Curriculum

In third grade, students make the transition from "Learning to Read" to "Reading to Learn." We will learn new reading strategies while exploring tests from a variety of genres. Through the Reading Street curriculum, students will receive differentiated instruction that challenges them where they are as readers and promotes stronger phonics and literacy skills.

Language Arts consists of writing, grammar, spelling, and handwriting. In writing, we will walk through the writing process of brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing various pieces such as personal narratives, fantasy stories, poems, and research biographies. We will also develop our cursive penmanship, and learn about different parts of speech in grammar.

There will be many opportunities to develop math fluency in third grade, with an emphasis on multiplication and division through a blended learning model. Students will also learn about place value, multi-digit addition and subtraction, time, money, decimals, fractions, geometry, and graphs. Students will solve world problems that challenge them apply their mathematical skills to real-world contexts.

We will continue to learn about God's everlasting love for His children in third grade. Students will strive to live their lives as disciples of Jesus Christ, learning from the example of the saints and learning how they exemplified heroic virtue lives. Students will learn about a different virtue each month through the Virtues in Practice program.

Third grade science focuses on sound, water, and plant/animal adaptations. Through interactive activities with our FOSS science kits, students will participate in hands-on experiments in the classroom. Students will also frequently watch educational science videos such as Mystery Doug, and participate in STEM activities in the classroom that promote critical thinking, teamwork, and creativity.

Social studies in third grade is all about community! Students will learn about citizenship, important events in American history, and economic systems. There will be a particular focus on the history, geography, economy, and culture of Rhode Island. Students will study maps and primary sources, and complete in-class and home projects throughout the year.