Third Grade - Computer Science

Priority Standards

What students will know, what students will do, and what thinking skills students will develop to apply and transfer computer science understandings that endure within the discipline, leverage deeper understandings, and/or support readiness for success at the next grade level.

In third grade focus on these critical areas:

Instruction: Signature Elements

Below are signature elements of SFUSD Computer Science instruction that students should experience regularly throughout first grade as they develop as computer scientists.

Materials

Below are items you should have to support your students' computer science instruction. If you are missing anything from the list, please first contact your site administrator or designated support. If they are unable to resolve the issue promptly, please contact ESCS@sfusd.edu.

SFUSD Computer Science non-consumable workbooks are centrally printed and provided by the SFUSD Computer Science Department; the booklets are printed in English and Spanish Links to student workbooks: ENGLISH  / SPANISH

Manipulatives have been provided to each site and should remain in one central location with a checkout system in place for non-CS teachers. Here is a linked list of manipulatives for each grade from Kindergarten through Grade 5.

Units

Please refer to the planning guide when launching SFUSD’s Creative Computing 3-5 Curriculum.

To accommodate different school schedules, we offer the following accordion-style model for expanding or contracting the number of lessons in each unit so that students can experience the content in all 4 units in a 12-, 16-, or 20-session Computer Science class.

 

Planning Guide

ESCS lessons should ideally happen once a week for 45-50 minutes. 
When launching Elementary Computer Science at your school site, please refer to the flow chart:

 

Sample Schedule for CS-only Teachers: 

3-5 classes should be at least 45 to 50 minutes maximum. Please allow at least  5-10 minutes between classrooms to allow for teacher transitions. Please coordinate with your site administrators to create your site’s CS schedule.

 

Sample Schedule for Classroom Teachers:

Lessons can be completed within a 45-50 minute block. A best practice we recommend is for the classroom teacher to review the day’s lesson beforehand to make sure they understand the major concepts of the lesson to better help their students when they ask for help. A few lessons may be needed in order for the students to feel comfortable with the lesson’s technology. A recommendation from our department is for teachers to attend ESCS PLCs to get a better grasp of lessons. 

Once students feel comfortable with the technology they will be using, the classroom teacher can then embed core content into CS lessons to reinforce previously learned core content.

Reflection Questions

  1. How are students' developmental needs, communities, and experiences being reflected and honored, or how could they be?
  2. What opportunities do you see for developing equitable access & demand, inquiry, collaboration, and assessment for learning?
  3. What are the implications for your own practice? What strengths can you build upon? What will you do first?

This page was last updated on May 17, 2023