UPVA 3rd Grade | Course Descriptions
UPVA 3rd Grade | Course Descriptions
UPVA 3rd Grade | Course Descriptions
Language Arts 300
English Language Arts 3 focuses on expanding students’ reading, writing, spelling, speaking, and listening skills. In this course, students read more complex texts and write to express themselves with greater sophistication. They practice reading at a natural pace while using intonation and expression appropriately. While reading, they interpret texts in more complex ways, by identifying cause and effect, determining tone and mood, and distinguishing shades of meaning in figurative language. This course introduce students to new genres, including opinion pieces, biographies, and blogs, while they continue to work with narratives, fiction, and informational texts. An emphasis is placed on grammar, punctuation, and spelling as students explore the functions of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs; categorize nouns; explain the differences between various verb tenses; write simple, complex, and compound sentences; and use capitalization, commas, and quotation marks correctly. They learn the spelling of words with various prefixes and suffixes; regular and irregular nouns, verbs, and adjectives; and contractions, compound words, homophones, and words with various vowel sounds. Students develop their speaking and listening skills by planning, writing, and delivering an oral presentation and by creating visual aids to accompany the presentation. English Language Arts 3 also introduces students to new forms of writing, such as scripts, autobiographies, and outlines. They practice drafting and revising their writing through the development of journal entries, short stories, opinion pieces, and narratives. Students expand their research skills by learning to take notes while researching and to organize their notes into categories.
Math 300
Students in Mathematics 3 focus on multiplication and division, as this course aims to build strong foundational skills in these areas. Students explore the relationship between multiplication and division and practice using the order of operations to solve problems, including one- and two-step word problems. In addition to using place value to perform multidigit arithmetic, students round numbers to the nearest ten or hundred. They refine their mathematics skills in relation to money by making change using a combination of bills and coins. Mathematics 3 presents area and perimeter to students as they explore linear and area measurements. They also work with fractions as numbers in this course, representing them on number lines, generating equivalent fractions, and comparing fractions with the same numerator and denominator. Finally, students explore the ways in which various types of data can be displayed.
Science 300
Science 3 guides students on an exploration of the natural world, its animals, its plants, and its terrain. They learn how clouds form, what causes the cycles of seasons and of day and night on Earth, and that light and sound are actually energy. Students examine the Earth’s eight major biomes and identify how adaptations help plants and animals to survive varying conditions. They become junior meteorologists, able to explain weather and climate and to use weather instruments and knowledge of patterns to observe and predict the weather. Students recognize the information fossils can provide about the Earth’s past and use geologic time scales to identify the eras when fossilized organisms lived. They explain how chemical reactions can change the properties of matter, and they investigate energy, magnetism, and electricity. Finally, students research topics and formulate questions, make predictions and observations, experiment and measure using scientific tools, and draw inferences and identify patterns based on their scientific inquiries.
Social Studies 300
Social Studies 3 focuses on the United States, including its government and its laws. Students are encouraged to think about what it means to be productive, responsible citizens of both the nation and their own local communities. To support their learning about U.S. history and differing cultures and perspectives, students develop and research compelling questions on historical topics, work with credible sources, and distinguish between fact and opinion. Additionally, they learn to evaluate the validity of sources, especially websites. Students develop presentation skills that include constructing arguments to support their opinions and using visual aids to add interest to oral reports. They also expand their map-reading skills and learn the fundamentals of financial literacy. In addition to studying the United States, students examine the geography, culture, history, government, and economy of three other world communities: Canada, Mexico, and India.
Spelling 300
In the third-grade spelling course, students will delve into relevant spelling rules and word families throughout thirty weeks of instruction. Students will not only practice phonics skills including syllabication and sounding out multisyllabic words, but also incorporation of word parts such as prefixes and suffixes. These lessons not only meet instructional needs for spelling, but also reinforce language arts skills including application of the writing process and reading comprehension.
In the third-grade spelling course, students will delve into relevant spelling rules and word families throughout thirty weeks of instruction. Students will not only practice phonics skills including syllabication and sounding out multisyllabic words, but also incorporation of word parts such as prefixes and suffixes. These lessons not only meet instructional needs for spelling, but also reinforce language arts skills including application of the writing process and reading comprehension.