Religion

Voyages: Exploring
God’s Word
is a chronological study of Bible stories beginning with creation.
Students
learn of God’s love and how to apply forgiveness and grace at school and
at
home. Third graders memorize selected Bible verses, the Ten
Commandments, and
the Articles. Each Wednesday students attend a school chapel service.
Prayer
and sharing from God’s Word are intertwined throughout the day.

Reading

Third graders use
Reading 3,
from BJU Press for their reading curriculum. This is a textbook designed
for
Christian schools. Students are introduced to writings by a variety of
great
authors. The writings include fiction, nonfiction, fantasy, poetry, and
biographies. Students also participate in small reading groups and read a
wide
variety of books throughout the year. Comprehension and analytical
skills, as
well as vocabulary and phonics skills, are reinforced. Students review
consonant sounds and long and short vowels. Students advance their
skills with
compound words, digraphs, contractions, plurals, prefixes, suffixes,
diphthongs, synonyms, and antonyms

English

Third graders use
Shurley
English as their English book. Students interactively learn sentence
structure,
the rules of grammar, how to write effectively for different audiences
and how
to write creatively. Writing journals are also a big part of third
grade.
Through their journals, students will be able to write their own
stories, their
thoughts and ideas and see how their writing progresses throughout the
year.

Mathematics

The
Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
mathematics curriculum gives students practice with math concepts and
problem-solving strategies. Students learn and continue to learn
addition,
subtraction, multiplication, division, geometry, estimation, place
value, measurements
and graphing, time and money. Multiplication is a big step in third
grade, and
students will begin to learn their multiplication tables by memory.

Science

Third graders use
the
Christian Schools International science curriculum. Students learn
important
science concepts through the study of God’s creation. Focal points in
third
grade include pond communities, birds, energy and sound, health and
nutrition,
the earth’s surface and the ocean.

Social Studies

Heritage Studies 3
leads
third grade students through history from the beginnings of our country
until
the settlers headed out West. Through the studies we learn about
American
history, world history, geography, culture, economics, and government.

Art

Third graders have
art
instruction each week. The focus of the art program is not only to teach
students the elements of art (line, shape, form, color, texture,
composition,
and perspective), but also to foster creativity.

Music

Students have music
instruction twice each week. Music involves singing, listening, and
playing
simple instruments. All students prepare and present in the Christmas
Program
and the Spring  Music Program.

Physical
Education

Third graders have
PE twice a
week. Students participate in activities to develop strength, endurance,
and
flexibility. They develop basic skills in individual and team sports.
Emphasis
is placed on cooperation as a team and showing good sportsmanship.

Cultural
Experiences

Students go on
various field
trips that are related to units and learning activities in class. These
could
include plays, the fire station, museums, the fish hatchery, a frontier
village, the ocean and farms.