Mathematics — Grade 3

Time marches on!

Students will create autobiographical time lines, noting important events in their lives. Using these timelines, students will create word problems for their classmates to solve.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)

By Jennifer Gayford.

Time - Light and shadow (pre-visit)

Students examine the interplay of the earth and the sun by studying shadows. Students construct a sun clock and record shadows several times during a school day in order to use the earth and the sun to measure time.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics and Science)

By Denise Young.

Telling time practice

Students will practice telling time skills using an applet developed by Shodor Educational Foundation, Inc. Permission has been granted for the use of the materials as part of the workshop "Interactivate Your Bored Math Students."

Format: lesson plan (grade 1–3 Mathematics)

By Bonnie Boaz.

Telling time

Students will demonstrate telling time to the nearest minute kinesthetically. A large clock is made on the floor by using masking tape and index cards. The index cards serve as the numbers and the masking tape serves as the minutes.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)

By Tracy Gregory.

"Hang" a time

Students will create their own timelines in a simple "clothesline" format using newspapers as a resource for dates, times and words for related events. Criteria will be simple at first to assure understanding but can be made more complex with subsequent activities.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)

By Cora Mae Pipkin.

Hands up for telling time

This introductory lesson on telling time will expose children to clocks and how they work. Children will begin to understand how to tell time and how the two separate hands on the clock operate. They will also gain understanding of the concept of time in general.

Format: lesson plan (grade 2–3 Mathematics)

By Lisa Williamson.

Disney World timelines

The students have won a trip to Disney World but there are several things they have to do before they get to Orlando. The students will make a timeline to display these events and answer questions about them.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)

By Jennifer Williams.

Color-coded time

This lesson introduces telling time to the minute using the analog and digital clocks. The hands are color-coded to assist with hour and minute hand discrimination. The student will use the time on the digital clock, which can then be transferred to the more difficult analog clock.

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)

By Anne Clodfelter.

Resources on the web

What's your wingspan?

In this lesson, from Science NetLinks, students measure each other's wingspan (armspan) and record and analyze the data. Before doing this lesson, students should have had many opportunities to experiment with the process of measuring and units of measurement. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)

Provided by: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Water, water

In this lesson, from Illuminations, students compare the amount of water they use in daily life with the amount allotted for each person each day on a Space Shuttle. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Sizing up

In this Illuminations lesson, students use measurement to investigate where clothing sizes come from and to explore how sizes differ between companies and countries. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–4 Mathematics)

Provided by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Planning a road trip

This lesson reviews latitude and longitude and asks students to find the latitude and longitude for several United States cities. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics and Social Studies)

Provided by: National Geographic

Inch by inch

In this lesson, students use an actual ruler to represent various fractions as lengths. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics)

Provided by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

How long? How wide? How tall? How deep?

In this Illuminations lesson, students use historical nonstandard units (digits, hand, cubit, yard, foot, pace, fathom) to estimate the lengths of common objects and then measure using modern standard units. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 and 5 Mathematics)

Provided by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Collecting the rays

In this lesson, from Illuminations, students explore how variations in solar collectors affect the energy absorbed. They make rectangular prisms that have the same volume but different linear dimensions. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3 Mathematics and Science)

Provided by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

A brownie bake

This lesson, one of a multi-part unit from Illuminations, focuses on student organization, preparation, and presentation of some simple foods as a way to apply various mathematical concepts, with problem-solving techniques being a central theme. (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 Mathematics)

Provided by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Bridging literature and mathematics by visualizing mathematical concepts

During interactive read-aloud sessions that explore Actual Size and If You Hopped Like a Frog, students identify and analyze elements of author’s craft in conveying mathematical information... (Learn more)

Format: lesson plan (grade 3–5 English Language Arts and Mathematics)

Provided by: ReadWriteThink