3rd Grade Curriculum

History/Bible

ECCS acknowledges that the Bible, the infallible Word of God, is our only source of faith and practice and that the chief end of man is to know God and enjoy Him forever.

ECCS seeks to inspire in students a love of history as they recognize that all history is truly “His Story.” ECCS third grade students are taught Bible and History through the integrated Lessons Learned curriculum. Third grade history will point students to the extraordinary God we serve and will serve to help them recognize how He has used people throughout history to accomplish His plan. Each student should also realize his or her individual role in history. This will be accomplished with the integration of historical facts, literature, creative writing, devotional application, scripture memorization, and handwriting. It is our goal for ECCS third graders to learn the history time line reviewing previously learned events from Creation through the Trojan War and proceeding with a central focus on Greek and Roman World Powers so that they recognize the acts and sovereignty of God working throughout this era of time, culminating in learning about God’s purpose, special plan, and preparation in choosing the time and place for the birth of the Messiah. A special “Mega Rome” day strengthens the students’ understanding of the lifestyle and culture of the Romans. The study will conclude with an introduction of the Early Church, Pompeii, and Constantine. The students will proceed through this study with reading, writing, and scripture memorization. They will be expected to read the historical and biblical information, complete worksheets, and make projects to increase their awareness and understanding of historical events. In addition to these objectives, we desire for the students to become better readers, better scholars, and better historians. With this curriculum, the students will be able to further their knowledge of God and His sovereignty and faithfulness throughout history.

              
Grammar

ECCS third grade students are taught grammar using The Shurley Grammar Level 3 curriculum. In order to teach and impart the skills of effective communicators the curriculum seeks to provide a basic foundation of effective communication built upon study skills, parts of speech recognition, sentence classification, and writing. Students enjoy reciting grammar jingles, which will imprint the building blocks of grammar into long-term memory. Third graders continue the development skills of speaking and writing clearly so that they may communicate the Gospel with excellence. The students continue to understand how to classify and use the parts of speech—nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, article adjectives, and prepositions. Third graders will write sentences with correct punctuation and capitalization. They will continue to practice writing sentences, letters, paragraphs, and stories. They will continue to practice correctly using other language skills such as using contractions, understanding antonyms and synonyms, recognizing affixes and plurals. The correct use of the English language will enable them to read, understand, and apply the Bible to their lives as individuals seeking to live for Christ.

   
Literature
Literature at ECCS serves to increase the students’ love of reading, and to instill within each student a love for, knowledge of and an appreciation for great books and literature throughout the ages. Our literature selections for third grade focus on friendship, mystery, adventure, and history. As we incorporate each book into our school year, we apply a biblical worldview as we read the books orally and discuss the content, focusing on vocabulary development, oral reading skills, and reading comprehension. Our objectives for third grade include advancement in the student’s vocabulary, an overall improvement in reading abilities, and a continued increase of their love for reading great books. We attempt to accomplish these objectives by providing reading selections that are rich with vocabulary words to learn, memorize, and apply.  Through our seven book selections, we give students the opportunity to practice reading skills and thus improve their oral reading skills. Classroom discussions also increase reading comprehension abilities. As the children enjoy and interact with the colorful and enchanting characters in the books we read, it is our desire that their love for and enjoyment of reading will continue to grow. It is also our goal to introduce literary terminology appropriate for third grade. Ultimately, it is our desire that their love for and understanding of great works of literature will pique their appetites for further reading and lead to an appreciation for and love of God’s Word. Third graders at ECCS build reading comprehension skills through their reading of the following literature:  The Cricket in Times Square, Greek Myths, Detectives in Togas, Little Pilgrim's Progress, Misty of Chincoteague, The Traveler’s Guide to Ancient Greece and The Horse and His Boy.

Latin
ECCS students eagerly look forward to their first year of formal Latin training in third grade.  They learn the foundations of Latin grammar from Schola Latina Book I, Chapters 1-12. They meet for Latin class three times per week.
   
Science

At the third grade level, ECCS Science for Classical Learners 3 strives to encourage an understanding of basic scientific concepts.  These concepts are essential in forming a strong foundation upon which to build and progress into more detailed and advanced scientific studies as the students advance in grades.  Science is lively and exciting to the third grade students as they experience interactive and hands- on approaches. Third graders will have the primary objective of understanding that science is the study of God’s creation.  The students should be able to obtain a fundamental understanding of beginning scientific concepts across the three branches of science:  physical, life, and earth.  The students will be given cards that represent the topics being taught.  Our study of Physical Science will include Chemistry and Physics that relate to Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.  Life Science will introduce students to the life of the Biologist.  Students will be exposed to Botany, Zoology and Anatomy.  The last branch of Science that third graders will learn about is Earth Science.  The students will begin learning about geologists and meteorologists.  Students will then be able to “venture” into the heavens and study Astronomy and learn about the constellations.  These cards will be informative in nature and encourage students to study God’s creation and grow in knowledge of Him. 

   
Math

At the third grade level, ECCS encourages each student to build onto his/her prior knowledge in Math through consistent teaching techniques, a dependable progression through the lessons, and interactive, stimulating student involvement with Saxon Math, Level 4.  Each day during Math time, students progress through the following stages:  Power Up (Facts Practice, Jump Start, Count Aloud, Mental Math, and Problem Solving), Lesson (New Concepts and Lesson Practice), and Written Practice.  By providing the students with a consistent step-by-step daily teaching, the ability of the students to build onto prior mathematical concepts with new concepts is achieved and accelerated. Third graders should be able to perform mathematically with adequate comprehension but under mastery in the following:  numeration and operation, algebra, geometry, measurement, data analysis and probability, and problem solving.  Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division will be reinforced by the use of drills and games.  The students should perform each mathematical task to the best of their abilities, including neatness in penmanship and attention paid to details, to which all will glorify God.  Students will also realize that math is unchanging just as God.  God will always love us as 2 + 2 will always equal 4.

   
Spelling/Handwriting

ECCS seeks to teach children how to spell by teaching a set of letter-phoneme combinations called phonograms using Spauling’s Writing Road to Reading. Through the teaching of these phonograms we seek to improve spelling, reading and writing skills. Our objectives for third grade include the ability to memorize phonograms, to mark these phonograms in words, and to become better spellers as a result.  The students will be expected to use their best handwriting when writing their spelling lists in their notebooks. We desire for the students to see the connection of the phonograms and phonics with spelling.  The Spalding Method enables the students to see the word, say the word, and write the word. As a result of learning these methods, the student should become better readers as well. With the absorption of these skills, comes the ability to read the Bible and apply the Bible to their lives.  It also prepares the students to make an impact on their world for Christ by demonstrating proper spelling and reading skills.