The third grader is beginning to wonder how to make their way in the world. They are met with a curriculum that presents some practical answers. The purpose of laws is explored in civics. While the study of economics examines the marketplace, trade and both natural and human resources. The science curriculum studies the water cycle, oceans, and freshwater biomes. The relation of plants, oxygen, and photosynthesis is examined. Seasonal changes and the Earth’s rotation around the Sun are also studied.
The work in language arts and writing includes a deepening of the work carried over from the previous year with the formal introduction of basic grammar and punctuation skills. Simple spelling rules and spelling quizzes supplement this growth in writing. The four basic parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs) are examined and the student’s work is to become more comfortable with the proper usage of commas and apostrophes. Learning how to spot a fragment or a run-on sentence introduces the concept of self-editing.
The studies in math are multifaceted in this year. Expanding division and multiplication into their longer format, memorization of the times tables from 1-12 are practiced using both mental and written math practice. The aesthetic quality and the rhythmic nature of numbers are explored most notably in the visible phenomena of time – day and night, the seasons and the lunar cycle. The students continue this study of measurement: linear, liquid, dry and weight via their history and practical use.