🖊️Grade 3 English: Reading & Writing

Somewhere around Grade 3, children are asked to 'write about' a topic for the first time — and most of them respond by copying whole sentences out of a book. That is not laziness; nobody has taught them the intermediate step.

This course teaches that step directly. Children learn to reduce a paragraph to five keywords, close the book, and rebuild the idea from the keywords alone. It is the single most transferable skill in the whole year.

What your child will be able to do

By the end of this course, a learner working at the expected pace will be able to:

• Find relevant information in a non-fiction text and note it briefly
• Rewrite researched facts in their own words without copying
• Use fronted adverbials, subordinate clauses and direct speech accurately
• Structure a piece of writing across paragraphs with linking phrases
• Read a full-length novel and discuss theme and character development

How the course is structured

Grade 3 English: Reading & Writing is organised into 6 units covering 148 lessons in total, designed to run across 36 weeks at roughly 4 hours a week. The unit outline below shows 24 representative lessons.

Reading to learn

• Skimming, scanning and close reading
• Using contents, index and glossary
• Fact or opinion
• Comparing two sources

Note-making

• Keywords, not sentences
• Spider diagrams and tables
• From notes back to prose
• Avoiding accidental copying

Grammar for better sentences

• Fronted adverbials
• Subordinate clauses
• Direct speech punctuation
• Prepositions and conjunctions of time

Non-fiction writing

• An information report
• A newspaper article
• A balanced discussion
• An explanation with diagrams

Fiction and poetry

• Setting description with the five senses
• Dialogue that reveals character
• Narrative structure: problem and resolution
• Writing a shape poem and a haiku

Novel study

• Reading a chapter a day
• Tracking a character's change
• Theme: what is this book really about?
• A book review worth reading

How it is taught

Grammar is taught in service of writing rather than as terminology to be tested. A lesson on subordinate clauses ends with the child improving two of their own sentences, not with labelling someone else's.

What is included

• 148 lessons
• Research packs on six non-fiction topics
• Note-making templates and paragraph planners
• 36 quizzes plus six marked writing tasks with model answers

Who this course suits

This course sits in the Grade 3 track and follows a oxford-aligned sequence. It suits families who want a complete, sequenced english year rather than a set of loose practice activities, and it assumes no teaching experience — every lesson includes a short method note for the adult. If your child is comfortably ahead or behind the intermediate level described here, use the placement check in lesson one and start at the recommended point instead of lesson one.