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    Kentucky 3rd Grade Curriculum & Standards Guide

    How Kentucky's third grade standards line up with Third Grade.

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    Kentucky standards

    Math

    Kentucky Academic Standards for Mathematics

    Based on Common Core · adopted 2019

    Adopted in 2019. Kentucky keeps the national Grade 3 content and writes its codes like KY.3.MD.8 (perimeter). It adds a data investigation: children pose their own question, show measurements on a dot plot and describe the shape of the data (KY.3.MD.3a, KY.3.MD.4a, KY.3.MD.4d). There is no money or decimals in Grade 3.

    Official standards

    English Language Arts

    Kentucky Academic Standards for Reading and Writing

    Based on Common Core · adopted 2025

    The October 2025 revision took effect in May 2026 and applies in 2026-27. Its strands are RF, RL, RI, HW (handwriting), C (composition, for example C.3.5 for research) and L; there are no speaking and listening standards, so Third Grade's discussion and presentation work goes beyond what Kentucky requires. Grade 3 children legibly form cursive letters, words and sentences (HW.3.1).

    Official standards

    Science

    Kentucky Academic Standards for Science

    Based on the national science framework · adopted 2022

    The December 2022 edition, in place from the 2023-24 school year, uses the national science standards' codes and wording, for example 3-LS1-1 (life cycles). The one Grade 3 difference is fossils, which Kentucky teaches in Grade 4 (4-LS4-1).

    Official standards

    Social Studies

    Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies

    State standards informed by the national social studies framework

    Grade 3 is 'Global Interactions': the idea of community is extended to global communities, with codes such as 3.E.MI.1. The standards list the C3 Framework as a source. The December 2022 edition (in effect since September 2023) applies in 2026-27; an August 2026 edition is only proposed, with public comments open to October 31, 2026, and its Grade 3 keeps the same 31 standard codes.

    Official standards

    Standard-by-standard crosswalk

    See every national third grade standard matched to Kentucky's own codes.

    • Math: 31 same · 6 close · 0 partly · 0 not in Grade 3
    • English Language Arts: 45 same · 33 close · 0 partly · 12 not in Grade 3
    • Science: 17 same · 0 close · 0 partly · 1 not in Grade 3
    Open the Kentucky crosswalk

    Grade 3 differences

    1. In Kentucky

      Social studies: Grade 3 is 'Global Interactions'. Children explore interactions between groups of people in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania, and the five civics standards are about governments and communities around the world (3.C.CP.1, 3.C.CP.2, 3.C.RR.1, 3.C.CV.1, 3.C.PR.1). Third Grade focuses on communities, regions and government in the United States.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Weeks 13, 15 and 16 (movement and trade; culture; immigration): pick one community on each of two or three other continents and compare their foods, homes, work and trade with your own; Weeks 19-20 (local government; three branches): add how each of those communities makes rules and chooses leaders.

    2. In Kentucky

      Social studies: Grade 3 includes Kentucky-specific standards in economics (3.E.KE.1), geography (3.G.KGE.1) and Kentucky history (3.H.KH.1). There is no Kentucky government standard in Grade 3.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 17 state project: choose Kentucky, and cover what Kentucky makes and trades, its geography and its history.

    3. In Kentucky

      ELA: Kentucky requires cursive in Grade 3: legibly form cursive letters, words and sentences (HW.3.1). Third Grade does not teach cursive.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      ELA: add 10 minutes of cursive practice three days a week, and in Flex Weeks 5, 14, 23 and 32 have your child copy or write a short piece in cursive.

    4. In Kentucky

      Math: Kentucky sets graphs inside a data investigation. Children pose their own question (KY.3.MD.3a, KY.3.MD.4a), show measurements on a 'dot plot', the national line plot (KY.3.MD.4c), and describe the shape of the data (KY.3.MD.4d).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Math Week 24 (measuring to half and quarter inch, line plots): have your child ask a question, measure to answer it, call the line plot a dot plot and describe what the data shows; Week 35 (scaled picture and bar graphs): let your child pose the question and collect the data.

    5. In Kentucky

      ELA: Kentucky's RI.3.5 is about text structures (comparison, cause and effect, problem and solution); text features are a Grade 1 standard (RI.1.5). RI.3.8 asks how reasons and evidence support an author's claims, and L.3.5b asks for synonyms and antonyms.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      ELA Week 6 (informational text features): add how a text is organized (comparison, cause and effect, problem and solution); Week 24 (author's purpose and point of view): find the reasons and evidence behind an author's claims; weekly word study: add synonyms and antonyms.

    6. In Kentucky

      Social studies: Kentucky also asks for timelines of people, traditions and events in communities around the world (3.H.CH.1), contributions of inventors (3.H.CH.2), private and public property (3.E.MA.1) and how the cost of things changes over time (3.E.MA.2).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 15 (culture): make a timeline for one world community and read about one of its inventors; Week 24 (economics basics): sort private and public property and compare what something cost long ago and today.

    7. In Kentucky

      Science: fossils are a Grade 4 standard in Kentucky (4-LS4-1), not Grade 3. The other 14 Grade 3 standards and the three engineering standards match the national list.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Science Week 33 (fossils): teach it as written; it is a preview of Kentucky's Grade 4.

    Grade 3 public-school test

    Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA)

    Public-school testing starts in Grade 3; check the department page for the subjects tested in each grade.

    About this test

    Shown for context. Homeschool testing rules are separate; see below.

    Homeschool rules

    Check your state's current homeschool rules with its education department. Kentucky homeschool page

    Sources

    Verified 2026-10-08