• ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS

    Reading

    • reads grade-level text fluently and accurately
    • explains how one or more characters develop throughout the plot
    • explains a theme and how it develops
    • explains different characters’ perspectives
    • identifies types of poems: free verse, rhymed verse, haiku, and limerick
    • explains how text features contribute to the meaning
    • identify the text structures of chronology, comparison, and cause/effect
    • identifies the central idea and explains how details support that idea
    • explains the development of an author’s purpose
    • identifies an author’s claim and explains how an author uses evidence to support the claim
    • identifies and explains metaphors, personification, and hyperbole in texts
    • makes inferences to support comprehension
    • summarizes a text to enhance comprehension
    • contrasts how two authors present information on the same topic or theme

    Communication

    • writes in cursive all upper-and lowercase letters
    • engages in collaborative discussions
    • uses appropriate voice and tone when speaking and writing
    • cites evidence to explain and justify reasoning
    • presents information orally in a logical sequence with nonverbal cues (ex. posture, tone, expression), appropriate volume, and clear pronunciation
    • writes detailed narratives, opinions, and expository products
    • improves writing by planning, revising, and editing
    • follows the rules of standard English grammar, punctuation, capitalization, and spelling appropriate to the grade level (students are expected to use conventions from previous years):
         conjugates regular and irregular verb tenses
         forms and uses irregular plural nouns
         maintains consistent verb tenses across paragraphs
         uses simple modifiers
         uses prepositions and prepositional phrases
         forms and uses compound sentences
         uses quotation marks with dialogue and direct quotations
         uses commas to indicate direct address
    • conducts research to answer a question, organizing information about the topic, using multiple valid sources

    Vocabulary

    • identifies and applies knowledge of common Greek and Latin roots, base words, and affixes to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words in grade-level content
    • uses context clues, figurative language, word relationships, reference materials, and/or background knowledge to determine the meaning of multiple-meaning and unknown words and phrases, appropriate to 3rd grade
    • uses grade-level academic vocabulary appropriately in speaking and writing

    Ideas for Helping Your Child at Home

    • Read to and with your child daily using a variety of texts.
    • Encourage discussions at mealtimes, in the car, etc.
    • Involve your child in family chores.
    • Encourage your child to respond to text through writing and drawing to show understanding.
    • Take your child to the library.
    • Make a variety of text available to your child at home

  • MATHEMATICS

    Number Sense Operations

    • reads and writes numbers from 0 to 10,000 using standard form, expanded form, and word form
    • composes and decomposes four-digit numbers in multiple ways using thousands, hundreds, tens, and ones; demonstrates each composition or decomposition using objects, drawings, and expressions or equations
    • plots, orders, and compares whole numbers up to 10,000
    • rounds whole numbers from 0 to 1,000 to the nearest 10 or 100
    • adds and subtracts multi-digit whole numbers using a standard algorithm with procedural fluency
    • explores multiplication of two whole numbers with products from 0 to 144 and related division facts
    • multiplies one-digit whole numbers by a multiple of 10, up to 90, or a multiple of 100, up to 900 with procedural reliability
    • multiplies two whole numbers from 0 to 12 and divides using related facts with procedural reliability

    Fractions

    • represents and interprets unit fractions in the form  as the quantity formed by one part when a whole is partitioned into n equal parts
    • represents and interprets fractions, including fractions greater than one, in the form of   the result of adding the unit fraction   to itself m times
    • reads and writes fractions, including fractions greater than one, using standard form, numeral-word form, and word form
    • plots, orders, and compares fractional numbers with the same numerator or the same denominator
    • identifies equivalent fractions and explains why they are equivalent

    Algebraic Reasoning

    • applies the distributive property to multiply a one-digit number and two-digit number; applies properties of multiplication to find a product of one-digit whole numbers
    • solves one- and two-step real-world problems involving any of four operations with whole numbers
    • restates a division problem as a missing factor problem using the relationship between multiplication and division
    • determines and explains whether an equation involving multiplication or division is true or false
    • determines the unknown whole number in a multiplication or division equation, relating three whole numbers, with the unknown in any position
    • determines and explains whether a whole number from 1 to 1,000 is even or odd
    • determines whether a whole number from 1 to 144 is a multiple of a given one-digit number
    • identifies, creates, and extends numerical patterns

    Measurement

    • selects and uses appropriate tools to measure the length of an object, the volume of liquid within a beaker, and temperature
    • solves real-world problems involving any of the four operations with whole number lengths, masses, weights, temperatures, or liquid volumes
    • using analog and digital clocks, tells and writes time to the nearest minute using a.m. and p.m. appropriately
    • solves one- and two-step real-world problems involving elapsed time

    Geometric Reasoning

    • describes and draws points, lines, line segments, rays, intersecting lines, perpendicular lines, and parallel lines; identifies these in two-dimensional figures
    •  identifies and draws quadrilaterals based on their defining attributes
    • draws line(s) of symmetry in a two-dimensional figure and identifies line-symmetric two-dimensional figures
    • explores area as an attribute of a two-dimensional figure by covering the figure with unit squares without gaps or overlaps; finds areas of rectangles by counting unit squares
    • finds the area of a rectangle with whole-number side lengths using a visual model and a multiplication formula
    • solves mathematical or real-world problems involving the perimeter and area of rectangles with whole-number side lengths using a visual model and a formula
    • solves mathematical or real-world problems involving the perimeter and area of composite figures composed of non-overlapping rectangles with whole-number side lengths

    Data Analysis and Probability

    • collects and represents numerical and categorical data with whole number values using tables, scaled pictographs, scaled bar graphs, or line plots; uses appropriate titles, labels, and units
    • interprets data with whole number values represented with tables, scaled pictographs, circle graphs, scaled bar graphs, or line plots by solving one- and two-step problems

     

    Ideas for Helping Your Child at Home

    • Engage your child in situations that require thinking and problem-solving
    • Ask your child to share the strategies s/he used when solving problems
    • Have your child measure and weigh various objects and then order them according to these measurements
    • Play games with your child that require using critical thinking skills such as card games, checkers, Connect Four, and so on
    • Using various geometric two-dimensional shapes, have your child build other two-dimensional shapes and vice versa
    • Ask your child to do some of the hands-on activities s/he is doing in class with you

  • SCIENCE

    The Nature of Science

    • raises questions about the natural world, investigates them individually and in teams through free exploration and systematic investigations, and generates appropriate explanations based on those explorations
    • recognizes that scientists question, discuss, and check each other’s evidence and explanations
    • infers based on observation
    • recognizes that scientists use models to help understand and explain how things work

    Earth and Space Science

    • identifies the Sun as a star that emits energy; some of it in the form of light
    • recognizes that the Sun appears large and bright because it is the closest star to Earth
    • explores the Law of Gravity by demonstrating that gravity is a force that can be overcome
    • demonstrates that radiant energy from the Sun can heat objects and when the Sun is not present, heat may be lost

    Physical Science

    • measures and compares the mass and volume of solids and liquids
    • compares materials and objects according to properties such as size, shape, color, texture, and hardness
    • describes the changes water undergoes when it changes state through heating and cooling by using familiar scientific terms such as melting, freezing, boiling, evaporation, and condensation
    • recognizes that energy can cause motion or create change
    • investigates, observes, and explains that heat is produced when one object rubs against another, such as rubbing one’s hands together

    Life Science

    • describes structures in plants and their roles in food  production, support, water, and nutrient transport, and reproduction
    • classifies animals into major groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, arthropods, vertebrates, and invertebrates, those having live births and those which lay eggs) according to their physical characteristics and behaviors
    • describes how animals and plants respond to changing seasons
    • recognizes that plants use energy from the Sun, air, and water to make their own food

  • SOCIAL STUDIES

    American History

    • analyzes primary and secondary resources
    • utilizes technology resources to gather information from primary and secondary sources

    Geography

    • knows the world in spatial terms by reviewing basic map elements, labeling the continents and oceans of the world, and using maps to identify different types of scale to measure distances between two places
    • knows countries and commonwealths in North America and the Caribbean
    • identifies and labels states of the United States
    • describes the climate, vegetation, and natural resources of the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean
    • explains how the environment influences settlement patterns
    • compares cultural characteristics of citizens of North America

    Economics

    • lists the characteristics of money
    • recognizes buyers and sellers interact to exchange goods and services
    • distinguishes between currencies used in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean

    Civics and Government

    • understands the foundations of local government, law, and the American political system
    • knows how citizens can participate in civic and political actions
    • describes the structure and function of government at the local level

    Ideas for Helping Your Child at Home

    • Study maps and their features with your child
    • Learn and explore the United States (location, capital, landmarks, and climate)
    • Talk to your child about local government and its functions
    • Discuss current events with your child