Students learn to look up words in a dictionary to check spelling and meaning, and learn to use a textbook's index pages to find information.
Legends, myths, fables and poetry are introduced as part of fiction and nonfiction reading. Students should develop fluency and begin to read independently.
First and second graders learn basic grammar skills while third graders are introduced to more complex grammar. At this stage, they will learn how to write a paragraph and utilize punctuation and verb tense. Students also learn to write in different styles, such as informative, explanatory, creative and persuasive. They will become more familiar with the writing process, including planning, draft writing, revision, editing and polishing the finished product. Students should also learn to identify synonyms, antonyms and homonyms, as well as learn to use analogies.
Fractions and decimals are introduced in mathematics classes, and students will gain a better command of the multiplication table. Students will learn to add and subtract numbers up to around 10,000, and identify numbers up to 100,000. Their multiplication and division should also improve, and they should be comfortable with multiplying or dividing a multiple-digit number by a single-digit number. Third graders learn to explain the process behind a mathematical equation in words, and to collect data and express it as a graph.
Students learn to identify different rocks and minerals, track water cycles and perform experiments to test a hypothesis. They begin to learn about the solar system, including the names of planets and basic information about galaxies, moons and stars. In biology, students learn about human skeletons and compare a human skeleton to an animal skeleton. They also begin to participate in projects to illustrate scientific ideas and choose to participate in science fairs if they wish.