Third Grade Curriculum

Math

In third grade, students will participate in the Illustrative Math Curriculum. Students focus on learning to add and subtract two-and three-digit numbers, regrouping, and measurement. While students continue to build fluency with addition and subtraction, there is a huge shift to more complicated mathematical topics too: multiplication and division, patterns and number sense, geometry, fractions, data collection, and probability. By the end of third grade, your child will have gained the skills to complete mental math, work with fractions, estimate, interpret graphs and predict probability and outcomes.

Reading

In third grade, your child will participate in phonics and spelling instruction, daily, through a science and evidence-based systematic curriculum called UFLI.

 UFLI Foundations is research-based. This means it was developed to align with what decades of reading research has shown to be effective. They incorporated findings from research on word reading development and effective instruction to build an explicit and systematic program for teaching children to read and spell words.

UFLI Foundations is also evidence-based. Before releasing the program, They spent two full years developing and piloting each component.  They assessed student progress, and they found that students who received instruction using UFLI Foundations made significant gains in phonemic awareness, decoding, and oral reading fluency.

In second grade, your child learned to read with fluency, correct reading errors and figure out words from context clues. In third grade, your child will build on those skills and begin delving into the world of chapter books and non-fiction text.  While we continue to work on building fluency while reading, it's time to move on from learning to read to reading to learn. New skills your child will tackle this year will include learning CAFE strategies (Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expand Vocabulary) to become stronger and more independent readers.  Third graders will practice the DAILY 5 (Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Word Work, and Work on Writing) throughout the week in rotational centers.  

Students will also meet with their teacher regularly in small-groups or 1:1 to work on needed comprehension strategies. Groups are skill-based, and therefore ever-changing. 

WRITING

In third grade, your child will begin writing more in all subjects to convey and summarize information. Third Graders will also learn how to use word processing and other technology tools to publish their own written work.  Third Graders will work on using a sophisticated vocabulary to convey information, participate in a Writers' Workshop and use the writing process to write in a number of different genres (Narrative, Informational, and Opinion).

Science

In third grade, science is not only conceptual, but also hands-on as well. Students begin investigating ecosystems, habitats, forces and motion, and weather; all topics that require a lot of observation, measurement, and experimentation. We will explore the natural world as much as we can while the weather is favorable.  Your third-grader will eagerly learn more about forces of nature, classification, setting up experiments, and sharing new learning. Students will bring their experiences, content knowledge, and problem-solving skills to a new level while collaborating with peers in STEM challenges though the use of the Engineering Design Process.

Social Studies

Third grade is the year your child starts to learn more about their country and the world around them, gaining a basic understanding of economics, world geography, and world cultures. Third-graders spend a lot of time focusing on the Five Themes of Geography and Map Skills in general.  They culminate their geography learning with a "Holidays Around the World" unit, which immerses students in geography, culture, music, food, art, and family traditions from around the world.