Grade 3 Health Curriculum

Family-facing version of the grade 3 Health curriculum

Quarterly Overview of Grade 3 Health

The objectives and outcomes for each unit are common across FCPS and based on the Virginia Standards of Learning. The pacing by quarter and by week provides an example of how the curriculum can be organized throughout the year. Teacher teams may adjust the pacing or order of units to best meet the needs of students.

Lessons and Details

NOTE: Lessons with * are part of the Emotional and Social Health (ESH) unit of the Family Life Education (FLE) curriculum and will be included within the health grade. Parents or guardians may choose to opt their child out of any or all lessons in the ESH unit.

Physical Activity

Students will:

  • Evaluate how sleep, physical activity, screen time, and healthy food and beverage choices affect one’s personal health.

Sleep

Students will:

  • Describe the benefits of getting enough sleep and the consequences of the use of electronic devices (i.e., screen time) on sleep.
  • Evaluate how sleep, activity, screen time, and healthy food and beverage choices affect one’s personal health.

Nutrition

Students will:

  • Explain the importance of water and healthy food choices.
  • Evaluate how sleep, physical activity, screen time and healthy food and beverage choices affect one’s personal health.
  • Identify healthy food and beverage choices to support digestion.

Grains and Food Allergies

Students will:

  • Identify whole grain and refined grain food items.
  • Identify foods that most often cause a food allergy.
  • Explain the difference between a whole grain and a refined grain and the nutritional benefits of eating whole grains.
  • Explain your school’s food policy as it relates to food allergens.
  • Explore how grains are grown and the related careers (e.g., agriculture, farming, food science, environmental science).
  • List safe alternatives for school celebrations.

Digestive System

Students will:

  • Identify the major structures and functions of the digestive systems.
  • Explain the importance of water and healthy food choices for digestion and body function.
  • Describe how the body uses digested food molecules.
  • Describe why digestion is important for body function.
  • Evaluate the role of the digestive system in providing energy for the body.
  • Identify healthy food and beverage choices to support digestion and body function.

Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases

Students will:

  • Define noncommunicable and describe the difference between communicable and noncommunicable diseases.
  • Analyze the importance of prevention and early detection of communicable and noncommunicable diseases.
  • Identify healthcare professionals who can help prevent and detect health concerns.

Goal Setting

tudents will:

  • Identify the steps for goal setting to adopt positive health practices.
  • List the benefits of goal setting for personal health.
  • Set a goal for a positive health practice and monitor progress.
  • Identify areas for improving personal health.

Using Medicine Properly

Students will:

  • Describe proper and improper use of prescription (e.g., taking medication prescribed for someone else) and nonprescription medication.
  • Explain the consequences of disregarding medical recommendations for prescription and nonprescription medications.
  • Create a health message about the proper use of prescription and nonprescription for medicine.

The Effects of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs

Students will:

  • Identify body systems affected by alcohol, tobacco, nicotine products ( e.g., electronic smoking devices), inhalants, and other drugs.
  • Analyze the harmful short- and long-term effects of alcohol, tobacco, and nicotine products on body systems.
  • Encourage others to use refusal skills to avoid alcohol, tobacco, nicotine products, inhalants, other drugs, and unknown substances.

Refusal Skills

Students will:

  • Describe how to communicate directly, respectfully, and assertively with family and friends. 
  • Encourage others to use refusal skills to avoid alcohol, tobacco, nicotine products, inhalants, other drugs, and unknown substances.

Positive Self-Image*

Students will:

  • Identify positive personal characteristics and attributes.

Good and Bad Touches*

Students will:

  • Demonstrate how to respond appropriately to good touches and how to handle inappropriate approaches from relatives, neighbors, strangers, or others.

Friendship

Students will:

  • Describe benefits of friendship and list qualities of a good friend.
  • Describe how to make and keep a friend and behaviors that may cause the friendship to end (e.g., being unaware of the attitudes and feelings of others, using inappropriate language and behavior, excluding a friend from activities, breaking promises).
  • Demonstrate behaviors to make and keep friends (e.g., effective communication skills; awareness of the attitudes, feelings, and opinions of others; appropriate language and behavior; sharing; reciprocal helping behavior).

Positive Communication

Students will:

  • Explain the benefits of positive communication on relationships with family and friends. 
  • Describe how to communicate directly, respectfully, and assertively with family and friends. 
  • Demonstrate positive ways to communicate with family and friends.

Managing Emotions

Students will:

  • Describe feelings/emotions that result from experiencing change, such as the arrival of a new family member, making new friends, going to a new school, being accepted by peers, and losing a loved one. 
  • Explain how to identify, express, respond to emotions in a healthy way.
  • Design and demonstrate effective strategies for expressing and managing emotions which may include physical activity, talking about feelings, reading, or creative expressions such as writing, art, music, and dance.

Bullying Preventions

Students will:

  • Describe what bullying is and how to identify it.
  • Identify ways to safely stand up to bullying and how to get help.
  • Describe how to report bullying and how to advocate for oneself and for others who are bullied.

Conflict Resolution

Students will:

  • Define conflict and identify possible situations where conflict can occur with family and friends.
  • Describe how to make healthy decisions when dealing with conflict, including when help from an adult is needed. 
  • Demonstrate healthy ways to resolve conflict, including determining when adult help is needed.

Safely Rules

Students will:

  • Explain safety rules at home and when riding in a motor vehicle.
  • Explain the need for personal safety strategies when interacting with others online.
  • Explain the importance of safety rules at home and when riding in a motor vehicle.
  • Identify situations when adult assistance may be needed with online interactions.
  • Discuss and develop a safety plan to prevent injuries at home and when riding in a motor vehicle.
  • Create strategies for personal safety online.

Protective Gear

Students will:

  • Explain safety rules at home and when riding in a motor vehicle.
  • Explain the importance of safety rules at home and when riding in a motor vehicle.
  • Discuss and develop a family safety plan to prevent injuries at home and when riding in a motor vehicle.

Being Prepared

Students will:

  • Identify safety drills that are important for home and school.
  • Demonstrate proper behavior during safety drills at school.
  • Develop a family safety plan for home and in a motor vehicle.
  • Practice disaster-preparedness at home and school.

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle

Students will:

  • Explain what happens with waste and recycled materials.
  • Analyze how reducing, reusing, and recycling promote a healthier environment.
  • Demonstrate ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle at home, at school, and in the community.

Assessments

Student assessments are part of the teaching and learning process.

  • Teachers give assessments to students on an ongoing basis to
    • Check for understanding 
    • Gather information about students' knowledge or skills.
  • Assessments provide information about a child's development of knowledge and skills that can help families and teachers better plan for the next steps in instruction.

For testing questions or additional information about how schools and teachers use test results to support student success, families can contact their children's schools.

In Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS), grade 3 tests focus on measuring content knowledge and skill development.

Looking for other grade 3 information?