Curriculum Overviews > Third Grade

At The Branch School, the following objectives are taught through an integrated, developmental, hands-on, and in-depth approach that teaches critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperative learning.

• Students read and write more independently than in any previous grade and spend significant blocks of time engaged in reading and writing on their own as well as in assigned tasks and projects.
• Students listen critically to spoken messages, think about their own contributions to discussions, and plan their oral presentations.
• Students read grade-level material fluently and with comprehension.
• Students use root words, prefixes, suffixes, and derivational endings to recognize words.
• Students demonstrate knowledge of synonyms, antonyms, and multi-meaning words.
• Students are beginning to distinguish fact from opinion in texts. During class discussions, third grade students support their ideas and inferences by citing portions of the text being discussed.
• Students read in a variety of genres, including realistic and imaginative fiction, nonfiction, and poetry from classic and contemporary works.
• Students write with more complex capitalization and punctuation such as proper nouns and commas in a series.
• Students write with more proficient spelling of contractions and homonyms.
• Third grade students write longer and more elaborate sentences and organize their writing into larger units of text.
• Students write several drafts to produce a final product.
• Students revise their writing to improve coherence, progression, and logic, and edit final drafts to reflect standard grammar and usage.
• Students master manuscript writing and may begin to use cursive writing.

• Students compare and order fractions and decimals, applying multiplication and division, and developing ideas related to congruence and symmetry.
• Students understand in number, operation, and quantitative reasoning; patterns, relationships, and algebraic thinking; geometry and spatial reasoning; measurement; and probability and statistics.
• Students use algorithms for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division as generalizations connected to concrete experiences; and they concretely develop basic concepts of fractions and decimals.
• Students use appropriate language and organizational structures such as tables and charts to represent and communicate relationships, make predictions, and solve problems.
• Students select and use formal language to describe their reasoning as they identify, compare, and classify shapes and solids; and they use numbers, standard units, and measurement tools to describe and compare objects, make estimates, and solve application problems.
• Students organize data, choose an appropriate method to display the data, and interpret the data to make decisions and predictions and solve problems.

• Electricity
• Sound
• Rocks and Minerals
• Fire Ants
• Ecosystems

• Students study the effects inspiring heroes have had on communities, past and present.
• Students learn about the lives of heroic men and women who made important choices, overcame obstacles, sacrificed for the betterment of others, and embarked on journeys that resulted in new ideas, new inventions, and new communities.
• Students expand their knowledge through the identification and study of people who made a difference, influenced public policy and decision-making, and participated in resolving issues that are important to all people.
• Throughout Grade 3, students develop an understanding of the economic, cultural, and scientific contributions made by individuals.

• Students are exposed to the basic elements of art and explore them in detail through projects that emphasize each specific art principle. Students engage in exciting exploration with a variety of media such as painting, clay, pastels, etc.

• They are read books appropriate to their level as well as given help, if necessary, checking out books.

• Students express themselves through singing and movement, and by playing simple instruments. Children learn to experiment with music concepts, volume, tempo, and sound. They begin to appreciate different types of music. Students attend at least one live concert. They perform several times a year at school-wide events.

• Students learn to empathize with, feel comfortable in, and understand fundamental processes of nature. We do this through a “working wildscape” partly accessible to children on the playground, partly fenced to allow more habitat development, and through horticulture activities from growing vegetables to propagating plants.

• Students acquire the knowledge and skills for movement that provide the foundation for enjoyment, continued social development through physical activity, and access to a physically active lifestyle. Students learn group games as well as sportsmanship.

• Students are taught the importance of peacemaking with their classmates. They learn conflict resolution as well as communication skills. They learn to be life-long peacemakers. In addition, a curriculum on ethical decision-making designed by the Institute for Global Ethics is implemented. It is based on Rushworth Kidder’s book, How Good People Make Tough Choices: Resolving the Dilemmas of Ethical Living.
• Students practice creative thinking through brainstorming solutions to a variety of spontaneous problems.

• Students are immersed in the Spanish language through a Spanish program three times a week.

• Students use engaging, age-appropriate, and challenging software and technology to extend their knowledge and to enrich their learning of curriculum content and concepts. Children learn the basic functions of the computer and related technologies.