Grade 3 Curriculum

Overview

Learn more (pdf) about the units, the math, the components, and some of the games, activities, and contexts at third grade.

Math Content

Unit Summaries contains a brief summary of the mathematical content of each of the units in the Grade 3 sequence.

Math Content describes the mathematical work of Grade 3 in each of the following content areas: Addition, Subtraction, and the Number System and Multiplication and Division (both listed under Number and Operations-Whole Numbers); Rational Numbers; Patterns, Functions, and Change; Data Analysis; and Geometry and Measurement. The mathematical emphases and benchmarks for each content area are also included.

Scope and Sequence contains the mathematical emphases, math focus points, and assessed benchmarks for each of the units in the Grade 3 sequence.

Sample Sessions

Explore a Session from the third Grade 3 unit, Collections and Travel Stories: Addition, Subtraction, and the Number System 2. All of the materials referenced in the Session—Resource Masters, Student Activity Book pages, Student Math Handbook pages, and a Dialogue Box—are also included.

Grade 3 Components

Learn about the various components that make up the Core Curriculum Package in Grade 3, including: materials available in Spanish; materials included in the Manipulatives Kit, the Completer Kit, and the Cards Package at Grade 3; and additional, optional resources.

Classroom Cases

Teacher-written Classroom Cases about supporting the range of learners in 3rd grade are available for download here and here.

Pacing

This document lists the Grade 3 units, the number of sessions in each one, and the total number of sessions in the Grade 3 curriculum. It also contains information about the expectations for the number of minutes spent per day on mathematics.

Investigations and the CCSS

Learn more about Investigations and the Common Core State Standards at third grade. The sample Session, Same Area, Different Perimeter; Same Perimeter, Different Area, makes explicit ideas about area and perimeter that students have been encountering. It is designed to be incorporated in the fourth Grade 3 unit, Perimeter, Angles, and Area: 2-D Geometry and Measurement. The instructional plans layout Session-by-Session changes to each Investigation in that unit.

Classroom Video

What does an Investigations classroom look and sound like? The videos below provide images of teachers and students at work in a range of third grade classrooms.


Students discuss how many hundreds there will be if they add 709 and 546.


The teacher talks with a student about his representation of 27 divided into 9 groups.


Students discuss ways they might use their “plus/minus rule” to add 623 + 249.


One student explains how she added up to solve a story problem about the difference between the height of two people: 82-68.