The Common Core State Standards Initiative, adopted by the vast majority of states as of July 2013, lays out a system of standards that students should meet in both English language arts (ELA) and mathematics. In both cases, these standards are separated into teaching strands that can be viewed as grade level themes. In third grade ELA, teachers focus on three distinct forms of reading: reading literature, reading informational texts and foundational skills of reading. Writing, speaking and listening, and language round out the ELA curriculum. Within each of these contexts, teachers and schools have a great deal of freedom to choose the topics through which the material will be taught.
Similar to English language arts, the Common Core State Standards Initiative lays out the mathematics themes in most states. Continuing on themes begun in early elementary school, third grade students expand their knowledge of operations and algebraic thinking, numbers and operations in base ten, measurement and data and geometry. In addition to these themes, numbers and operations with fractions are introduced. Wide varieties of math programs have been adapted to reflect the Common Core State Standards, and schools will generally choose a program that best serves their student population.
In early elementary school Social Studies, students generally study themselves, their families and their own communities. In third grade, this study often opens, and students begin to learn about cultures around the word. Developed in alignment with the Common Core State Standards, the New York State Social Studies Framework is an example of a common third grade teaching theme. Within this framework, the third grade focus is Communities Around The World: Learning About People and Places. Through this theme students study Development, Movement and Interaction of Cultures; Civic Ideals and Practices; Geography, Humans and the Environment; Time, Continuity and Change; and Economic Systems.
Developed through the collaboration of 26 participating states, the Next Generation Science Standards were released in March of 2013 for potential implementation nationwide. The standards propose eight teaching themes for third grade science, which at times overlap. These themes are Motion and Stability: Forces and Interactions; From Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Process; Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy and Dynamics; Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits; Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity; Earth's Systems; Earth and Human Activity and Engineering Design. Within each theme exists a great variety of suggested topics, so schools and teachers can choose which will best enrich the experience of their own students.