Revised National Curriculum Statement Grades R-9 (Schools) - Grade Three

Learning Area: Mathematics

Learning Outcome 1:  Numbers, Operations and Relationships

The learner will be able to recognise, describe and represent numbers and their relationships, and to count, estimate, calculate and check with competence and confidence in solving problems.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Counts forwards and backwards in:
  • the intervals specified in Grade 2 with increased number ranges;
  • twenties, twenty-fives, fifties and hundreds between 0 and at least 1 000.

• Knows number names from 1 to at least 10 in the mother tongue (if not the language of learning and teaching) and one other local language.
• Knows, reads and writes number symbols and names from 1 to at least 1 000.
• Orders, describes and compares the following numbers:
  • whole numbers to at least 3-digit numbers;
  • common fractions including halves, quarters and thirds.

• Recognises the place value of digits in whole numbers to at least 3-digit numbers.
• Solves money problems involving totals and change in rands and cents, including converting between rands and cents.
• Solves and explains solutions to practical problems that involve equal sharing and grouping and that lead to solutions that also include unitary and non-unitary fractions (e.g. ¼, ¾).
• Can perform calculations, using appropriate symbols, to solve problems involving:
  • addition and subtraction of whole numbers with at least 3 digits;
  • multiplication of at least whole 2-digit by 1-digit numbers;
  • division of at least whole 2-digit by 1-digit numbers;
  • estimation.

• Performs mental calculations involving:
  • addition and subtraction for numbers to at least 50;
  • multiplication of whole numbers with solutions to at least 50.

• Uses the following techniques:
  • building up and breaking down numbers;
  • doubling and halving;
  • number-lines;
  • rounding off in tens.

• Explains own solutions to problems.
• Checks the solution given to problems by peers.

Learning Outcome 2:  Patterns, Functions and Algebra

The learner will be able to recognise, describe and represent patterns and relationships, as well as to solve problems using algebraic language and skills.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Copies and extends simple patterns using physical objects and drawings.
• Copies and extends simple number sequences to at least 1 000.
• Creates own patterns.
• Describes observed patterns.
• Identifies, describes and copies geometric patterns in natural and cultural artefacts of different cultures and times.

Learning Outcome 3:  Space and Shape (Geometry)

The learner will be able to describe and represent characteristics and relationships between two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in a variety of orientations and positions.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Recognises, identifies and names two - dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in the environment and in pictures, including:
  • boxes (prisms), balls (spheres) and cylinders;
  • triangles, squares and rectangles;
  • circles;
  • cones and pyramids.

• Describes, sorts and compares two - dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects in pictures and the environment, including:
  • two-dimensional shapes in or on the faces of three-dimensional objects;
  • flat/straight and curved/round surfaces and edges.

• Observes and creates given and described two -dimensional shapes and three-dimensional objects using concrete materials (e.g. building blocks, construction sets, cut-out two-dimensional shapes, clay, drinking straws).
• Determines lines of symmetry in two - dimensional shapes using paper folding and reflection.
• Recognises and describes three-dimensional objects from different positions.
• Reads, interprets and draws informal maps of the school environment or of an arrangement of three-dimensional objects and locates objects on the map.
• Describes positional relationships (alone and/or as a member of a group or team) between three-dimensional objects or self and a peer.

Learning Outcome 4:  Measurement

The learner will be able to use appropriate measuring units, instruments and formulae in a variety of contexts.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Reads and writes analogue and digital clock time in terms of hours, half-hours, quarters of an hour and minutes.
• Solves problems involving calculations with and conversions between:
  • minutes hours;
  • hours days;
  • days months.

• Identifies important dates on calendars including dates of:
  • religious festivals;
  • historical events.

• Recognises and describes different calendars used in different cultures.
• Estimates, measures, compares and orders three-dimensional objects using non-standard and standard measures:
  • mass (e.g. packets, kilograms);
  • capacity (e.g. bottles, litres);
  • length (e.g. desk lengths, metres).

• Investigates (alone and/or as a member of a group or team) and approximates:
  • distance around two-dimensional shapes using string;
  • area of two-dimensional shapes using tiling.

Learning Outcome 5:  Data Handling

The learner will be able to collect, summarise, display and critically analyse data in order to draw conclusions and make predictions, and to interpret and determine chance variation.

Assessment standards

We know this when the learner:

• Collects data (alone and/or as a member of a group or team) in the classroom and school environment to answer questions posed by the teacher and class (e.g. ‘How many learners walk to school?’).
• Sorts, orders and organises own and supplied data by one or more attributes for a particular reason.
• Draws pictures and constructs pictographs and bar graphs that have a 1-1 correspondence between own data and representation.
• Reads, interprets and reports on information in own and a peer’s representations of data.
• Reads and interprets data presented in simple tables and lists.