Third grade is an important transitional year for students. Children start putting the learning pieces together to take on more complicated assignments. They will learn how to work more independently on assignments and develop study skills that will help prepare them for the upper grades.

This year in reading students shift from “learning to read” to “reading to learn.”  Students will participate in small group reading instruction where they will practice important skills and strategies in which good readers use. They will also learn how to analyze various types of text as well as answer comprehension questions based on a piece of text.

Students will continue to use the mechanics and skills developed in the primary grades to compose various writing pieces. When writing, they will be asked to take more responsibility in the writing process, including revising, editing and proofreading. This year they will also focus on adding details and building upon what they have learned prior.

Math becomes much more challenging in third grade. Students work with larger whole numbers and will solve word problems that require more than one step. They will be asked to do more math work on paper and explain their thinking.

In science, students will explore concepts of energy, matter, cycles in nature, life processes and living systems. Students will use their previous knowledge about observation and investigation to conduct various science experiments, such as flubber.

Third grade social studies lessons begin to expand children’s view of the world. They will explore the world around them as they learn about geography, economics, government, citizenship, and the history of ancient civilizations and their contributions to our world. During our economics unit, students will participate in a mini-economy in order to demonstrate their understanding of the unit and gain a better understanding of how these concepts are applied in real life.