Mount Olive Christian Day School
Preparing a New Generation in the Faith
5301 West Washington Boulevard • Milwaukee Wisconsin 53208
414.774.2200 • www.mtolivemke.org
Third Grade
Mount Olive Lutheran School's mission is to prepare a new generation in the faith to serve Jesus Christ.
With the Lord’s help, Mount Olive Lutheran School will create a caring community in Christ.
† Third Grade Curriculum
Maximum Third Grade class size is 20 students.
Third Grade students continue to grow into more independent learners. A high emphasis is placed on developing a sense
of responsibility for themselves. Relationships with God, adults, self and peers is fostered through their daily activities.
† Religion
Third Grade students use the One in Christ curriculum published by Concordia Publishing House. Students explore both
Old and New Testament stories that correspond with the Six Chief Part of Luther’s Small Catechism – The Ten
Commandments, Apostles’ Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Baptism, Confession, and Holy Communion. The goal of these lessons is
to help students grow in discipleship as they explore key doctrinal themes and apply them to their lives.
Memory Work: Using a daily Morning Prayer as our basis, the Third Grade students will be able to recite the Lord’s
Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, and Luther’s Morning Prayer. In addition, we learn the Ten Commandments and their
meanings, as well as the meanings of each petition of the Lord’s Prayer.
Chapel: Chapel is held weekly on Wednesdays at 8:30 a.m. Each student is a member of a Chapel Family which is led by
one of the faculty members. Each student is part of this special family for the entire school year.
† Language Arts
Reading: Our reading curriculum focuses on four reading goals – Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, and Expanding
Vocabulary. We do this through the exploration of different genres of literature at varying reading levels – novels, fiction
and non-fiction short stories, magazines, and poetry. We also put a large emphasis on how to use different reading
strategies to set ourselves up for success in the other content areas, like using graphic organizers, taking notes, and
doing vocabulary exercises to help with comprehension of our texts.
Handwriting: Our students are introduced to writing in cursive for the first time in Third Grade.
Spelling: Different activities are done throughout the week to help students practice spelling their list of words,
understand their meanings, and use them appropriately in reading and writing contexts. They are then tested on their
lists each Friday.
English: English uses a combination of grammar and writing lessons that will help the students to become better readers
and writers. The grammar lessons help students focus on parts of speech, usage, mechanics, agreement, and
punctuation/capitalization. The writing lessons focus on traits of effective writing, genre characteristics, sentence
structure, word and study skills, and works through the writing process.
† Mathematics
Third Grade students will continue to master their basic math facts (addition, subtraction, and multiplication), learn how
to use tools for reading and measurements, and will continue to work with charts, graphs, and money. Our curriculum
teaches new skills in increments throughout the year instead of in a single unit.
† Social Studies
Our social studies text surrounds the theme of communities, with an emphasis on exploring communities around our
country and around the world to see how they are alike, different, and how they are all connected. We explore
communities from different times in our nation’s history, explore how geography affects communities, learn about
cultures from around the world, and learn about citizenship.
† Science
Third Grade science places a high emphasis on physical and earth science. Most of the year is spent working on concepts
in physical science like forces and motion, matter and energy, exploring simple machines, electricity, sound, other
things. We conclude the year with an introduction to some earth science topics, like minerals and rocks, water,
landforms, and saving our earth’s resources.
† Technology
The students have the opportunity to engage with Smartboard lessons, and we also use several websites to enhance our
learning (Discovery Education, Flocabulary, and Mystery Science). We have two computers available in the classroom for
students to do Accelerated Reader testing and for other educational enrichment experiences.
The Third Graders participate in computer class twice a week where they begin to develop their typing skills through
typing practice, gain an understanding of how to successfully navigate the different programs and features of the school
computers, and use Microsoft Word to type word documents.
† Music
Third Grade has Music Class twice a week which is led by our music specialist.
† Art
Throughout the school year, students learn about the different elements of art: line, color, shape, value, form, space,
and texture. Students also learn about different famous artists and complete art projects focusing on those artists’
techniques. Third Graders focus on Wassily Kandinsky and Claude Monet. Students receive their own sketchbooks and
complete a number of assignments in them. They also have opportunities to do some free drawing.
† Physical Education & Recesses
Third Grade students participate in outdoor recess (when possible) for 15-20 minutes twice a day in order to promote an
active lifestyle and give their bodies and their brains the break that they need to succeed inside of the classroom. They
also attend physical education class twice a week, using games and activities to help with teamwork and developing
their gross motor skills.
† Third Grade Students may also participate in the following:
• Schola Cantorum
• American Heritage Girls
• Occasional special events: Art Fair, Talent Show, Spring Concert, etc.
For more information on school enrollment please phone 414.774.2200
or visit us on the web at www.mtolivemke.org/cds
5301 West Washington Boulevard • Milwaukee WI, 53208 • Email: [email protected]
The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod