3rd Grade Math Skills and Concepts

Addition and Subtraction Math Facts will be reviewed in Third Grade. Students will be expected to have a very good understanding of their Addition and Subtraction Facts at this stage. Addition and Subtraction Math Facts should be mastered by the start of the 3rd Grade. Students should now know Math Fact Addition strategies such as “Doubles” (6+6 or 4+4), “Turnarounds” (2+7 = 7+2), “Near Doubles”, “Almost Doubles” or “Doubles Plus 1” (6+6+12, so 6+7= one more, or 13).

Third-Graders will continue to add and subtract larger numbers (ex: 2-digit numbers such as 456+192, or 725-581). More than one Math method may be taught to solve these problems, including Mental Math.

Students in Third Grade will continue working on their Multiplication and Division Facts. They will continue to use vocabulary such as ‘Product’ (answer to a multiplication question), ‘Quotient’ (answer to a division question), Remainders, Fact Families, etc. They will also be placing objects into equal groups, displaying numbers in arrays, and creating number stories. This will extend into the memorization of the easier Multiplication Facts first, then to the more difficult Multiplication Facts. They will also relate Multiplication to Division.

Students in Third Grade will be expected to know how to skip count by 2s, 5s, and 10s (ex: 2,4, 6, 8, or 5, 10, 15, 20). They may begin skip counting by other numbers such as 3,4,6,7,8 and 9 as preparation for Multiplication.

Third Graders will continue to count / add pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and dollar bills. They will also continue working on the Math concept of making change. Children who know their Addition and Subtraction Math Facts will, overall, have an easier time adding / counting money. Students who have an understanding of Subtraction will have an easier time with making change.

Students in Grade 3 will learn that each digit in larger numbers has a value, depending on its position in the number. For example, in the number 52,478, the 5 is worth 5 “ten-thousands” (or 50,000), the 2 is worth 2 “thousands” (or 2,000), the 4 is worth 4 “hundreds” (or 400), the 7 is worth 7 “tens” (or 70), and the 8 is worth 8 “ones”, or simply 8.

Third Graders will have many opportunities to measure in a variety of ways. Grade Three students will continue measuring with standard units (ex: inches, feet, yards, and miles, or centimeters, decimeters, meters and kilometers), as well as temperature in Fahrenheit and Celsius using a thermometer. They will also measure to the nearest ‘part’ of a unit, such as measuring to the nearest ½ inch or ¼ inch, or to the nearest centimeter.

Telling time remains an important math skill that students will continue to review in Third Grade. They will tell time to the hour, half-hour, quarter-hour, 5 minutes and 1 minute using both digital and analog clocks. They will also be expected to know different ways to express the time, such as half-past 3 and a quarter-to 9. The Math Concept of elapsed time will be reviewed.

Third Grade students will review 2-dimensional shapes, and they will further explore 3-D solids such as cones, cylinders, prisms, pyramids and spheres.

Students in Grade 3 will extend their math knowledge about Lines, Line Segments, Parallel Lines, and Angles. They will learn about Rays, End Points, and Intersecting Lines as well.

Fractional parts of a whole will be investigated in 3rd Grade Math (ex: the child will see a circle, and will divide it into several equal parts like halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, etc.). Fractions of a group will also be reviewed (ex: how to divide a class of 24 children into 6 equal groups). Third Grade students will shade in parts of an object to show a specified fraction, and they will continue to investigate equivalent fractions. Third-Graders will also learn about Improper Fractions and Mixed Fractions.

An image that is symmetrical is something that has two sides that are identical. One side could be seen as a “mirror image” of the other side. 3rd Grade students will have opportunities to look for symmetry in everyday objects, as well as create symmetrical patterns of their own. They will determine whether certain objects or pictures display line symmetry, and the number of lines of symmetry in those objects or pictures.

Children in Third Grade Math will create various graphs (ex: bar graphs), and continue to investigate ways to collect and analyze data such as Mean, Median, Mode, and Range. They may also learn about Frequency Tables.

Grade 3 kids will use estimating and rounding as useful tools to get an approximate answer, and they will also estimate to verify that their answer to an Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication or Division math question makes sense.

Students in Third Grade will continue learning about different types of measuring, such as measuring the contents of a container (Capacity) and the Weight of small objects. They will work with both the U.S. Customary Measuring System, and the Metric System. They will use terms such as Cups, Pints, Quarts, Gallons, Liters, Ounces, Pounds, Tons, Grams and Kilograms. Some equivalent measures will also be explored (ex: 2 Pints = 1 Quart). They may also be introduced to the math concept of Volume for regular rectangular prisms.

Third Graders will continue to work on Perimeter and Area. For example, they may measure the distance around their textbook, or use pattern blocks to “tile” a surface such as their desk. They will also learn how to calculate the area and perimeter of objects or pictures.

Students in Third Grade have already had many opportunities to explore numbers that are less than one through Fractions and beginning decimals through money. They will now begin exploring numbers up to the “thousandths” digit (Ex. 0.001), that is, up to three decimal places.

Grade Three students have already worked with Color, Shape and Number Patterns, and they will continue to discover new ways to create more complex patterns in math. This math skill incorporates some adding and subtracting, logical thinking, etc.

Students in Third Grade will begin to investigate ways to measure circles. They will be introduced to the math concepts of circumference (distance around the outside of a circle) and diameter (the distance across the center of a circle).

Students in Third Grade will be taught how to multiply larger numbers (ex: 47×5 or 32×61). There are a variety of math strategies and math methods to solve these larger multiplication problems, and some students will be taught more than one method (ex: Traditional Method, Partial-Products Method, Lattice-Method, Mental Math, etc.).

Students in Third Grade have already had many opportunities to explore numbers that are less than one through Fractions and beginning decimals through money. They will now begin exploring numbers up to the “thousandths” digit (Ex. 0.001), that is, up to three decimal places.

In 3rd Grade math, children will learn about Ordered Pairs (ex: 6,4), and how to graph these ordered pairs on a coordinate grid with an ‘x’ and ‘y’ axis.

Third Grade math students will perform basic experiments to explore the likeliness of an event occurring, the idea of chance, and to predict outcomes. They may roll dice, toss coins or use spinners to learn about Probability.