Ohio 3rd Grade Curriculum & Standards Guide

Ohio standards

Math

Ohio's Learning Standards for Mathematics

Based on Common Core · adopted 2017

Adopted February 2017. Grade 3 keeps Common Core codes without the cluster letter (for example 3.OA.7), with Ohio changes such as money word problems (3.MD.1b), time intervals within 90 minutes (3.MD.1a), drawing polygons with up to 8 sides (3.G.1) and two-step graph problems (3.MD.3).

Official standards

English Language Arts

Ohio's Learning Standards for English Language Arts

Based on Common Core · adopted 2017

The 2017 standards remain in force for 2026-27, a transition year. They keep the national codes (for example RL.3.6) but reword several reading standards and split some into lettered parts (RL.3.2a), as Ohio's official crosswalk shows. Revised standards adopted in 2026 (full use from 2027-28) add Writing Foundations, including Grade 3 handwriting in manuscript and/or cursive (WF.3.1).

Official standards

Science

Ohio's Learning Standards and Model Curriculum for Science

State's own standards · adopted 2018

Ohio wrote its own science standards (adopted February 2018), with codes such as 3.PS.2. Grade 3 has nine content statements: Earth's resources (3.ESS.1 to 3.ESS.3), traits, survival and life cycles (3.LS.1 to 3.LS.3) and matter and forms of energy (3.PS.1 to 3.PS.3). Forces and weather come in earlier grades and fossils in Grade 4 (4.LS.2).

Official standards

Social Studies

Ohio's Learning Standards for Social Studies

State's own standards

Adopted February 2018 and in force for 2026-27. Grade 3 is 'Communities: Past and Present, Near and Far', with content statements numbered 1 to 20: local history on timelines, grid maps, local government, and economics including line graphs and budgets. Updated K-8 standards (July 2026, for district use from 2027-28) name Ohio more often, use tables instead of line graphs and drop the budget statement.

Official standards

Grade 3 differences

1. In Ohio

   Math: word problems that add and subtract money within 1,000, dollars with dollars and cents with cents (3.MD.1b). Common Core places money in Grade 2.

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Math Weeks 2-3 (add within 1,000; subtract within 1,000): turn two word problems a day into money problems, using the dollar and cent signs without decimals.

2. In Ohio

   Science: Grade 3 physical science is 'Matter and Forms of Energy': matter takes up space and has mass, solids, liquids and gases, and heat, electrical, light, sound and magnetic energy (3.PS.1, 3.PS.2, 3.PS.3). Third Grade teaches motion, forces and magnets instead, which Ohio places in Grade 1 (motion, 1.PS.2) and Grade 2 (forces and magnets, 2.PS.1).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Science Week 5 or 14 (flex week): do a states-of-matter investigation (solid, liquid, gas; melting and freezing) and a hunt for forms of energy (light, heat, sound, electricity, magnets).

3. In Ohio

   Science: Grade 3 Earth science is 'Earth's Resources': properties of soil, rocks, air and water, renewable and nonrenewable energy resources, and conserving resources (3.ESS.1, 3.ESS.2, 3.ESS.3). Third Grade teaches weather and climate instead, which Ohio places in Kindergarten and Grade 2 (K.ESS.1, 2.ESS.3).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Science Week 23 (flex week): study Earth's resources (rocks, soil, water, air), sort energy sources into renewable and nonrenewable, and practice reduce, reuse, recycle.

4. In Ohio

   ELA: Ohio's Grade 3 reading standards differ from the national wording. Children determine a theme and retell stories (RL.3.2a, RL.3.2b), tell first-person from third-person narration (RL.3.6) and make text-to-self and text-to-text connections (RL.3.10).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   ELA Weeks 2 and 4 (characters; folktales, fables, myths): ask for the theme of each story, a retelling and one way the story connects to your child's own life or to another book. ELA Week 24 (author's purpose and point of view): have your child say whether a story is told in first person or third person.

5. In Ohio

   Social studies: local history shown on timelines in years, decades and centuries, using primary and secondary sources to show change over time (content statements 1 and 2).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Social Studies Week 8 (how our community began): make a community timeline marked in decades and centuries, using an old photo or map as a primary source.

6. In Ohio

   Social studies: use an alphanumeric grid to find places on a map (content statement 4) and read line graphs that show change over time (content statement 14).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Social Studies Week 3 (maps and globes): add a grid map with letters and numbers; Week 29 (resource maps): add a line graph of your town's population.

7. In Ohio

   Social studies: children look for evidence of positive and negative ways people have changed the environment in their local community (content statement 6).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Social Studies Week 4 (landforms, water and resources): find one helpful and one harmful change people have made to the land or water near you, such as a park, a dam or a cleared field.

8. In Ohio

   ELA (revised standards, full use from 2027-28): write legibly in manuscript and/or cursive (WF.3.1).

   Suggested swap in Third Grade

   Add 10 minutes of cursive practice two or three days a week, starting in ELA Week 1.

Grade 3 public-school test

Ohio's State Tests (Grade 3 English language arts and mathematics)

Grade 3 public-school students take the ELA and math tests; the Grade 3 ELA test is also linked to Ohio's Third Grade Reading Guarantee.

About this test

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

Homeschool rules (unofficial summary)

Unofficial summary, not legal advice, and not endorsed by any state or agency; rules change, so check official sources and thirdgrade.com/states before acting.

Official sources

• Ohio Revised Code 3321.042, Home education · Ohio Legislative Service Commission
• Home Schooling · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• 2025 Home Education Fact Sheet · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce

Other sources

• CHEO: A Huge Change in Ohio

Verified 2026-09-30

Sources

• Ohio's Learning Standards for Mathematics, Grade 3 · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• Ohio's Learning Standards for English Language Arts (adopted 2017) · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• Ohio's K-12 English Language Arts Learning Standards Crosswalk (2010 to 2017) · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• English Language Arts Standards (web page) · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• 2026 Revised ELA Standards K-12 · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• Ohio's Learning Standards and Model Curriculum for Science · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• Ohio's Learning Standards and Model Curriculum for Science (web page, with the official K-8 crosswalk) · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• Ohio's Learning Standards for Social Studies (adopted February 2018) · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• Ohio's Learning Standards for Social Studies, Kindergarten-Grade 8 (July 2026) · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce
• Home Schooling · Ohio Department of Education and Workforce

Verified 2026-10-08