Provide a variety of tools and materials for your child to use, such as origami paper, papier mache, recyclable materials for sculptures, oil pastels, colored pencils, yarn, modeling clay, crayons, water-based markers, water colors, fabric strips, tissue paper, weaving and stitchery supplies, and supplies for print making, such as paint, cut vegetables, blunt-tippped scissors, paper, and glue.
Praise and display your child’s work in special places.
Work with your child to make drawings from observation, imagination, and memory.
Encourage your child to make artwork often that can be shared with family and friends.
Visit galleries and museums and discuss with your child the similarities and differences between other cultures and your own.
Visit the library and take a look at books that picture master artworks with objects which are familiar in the child’s world. Encourage your child to use similar compositions and themes as they develop their own works of art.
Instructional Technology
Help your child identify the use of technology in everyday life, such as bar code readers at the grocery store, automatic teller machines, smart phones, tablets, and computerized gas pumps.
Help your child use software programs and apps appropriate for Grade 3, such as Microsoft Word, Pixie, Powerpoint, Kidspiration, and Google Apps for Education (GAFE).
Practice computer skills with your child at home or at the library
Visit appropriate websites to help support classroom instruction.
Health
Develop with your child a list of strategies for peacefully resolving .
Help your child develop a personal plan to manage time and stress.
Role-play situations in which your child can practice refusing to become involved in risky situations.
Practice good decision-making skills with your child by identifying options, choosing the best alternative, and considering consequences for decisions.
Encourage and model respect for others.
Language Arts/Library Media
Read as often as possible with your child. Help your child use different ways to read unfamiliar words by saying:
What would make sense in the sentence?
What parts of the word do you recognize?
Think about the sounds for the letters in the word.
Look at the pictures for clues to the word.
Talk about books before, during, and after reading. Ask what might happen. Think about the characters and events. Discuss words and pictures the author included that made reading fun or interesting.
Encourage your child to independently read at least 25 books annually.
Have spelling resources for your child to use at home (personal spelling journal, children’s dictionary).
Provide an area for writing with materials and resources (pencils, markers, erasers, different types of paper, envelopes).
Encourage your child to use spelling strategies and patterns that have been learned.
Assist your child in planning and organizing ideas before beginning to write. Help your child refer to his or her plan when writing. Encourage your child to include relevant information, details, and descriptive words.
Offer suggestions about the ideas and details in the writing before correcting spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.
Establish a routine at home for reading.
Read an action story or tale of adventure to replace an evening TV program.
Be a role model. Let your child see you read for pleasure.
Practice using the Big6 model for problem solving everyday life situations.
Obtain a library card for your child, and schedule regular family visits to the library.
Encourage your child to participate in age-appropriate activities sponsored by the public library.
Look for computer programs that encourage reading.
The school system provides online resources to assist students (SIRS Discoverer, Culture Grams, and World Book Online). Check with the library media specialist at your school for access information.
Mathematics
Have your child explain how he or she solves math problems.
Help your child memorize addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.
Allow your child to use objects (bingo chips, buttons) to solve problems.
Practice subtraction and regrouping with your child.
Assist your child in adding the cost of objects up to $50.
Practice writing and saying numbers up to 100,000.
Assist your child in writing numbers in expanded form (19,245 = 10,000 + 9,000 + 200 + 40 + 5).
Help your child learn to show an amount of money up to $20 using the fewest number of coins and dollars.
Work on puzzles.
Explore mathematics in books that you read with your child.
Discuss the math that appears in the media (newspapers, radio, TV, news).
Use computers and calculators to solve problems.
Make mistakes a part of learning.
Music
Listen to recordings of music by well-known composers. Discuss the times and life of the composer.
Discuss with your child appropriate singing posture and singing voice.
If your child expresses particular interest, allow him or her to take private lessons on an instrument or to elect strings instrumental music at school.
Encourage your child to create movements that illustrate recognition of the elements of music in familiar songs and recorded examples.
Ask your child to explain and demonstrate the music symbols used in the school music class.
Attend concerts by a symphony orchestra or other instrumental ensemble and describe how the sounds of various instruments are produced.
Explore with your child the emotional content of various styles of music.
Physical Education
Encourage your child to play simple net games such as tennis, table tennis, or paddle ball.
Have your child demonstrate opposition when throwing a ball and neutralizing force when catching a ball.
Have your child explain how to check his or her own heart rate.
Walk or jog with your child, if possible.
Science
Encourage your child to observe carefully and to describe things in the environment both indoors or outdoors such as plant and animal life, weather events, the movement of people, animals, and objects.
Allow your child to observe objects through a magnifying glass. Discuss what he/she observes.
Use objects made from different materials to produce sounds
Use mirrors to experiment with the reflection of light.
When your child asks “how” or “why” questions, encourage thinking about ways to find an answer.
Help your child apply what he or she learns by conducting experiments to answer questions. Read books with your child related to topics that interest him/her (animals, weather events, and other topics).
Observe the position of the Sun, Moon, and stars in the sky over a period of time. Discuss the patterns and changes in position that take place.
Social Studies
Provide opportunities for your child to use maps to locate continents and oceans. Encourage your child to read map symbols and use a compass rose, scale, and map key to find places on a map
Discuss which businesses in your community provide goods (grocery store, clothing store) and which provide services (auto repair, dry cleaners).
Visit local historical sites, such as Annapolis or Historic Ellicott City, to compare life today with long ago.
Discuss daily family financial decisions (budgeting, spending, saving, and investing).