Grade 3 Social Studies: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 3 social studies in the Nunavut Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Nunavusiutit: heritage and culture, history, geography, environmental science, and civics and economics, with a focus on Nunavut and its links to Canada and the circumpolar world.
- Inuuqatigiit, the curriculum from the Inuit perspective, shapes how the strand is taught.
- Skills of inquiry, working with others and respecting different points of view.
Easy ways to practise social studies at home
- Look at a map of your community and find places you visit.
- Ask an older relative or neighbour what the area was like when they were young.
- Read stories from many communities, including Indigenous authors, and talk about what is the same and different.
- Talk about how rules and jobs help a community work.
What each unit covers
Our Territory: Nunavut
Covers Nunavut's regions, capital, communities, symbols and landscape. Some names are written in Inuktitut. Nunavut-only content, written from Government of Nunavut sources.
Groups, Leaders & Getting Along
Practises formal and informal leadership, fair group decisions, peaceful ways of solving conflicts and what to do about bullying, including respect for the teachings of Elders and community members.
Maps of Our World
Practises the equator and the Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the continents and oceans, and reading maps, aerial photographs and satellite images with a title, legend, compass rose and the four cardinal directions.
Communities Around the World
Practises daily life in communities around the world: homes, food, work and technology that suit the land and weather, cultural expression, respectful language about differences and how media can show only part of a place.
Working Together Fairly
Practises group skills: sharing ideas, decisions and responsibilities, being fair and respectful, considering other people's views, listening actively and choosing ways to present information.
Ask, Find & Record
Practises the first steps of social studies research: gathering information from oral, visual, material, print and electronic sources, organizing and recording it in charts and maps, naming sources, choosing tools and forming research questions.
What the report card levels look like at home
- Beginning
- Just getting started with this idea. Short, regular practice with lots of support helps most.
- Approaching
- Understands parts of it and is building confidence. Keep practising the tricky parts.
- Meeting
- Has it! Mixed review now and then keeps it strong.
- Exceeding
- Applies it confidently, even in new or harder situations. Try challenge mode and real-life problems.
Your child’s teacher decides the level on the report card. Read the Nunavut report card guide.
Common questions
Look at a map of your community and find places you visit. Ask an older relative or neighbour what the area was like when they were young. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Nunavut Curriculum Grade 3 social studies units include our territory: nunavut, groups, leaders & getting along, maps of our world, communities around the world, working together fairly, ask, find & record.
Free printable Grade 3 social studies practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.