Teaching Third Grade Math Outcomes

Teaching possible outcomes to third grade math students involves a combination of defined lesson plans and hands-on extension activities. Third grade curriculum standards vary by state, but follow the same general principles. Teachers across the United States work toward the goal of preparing students for success on national standardized competency tests. Students should leave the third grade with a mastery of basic math operations and an understanding of multiple step word problems.

Mastering third grade math lessons involves utilizing not just textbooks lessons. Typically teachers use interactive math games, worksheets and daily math bulletin board activities to reinforce conceptual learning. Third grade math curriculum outcomes include understanding major math strands and number sense. Common curriculum outcomes include understanding the order of operations, basic geometry and algebra concepts, data analysis, spatial sense, probability and measurement.

Reading skills become more important for the processing of math problems at the third grade level. Students who are struggling to read will have a more difficult keeping pace with the rest of the class. Story or word problem outcomes require the students to not only be able to perform math functions but to infer which type of math problem to create with the numbers provided. New concepts introduced during the third grade become even more frustrating to grasp for below grade-level readers. Math concepts such as decimals are often presented in the form of story problems in a monetary format. Students with poor reading skills may need the problem read to them to understand what question is being posed before they can draw upon learned math skills to complete the problem.

Building on second grade math outcomes with larger numbers is also a common in a third grade curriculum. Learning outcomes require the students to surpass the number 1,000 and learn how to work with figures in the hundred-thousands range. Students will also learn how to convert both small and large figures from whole numbers to decimals and fractions. Worksheets which allow students to visualize and color portions of presented designs to visualize the concept of fractions are common learning aids. Hands-on manipulative allow students to see how a whole piece can be divided into equal size portions to gain a more thorough understanding of fractions.

Math outcomes at the third grade level also include learning how to multiple and divide. Students learn the relationship between division and multiplication by creating fact families. Once students have gained an understanding of simple single digit multiplication and division the teacher progresses to more advanced math problems. Before moving onto fourth grade, teachers introduce outcomes which requires understanding division remainders and two digit multiplication problems.