Are you new to teaching third grade?
Whether you’re a newbie or a veteran teacher, here’s what you need to know:
1. Multiplication is king.
Multiplication RULES third grade math. Our standards say that students must memorize facts within 100, but it doesn’t say how we have to do it. Lots of games and teaching of strategic thinking can make multiplication the norm in your classroom! Additionally, skills that students learn later in the year (finding area, etc) comes so much easier when they don’t have to stop to think about what 7 x 8 is.
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| Math Slide is always a hit! |
Here are some simple ways to build fact fluency:
- Classic flash cards – because some students benefit from having the answer on the back to check.
- Dice in a cup! Place two dice in a cup. Students shake then determine the product. (Tip: Use foam dice for noise-free fun!)
- Play “multiplication war” with regular ol’ playing cards. Students play in pairs. Each child flips over a card. The first to say the product wins the cards!
- Online games on RoomRecess.com: My kids love Fast Facts and Shot Clock.
- Math Slide (free app – up to 4 players at a time on one iPad!)
- Class games like Around the World.
2. Kids are done learning to read; They’re reading to learn.
In third grade, you likely will not be teaching any sort of phonics anymore. Although you will teach fluency and comprehension strategies in small groups, reading for understanding is the focus.
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| When it comes to books, less is not more! |
Maintain a print-rich environment in your classroom. Visit the library in your school (or the public library) to fill your shelves with lots of books about your current science or social studies content. Students love perusing books and finding interesting facts to share; They are truly reading to learn at this stage instead of learning to read.
3. Get ready to dig deep.
In third grade, students are prepared to dig deeper into content than they ever have before. They are curious and love the act of researching topics that interest them. I love the depth of understanding that third graders have and the high level of conversations that we can have during class discussions.
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| My students love choice boards so much that I have one for EVERY science and social studies unit! |
One way that I encourage my students to dig deeper into content is through the use of choice boards for my content areas. You can read more about my choice boards here. The plethora of options empowers students to dig deep into content, making learning meaningful and memorable!
4. Writing is a serious hurdle.
There’s a big learning curve for third grade students when it comes to writing, in Georgia at least. The expectations are high, but their experience is (typically) minimal.
We do a lot of practice to get students ready to write constructed responses. That means they write answers to open-ended or free-response questions. But of course, there’s a process. They are expected to restate the question to demonstrate understanding of the question, answer the question in full, and cite evidence from the text and/or explain thinking.
Yeah, that’s a lot. Prepare to be overwhelmed for your students to be overwhelmed, too.
Luckily, there are tons of awesome resources on TPT regarding the strategy that I use in my classroom, RACE. You can make RACE practice fun by playing games such as musical chairs to practice answering open-ended questions.
On another note, one of my favorite units that I teach to my third graders is opinion writing with text-based evidence. You can read all about it here.
5. Testing. You know the drill.
I’m sure that you already know how HUGE testing is in third grade. (Boo.)
It’s super stressful boring, but I *suppose* it’s a little important.
I think the most important thing is to not let our anxiety as teachers overflow into our students. I’ve written multiple blog posts about how I approach testing in my classroom.
In both blog posts, I give book suggestions and explain activities that I do with my students to mentally and emotionally prepare them for standardized testing days.
Are you ready for this?
You’ve totally got this, third grade teacher. And if you get stuck along the way, I’m always here to help, just an email or a DM away!
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