3rd Grade

Third Grade

Forces & Cultures

Stronger transitions, harder problems, and a wider world.

The Geography Bee & Cultural Celebration

A study of various cultures pairs with mapping and migration; students celebrate what they've learned at the annual Cultural Celebration and compete in the Geography Bee.

IB Units of Inquiry

List of 6 items.

How We Express Ourselves

An inquiry into how organisms adapt to survive.
How the World Works

An inquiry into how humans use knowledge of patterns to prepare for future events.
Where We Are in Place & Time

An inquiry into how individuals and communities change over time.
Sharing the Planet

An inquiry into understanding our past to help us interpret the present and predict the future.
Who We Are

An inquiry into how forces and communities change to achieve balance.
How We Organize Ourselves

An inquiry into structures that provide an opportunity to inquire and learn.

Explore Lower School

Lower School Curriculum

Multi-Paragraph Essays. Higher-Level Math.

List of 4 items.

Reading

Third graders shift from learning to read to reading as a tool for deeper thinking. Through personalized instruction and complex texts, they analyze character development, author’s craft, vocabulary, and multiple perspectives, supporting ideas with evidence.
Writing & Word Study

Students write multi-paragraph narratives, informational pieces, and opinion essays, strengthening revision, transitions, and detail. Word Study replaces weekly spelling lists, investigating patterns and word structures to understand how language works.
Math

Third graders build fluency with addition and subtraction, develop multiplication and division through models and arrays, investigate fractions, and connect area to multiplication. Strategies such as CUBES anchor real-world, multi-step problem solving.
Research

Teachers and the librarian co-teach students to ask meaningful questions, evaluate sources, organize information, and share their learning, woven throughout IB units as authentic projects that build critical thinking and collaboration.

Specials

List of 6 items.

Frontiers

Third graders develop the habits of engineers and scientists, exploring matter and simple machines, algebra and logic challenges, and pentomino and tangram puzzles that build spatial reasoning and perseverance.
Music

Treble clef and Orff notation, recorder and ukulele technique, and self-accompaniment while performing, plus folk dances, musical games, and music from cultures around the world.
Spanish

Expanding vocabulary with more reading and writing, simple dialogues and imaginative stories, animal-habitat posters, and cultural experiences like building the school’s Día de los Muertos ofrenda.
Art

Students design inventions inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, create portraits in the style of Amedeo Modigliani, and explore weaving traditions from cultures around the world.
PE

Accuracy in throwing and kicking through games like Cone Kick and Battleship, agility ladder drills, and partner passing. Students take the Lower School fitness assessment, setting personal benchmarks.
Library

Weekly visits encourage exploration across genres and greater independence, with personalized recommendations from the librarian that keep students engaged and growing.