Third Grade Curriculum
English-Language Arts
READING
Word Analysis, Fluency, and Systematic Vocabulary Development
Students:
- Understand the basic features of reading.
- Select letter patterns and know how to translate them into spoken language by using phonics, syllabication, and word parts.
- Apply this knowledge to achieve fluent oral and silent reading.
Reading Comprehension
Students:
- Read and understand grade-level-appropriate material.
- Draw upon a variety of comprehension strategies as needed (e.g., generating and responding to essential questions, making predictions, comparing information from several sources).
- Make substantial progress toward the goal of by grade four annually reading one-half million words including a wide range of grade level appropriate narrative and expository text.
Literary Response and Analysis
Students:
- Read and respond to a wide variety of significant works of children’s literature.
- Distinguish between the structural features of the text and literary terms or elements (e.g., theme, plot, setting, characters).
WRITING
Writing Strategies
Students:
- Write clear and coherent sentences and paragraphs that develop a central idea.
- Show they consider the audience and purpose.
- Progress through the stages of the writing process (e.g., prewriting, drafting, revising, editing successive versions).
Writing Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students:
- Write compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences.
- Demonstrate a command of standard American English and the drafting, research, and organizational strategies outlined in the writing standards.
WRITTEN AND ORAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE CONVENTIONS
- Students write and speak with a command of Standard English conventions appropriate to third grade.
LISTENING AND SPEAKING
Listening and Speaking Strategies
Students:
- Listen critically and respond appropriately to oral communication.
- Speak in a manner that guides the listener to understand important ideas by using proper phrasing, pitch, and modulation.
Speaking Applications (Genres and Their Characteristics)
Students:
- Deliver brief recitations and oral presentations about familiar experiences of interests that are organized around a coherent thesis statement.
- Demonstrate a command of standard American English and the organizational and delivery strategies outlined in Listening and Speaking standards.
Mathematics
By the end of grade three, students deepen their understanding of place value and their understanding of and skill with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of whole numbers. Students estimate, measure, and describe objects in space. They use patterns to help solve problems. They represent number relationships and conduct simple probability experiments.
NUMBER SENSE
Students:
- Understand the place value of whole numbers.
- Calculate and solve problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
- Understand the relationship between whole numbers, simple fractions, and decimals.
ALGEBRA AND FUNCTIONS
Students:
- Choose and use appropriate units and measurement tools to quantify the properties of objects.
- Describe and compare the attributes of plane and solid geometric figures and use their understanding to show relationships and solve problems.
- Represent simple functional relationships.
MEASUREMENT AND GEOMETRY
Students:
- Choose and use appropriate units and measurement tools to quantify the properties of objects.
- Describe and compare the attributes of plane and solid geometric figures and use their understanding to show relationships and solve problems.
STATISTICS, DATA ANALYSIS, AND PROBABILITY
- Students conduct simple probability experiments by determining the number of possible outcomes and make simple predictions.
MATHEMATICAL REASONING
Students:
- Make decisions about how to approach problems.
- Use strategies, skills, and concepts in finding solutions.
- Move beyond a particular problem by generalizing to other situations.
History
CONTINUITY AND CHANGE
Students in grade three learn more about our connections to the past and the ways in which particularly local, but also regional and national, government and traditions have developed and left their marks to current society, providing common memories. Emphasis is on the physical and cultural landscape of California , including the study of American Indians, the subsequent arrival of immigrants, and the impact they have had in forming the character of our contemporary society.
Students:
- Describe the physical and human geography and use maps, tables, graphs, photographs, and charts to organize information about people, places, and environments in a spatial context.
- Describe the American Indian nations in their local region long ago and in the resent past.
- Draw from historical and community resources to organize the sequence of local historical events and describe how each period of settlement left its mark on the land.
- Understand the role of rules and laws in our daily lives and the basic structure of the U.S. government.
- Demonstrate basic economic reasoning skills and an understanding of the economy of the local region.
Science
PHYSICAL SCIENCES
Students understand that:
- Energy and matter have multiple forms and can be changed from one form to another.
- Light has a source and travels in a direction.
LIFE SCIENCES
- Students understand that adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve and organism’s chance for survival.
EARTH SCIENCES
- Students understand that objects in the sky move in regular and predictable patterns.
INVESTIGATION AND EXPERIMENTATION
- Students understand that scientific progress is made by asking meaningful questions and conducting careful investigations.
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