3rd Grade

In District 68, we offer students a comprehensive educational experience that provides students with a range of programs and services to meet their educational needs. This grade level link is designed to provide you with an overview of the curriculum we offer our students.

Reading/Language Arts Curriculum

District 68 uses Balanced Literacy as the instructional framework during the reading instructional block. Click on the Balanced Literacy link for an in-depth description of Balanced Literacy as well as the components found within the Balanced Literacy block.  Reading instruction takes place for 90-minutes daily.

Common Core State Standards

Illinois, along with 45 other states, adopted the Common Core State Standards to be used to guide teachers in what students at each grade-level need to learn in English/Language Arts.  Each set of grade-level standards consists of literature, informational text as well as listening and speaking standards.  The primary grades have standards for foundational skills.  Grade-level standards build on knowledge and skills learned the previous year and create a stair-step progression across the K-8 instructional years.

Reading: Literature

 

  • 3.RL.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
  • 3.RL.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson, or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
  • 3.RL.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
  • 3.RL.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, distinguishing literal from nonliteral language.
  • 3.RL.5 Refer to parts of stories, dramas, and poems when writing or speaking about a text, using terms such as chapter, scene, and stanza; describe how each successive part builds on earlier sections.
  • 3.RL.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the narrator or those of the characters.
  • 3.RL.7 Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting).
  • 3.RL.8 (Not applicable to literature)
  • 3.RL.9 Compare and contrast the themes, settings, and plots of stories written by the same author about the same or similar characters (e.g., in books from a series).
  • 3.RL.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Reading: Informational Text

 

  • 3.RI.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
  • 3.RI.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
  • 3.RI.3 Describe the relationship between a series of historical events, scientific ideas or concepts, or steps in technical procedures in a text, using language that pertains to time, sequence, and cause/effect.
  • 3.RI.4 Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
  • 3.RI.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
  • 3.RI.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.
  • 3.RI.7 Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
  • 3.RI.8 Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).
  • 3.RI.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
  • 3.RI.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2–3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

Reading: Foundational Skills

 

  • 3.RF.1 (There is not a grade 3 standard for this concept. Please see preceding grades for more information.)
  • 3.RF.2 (There is not a grade 3 standard for this concept. Please see preceding grades for more information.)
  • 3.RF.3 Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
  • 3.RF.4 Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

Writing

 

  • 3.W.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
  • 3.W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
  • 3.W.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
  • 3.W.4 With guidance and support from adults, produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
  • 3.W.5 With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, and editing. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grade 3.)
  • 3.W.6 With guidance and support from adults, use technology to produce and publish writing (using keyboarding skills) as well as to interact and collaborate with others.
  • 3.W.7 Conduct short research projects that build knowledge about a topic.
  • 3.W.8 Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories.
  • 3.W.9 (Begins in grade 4)
  • 3.W.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Speaking and Listening

 

  • 3.SL.1 Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.
  • 3.SL.2 Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a text read aloud or information presented in diverse media and formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally.
  • 3.SL.3 Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate elaboration and detail.
  • 3.SL.4 Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking clearly at an understandable pace.
  • 3.SL.5 Create engaging audio recordings of stories or poems that demonstrate fluid reading at an understandable pace; add visual displays when appropriate to emphasize or enhance certain facts or details.
  • 3.SL.6 Speak in complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. (See grade 3 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.)

Language

 

  • 3.L.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
  • 3.L.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
  • 3.L.3 Use knowledge of language and its conventions when writing, speaking, reading, or listening.
  • 3.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 3 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies.
  • 3.L.5 Demonstrate understanding of word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
  • 3.L.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal relationships (e.g., After dinner that night we went looking for them).

Link to Common Core State Standards Website:  http://www.corestandards.org

Comprehensive Curricular Resource

During the 2012-13 school year, District 68 underwent a R/LA curriculum review.  After much research and numerous curriculum pilots, the Journeys Common Core Edition was selected as our comprehensive curriculum resource.


Mathematics

Math in Focus is a rigorous curriculum that is well-aligned to the Common Core Standards.  Students are exposed to fewer mathematical concepts in great depth at each grade-level.  Like the Common Core Standards, Math in Focus curriculum aligns to content standards and embeds mathematical practice standards throughout the curriculum.  This rigorous curriculum provides children with rich educational opportunities through direct instruction by the classroom teacher where visual models and problem-solving are used regularly.  Children also have time for guided practice, and differentiated grouping practices.  Such approaches help to ensure the needs of all children are being met during their daily 60-minute math block.  Throughout the year, children learn both the how and why of mathematics and in doing so, learn math concepts and skills that will help them demonstrate mastery.

Reference material: 
Overview of the parent presentation on Math in Focus (Fall 2011)


Scope and Sequence of key concepts: 

  • Number Sense and Numeration (Whole Numbers, Fractions, Place Value Estimation)
  • Understanding Operations (Addition, Subtraction,  Multiplication, Division)
  • Geometry and Spatial Sense
  • Measurement, Time, and Money
  • Data Analysis and Probability
  • Connections
  • Communication
  • Reasoning 
  • Problem Solving

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

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

Full Standards

Number and Operations in Base Ten

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

Full Standards

Measurement and Data

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

Full Standards

Geometry

  1. Reason with shapes and their attributes.

Full Standards

Mathematical Practices

  1. Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
  2. Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
  3. Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
  4. Model with mathematics.
  5. Use appropriate tools strategically.
  6. Attend to precision.
  7. Look for and make use of structure.
  8. Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Number and Operations—Fractions

  1. Develop understanding of fractions as numbers.

Full Standards


Science

Key Science Themes

Life Science  - Plants and Their Environments

Physical Science - Force and Motion:  Simple Machines

Earth Science - Changing Earth

During the 2013-2014 school year, a science learning team will be launched to evaluate next generation standards.

By the end of 3rd grade, students will be able to:

  • Describe how adaptations help plants survive
  • Investigate the life cycle of gardens, and compare this cycle to prairie  cycles.
  • Investigate the push-pull forces associated with magnets
  • Investigate simple machines
  • Investigate gravity as a force
  • Be introduced to earth changes that shape the planet (e.g., plate movement, earthquakes, volcanoes, erosion)
  • Observe, test and classify rocks by observable properties
  • Describe the rock cycle
  • Identify renewable and non-renewable resources

Social Studies

Significant Question:
Where in the world are we? How are communities around the world alike and different? How do we depend on other communities?

Students will explore the concepts of resources, supply and demand, global trading, diversity, contributions, tech­nological advances, and community by examining these as evidence in the local, national, and global communi­ties. 

By the end of 3rd grade, students will be able to:

  • Understand characteristics common to all communities
  • Compare and contrast different communities including the one in which they live
  • Discuss role and responsibilities of community leaders
  • Understand cultural contributions of groups in the community and the world
  • Identify technological advances that have impacted the community
  • Identify major land forms and oceans (continents, hemispheres and countries)
  • Identify natural resources of specific regions inte­grated with the science curriculum
  • Research information about an environmental problem
  • Differentiate between natural, capital, and human resources
  • Compare prices as they relate to supply and demand
  • Illustrate examples of global trade
  • Use technology (computers, Internet and writing programs) to further develop an understanding of concepts which have been taught

Physical Education and Health

By the end of 3rd grade, students will be able to:

  • Use coordination and balance in modified soccer, floor hockey, basketball, volleyball games, and fitness testing
  • Begin to master specific athletic skills in fitness, soccer, tumbling, gymnastics, dance, floor hockey, circuit training, volleyball, basketball, and track and field
  • Practice social responsibility in gym and around the school
  • Build self-esteem through successful game play
  • Use a variety of motor activities to enhance left and right brain development
  • List choices and activities that positively influence health, illness prevention, and safety
  • Demonstrate respect for others' feelings, rights, and prop­erty
  • Identify roles of school and community members for health related services

Music

By the end of 3rd grade, students will be able to:

  • Demonstrate proper technique while singing
  • Perform, read, notate, and create rhythms using whole, half, quarter, eighth notes and rests
  • Perform rhythmic patterns on xylophones and other percussion instruments to accompany classroom singing
  • Identify the four families of instruments (strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion)
  • Perform simple melodies on the soprano recorder

Art

By the end of 3rd grade, students will be able to:

  • Develop their creative powers and see art as a form of vis­ual communication
  • Develop an appreciation of various significant works of art
  • Analyze spatial concepts and understand visual composi­tion
  • Recognize art elements such as color, line, and texture (warm/cool  colors, lines of various expressions, visual/actual  texture)

Additional Programs and Services

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