Academics by Grade
The third grade curriculum takes a step up, strongly emphasizing the application of skills developed in earlier grades. The third grade curriculum provides more challenge, and while teacher supervision continues to be important, now the students are provided with many opportunities to learn about choices, and thus increased responsibility for the quality of their work, and more accountability for behavior.
The main focus in the 3rd grade is to build the student responsibly, academically, and spiritually. Skills learned in the 2nd grade are strengthened as new challenges are achieved.
Religion — The Religion text used in third grade is Faith First. The students are instructed in the Catholic Faith both through the text and in daily routine. Catholic prayers, Sacramentals, and Doctrine are taught and learned.
Language Arts — Reading, spelling, phonics, grammar, and writing, are all integrated in the Language Arts curriculum. A combination of Harcourt Trophies, Houghton Mifflin English, and Sadlier Phonics is used to teach the curriculum. Third graders read a variety of genres through their reading text. They also begin novel study this year. Several novels are used to teach vocabulary and reading comprehension. The third grade students produce many different writing samples throughout the year including, but not limited to, personal narratives, stories, research reports, poetry, and plays.
Math — The third grade uses the Saxon series to teach math. The program allows for an incremental development of concepts, daily review through integrated practice, and assessment of learning and for learning.
Social Studies — Social Studies in the third grade concentrates on the history of South Carolina. The students will study the everyday lives, the problems, and the accomplishments of the people of South Carolina. They will also study their roles in the development of the social, economic, and political structures of the state. Through these studies, the third grade students learn the important roles that they themselves play in the future of our state. The magazine, South Carolina Studies Weekly, is used to teach content along with hands-on manipulatives and activities of Nystrom.
Science — Science in the third grades concentrates on four main areas. Through life science the students learn about habitats, invertebrate vs. vertebrate, how organisms change over time, the interdependency of plants and animals through the food chain, how humans impact natural resources, and much more. Through Physical Science, the students learn about simple machines, changing states of matter, the effect of heat, and more. Earth Science concentrates on the cycles of rocks, the water cycle, soil, changes in the earth’s surface over time, natural events, and the study of the Solar System. Scott Foresman text is used to teach science. Along with many hands-on experiments.
Handwriting — The third grade focus is to maintain practice cursive handwriting through the text, Writing Our Faith. This correlates handwriting and Catholic practice and terminology.
Service Projects/Field Trips — In addition to the school service projects, the third grade raises money for a local charity through a service project they learn about in the last novel study of the year. The third grade takes a field trip every year to the South Carolina State Museum.