3rd Grade

In 2011, Washington formally adopted the Learning Standards (Common Core State Standards) for English Language Arts and Mathematics. The Washington Learning Standards for English Language Arts provide a rich depth of knowledge and skills that young people will need to succeed in technical school, college, careers, and life. The standards are vital to ensuring our students can be successful in their communities and global society.

For more information from OSPI about ELA state standards, click here.

ELA - Reading Literature

• RL.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• RL.3.2 Recount stories, including fables, folktales, and myths from diverse cultures; determine the central message, lesson or moral and explain how it is conveyed through key details in the text.
• RL.3.3 Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events.
• RL.3.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend literature, including stories, dramas, and poetry, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

ELA - Reading Informational Text

• R1.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
• RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.
• RI.3.10 By the end of the year, read and comprehend informational texts, including history/social studies, science, and technical texts, at the high end of the grades 2-3 text complexity band independently and proficiently.

ELA - Foundational Skills

• RF.3.3. Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
• RF.3.4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

ELA - Writing & Language

• W.3.1  Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons.
• W.3.2  Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
• W.3.3. Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
• W.3.4. With guidance and support from adults, 4. produce writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task and purpose. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.)
• L.3.1 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
• L.3.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.

Adopted curricular materials meet the needs of all students through a variety of instructional strategies that provide multiple opportunities for mastery of skills.

Our adopted Kindergarten curricular materials for English Language Arts include:

• Benchmark Advance Core ELA Curriculum 
  • Core Novel: Tornado by Betsy Byars
  • For Benchmark Advance's Recommended Reading List for Grades K-5, click here. Texts on BA's Recommended Reading List are optional. All texts are not used in all classrooms.
  • Benchmark Advance Unit Topic and Essential Question Alignment
• Heggerty Phonemic Awareness and Phonological Awareness

Washington state formally adopted the Mathematics and English Language Arts K–12 Learning Standards. These standards describe what students should know and be able to do at each grade level. 

Assessments for these standards began in the 2014–15 school year.

• Mathematics Learning Standards

Operations and Algebraic Thinking

• 3.OA.A Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division.

  • 3.OA.A.1 Interpret products of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 5 × 7 as the total number of objects in 5 groups of 7 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a total number of objects can be expressed as 5 × 7.

  • 3.OA.A.2 Interpret whole-number quotients of whole numbers, e.g., interpret 56 ÷ 8 as the number of objects in each share when 56 objects are partitioned equally into 8 shares, or as a number of shares when 56 objects are partitioned into equal shares of 8 objects each. For example, describe a context in which a number of shares or a number of groups can be expressed as 56 ÷ 8.

  • 3.OA.A.3 Use multiplication and division within 100 to solve word problems in situations involving equal groups, arrays, and measurement quantities, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

• 3.OA.C Multiply and divide within 100.

  • 3.OA.C.7 Fluently multiply and divide within 100, using strategies such as the relationship between multiplication and division (e.g., knowing that 8 × 5 = 40, one knows 40 ÷ 5 = 8) or properties of operations. By the end of Grade 3, know from memory all products of two one-digit numbers.

• 3.OA.D Solve problems involving the four operations, and identify and explain patterns in arithmetic.

  • 3.OA.D.8 Solve two-step word problems using the four operations. Represent these problems using equations with a letter standing for the unknown quantity. Assess the reasonableness of answers using mental computation and estimation strategies including rounding.

Number and Operations in Base Ten

• 3.NBT.A Use place value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic.

  • 3.NBT.A.2: Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.

Number and Operations -- Fractions 

• 3.NF.A Develop understanding of fractions as numbers.

  • 3.NF.A.1: Understand a fraction 1/b as the quantity formed by 1 part when a whole is partitioned into b equal parts; understand a fraction a/b as the quantity formed by a parts of size 1/b.

Our adopted curricular materials for Math include:

• Eureka Math - Core Math Curriculum
  • Eureka Math Curriculum Map

Washington has adopted the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) for for science. Learn more about the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) here.

Fall

• 3-LS1-1: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
• 3-LS2-1: Construct an argument that some animals form groups that help members survive.
• 3-LS3-1: Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence that plants and animals have traits inherited from parents and that variation of these traits exists in a group of similar organisms.
• 3-LS3-2: Use evidence to support the explanation that traits can be influenced by the environment.

Winter

• 3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
• 3-LS4-4: Make a claim about the merit of a solution to a problem caused when the environment changes and the types of plants and animals that live there may change.
• 3-LS4-1: Analyze and interpret data from fossils to provide evidence of the organisms and the environments in which they lived long ago.
• 3-LS4-2: Use evidence to construct an explanation for how the variations in characteristics among individuals of the same species may provide advantages in surviving, finding mates, and reproducing.

Spring

• 3-ESS2-1: Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.
• 3-ESS2-2: Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world.
• 3-ESS3-1: Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.
• 3-PS2-1: Plan & conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced & unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
• 3-PS2-2: Make observations &/or measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.
• 3-PS2-3: Ask questions to determine cause & effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.
• 3-PS2-4: Define a simple design problem that can be solved by applying scientific ideas about magnets.

Our adopted curricular materials for Science include:

• STEMScopes - Core Science Curriculum
  • K-5 STEMScopes Course Scope List

What Kids Learn in Personal Safety Unit
Kids start by learning rules about common safety hazards, then progress to learning about touching safety.

Lesson 1: Keeping Yourself Safe
In Kindergarten through Grade 3, your child learns how to stay safe by using the Ways to Stay Safe and following Never-Never Rules. In Grades 4 and 5, your child learns the Ways to Stay Safe and how to stay safe when alone, and what to do in case of emergency.

Lesson 2: The Always Ask First Rule
In Kindergarten through Grade 3, your child learns an important rule for staying safe, called the Always Ask First Rule: Always ask a parent or the person in charge first before doing something, going somewhere, or accepting something from someone. They also practice identifying adults they can ask and asking them assertively for permission. Grade 4 and 5 students also learn the Always Ask First Rule and also what to do if no one is nearby to ask first.

Lesson 3: Safe and Unsafe Touches
Your Kindergarten through Grade 3 student learns the difference between safe, unsafe, and unwanted touches, and how to use assertiveness skills to refuse unsafe and unwanted touch. Grade 4 and 5 students how to identify unsafe and unwanted touches and that it’s never okay for someone to touch him or her in a way that’s unsafe or unwanted. They also learn to pay attention to uncomfortable feelings in his or her body to help recognize unwanted touches and practices refusing and reporting unsafe and unwanted touches.

Lesson 4: The Private Body Parts Rule
Children in Kindergarten through Grade 3 learn an important rule to help protect them from child sexual abuse, called the Touching Rule: A bigger person should never touch your private body parts except to keep you healthy. Your child also learns how to refuse and report assertively when someone breaks this rule, and that it's never his or her fault that someone broke the rule. Your Grade 4 or Grade 5 child learns the Private Body Parts Rule and how to use the Ways to Stay Safe to respond if someone breaks it.

Lesson 5: Practicing Staying Safe
Kindergarten through Grade 3 children practice using the Ways to Stay Safe when someone has broken the Touching Rule. Your child also learns that it’s never okay to keep secrets about touching—the Never Keep Secrets Rule—and that he or she should keep reporting until someone helps. Grades 4 and 5 children learn that breaking the Private Body Parts Rule is wrong and it’s never their fault if someone else breaks it. Your child also learns that people who break the Private Body Parts Rule may do things to keep it a secret, but he or she should never keep it secret and should keep reporting until an adult helps.

Lesson 6: Reviewing Safety Skills
Children in Kindergarten through Grade 3 watch a video story about a boy or girl who uses the skills and concepts from the Child Protection Unit to stay safe. Grades 4 and 5 children review skills by participating in an interactive story online or watching a video story with the whole class. You can go through the Online Stories with your child at home.

The Washington Social Emotional Learning (SEL) standards and benchmarks were adopted in January 2020.

• SEL Standards and Benchmarks One-Pager
• SEL Standards, Benchmarks and Indicators 

Coming soon! 

Washington has adopted the following educational technology standards for LIT (Library). Learn more about the EdTech Standards Document here.

Library - WA Educational Technology - Information Literacy

• 1.d. Students explore age-appropriate technologies and begin to transfer their learning to different tools or learning environments. 
• 3.a. With guidance from an educator, students use digital tools and resources, contained within a classroom platform or otherwise provided by the teacher, to find information on topics of interest.

Library - WA Educational Technology - Digital Citizen

• 2.a. Students demonstrate an understanding of the role an online identity plays in the digital world and learn the permanence of their decisions when interacting online. 
• 2.d. Students demonstrate an understanding of what personal data is, how to keep it private and how it might be shared online.

Library - WA Educational Technology - Computer Science

• 5.c. With guidance from an educator, students break (deconstruct) a problem into parts and identify ways to solve the problem.

Library - WA Educational Technology - Design Thinking

• 6.b. Students create original works and learn strategies for remixing or repurposing to create new artifacts. 

Library - American Library Association - Library Skills

• Learners act on an information need by making critical choices about information sources to use.

Coming Soon!

Washington has adopted the following arts learning standards for music. Learn more about the Music Standards Document here.

CREATING

• MU: Cr1.1.3a: Improvise rhythmic and melodic ideas, and describe connection to specific purpose and context (such as personal and social).
• MU: Cr1.1.3b: Generate musical ideas (such as rhythms and melodies) within a given tonality and/or meter.
• MU: Cr2.1.3b: Use standard and/or iconic notation and/or recording technology to document personal rhythmic and melodic musical ideas.
• MU: Cr3.1.3: Evaluate, refine, and document revisions to personal musical ideas, applying teacher-provided and collaboratively-developed criteria and feedback.
• MU: Cr3.2.3: Present the final version of personal created music to others,
• and describe connection to expressive intent.

PERFORMING

• MU: Pr4.2.3b: When analyzing selected music, read and perform rhythmic patterns and melodic phrases using iconic and standard notation.
• MU: Pr4.2.3c: Describe how context (such as personal and social) can inform a performance.

Coming Soon!

Washington has adopted the following standards for PE. Learn more about the PE Document here.

Standard 1: Skill

Students will demonstrate competency in a variety of motor skills and movement patterns.

• Overhand Throw
  • Demonstrate mature pattern in an overhand throw.
• Catch
  • Demonstrate mature pattern while catching a gatorskin-type ball from a partner/wall at medium range.

Standard 3: Knowledge

Students will demonstrate the knowledge and skills to achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of physical activity and fitness.

• Engagement in Physical Activity
  • Actively engage in physical education class.
• Engagement in Fitness Activities
  • Participate in developmentally appropriate activities to improve overall fitness.

Standard 4: Behavior

Students will exhibit responsible personal and social behavior that respects self and others.

• Personal Responsibility
  • Participate independently for extended periods.
• Working with Others
  • Demonstrate working cooperatively with others.
  • Apply conflict resolution skills

Our adopted curriculum for PE:

• Five for Life Program
  • Physical Education Curriculum
  • Nutrition Curriculum
  • Fitness Curriculum