Third Grade Curriculum
Below is a brief outline of the Third Grade Curriculum
To find a more detailed curriculum please visit
http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/
Reader’s Workshop
Students will be exposed to a wide variety of literature as they read books that cover many
literary genres; biographies, historical fiction, fairy tales, mysteries, science, and social studies,
as well as a choice of fiction books. The students will be participating in the Readers’ Workshop
program which consists of focus lessons that model a reading strategy (below), as well as one to
one conferring with the teacher, guided reading groups, strategy groups, and literature circles.
The Students will learn to talk about books while improving their reading comprehension and
reading fluency.
● Retelling (Main Character, Settings, Problem, Solution, Theme) Students’ written retells
must be clear, well organized and pinpoint major events only.
● Making Connections (Text to World, Text to Self, Text to Text) Students must, in
writing, describe the connections they used to to better understand the text and in what
exact way the connection helped them understand.
● Monitoring for Meaning – Students must use context clues to find the meaning of
unknown words, understand figurative language, correct errors while reading, and use
sounds to decode unknown words.
● Making Inferences – Students must draw conclusions about character and plot
development, make predictions of what will happen next, and understand why characters
make certain decisions. Students should always use evidence directly from the text to
support all thinking.
● Determining Importance (Nonfiction) – Students will be able to read various nonfiction
texts to decipher what is the main idea and the supporting details.
● Asking Questions (Thick and Thin Questions) –Students will ask
● Thick questions that show they are thinking of about character and story development.
● Summarizing – Students will be able to summarize nonfiction texts in small paragraphs.
Word Study
Word Study, a component of Readers’ Workshop, is the study of spelling, new vocabulary,
word meaning, and word structure. The goal of a word study program is to improve everyday
spelling and understand written language.
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New vocabulary
Phonetic families
Commonly misspelled words
High frequency words
Compound words
Contractions
Synonyms
Antonyms
Homonyms
Prefixes
Suffixes
Root words
Nouns
Verbs
Adjectives
Writer’s Workshop
Like Readers workshop, students will participate in a focus lesson that models a specific
writing skill or concept. Students will then practice this skill or concept into their own writing.
Students will be brainstorming, creating a rough draft, revising, and editing to improve their
writing skills in each final piece. Final pieces might include voice, figurative language, and
correct grammar and punctuation.
● Personal Narrative
● Poetry
● Nonfiction Pieces
Math
The following is a list of units that the students will be participating throughout the year.
● Place Value and Numbers (patterns, rounding, word problems)
● Addition and Subtraction with Regrouping (algebra, word problems)
● Multiplication and Division (facts, word problems)
● Fractions
● Data and Probability
● Measurement – Inches, Yards, Feet, Centimeters, Area, Perimeter
● Geometry – Lines and Shapes
● Problem Solving
Social Studies
Students will learn and discuss the following
● The Wampanoag People
● The First European Settlers to the New World
● The Early History of Massachusetts.
● The History of Holden
● History and significance of major American Holidays
Science
● Lifecycles (frog, butterfly, plants)
● Traits of Plants and Animals
● Animal Adaptations
● Solar System
● Matter
● Engineering