Grade 3 Math Curriculum in North America: What Children Learn

Grade 3 is the multiplication year. It is also the year fractions show up as real mathematical objects, not just pie slices on a worksheet. For many children Grade 3 is the first time math feels hard — and the first time parents notice their child wrestling with something that does not come easily.

Multiplication and division

• Understanding multiplication as equal groups and as arrays.
• Understanding division as equal sharing and as "how many groups."
• Learning multiplication and division facts through 10 × 10.
• Solving one and two-step word problems.
• Understanding the commutative, associative, and distributive properties.

Place value and multi-digit operations

• Place value to 10,000.
• Adding and subtracting within 1000 fluently.
• Rounding to the nearest 10 or 100.
• Multiplying one-digit numbers by multiples of 10.

Fractions

• Understanding a fraction as a part of a whole.
• Representing fractions on a number line.
• Recognizing equivalent fractions.
• Comparing fractions with the same numerator or denominator.

Area and perimeter

• Understanding area as the amount of surface covered.
• Measuring area by counting unit squares.
• Using the formula length × width for rectangles.
• Understanding perimeter as distance around a figure.

Time, measurement, data

• Telling time to the minute and solving elapsed-time problems.
• Measuring and estimating liquid volumes and masses.
• Reading and creating scaled bar graphs and picture graphs.

What parents can do

The best thing you can do in Grade 3 is help your child build multiplication fact fluency. Not through crushing drill sessions — through short daily practice, ideally adaptive, so they see the facts they are weakest on most often. Children who leave Grade 3 fluent with their multiplication facts have a dramatically easier time with Grade 4 and 5. Children who do not struggle with almost everything that comes next.