Exploring Community in 3rd Grade
Grade Three is a year of personal discovery, as students develop a stronger sense of identity and community, and begin to expand their social awareness.
Our third grade theme, ‘Where Am I Going?,’ allows us to explore the world, beginning with our classroom and expanding outwards in ever-broadening concentric circles into the world at large. Our theme allows us to integrate lessons across subject matter - engaging our students and getting them excited about learning.
Our classroom provides a safe and secure starting point to explore the concept of a dynamic community, and to understand the role we play as individuals within our community. Early in the year, we develop rules for our classroom, specifically naming the basic human need for respect: for ourselves, for others, and for the materials. We learn the routines of the room, and develop systems to help us stay organized. We discover that our work as individuals is integral to the success of our community as a whole.
Looking outwards from the classroom, we then explore our school community - we study the wetlands our school is located on, we organize the school-wide composting program, and we make a cardboard arcade to share with the whole school. Next, we branch out into learning about each student’s hometown. Students write ‘hometown books’ that describe each student’s hometown community, and, as winter sets in, we begin writing personal narratives. We then learn about suburban, rural, and urban communities, thinking about how humans in any number of settings meet their fundamental needs and connect with others. We delve into city life and have fun crafting stories about fictional characters that live and work in the city. ‘Where am I going?’ becomes, ‘what could I be?’ as we create our own urban communities, build home-made skyscrapers, and further our storytelling skills. At the end of the year, we delve into communities from the past - specifically the Middle Ages. We immerse ourselves in medieval times, making connections between communities of the Old World and today, all culminating in one of GUS’s beloved traditions - Medieval Morning.