3rd Grade Curriculum

Listed below are the skill sets and knowledge expected of all third grade students by the end of the year. Please be aware of these expectations and work in cooperation with your child's teacher to assist your child in acquiring these skills. If you have any questions about the expectations, please contact your building principal. The expectations are separated into the four core curriculum areas and then the specials (Art, Music and Physical Education).

Language Arts

Reading:

• Use synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, prefixes, suffixes
• Determine the meaning of words in fiction/non-fiction texts
• Identify these genres: story, poem, fairy tale, fable, fiction, non-fiction, essay, folktale
• Determine the multiple meanings of a word in context
• Make predictions/connections to text, self, and world
• Use graphic organizers
• Compare themes, topics, and story elements
• Identify main ideas
• Identify author's purpose
• Summarize information
• Interpret, draw conclusions, make references to tables, maps, charts, graphs
• Identify/compare characters' attributes
• Identify poetic devices: alliterations, similes, metaphors
• Read fluently at grade level

Writing

• Write an essay with clear ideas, organization, word choice, and appropriate conventions
• Use and spell high frequency words consistently

Listening/Speaking

• Demonstrate effective listening/speaking skills

Approved Textbook: Harcourt Collections, 2001

Mathematics

• Read, write, and recognize numbers up to 100,000
• Compare, order, round, and add/ subtract four digits
• Make appropriate estimations with whole numbers
• Solve 1-step multiplication/division word problems
• Complete 2-step addition/subtraction word problems
• Recognize and identify fractions
• Memorize multiplication/division facts up to 12
• Compute 2- & 3-digit numbers by 1-digit problems and divide with and without remainders
• Teacher directed use of calculators for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
• Tell time to the nearest minute and make change to $10
• Determine perimeter, area, and volume of a figure
• Perform simple conversions
• Measure weight, length, and capacity in metric and standard units
• Create a pattern, identify errors, and use patterns to solve problems
• Solve simple number sentences
• Understand the meaning of an equation
• Identify and draw polygons, solids, and plane figures
• Build and decompose 3-dimensional objects
• Identify symmetry and congruency
• Determine mode from data or graph
• Use information from a pictograph, bar graph, chart, and table
• Create and perform a probability experiment, record results, and make predictions

Approved Textbook: Harcourt , 2007

Science

Scientific Inquiry (Problem, Hypothesis, Materials, Procedures, Results, Conclusion)

Physical:

• Understand scientific inquiry (PHMPRC)
• Understand and explore matter
• Understand force and motion
• Explore energy
• Understand simple machines and applications

Space:

• Identify planet names, order, size, and composition
• Understand phases of the moon and eclipses of the sun and moon
• Understand constellations
• Understand how organisms live and travel in space
• Understand the telescope

Health:

• Understand body systems and functions
• Safety
• Prevention of diseases
• Communicable/non-communicable diseases

Approved Textbook: Harcourt , 2002

Social Sciences

• Understand local government
• Understand the local voting process
• Identify goods/services (local government)
• Understand democracy, patriotism, and individual rights
• Understand differences between goods/services and producers/consumers
• Introduce the economics of supply/demand
• Study pioneer colonies up to the American Revolution and the present day
• Locate city, state, country, and continent using the world and US map
• Understand literature from a variety of cultures
• Identify geographical items and locations using the world and US map
• Understand the effect of the environment on westward expansion
• Describe the difference in lifestyles of pioneers vs. present day

Approved Textbook: Harcourt , 2000

Physical Education

• Demonstrate movement and non-movement skills
• Demonstrate fundamental lifetime skills for various activities (throwing, dribbling, etc)
• Identify and apply rules and safety procedures in physical activities
• Understand and perform health-enhancing levels of fitness
• Develop team building skills

Art

• Understand forms are 3 dimensional objects
• Demonstrate correct usage of texture
• Understand warm/cool colors
• Growth in knowledge of art history

Music

• Identify/demonstrate knowledge of reading traditional written music
• Identify/demonstrate knowledge of musical steps, leaps, and repeats
• Identify instrument families

Approved Textbook: MacMillan Spotlight on Music, 2005