Third grade math

Third grade is the hinge year. Multiplication facts to 10 by 10 need to become automatic, and fractions arrive properly for the first time. TEKS wants fractions with denominators of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 built on the number line, not just as pizza slices, plus place value to 100,000, area and perimeter, elapsed time, scaled graphs, and a personal financial literacy strand that Common Core does not have. If facts do not become quick this year, everything after it gets harder. Our rooms cover this grade more thoroughly than any other. The gap is personal financial literacy, which we have nothing for.

• K
• 1st
• 2nd
• 3rd
• 4th
• 5th

What to aim for this year

By the end of third grade, a child working at grade level can usually do these.

• Composes and decomposes numbers up to 100,000 using expanded notation
• Compares and orders whole numbers to 100,000
• Recalls multiplication facts up to 10 by 10 automatically, and the matching division facts
• Multiplies a two-digit number by a one-digit number using the standard algorithm
• Represents fractions with denominators of 2, 3, 4, 6, and 8 using objects, strip diagrams, and number lines
• Explains that the unit fraction one over b is one part of a whole cut into b equal parts
• Explains why two fractions are equivalent using the number line or a same-size whole
• Determines the area of a rectangle by multiplying, and finds perimeter
• Tells and writes time to the nearest minute and determines elapsed time
• Summarizes data with frequency tables, dot plots, and bar graphs with scaled intervals
• Explains the connection between work and income, and gives reasons to save (TEKS financial literacy)

Free, and legal to use

Every one of these costs nothing. The license tag says what you may actually do with it, which is not the same question as whether it is free to read.

• MEP Primary, Year 4 (CIMT) Free Free to use

  Complete lesson plans and practice books, with a strong multiplication and division sequence and problem sets noticeably harder than typical American third grade work. This is the free spine our family defaults to.

  License: Free to download, copyright retained by the originators through CIMT, non-profit-making purposes only.

• Illustrative Mathematics K-5 Math, Grade 3 Free CC BY

  Free through Kendall Hunt. The fraction units stand out because they build fractions on the number line from the start, which is what the standards actually ask for and what a lot of programs handle poorly.

  License: CC BY 4.0. Openly licensed, adapt and share with attribution.

• Simply Good and Beautiful Math 3 (The Good and the Beautiful) Free Openly licensed

  120 parent-led lessons, free as a PDF. Gentler and more colorful than MEP, with games built in. General Christian worldview throughout.

  License: Free to download and use, copyright retained by the publisher. Not openly licensed.

• Khan Academy, 3rd grade math Free CC BY-NC-SA Not confirmed

  Genuinely useful this year for multiplication fact practice and for re-teaching a specific fraction idea that did not land. The immediate feedback suits drill better than it suits first instruction.

  License: Free to use. Terms of Service state CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 for Licensed Educational Content; video licensing has reportedly changed. Check before adapting.

• EngageNY Mathematics, Grade 3 modules Free CC BY-NC-SA

  The Grade 3 fraction and multiplication modules are carefully sequenced from concrete to abstract and hold up well against paid programs. Free PDFs, heavy on printing. Download from the New York State archive.

  License: CC BY-NC-SA. Free for non-commercial use with attribution and ShareAlike. Eureka Math Squared is a separate paid product.

Paid programs, honestly

Nothing here is required. These are the programs families most often ask about, with the real drawback of each one named rather than skipped.

• Beast Academy Level 3 Paid About $100 per year online, verified at $99.99, or roughly $120 to $130 for a full printed level.

  Good at: Deep conceptual and problem-solving material. The guide comics teach mathematical thinking, and the practice problems are puzzles rather than exercises.

  Drawback: It will not build fact fluency for you, and third grade is exactly the year fluency matters most, so you must run drill separately. Children who need reassurance rather than challenge often find it punishing.

  Suits: A confident child who already has his facts, or one paired with a separate drill program.

• Math-U-See Gamma Paid Roughly $130 to $145 for a Level Up Set with blocks already owned, or about $220 for a complete set.

  Good at: Multiplication taught to genuine mastery, with the blocks making the array structure visible. A child who cannot get his facts often gets them here.

  Drawback: A whole year on one operation, with very little geometry, measurement, data, or fraction work, all of which third grade standards require. You will need to supplement those strands yourself.

  Suits: A child who has hit a wall on multiplication facts and needs one thing at a time.

• Dimensions Math 3 (Singapore Math Inc.) Paid $14.50 per book, about $58 for student books, meaningfully more with guides.

  Good at: Bar modeling comes into its own here and is a strong tool for multi-step word problems. The problems are well constructed and build in real steps.

  Drawback: The Home Instructor's Guide is necessary and adds cost. Bar modeling is unfamiliar to most American parents, so there is a real learning curve on your side before you can teach it.

  Suits: A parent willing to learn the method first, teaching a child who can already multiply.

• Saxon Math 3 Paid Roughly $150 to $235 for the home study kit depending on retailer, heavily discounted from list. Manipulatives separate.

  Good at: Continuous review keeps multiplication facts and earlier arithmetic alive all year, which is the exact failure point in third grade. Very predictable daily structure.

  Drawback: Conceptual development is thin, particularly on fractions, and the lessons are long and dry. Saxon's numbering gets confusing after this level, since Math 5/4 follows Math 3.

  Suits: A child whose facts decay without constant revisiting, in a household that wants a fixed routine.

• Math Mammoth Grade 3 (Light Blue Series) Paid About $40 as a download, frequently discounted, and cheaper in a bundle.

  Good at: Mastery-based with clear conceptual explanations, and inexpensive. Covers the full breadth of the standards rather than a single topic, unlike some mastery competitors.

  Drawback: Visually plain and worksheet-heavy, and the pages can run long enough to discourage a slow writer. You will be printing a lot.

  Suits: A family wanting full standards coverage on a small budget, with a child who works independently.

Prices are approximate and change often. Check with the publisher before you buy. We describe and link to these programs; none of their material is hosted here.

What a week looks like

1. Five days, about 40 minutes, with the first five minutes always on multiplication facts.
2. Three days on the current topic, one day on fractions no matter what else is happening, one review day.
3. Run /times daily until the facts are automatic. Daily beats long.
4. Do one multi-step word problem a day and make him draw it before he calculates.
5. Once a week, measure something real: a room, a board, a recipe.

Practice it here, free

These rooms on this site cover part of the year's work. No sign-up, and they work offline.

• times — Multiplication facts to 10 by 10
• share — Division as fair sharing and the facts that pair with multiplication
• frac — Unit fractions and fractions on a number line
• measure — Area and perimeter of rectangles
• factors — Factor pairs sitting behind the times tables
• column — Two-digit by one-digit multiplication and multi-digit addition
• money — Money problems in context
• graph — Scaled bar graphs, dot plots, and frequency tables
• clock — Time to the minute and elapsed time
• units — Measurement units and sensible tool choice
• bonds — Number relationships that keep mental math quick

The rest of third grade