Grade 3

List of 12 items.

• Art

  All art classes utilize the elements of art of line, color, shape, texture, space, and form. A variety of media is explored throughout the year including watercolors, tempera paint, felt, yarn, and clay.  Students study ancient Roman art as well as Viking culture and art.  Artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Ted Harrison are studied.  Special emphasis is placed on collaboration in art during the third-grade experience. 

• Math

  •Operations and Algebraic Thinking: Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division. Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division. Multiply and divide within 100. Solve problems involving the four operations and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic.

  •Operations in Base Ten: Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic.

  •Operations and Fractions: Develop an understanding of fractions as numbers.

  •Measurement and Data: Solve problems involving measurement and estimation. Understand concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and to addition. Recognize perimeter.

  •Geometry: Reason with shapes and their attributes.

• Music

  The third-grade music program emphasizes vocal, instrumental, and movement refinement and appreciation. Students focus on proper rhythm and instrument technique using their voices and the Orff instruments. Emphasis is placed on harmony as well as musicality.  Using the Orff instrument students demonstrate advanced mallet technique (alternating hands, cross-over, borduns, tremolo). All third grade students learn to play the recorder and third grade students have the option to begin instrumental music instruction using a stringed instrument. Third grade performs several times a year both in our fall and spring musical concerts as well as in a whole class mini musical staged with movement and song.   

• Phonics

  •Phonics and Word Recognition: Identify and know the meaning of the most common prefixes and derivational suffixes. Decode multi-syllable words. Read grade-appropriate irregularly spelled words.

• Physical Education

  Movement and exercise are an important part of the school day. All grade levels have Physical Education three days a week. Physical Education classes develop fitness and skills and focus on life-long health and wellness. In grade three students work on locomotion and refining their gross motor skills through catching, dribbling, throwing, and running.  Students learn how to be a team member and how to identify and improve their fitness level. 

• Reading

  •Key Ideas and Details: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect. Recount stories, determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.

  •Craft and Structure: Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language. Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters. Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area. Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.

  •Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series). Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.

  •Fluency: Read grade-level text with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression on successive readings. Use context to confirm or self-correct word recognition and understanding, rereading as necessary.

• Research Lab

  The Lower School Library is a place of discovery.  All Lower School students visit the library regularly and can explore their interests by delving further into books and online sources for deeper learning.  During Research Lab class, students learn a variety of research, technology, and digital citizenship skills.  In third grade, some examples of specific units and topics include: research skills, paraphrasing, citing sources, typing skills, using various apps and websites for content creation, understanding nonfiction text features, identifying persuasive strategies in advertising, responding to cyberbullying, and maintaining information privacy.  Of course, students also enjoy reading for pleasure and look forward to checking out books to enjoy at home. 

• Science

  Topics of study: Ecology, Environmental Science, Astronomy, and the Human Body

• Social and Emotional Learning

  All homeroom teachers start the day with a morning meeting, which builds community and sets students up for a successful day. These morning meetings include four components and are based on the Responsive Classroom best-practices: 1) greeting everyone by name, 2) sharing important information about our lives and listening actively to our peers while asking clarifying questions, 3) a brief activity around social-emotional learning, and 4) watching community announcements and reading a short message that reviews the schedule for the day.    
     
  In addition, to morning meeting, all homerooms include a “Social Emotional Learning” block in the schedule in which students actively learn and practice a core set of social and emotional competencies: “C.A.R.E.S.: cooperation, assertiveness, responsibility, empathy, and self-control.
    

  Our Lower School counselor visits each class once per week for a focused SEL lesson as well.    

• Social Studies

  Topics of study: Geography, Canada, Ancient Rome, Vikings, Early Exploration of North America, Colonial America
  

• Spanish

  Students begin their study Spanish language and culture through movement, songs, stories, games, and real-life connections. Third grade students focus on vocabulary acquisition and simple language structures.  Cultural connections are highlighted throughout the year. 

• Writing

  •Text Types and Purposes: Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.

  •Language: Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning word and phrases. Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.

  •Production and Distribution of Writing: With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing.