The New Zealand Curriculum · Phase 1

Year 3 English Worksheets

For the third year at school (Year 3), the topics English covers in the New Zealand Curriculum, with the skills we have worksheets for, each described in our own words.

447 worksheets

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Trace the Letter A Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter B Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter C Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter D Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter E Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter F Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter G Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter H Years 1–2 · English ★

What students learn in Year 3 English

New Zealand Year 3 English has 3 topics: Talking and listening in class; Phonics, reading and understanding; and Handwriting, spelling and writing. Our worksheets cover 32 skills in 2 of them. The most are in Phonics, reading and understanding, with 18 skills, such as reading comprehension, Year 3, reading comprehension, Year 4 and comparing two texts on the same topic or theme. There are also skills in Handwriting, spelling and writing (16 skills). We have no worksheets yet for Talking and listening in class. Each skill below says in plain words what your child works on, with links to its worksheets.

Phonics, reading and understanding

english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.phonemic-awareness-and-phonics-knowledge.knowledge/01-8ed89a english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.phonemic-awareness-and-phonics-knowledge.practices/01-18bd4a english/first-six-months..third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.knowledge/01-6188d0 english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.practices/01-b94ee2 english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.knowledge/01-b93a16 english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.knowledge/02-dc0c0d english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.knowledge/03-f777fb english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.knowledge/04-c9c862

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english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.practices/01-6afce4 english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.knowledge/01-85c17a english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.knowledge/02-691471 english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.practices/01-3d8cfe english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.decoding.practices/01-2ca265 english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.conventions-of-print.knowledge/02-2698e5 english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.conventions-of-print.practices/02-6b5d92 english/second-year..third-year/reading.word-recognition.fluency.knowledge/01-1b2004 english/second-year..third-year/reading.word-recognition.fluency.knowledge/02-891861 english/second-year..third-year/reading.word-recognition.fluency.knowledge/03-9d890b english/third-year/reading.word-recognition.fluency.practices/01-b2541b english/third-year/reading.comprehension.vocabulary.knowledge/01-854fe1 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.vocabulary.practices/01-ec869d english/third-year/reading.comprehension.sentence-structure.knowledge/01-611773 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.sentence-structure.knowledge/02-be68db english/third-year/reading.comprehension.text-form-structure-style-and-features.knowledge/02-7fc8f3 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.text-form-structure-style-and-features.knowledge/03-231c4b english/third-year/reading.comprehension.comprehension-strategies.knowledge/01-1905b4 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.comprehension-strategies.knowledge/02-a70b09 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.comprehension-strategies.knowledge/03-93fce8 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.comprehension-strategies.knowledge/04-130a76 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.comprehension-strategies.practices/01-91957c english/third-year/reading.comprehension.comprehension-strategies.practices/02-1824c8 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.comprehension-strategies.practices/03-c31645 english/third-year/reading.comprehension.comprehension-strategies.practices/04-23779c english/third-year/reading.critical-analysis.interpretations-and-connections.knowledge/01-d00d35 english/third-year/reading.critical-analysis.interpretations-and-connections.knowledge/02-2e51ed

• Reading comprehension, Year 3. Read a story or a text of a few paragraphs, answer who, what, where, when, why and how questions about it, put its events in order, and say its main idea, lesson or moral and what each paragraph is about. Worksheets: Year 3 Reading Comprehension (set) · How Beavers Build: Year 3 What Each Paragraph Is About.
• Reading comprehension, Year 4. Read stories and texts about real things, answer questions by pointing to the words in the text that show the answer, find the main idea and the details that support it, and explain how a character's actions move the story on. Worksheets: Year 4 Reading Comprehension (set) · The Garden That Waited: Year 4 Theme and Characters · The Kite With No Tail: Year 4 Theme and Characters · The Coin Purse at the Market: Year 4 Theme and Characters.
• Comparing two texts on the same topic or theme. Read two texts on the same topic or with the same theme, and tell how they are alike and different: what each says, how each says it, and what you learn from reading both. Worksheets: Two Texts About Seeds: Year 3 Paired Texts · Two Runaway Folktales: Year 3 Paired Texts.
• Prefixes and suffixes. Use prefixes such as un-, re-, dis- and pre- and suffixes such as -ful, -less, -ness and -ly to work out what a word means and to build new words. Worksheets: Prefixes un and re · Suffixes ful and less.
• Context clues. Work out what a new word means from the words and sentences around it: a definition, an example, a word with the same or opposite meaning, or a cause and effect. Worksheets: Context Clues · Life in an Old Log: Year 3 Context Clues · Our Weather Station: Year 3 Context Clues · Saving the Banks of Pebble Creek: Year 4 Context Clues · Winter at Frost Hollow Pond: Year 4 Context Clues.
• Reading multisyllable words: syllable types and syllable division. Sort syllables into the six types (closed, open, silent e, vowel team, r-controlled, consonant-le), split long words between syllables (VC/CV, V/CV, VC/V, V/V), and read them one syllable at a time. Worksheets: Syllable Types (set) · Syllable Division (set) · Multisyllable Words (set).
• Reading words with prefixes and suffixes. Break a long word into prefix, base and suffix to read it, find the base when a suffix changed it (hoping, cried), read Latin suffixes such as -tion and -ture, and hear t and c change to sh (select, selection; music, musician). Worksheets: Reading Prefixes and Suffixes (set).
• One spelling, more than one sound: ow, ea, oo, c, g, y and ough. Know that some spellings stand for more than one sound (ow in snow and cow, ea in bead and bread, c in cat and city), try each sound, and choose the one that makes a real word. Worksheets: One Spelling, Two Sounds (set) · One Sound, Many Spellings: Long a.
• Silent letters: kn, wr, gn and mb. Read words with silent letters, such as knife, write, gnat and lamb, and find the letter that makes no sound. Worksheets: Silent Letters (set).
• Reading and spelling sight words. Read the most common words at a glance, including ones that do not sound out the way they are spelled, such as said and the, and spell them correctly. Worksheets: Year 3 Sight Words (set) · Year 4 Sight Words (set).
• Text features: headings, captions, bold words, glossaries, diagrams and tables. Use a text's title, headings, captions, bold words, glossary, diagrams and tables to predict what it is about and to find facts, and explain why the author put each one there. Worksheets: The Lever: Year 3 Text Features · From Caterpillar to Butterfly: Year 3 Text Features · The Water Cycle: Year 4 Text Features · How a Dragonfly Grows: Year 3 Pictures and Words · How a Sunflower Grows: Year 3 Pictures and Words · When the River Rose: Year 4 Maps and Words and 2 more.
• Connections in science and how-to texts. Read a short science or how-to text and explain how its steps, events, and ideas connect: put the steps in order and say why each one matters, tell what happened and why, and explain how two or more things affect each other, with evidence from the text. Worksheets: A Bird Feeder from a Carton: Year 3 Making Connections · Planting Tulip Bulbs: Year 3 Making Connections · Where Did the Puddle Go?: Year 3 Making Connections.
• Reasons that support a point. Read a short informational text that makes a point, find the point and the reasons the author gives for it, tell a reason from a sentence that is only about the topic, and explain how a reason supports the point. Worksheets: Earthworms Help the Garden: Year 3 Point and Reasons · A Reading Corner for Room 6: Year 3 Point and Reasons · Time for Bed: Year 3 Point and Reasons.
• Author's purpose and point of view. Tell why an author wrote a text (to persuade, to inform, to entertain) and what the author thinks, who a text is written for, which form of writing fits a purpose and an audience, and name the narrator's point of view (first, second or third person, limited or all-knowing) and how it shapes what the reader learns. Worksheets: How a Kite Flies: Year 3 Author’s Purpose · Why a Pond Freezes on Top: Year 3 Author’s Purpose · The Hollyvale Town Fair: Year 3 Author’s Purpose · Night Is the Best Time to Watch Animals: Year 4 Author’s View and Mine · Every School Needs a Garden: Year 4 Author’s View and Mine · Rainy Days Are Great Days: Year 4 Author’s View and Mine.
• Story words, parts, and narrators. Read a short story, poem, or play closely: work out new words, find feeling and sense words, repeated lines, and rhymes, tell literal from nonliteral phrases, name the parts (poem, chapter, scene), and tell who is telling the story and how each character, and the reader, sees it. Worksheets: Kit and the Morning Drum: Year 3 Repeated Lines and Rhyme · Two Ways to See Snow: Year 3 Characters’ Points of View · Rosa’s First Race: Year 4 Literal and Nonliteral Language · The Surprise in Grandpa Ike’s Garden: Year 4 Literal and Nonliteral Language · Pepper and the Great Lamp: Year 4 Chapters · The Worst Day Ever: Year 4 Point of View.
• Reading fluency. Read an on-level story or poem aloud with accuracy, a steady pace, and expression, a little better on each of three readings, understand what was read, and reread to fix a word that does not make sense. Worksheets: Pip and the Big Puddle: Year 2 Read-Aloud Passage · Ben’s Wobbly Tooth: Year 2 Read-Aloud Passage · The Class Fish: Year 2 Read-Aloud Passage · Rain on the Roof: Year 2 Read-Aloud Passage · The Lost Library Book: Year 3 Read-Aloud Passage · Grandpa’s Garden Helper: Year 3 Read-Aloud Passage and 2 more.
• Sorting and connecting ideas with diagrams and charts. Use a diagram or chart to sort and connect ideas: compare things, map the parts of a story, put events in order, link causes to effects, and plan writing before starting it. Worksheets: Picture It: The Frog on the Lily Pad · Reading Strategies That Helped Me: The Lost Mitten · Reading Strategies and Thinking Skills: The Old Map · Making Connections: The Lost Kitten.
• Sentences: types, fragments, run-ons, compound and complex. Tell statements, questions, commands and exclamations apart, find and fix fragments and run-ons, and join ideas into compound and complex sentences with words such as and, but, because and when. Worksheets: Linking Ideas Across Sentences.

The Garden Race: Year 3 Reading Comprehension Year 3 · English Owl Cannot Sleep: Year 3 Reading Comprehension Year 3 · English The Lighthouse Cat: Year 3 Reading Comprehension Year 3 · English How Bats Find Food: Year 3 Reading Comprehension Year 3 · English

Handwriting, spelling and writing

english/first-six-months..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.handwriting.knowledge/01-7c7208 english/first-six-months..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.handwriting.knowledge/02-a0a1e4 english/third-year/writing.transcription-skills.handwriting.practices/01-491020 english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.knowledge/01-0b9922 english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.knowledge/02-b27930 english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.knowledge/03-49aa25 english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01.1-5919bb english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01.3-eb249a

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english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01.4-3af30e english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01.6-5ee807 english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01.7-75e959 english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01.8-facde1 english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01.9-685d08 english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01.10-c34d8a english/second-year..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/02-98a37e english/first-six-months..third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.knowledge/01-be9dbf english/third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/01-cf3e83 english/third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/02-0aaff9 english/third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.practices/03-01bc67 english/third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.knowledge/01-33cd4c english/third-year/writing.transcription-skills.spelling.knowledge/02-cc2528 english/second-year..third-year/writing.composition.audience-purpose-and-language-choice.practices/02-5b37c6 english/third-year/writing.composition.audience-purpose-and-language-choice.knowledge/01-ff06e2 english/third-year/writing.composition.audience-purpose-and-language-choice.practices/01-b98315 english/third-year/writing.composition.sentence-structures-grammar-and-punctuation.knowledge/01-d01c82 english/third-year/writing.composition.sentence-structures-grammar-and-punctuation.knowledge/02-6d09de english/third-year/writing.composition.sentence-structures-grammar-and-punctuation.practices/02-4ed0d2 english/third-year/writing.composition.sentence-structures-grammar-and-punctuation.knowledge/01-d9a361 english/third-year/writing.composition.sentence-structures-grammar-and-punctuation.knowledge/02-49be59 english/third-year/writing.composition.sentence-structures-grammar-and-punctuation.practices/01-c37ccc english/third-year/writing.composition.sentence-structures-grammar-and-punctuation.practices/02-773c79 english/third-year/writing.composition.writing-to-entertain.knowledge/01-da3992 english/third-year/writing.composition.writing-to-entertain.knowledge/02-99a912 english/third-year/writing.composition.writing-to-entertain.practices/01-afd3d1 english/third-year/writing.composition.writing-to-inform.knowledge/01-a75646 english/third-year/writing.composition.writing-to-inform.practices/01-9324e8 english/second-year..third-year/writing.composition.writing-to-persuade.knowledge/01-9f39bf english/third-year/writing.composition.writing-to-persuade.practices/01-92c63e english/third-year/writing.writing-processes.planning.practices/01-d02b5b english/third-year/writing.writing-processes.revising-and-editing.practices/02-f228c0 english/third-year/writing.writing-processes.revising-and-editing.practices/04-1ee5ca

• Forming uppercase and lowercase letters. Print every uppercase and lowercase letter with the right strokes, in the right order and direction, sitting on the line. Worksheets: Letter Tracing Worksheets A–Z (set).
• Reading and spelling sight words. Read the most common words at a glance, including ones that do not sound out the way they are spelled, such as said and the, and spell them correctly. Worksheets: Pre-Primer Sight Words Worksheets (set) · Primer Sight Words Worksheets (set) · Tricky Words to Read and Spell.
• Spelling, Year 2. Spell short-vowel words, words with blends and digraphs such as sh, ch and th, silent-e words, common vowel teams, and words ending in -s, -ed and -ing. Worksheets: Year 2 Spelling (set).
• Spelling, Year 3. Spell words with vowel teams, r-controlled vowels and silent letters, compound words and contractions, and words with un-, re- and dis- and the endings -s, -es, -ed, -ing, -er and -est. Worksheets: Year 3 Spelling (set).
• Spelling, Year 4. Spell words of two or more syllables, homophones, and words with prefixes and suffixes, using the rules for dropping e, changing y to i and doubling the last consonant. Worksheets: Year 4 Spelling (set).
• Verbs: tense, irregular verbs and agreement. Find action, helping and linking verbs, write verbs in the past, present and future, use irregular past forms such as sat and told, and make the verb agree with its subject, even when a phrase comes between them. Worksheets: Past Tense: Spelling Changes.
• Apostrophes: contractions and possessives. Join two words into a contraction such as can't and we're, and use an apostrophe to show who owns something, for one owner and for more than one. Worksheets: Contractions with not · Contractions with Pronouns · Contractions: Quiz-Quiz-Trade Cards · Contractions: Trashketball Review Questions.
• Writing, Year 2. Write sentences with spaces between words, give an opinion with a reason, tell events in order with first, next, then and last, and write a short friendly letter. Worksheets: Opinion Writing Worksheets (set) · Opinion Writing Prompts (set).
• Writing, Year 3. Write an opinion with reasons and linking words, a how-to text in steps, a short story in order and a friendly letter, then check capitals, punctuation and spelling. Worksheets: Opinion Writing Worksheets (set) · Narrative Writing Worksheets (set) · Narrative Writing Prompts (set) · Halloween Narrative Writing Prompts (Year 3) · Hanukkah Narrative Writing Prompts (Year 3) · Diwali Narrative Writing Prompts (Year 3) and 7 more.
• Writing, Year 4. Plan and write a paragraph with a topic sentence, details and a closing sentence, and plan opinion, informative and narrative pieces. Worksheets: Paragraph Writing Worksheets (set) · Opinion Writing Worksheets (set) · Informative Writing Worksheets (set) · Narrative Writing Worksheets (set) · Editing Checklists (set) · Revising Checklists (set) and 3 more.
• Adjectives and adverbs. Find words that describe nouns (adjectives) and words that tell how, when or where (adverbs), choose between them, and use comparative and superlative forms such as taller and tallest. Worksheets: Adjective or Adverb? · Adverbs: How, When and Where.
• Sentences: types, fragments, run-ons, compound and complex. Tell statements, questions, commands and exclamations apart, find and fix fragments and run-ons, and join ideas into compound and complex sentences with words such as and, but, because and when. Worksheets: Four Kinds of Sentences · Sentence or Fragment? · Complex Sentences: Main and Subordinate Clauses.
• Commas. Put commas in dates, addresses, letters and lists, before and or but in a compound sentence, after an opening word or phrase, and around words that add extra information. Worksheets: Commas in a Series and in Dates.
• One- and two-syllable words. Count the syllables in a word by its vowel sounds, split two-syllable words such as rabbit and napkin into parts, and read each part. Worksheets: Syllables (set).
• Word choice: precise words and formal language. Choose the word that says exactly what you mean, such as a precise verb (tiptoe, not walk) or a precise word for a feeling (relieved, not happy), and tell formal language for school and letters from informal language for friends. In Years 7 to 9, tell a formal style from an informal one and keep a formal style to the end of a piece. Worksheets: Formal or Informal?.
• Synonyms and antonyms. Find words that mean the same or nearly the same (synonyms) and words that mean the opposite (antonyms), and choose the word with the right shade of meaning. Worksheets: Shades of Meaning: Warm, Hot, and Boiling.

Trace the Letter A Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter B Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter C Years 1–2 · English ★ Trace the Letter D Years 1–2 · English ★

No worksheets yet for Talking and listening in class.

Topic names and descriptions are written by Stepsies in our own words. For the full text of the New Zealand Curriculum, read the official English document. Curriculum names are used only to describe the topics a worksheet covers. Stepsies is independent and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or approved by any ministry, agency or school board. Check the official curriculum documents for what is required.