3Davidson - Curriculum

Reading

Unit 1: Building a Reading Life

Learning to love reading!
Creating good habits for readers
Finding books that are just right for ourselves
Writing about Reading

Unit 2: Mystery

Reading a text carefully
Looking for clues and making inferences
Book Clubs- being help accountible by a friend

Unit 3: Nonfiction- Reading to Learn

Grasping Main Idea and Text Structure
Identifying various text features and how they help us as a reader
Narrative nonfiction & Biographies
1. 1. 1. 1. Story elements
      2. Outside influences
      3. Character traits

Unit 4: Character Studies

Getting to know characters
Focusing on their traits
Motives and experiences

Unit 5: Poetry

Figurative Language

Unit 6: Reading Research

Integrated with Social Studies (researching a country)
Will do a presentation

Writing

Unit 1: Art of Informational Writing

“Expert books”- what you already know!
Text features & structures

Unit 2: Series Writing (NEW!)

Creating fictional stories by developing characters that are inspired by ourselves and our experiences in the world
Creating multiple stories involving the same character

Unit 3: Literary Essays

Making claims about characters and providing evidence

Unit 4: Poetry

Art and Poetry Festival- Spring

Unit 5: Persuasive Writing

Making a claim and convincing your audience something you believe in
Integrated with Social Studies & Science

Math

Daily lessons give opportunities to work on fluency, number sense, problem solving, communication of ideas and strategies, and independent practice

Students will be able to express their strategies verbally, as well as their classmates’ strategies

Students build confidence in their skills and a love of mathematics

To encourage problem solving, communication and mathematical thinking

*Unit asssessment will be given throughout our math curriculum. Students will have an opportunity to make corrections to any problems they answered incorrectly before being brought home. Both grades will be written on the test. Please sign and return all tests to ensure that you have seen them.

Unit 1: Math Is…

Unit 2: Use Place Value to Fluently Add and Subtract within 1,000

Unit 3: Multiplication and Division

Unit 4: Use Patterns to Multiply by 0, 1, 2, 5, and 10

Unit 5: Use Properties to Multiply by 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, and 9

Unit 6: Connect Area and Multiplication

Unit 7: Fractions

Unit 8: Fraction Equivalence and Comparison

Unit 9: Use Multiplication to Divide

Unit 10: Use Properties and Strategies to Multiply and Divide

Unit 11: Perimeter

Unit 12: Measurement and Data

Unit 13: Describe and Analyze 2 -Dimensional Shapes

Science

Unit 1: Forces and Interactions

Create a model to demonstrate an understanding of the different strengths and directions of forces needed to balance an object.
Plan and conduct an investigation to demonstrate how friction can affect the motion of an object.
Investigate the motion of a pendulum and make predictions of its future motion.

Unit 2: Interdependent Relationships in Ecosystems

Demonstrate an understanding that fossils may have formed a very long time ago.
Analyze and interpret data about animals, plants, and habitats to develop a model that shows whether a species is suited for one or more habitats.

Unit 3: Weather & Climate

Gather and interpret weather and climate data over periods of time to predict future patterns.
Plan and conduct an investigation to discover the relationship between the water cycle and the weather.

Unit 4: Inheritance and Variation of Traits in Life Cycles

Develop a model to demonstrate an understanding that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents.
Identify and explain how variation in traits of the same species can be beneficial for survival.

Social Studies

Community

Individuals contribute to a community
Respecting Differences

Introduction to History

Family History
Primary Sources

Cultural Universals

Politics, Social Aspects, Economics, Cultural Arts, Beliefs (integrated with reading & writing for a final end of the year project)

Responsive Classroom

Positive Community

Creating a safe, predictable, joyful, inclusive, FUN classroom where ALL students have a senses of belonging and significance.

Effective Management

Creating a calm, orderly environment that promotes autonomy and allows students to focus on learning.

Developmentally Responsive Teaching

Responding to students individual, cultural, and developmental learning needs and strengths and using them to enhance learning.

Engaging Academics

Designing and delivering high-quality, rigorous and ENGAGING instruction.

Word Study

Spelling Connections for 3rd Grade

Word study builds off the foundation set in the primary grades and is woven throughout the reading and writing workshop.
Begins with the development of phonemic awareness
Continues through learning the structural analysis of words
Builds on the foundation of phonics instruction (phonemic awareness, sound-symbol correspondence, segmenting, blending, and syllabication)
Engages students in inquiry: examining words to discover the regularities, patterns, and conventions of English orthography and morphology, which are needed to read and spell

Cursive

Students learn two letters at a time- lowercase then uppercase
Language of cursive (undercurve, overcurve, downward curve, upward curve)

NYS ELA and Math Assessments

Third grade is the first year that students will be taking the NYS ELA and Mathematics Assessments. Our job as educators is to ensure that students feel confident and comfortable before sitting down to take these assessments. Students will have practice in the classroom using the online platform and practice answering questions weeks prior. These exams take place in the months of April and May. For more information regarding these assessments please visit the NYSED parent site.