Grade 3

Nine year olds experience a significant developmental milestone, often called ‘the nine-year change’. This is a time when children experience a sense of autonomy, of being independent from their parents and, for many, it can be a frightening and challenging time. Some children revert to using ‘baby voices’ and want to play with toys they played with in years’ past. They can be defiant and angry. To support the students in this developmental stage, Hydrostone Academy teachers tell stories that reflect this stage; students recognize they are not alone in their struggle, and they see how others face similar challenges. They hear about various aspects of the ‘adult’ world. The curriculum highlights and celebrates students’ growing abilities. Grade Three students also participate in a week-long Rite of Passage event that marks their growing independence; they cut and prepare a sapling and make a bow and arrow. They learn how to shoot it with grace and care. They write poetry about the elements, do calligraphy, and they often plant pumpkin seeds that they harvest in the fall. 

Language Arts

A great deal of the grade three language arts program is integrated into other subject areas: science, math, social studies, and geography. Many topics are introduced through the telling of stories. Stories are told that help connect the students to the idea of what is involved in being a human living on Earth: our need for shelter, how we use resources, the purpose of community, and how we interact with other living things.

Except for the use of digital media, grade three language arts academic outcomes align with the provincial documents. Students learn cursive writing, they write poems, stories, and reflections, and they further develop their spelling and grammar skills.

Math

The grade three math program meets, and often exceeds, the outcomes from the provincial curriculum. Storytelling, art, movement, and outdoor education all play a role in the delivery of this curriculum. For example: students will build and use sundials as a part of their study of the measurement of time. They will march, jump, and clap their times tables. 

Science

The science program in grade three continues to focus on the students’ own curiosity about the topics that are presented. Some of these topics are selected from the NS Provincial Science Curriculum, and others might stem from the teacher’s and students’ own areas of interest. Students create questions they have about the topic, and then are guided to find ways to answer those questions: reading a text, asking an expert, visiting a museum, etc. Students learn about the characteristics of non-fiction texts through their studies of science. They learn about, and make, various types of diagrams and charts. They share the results of their research with other students in the class.

Art

Much of the art that students do in grade three is related to their studies in other curricular areas, for example: they may model or paint spiders and spider webs as part of a science study. They continue to work with crayons and paints, and coloured pencil techniques are introduced.

Social-Emotional Learning and Health

Grade three students are supported in their striving toward independence by encouraging them to be brave in their lives and in their learning. They are recognizing the importance of community and they are encouraged to celebrate their role in various communities: they are asked to take on more responsibilities in and around the school. ‘Health’ is not listed as a topic on our report cards, but explorations of many health-related areas are woven into the curriculum, such as developing a vocabulary to name emotions, gender identity and use of pronouns, coping strategies, knowing one’s personal information and when it’s appropriate to share and with whom, recognizing one’s own needs, healthy foods, friendship, stereotypes, needle hazards, safe play, using caring language, and respecting and caring for others.

Key language and math outcomes: By the end of grade three, most students can read a variety of fairly complex texts and have developed good reading stamina. They can independently write a paragraph about one topic and they can write a story with a beginning, middle, and end, using effective spelling strategies. Most students use  proper punctuation and capitalization.

 In math, they have a strong sense of numbers up to 1000. They understand and apply the four mathematical processes. They can solve two and three digit addition and subtraction questions, with and without regrouping. Most students know their times tables up to 5×5. They can read and solve word problems. They understand the concepts of fractions and area and perimeter, and they can measure time and distance.