Grade 3 Scope

How to read this scope

Each unit_id in the frontmatter resolves to a unit file under units/. start_day/end_day map the unit onto the 180-day school year; the list is a continuous sequence from day 1 to day 180 with no gaps or overlaps. domain and pillar name the primary domain(s) and pillar(s) each unit serves. domain_weighting expresses the intended balance of instructional time across the ten domains, in percent of the year. lesson_count counts the core lessons; the days between lessons carry flex time, assessment, integration, and celebration. assessment_plan describes how a child’s growth is seen and recorded at this level.

Year at a glance

The Grade 3 year is a spiral that deepens what Grade 2 began, and it opens inward. Mixed Feelings, My Story & My Goals (U.03.001, D01) builds on Grade 2’s telling similar feelings apart: children now describe how a feeling changes over time, name when they feel more than one feeling at once, and see how the same situation can make different people feel differently. They tell the story of their life so far and set a simple goal. My Body, My Senses & Movement (U.03.002, D03) reads the body with new precision — two senses working together, the early signals of hunger and tiredness, and movement with balance.

Caring, Perspective & Belonging (U.03.003, D02) turns outward into the practice of care. Where Grade 2 learned to give encouragement and settle a disagreement, Grade 3 learns to build on what a classmate said, to retell a story from another character’s point of view, and to contribute fairly to a group goal. The heart of the year belongs to the two great tools of school, now working with real independence. Reading, Writing & Many Languages (U.03.004, D04) grows fluency and comprehension — main idea and supporting details, a paragraph with a topic sentence and closing, revising one’s own work, and everyday phrases in another language, always in the child’s home language first, with multilingualism held as wealth. Numbers, Shapes, Patterns & Data (U.03.005, D05) reaches place value to 1,000, multiplication and division within 100, area and perimeter, and scaled graphs — mathematics as sense-making with real things, drawn from many traditions, for everyone.

From there the year looks out at the world. Fair Tests & the Changing World (U.03.006, D06) turns wonder into a fair test — change one thing, keep the rest the same, and read what the data say — and follows food chains, the parts of a plant, pushes and pulls, and how Earth’s turning and orbit bring day and seasons. Making, Music & Movement (U.03.007, D07) gives pattern, rhythm, dance, and design to body and imagination, while Healthy, Safe & Strong (U.03.008, D03) returns to the body with growing independence: what a body needs, where food comes from, first aid for minor hurts, and safe and unsafe touch — the correct names, the right to say no, and telling a trusted adult.

The final third steps into the wider human story, told in many voices. People, Places & Long Ago (U.03.009, D08) places local events on timelines, compares how two peoples met their needs, hears a story, song, or art form from another culture and what it shows that culture values, and traces why people move and how rivers and mountains shaped settlement. Fairness & Our Shared Rules (U.03.010, D09) weighs reasons for and against a choice and practices repairing harm rather than only punishing. Tools, Media & Our Earth Home (U.03.011, D10) explores simple machines, tells an advertisement from information, and distinguishes resources that run out from those that come back. The year closes in All of Me, All of Us (U.03.012, D01 + D02), celebrating each whole person and the caring community, and looking ahead to Grade 4.

Throughout, the four pillars are interwoven. Intellectual awareness (P3) carries the most weight — reading and writing toward fluency and comprehension, multiplication and division, and fair testing are the year’s central work — but emotional and social awareness (P1) and physical and somatic awareness (P2) remain strong, for a known, cared-for, and capable body-and-self is the ground all formal learning stands on. Contextual and ecological awareness (P4) keeps growing: history toward comparison, civics toward reasons, rules, and repairing harm, and ecology toward food chains, resources, and stewardship. No high-stakes tests anywhere: a child’s growth is seen through reading aloud, writing, number work with real things, fair tests, and a portfolio of what they make, say, and do.