Third-grade students at Evergreen continue to apply their comprehension strategies while reading a variety of fiction and nonfiction literature. The children learn to self-correct while reading with an emphasis on fluency, accuracy, and expression. The balanced literacy model is used to promote independent readers and writers. Students write stories, letters, simple explanations, and short reports across all content areas.

In third grade, the students use higher level thinking to connect math to the real world. By using conceptual learning, the students tackle multi step problems and recognize the relationships between numbers. Through hands on experiences, students develop skills in graphing, fractions, measurement, probability, geometry, patterns, and multiplication and division.

The third-grade standards place increasing emphasis on conducting investigations. Students are expected to be able to develop questions, formulate simple hypotheses, make predictions, gather data, and use the metric system with greater precision. Using information to make inferences and draw conclusions becomes more important. In the area of physical science, the standards focus on simple and compound machines, energy, and a basic understanding of matter. Behavioral and physical adaptations are examined in relation to the life needs of animals. The notion of living systems is further explored in aquatic and terrestrial food chains and diversity in ecosystems. Patterns in the natural world are demonstrated in terms of the phases of the moon, tides, seasonal changes, the water cycle, and animal and plant life cycles. Geological concepts are introduced through the investigation of the components of soil.

The standards for third-grade students include an introduction to the heritage and contributions of the peoples of ancient China, Egypt, Greece, Rome, and the West African empire of Mali. Students should continue developing map skills and demonstrate an understanding of basic economic and civics concepts. Students will examine the social, cultural, and political characteristics of major ancient world cultures. Students will recognize that many aspects of ancient cultures served as the foundation for modern governments, customs, traditions, and perspectives.