Academics

The third grade teachers put a lot of emphasis on creating self-directed learners in the classroom. Building a desire to be lifelong learners is also a priority for the third grade teachers. We hope to develop good readers by creating a climate that engages students as a community of literacy learners by providing opportunities for children to read critically, examine and respond to texts and use writing as a tool for thinking, learning and communicating.  We also would like to try and make math meaningful and provide different strategies to solve problems.  Overall, the third grade teaching team would like to see all the students feel excited about their curriculum and to strive to reach their maximum potential as students.

The Momilani Grade 3 class is very unique due to the open room layout and simultaneous teaching that occurs.  Students at Momilani are used to having more than one teacher throughout the course of the day and become very good at “switching gears” between their curriculum subjects.  The entire grade level is in the classroom and there is no separating wall or partition between all of the students. The students learn to adapt to this open room structure and are very good at learning how to focus their attention where needed.

In terms of the third grade curriculum, the Grade 3 teachers truly feel that this is a critical year in their elementary school careers.  It’s considered a transitional school year since all of the 3rd grade students are in the same room rather than being in two separate rooms. With this classroom arrangement, there are many new challenges, experiences, and expectations that students face during the third grade year.  In addition to the increased class size, the third grade students will also participate in the Hawaii Smarter Balanced Assessment.