3rd Grade

The Arts provide opportunity for students to explore ideas and express thoughts and emotions.Over their time in the Beginning and Lower School, they develop skills in music, woodshop, and visual arts.

Woodshop

In the woodshop, students develop general shop and safety skills with hammers, saws, and drills. They practice proper ergonomic use of hand tools including body position, alignment to work, and repetitive body logistics. Students engage in group and independent projects attending to planning, material selection, step by step sequencing of construction, artistic finishing, and clean up practices.

Visual Arts

First through fifth graders visit the Art Barn to explore the visual arts. Inspired by other artists, the outdoors, and their own imaginations they engage across mediums including drawing, painting, and building with clay, sewing, and collage.

Music

Based in the Orff music education tradition, music provides time for students to express themselves through sounds and movement. Inspired by artists across cultures and by their own musicality, students have the opportunity to practice both ensemble and individual musical skills. They learn concepts of rhythm, tone, and pitch by playing instruments such as the xylophone, glockenspiel, and marimba.

Building on practices developed in the previous year, third graders expand their abilities and interest in literacy with more challenging fiction and nonfiction texts, and with the addition of reading literature circles, independent writing projects, and reading and writing conferences.

Reading

Third graders engage in a variety of reading approaches throughout the year: reading aloud, shared reading, guided reading, independent reading, literature circles, and reading conferences. Students read and explore chapter books, picture books, nonfiction, and poetry, and encourage discussion. Children are challenged and supported as they develop fluent, expressive and analytical reading skills while gaining access to texts at and beyond their reading ability.

Writing

Throughout the year students are guided in specific writing tools, concepts, and techniques. The third grade writing program includes mini lessons, independent writing, writers’ circles, and writing conferences. Different types of writing are modeled from expository and narrative to poetry. Students learn the importance of supporting details and expressing their ideas in an clear and organized way, as well as working on spelling, capitalization and punctuation. Teachers offer personalized feedback about organizing ideas, the writing process, spelling, punctuation, grammar, and story elements.

Word Study

The focus is on building morphological awareness, which research demonstrates is a strong predictor of reading and spelling ability. Additionally, students focus on spelling while participating in a writers’ circle during the editing phase of the writing process.

Students develop their communication skills by explaining and justifying their reasoning as well as learning from other's strategies and ways of thinking through a problem. Students explore multiplication and division, and start to become fluent with their multiplication and division facts. They also investigate fractions as numbers and equivalent amounts. Students develop their communication skills by explaining and justifying their reasoning as well as learning from other's strategies and ways of thinking through a problem. The emphasis is on understanding the math concepts and developing flexible thinking skills to solve problems efficiently.

Big Ideas in Third Grade

• Multiplication and Division: strategies, implications, and fluency
• Fractions as Numbers
• Add and Subtract within 1,000 Fluently: using place value understanding and algorithms
• Measuring Length, Time, Liquid, Volume, and Weight
• Two Dimensional Shapes and Perimeter

First through fifth grade students study either Mandarin Chinese or Spanish. During their time in the Beginning and Lower School they acquire cultural understanding and build a foundation for language acquisition and fluency. Students are immersed in situations where they develop language skills by drawing on their own experiences to engage in conversations with the teacher and peers. Through movement, song, play, art, conversation, and oral and written activities they begin to learn to listen, speak, read and write in their studied language. 

Students are empowered to develop their own investigatable questions, driving their curiosity and exploration as they conduct experiments and uncover answers through active inquiry and discovery. Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) Science and Engineering Practices are used to promote deeper understanding and engagement in scientific learning. Throughout the year, they engage in studies of physical science, life science, earth and space science, and engineering and technology. 

Questions explored in third grade include

• What can water do? What are the properties of water?
• How does water connect our Earth’s systems?
• Why are salmon important to our community and watershed?
• What happens when different objects interact with one another?
• What are forces? How do forces affect motion?

Third graders begin the year by learning how to collaborate and interact together in a positive way, and learn about social studies locally. We work together on classroom agreements, and on learning about themselves and other students. Identity work is done through various means, (e.g., literature studies, poetry writing, and class discussions) to help us better understand ourselves and the people in our community.

Students then think about what it takes to make a community thrive. We then begin to shift our focus with an overarching theme of Water. Students study watersheds, local water connections, human interactions with water and the water cycle. Students develop skills to engage in inquiry projects throughout the year. This work begins with students asking questions about a topic of study and then researching and investigating to find answers to those questions. This occurs through field experiences, reading, learning from experts observations, discussions, and more. Students then share their learning with others in a variety of ways.

Our holistic approach to wellness helps children develop habits for healthy living that will last across their lives. Children develop skills across four domains:

Physical

• Moving body is various ways; developing gross motor skills
• Understanding what helps a body perform well

Mental

• Noticing what causes emotions and stress
• Developing a toolbelt of strategies to regulate emotions and stress

Intellectual

• Trying new activities
• Using strategies in games
• Reflecting on progress

Social

• Working with others in productive ways
• Being a good sport
• Showing appreciation for others