3rd Grade Curriculum | 2017-2018 School Year

The new school year is upon us and we are eager to get started. My oldest will soon be turning eight and will be starting the 3rd grade. These are the curriculum selections I have made.

Language Arts

Bridget knows by now what is expected of her in these subjects and they have become much easier and she is able to do a lot of it independently or with very little help.

Spelling

We are continuing with Spelling Workout. Their format is easy and fun and with my additional pre-test and test worksheets, I am able to determine if she is truly learning the material. For third grade, she will begin Spelling Workout Level C.

Grammar

We'll be using Writing With Ease Level 3 for grammar and starting this year, Bridget has a workbook to go along with her lessons. It adds a little more busy-work to her day, but it is necessary. In her Writing With Ease Level 3 Workbook, she'll be working on sentence diagrams. This grammar program has done well for her and we plan to continue on with it.

Reading

Bridget has done well this past year with reading, overcoming a major obstacle of getting glasses to correct an astigmatism and re-learning how to read now that her vision is no longer distorted. She is just barely beginning to read short chapter books, and she does well with reading her scriptures. I will continue to have her read these aloud to me, and to also read any Classic Starts books and chapter books from the library that I feel appropriate for what we're studying.

Writing

We will be continuing on with this program and working on narration and dictation exercises. She will be working through Writing With Ease Level 3 this year. The curriculum is based on a 4-day week, and everything is planned for each day. It takes all of the planning work away from me, which is a bonus. 

Handwriting

Bridget learned to write cursive in the latter half of second grade, and this next book by Zaner-Bloser will continue with that.

Mathematics

We love Math-U-See! Bridget is moving right along and will begin using their Math-U-See Gamma level. In this level, she will learn beginning multiplication. When did my little girl old enough to start learning her multiplication tables?!?

History

We are continuing with The Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times. It begins with the Protestant rebellion and the early American colonies and will finish up with the abolition of slavery and the California gold rush, all while learning about the other parts of the world and what they were doing in this time frame.

Geography

I am doing something completely new with geography this year. Bridget is eager to learn about the people, food and customs of other countries and so I am putting together a small unit study for each country, customized to what she's interested in plus a little more. We'll spend the first three days learning about the country and on the fourth day we'll prepare a dish (or a meal) from that country.

Science

Bridget is excited to be studying chemistry this year. We really like Elemental Science's curriculum and will be using Chemistry for the Grammar Stage. She'll start off learning about atoms, molecules, the periodic table of elements, physical changes, chemical changes, and organic chemistry.

Latin

Latin is a new subject for us. It took a long time to find a curriculum that I thought my children would enjoy and I think Bridget will have fun with Song School Latin by Classical Academic Press. After watching their first lesson on YouTube, I felt as if I had learned something new. It also looks like something the boys will enjoy watching along with big sister.