Grade 3 Curriculum Overview

Grade 3 Curriculum

Parents and Guardians

This guide provides an overview of what your child will be learning in third grade. It is based on the Common Core Standards, the Massachusetts Frameworks, and the curricular approaches which have been adopted by the Somerville Public Schools. Read the Massachusetts Frameworks for more detail.

Academic standards are important. They ensure that all students, no matter where they start, are prepared for success in the next grade level, college, and their careers. By defining standards clearly, we aim to help families and teachers work together to ensure that students succeed. There are some students who will need additional support to meet a standard. Other students will need more complex work to go deeper with the standards. Teachers craft their day-to-day classroom instruction based on the standards, individual student needs, and the unique characters of their schools and community.

How can I support my child's learning at home?

• Talk to your child about what they are learning in school
• Contact your child's teacher with any questions or concerns and attend Parent Teach Conferences
• Check your child's folder and/or agenda book every night
• provide a space and a consistent time for your child to complete their homework

English Language Arts

The third grade ELA Curriculum is Wit and Wisdom.  Wit and Wisdom is a knowledge building curriculum that integrates reading and writing. Third grade students also use the FUNdations curriculum for their foundational skills. Both of these programs are grounded in science of reading and meet the state requirements for high quality instructional materials. The third grade modules are as follows:

Module 1: The Sea 

Why do people explore the sea? 

Core texts: Amos and Boris, Shark Attack, Jacques Cousteau, Giant Squid

Module 2: Outer Space

How do people learn about space?

Core texts: Starry Messenger, One Giant Leap, Zathura, Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11

Module 3: A New Home (Immigration)

How do stories help us understand immigrants’ experiences? 

Core texts: The Keeping Quilt, Coming to America: The Story of Immigration, Grandfather’s Journey, Tea with Milk

How can I support my child's literacy learning at home?

• Encourage your child to read daily and discuss the texts he/she is reading
• When your child shares an opinion or thought about a book, ask them why? and have them use evidence from the book
• Encourage your child to write by keeping a diary, or sending a thank you note or a letter to a family member or friend

Mathematics

Illustrative Mathematics (IM) curriculum districtwide in grades K-8. You can find more information for families in this document.

During the year, students in the third grade will be working on:

• Developing an understanding of multiplication and division
• Building fluency with multiplication facts up to 10 x 10
• Solving word problems using addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
• Beginning to multiply numbers with more than one digit (e.g., multiplying 9 x 80)
• Solving division problems using knowledge of multiplication (e.g., if 9 x 5 = 45, then 45 ÷ 5 = 9)
• Rounding numbers to the nearest 10 to 100
• Understanding fractions and relating them to the familiar systems of whole numbers (e.g., recognizing that 3/1 and 3 are the same number)
• Comparing fractions and recognizing equivalent fractions (1/2 = 4/8)
• Measuring and estimating lengths, weights, and liquid volumes, and solving word problems involving these qualities
• Reasoning about shapes (e.g., all squares are rectangles but not all rectangles are squares)
• Telling time to the nearest minute
• Solving problems using information in bar graphs
• 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 x 7?)

(Adapted from PTA Common Core Guide and Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks Critical Areas. Please see the Massachusetts Frameworks for more detailed standards and skills.)

How can I support my child's math learning at home?

• Look for "word problems" in real life. Some 3rd grade examples might include sharing aloud when you find yourself using multiplication or division, such as to determine how many days there are in four weeks, or determining how many candies each child will get if 36 candies are shared equally among nine children at a party.
• Point out examples of using math in everyday life such as using fractions while measuring ingredients for a recipe, estimating the cost of items at a store.
• Practice skip counting by a single-digit number to ten times that number (e.g. 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, etc. to 30)
• Determine elapsed time (e.g. how many hours / minutes between dinner and bedtime)

Science, Technology, and Engineering

During the year, students in the third grade will be learning about:

• How multiple forces act on an object and some of these are seen and unseen (for example, friction)
• That forces can be balanced (doesn’t change the motion of an object) or unbalanced (changes the motion of an object)
• That magnetic forces between two magnets change depending on distance and positioning
• That scientists use fossils to learn about life and environments that existed long ago
• How in certain environments some organisms can survive well, less well, or not at all
• That environmental changes can affect the ability of organisms to survive or reproduce
• How the variations in characteristics among individuals within the same species can provide advantages in survival
• That plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exist in a group of similar organisms
• That different types of organisms have unique and diverse life cycles
• That the climate of different regions of the world vary and that typical weather conditions over a year vary by region
• That we can create solutions that reduce the damage caused by weather

Social Studies

During the year, students in the third grade will be learning about:

• The Pilgrims, Puritans, and Wampanoag
• Massachusetts' events leading to the America Revolution-Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, Battle of Lexington and Concord, Battle of Bunker Hill
• Biographies of Massachusetts' leaders
• Somerville history
• Geography - cardinal directions, hemispheres, continents, and oceans
• The physical geography of New England and Massachusetts

Social/Emotional

The elementary years are an important time to nurture social-emotional competence and develop foundational learning skills. The Somerville Public Schools uses the Second Step curriculum, an evidence-based program that includes everything schools need to integrate social-emotional learning into their classrooms and school-wide. The curriculum is designed to promote school success, self-regulation, and a sense of safety and support.

Classroom teachers are responsible for implementing Second Step. Schools guidance counselors and other support personnel assist teachers and students to work toward attaining curriculum goals. Staff at your child's school can give you more detailed information about the sequence of skills taught and how social/emotional skills are taught.

Specialists

Somerville Public Schools provides each student with 40 minutes per week of instruction in General Music, Library/Media, Art, and Physical Education. The specialists at each school are available to give you more detailed information about specific skills addressed. Third graders at each school also participate in the swim program at the Ginny Smithers Pool at Kennedy School.

Updated 2/2026