Third Grade Curriculum

Religion
The third grade curriculum presents the main truths that Catholics believe and express in the Creed. Your child is learning to understand that he or she belongs to a faith community—the Church. Your child is helped to develop a clearer, deeper faith by learning about God as revealed in creation, in God’s dealings with the Chosen People, and in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. 

English Language Arts
In grade three, students will build important reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills. They will think, talk, and write about what they read in a variety of articles, books, and other texts. In their writing, students will pay more attention to organizing information, developing ideas, and supporting these ideas with facts, details, and reasons.  At this level, students learn the basic structure of a research report and how to express an opinion about a topic.  They continue to develop their understanding of the conventions of the English language through grammar study.  Students continue to develop good penmanship by routinely practicing cursive handwriting.

Mathematics
In grade three, students will continue to build their concept of numbers, developing an understanding of fractions as numbers. Multiplication facts are learned and memorized.  They will explore the concepts behind multiplication and division and apply problem-solving skills and strategies for multiplying and dividing numbers up through 100 to solve word problems. Students will also make connections between the concept of the area of a rectangle and multiplication and addition of whole numbers.  The learning to measuring weights and volumes as well as how to represent and interpret data in charts, graphs, and tables.

Social Studies
In Social Studies, students learn about communities around the globe. Students bring with them knowledge about their community. In this course, students make comparisons across time and space, examining different communities and their cultures. Culture includes social organization, customs and traditions, language, arts and literature, religion, forms of government, and economic systems.

Science
In grade three students explore forces and interactions such as the cause and effect relaionships of electricity and magnatism.  Students also learn about life cycles of organism and well as animals adaptations and variations.  They explore fossils and habitats, weather, climate, and practice the engineering design process.