Children in Grade 3 often begin the year with a sense that they can accomplish anything, and teachers provide an appropriately challenging environment to meet that attitude. More complex math concepts that include all four operations, reading and writing assignments that embrace the children’s increasing ability to revise and improve their work, and a study of the diverse continent of Asia are markers of the third grade classrooms. Greater use of technology—third grade students have their own laptop computers for classroom use—enhances project work. The focus on our local environment expands to include all of San Diego County, past and present. The move to upper elementary includes having assemblies with Grades 4–6, participation in Gillispie’s Science Fair, and the opportunity to serve on Student Council.
Key programs and texts: Handwriting Without Tears; Cursive handwriting; Everyday Math; trade books and literature ; Harcourt Reflections, California Communities; Continent of geographic study – Asia; Second Step
Third Grade Curriculum Benchmarks
By the end of third grade, students will be able to—
- Read independently for information and enjoyment.
- Participate in discussion of shared class reading by questioning and offering opinions.
- Use a variety of reference materials to understand unfamiliar words.
- Read and classify texts according to genre: biography, fiction, nonfiction, poetry.
- Use information from tables, maps, charts to increase understanding of non-fiction text.
- Formulate and support predictions when reading.
- Identify story elements: plot, characters, setting, and theme.
- Distinguish between opinion and fact.
- Deliver oral presentations for an audience.
- Explain and use four writing styles: descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive.
- Write paragraphs with a main idea and supporting details.
- Write short reports and creative pieces.
- Share writing with an audience.
- Revise writing to improve clarity and engage the reader.
- Demonstrate proper capitalization, grammar, and punctuation at third grade level.
- Demonstrate mastery of cursive handwriting.
Mathematics
- Read, write, and identify place value in numbers to 10,000.
- Order and compare whole numbers up to 10,000 using words and symbols.
- Solve addition and subtraction problems with regrouping.
- Count back change in money problems.
- Recall multiplication facts to 10×10; apply them to multiples of 10.
- Solve division problems with 2 digit dividend and 1 digit divisor.
- Determine perimeter, area, weight.
- Represent and compare whole numbers and decimals.
- Measure and compare length to nearest quarter-inch.
- Measure time to nearest minute.
- Solve equations with missing number or operation sign.
- Describe and draw shapes including rectangles, pentagons, hexagons and octagons.
- Identify three-dimensional shapes, lines of symmetry, and parallel lines.
Social Studies
- Locate and identify San Diego city and county on maps of California, United States, and the globe.
- Describe three or more important events in the San Diego area from 1900 to the present.
- Explain the difference between the city of San Diego and San Diego County.
- Summarize the way San Diego county’s unique geography affects its culture.
- Describe the indigenous population of California; explain the ways they used. the natural resources, their attitude toward the land, and some of their customs and traditions.
- Name local historical figures that have promoted the common good.
- List examples of producers in the economy and identify what they produce.
- List the natural resources in our region.
- Locate and identify Asia on maps and globes; locate five Asian countries.
- Compare and contrast historical features of indigenous populations in selected Asian country with those of native American/Indian populations in San Diego County.
- Locate and name significant physical features in Asia.
- Summarize cultural traditions in selected Asian countries.
- Explain the meaning of the term “Eurasia.”
