Grade 3 is an important transitional year between the basic academic grounding of the K-2 level and the more independent research, Upper Elementary level, grades 4 and 5. Children are expected by the end of the year to take responsibility for their own studies and actions.
In grade 3, teachers address students’ individual learning styles with the help of English as an Additional Language (EAL) in all curriculum areas.
In our Balanced Literacy Program, students are exposed to a variety of genres. In reading workshop, students are taught analysis of texts (characters, settings and story lines). Oral responses are shared in literature circles with shared texts. Strategies and diagrams are used to demonstrate student findings in the written text and when sharing ideas. Students are taught in writing workshop to plan for different forms of writing, e.g., autobiography, report, procedural or narrative.
Grade 3 students will have the opportunity to identify and reflect upon “big ideas” by making connections between the questions asked and the concepts that drive our inquiries. They will become aware of the relevance these concepts have to all of their learning. Mathematical studies at ISB are tied to real world experiences by exploring the five strands of mathematics within the PYP framework: Data Handling Shape and Space, Numeracy, Measurement, and Pattern and Function.
The power of mathematics for describing and analyzing the world around us is such that it has become a highly effective tool for solving problems. It is also recognized that students can appreciate the intrinsic fascination of mathematics and explore the world through its unique perceptions. In the same way that students describe themselves as “authors” or “artists”, ISB’s programme also provides students with the opportunity to see themselves as “mathematicians”, where they enjoy and are enthusiastic when exploring and learning about mathematics.
In the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP), mathematics is also viewed as a vehicle to support inquiry, providing a global language through which we make sense of the world around us. It is intended that students become competent users of the language of mathematics, and can begin to use it as a way of thinking, as opposed to seeing it as a series of facts and equations to be memorized.
You can find the details of each grade level in our Mathematics scope and sequence document.
We are very child-centered and encourage students to be open-minded, well-balanced and responsible individuals who will be major contributors to our global society.