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Third Grade Overview

Between nine and ten, children experience a significant change in consciousness. They awaken to a greater sense of identity. They learn the impermanence of life and death. Common themes are testing limits, finding their place, seeking real knowledge (how to build a house or tend to an animal) and working to protect their own inner space. To nurture this journey, along with traditional academic progress, our curriculum includes: story interpretation, recitation, cursive letters, form drawing, stage performance and the recorder.

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3rd Grade Curriculum at a Glance

MAIN LESSSON BLOCKS

Language Arts/History: Hebrew Stories/Creation stories

Math: Measurement: Time, Weight, Length, & Money

Science/Practical Activities: Farming, Shelters, Clothing

Class Play

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3rd Grade Curriculum in Detail

LANGUAGE ARTS

  • Reading: Reading Groups provide practice with reading aloud, comprehension, and writing

  • Writing: Main lesson retellings, free renderings, descriptive paragraphs, “sequence renditions” (We did this, then….”), thank you notes, friendly letters, invitations, greeting cards, etc. Students proofread for punctuation/capitalization. First research report: My Shelter Project

  • Vocab/Spelling: Weekly spelling lists and quizzes related to spelling rules, phonics rules, and conventions. Work with homonyms, synonyms, antonyms, syllabication, and alphabetizing

  • Grammar: Introduction to naming, doing, and describing words and the four types of sentences

  • Speech Work: Poetry and verse recitations and the Class Play build confidence in public speaking

  • Handwriting: Continued practice with cursive and print, with attention to letter formation, spacing, consistency, and proper use of lower and uppercase letters

MATH

  • Consolidation of addition and subtraction skills, with bigger numbers and/or long columns

  • Introduction to different forms of measurement: time, weight, length, and money

  • Memorization of multiplication tables: 2 x 4 = 8, etc. and learning double-digit multiplication

  • Introduction to short division and division facts associated with multiplication facts

  • Continued practice counting and writing numbers up into the thousands

  • Continued work with number patterns, story problems, graphing & math games

  • Practice with rounding and estimating

  • Introduction to prime, composite, and square numbers

  • Identification of operation needed to solve word problems

SCIENCE/PRACTICAL ACTIVITIES

  • Farming and gardening: soils, composting, planting, harvesting

  • Fiber arts: spinning, weaving, cloth dyeing

  • Cooking & baking

FORM DRAWING

  • Continued development of hand-eye coordination

  • Advanced midline forms, symmetry, spatial relationships

  • Handwriting practice

FOREIGN LANGUAGE: SPANISH & CHINESE

  • Continued development of listening comprehension, vocabulary, and speaking ability through listening and following, question/answer activities, songs, poems, rhymes, movement exercises, and games

  • New vocabulary includes higher numbers, calendar words, fruits and vegetables, etc.

  • Speaking develops through repetition and recitations.

PAINTING

  • Form out of colors

  • Landscape development

MUSIC

  • Rounds and partner songs, call and response

  • Introduction of diatonic recorders mid-year

  • Introduction to music notation and theory

GAMES

  • Cooperative tag games using larger spaces

  • Running games, ball games, stilts, tumbling

  • Ball and Frisbee-handling skills

  • Yoga

  • Work on reacting quickly to changing situations, waiting for turns, safety

  • Sportsmanship

HANDWORK

  • Crocheting: chain, single, double, & triple crochet; straight crocheting; circular crocheting

  • Projects: recorder case, potholder, mouse, penguin, apple, lion, and many more!

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