Third Grade Curriculum Guide
THIRD GRADE AT THE ORCHARD SCHOOL
Social-Emotional Learning
Third-graders at The Orchard School develop social-emotional understanding and strategies to support problem-solving and effective conflict resolution. They are guided to express thoughts and listen actively in a variety of groupings. Students also learn about and practice empathy and anger management skills, and build resilience and confidence to advocate for themselves and others. Language Arts and Literacy Third-grade literacy focuses on reading, writing, and presenting. Students study story elements and refine their questioning skills. Both basic skills and critical thinking are supported at each student’s individual, “just right” level. The connection between reading and writing is further developed, and we foster a literate community of various levels across diverse reading and writings. Third-graders will grow as readers by: • Reading and discussing a variety of reading materials in small groups and as a whole class. • Developing strategies and skills for reading fiction and nonfiction. • Analyzing words and developing vocabulary. • Learning and practicing study skills, note-taking, report writing, word processing, and presentation skills. • Reading a variety of materials, including novels, poetry, myths, folklore, reference materials, digital resources, and news magazines. • Reading independently and listening to Read Alouds. Third-graders will grow as writers by: • Expressing themselves through stories, letters, narratives, persuasive pieces, poetry, and research projects to a variety of audiences. • Writing compositions of varying length, ranging from short journal entries to multi- week projects. • Planning, writing a first draft, conferring, revising, editing, and publishing a final copy. • Writing compositions sorted into paragraphs with a beginning, middle, and end.
• Reviewing manuscript handwriting and learning cursive. • Strengthening keyboarding and word processing skills.
• Developing understanding of spelling rules and language mechanics. • Demonstrating increased accuracy of high-frequency spelling words. • Researching topics using vetted internet sites, appropriate library books, and other sources. • Producing a portfolio of writing that contains samples from each type of writing.
THE ORCHARD SCHOOL
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