Grade 3 Math: how to help at home
What your child learns in Grade 3 math in the Nunavut Curriculum, and simple things to try at home.
The Big Ideas this year
- Iqqaqqaukkaringniq: concepts in mathematics, analytical and critical thinking, and solution-seeking.
- Number: develop number sense and understand how numbers and operations work.
- Patterns and Relations: use patterns and equations to describe the world and solve problems.
- Shape and Space: measure, and describe 2-D shapes and 3-D objects and how they move.
- Statistics and Probability: collect, read and interpret data, and describe chance.
Easy ways to practise math at home
- Practise math facts in short bursts, such as five minutes while dinner cooks.
- Let your child handle small cash purchases, working out the change in multiples of 5¢.
- Cook together and double or halve a recipe.
- Ask “How do you know?” after an answer, even when it is right.
What each unit covers
Numbers to 1000
Reading, building, comparing and ordering numbers to 1000 as hundreds, tens and ones, including tricky zeros and regrouping (12 tens is 1 hundred and 2 tens).
Round & Count
Rounding numbers to the nearest ten or hundred, counting forward and back by 50s, 100s and 200s, and comparing and ordering numbers up to 1000.
Facts to 20
Building fast, flexible recall of addition and subtraction facts to 20 with strategies like making ten, near doubles, fact families and thinking addition to subtract.
Add & Subtract
Adding and subtracting 2- and 3-digit numbers by place value, number-line jumps and counting up, plus estimating by rounding to the nearest hundred.
Multiplication
Understanding multiplication as equal groups, arrays, repeated addition and skip counting. Easier sets use 2s, 5s and 10s; stretch sets go beyond 5 × 5.
Division
Understanding division as sharing fairly and as making equal groups, and using multiplication facts to divide (3 × 4 = 12, so 12 ÷ 3 = 4).
Fractions
Naming fractions of a shape, a set and a number line, knowing what the top and bottom numbers mean, and comparing fractions by the size of their parts.
Patterns & Equations
Extending increasing and decreasing patterns, describing pattern rules in words and tables, and solving one-step equations like ☐ + 8 = 23.
Time
Telling time on an analog clock, working out start and end times, and knowing how seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years relate.
Measuring
Measuring with centimetres and metres, grams and kilograms, millilitres and litres: choosing sensible units, estimating, comparing and solving measurement problems.
Area & Perimeter
Finding the perimeter (distance around) of rectangles and triangles, finding a missing side, and measuring area in square centimetres and square metres.
3D Objects
Naming 3D objects, counting their faces, edges and vertices, and thinking about how they are built from flat faces or from straws and clay.
Sorting Polygons
Practises naming polygons by their number of sides and sorting them as regular (all sides and angles equal) or irregular.
Graphs & Chance
Reading pictographs and bar graphs where one symbol can stand for one vote or several, and describing how likely outcomes are with spinners, marbles and number cubes.
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
Practise math facts in short bursts, such as five minutes while dinner cooks. Let your child handle small cash purchases, working out the change in multiples of 5¢. Keep sessions short, about 10 to 15 minutes, and stop on a success.
The Nunavut Curriculum Grade 3 math units include numbers to 1000, round & count, facts to 20, add & subtract, multiplication, division.
Free printable Grade 3 math practice sheet
Questions from every unit, with an answer key.