Welcome to third grade, a huge transition in elementary school! Third grade is a time when students gain some independence and are expected to become more responsible for their own learning. In the first week of school we review the school rules and come up with acceptable classroom rules.
Students are taught how to work cooperatively in groups during the year. They are expected to work within many different student groups in a polite and respectful manner.
In language arts students will still read, write, and spell, of course, but the way they do them will start to shift. This year, and increasingly in fourth and fifth grades, kids move from “learning to read” to “reading to learn,” and from “learning to write” to “writing to communicate.”
In math, students will need to have a strong foundation in addition and subtraction before coming to third grade. Math will be easier for those students who know their basic facts well. We will be mastering fractions, place value to the hundred thousands, money, time, graphing, measurement, multiplication and division, just to name a few. Students will be expected to use math skills to problem solve and complete multi-step problems.
Science and social studies will continue to add onto units learned in grades K-2 as well as a few new topics such as Ancient Mali, Greece and Rome, Soil, Erosion, Animal Adaptions, etc. critical thinking and problem solving are incorporated across the third grade curriculum.
