3rd Grade

The skills mastered through self-direction in second grade are expanded in third grade as students develop greater independence and responsibility. Peer collaboration and small group learning experiences add a new dimension to the learning process. Teachers guide their students through an engaging, rigorous, standards-based curriculum. Third grade students are active participants rather than passive recipients of knowledge, whether it is a science investigation, a math challenge driven by a real-world problem, or a re-enactment of the Western Expansion.


CURRICULUM

Language Arts
READING Units of Study:

• Building a Reading Life
• Reading to Learn: Grasping Main Ideas and Text
• Structures
• Character Studies
• Research Clubs

WRITING Units of Study:

• Crafting True Stories
• The Art of Information Writing
• Changing the World: Persuasive Speeches, Petitions, and Editorials
• Once Upon a Time: Adapting and Writing Fairy Tales
• Opinion, information, and narrative writing

Math

• Solving Multiplication and Division Problems
• Collecting, Representing, Analyzing Data
• Place Value and the Number System to 1,000
• Adding and Subtracting 2-digit and 3-digit Numbers
• Geometry and Linear Measurement
• Fractions

• Building Community
• Geography and Mapping Skills
• Walnut Creek History and Government
• Native Americans and Cultural Regions
• Westward Movement

• Carrying Out Investigations
• Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information
• Supporting Scientific Arguments With Evidence
• Life Science: Structures of Life
• Physical Science: Matter and Motion
• Earth Science: Water, Weather, and Climate Patterns