3rd Grade

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW

 
RELIGION
  • Christ Our Life: (We Believe/New Evangelization Edition)
    • God Calls Us to Faith
    • God is Great and Good
    • God’s Plan is a Plan of Love
    • Jesus is with Us on Our Way
LANGUAGE ARTS
  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Journeys (ELA/Literacy program aligned to the Common Core ELA Standards)

Encompasses:

    • Vocabulary, Vocabulary Strategies
    • Word Study
    • Grammar
    • Spelling
    • Close Reader
    • Writing Handbook
  • 3 Structured Writing Assignments:  Narrative, Descriptive, Informational
  • Literature:  Charlotte’s Web, Sarah, Plain and Tall, Stuart Little, There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom
  • Figurative Language
  • Accelerated Reader Program — Personalized goals for independent reading practice
 
MATHEMATICS
  • McGraw-Hill, My Math (aligned to Common Core Math Standards)
    • Numbers and Operations in Base Ten:  Place Value/Addition/Subtraction
    • Operations and Algebraic Thinking:  Multiplication/Division/Properties/Equations
    • Numbers and Operations:  Fractions
    • Measurement and Data:  Measurement/Data/Perimeter/Area
    • Geometry
 
SOCIAL STUDIES
  • Houghton Mifflin, Communities
    • Community and Geography
    • America’s Early Communities
    • People Move from Place to Place
    • Community Government
    • Making Economic Choices
    • Celebrating People and Cultures

SCIENCE

Students in third grade develop an understanding of key concepts through hands-on lab experiences to help them make sense of the world around them. The NGSS performance expectations in third grade science blend the core ideas with scientific and engineering practices as well as crosscutting concepts to support students in developing usable knowledge to explain real-world phenomena in scientific terms. In the third grade performance expectations, students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in asking questions and defining problems; developing and using models, planning and carrying out investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and designing solutions, engaging in argument from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.

There are eight science disciplinary core ideas in 3rd-grade science:

  • Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
  • From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
  • Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
  • Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
  • Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
  • Earth’s Systems
  • Earth and Human Activity
  • Engineering and Design

 

ENRICHMENT CURRICULUM

 
FIELD TRIPS
  • Tanaka Farms
  • Apple Store
  • Heritage Hill
  • Laguna Beach Art Museum & culminating art activity
  • Segerstrom
  • Planetarium
  • Pacific Marine Mammal Rescue
  • Irvine Outdoor Ranch
 
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
  • Movement concepts
  • Social skills
  • Team building
  • Flexibility
  • Locomotor Movement
  • Manipulative skills
  • Fitness Concepts
  • Healthy choices
  • Dance
 
ART
  • Perceive and describe rhythm and movement in works of art and in the environment.
  • Describe how artists use tints and shades in painting.
  • Identify and describe how foreground, middle ground, and background are used to create the illusion of space.
  • Paint or draw a landscape, seascape, or cityscape that shows the illusion of space
  • Some Projects include:
    • Sculpture: clay assemblage and mixed media
    • Mask Making – Cultural Masks with Paper Mache
    • Acrylic Painting of Saint of Choice
    • Picasso Portraits of friend using drawing and perspective
    • Clay animals using Pinch Pot egg forms
    • Native American blanket scaled drawings showing patterns
    • Drawing Shade and shadow a ball with a cast shadow on a table.
    • Introduce complementary colors.

Lego Person Self Portrait

Overlapping and intersecting line study

MUSIC
  • Listen to, analyze, and describe music.
  • Apply vocal and instrumental musical skills.
  • Sing and memorize songs from diverse cultures.
  • Read and notate rhythms and notes.
  • Understand the historical contributions in cultural dimensions of music.
 
SPANISH
  • Hola! McGraw Hill
    • Numbers 0 through 1,000
    • Greetings
    • Interrogative words
    • Classroom vocabulary
    • Introduction to gender/noun agreement
    • Introduction to definite/indefinite articles
    • Introduction to plural forms of nouns and adjectives
    • Introduction to adjective/noun agreement
    • Colors with geometric shapes
    • Days of the week and months of the year
    • Basic use of the word SER
    • Basic use of the word IR
    • Expressing likes and dislikes
    • Expressions with GUSTAR
 
TECHNOLOGY
  • Internet Safety and Digital Citizenship — Online Safety, Cyberbullying, Copyright, Social Networking