THIRD GRADE CURRICULUM
Language Arts
The Grade 3 Language Arts program consists of four major components - spelling, grammar, D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language) and writing.
The first component is spelling. Our spelling program is part of our reading curriculum by Macmillan McGraw-Hill. Children have a weekly spelling list consisting of 20 words. The lists follow a spelling pattern or skill. The weekly skill is presented on Monday and a pre-test is given. The skill is reviewed during the entire week. The spelling test incorporates five challenge words that are the main vocabulary words from the reading selection from the same week. This overlapping of the reading vocabulary into the spelling program reinforces the correct meaning, usage and spelling of the words. Spelling tests are given on Fridays.
The second component is grammar. We use the MacMillan McGraw-Hill grammar component as well. This program addresses grammar skills (grammar, usage and mechanics) on a daily basis. Students apply these skills in daily assignments as well as writing assignments.
The third component of the langauge arts program is D.O.L. (Daily Oral Language). The students are given a list of five incorrect sentences per week. The students are to proofread anc correct the sentences. The sentence errors follow a pattern and will correlate with the skill for the week.
The last component is writing. The children will learn the 6 + 1 traits of writing. It is a method of looking at the main characteristics of writing and assessing them independant from one another. The traits allow the reader and writer to note strengths and weaknesses in his/her work as it moves through the writing process. The children will be taught the traits of the writing process, which in turn teaches the children the criterion that defines quality writing. When the children know what is expected and can judge it for themselves they can succeed. The traits are the foundation for revision, which for most children is the weak link in the writing process. The traits are:
Along with teaching the children about the traits and what to look for, each trait has a rubric to help the children in developing their use and skill when working with the traits to develop their writing ability. A rubric is an assessment tool. It is designed so that the children know what is expected for a specific assignment. Usually in categories with points assigned for the categories. This way everyone knows what is expected and can be successful.
MATH
Third grade students are tested in the fall and placed in ability groups. These groups are flexible, and students may move to a different group as needed. All students have the same math curriculum; the difference is in the pacing. Some children need to spend more time mastering concepts than others. Our goal is to meet each child's needs, so they will become capable and confident students in Math. We use the 2005 Scott Foresman Math program. Please check out their website at www.pearsonsuccessnet.com. Third grade math students learn place value concepts up to the hundred thousands place and count money using all coins and bills up to twenty. Addition and subtraction strategies involve four-digit numbers with regrouping. Time is also taught, including quarter hour and to the exact minute on an analog clock. Elapsed time is introduced.Measurement concepts include customary and metric units of length and capacity and temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius. Multiplication facts and concepts are introduced and reinforced throughout the year. Grade three students also learn how to read and create bar graphs, pictographs and graph-ordered pairs. Probability is introduced.Division concepts include the basic facts, and long division with remainders is introduced. Geometry concepts include plane figures, lines and line segments, angles, and congruent and similar figures. Symmetry, perimeter, and area are introduced. Fraction concepts include equivalent fractions, comparing and ordering fractions, and mixed numbers. Decimals are introduced to the hundredths place. Word problem solving strategies are reinforced throughout the year.
RELIGION
Grade 3 students focus on the theme of "Christ and Church" from the Who is our Example? Religion program. This is a program based on Sacred Scripture, the Second Vatican Council, and the writings and teachings of Pope John Paul II. Third grade students learn about the Bible, Old and New Testament, along with how the parish church community passes on the Good News. The students will also experience daily prayer and the daily readings in the classroom. Students attend Mass once per week and on Holy days. They will celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation during the Advent and Lenten seasons. Students will participate in many rosary and prayer services throughout the school year.
SCIENCE
We are excited to have a new Science program this year by Harcourt Brace. All students will have their own hardcover textbook and they may take it home at anytime to reread, study for a test, or to just look through it. The units we will be covering this year are listed below.
Unit 1 : Minerals, Rocks, and Fossils; Forces that Shape the Land; Soils; Earth's Resources; Earth and the Solar System
Unit 2: Properties of Matter; Changes in Matter
Unit 3: Energy; Heat; Forces and Motion
Unit 4: Types of Plants; Types of Animals
Unit 5: Where Living Things are Found; Living Things Depend on One Another
SOCIAL STUDIES
Students have their own text for this course. They are encouraged to take it home and reread the lesson of the day. The key vocabulary words are highlighted in blue ink throughout the chapter. We also take notes during class, and students should study their notes and the text in order to prepare for the tests. Students generally have one worksheet per week for this class, as we do not have a workbook. The chapters we will cover this year are listed below.
Understanding the Kinds of Communities
Communities and Geography
A Native American Community at Mesa Verde
An English Colony at Jamestown
A Spanish mission in San Francisco
A New Country is Born/ The United States
Countries Have Capitals
Citizens Make Communities Work
Building New Lives/Immigration
READING
The focus in the third grade reading curriculum is on teaching strategies, vocabulary and comprehension skills. A variety of strategies and methods of working with students are used, so that students learn to respond to books in many ways. The students are introduced to a variety of vocabulary words that are connected to their own experiences and to the story selections in our texts. The literature in our main reading text comes from a wide variety of fiction and non-fiction sources. Students read non-fiction selections from the areas of science, social studies and publications such as Time Magazine for Kids. The fiction selections are often an entire picture books or a chapter from an award-winning novel. We are excited to be using the 2003 McGraw Hill Reading program with out students.
Third grade students move from phonic insturction in grade 2 to learning and applying various reading skills to improve their comprehension and oral fluency. The reading skills include main idea and context clues, suffixes and prefixes, inference, making predictions and homophones and homographs. Students work in small groups in addition to receiving whole group instruction. Several novels are read aloud by the teacher and incorporated into the reading program.
There are three approaches to comprehension building. The guided reading questions lead students through the key points of a story map and expand the reader's thinking about the passage. Strategic reading questions develop students' ability to monitor their own comprehension. Highlighting literature questions focus on the literary aspects of the story and emphasize the author's purpose.
We also supplement our reading program with the SRA Reading Lab and a Webster Dictionary unit during the last trimester.
Students are given silent reading time during the school week and participate in our monthly Reading Club theme. Students are encouraged to read when the finish other assisgnments in school and to read at home on a regular basis.
HANDWRITING
We use the Zaner Bloser program as out handwriting curriculum.
Topics covered include: manuscript and cursive letters, beginning strokes, paper position, shifting position, writing stokes, using all letters in context writing, manuscript maintenance, completing an unfinished story and completing an unfinished poem.
