Third Grade Curriculum

Here are the curricular materials I used with my second son when he was in third grade:

Bible:

The Great Bible Adventure

  I decided to use this because the BJU curriculum we tried to use the year before was so heavy and involved.  I wanted something lighter and more fun.  It worked out fine for us.

Math:

Singapore 3




For second grade, I ended up just doing Saxon Math 3 because there was so much written work to go along with it.  I wanted to give it a chance, wanted to like it, but just didn't.  So I saved the Singapore 3 for this year and didn't get off track.  We have been doing math 4 days per week, rather than 5, so the amount of work present in text and workbooks has been plenty for the year.

During our second math period of the day, we did math drill work and/or used Singapore extra practice workbooks.

Language Arts:

Handwriting

Getty Dubay, book D

  I like these books.  As you get into them, each one contains informative tidbits about one particular topic.  This one talks about the history of the letters we use.

Grammar

Rod and Staff 3

     This level offers a booklet of worksheets, as well as a test booklet, which will help expedite written work.

We also continued extra oral lessons with Primary Language Lessons, from last year.

Spelling

Spelling Workout, book D and half of E
We did two workbook pages per day and tested on day three so that we finished book D by week 22 of school and started book E.  This gave us 15 weeks of work in that level prior to the end of the school year.

                                  

I have no idea why these pics are all so blurred, and as I mentioned before, there are at least two different covers on these books, but the inside is the same....

Reading and Literature

We continued making most of our literature follow our history studies (Story of the World, Early Modern).  Simpler books that were the right reading level for him, he read.  Longer books that were more suited to being read-alouds, I read to him.  I continued having him practice reading aloud as well as alone. 

An example of his week one reading and our literature for that same time period: 

Anno's Spain
Christmas in Spain
The Legend of El Dorado, Vidal and Laan
The Lost Treasure of the Inca



Read from Kings and Queens for God
Katje, the Windmill Cat, Bayley
Always Room for One More, Hogrogian
The Boy Who Held Back the Sea, Locker




Don Quixote, Harrison
The Sad Night:  The Story of an Aztec Victory and a Spanish Loss




The Two Mountains, An Aztec Legend, Kimmel


Languages:

Spanish

Reviewed flashcards and Spanish with Children; got into Powerglide in earnest for most of the year.  Last five weeks of school played around with a program called Spanish in the Kitchen.

                         

Latin

Reviewed Minimus work covered last year and took up where we left off.  Began work with Minimus Secundus around week 16.

                          

That last is an audio CD....


Geography

We used A Trip Around the World workbook (and the library books they recommended) to study various countries this year.  I don't think it was all that successful as I often didn't have the things necessary to make projects or the time to cook various foods.  From about week 25 onward, he practiced with learning all his states and capitals. We had some blank maps for practice, write on/wipe off booklets, etc. that we used for this.  I don't see anything exactly like them online now.  You could use many things for this.  He also did about two pages daily in The Complete Book of Maps and Geography.


                                   


History

Continued with The Story of the World III, utilizing their activity guide to help flesh out book lists for both history and literature, to review the chapters, to do a little map work and a few other activities, etc.  We also always used either Usborne and/or Kingfisher history encyclopedias, too....




Here's the list I prepared for history, reading and literature.  Remember with these lists, they look long, but sometimes you can't get the books you want from the library, or you get them and you don't like them at all - you need extra to allow for attrition and culling!  You want to be able to present *something* when it's time to sit down and do your class....

http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2015/04/third-grade-historyreadingliterature.html


Science

Studied Chemistry topics this year.  I initially used the Visual Factfinder: Science and Technology  and Reader's Digest How Science Works as my "spines" to introduce various chemistry topics and some experiments or explorations.  As we went along, I also used the game Elemento to help learn the elements.  About week 6 I introduced Adventures With Atoms and Molecules, Mebane and Rybolt,  and we began doing experiments from that, as well as reading various library books on topic.  Around week 12, I added in The Elements: Ingredients of the Universe and we began working a little from it, as well.  We also continued reading library books on various chemistry topics all year and discussing those.

                                                          





                                  

The Elements, by Ellen McHenry, is fabulous and you could really just use it alone all year.  She has loads of extra games and info online at her website, too, to help you out!  She also has a carbon chemistry for older children if you like this.

If you like the experiments in Adventures with Atoms and Molecules, there are numerous other books by the same authors that include different experiments (I think at least four others).  You do have to make a list of the supplies you need and obtain those before you start your school year (if you don't want to run around like crazy on the day of the experiment or have disappointed kids), but if you do this ahead of time and just put everything in a box or hamper until you need it, you will be set.

Here's the plan I drew up for third grade chemistry, although I did not end up doing as many experiments:

http://www.greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2015/04/third-grade-chemistry-plan.html

Regena