Park Avenue School

The big ideas in grade 3 include: developing understanding of multiplication and division and strategies for multiplication and division within 100; developing understanding of fractions, especially unit fractions (fractions with numerator 1); developing understanding of the structure of rectangular arrays and of area; and describing and analyzing two-dimensional shapes.

The mathematical work for grade 3 is partitioned into 8 units:

1. Introducing Multiplication

2. Area and Multiplication

3. Wrapping Up Addition and Subtraction within 1,000

4. Relating Multiplication to Division

5. Fractions as Numbers

6. Measuring Length, Time, Liquid Volume, and Weight

7. Two-dimensional Shapes and Perimeter

8. Putting It All Together

The Orange Public Schools math department has taken the Illustrative Math curriculum and created a calendar to ensure that all critical concepts are covered throughout the school year.

This year students will engage in a FOSS science curriculum with all new modules of study!  

FOSS (Full Option Science System) is a research-based science curriculum for grades K-8 developed at the Lawrence Hall of Science, University of California, Berkeley. FOSS has evolved from a philosophy of teaching and learning that has guided the development of successful active-learning science curricula for more than 40 years. The FOSS Program bridges research and practice by providing tools and strategies to engage students and teachers in enduring experiences that lead to deeper understanding of the natural and designed worlds.

Science is a creative and analytic enterprise, made active by our human capacity to think. Scientific knowledge advances when scientists observe phenomena, think about how they relate to what is known, test their ideas in logical ways, and generate explanations that integrate the new information into understanding of the natural and designed worlds. Engineers apply that understanding to solve real-world problems. Thus, the scientific enterprise is both what we know (content knowledge) and how we come to know it (science practices). Science is a discovery activity, a process for producing new knowledge.

The best way for students to appreciate the scientific enterprise, learn important scientific and engineering concepts, and develop the ability to think well is to actively participate in scientific practices through their own investigations and analyses. The FOSS Program was created specifically to provide students and teachers with meaningful experiences through engaging with this active participation in scientific practices.

The Orange Public Schools science department has taken the FOSS curriculum and adapted it to fit our school year.