Students should be able to demonstrate these concepts by the end of 3rd grade.
http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/EdExc/StanCurri/K-12AcademicStandards/LangArts/index.html
Language Arts:
-Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
-Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
-Describe characters in a story and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
-Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language, including figurative language such as similes.
-Refer to parts of stories, dramas, poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.
-Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
-Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story.
-Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about eh same or similar characters.
-By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature and other texts including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
-Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
-Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
-Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
-Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject areas.
-Use text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
-Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author or a text.
-Use information gained from illustrations and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text.
-Describe the logical connections between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text.
-Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
-Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
-Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
-Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
-Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
-Write narratives and other creative texts to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
-With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organizations are appropriate to task and purpose.
-With guidance and support from peers and adults, use a writing process to develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, drafting, revising, and editing.
-With guidance and supports from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing.
-Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
-Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources, and sort evidence into provided categories.
-Write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
-Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others' ideas and expressing their own clearly.
Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
-Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaborations and detail.
-Report on a topic or text and avoid plagiarism by identifying sources, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
-Create engaging audio recordings of stories as poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details.
-Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.
-Distinguish among, understand, and use different types of print, digital, and multimodal media.
-With prompting and support, create an individual or shared multimedia work for a specific purpose.
-Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
-Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
-Use knowledge and language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
-Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
-Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings to develop word consciousness.
-Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships.