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Ministry of Education New Zealand

What your child will learn in maths#

Every day, your child is learning about and using maths ideas like:

  • counting
  • measuring
  • sorting
  • patterns
  • numbers
  • shapes
  • size
  • position.

You can help them by:

  • noticing patterns, shapes, sizes, and numbers wherever you are
  • including maths ideas in their play, interests, and everyday activities.

Why good maths skills are important#

Good maths skills and a positive view of themselves as maths learners will help your child in the future.

Maths is important for solving problems and creative thinking.

Encourage your child to use the maths vocabulary they learn in class.

Numbers#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • name the number that is 10 more or 10 less than a number up to 100
  • make patterns when counting in groups (skip counting) forwards and backwards, starting with different numbers (for example, 13, 23, 33, 43... and ...43, 33, 23, 13)
  • set a shopping budget, such as $20, and see which items could be bought for that amount.

Your child is learning to understand numbers to 1,000 by:

  • reading, write, and order numbers up to 1,000
  • counting by 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s
  • strengthening their understanding of place value and estimate the number of objects in a group.

They are learning to use operations by:

  • add and subtract numbers up to 100
  • recall multiplication and division facts for 2s, 3s, 5s, and 10s
  • use these facts to solve problems like 2 x 23 or 24 ÷ 3.

Your child is learning to develop fraction ideas by:

  • showing fractions in drawings, equipment, number lines, and as numbers
  • compare and understand halves, quarters, and eighths
  • find simple fractions of a set, like 1/3 of 12 counters.

They will also work with money using $1 and $2 coins and $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 notes. This helps them build a strong foundation in maths by understanding numbers, operations, fractions, and money.

Words your child will be learning

Words include:

  • operation
  • round
  • third, fifth, sixth
  • unit fraction.

Algebra#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • try making different types of patterns by drumming, clapping, stamping and dancing or drawing patterns that repeat
  • trace repeating patterns
  • make up a dance to music and sing/clap to favourite songs
  • sequence your dances or claps – can you copy each other?
  • count in 5s around the numbers on a clock.

Your child is learning to use the equals sign by solving problems with missing numbers, like 5 + _ = 10 or _ ÷ 3 = 6.

They are learning to recognise, continue and create patterns by:

  • identifying and creating repeating patterns (red, blue, red, blue)
  • identifying and creating growing patterns (2, 4, 6, 8)
  • understanding pattern rules, such as ‘alternating colours’ or ‘adding 2 each time’.

Your child is learning to make and follow clear, step-by-step instructions for familiar tasks, like making a sandwich.

Important words

Words include:

  • complete, incomplete
  • growing pattern
  • rule
  • sequence
  • term.

Measurement#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • ask your child to choose specific items at the supermarket (for example, a 400 gram tin of red beans, 2 litres of milk, 500g of mince)
  • grow seeds or sprouts and measure the growth each week
  • create a measurement scavenger hunt with a ruler or tape measure – give challenges like "find 3 things exactly 6 centimetres long" or "find something between 10 and 12cm wide"
  • think out loud as you read a clock, for example, "the big hand is on the 3 and the little hand is on the 4, that means it is quarter past 4".

Your child is learning to:

  • estimate and measure by using metric units (cm, m, L, kg) using tools like rulers, jugs, and scales to measure length, capacity, and weight
  • measure area and volume of simple shapes using squares, for example, the volume of a box using blocks
  • measure perimeter by walking or measuring around the boundary of a shape
  • compare and order objects based on size and weight
  • understand time by identifying and describing how long different events last using years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes, and seconds
  • read an analogue clock using 'o’clock', 'half past', 'quarter past', 'quarter to'.
Words your child will be learning

Words include:

  • gram
  • litre, millilitre
  • measuring jug or cup
  • metre, centimetre
  • metric
  • minute, second
  • quarter past, quarter to
  • ruler
  • three-quarter turn
  • unit
  • volume
  • weighing scale, balance scale.

Geometry#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • look for right angles in everyday objects like books, windows or door frames
  • do a shape and number search when you are reading a book or looking at art, like carvings and sculptures
  • go on a treasure hunt – make a map with clues and see who can get to the treasure first.

Your child is learning to:

  • recognise and sort 2D (flat) and 3D (solid) shapes based on attributes like sides, angles, and faces
  • combine smaller shapes to make a bigger shape, such as using 4 small triangles to make a square
  • find right angles (90 degrees) in different shapes and objects, like the corners of squares and rectangles
  • connect quarter, half, and 3-quarter turns to right angles
  • follow and create step-by-step instructions to move people or objects to different locations, like playing a game where they instruct a friend to move around a pathway.
Words your child will be learning

Words include:

  • location
  • quadrilateral
  • reflect, reflection
  • right angle
  • rotate, rotation
  • transform, transformation
  • translate, translation.

Statistics#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • look at a sports statistics page like goals scored, wins and losses or player performance
  • show your child simple graphs from the media and talk about what the graph means.

Your child is learning to carry out a statistical investigation by:

  • asking questions about numbers, like how many siblings or pets, and categories, like colours or types of animals
  • predicting what the data might show
  • planning survey questions to collect information
  • recording, sort, and present data using surveys, tallies, tables, picture graphs, dot plots, and bar graphs
  • working with the teacher to describe features of the data like frequency, most/least frequent category, modes, highest and lowest values
  • analysing statements to decide which ones best answer the original question based on the data
  • justifying their ideas with reasons
  • checking if they agree or disagree with statements others make about graphs and data.
Words your child will be learning

Words include:

  • bar graph
  • claim
  • finding
  • frequency
  • variable.

Probability#

Ideas to help at home

With your child, you could:

  • play guess and check games (use different shaped jars) – how many beans, buttons or pegs in the container?
  • flip a coin and predict heads or tails, keeping track of results with tally marks and talking about how both sides have a chance of appearing each time
  • play games like ‘Bingo’ or ‘Go Fish.’

Your child is learning to take part in a probability investigation by:

  • coming up with a question to investigate, like "what is the chance of flipping heads on a coin?" and predicting what might happen before testing it
  • doing experiments and show their results using tallies, bar charts, or dot plots
  • discussing what they found out after their experiments and comparing their results with others.
Words your child will be learning

  • probability.

Resource#

pdf thumbnailMaths at home - Year 3 NZ Curriculum
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