Grade 3 Curriculum

 

English Language Arts

 

Reading Literature

• Describe characters in a story
• Determine the meaning of words and phrases in text
• Refer to parts of poems, drama and stories when writing
• Distinguish personal point of view from narrator or characters
• Explain how illustrations contribute to the meaning of the story
• Compare and contrast themes, topics, and events across texts

 

Reading Informational Texts

• Answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text
• Describe details in a text using sequence and cause and effect
• Use text features to locate information on a specific topic
• Compare point of view from that of the author
• Use information from illustrations and words in texts to demonstrate understanding
• Compare and contrast important information from two texts

 

Foundational Skills

• Identify and understand prefixes and suffixes
• Decode multisyllabic words
• Read irregularly spelled words
• Read fluently with accuracy, appropriate rate and expression
• Use context to understand vocabulary

 

Writing

• Write opinion pieces
• Write informative texts
• Write narrative texts
• Begin using organizational tools to write for a purpose
• Begin to plan, revise and edit for conventions
• Use technology to produce and publish writing (includes keyboarding)
• Conduct short research projects
• Take notes and sort important information into categories

 

Speaking and Listening

• Engage effectively in discussions (partners and groups)
• Determine main ideas and details from a read aloud text
• Report on a topic or text
• Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker

 

Language

• Use grammar and conventions in speaking, writing, and spelling
• Clarify the meaning of unknown words, multiple-meanings and phrases
• Use reference materials to check for spelling
• Demonstrate understanding of similes, metaphors, idioms antonyms, synonyms, etc

 

Social Studies

 

How Geography Influences Community Location and Development

• Determine the relationships between human settlement and geography
• Describe how various communities have adapted to existing environments and how other communities have modified the environment
• Analyze ways that cultures use, maintain, and preserve the physical environment

 

Cultural Factors that Shape a Community

• Evaluate key factors that determine how a community develops
• Explain how selected indigenous cultures of the Americas have changed over time

 

Principles of Civic Responsibility in Classroom, Community, and Country

• Describe the rights and responsibilities inherent in being a contributing member of a community
• Identify ways community needs are met by government
• Apply principles of civic responsibility

 

Science

 

Earth & Space Science
ESS1- Represent data to describe weather conditions
ESS2- Describe climates in different regions of the world
ESS3- Make a claim about a solution to a weather-related hazard

 

Physical Science
PS1- Conduct an investigation on the effect of balanced and unbalanced
forces
PS2- Make observations and measurements of an object’s motion
PS3- Investigate relationships of electric and magnetic interactions
between objects
PS4- Define a simple design solution using magnets

 

Life Science
LS1- Provide evidence that plants and animals have inherited traits
LS2- Explain how traits can be influenced by the environment
LS3- Explain why some animals form groups
LS4- Explain how variations in characteristics affect different species
LS5- Provide evidence about how specific organisms survive in particular
habitats
LS6- Make a claim about the merit of a solution about a problem caused
when the environment changes
LS7- Analyze and interpret data from fossils
LS8- Develop models to describe unique life cycles

 

Mathematics

 

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

• Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division
• Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division
• Multiply and divide within 100
• Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic

 

Number and Operations in Base Ten

• Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic

 

Number and Operations – Fractions

• Develop understanding of fractions as numbers

 

Measurement and Data

• Solve problems involving measurement and estimation of intervals of time, liquid volumes, and masses of objects
• Represent and interpret data
• Geometric measurement: understand concepts of area and related area to multiplication and to addition
• Geometric measurement: recognize perimeter as an attribute of plane figures and distinguish between linear and area measures

 

Geometry

• Reason with shapes and their attributes

 

Religion

 

Understanding of Core Catholic Beliefs

• Discover that God speaks through the Bible and the Church
• Reflect on meaning that God is holy and everlasting
• Discus that Mary is the mother of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit
• Retell that God sent His only Son to save all people from sin
• Explain the Paschal Mystery (life, death, resurrection, ascension of Jesus)
• Reflect that through faith and baptism they join with Jews and the Church and share in the mission of the Church
• Celebrate the feasts recognized by the Catholic Church
• Explain the Paschal Mystery

 

Worship and the Sacraments

• Explain the sacraments of initiation: Baptism, Eucharist, Confirmation
• Receive sacraments of Reconciliation and Eucharist
• Know responses in Mass liturgy
• Experience individual and communal prayer
• Recite prayers (Apostles Creed, Acts of Faith, Hope, Love)
• Read, interpret, and apply Scripture

 

Liturgical Calendar

• Describe seasons of Advent and Christmas
• Describe seasons of Lent, Holy Week, and Easter
• Describe Ordinary Time

 

Social Justice and Service

• Demonstrate respect and dignity for all creation
• Explain conscience
• Actively participate in class and individual service projects
• Identify needs of the world and ways we can help