With third grade comes a move to the upper school building, and the inclusion of hands-on learning with more academic responsibility. “Accelerated Reading” points count towards the student’s Reading grade, and entering 3rd grade students take the level based Math placement test. Students complete various individual and group projects implementing creativity amongst other life and academic skills . While still given opportunities for hands-on, interactive lessons, students are also learning to manage their time while having a higher responsibility for in class work and homework. They will encounter more rigorous academic material.
Third Grade Curriculum Overview
- Language Arts: Third grade students explore genres, study cause and effect and inferences, figurative language, foreshadowing, and use reading skills to monitor comprehension and increase reading fluency.
- English: Students implement the use of the four types of sentences, incorporate identifying nouns, verbs, pronouns, antonyms, synonyms, subjects and predicates, decode multisyllabic words, analyze written English, use knowledge of prefixes and suffixes, identify contractions, etc.
- Math: Students learn complex addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Students compute real-life mathematical problems using problem-solving skills. Other areas covered include place value, operations of whole numbers, understanding fractional units, measurement, determining the area and perimeter of geometric figures, and identifying the relationship between amongst figures.
- Social Studies: We will focus on the various impact communities have in our life and society. Students will learn about community heroes, how communities have changed, how to care for our communities, what it means to be good citizens, education in our communities, etc. Additionally, students will learn ways of communicating, the history of transportation, parts of our government, and about important figures in our history.
- Science: Students study the planets and solar system, learn water and weather cycles, explore magnetism and electricity, how to design things during the engineering process, about the forms of energy, forces and work, how machines work, etc. Students will get to participate in numerous hands-on science experiments related to each unit.
- Religion: Students continue their understanding of Christianity and the Bible with weekly chapel time, memory verses, devotionals and Bible study.
Third Grade Highlights
- Multiple enrichment opportunities start including Spanish, Computer class, Choir, and Orchestra.
- Gardening twice a month
- Going to Dallas Heritage Village
- Biography project
- Various holiday parties including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day.
- Pumpkin unit in the fall encompassing various academic skills and knowledge.
