Year 3 English Objectives

Year 3

Children learn to:

Speak and listen for a wide range of purposes in different contexts

1. Speaking

choose and prepare poems or stories for performance, identifying appropriate expression, tone, volume and use of voices and other sounds
explain process or present information, ensuring items are clearly sequenced, relevant details are included and accounts ended effectively
sustain conversation, explain or giving reasons for their views or choices

2. Listening and Responding

follow up others’ points and show whether they agree or disagree in whole class-discussion
identify the presentational features used to communicate the main points in a broadcast
identify key sections of an informative broadcast, noting how the language used signals changes or transitions in focus

3. Group discussion and interaction

use talk to organise roles and action
Actively include and respond to all members of the group
Use the language of possibility to investigate and reflect on feelings, behaviour or relationships

4. Drama

present events and characters through dialogue to engage the interest of an audience
use some drama strategies to explore stories or issues
identify and discuss qualities of others’ performances, including gesture, action, costume

Read a wide range of texts on screen and on paper

5. Word reading skills and strategies

read independently using phonics, including the full range of digraphs and trigraphs, to decode unknown words, and syntax, context and word structure when reading for meaning
recognise a range of prefixes and suffixes and how they modify meaning

6. Understanding and interpreting texts

identify and make notes of the main points of section(s) of text
infer characters’ feelings in fiction and consequences in logical explanations
identify how different texts are organised, including reference texts, magazines, leaflets, on paper and on screen
explore how different texts appeal to readers using varied sentence structures and descriptive language

7. Engaging with and responding to texts

share and compare reasons for reading preferences, extending range of books read
empathise with characters and debate moral dilemmas portrayed in texts
identify features that writers use to provoke readers’ reactions

Write a wide range of texts on paper and on screen

8. Creating and shaping texts

make decisions about form and purpose, identify success criteria and use them to evaluate their writing
use beginning, middle and end to write narratives in which events are sequenced logically and conflicts resolved
write non-narrative texts using structures of different text types
select and use a range of technical and descriptive vocabulary
use layout, format, graphics, illustrations for different purposes

9. Text structure and organisation

10. Sentence structure and punctuation

show relationships of time, reason and cause, through subordination and connectives
compose sentences using adjectives, verbs and nouns for precision, clarity and impact
clarify meaning through the use of exclamation marks and speech marks

11. Word structure and spelling

spell unfamiliar words using known conventions and rules and a range of strategies including phonemic, morphemic and etymological
spell words containing short vowels, prefixes and suffixes and inflections, doubling the final consonant where necessary

12. Presentation

write neatly and legibly with handwriting generally joined, consistent in size and spacing
use keyboard skills to type, edit and redraft