Third Grade Social Studies Curriculum Emphasizes Experiential Learning

Each year, the central theme of third grade social studies is the City of Los Angeles. What better way to learn about Los Angeles than by experiencing it firsthand? Third graders build upon their classroom reading and research through monthly field trips to landmarks in and around LA. These excursions are an essential part of the curriculum, allowing students hands-on opportunities to learn about their community.

“It’s important to study where we live and its history so we know where we come from,” said third grader Finn Edmonds. 

At the Griffith Observatory, third graders took in a bird’s-eye view of the city while observing its unique landforms that help create the city’s climate. At the La Brea Tar Pits, students learned about LA’s pre-historic beginnings before visiting the Ballona Wetlands, home to the early Tongva people. A visit to Olvera Street provided students the opportunity to practice speaking Spanish while learning about the conquistadors who settled in Los Angeles in the 1780s, and a day at the Natural History Museum was spent viewing the exhibition “Becoming Los Angeles.” 

After each field trip, third graders fill out their “passports,” a paper booklet in which they write about what they learned. To remember the day, they also jot down a few adjectives to describe the visit and include a hand-drawn sketch of their experience. Upcoming field trips include visits to Watts Towers, the Hollywood Bowl and Dodger Stadium, where students will learn about patterns of gentrification and the communities that have been impacted.

“Some people think that one hundred years ago, people had the same life as we do now, but it was really different,” said third grader Olivia Vaziri, referring to what she learned at the Ballona Wetlands and at Olvera Street. “People didn’t have their rights—people from Spain came and took over the Tongva land.”

At the end of the year, students will choose one landmark they visited and work together in small groups to create a visual display. Each group will decide how to creatively showcase what they’ve learned, whether through a presentation board, a 3-D model or even a board game. Then, in a grade-level culmination, third graders will present their visuals to the community during a “museum day,” acting as docents and answering questions from family members and friends.