English Language Arts
Grade 3
15 min
Abbreviate street names and state names: review
Abbreviate street names and state names: review
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Introduction & Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives
Identify the full name of a street when given its abbreviation (e.g., St. for Street).
Correctly write the abbreviation for common street names like Street, Avenue, and Road.
Identify the full name of a state when given its two-letter postal abbreviation (e.g., CA for California).
Correctly write the two-letter postal abbreviation for a given state name.
Explain an author's purpose for using abbreviations in addresses (e.g., to save space).
Use correct capitalization and punctuation for street and state abbreviations.
Have you ever seen a letter with short, secret codes for streets and states? 📬 Let's crack the code and find out why authors use them!
Today, we will review how to shorten, or abbreviate, street and state names. Learning this hel...
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Key Concepts & Vocabulary
TermDefinitionExample
AbbreviationA short way to write a longer word. It's like a nickname for a word!St. is the abbreviation for the word Street.
Street NameThe name of the road where a house or building is located.In '123 Maple Street', the street name is Maple Street.
State NameThe name of one of the 50 states in the United States.Florida is a state name.
Postal AbbreviationA special two-letter abbreviation for a state, used by the post office. It has no period.FL is the postal abbreviation for Florida.
Author's PurposeThe reason an author decides to write something. For abbreviations, the purpose is often to save space or time.An author writing an address on an envelope uses 'St.' instead of 'Street' to make it fit.
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Key Rules & Conventions
Street Abbreviation Rule
Capitalize the first letter and add a period at the end.
Use this for common street words like Street (St.), Avenue (Ave.), Road (Rd.), and Drive (Dr.).
State Abbreviation Rule
Use two capital letters and NO period.
This is the special rule for postal abbreviations. For example, Texas is TX and New York is NY.
The 'Why' Rule: Author's Purpose
Authors use abbreviations in addresses to make them shorter and clearer.
When you see an address, the author's purpose is to give information clearly and quickly. Abbreviations help them do that, especially in small spaces like on an envelope or a label.
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Challenging
An author writes: "The family drove through the beautiful mountains of Colorado. Their new home was at 1 Mountain View Rd., Aspen, CO." Why did the author likely write out "Colorado" the first time but use "CO" the second time?
A.The author forgot how to spell Colorado the second time.
B.To use descriptive language in the narrative and the correct format for the address.
C.To show that the family moved from one part of Colorado to another.
D.The author was trying to trick the reader into thinking they were two different places.
Challenging
In a story, a very formal robot butler announces, "A letter has arrived from 555 Park Avenue, New York." Why would the author purposefully choose NOT to use the abbreviations "Ave." and "NY" in the robot's dialogue?
A.Because robots are not allowed to use abbreviations.
B.The author made a mistake and should have used abbreviations.
C.To make the robot sound more formal, precise, and less human.
D.To show that the letter was sent from a very long time ago.
Challenging
A story is about a character who is very careful and always follows the rules. The character is addressing an important, official letter. Which address would the author most likely have the character write, and why?
A.123 main st, miami, fl
B.123 Main St, Miami, FL
C.123 Main Street, Miami, Florida
D.123 Main St., Miami, FL
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