The Ontario Grade 3 math curriculum: what your child learns

Your child reads, writes, compares and rounds numbers up to 1000 and explains them with place value (hundreds, tens and ones). They add and subtract within 1000 in their head and on paper, learn the multiplication facts for 2, 5 and 10, and use arrays and equal groups to multiply and divide. Fractions come from fair-share problems, so a “remainder” can become a half or a quarter.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Number

• Reading numbers to 1000B1.1

  Reads and shows numbers up to 1000, breaks them into parts and puts them back together using different tools and strategies, and talks about where numbers are used in daily life.

• Comparing numbers to 1000B1.2

  Compares numbers up to 1000 and puts them in order, in different situations.

• Rounding to tens, hundredsB1.3

  Rounds numbers to the nearest 10 or the nearest 100, in different situations.

• Skip counting to 1000B1.4

  Counts up to 1000, including skip counting by 50s, 100s and 200s, with different tools and strategies.

• Place valueB1.5

  Uses place value (hundreds, tens and ones) to describe and show numbers with more than one digit in different ways, including with base ten blocks.

• Fair sharing with drawingsB1.6

  Uses drawings to solve and compare fair-sharing problems where up to 20 items are shared among 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 or 10 people, with answers that can be whole numbers, mixed numbers or fractions.

• Equivalent fractionsB1.7

  Solves fair-sharing problems by finding and using fractions that are equal, such as halves, fourths and eighths; thirds and sixths; fifths and tenths.

• Properties of operationsB2.1

  Uses how the operations work, and how multiplying and dividing undo each other, to solve problems and check answers.

• Times tables 2, 5, 10B2.2

  Knows the 2, 5 and 10 times tables by heart, and the division facts that go with them.

• Mental math adding, subtractingB2.3

  Adds and subtracts in their head, including estimating, when the numbers add up to 1000 or less, and explains how they did it.

• Adding and subtracting methodsB2.4

  Understands the written methods (algorithms) for adding and subtracting, by connecting each step to other tools and strategies for adding and subtracting.

• Addition and subtraction problemsB2.5

  Solves adding and subtracting problems where the numbers add up to 1000 or less, using different tools and written methods.

• Multiplication and division arraysB2.6

  Shows multiplying up to 10 × 10 and dividing up to 100 ÷ 10 with different tools and drawings, including arrays (rows and columns).

• Multiplication and division problemsB2.7

  Uses tools and drawings to solve multiplying and dividing problems, including problems with groups of one half, one fourth or one third.

• Adding unit fractionsB2.8

  Uses tools, drawings and fraction notation to show that the top number of a fraction counts how many unit fractions are added together (for example, 3/4 is 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4).

• Scaling with simple ratiosB2.9

  Solves problems by scaling numbers up with the ratios 1:2, 1:5 and 1:10 (for example, at 1:5, 3 becomes 15).

Patterns are everywhere in Grade 3: finding the rule, continuing it and spotting what’s missing. Kids start using a symbol for an unknown number (like □ + 5 = 12), decide whether two expressions are equal, and write and fix simple code (often in a block-based coding tool) where steps happen in order or repeat.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Algebra

• Describing repeating patternsC1.1

  Finds and describes the parts or steps that repeat in different patterns, including patterns in everyday life.

• Creating patternsC1.2

  Makes patterns with repeating parts, movements or operations, and shows them in different ways, including with shapes, numbers and tables of values.

• Pattern rules and predictionsC1.3

  Works out the rule of a pattern with repeating parts, movements or operations, and uses it to continue the pattern, predict what comes next (and explain why), and find missing pieces.

• Number patterns to 1000C1.4

  Makes and describes patterns that show how numbers up to 1000 are related.

• Using variablesC2.1

  Explains how variables (letters or symbols that stand for numbers) are used, and uses them where they fit.

• Equivalent expressionsC2.2

  Decides whether sets of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing expressions are equal or not.

• Equal relationshipsC2.3

  Finds and uses different ways of writing the same amount for numbers up to 1000, in different situations.

• Writing codeC3.1

  Writes and runs code to solve problems and show math situations, including code with steps in order, things happening at the same time, and steps that repeat.

• Reading and changing codeC3.2

  Reads and changes existing code with steps in order, at the same time or repeating, and describes how the changes affect what happens.

Math modelling (C4): Turns a real-life situation into math (a model) to represent it, analyse it, make predictions and understand it better.

Kids sort things with Venn and Carroll diagrams, run small surveys, and show results in pictographs and bar graphs with titles and labels. They find the mode (the most common value) and the mean (a fair-share “average”), and use words like impossible, unlikely, likely and certain to talk about chance.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Data

• Sorting data with diagramsD1.1

  Sorts data about people or things by two or three features, using tables and sorting diagrams such as Venn, Carroll and tree diagrams.

• Collecting dataD1.2

  Collects data by watching, trying things out and asking people, to answer questions with answers in words (categories) or numbers, and organizes it in frequency tables.

• Pictographs and bar graphsD1.3

  Makes pictographs and bar graphs where one picture or unit can stand for several items, with a suitable scale, a title, labels and the source of the data.

• Mean and modeD1.4

  Works out the mean (average) and finds the mode (most common value, if any) of sets of whole-number data, and explains what each one tells you.

• Analysing dataD1.5

  Asks and answers questions about data shown in graphs that use different scales and in frequency tables, draws conclusions, and uses them to back up arguments and make good decisions.

• Likelihood wordsD2.1

  Describes how likely things are with the words “impossible”, “unlikely”, “equally likely”, “likely” and “certain”, and uses that to make predictions and decisions.

• Predicting mean and modeD2.2

  Predicts, then tests, whether the mean and the mode of data from different groups of people will turn out the same.

Your child names and builds 3D objects (cubes, prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones), gives and follows directions with half and quarter turns, and measures: perimeter, length in millimetres to kilometres, mass, capacity and time. Area starts with covering shapes and moves to square centimetres and square metres.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Spatial Sense

• 3D shapesE1.1

  Compares the faces, edges, corners (vertices) and angles of cubes, prisms, pyramids, cylinders and cones to sort, build and name them.

• Building and breaking shapesE1.2

  Builds structures and takes them apart, and names the 2D shapes and 3D objects inside them.

• Congruent 3D objectsE1.3

  Finds edges, angles and faces of 3D objects that match exactly, by comparing them by eye or by hand, and decides if two objects are congruent (exactly the same shape and size).

• Following movement directionsE1.4

  Gives and follows directions with several steps to move from place to place, including distances and half turns and quarter turns.

• PerimeterE2.1

  Estimates, measures and compares the perimeter (distance around) of shapes with straight and curved sides, using suitable length units, and draws shapes with a given perimeter.

• Metric length unitsE2.2

  Explains how millimetres, centimetres, metres and kilometres are related, and estimates lengths using familiar objects as a guide for each unit.

• Measuring capacityE2.3

  Estimates, measures and compares how much containers hold (capacity) with everyday units, and explains how overfilling, underfilling and gaps make a measurement less accurate.

• Measuring massE2.4

  Compares, estimates and measures how heavy objects are (mass), using a pan balance and everyday units.

• Different-sized unitsE2.5

  Measures the same thing with units of different sizes, and shows that the count changes but the actual size stays the same.

• Telling timeE2.6

  Tells time in hours, minutes and seconds on analog and digital clocks and on timers.

• Comparing areasE2.7

  Compares the areas of 2D shapes by matching them, covering them, or cutting them up and rearranging the pieces, and shows that two different shapes can cover the same amount of space.

• Area with non-standard unitsE2.8

  Measures area with suitable everyday units, and explains how gaps and overlaps make the measurement less accurate.

• Area in square unitsE2.9

  Estimates, measures and compares the areas of 2D shapes, including shapes with curved sides, in square centimetres (cm²) and square metres (m²).

Money in Grade 3 is about making change: estimating and calculating the change for simple cash purchases, with whole dollars and with amounts under a dollar.

Typical homework, with a hint

What your child learns in Financial Literacy

• Making changeF1.1

  Estimates and works out the change for simple cash purchases with whole-dollar amounts and amounts under one dollar.

The Ontario curriculum also has a strand A that runs through all the others. It’s about how kids approach math: managing frustration, keeping at a hard problem, and using the mathematical processes (such as problem solving, reasoning, connecting, representing and communicating). It has no homework of its own, but it’s exactly what a patient, hint-based tutor helps build.

How to help with Grade 3 math at home

• Practise the 2, 5 and 10 facts in short bursts (two minutes in the car counts).
• Use real things for fractions: fold paper, cut a sandwich, share crackers fairly.
• Let your child explain their method before you show yours. Classroom strategies may look different from how you learned.
• Read word problems out loud together, then ask “what is the question asking?” before any numbers.

More ideas: how to help with math homework without giving the answer.

Grade 3 is an EQAO year in Ontario. Read our parent guide: EQAO Grade 3 math: what parents should know.

How Astuzo helps with Grade 3 math

Snap a Grade 3 worksheet and Spark hints at the strategies Grade 3 classrooms use: skip counting, arrays, number lines and fair sharing. Drill pages of 2, 5 and 10 facts can be checked all at once, and Spark can read word problems aloud for kids who are still building reading stamina.

You set your child’s grade once, and Spark pitches every hint at that level. You get a short email each evening they use it, showing what they worked on. See how Astuzo works.