Third Grade Curriculum: You can find a detailed copy of the third grade curriculum on the third grade page. Third Grade Curriculum , Mrs. Schrein's philosophy and abbreviated form: I have spent 20 years of my teaching career in third grade. I believe ALL children can learn. Every classroom is diverse and can encompass a range of academic abilities from grade one to grade five. In my classroom, fair is you get what you need. Whatever your ability, it is my job to accommodate those needs. I would say that one of my strengths as a teacher is having an intuitive sense for what kids need. I also encourage my kids to be who they are and work hard to establish a positive rapport with each and every child. My kids KNOW that I love and respect them for who they are. READING: Third grade is a transitional year for most readers. By this, I mean that most readers are transitioning from "learning to read" to "reading to learn". Kids are beginning to read science and social studies textbooks and reading more to gain information. Of course, ALL readers are always still learning to read. I use the Reading Workshop model to teach reading. Kids learn how to choose Just Right books and we have a huge library of wonderful literature to choose from. I believe it's very important that kids be allowed some choice in what they read. High interest books keep kids engaged. I believe kids should be able to stick to a genre or author that interests them. This increases their motivation. Workshop also includes guided reading groups. This is when I choose the material and we work on specific skills. Skill work during workshop includes: --PERSEVERING with reading! The best readers read the most words! --COMPREHENSION! We read to understand! Comprehension questions become more inferential in third grade. Ability to retell what you read is important. --Reading with FLUENCY AND EXPRESSION. The more fluent you are, the easier it is to comprehend what you are reading. --WORD WORK! phonics are still important, word strategies such as, chunking, sounding out, finding small words in big words, re-reading, asking yourself if it makes sense, using the context (the words around the word), does it sound right, word patterns are reviewed, taught, and applied. Increasing vocabulary, moving on to harder words and using all the strategies to help. --METACOGNITION! (yes we teach the kids this word and skill:), thinking about your reading; making predictions, noting wonderings, making connections to your own life or other texts, writing about your reading, making inferences ( I know this character is sad, because.....), and visualizing (getting a good picture in your mind). --Listening to awesome literature read by a very expressive teacher! I LOVE to read aloud and I am good at it! I model all of the skills above with read alouds and the help of the most skilled authors, Roald Dahl, Kate Dicamilla, Phylis Reynolds-Naylor, Frances Hodgson-Burnett to name a few! It is very motivating for children to hear a good read aloud, learn a new skill, and then apply the new skill when reading a book of their choice. When a teacher LOVES to read, the feeling is contagious with students! MATH: I love to teach math and have always said, "I wish I had a math teacher like me when I was little." With regard to math, I am a developmentalist. I believe that math skills should first be taught concretely, then pictorially, and then symbolically. An example of this is when we begin our first big multiplication unit. I pose this question to the kids: WHAT IS MULTIPLICATION?. They have to show me with pictures, write with words and then show a math problem. Now, I do have children who come to me knowing their facts, but they are often in a quandary when asked to draw a picture of it or tell it in words. No matter the skill level of the children, we get the bingo chips and cards out and make many 'sets' showing that multiplication is actually repeated addition, then we draw sets, and finally, we practice the facts. I think it is important for kids to "understand" what they are really doing when is comes to math. Therefore, in my room, you will see many concrete and pictorial representations of math concepts; painters tape on the floor showing area and perimeter diagrams using the square foot tiles, the length of the blue whale measured in the hallway using painters tape; straw and pipe cleaner connectors showing polygons, right angles, and perimeter; things that come in 3's, 4's, 5's charts; base ten block representations of decimals; drawings for tricky word problems, interactive smart board math blocks, large number lines drawn on large tables for rounding, etc. It is important to 'know your facts", but it is becoming increasingly important in today's world to know how to problem solve and understand math reasoning. The math skills required for third graders are as follows: NUMERATION: --place value to the 10,000's --fractions: part/whole meaning, ordering with denominator of 2,4,8; adding with like denominators; recognizing equivalent fractions, denominator 2,4,8
Multiplication & Division: --All multiplication & Division facts memorized by end of third grade --grouping with parenthesis 7 x (3x2) --multiplying by 10's: 3(20) --2 and 3 digit by 1 digit multiplication Problem Solving: --multi-step word problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. --Explaining answers in writing, constructed response
SCIENCE: --Roles of living things, plants & animals --Light & Sound --Changes in Motion --Changing Earth
Social Studies: --MICHIGAN --Geography --History: Native Americans, French Explorers, Pioneers, statehood --Economics --Government