School Programs :: Third Grade
Third grade students continue in their efforts as independent thinkers and workers through hands on open-ended learning experiences. By providing students with project-based themes students are directly invested in the intellectual process and have a more meaningful connection to, and master of the subject matter. Children are encouraged to reflect on their learning and consider how they will apply it to their lives. Literacy, math, social studies and science coursework is integrated through an Anasazi and Native American unit as well as our Westward Expansion unit. In addition, students spend two periods a week in music, PE, one period in art, and one period a week developing and extending library research and computer skills. Through Lafayette Elementary School's "Character Matters" curriculum, third grade instruction also provides for social and emotional development by emphasizing appropriate ways to function in a classroom community, as well as within the whole school community.
A sample of skills by subject matter is described below. Please note these skills are not all inclusive and all Lafayette Elementary School curriculum adheres to BVSD's curriculum standards and goals for 3rd grade.
Social Studies: Third grade social studies centers around the development of the United States and Colorado History. We begin our studies with indigenous Native American cultures and move through the Spanish explorers, fur trappers and traders, miners, pioneers, forts, cowboys and agriculture until we reach Colorado statehood and Colorado today. By sequential study of our native region, students pick up underlying themes of historical influences and effect.
Science: Third grade science involves the key concepts of earth materials, physics of sound, the human body, and measurements. Students become junior geologists as they learn about properties of rocks and minerals as well as fossils and layers of earth. Later in the year, they study space and astronomy including the constellations and the history of space travel. Through physics of sound, students learn how sound is produced form a source and is received through vibrations. Third graders also learn about the pitch, frequency, and intensity of sound, as well as the human ear and hearing. Following this is further study of the human body with the skeletal and muscular systems involving bones, cartilage, joints, tissue, tendons, and coordination. Measurement focuses on studying length, volume, capacity, weight, and temperature using the metric system.
Writing: Lafayette strives to create writers. Through different genres that engage students, instruction focuses on six writing traits in third grade (organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions and ideas). These traits are supported through writer's workshops as students focus on various forms of writing and engage in steps of the writing process. Forms of writing taught to third graders include; recounts/personal narratives, research reports, poetry, legends, procedures, exposition and writing to a prompt.
Reading: Active reading is central to learning. By responding to information in books, monitoring self-correcting and encouraging reflection ton personal reading strategies, students learn to become their own reading guides. Through discussion and responses and re-reading to clarify information, third graders strengthen comprehension strategies and gain confidence as readers.
Math: Mathematics instruction for third grade students intermixes mathematical concepts with hands on investigative practice. students begin their year with number sense and place value as they learn about odd and even numbers, how to compare and order numbers, patterns of numbers, rounding and estimating numbers and progress to more complicated addition and subtraction involving regrouping. They learn about time, money and graphing data through various means such as charts, tables, Venn diagrams, pictographs, bar graphs, line graphs, and line plots. they learn about the median, medium and mode of their data. Students also learn about multiplication and division, fractions, 2D and 3D geometry, probability, decimals, measurement, and Roman Numerals.
Character Traits: Lafayette Elementary School "Character Trait" curriculum reviews positive traits through class discussion, action, integration with curriculum and recognition. The whole school learns about the following attributes. Responsibility (Sept.), Cooperation (Oct.), Generosity (Nov.), Respect (Dec.), Nonviolence (Jan.), Kindness (Feb.), Perseverance (March), Honesty (Apr.), Appreciation (May). Through a multi-year grant, Lafayette Elementary School has a counselor who provides class and small group instruction on conflict resolution and mediation.