Third Grade Curriculum
Third grade is a wonderful year at Mount Alvernia Academy. The curriculum focuses on developing the whole child. Students learn values and skills which enable them to build from their foundation and ready them for the next step. Technology is incorporated into the content area of many subjects. Students focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, and cooperative learning skills all designed to equip them for the 21st century.
Grade three goals for Religion are to nurture each student’s relationship with Jesus. Children are encouraged to respond in prayer, faith, and life. We provide opportunities for children to demonstrate learning and express faith. This focus will allow us to learn, celebrate, share, and live our Catholic faith.
In Math, the third grade student continues working with numbers and equations, working from concrete models to more symbolic mathematical representations. They will understand and demonstrate understanding of classification, patterning, and sequence. Students will review basic addition and subtraction facts. During the year, emphasis is placed on the mastery of basic multiplication and division facts. Students will be investigating number concepts and problem solving strategies. They will able to solve word problems, covering all four basic operations. Students will recognize ways to measure objects, time, and money, and will begin to demonstrate an understanding of data collection, display, and interpretation to understand the relationship of math to everyday experiences. The third grade Reading curriculum enables students to develop as independent and strategic readers. Our goals for reading, English, and writing are taught and reinforced across the curriculum. The students read a variety of literary genres including expository fiction, nonfiction, fiction, fables, legends, and poetry. We emphasize vocabulary development and comprehension skills such as main idea, cause and effect, character, plot and setting, point of view, summarizing, author’s purpose, and making inferences.
Grade three students have the opportunity to see themselves as writers. They implement all the steps of the writing process with weekly writing applications. While writing they are refining their spelling and grammar skills as well. Children review the formation of cursive letters and will transition to using cursive writing in their daily work.
The places we live, our land and resources, old and new communities, community government, holidays, and heroes are the topics learned in the units of third grade Social Studies. The students expand their knowledge of government with a research project on a president as well as a field trip to the Massachusetts State House. We encourage independence in using maps and globes and the integration of reading and writing skills as they relate to social studies.
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