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Best Third Grade Reading IEP Goals
Free IEP goals and objectives for third-grade reading that are focused on a learning progression for most common core clusters to build strong reading foundational skills for future grades.

Third Grade Reading IEP Goals Standards-Aligned
This IEP goal bank is on third-grade reading prerequisite skills, including progress monitoring, data collection tools, worksheets, and lesson packs for all top nationally used IEP goals.
Third Grade Reading IEP Goals
L.3: Language
- L.3.1: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- L.3.1.A: Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.
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- L.3.1.B: Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.
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- L.3.1.C: Use abstract nouns (e.g., childhood).
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- L.3.1.D: Form and use regular and irregular verbs.
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- L.3.1.E: Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.
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- L.3.1.F: Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.
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- L.3.1.G: Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.
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- L.3.1.H: Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
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- L.3.1.I: Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.
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- L.3.1.A: Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.
- L.3.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
- L.3.2.A: Capitalize appropriate words in titles.
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- L.3.2.B: Use commas in addresses.
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- L.3.2.C: Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
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- L.3.2.D: Form and use possessives.
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- L.3.2.E: Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words (e.g., sitting, smiled, cries, happiness).
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- L.3.2.F: Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.
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- L.3.2.G: Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.
- L.3.2: Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuations, and spelling when writing.
- This goal covers the following objectives
- L.3.2.A: Capitalize appropriate words in titles.
- L.3.3: Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
- L.3.3.A: Choose words and phrases for effect.
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- L.3.3.B: Recognize and observe differences between the conventions of spoken and written standard English.
- L.3.3.A: Choose words and phrases for effect.
- L.3.4: 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.
- L.3.4.A: Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
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- L.3.4.B: Determine the meaning of the new word formed when a known affix is added to a known word (e.g., agreeable/disagreeable, comfortable/uncomfortable, care/careless, heat/preheat).
- L.3.4.C: Use a known root word as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word with the same root (e.g., company, companion).
- L.3.4.D: Use glossaries or beginning dictionaries, both print and digital, to determine or clarify the precise meaning of key words and phrases.
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- L.3.4.A: Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase.
- L.3.5: Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
- L.3.5.A: Distinguish the literal and nonliteral meanings of words and phrases in context (e.g., take steps).
- L.3.5.B: Identify real-life connections between words and their use (e.g., describe people who are friendly or helpful).
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- L.3.5.C: Distinguish shades of meaning among related words that describe states of mind or degrees of certainty (e.g., knew, believed, suspected, heard, wondered).
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- L.3.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).
- L.3.6: Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).
RF.3: Reading: Foundational Skills
- RF.3.3: Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
- RF.3.3.A: Identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes.
- RF.3.3.B: Decode words with common Latin suffixes.
- RF.3.3.C: Decode multisyllable words.
- RF.3.3.D: Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.
- RF.3.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
- RF.3.4: Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.
- RF.3.4.A: Read grade-level text with purpose and understanding.
- RF.3.4.B: Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings.
- RF.3.4.C: Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.
RI.3: Reading: Informational Text
- RI.3: Reading: Informational Text
- RI.3.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
- RI.3.2: Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
- RI.3.3: 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.
- RI.3.4: Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
- This goal covers the following objectives
- RI.3.5: Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
- RI.3.6: Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.
- RI.3.7: Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
- RI.3.8: Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).
- RI.3.9: Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
- RI.3.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
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RL.3: Reading: Literature
- RL.3: Reading: Literature
- RL.3.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
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- RL.3.2: 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.
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- RL.3.3: Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
- RL.3.4: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
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- RL.3.5: Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and 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.
- RL.3.6: Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
- RL.3.7: Explain how specific aspects of a text's illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting)
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- RL.3.9: Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series)
- RL.3.10: By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.
- This goal covers the following objectives
- RL.3.1: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
W.3: Writing
- W.3: Writing
- W.3.1: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
- W.3.1.A: Introduce the topic or text they are writing about, state an opinion, and create an organizational structure that lists reasons.
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- W.3.1.B: Provide reasons that support the opinion.
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- W.3.1.C: Use linking words and phrases (e.g., because, therefore, since, for example) to connect opinion and reasons.
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- W.3.1.D: Provide a concluding statement or section.
- W.3.2: Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
- W.3.2.A: Introduce a topic and group related information together; include illustrations when useful to aiding comprehension.
- W.3.2.B: Develop the topic with facts, definitions, and details.
- W.3.2.C: Use linking words and phrases (e.g., also, another, and, more, but) to connect ideas within categories of information.
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- W.3.2.D: Provide a concluding statement or section.
- W.3.3: Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
- W.3.3.A: Establish a situation and introduce a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
- This goal covers the following objectives
- W.3.3.B: Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.
- W.3.3.C: Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.
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- W.3.3.D: Provide a sense of closure.
- W.3.4: With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1-3 above.)
- W.3.5: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1-3 up to and including grade 3 here.)
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- W.3.6: With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
- W.3.7: Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
- W.3.8: Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.
- W.3.10: Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.
Second Reading IEP Goals
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