3rd Grade Parent Guide
- English Language Arts
- Recommended Books
- Social Studies
- Mathematics
- Science
- Recommended STEM
- Special Education
- English as a New Language
- Library and Media Center
- Physical Education
- Visual Arts
- Music Education
- Educational Links
English Language Arts
In third grade, we blend literature and informative texts to expand your child's understanding of various subjects through activities such as read-alouds, discussions, and literacy-based exercises. By exploring printed and visual texts, we aim to deepen their comprehension and interpretation skills as they tackle more intricate materials. Our approach tailors activities to refine their reading skills while providing diverse, content-rich materials that challenge and engage each student individually. We ensure equitable access to grade-level materials by supporting students with different backgrounds and abilities. Writing development is a key focus, with strategies to plan, revise, and strengthen their work independently and collaboratively. Third graders will explore different writing purposes and tools, including digital ones, to express ideas effectively. Through reading, writing, and discussion, students develop academic language skills, integrating knowledge and technology to enhance learning and communication. Engaging in collaborative discussions and deciphering main ideas from diverse texts, including visual and oral formats, are integral skills we'll cultivate this year.
A Parent’s Guide to the NYS Next Generation ELA and Math Learning Standards
Recommended Books
- Cucumber Quest By Gigi D.G.
- The Last Kids On Earth By Max Brallier
- Princess Princess Ever After By Katie O’neill
- Phoebe And Her Unicorn By Dana Simpson
- Real Friends By Shannon Hale
- The Princess In Black By Shannon Hale
- Mermaid Tales By Debbie Dadey
- Saving The Team: The Kicks By Alex Morgan
- The Chicken Squad By Doreen Cronin
- No. 1 Car Spotter By Atinuke
- Zoey And Sassafras By Asia Citro
- Alvin Ho: Allergic To Girls, School, And Other Scary Things By Lenore Look
- Ellray Jakes Is Not A Chicken By Sally Warner
- Bookmarks Are People Too By Henry Winkler
- Calvin Coconut: Trouble Magnet By Graham Salisbury
- Nikki And Deja By Karen English
- Sweet Music In Harlem By Debbie Taylor
- Xochitl And The Flowers/Xóchitl, La Niña De Las Flores By Jorge Argueta
- Aani And The Tree Huggers By Jeannine Atkins
- As Fast As Words Could Fly By Pamela Tuck
- If Kids Ran The World By Leo And Diane Dillon
- Irene’s Wish By Jerdine Nolen
- Little Melba And Her Big Trombone By Katheryn Russell-Brown
- My Fangtastically Evil Vampire Pet By Mo O’hara And Marek Jagucki
- Baseball Genius By Tim Green And Derek Jeter
- Narwhal And Jelly Book By Ben Clanton
Social Studies
Social Studies is intended to promote civic competence through the integrated study of the social sciences and humanities. The primary purpose of Social Studies is to help young people to develop the ability to make informed and reasoned decisions for the public good as citizens of a culturally diverse, democratic society in an interdependent world. Students will explore these six practices via the overarching theme of Communities Around the World – Learning About People and Places.
As a result of their schooling, students will be able to...
Gathering, Interpreting and Using Evidence
- Develop questions about a world community
- Recognize and use different forms of evidence to make meaning in social studies
- Create an understanding of cultural differences
Chronological Reasoning and Causation
- Explain how events around the world may relate to one another
- Identify causes and effects and how they affect cultures around the world
- Identify patterns of continuity and changes in world communities
Comparison and Contextualization
- Identify a world region by describing a characteristic that places within it have in common
- Identify multiple perspectives by comparing and contrasting points of view in differing world communities
- Recognize the relationship between geography and economics in world communities
Geographic Reasoning
- Ask geographic questions about where places are located
- Distinguish the difference between resources created by nature and humans
- Understand how nature and humans affect communities around the world
Economics and Economic Systems
- Study the use of resources by people and governments in various regions
- Study how diminishing supplies of resources and products will affect governmental decisions
- Identify the variety of resources available in world communities
Civic Participation
-
Demonstrate respect for the rights of others
- Show respect in issues involving difference and conflict
- Identify situations in which social actions are required and suggest actions
Mathematics
Mathematics is a language we use to identify, describe, and investigate the patterns and challenges of everyday living. It deals with numbers, quantities, shapes, and data, as well as numerical relationships and operations. Mathematics is a way of approaching new challenges through investigating, reasoning, visualizing, and problem solving with the goal of communicating the relationships observed and problems solved to others.
As a result of their schooling, students will be able to...
Operations and Algebraic Thinking
- Solve real world problems involving multiplication and division
- Write multiplication and division sentences that express the total number of objects in equal groups (5 groups of 7 = 5 x 7)
- Understand properties of multiplication and division (Commutative, Associative, Identity)
- Fluently multiply and divide single digit numbers
- Solve problems using the four operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division)
- Identify and continue patterns in addition and multiplication tables
Numbers and Operations in Base Ten
- Identify place value through thousands
- Use place value to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100
- Add and subtract within 1,000
- Multiply 1 - digit whole numbers by multiples of 10 (50 x 3 = 150)
Numbers and Operations in Fractions
- Understand that a fraction is a part of a whole
- Write a fraction using a numerator and denominator
- Represent fractions on a number line
- Use symbols to identify and compare fractions
- Express whole numbers as fractions
Measurement and Data
- Tell time to the nearest minute and measure elapsed time
- Measure and estimate liquid volume, mass, and length
- Recognize the area of a plane figure using unit squares
- Relate area to the operations of multiplication and addition
- Solve real world problems involving perimeters of polygons
Geometry
- Recognize and classify attributes of polygons
- Partition shapes into parts with equal areas
A Parent’s Guide to the NYS Next Generation ELA and Math Learning Standards
Science
In third grade, students explore performance expectations that guide them in answering questions related to various scientific concepts. They investigate typical weather patterns worldwide and during different seasons, consider ways to reduce the impact of weather-related hazards, examine the variations in organisms' traits and life cycles, and compare past and present environments. Third-grade performance expectations encompass Disciplinary Core Ideas in physical science, life science, earth and space sciences. Students use data to describe expected weather conditions in specific seasons and make claims about design solutions to mitigate weather-related impacts. They develop an understanding of inherited traits and how the environment influences traits. Students explain how variations in traits within a species provide advantages in survival, finding mates, and reproducing. They also learn about organisms from the past and the changes in environments over time. Understanding the effects of environmental changes on organisms, students recognize that some survive and reproduce, some move to new locations, some adapt to the transformed environment, and some may not survive. Students explore the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on object motion, as well as the cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions. They apply their understanding of magnetic interactions to define and solve simple design problems involving magnets. Crosscutting concepts like patterns, cause and effect, scale, proportion, and quantity, systems and system models, interdependence of science, engineering, and technology, and the influence of engineering, technology, and science on society and the natural world serve as organizing principles. Third-grade students are expected to demonstrate grade-appropriate proficiency in scientific practices, including asking questions, developing and using models, planning and conducting investigations, analyzing and interpreting data, constructing explanations and solutions, engaging in argumentation from evidence, and obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information to showcase their understanding of core scientific ideas.
Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions
- Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object. [
- Make observations and/or measurements of an object’s motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion. [
- Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other
- Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.
From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes
- Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
- Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
- Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
- Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.
- Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.
Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity
- Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
- Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.
- Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
- Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
Earth’s Systems
- Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
- Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
Earth and Human Activity
- Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
Engineering Design
- Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
- Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
- Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
Recommended STEM
Special Education
Special Education Programs
A unique education program means specially designed individualized or group instruction to address student’s academic goals in reading, writing, and math. The Committee on Special Education will determine appropriate program recommendations based on the continuum of services and students’ progress.
Related Services
Related services are supportive services required to assist a student with a disability and include speech-language pathology, hearing services, vision services, physical therapy, occupational therapy, counseling services, and parent counseling and training. A student’s need, identified through an evaluation, will provide the basis for written annual goals and appropriate provision of services.
Resource Room & Consultant Teacher
Resource Room is a special education program where students require specialized supplementary instruction in a small group setting outside the classroom for a portion of the school day. Resource Room is capped at five students per group. Consultant Teacher, another special education program, is for students who require additional specially designed individualized or group instruction within regular education classes.
Integrated Co-Teaching, or “Inclusion”
Integrated Co-Teaching (ICT) is a special education program where students required specially designed instruction in an individualized or small group setting for multiple subjects within regular education classes. A general education teacher and a special education teacher jointly provide instruction to a class that includes both students with and students without disabilities to meet the diverse learning needs of all students in a class. ICT is capped at 12 students with a disability.
Special Class
Special Class is a special education program where students with disabilities have been grouped together with similar individual needs and academic goals for the purpose of being provided specially designed instruction in a small-sized class without general education students. Students in a special class are exposed to the general education curriculum and are on a Regents pathway to graduation.
Supplementary Aids and Services
Supplementary aids and services are other supports (i.e., additional personnel, assistive technology, instructional modifications) that are provided in regular education classes, Specials, and in extracurricular and nonacademic settings to enable students with disabilities to be educated with nondisabled students to the maximum extent appropriate in accordance with the least restrictive environment.
English as a New Language
English as a New Language Services and Programs:
The district offers two programs for eligible and identified English Language Learners (ELLs).
ENL: In an English as a New Language (ENL) program, English Language Arts and content-area instruction are taught in English using specific ENL instructional strategies by a NYS certified ESOL teacher. This program typically serves ELL students from many different home/primary language backgrounds whose only common language is English and therefore cannot participate in a bilingual program. In an ENL program, there are two components to deliver instructional services, Stand-Alone and Integrated ENL services.
Stand-Alone: Stand Alone ENL is a separate time devoted to English language acquisition and English language development. The required amount of stand-alone ENL instruction depends on the English proficiency level of each student.
Integrated: In an integrated ENL class, an ESOL certified teacher provides services during the students' content area classes alongside their classroom teacher. Some content area classes that are integrated include English Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and/or Mathematics. Students receive core content area and English language development instruction, including the use of the home/primary language as support as well as appropriate ELL instructional supports to enrich comprehension.
Transitional Bilingual Education Program: Bilingual education uses the student’s native language (Spanish) as a tool of instruction while they begin learning English. This model is for English language learners who speak the same language.
The language goal of the program is for English language learners to learn English as quickly as possible and achieve success in their current academic placement and in the future.
For more information on our Bilingual & English as a New Language Related Services please visit our Bilingual, ENL & World Languages Department Webpage.
Library and Media Center
Information literacy is a skill necessary for today’s world of rapidly increasing information. Students will have to assimilate more information than has appeared in the last 150 years.
As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:
Information Literacy
- Continue to search the library computer catalog to identify and locate materials for individual interests and research needs
- Continue to use a simple research process and learn how to evaluate a variety of resources
- Continue to explore various literary genres within fiction and nonfiction.
- Explore chapter books by noted authors
- Introduce elements of a story: characters, plot, and setting
- Introduce print and online reference sources: dictionary, encyclopedia
Technology: Computers
- Introduce the effects of cyber-bullying
- Review hardware components appropriate for specific tasks (mouse, keyboard, printer, and monitor)
- Introduce how to use basic operation commands (opening and closing programs, save, log-on)
- Prepare documents that include a variety of media
- Review students Office 365 account
- Introduce proper input techniques
- Determine correct keywords to use when conducting Internet Research
- Work collaboratively with a team using information technology resources
- Adhere to safety and security policies
- Identify personal information that should not be shared
- Explain the risks and dangers of sharing personal information
Physical Education
Physical Education Programs offer students the opportunity to enhance their minds and bodies.
As a result of their schooling, students will be able to:
Physical Skills
- Fundamental movement skills- locomotor, non-locomotor manipulatives, body management, movement concepts, developmental games, and skill techniques.
Knowledge
- Personal fitness/healthy lifestyles/lifelong fitness, health and skill-related fitness, wellness and fitness principles, and personal fitness goals.
Physical Activity
- Safety, invasion games, locomotor activities, skill building, guided discovery games, skill techniques, individual/dual/team sports, and specialized activities.
Intrinsic Value
- Character building, self-expression, motivation, participation, persistence, personal goals, group dynamics, cooperation, confidence building, personal responsibility, and accepting feedback.
Visual Arts
The elementary art curriculum focuses on integrating aesthetics, studio art, collaboration, connections to literature, and art history in an engaging, creative, and imaginative environment emphasizing the Elements of Art and Principles of Design.
Art skills/fine motor skills are taught as scaffolded skills based on the appropriate development of the young artist, and accommodations are made for students to reach their individual goals.
- Exploring Materials: Students will continue to learn how to use different tools to create texture, pattern, positive and negative space, and placement in works of Art. They will learn to refine their cutting skills and other painting techniques, focusing on light and dark values and using brushes and sponges. We will also continue to create 3-D forms, collages, and printmaking using paper, fabric, and other materials
- Use of Principles of Design and Elements of Art: Students will identify light and dark values of a color, foreground, middle ground, and background in a composition, positive and negative space, and texture as it appears in nature. Students will also understand that an Artwork is unified when colors, shapes, and lines are repeated throughout the composition
- Cultural Connections: Students will continue to explore the world examples that coincide with the principles and elements studied to create their works of art. Students will develop an awareness of the expression of different cultures.
- Cross-Curriculum Connections: Students will continue integrating literature, mathematics, history, and science into various art lessons
- Reflections: Students will continue to identify what they have created and will be familiar with a variety of art forms and can describe them using the vocabulary of visual arts media. They will continue to use visual arts as a means for creative self-expression and interpersonal communication
Music Education
Our art and music programs help our students build perseverance and achievement, teach responsibility, expose students to history and culture, help improve coordination, reading, math, and social skills, as well as nurture self-expression and creativity. The arts connect us to the world and open our eyes to new ways of seeing.
Elementary Music Department Benchmarks & Skills
Music Appreciation
- Students will learn about history and genre throughout their experiences, building knowledge of key musical terms, analyzing melody and harmony, rhythm, and form. Students will learn to read, write, and compose music as well
Movement
- Reinforcing body awareness with various movement activities
Improvisation
- Exploring creativity through movement, rhythm, and pitch
Performance
- Giving opportunities for students to learn to sing, as well as use the recorder, ukulele, and world drumming, as a foundation to performing within an ensemble
Central Islip K-12 Full Music Curriculum
Educational Links
Reading Fun
Storyline Online -A site by the Screen Actors Guild with 20 stories read by famous actors. Wonderful models for reading fluency.
Nouns -Noun game
Verbs -Verb game
Pronouns -Pronoun game
Main Idea -Interactive reading and quiz
Peanuts Comic Strip-Visit this site and read lots of Peanuts Comic strips and more!
Writing Explosion
Similes and Metaphors
Antonyms, Synonyms,and Homonyms
Writing Process
Parts of Speech
Math Minds
Flash Cards
Alien Subtraction
Word Problems
Centimeter Game
Measuring Fun