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    Rhode Island 3rd Grade Curriculum & Standards Guide

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

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    Rhode Island standards

    Math

    Rhode Island Core Standards for Mathematics

    Based on Common Core · adopted 2021

    Adopted March 2021 and adapted from the Massachusetts 2017 framework; RIDE says content changes from Common Core are about 3%. Grade 3 keeps the national codes, such as 3.MD.C.7.d, with three small changes: division facts from memory (3.OA.C.7), classifying shapes by sides and angles (3.G.A.1), and properties for multiplication only (3.OA.B.5).

    Official standards

    English Language Arts

    Rhode Island Core Standards for English Language Arts/Literacy

    Based on Common Core · adopted 2021

    Adopted March 2021; RIDE says they keep the focus, coherence and rigor of Common Core while adding clarity. Grade 3 keeps the national code format, such as W.3.3.f, but adds or re-letters some parts, including handwriting, poem writing, abbreviations and symbols. Its grammar standard (L.3.1) has no part on explaining what nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs do.

    Official standards

    Science

    National K-12 science standards (adopted 2013)

    National science standards · adopted 2013

    Rhode Island adopted the national science standards in 2013 and reaffirmed them after a 2024 review, so Grade 3 science matches Third Grade's list. The state adds no Grade 3 expectations of its own.

    Official standards

    Social Studies

    Rhode Island Social Studies Standards

    State's own standards

    Endorsed February 2023 and in full use for 2026-27. Grade 3 is 'Living and Working Together in the Regions of the United States', with a unit for each region; codes look like SS3.2.2 (Grade 3, topic 2 The Northeast, standard 2). Grade 3 has no standards on producers and consumers, scarcity, saving or budgets, so Third Grade's economics weeks go beyond the state list.

    Official standards

    Standard-by-standard crosswalk

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

    • Math: 34 same · 3 close · 0 partly · 0 not in Grade 3
    • English Language Arts: 71 same · 18 close · 0 partly · 1 not in Grade 3
    • Science: 18 same · 0 close · 0 partly · 0 not in Grade 3
    Open the Rhode Island crosswalk

    Grade 3 differences

    1. In Rhode Island

      Social studies: name the states and capitals in each U.S. region and locate them on a map, starting with the Northeast and Rhode Island, and include the U.S. territories grouped with the regions (SS3.2.2 and the matching standard for each region).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Weeks 10-11 (U.S. geography; five U.S. regions): stretch into Week 14 (flex) and add a states-and-capitals map for each region, starting with Rhode Island. Add Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and American Samoa to the map.

    2. In Rhode Island

      Social studies: explain how people from Africa were forced to the United States through the transatlantic slave trade, in the Northeast and Southeast units (SS3.2.3, SS3.3.3).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 16 (immigration): add a lesson on the transatlantic slave trade, in which people from Africa were brought to the United States by force, and show on the map that this happened in both the Northeast and the Southeast.

    3. In Rhode Island

      Social studies: government in Grade 3 means the President, Vice President and Cabinet, elected state leaders, rules versus laws and national symbols (SS3.1.4). The standard does not name the three branches or local government.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 20 (three branches): spend a day on the President, Vice President and Cabinet and on Rhode Island's elected leaders, and add national symbols. In Week 19 (local government), compare a rule with a law.

    4. In Rhode Island

      Social studies: identify Indigenous groups in each region and how they continue their cultural traditions today (for example SS3.3.3, SS3.6.3).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 12 (Native nations across regions): add one present-day tradition for each region's Native nations.

    5. In Rhode Island

      Social studies: analyze major U.S. industries and how geography shaped industries such as Midwest farming and manufacturing (SS3.1.5, SS3.4.4).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 28 (interdependence): match each region to a major industry and explain how its land and resources helped.

    6. In Rhode Island

      Math: know the related division facts from memory, not only the multiplication facts (3.OA.C.7).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Math Week 11 (division facts): keep short daily practice going until your child can recall division facts within 100 without working them out.

    7. In Rhode Island

      Math: compare and classify shapes by their sides and angles, including whether an angle is a right angle, and know trapezoids among the quadrilaterals (3.G.A.1).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Math Weeks 33-34 (polygons; quadrilaterals): sort shapes by number of sides and by right angle or not, and add the trapezoid to the quadrilaterals.

    8. In Rhode Island

      ELA: write legibly and fluently by hand, in either printing or cursive (L.3.2.a). The state also adds sound patterns such as rhyme when writing poems (W.3.3.f), writing a numeral that starts a sentence as a capitalized word (L.3.2.g), and using common abbreviations and symbols (L.3.4.e, L.3.4.f).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      ELA Weeks 1-36 (weekly word study): add a few minutes of handwriting practice, print or cursive. ELA Week 15 (poetry): write a poem that uses rhyme or repeated sounds. ELA Week 13 (revise and edit): practice sentences that begin with a number, plus common abbreviations and symbols.

    Grade 3 public-school test

    Rhode Island Comprehensive Assessment System (RICAS), Grade 3 ELA and mathematics

    Tested in Grades 3-8 in public schools. For homeschool requirements, check with your state's education department or local school district.

    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

    Verified 2026-10-08