By the end of 3rd grade, students are expected to be within the Expanding level of development. At the Expanding level, students will be able to:
Reading

• Read and comprehend a variety of grade level texts.

• Use strategies to decode words and understand vocabulary.

• Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.

• Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text.

• Describe characters’ thoughts and motivations, theme, and lesson/moral.

• Identify the form and purpose of narrative and informational texts.

• Use information gained from illustrations to support understanding of a text.

• Compare and contrast texts by the same author and texts on the same topic.

• Distinguish own point of view from that of the author and characters.

• Determine main idea/topic of a text using supporting details.

• Describe the logical sequence found in texts.

Writing

• Write organized narratives with relevant details and precise word choice.

• Write organized informational pieces with supporting details.

• Write organized opinion pieces using supporting evidence.

• Write constructed responses across subject areas.

• Use conventions to edit (grammar, mechanics, spelling).

• Consistently apply spelling patterns.

• Plan, evaluate, and revise writing.

• Use technology to produce and publish writing with support

Speaking & Listening

• Engage effectively in a range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly.

• Determine the main ideas and supporting details of a read aloud text and information presented in diverse media and formats.

• Ask and answer questions, using complete sentences with appropriate detail related to the topic.

 Language

• Demonstrate command of standard English grammar and conventions when
  writing and spelling.
• Determine the meaning of unknown and multiple meaning words and phrases.
• Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships and nuances in word meanings.
• Accurately use grade appropriate conversational phrases.

The Mathematical Strands are the end of year goals for 3rd grade children. Although it is understood that children develop at different rates, the goal is that students will be able to demonstrate competency in these areas: 

Operations and Algebraic Thinking 

• Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division. 

• Understand properties of multiplication and the relationship between multiplication and division. 

• Demonstrate multiplication facts 0-10 are memorized. 

• Demonstrate division facts 0-10 are memorized. 

• Solve two-step word problems using the four operations. 

• Identify, use, construct, and explain repeating, shrinking, and growing patterns. 

Number and Operations In Base Ten 

• Use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100. 

• Compute addition with up to 3-digit numbers. 

• Compute subtraction with up to 3-digit numbers. 

• Multiply 1-digit numbers by multiples of 10 in the range 10-90. Number and Operations-Fractions 

• Interpret the part-whole meaning of any fraction with models using fraction symbols and word names. 

• Compare and order fractions; recognizes and generates simple equivalent fractions (1/2=2/4). 

Measurement and Data 

• Solve problems involving measurement (time to the minute; time intervals in minutes; volume and mass). 

• Generate, represent and interpret data in table or graph form. 

• Understand concepts of area and relate area to multiplication and addition. 

• Recognize and find perimeter as an attribute of plane figures. 

Geometry 

• Identify and compare attributes of two-dimensional shapes.

In each of the following areas, students will: 

Forces and Interactions 

• Determine the effect of equal and unequal forces on an object. 

• Determine how magnetic forces can be used to solve problems. 

• Observe and measure the motion of objects to describe motion and discover patterns in motion. 

• Compare and contrast motion in terms of speed and direction. 

• Identify gravity as a force that pulls objects down. 

Weather and Climate 

• Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season. 

• Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world. 

• Make a claim about the merit of a design solution that reduces the impacts of a weather-related hazard.

Life Cycles and Survival in an Ecosystem

• Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

• Understand organisms have specific behavioral and physical characteristics that allow them to survive in a given environment.

• Learn physical and behavioral characteristics are either inherited or acquired from the environment.

• Understand as environments change over time, these characteristics may change (adaptations) to allow organisms to continue to survive.

In each of the following areas, students will: 

History 

• Use primary and secondary sources of information to sequence significant events in early Michigan history. 

• Apply historical thinking skills to a study of American Indians in Michigan, exploration and early settlement. 

• Compare and contrast life today with life in the early days of Michigan as part of the Stoney Creek School experience. 

Geography 

• Apply the five themes of geography (location, place, region, human/ environmental interaction, and involvement) to describe Michigan. 

• Recognize how people have used, adapted to and modified the environment of Michigan. 

Civics 

• Distinguish between the roles of state government and local government and explore why state governments are needed. 

• Identify the three branches of state government in Michigan and the powers of each. 

• Recognize rights and responsibilities of citizenship. Economics 

• Describe how entrepreneurs combine natural, human, and capital resources to produce goods and services in Michigan. 

• Analyze how Michigan’s location and natural resources influenced its economic development. 

• Explore push and pull factors of migration that led to population growth in Michigan. 

Public Discourse/Decision Making/Citizen Involvement 

• Explore a variety of public issues in Michigan, identify various points of view, and apply core democratic values to support their positions on the issues.