dates).

 

Standard 6: Formal and Informal English

Students will describe, analyze, and use appropriately formal and informal English.

 

·         Recognize dialect in conversational voices in American folk tales when they are read aloud.

·         Identify formal and informal language used in advertisements read, heard, or seen.

 

 

Reading and Literature Strand

Continue to address the grades PreK-2 standards as needed

and as they apply to more difficult texts.

 

Standard 8: Understanding a Text

Students will identify basic facts and main ideas in a text and use them as the basis for interpretation.

 

·         Identify foreshadowing clues as the parts of a text that help the reader predict what will happen later in a story.

·         Identify sensory details in literature.

·         Identify the speaker of a poem or narrator of a story.

·         Retell the events of a story in sequence.

·         Identify narrative elements of character, setting, and plot.

·         Form questions about a text and locate facts/details in order to answer those questions.

·         Distinguish cause from effect.

·         Distinguish fact from fiction.

·         Identify main ideas and supporting details.

 

 

Standard 10: Genre

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the characteristics of different genres.

 

·         Distinguish among forms of literature (for example, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and drama).

 

Standard 11: Theme

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of theme in a literary work and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

 

·         Identify themes as lessons in fables, stories, and poems.

 

Standard 12: Fiction

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

 

·         Identify the elements of fiction (problem, solution, character, and setting) and analyze how major events lead from problem to solution.

·         Identify personality traits of characters and the thoughts, words, and actions that reveal their personalities.

 

Standard 13: Nonfiction

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the purposes, structure, and elements of nonfiction or informational materials and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

 

·         Identify and use knowledge of common textual features (for example, title, headings, key words, paragraphs, table of contents, glossary, captions accompanying illustrations or photographs).

·         Identify and use knowledge of common graphic features (for example, charts, graphs, maps, diagrams, illustrations).

·         Form questions about the text and locate facts/details in order to answer those questions.

·         Distinguish cause from effect.

·         Distinguish fact from fiction.

·         Identify main ideas and supporting details.

 

Standard 14: Poetry

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of poetry and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

 

·         Identify poetic elements (for example, rhyme, rhythm, repetition, sensory images).

·         Identify terminology for structural elements of poems (for example, stanza and verse).

 

Standard 15: Style and Language

Students will identify and analyze how an author’s words appeal to the senses, create imagery, suggest mood, and set tone, and will provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

 

·         Identify words appealing to the senses or involving direct comparison in literature and spoken language.

 

Standard 16: Myth, Traditional Narrative, and Classical Literature

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of myths, traditional narratives, and classical literature and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

 

·         Identify natural events explained in origin myths.

·         Acquire knowledge of culturally significant characters and events in Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology, and in other traditional literature.

 

 

Standard 17: Dramatic Literature

Students will identify, analyze, and apply knowledge of the themes, structure, and elements of drama and provide evidence from the text to support their understanding.

 

·         Identify and analyze elements of plot and character presented through dialogue in scripts that are read, viewed, listened, or performed.