Grade 3 math in Ontario: 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

  Read, represent, compose, and decompose whole numbers up to and including 1000, using a variety of tools and strategies, and describe various ways they are used in everyday life.

• Comparing numbers to 1000B1.2

  Compare and order whole numbers up to and including 1000, in various contexts.

• Rounding to tens, hundredsB1.3

  Round whole numbers to the nearest ten or hundred, in various contexts.

• Skip counting to 1000B1.4

  Count to 1000, including by 50s, 100s, and 200s, using a variety of tools and strategies.

• Place valueB1.5

  Use place value when describing and representing multi-digit numbers in a variety of ways, including with base ten materials.

• Fair sharing with drawingsB1.6

  Use drawings to represent, solve, and compare the results of fair-share problems that involve sharing up to 20 items among 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 10 sharers, including problems that result in whole numbers, mixed numbers, and fractional amounts.

• Equivalent fractionsB1.7

  Represent and solve fair-share problems that focus on determining and using equivalent fractions, including problems that involve halves, fourths, and eighths; thirds and sixths; and fifths and tenths.

• Properties of operationsB2.1

  Use the properties of operations, and the relationships between multiplication and division, to solve problems and check calculations.

• Times tables 2, 5, 10B2.2

  Recall and demonstrate multiplication facts of 2, 5, and 10, and related division facts.

• Mental math adding, subtractingB2.3

  Use mental math strategies, including estimation, to add and subtract whole numbers that add up to no more than 1000, and explain the strategies used.

• Adding and subtracting methodsB2.4

  Demonstrate an understanding of algorithms for adding and subtracting whole numbers by making connections to and describing the way other tools and strategies are used to add and subtract.

• Addition and subtraction problemsB2.5

  Represent and solve problems involving the addition and subtraction of whole numbers that add up to no more than 1000, using various tools and algorithms.

• Multiplication and division arraysB2.6

  Represent multiplication of numbers up to 10 × 10 and division up to 100 ÷ 10, using a variety of tools and drawings, including arrays.

• Multiplication and division problemsB2.7

  Represent and solve problems involving multiplication and division, including problems that involve groups of one half, one fourth, and one third, using tools and drawings.

• Adding unit fractionsB2.8

  Represent the connection between the numerator of a fraction and the repeated addition of the unit fraction with the same denominator using various tools and drawings, and standard fractional notation.

• Scaling with simple ratiosB2.9

  Use the ratios of 1 to 2, 1 to 5, and 1 to 10 to scale up numbers and to solve problems.

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

  Identify and describe repeating elements and operations in a variety of patterns, including patterns found in real-life contexts.

• Creating patternsC1.2

  Create and translate patterns that have repeating elements, movements, or operations using various representations, including shapes, numbers, and tables of values.

• Pattern rules and predictionsC1.3

  Determine pattern rules and use them to extend patterns, make and justify predictions, and identify missing elements in patterns that have repeating elements, movements, or operations.

• Number patterns to 1000C1.4

  Create and describe patterns to illustrate relationships among whole numbers up to 1000.

• Using variablesC2.1

  Describe how variables are used, and use them in various contexts as appropriate.

• Equivalent expressionsC2.2

  Determine whether given sets of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division expressions are equivalent or not.

• Equal relationshipsC2.3

  Identify and use equivalent relationships for whole numbers up to 1000, in various contexts.

• Writing codeC3.1

  Solve problems and create computational representations of mathematical situations by writing and executing code, including code that involves sequential, concurrent, and repeating events.

• Reading and changing codeC3.2

  Read and alter existing code, including code that involves sequential, concurrent, and repeating events, and describe how changes to the code affect the outcomes.

Mathematical Modelling (C4): Apply the process of mathematical modelling to represent, analyse, make predictions, and provide insight into real-life situations.

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

  Sort sets of data about people or things according to two and three attributes, using tables and logic diagrams, including Venn, Carroll, and tree diagrams, as appropriate.

• Collecting dataD1.2

  Collect data through observations, experiments, and interviews to answer questions of interest that focus on qualitative and quantitative data, and organize the data using frequency tables.

• Pictographs and bar graphsD1.3

  Display sets of data, using many-to-one correspondence, in pictographs and bar graphs with proper sources, titles, and labels, and appropriate scales.

• Mean and modeD1.4

  Determine the mean and identify the mode(s), if any, for various data sets involving whole numbers, and explain what each of these measures indicates about the data.

• Analysing dataD1.5

  Analyse different sets of data presented in various ways, including in frequency tables and in graphs with different scales, by asking and answering questions about the data and drawing conclusions, then make convincing arguments and informed decisions.

• Likelihood wordsD2.1

  Use mathematical language, including the terms “impossible”, “unlikely”, “equally likely”, “likely”, and “certain”, to describe the likelihood of events happening, and use that likelihood to make predictions and informed decisions.

• Predicting mean and modeD2.2

  Make and test predictions about the likelihood that the mean and the mode(s) of a data set will be the same for data collected from different populations.

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

  Sort, construct, and identify cubes, prisms, pyramids, cylinders, and cones by comparing their faces, edges, vertices, and angles.

• Building and breaking shapesE1.2

  Compose and decompose various structures, and identify the two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects that these structures contain.

• Congruent 3D objectsE1.3

  Identify congruent lengths, angles, and faces of three-dimensional objects by mentally and physically matching them, and determine if the objects are congruent.

• Following movement directionsE1.4

  Give and follow multistep instructions involving movement from one location to another, including distances and half- and quarter-turns.

• PerimeterE2.1

  Use appropriate units of length to estimate, measure, and compare the perimeters of polygons and curved shapes, and construct polygons with a given perimeter.

• Metric length unitsE2.2

  Explain the relationships between millimetres, centimetres, metres, and kilometres as metric units of length, and use benchmarks for these units to estimate lengths.

• Measuring capacityE2.3

  Use non-standard units appropriately to estimate, measure, and compare capacity, and explain the effect that overfilling or underfilling, and gaps between units, have on accuracy.

• Measuring massE2.4

  Compare, estimate, and measure the mass of various objects, using a pan balance and non-standard units.

• Different-sized unitsE2.5

  Use various units of different sizes to measure the same attribute of a given item, and demonstrate that even though using different-sized units produces a different count, the size of the attribute remains the same.

• Telling timeE2.6

  Use analog and digital clocks and timers to tell time in hours, minutes, and seconds.

• Comparing areasE2.7

  Compare the areas of two-dimensional shapes by matching, covering, or decomposing and recomposing the shapes, and demonstrate that different shapes can have the same area.

• Area with non-standard unitsE2.8

  Use appropriate non-standard units to measure area, and explain the effect that gaps and overlaps have on accuracy.

• Area in square unitsE2.9

  Use square centimetres (cm²) and square metres (m²) to estimate, measure, and compare the areas of various two-dimensional shapes, including those with curved sides.

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

  Estimate and calculate the change required for various simple cash transactions involving whole-dollar amounts and amounts of less than 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 report after each session showing what they worked on. See how Astuzo works.