Math in Grade 3

The golden years come to an end when the students experience the nine-year change and transition from early childhood to middle childhood. Third grade is typically the year they begin to see themselves as separate from their surrounding world as they are living deeply in their feelings. The third grade curriculum aims to help the child develop a new relationship with the world around them.

Third grade math blocks include expanding on all four processes, while also challenging the students to apply their mathematical knowledge to practical situations. Students learn about telling time from a historical perspective where they can create their own water clock or experience the sundial outside as their shadows change each hour. Measurement begins with an exploration of the importance of standard measurement using stories and their own bodies. Multiplication arrays may be practiced while creating their garden and measurement integrated into farming and cooking. The students get to learn about money and making change as they create a class market.

The focus on nourishing, hands-on, practical skills in third grade mathematics gives the students an opportunity to change their feelings of loneliness to an inner feeling of security and self- sufficiency.