Learning is both social and academic.  Our goal in third grade is to build on children’s prior knowledge, and to engage third graders in experiences which offer each learner the best possible opportunity for personal growth, socially as well as academically.
The third grade curriculum and environment support children as learners and foster independence.  The curriculum also provides opportunities for the self-reflection necessary for personal growth.

GRADE-LEVEL SPECIFIC INFORMATION

The partnership between parents and school plays a vital role in your child’s education.
 

• Field trips/ special events – several field trips/special events occur during the school year.  You will receive information and permission slips well in advance of any scheduled trips.  Please return permission slips in a timely fashion so your child may participate in these events.
   

The following information provides an overview of the third-grade academic program.
In all areas of the curriculum, teachers encourage children to ask questions, to engage in meaningful problem-solving, and to seek resources to construct new knowledge.

English Language Arts

The Language Arts program expands the development of skills in the areas of reading, writing, listening, and speaking. 

Reading

The literature-based program facilitates the teaching and practice of reading skills and strategies, and provides exposure to, and appreciation of, different literary genres.

Whole-class, small-group, and individual work focuses on making connections, developing inferences, drawing conclusions, and formulating questions to clarify and/or extend meaning.

Independent reading provides an opportunity for children to practice those reading skills and strategies taught in small-group and whole-class settings.  It also encourages students to set reading goals for themselves by learning to select appropriate literature that, in turn, helps them develop a love of reading and an awareness of themselves as readers. 

Writing

Third-grade students engage in many writing experiences. Their lives as writers will become somewhat less abstract and more focused, with the intention of providing students with a bank of good, solid writing skills.

Constant exposure to various types of literature will provide students with a base to further develop their emerging writing skills.

Writing experiences include, but are not limited to:  Expository, essay, autobiographical, narrative, persuasive, letter, and research writing.

Mathematics

The goal of the third grade mathematics program is to develop mathematical thinkers who display confidence in approaching computational and conceptual problems in a variety of ways, and who are able to explain and defend their problem-solving strategies.

Hands-on mathematical investigations and games are incorporated into the program to provide students with a variety of ways to experience math.

Multiplication tables should be mastered by the end of the school year.