Third Grade Common Core Reading Literature Standards Question Stems
(adapted from Imagine It! e-handbook and Common Core Clinics)
Standards
Strategies/Skills
RL1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate
understanding of a text, referring explicitly to
the text as the basis for the answers.
Ask and Answer Questions
Sequence
Main Idea and Details
Compare and Contrast
Problems and Solutions
 What questions do you have about the story?
 How will you find the answers to your questions?
 What are the answers to your questions?
Question
Answer
Before reading
During reading
After reading
Questions
RL2 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.
Fables
Folktales
Myths
Sequence
 List the important events in the order they happened. Write your
answers in the chart.
Event #1
Event #2
Event #3
Event #4
 Recount the story using your own words.
 What is the moral of this fable?
 What key details support the moral of this fable?
 What is the message of this folktale or myth?
 What key details support the meaning of the message?
Fables
Beginning:
Middle:
End:
Moral:
Folktales
Beginning:
Middle:
End:
Elements of Myths
Character with
Unusual Powers:
What is Explained:
Myths
God or Goddess:
RL3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their
traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how
their actions contribute to the sequence of
events.
Character and Plot
Cause and Effect
Character
Plot
 Who is the main character?
 What event helped the main character to change?
 What are some of the main character’s traits? How did some of
his traits change in the story from the beginning to the end?
 List the sequence of events through the main character’s
actions in this story.
Event #1
Event #2
Event #3
Event #4
RL4 Determine the meaning of words and
phrases as they are used in a text,
distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
Figurative Language
Context Clues
Word Parts
Dictionary
Word:
Strategy:
Definition:
Sentence 1
Sentence 2
Word or Phrase
Context Clues
Your Knowledge
Does the word/
phrase mean
exactly what it
says?
Literal or Nonliteral
RL5 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.
Poems and Their Parts
Plays and Their Parts
Prose
 What is the title of Chapter …?
 Who are the characters in this chapter?
 What is the setting of Chapter …?
 What is the plot of Chapter …?
 How do the events of Chapter 3 build on what happened in
Chapter 2?
Plays
 What is the setting of Act 2, Scene 1?
 Based on the dialogue in Act 2, Scene 1, what is the class going
to do to help the albatrosses?
 What does the stage direction at the end of Scene 2 tell you the
students are doing?
 How do you think the students feel based on this stage
direction?
 How does the division of the scenes help you better understand
the events of the play?
Elements of Plays
Example
Characters
Scene
Plot
Poetry
 How many stanzas are in the poem?
 Circle the words that rhyme in the poem. Draw a box around the
refrain.
 What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
Elements of Poetry
Example
How It Is Used
Title
Stanza
Rhyme
RL6 Distinguish their own point of view from
that of the narrator or those of the characters.
Point of View
 What is the main character’s point of view on the topic/theme?
Why?
 What is another character’s point of view on the topic/theme?
Why?
 Which character’s point of view on the topic/theme like yours?
Why?
Pronoun Used by Narrator
Point of View
RL7 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).
Drawings
Words
Pictures
Main Character
Setting
Mood
 How does the picture add to what the words tell you about the
characters?
 How does the picture add to what the words tell you about the
setting?
 How does the picture add to what the words tell you about the
mood?
RL8 (Not applicable to literature)
RL9 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).
Compare and Contrast
Settings, Plot, and Themes
Book 1
Book 2
Book 3
Characters
Settings
Plots
Themes
 What is one way the characters in the books are alike or
different?
 What is one way the settings in the books are alike or different?
Third Grade Common Core Reading Informational Standards Question Stems
(adapted from Imagine It! e-handbook and Common Core Clinics)
Standards
RI1 With prompting and support, ask and
answer questions about key details in a text.
Strategies/Skills
Ask and Answer Questions
Sequence
Main Idea and Details
Problems and Solutions
Questions
 What questions do you have about the story?
 How will you find the answers to your questions?
 What are the answers to your questions?
Question
Answer
What
Who
When
RI2 With prompting and support, identify the
main topic and retell key details of a text.
Main Idea and Supporting
Details
Sequence




Circle the main idea in the passage.
Underline a supporting detail in the passage.
Underline another supporting detail in the passage.
Underline another supporting detail in the passage.
Main Idea:
Detail 1
RI3 With prompting and support, describe the
connection between two individuals, events,
ideas, or pieces of information in a text.
Historical Text
Scientific Text
Technical Text
Cause and Effect
Detail 2
Detail 3
Scientific and Historical
 Circle or underline five cause and effect signal words or phrases
in the passage.
 Choose two signal words or phrases from the passage.
 Then write the cause and effect that is connected to each signal
word or phrase.
Causes
Effects
 On the left side of the time line, list all of the important dates,
top-to-bottom, in chronological order.
 On the right side of time line, write the important event that
occurred on each of the dates that you listed on the left side.
First
Then
Later
Technical
 What task do these directions tell you how to do?
 How do you know when to do the steps?
 What should happen before you write your message?
 Why do you think it is important to write your message slowly
and carefully?
 What should happen after you write your message?
 What would happen if you skipped Step …?
 How do the pictures help you understand the directions?
Part
What it Tells You
RI4 With prompting and support, ask and
answer questions about unknown words in a
text.
Academic Vocabulary
Context Clues
Word:
Strategy:
Definition:
Vocabulary Word:
RI5 Identify the front cover, back cover, and
title page of a book.
Text Features
Search Tools
Step to Find
Meaning:
 What do you learn from using the text feature?
Text Feature
Example
Search Tool Type
RI6 Name the author and illustrator of a text
and define the role of each in presenting the
ideas or information in a text.
RI7 With prompting and support, describe the
relationship between illustrations and the text
in which they appear (e.g., what person, place,
thing, or idea in the text an illustration depicts).
Point of View
Fact and Opinion
Author’s Purpose
Images
Opinion
Compare and Contrast
Cause and Effect
Sequence
Problems and Solutions
Information
Search Tool Example
Detail
Point of View
 What is the author’s point of view on the topic of school cafeteria
food?
 Is your point of view on this topic similar to or different from the
author’s?
 Compare your point of view with the author’s by writing a
response. First, state your
 point of view. Then explain why you agree or disagree with each
of the author’s main
 ideas.
 How does the photograph help you understand how big the
topic?
 How does the map help you understand about the topic?
 What did you learn from the text to help you understand about
the topic?
Passage
RI8 With prompting and support, identify the
reasons an author gives to support points in a
text.
What It Means:
Image
 Tell how the paragraphs in this passage are connected.
(Compare and Contrast, Cause and Effect, or Sequence)
 Circle signal words in the passage helped you answer Item 1.
 Underline two sentences that show the connection you identified
in Item 1. Then describe how in the space below.
Compare and Contrast
Topic 1
Cause and Effect
Cause
Both
Topic 2
Effect
Sequence
First
RI9 With prompting and support, identify basic
similarities in and differences between two
texts on the same topic (e.g., in illustrations,
descriptions, or procedures).
Compare and Contrast
Two Texts




Second
Third
Last
How are main ideas from the passages alike?
How are supporting details from the passages alike?
How are main ideas from the passages different?
How are supporting details from the passages different?
First Passage
Both
Second Passage