Getting ready for 3rd grade

Want to prepare for the next school year?
Keep the learning going over the summer. Below are suggestions of skills families might explore together during the school break.

Physical Health and Wellness
With parent/caregiver support...)
Begins to understand others' thoughts, expectations, feelings, and intentions
Forgives and grants grace to other children who upset them
Has at least one successful give and take friendship
Works successfully in a small group of peers
Improves ability to focus and tune out distractions
Has skills to move through space with confidence; is working on throwing, catching, dribbling with hands and feet, volleying, striking, jumping rope
Uses movements in games and activities; changes speed, height, direction, and type of movement (skips, slides, etc.)
Participates in safe and vigorous physical activity daily; understands that moving quickly increases heart rate and breathing
Follows directions alone and in a group; respects self and others during physical activity
Understands concepts that improve health (ex. handwashing)
Explores influence of family, friends, and media on health behaviors
Uses decision-making skills to improve health
Sets goals to improve health

English Language Arts
With parent/caregiver support...)
Uses words and phrases learned through conversations and books (read alone and read-to)
Describes how characters respond to events in a story
Reads and understands 2nd grade literature, informational texts, poetry, and drama
Asks and answers who, what, where, when why questions about key details in a text
Participates in shared research and writing projects
Tells stories or about experiences with details while speaking clearly and logically
Practices using standard grammar (capitalization, punctuation, spelling) when talking or writing
Figures out word meanings in 2nd grade literature, informational texts, poetry, and drama using different strategies (context clues, root words, dictionaries)
Successfully participates in conversations with friends and adults (listens, speaks about the topic, asks questions about the topic)
For activity ideas to practice these skills, go to gpb.org/learn.

Getting Ready for 3rd Grade

Page 2

Mathematics
With parent/caregiver support...
Represent and solve problems involving addition and subtraction
Use equations to solve addition and subtraction problems (ex. A pencil costs 59 cents, and a sticker costs 30 cents less. How much do a pencil and a sticker cost together? 59 - 30 = 29; 29 + 59 = 88. The pencil and sticker cost 88 cents. Drawings or sketches are appropriate and encouraged.)
Counts up to 1000; counts by 2s, by 5s, and by 10s
Demonstrates that the three digits of a threedigit number represent amounts of hundreds, tens, and ones
Uses place value and properties (commutative and associative) to solve addition and subtraction problems (ex. Jamil wants to give $15 to help kids who need school supplies. He also wants to buy a pair of shoes for $49. How much money will he have to save for both? Possible solution: 15 + 49 = (10 + 5) + (40 + 5 + 4); 10 + 40 = 50; 5 + 5 = 10; 50 + 10 + 4 = 64. Jamil needs to save $64)
Uses inches, feet, centimeters, and meters to estimate and measure objects
For activity ideas to practice these skills, go to gpb.org/learn.

Science
With parent/caregiver support...
Describes stars and discusses why the sun is not the largest star even though it appears to be the largest
Explores how the position of the sun changes and affects shadows; collects data to explain that the length of the day and night changes from season to season; notices patterns and changes of the moon over time
Describes and sorts objects by physical characteristics (color, mass, length, texture, hardness, strength, absorbency, flexibility); explains how structures made of small pieces (cubes, blocks) can be taken apart and put back together to make new structures; observes changes in matter caused by heating and cooling; explains that some changes are permanent (baking a cake, boiling an egg) and some changes are not permanent (boiling water)
Investigates and demonstrates how pushing and pulling affect the motion of an object; designs a device to change the speed and direction of an object
Asks questions to figure out the life cycle of common mammals, birds, amphibians, insects around them (cat, dog, chicken, frog, butterfly); makes models or draws pictures to show life cycles of animals
Investigates and records the life cycle of a plant over time while growing the plant from seed; explains how animals spread seeds and pollen

Social Studies
With parent/caregiver support...
Talks about how the historic figures* impacted the lives of others; explains how the lives of the historic figures* are the same and different than ours
Knows different regions of Georgia and list some of their features; explains how and why people make choices based on where they live (five regions of Georgia, the Georgia Creek and Cherokee cultures, and the historic figures* of Georgia)
Explains that scarcity requires choices which result in opportunity costs Explains why we need rules and laws; talks about the importance of good sportsmanship, honor,
compassion, and patience
*Historic figures: James Oglethorpe, Tomochichi, Mary Musgrove, Sequoyah, Jackie Robinson, Martin Luther King Jr., Juliette Gordon Low, Jimmy Carter
These skills were identified by the Georgia Department of Education's division of curriculum and instruction based on the Georgia Standards of Excellence (GSE). This list is not required, and students won't be expected to know all of the information part of a teacher's job is meeting all students where they are at the beginning of the school year.