3rd Grade
ELA: Third grade is a pivotal year for your child. Learning to read with fluency and confidence will serve as a foundation for the reading demands in later grades. By practicing with learning-to-read strategies, your child will reliably be able to make sense of multi-syllable words in books. He or she will come to appreciate that words have meanings that are not literal (e.g., a piece of cake) and have relationships to other words (e.g., company and companion). Recognizing and understanding words will help your child read increasingly challenging stories and books and build knowledge about the world around him or her. By the end of the year, your child also will be writing clear sentences and paragraphs on a range of topics, drawing on an expanding vocabulary.
ELA: A sample of what 3rd graders learn:
■ Reading closely to find main ideas and supporting
details in a story
■ Describing the logical connection between
particular sentences and paragraphs in stories
(e.g., first, second, third; cause and effect)
■ Comparing the most important points and key
details presented in two books on the same topic
■ Writing opinions or explanations that group
related information and develop topics with facts
and details
■ Writing stories that establish a situation and
include details and clear sequences of events that
describe the actions, thoughts, and feelings of
characters
■ Independently conducting short research projects
that build knowledge about various topics
■ Asking and answering questions about information
he or she hears from a speaker or while
participating in classroom discussions, offering
appropriate elaboration and detail that build on
what others have said
■ Reading stories and poems aloud fluently, without
pausing to figure out what each word means
■ Distinguishing the literal and nonliteral meanings
of words, such as something’s fishy and cold
shoulder
■ Spelling correctly and consulting dictionaries to
clarify meanings of words
A Sample of What Your Child Will Be Working on in 3rd Grade
details in a story
■ Describing the logical connection between
particular sentences and paragraphs in stories
(e.g., first, second, third; cause and effect)
■ Comparing the most important points and key
details presented in two books on the same topic
■ Writing opinions or explanations that group
related information and develop topics with facts
and details
■ Writing stories that establish a situation and
include details and clear sequences of events that
describe the actions, thoughts, and feelings of
characters
■ Independently conducting short research projects
that build knowledge about various topics
■ Asking and answering questions about information
he or she hears from a speaker or while
participating in classroom discussions, offering
appropriate elaboration and detail that build on
what others have said
■ Reading stories and poems aloud fluently, without
pausing to figure out what each word means
■ Distinguishing the literal and nonliteral meanings
of words, such as something’s fishy and cold
shoulder
■ Spelling correctly and consulting dictionaries to
clarify meanings of words
A Sample of What Your Child Will Be Working on in 3rd Grade
MATH: In 3rd grade, your child will learn important new ideas and gain important new skills. One of the most important topics this year is multiplication and division. Another is fractions. Multiplication, division, and fractions are the building blocks for many life skills that students will learn in later grades, such as percentages. Students also need to master these topics to be ready for algebra and advanced math, so it is essential to get a good start with these topics in 3rd grade.
MATH: A sample of what 3rd graders will learn:
■ Multiplying and dividing up to 10 × 10 quickly and
accurately, including knowing the times tables
from memory
■ Solving word problems using addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division
■ Beginning to multiply numbers with more than one
digit (e.g., multiplying 9 × 80)
■ Understanding fractions and relating them to
the familiar system of whole numbers (e.g.,
recognizing that 3⁄1 and 3 are the same number)
■ Measuring and estimating weights and liquid
volumes, and solving word problems involving
these quantities
■ Reasoning about shapes (e.g., all squares are
rectangles but not all rectangles are squares)
■ Finding areas of shapes, and relating area to
multiplication (e.g., why is the number of square
feet for a 9-foot by 7-foot room given by the
product 9 × 7?)
A Sample of What Your Child Will Be Working on in 3rd Grade
accurately, including knowing the times tables
from memory
■ Solving word problems using addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division
■ Beginning to multiply numbers with more than one
digit (e.g., multiplying 9 × 80)
■ Understanding fractions and relating them to
the familiar system of whole numbers (e.g.,
recognizing that 3⁄1 and 3 are the same number)
■ Measuring and estimating weights and liquid
volumes, and solving word problems involving
these quantities
■ Reasoning about shapes (e.g., all squares are
rectangles but not all rectangles are squares)
■ Finding areas of shapes, and relating area to
multiplication (e.g., why is the number of square
feet for a 9-foot by 7-foot room given by the
product 9 × 7?)
A Sample of What Your Child Will Be Working on in 3rd Grade
Storyline is a collection of books read by actors. Make your free time with your children easy, and enjoy listening to favorite stories together.
SUCCESS TIP: Children need help and support at home to succeed in their studies. Try to create a quiet place for your child to study, and carve out time every day when your child can concentrate on reading, writing, and math uninterrupted by friends, brothers or sisters, or other distractions.