Year 3 Maths: What’s Realistic, What’s Not, and Why You’re Doing Better Than You Think

If you've ever stared at your child's maths homework wondering if you're meant to be a part-time tutor, you're not alone. Let's demystify what Year 3 maths actually looks like — no jargon, no panic.

If you don’t know exactly what is expected, then your help may be too much, or not enough, so let’s break it down.

In Year 3, or in Stage 2, Part A, as it is known in the NSW maths syllabus:

• The focus is on strengthening the concepts they have covered in past years, applying these concepts and on introducing lots of ‘new’ ones.

  They will:

  • work with numbers up to 4 digits, and partitioning (splitting) and regrouping them.

  • link addition and subtraction and choose and use strategies flexibly to solve problems of up to 3 digits.

  • look at concepts about money

  • make and describe patterns, leading to looking at and working with arrays to establish multiplication facts for 2x, 5x and 10x.

  • establish and solve problems using fact families, which involve the multiplication and related division facts.

  • develop an understanding of fractions - halves, quarters, thirds, fifths and eighths. These are experienced for the first time in numerical form.

  • work with maps to interpret movement and locate positions, using the array structure of rows and columns.

  • estimate, measure and record lengths and distances with metres, centimetres and millimetres, with millimetres being new to them.

  • work with angles - and at this stage they just look at what angles are, and right angles.

  • compare and describe the features of 2D shapes and transform these shapes using reflections, translations and rotations.

  • start using the square centimetre and square metre to measure the area of rectangles.

  • make models of 3D objects (prisms, pyramids and cylinders), investigate their nets and compare and describe the key features.

  • measure volume in litres and construct volume using cubic-centimetre blocks and begin to discuss their structure in terms of layers.

  • use the kilogram for the first time.

  • start reading analogue clocks.

  • collect data and organise it into tables and graphs and then interpret the data.

  • look at probability by identifying all possible combinations in a chance experiment where the outcomes are equally likely.

Teachers aren’t expecting mastery overnight — they’re building foundations.

Exactly …

Everything we ever learnt was new at one stage and we needed to practice to improve, show progress or move closer to mastery. Think swimming or music lessons, sport or public speaking. No one is brilliant overnight, and every parent has had to help their child in one way or another.

I’m sure you are already helping with maths … you’re probably just not aware that you are.

Being prepared, and intentional, will help them even more.

Every bit of practice you give your child helps them to build and consolidate these foundations.

Every homework session that doesn’t end in tears.

Every opportunity you find to include maths into an ordinary activity, like grocery shopping, or cooking, or adding up the speed signs on the way to school… they all help.

• Confidence matters more than speed. A child who says “I’ll try” is already winning.

  Yes, yes and YES!

  Speed in maths is often seen as something to aspire to, but before there can be speed, there needs to be understanding and with understanding, comes the speed, or fluency with maths concepts. It means that your child understands the concept so well that they barely need to think about it … but again, this takes time and practice.

  But … creating a confident child, one who is willing to try and is willing to keep trying, is the goal here and this is something that you can help with at home.

  Confidence in maths is far more important than speed.

  And practice builds that confidence!

If you want to know more, MathsBites was built for the proactive parent that you are, as it gives you everything that you need to know to make practicing maths concepts natural, stress-free and, dare i say it - fun.

And my takeaway tip: Ask your child to “teach you” one thing they learned this week. It builds confidence and reveals what’s sticking.