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Lower School
Grade Three Program Overview The third-grade curriculum builds upon the skills established in grade two. Third-graders solidify skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. In addition to setting academic goals, teachers work with children to create a positive, supportive community in the classroom. Children are helped to look at their individual actions and see their effect on others. They continue to identify and appreciate individual differences. Curriculum objectives and daily discussions encourage students to reflect on assumptions and stereotypes of Native Americans. In order to reinforce concepts and skills, homework is a daily requirement. Language Arts The third-grade language arts program is designed to further develop a love of reading and writing. The reading program is a combination of supporting and enhancing decoding, comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary development. Each day, students work on language development in whole class or small instructional groups for both reading and writing, as well as during independent reading and writing times. During the year, students read from a variety of genres, including historical fiction, realistic fiction, biographies, expository text, and current events. In third grade, students are provided with meaningful, structured opportunities to write. To help them write for many purposes, students actively taught the skills and strategies that all writers need. Children are taught to spell through a combination of pattern-based work and recognition of high frequency sight words. Math The third-grade mathematics program is designed to develop mastery of skills in three major areas: concepts, solution strategies, and the language of math. Students invent their own strategies and approaches, and they are also taught multiple methods for calculation. As a result, students develop skills in mathematical efficiency, accuracy, and flexibility. Some of the critical concepts covered throughout the school year include a review of place value up to 1,000, and two- and three-digit addition and subtraction strategies. The curriculum includes a review of 2-D geometry, and the concepts of area and perimeter are introduced. Attributes of triangles and quadrilaterals are also explored, including a focus on congruence and angles of different sizes. During the third-grade year students develop a conceptual understanding of multiplication and division. They regularly practice multiplication facts and solve multiplication problems with up to three digits by one digit (i.e., 248 x 7) and two digits by two digits (i.e., 39 x 42). Students also explore fractions, particularly combining and comparing fractions, and finding equivalent fractions. |
Social Studies In third grade, students explore early Massachusetts state history through the lens of governance. Through an interdisciplinary approach, students begin the year investigating their own classroom community and thinking about how rules are formed. Building on Their ideas about governance, students will begin to explore local Native American tribes and then study the impact of European colonization in Plymouth and the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Finally, students study the American Revolution. As students look at each community through the lens of governance, they begin to understand and appreciate the extent to which cultural differences have enriched Massachusetts. Throughput this study an emphasis is placed on exploring the themes of power and privilege. Resources Units of Study For Teaching Writing 3-5, by Lucy Calkins Word Study Lessons: Phonics, Spelling, and Vocabulary, by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell The Fountas and Pinnell Leveled Book List K-8, by Irene c. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell Guiding Readers and Writer’s: Teaching Comprehension, Genre and Content Literacy, by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell Project Read, by Language Circle Handwriting Without Tears: Cursive Writing Curriculum, Jan Z. Olsen Type To Learn, Sunburst Technology, Inc. Mentor Texts: Teaching Writing Through Children’s Literature, k-6, Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Cappelli Practical Poetry: A Nonstandard Approach To Meeting Content-Area Standards, Sara Holbrook TERC Investigations in Number, Data, and Space Third-Grade Curriculum The First Peoples Of The Northeast, Esther K. Braun and David P. Braun Massachusettes Our Home, by Mary Stockwell and Courtney Johnson Thomas
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