Why is Third Grade UNIQUE?

Hello there, EVERYONE! I'm Melissa from More Time 2 Teach. I'm thrilled to be part of the iTeach Third family and even more EXCITED about what we have in store for you! But before we begin, let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I'm currently a third grade teacher in the sunny state of Florida. I've been teaching for about 16 years now, the majority, if not almost ALL of those years, have been in the THIRD GRADE...
I wouldn't have it any other way!

I do teach in a state with a 3rd grade retention policy, but we'll get to that in a little bit. I teach at a Title 1 school and absolutely LOVE where I work. I consider myself blessed to teach where I teach and I've always thought I was the luckiest teacher around since I have 5 computers in my classroom. Little did I know that many of you have iPads! Notice that was plural i-P-A-D-S.

What I would do to have just one... That's okay, I can't complain because I also have a fancy shmancy Smart Board. Woot Woot!

Let's focus.... I'm here today to talk to you about why Third Grade is such a UNIQUE year to teach!

Because I've taught 3rd for so many years, I've started to notice that there are a few factors that set us apart from the rest. So to make it all easier to follow, I've broken the differences down into 5 main factors that play a crucial role in making 3rd grade so unique.

3rd grade seems to be a year of many transitions, but one of the most difficult transitions seems to be the change from the "elementary" years (K-2) to "upper elementary" or (3-5). You see in third, students start becoming more independent and begin to mature. Let's be honest, though, they're still babies! The only problem is that what is being demanded of them is not baby material by any means.

A good friend of mine once made the best comparison when she said that 3rd grade is like kindergarten all over again.

Like kinder, parents panic in the third grade, and we as their child's teacher have to help them learn to let go. We have to remind them that it is not their (the parents) responsibility to make sure HW is in the bookbag. In some cases, we even need to remind them that their child can and should carry their own bookbag.

We need to help them see that their child needs to be more responsible and that they need to help their child become more independent. Their son or daughter needs to start finding their own voice and figuring out what "they" believe and what "they" think and feel in order to keep up with the demands of the grade level.

Part of their transition, also includes moving away from practicing and mastering basic skills to moving on to much more complex problem solving.

From K-2 students are learning how to read. They learn their letters, phonics skills, how to chunk, how to sound out, etc... They read predictable texts, easy readers, and primers. In third grade, however, the texts they are reading are much longer, more challenging, and filled with facts on difficult concepts such as the solar system, or the systems of the body. They are taught to do close reads of challenging text, they are expected to analyze the author's point of view and central message.

They no longer simply read a text and answer "right there" questions. As a matter of fact, many of the questions they are given are analytical questions where they must infer based on evidence or clues they find from the text.

For most of them, this is the first time their reading work focuses more on thinking and talking about what they've read in order to dig deeper into the text.

 Part of the reason we work so hard to teach our 3rd graders to become more independent is because they need to be able to form opinions and hold educated discussions with their peers. Up until now they've relied heavily on their parents or teachers to tell them what is right or wrong... what's good or bad. They haven't had to reason, justify, or explain their thought processes in words let alone in their writing.

But now for the first time they are being asked challenging questions and asked to form their own opinions. For an adult this might seem like an easy task, but for 8 and 9 year olds this is quite difficult. Especially since they don't have much experience giving opinions besides the usual questions...

What's your favorite ice cream flavor? or What's your favorite pet?

Some of their prompts might include questions such as "Do you think homework is beneficial to students?" or "What do you think is the most important career?" Those are some tough topics to tackle and it's exactly what we are expecting of our 3rd graders.

Students must now explain their opinions and most importantly SUPPORT IT WITH EVIDENCE. In order to do this they need to THINK, ANALYZE, and REALLY understand why they feel a certain way.

They are now being asked to collaborate more with their peers and to engage in educated conversations where they must defend, persuade, and explain their thoughts.

Is this frustrating for many? In the beginning most definitely. Some students just aren't developmentally ready when the year begins. However, with teacher support and repeated practice, it is doable and AMAZING to see how much growth students will demonstrate by the end of the year.

In the 3rd grade parents might begin to notice students grades in subject areas other than reading being affected. This can be attributed to the fact that now subjects such as science, social studies, and even math are beginning to rely more heavily on analyzing text. That's part of the reason why some students that may have been performing well in other grades might begin to struggle in 3rd.

Unfortunately, the transition for K-2 to 3 is not a gradual process, but feels more like an abrupt change. Whereas in the younger grades, a struggling reader may not have had a difficult time in math or science, now it becomes more noticeable. This is the time where reading starts to affect other areas as well.

A student that may be great at math computation, and may have done well in the 2nd grade, may now begin to struggle with math application. Because of a reading difficulty, a child may not understand what is being asked of him in a story problem.

It's also no longer as simple as teaching our children key words in math that mean to add or subtract. Students must now be able to explain their thinking and how they went about solving a problem.

With a seemingly simple move from second to third, students are asked to become more advanced readers, writers, thinkers, speakers, and even mathematicians over the summer break.

The 3rd grade is where most states officially begin testing students. And in some states such as Florida, where I teach, the results of this test also determines whether or not a 3rd grader moves on to the 4th grade. For many children, parents, and teachers alike this causes much pressure, stress, and anxiety.

So why is success in 3rd so important and why do some states have retention policies at such a young age? I've never quite understood why this occurred so I did some research.

Apparently, studies have shown that...

 kids who aren't reading by 3rd grade are four times more likely to drop out of High School.

Nonetheless, in an effort to stop this from occurring, some states have implemented retention policies so that students stay in the grade another year in order to master reading skills. Their hopes is that with the additional intervention they can reduce the probability of a child not graduating from high school.

So as a third grade teacher who has to go up against all of these factors and then some, what do you do? How do you teach your class of x number of babies how to think, speak, and write critically?...

My answer to you is simple....

You take it one day at a time!

Don't worry, as a fellow 3rd grade teacher I can tell you that you are not alone in navigating the tricky waters that belong to this Pivotal Year.

Stick with us at iTeach Third and I promise you that we will give you a realistic approach to tackling the battles we face each and every day in our own classrooms.

Together as a community of third grade teachers, we will come together to share our stories with you. We will give you a glimpse into our own classrooms and some of the ways in which we handle the difficult demands of this grade level.

We promise to be HONEST...
 We promise to BE OURSELVES...
We promise to NEVER claim to know it all...

At the end of the day, we are, in fact, 3rd grade teachers just like yourself . Our goal, just like yours, is to provide our students with the BEST EDUCATION possible.

See you soon...