Maryland 3rd Grade Curriculum & Standards Guide

Maryland standards

Math

Revised Maryland College and Career Ready Standards (MCCRS) for Mathematics

Based on Common Core · adopted 2025

Revised standards adopted in July 2025 and in use from 2026-27. Grade 3 is reorganized into four domains (Number and Operation Sense, Algebraic Thinking, Geometric Reasoning and Measurement, Reasoning with Data and Statistics), with codes such as 3.NOS.A.1, and adds several standards. Telling time to the nearest minute moves to Grade 2.

Official standards

English Language Arts

Maryland College and Career Ready Standards (MCCRS) for Literacy/English Language Arts

Based on Common Core

Maryland's posted Grade 3 ELA standards are a revised set built on Common Core, with codes such as RL.3.1; we could not confirm the State Board's adoption vote or the first school year they are required. Grade 3 foundational skills are rewritten around reading and spelling words (printed as RF3.a to RF3.d), and the writing skills lists include cursive handwriting.

Official standards

Science

Maryland Science Standards

National science standards

Maryland uses the national science standards, so Grade 3 science matches Third Grade. The 18 expectations are written like 3-PS2-1 and include three engineering design expectations for grades 3 to 5 (3-5-ETS1-1 to 3-5-ETS1-3). Maryland also has separate Environmental Literacy Standards.

Official standards

Social Studies

Maryland Social Studies Standards and Framework

State standards informed by the national social studies framework

The Grade 3 framework (June 2025) has three units: civics ('How can we make a difference in our community?'), economics and geography ('How does where you live shape how you live?') and history ('How have cultures from the past influenced the present?'). Objectives are written like 3.2.1.c (unit 2, indicator 1, objective c).

Official standards

Grade 3 differences

1. In Maryland

   Math: place value extends to whole numbers up to 10,000: reading, writing, breaking apart and comparing them (3.NOS.A.1). Third Grade works within 1,000.

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Math Week 1 (place value and rounding): add a day on reading, writing and comparing four-digit numbers, and revisit it in Flex Week 5.

2. In Maryland

   Math: an added standard asks children to estimate sums and differences within 1,000 using benchmark numbers and front-end estimation, and to decide when an estimate is enough (3.NOS.D.6).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Math Weeks 2-3 (add within 1,000; subtract within 1,000): start each lesson with a quick estimate, then compare it with the exact answer.

3. In Maryland

   Math: an added standard covers a fraction of a set, such as 2 of 3 objects in a group (3.NOS.F.11).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Math Week 19 (unit fractions) or Flex Week 23: add fraction-of-a-set problems with counters (for example, find 2/3 of 12 buttons).

4. In Maryland

   ELA: Maryland's posted Grade 3 writing skills lists include applying cursive handwriting neatly and legibly (under W.3.1, W.3.2, W.3.3 and W.3.6). Third Grade does not teach cursive.

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   ELA weekly word study (Weeks 1-36): add a few minutes of cursive practice several days a week, and have your child write one final draft in cursive in Week 31 (publishing).

5. In Maryland

   Social studies: children locate key economic centers in Maryland, including agriculture, service and manufacturing industries (3.2.1.c), and study entrepreneurship and its risks and rewards (3.2.1.d, 3.2.1.e).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Social Studies Week 29 (resource maps): map Maryland's farms, ports and factories. Week 25 (producers and consumers): talk with or read about a local business owner and list the risks and rewards of starting a business.

6. In Maryland

   Social studies: children build timelines of the settlement of cultural groups in Maryland and compare settlement maps from the past and today (3.3.1.b, 3.3.2.c).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Social Studies Weeks 16-17 (immigration; state project): choose Maryland and make a settlement timeline.

7. In Maryland

   Social studies: the history unit compares societies of the Americas, Western Europe and Western Africa (3.3.1.a) and studies the lives of explorers, colonists, indentured servants and enslaved Africans (3.3.1.d).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Social Studies Weeks 6-7 (Native peoples; explorers and settlers): add short readings on early West African and Western European societies, and on the lives of colonists, indentured servants and enslaved Africans in early Maryland.

8. In Maryland

   Math: telling time to the nearest minute is a Grade 2 expectation in Maryland (2.GR.C.7); Grade 3 keeps only adding and subtracting time intervals in minutes (3.GR.A.2).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Math Week 25 (time): treat telling time to the minute as review and spend most of the week on elapsed-time problems in minutes.

Grade 3 public-school test

Maryland Comprehensive Assessment Program (MCAP)

MSDE says Maryland is moving from MCAP to the Maryland System of Testing Academic Readiness (MSTAR) beginning in 2026-27.

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.

Sources

• Revised Mathematics Standards · Maryland State Department of Education
• Grade 3 MCCRS Math Crosswalk · Maryland State Department of Education
• Grade 3 MCCRS for Mathematics Companion Guide · Maryland State Department of Education
• Maryland College and Career Ready Standards for ELA · Maryland State Department of Education
• MCCRS for Reading Foundational Skills Grade 3 · Maryland State Department of Education
• MCCRS for ELA: Writing Grade 3 · Maryland State Department of Education
• Science · Maryland State Department of Education
• Grade 3 Social Studies Framework · Maryland State Department of Education
• Statewide Assessments · Maryland State Department of Education

Verified 2026-10-08