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    West Virginia 3rd Grade Curriculum & Standards Guide

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

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    West Virginia standards

    Math

    West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Mathematics (Policy 2520.2B)

    Based on Common Core · adopted 2023

    West Virginia's version of Common Core, numbered M.3.1 to M.3.27. The current policy was filed in August 2023, took effect July 1, 2024 and applies in 2026-27. Grade 3 adds reading and writing numbers to 10,000 and comparing and ordering four-digit numbers (M.3.10, M.3.11), and asks children to know the multiplication table within 100, 0s through 10s (M.3.7).

    Official standards

    English Language Arts

    West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards for English Language Arts (Policy 2520.1A)

    Based on Common Core · adopted 2020

    West Virginia's version of Common Core with its own numbering: ELA.3.1 to ELA.3.41 (ELA.3.28 is a placeholder that begins in Grade 4) plus three Literacy Foundations standards, ELA.3.I fluency, ELA.3.II phonics and ELA.3.III cursive. The current policy took effect August 10, 2020 and applies in 2026-27. The official text opens as a Word file.

    Official standards

    Science

    West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Science (Policy 2520.3C)

    Based on the national science framework · adopted 2021

    Adopted August 2021 and used since 2022-23. Grade 3 is numbered S.3.1 to S.3.18 and follows the national science standards with two changes: there is no fossil standard, because fossils are taught in Grade 4 (S.4.11), and gravity is added (S.3.5). The official text opens as a Word file.

    Official standards

    Social Studies

    West Virginia College- and Career-Readiness Standards for Social Studies (Policy 2520.4)

    State's own standards

    Revised policy filed in July 2024 and effective July 1, 2025. Grade 3 studies the wider community, state, nation and world, with an emphasis on geography, map skills, charts and graphs, plus Native American settlement and European explorers. Use West Virginia for the Week 17 state project (SS.3.22, SS.3.23).

    Official standards

    Standard-by-standard crosswalk

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

    • Math: 36 same · 1 close · 0 partly · 0 not in Grade 3
    • English Language Arts: 37 same · 53 close · 0 partly · 0 not in Grade 3
    • Science: 17 same · 0 close · 0 partly · 1 not in Grade 3
    Open the West Virginia crosswalk

    Grade 3 differences

    1. In West Virginia

      Math: read and write numbers to 10,000 in standard, word and expanded form (M.3.10), and compare two four-digit numbers using >, = and < and put numbers in order by place value (M.3.11). Common Core keeps Grade 3 within 1,000.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Math Week 1 (place value and rounding): add two days on four-digit numbers: read and write numbers to 10,000, compare pairs with >, = and <, and put three or four numbers in order.

    2. In West Virginia

      ELA: write legibly in cursive or joined italics, with margins and correct spacing between letters and words (ELA.3.III). Third Grade does not teach cursive.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      All year: add 10 minutes of cursive practice two or three days a week, starting in ELA Week 1.

    3. In West Virginia

      Science: support an argument that Earth's gravity pulls objects toward the center of the Earth (S.3.5). The national science standards place this in Grade 5, and Third Grade does not teach it.

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Science Week 2 (balanced and unbalanced forces): add a lesson on gravity: drop objects, talk about why 'down' always points toward the center of the Earth, and have your child explain it with evidence.

    4. In West Virginia

      Science: West Virginia has no Grade 3 fossil standard. Fossils are a Grade 4 topic (S.4.11, with rock layers in S.4.10).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Science Week 33 (fossils): teach it as written if you like; it is an early look at a Grade 4 topic in West Virginia. Or use the week for the gravity lesson and plan fossils for Grade 4.

    5. In West Virginia

      Social studies: label the Equator, Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, the poles and the Prime Meridian (SS.3.14), identify the time zones of North America and calculate the time difference between them (SS.3.15), and use a map scale to find distance (SS.3.16).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 3 (maps and globes): add the Equator, tropics, poles and Prime Meridian and measure distance with a map scale; Week 10 (U.S. geography): add a time zone map and two time-difference problems.

    6. In West Virginia

      Social studies: chart the journeys of major explorers such as Marco Polo, Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, Hernando Cortes and Sir Walter Raleigh on a world map with a legend (SS.3.19) and give the causes and effects of European exploration (SS.3.21).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 7 (explorers and settlers): draw each explorer's route on a world map with a legend and note why each one sailed.

    7. In West Virginia

      Social studies: compare forms of government: tribal, monarchy, constitutional republic and democracy (SS.3.2).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 20 (three branches): add a chart comparing tribal government, monarchy, constitutional republic and democracy.

    8. In West Virginia

      Social studies: sequence a product's path from raw material to finished product (SS.3.9) and explore SMART529, West Virginia's education savings program, and other college savings plans (SS.3.11).

      Suggested swap in Third Grade

      Social Studies Week 25 (producers and consumers): trace one product from raw material to store shelf; Week 31 (save, spend, give): read about SMART529 together.

    Grade 3 public-school test

    West Virginia General Summative Assessment (WVGSA)

    Grade 3 public-school students take English language arts and mathematics. Science is tested in grades 5 and 8.

    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. West Virginia homeschool page

    Sources

    Verified 2026-10-08