Third Grade Academics

Language Arts
The Third Grade language arts program integrates reading, writing, listening, thinking, speaking, and language skills with the goal of preparing independent, self-motivated, critical readers and writers.

The Third Grade reading program revolves around exploring various concepts, teaching students to question how to access needed information and how to effectively communicate findings. Students learn to explore through research and reflective activities. They learn a variety of reading strategies to strengthen their reading comprehension and extend their critical thinking skills. When reading, an emphasis is placed on character analysis, writing style, point of view, setting and plot, as well as on summarizing, predicting, interpreting, comparing and contrasting. Children enjoy all types of reading materials including fairy tales, fantasies, realistic, and humorous fiction, informational articles, biographies, poetry, plays and art.

Grade 3 Mathematics
Goal 1: The student will demonstrate the ability to identify and extend numeric and non-numeric patterns, solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of whole numbers and money, and analyze data in graphic representations in both oral and written form.

Goal 2: The students will demonstrate the ability to solve problems using multiplication, develop conceptual understanding of fractions, and apply concepts of probability to solve problems.

Goal 3: The students will demonstrate the ability to solve problems using concrete materials and drawings to describe and apply geometric relationships using one-, two-, and three-dimensional objects, and apply concepts in measurement to real-life problems.

Goal 4: The students will demonstrate the ability to solve problems using multiplication and division; apply algebraic thinking to solve problems using functions; collect, display, and interpret data; and develop conceptual understanding of decimals through concrete, and abstract materials.

Science
The science curriculum reflects the intellectual rigor of scientific inquiry as well as the attitudes and social values conducive to preparing a scientific literate populace to meet the 21st Century. Effective student-centered science embodies an approach to learning that engages students physically and mentally in an inquiry-based laboratory program.

By capturing students' perceptions of the world around them, the program provides opportunities to expand, change, enhance, and modify the ways in which they view the world. Ongoing investigations engage students in manipulating materials and making observations, seeking answers to their questions, and explaining ideas based on evidence. Throughout an activity, students reflect regularly on what they have done, the problems they have met, and how they have come up with solutions.

The science curriculum is separated into three areas: Earth and Space Science, taught in the fall; Physical Science, for the second and third quarters; and Life and Environmental Science, which is taught in the spring.

Social Studies
Because of the increasing complexity of our society, it is vital that our country have an informed, responsible, and contributing citizenry. Social studies is that part of the curriculum which uses the facts, concepts, generalizations, and skills of history and the social sciences to promote responsible citizenship.

Social studies topics share a common theme-people relating to and interacting with other people in their environments. The central theme of social studies is the study of people and their behavior in a variety of past and present situations.

Third grade students apply concepts of economics and geography to establish a definition of culture; they study the culture of Howard County by examining the way people who live here meet their economic wants; they learn about the countries, regions, and physical and human-made features of the continent of North America, and they study countries in other parts of the world using what they have learned to understand the way economics and geography affect culture.