Grade Three Overview
Dunn’s Corners School
Grade 3

Welcome to grade three! We are looking forward to an exciting year working with your child. We hope to form a partnership with you with open communication in order to achieve a common goal: that your child will have a happy and successful year of learning and growth.

Please email us, call us at school, or send in a note to share your concerns with us, to let us know what is working well, or if you have any questions. We will try to respond in a timely manner. We hope that this will be a special year as we work together for your child’s success.

Please read through this packet and keep it for future reference. It will give you a brief overview of the third grade curriculum and also explain some of our practices and procedures.

Dunn’s Corners School Behavior Expectations:
•Be Respectful
•Be Responsible
•Be Safe


Reading:
All elementary grades in the district are now teaching reading utilizing the reading workshop model. Students receive a reading mini lesson followed by a period of guided practice and a period of reflection. Reading groups follow the workshop period in which skills are further applied to rich literature. 

Common Core Units of Study for Units of study in Reading for grade 3 are:

·      Narrative Elements

·      Informational Elements

·      Analysis of Informational Texts

·      Analysis of Literary and Narrative Texts

·      Poems, Plays, & Powerful Language

·      Opinions Please

·      Synthesizing Narrative Texts: Author Studies

Monthly reading instruction utilizing Junior Great Books occurs. These text engage students in inquiry based instruction and involves much rich discussion. Students read stories multiple times to analyze the text and revise answers.

Sustained silent reading in class and at least 20 minutes of nightly reading at home ensures that each child reaches the national reading goal. Please make sure reading logs are filled in nightly. 

 

Writing:
This year, third graders will be using the “Being a Writer” program during Writing Workshop. This program aligns with the Common Core State Standards for writing and language. It uses the workshop model to instruct students in writing process, craft, skills, and conventions. Students will hear examples of exemplary writing and will learn about professional writers and how they write. In the beginning of the year, students will learn about being a member of a caring and cooperative writing community, and about the writing process. Students will then repeatedly engage in the cycle of prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, and publishing as they participate in the genre units.

The genre units in the program include:

·      Personal narrative

·      Fictional narrative

·      Expository (or informative) nonfiction

·      Functional (or explanatory) nonfiction

·      Opinion writing

·      Poetry 

Mathematics:
Mathematics is a discipline of connected ideas. Knowledge of a concept or skill is often the foundation, and necessary, for many other aspects within the discipline. New ideas cannot be established of the prerequisite concepts and skills are not well established. For skills, it is essential that relevant practice occurs frequently over time. This has been reinforced by research conducted by learning theorists over the past thirty to forty years. For this reason, mathematics educators have long recommended that the curriculum be organized into careful sequences that allows for development of understanding and mastery of skills.

1.1	Common Core Units of Study Addition and Subtraction to 1,000 and Perimeter
1.2	Building Understanding of Multiplication, Division
1.3	Introducing Area
2.1	Multiplication and Division Within 100
2.2	Understanding Fractions
2.3	Comparing Fractions
3.1	Problem Solving with Multiplication and Division
3.2	Area as It Relates to Addition and Multiplication
3.3	Time, Measurement, and Data
4.1	Solving Two Step Problems
4.2	Perimeter and Polygons

Origo Teaching Stages
Prepare: Students Understand and know prerequisite concepts and skills.
Introduce: Concrete materials and pictorial model are used to introduce new concepts and strategies.
Reinforce: New concepts and strategies are applied in activities and game situations.
Practice: Meaningful experiences are provided to consolidate the strategies and skills.
Extend: Once mastered, the strategies and skills are applied to new contexts and 
situations.

Social Studies:
Themes in Grade Three:
- Introduction to communities, map skills, Native Americans
- Holiday celebrations around the world, famous Black  Americans, famous women in history
- Rural, urban, and suburban communities

Science:
The philosophy of our science curriculum is that children learn science best in a hands-on experimental environment of discovery. Science kits are used to provide students with the opportunity to learn age-appropriate concepts and scientific reasoning skills (observing, measuring, identifying properties, seeking evidence, recognizing patterns and cycles), and develop positive attitudes toward science. Each kit is used for 2-3 months. Writing skills are reinforced as students record their observations.

Science Kits for Grade Three

- Water and Climate
- Structures of Life

The kits have been developed based on research findings about children’s learning. The steps of the learning cycle are:

•Focus: Explore and clarify ideas that children already have about the topic.
•Explore: Enable children to engage in hands-on exploration of objects and scientific phenomena to be investigated.
•Reflect: Encourage children to discuss their observations and to reconcile their ideas.
•Apply: Help children discuss and apply their ideas in new situations.

Cursive Handwriting:
Cursive is being taught as part of our Fundations lessons. The formation of the letters the children are being taught may look slightly different than the cursive their older siblings were taught. Instruction includes correct writing posture, paper and wrist position, and pencil grip. The children follow verbalizations to practice correct letter formation. You will find the cursive alphabet attached for your reference.


Helpful Hints:
•Show genuine interest in your child’s work. This communicates the idea that education is important and encourages your child to do well in school.
•Homework should be done in a quiet, well-lit area that is free from distractions. Homework is the child’s responsibility and to be completed by the child. Your child will not be given any work that cannot be completed independently. 
•Read with your child.
•Review homework with your child.
•Verbally quiz your child to help prepare for a quiz or test, or to review trick words or math facts.