Curriculum overview
Below you will find a brief overview of our third grade curriculum. My goal as a teacher is to provide a safe, inclusive learning environment for your child so that he or she will thrive as both a student and as a person.
Literacy Curriculum
Reading
Third graders will be taught reading skills through Reader's Workshop and Fundations. Our basic philosophy is students should spend the majority of the time reading books at their instructional (just right) level.
1. Fundations
• Explicit multi-modal phonics instruction
2. Reader’s Workshop--Lucy Calkins' Units of Study
• Building a Reading Life
• Mystery Unit
• Character Studies
• Research Clubs
plus...
• Poetry
• Read Aloud
• Shared/guided/independent reading
Reading Strategies we practice:
• Making Connections
• Asking Questions
• Creating Mental Images
• Predicting
• Making Inferences
• Checking for Understanding
• Synthesizing Information
Writing
Third graders will be taught Language Arts and Writing through several means:
1. Fundations
• Explicit multi-modal phonics instruction
2. Writer’s Workshop--Lucy Calkins' Units of Study
• Crafting True Stories
• The Art of Information Writing
• Mini Literary essay
• Fairy Tale Adaptations
• Changing the World
plus...
• Open Response practice
• Poetry
• Handwriting: Third graders are expected to print neatly, and will learn cursive through the Handwriting Without Tears program.
Math Curriculum
Our balanced ThinkMath/Engage NY mathematics program includes collaborative learning and hands-on activities and games.
The units being covered this year are:
• Place value and operations
• Multiplication and division
• Fractions
• Measurement
• Geometry
• Graphing
• Time/Weight/Capacity
Social Studies & Science Curriculum
Units covered in Social Studies are:
• Needham Community, Boston and Massachusetts
• Regions in the United States, States, and Continents
Units covered in Science this year are:
• Survivor: Creature Features
• Electricity
Racial Literacy Curriculum
New last year, Needham is implementing Pollyanna's Racial Literacy Curriculum for Grades K-8. This curriculum is designed to help students gain knowledge about race as it has been constructed in the United States and aims to help students acquire an awareness of their own racial socialization and skills for engaging in productive conversations about race and racism.
Social Emotional Learning Curriculum
We use the Responsive Classroom program for our social and emotional curriculum. Responsive Classroom is a widely used, research and evidence-based approach to education that is associated with greater teacher effectiveness, higher student achievement, and improved school climate. The goal of the Responsive Classroom approach is to create a safe, joyful and challenging learning environment for every child. The Responsive Classroom premise is that the social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum because children learn best through social interaction. The approach has several distinctive features, including:
• Morning Meeting (gathering as a whole class each morning to greet one another, share news, and warm up for
the day ahead);
• Positive teacher language (using words and tone to promote children's active learning and self-discipline); and
• A positive approach to student discipline.
In addition to the Responsive Classroom, students will also be taught the Second Step curriculum. The research-based Second Step program makes it easier to hone skills for learning, empathy, bullying prevention, emotion management, and problem solving. Lessons are taught once a week.
Reading
Third graders will be taught reading skills through Reader's Workshop and Fundations. Our basic philosophy is students should spend the majority of the time reading books at their instructional (just right) level.
1. Fundations
• Explicit multi-modal phonics instruction
2. Reader’s Workshop--Lucy Calkins' Units of Study
• Building a Reading Life
• Mystery Unit
• Character Studies
• Research Clubs
plus...
• Poetry
• Read Aloud
• Shared/guided/independent reading
Reading Strategies we practice:
• Making Connections
• Asking Questions
• Creating Mental Images
• Predicting
• Making Inferences
• Checking for Understanding
• Synthesizing Information
Writing
Third graders will be taught Language Arts and Writing through several means:
1. Fundations
• Explicit multi-modal phonics instruction
2. Writer’s Workshop--Lucy Calkins' Units of Study
• Crafting True Stories
• The Art of Information Writing
• Mini Literary essay
• Fairy Tale Adaptations
• Changing the World
plus...
• Open Response practice
• Poetry
• Handwriting: Third graders are expected to print neatly, and will learn cursive through the Handwriting Without Tears program.
Math Curriculum
Our balanced ThinkMath/Engage NY mathematics program includes collaborative learning and hands-on activities and games.
The units being covered this year are:
• Place value and operations
• Multiplication and division
• Fractions
• Measurement
• Geometry
• Graphing
• Time/Weight/Capacity
Social Studies & Science Curriculum
Units covered in Social Studies are:
• Needham Community, Boston and Massachusetts
• Regions in the United States, States, and Continents
Units covered in Science this year are:
• Survivor: Creature Features
• Electricity
Racial Literacy Curriculum
New last year, Needham is implementing Pollyanna's Racial Literacy Curriculum for Grades K-8. This curriculum is designed to help students gain knowledge about race as it has been constructed in the United States and aims to help students acquire an awareness of their own racial socialization and skills for engaging in productive conversations about race and racism.
Social Emotional Learning Curriculum
We use the Responsive Classroom program for our social and emotional curriculum. Responsive Classroom is a widely used, research and evidence-based approach to education that is associated with greater teacher effectiveness, higher student achievement, and improved school climate. The goal of the Responsive Classroom approach is to create a safe, joyful and challenging learning environment for every child. The Responsive Classroom premise is that the social curriculum is as important as the academic curriculum because children learn best through social interaction. The approach has several distinctive features, including:
• Morning Meeting (gathering as a whole class each morning to greet one another, share news, and warm up for
the day ahead);
• Positive teacher language (using words and tone to promote children's active learning and self-discipline); and
• A positive approach to student discipline.
In addition to the Responsive Classroom, students will also be taught the Second Step curriculum. The research-based Second Step program makes it easier to hone skills for learning, empathy, bullying prevention, emotion management, and problem solving. Lessons are taught once a week.