Third Grade Curriculum

Third grade is dedicated to helping each student become the learner and leader that God created them to be.  Students are challenged to think critically and creatively, while being a part of a thriving classroom community. These eight- and nine-year olds become more responsible, learning to manage time and organizational skills, and trying to navigate peer relationships independently.  Students in third grade begin to take ownership for their own learning and actively build on prior knowledge.  This connection to learning is achieved by the use of individual MacBooks, a more robust technology focus, and rigorous classroom instruction.  Learning is also made fun through hands-on science experiments and projects, creative social studies activities, and occasional scavenger hunts!  Students in third grade gain a confidence in themselves and critical and independent learning for future growth and success far beyond their formal education.

Math

  • Fluently add and subtract within 1,000 using strategies based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction
  • Round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100 using understanding of place value
  • Represent and Interpret Data
  • Understand, memorize, and apply multiplication and division facts/strategies up to 12
  • Identify and write fractional parts of shaded regions of objects
  • Measurement: Time, Length, Liquid Volume, and Mass
  • Determine area and perimeter
  • Geometry: Two Dimensional Shapes
  • Process and solve word problems
  • Read, write, and explain number sentences using a variety of mathematical concepts

Science

  • Life Science
    • Living Things
    • Ecosystems
  • Earth Science
    • Earth and Its Resources
    • Weather and Space
  • Physical Science
    • Matter
    • Forces and Energy

 

Social Studies

  • Apply map skills to understand the world in which we live
  • Identify and use cardinal directions
  • Identify and locate the major continents and oceans
  • Identify major physical features features of the world (Landforms)
  • Identify and locate the 50 states of the U.S.
  • United States and TN Geography
  • Economics (with TN focus)
  • Indigenous People through European Exploration
  • Early North American Settlements

Language Arts

  • Reading
  • Read grade-appropriate passages independently with fluency and expression
  • Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when decoding isolated words and in connected text.
  • Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills when encoding words; write legibly in manuscript and cursive.
  • Understand and apply new vocabulary
  • Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings (synonyms, antonyms, homophones/homographs)
  • Distinguish literal from nonliteral language (similes, metaphors, figurative language, etc.)
  • Use text features (illustrations, captions, sidebars, graphs, diagrams, labels, etc) to locate relevant information and explain how illustrations contribute to the understanding of a text.
  • Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
  • Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
  • Use text evidence to answer questions and demonstrate understanding of a text:         
  • reader perspective vs. narrator or characters’ perspective
  • Distinguish reader point of view from that of an author of a text.
    • characters, setting, and plot
    • sequence of events
    • theme
    • cause and effect
    • main idea and key details
  • Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
  • Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification.
  • Conduct short research projects that build general knowledge about a topic.

Language Arts

  • English/Grammar
  • Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when speaking and conventions of standard English grammar and usage, including capitalization and punctuation, when writing
  • Identify parts of speech (subject, verb, noun, pronoun, and adjective) and apply understanding when used in particular sentences
  • Apply understanding of types of sentences
  • Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences
  • Capitalize appropriate words in titles
  • Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue
  • Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience
  • With guidance and support from peers and adults, use technology to produce, publish, and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing