Units and Big Ideas in Grade 3 of InsightMath Texas
Unit 0 (Doing Mathematics) sets the foundation for this course by establishing routines, process skills, and mindsets essential for success in learning mathematics.
Unit 1 (Discovering Multiplication and Division) introduces students to the operations of multiplication and division. This unit focuses on building a strong conceptual foundation of the mathematics of equal groups, modeling multiplication situations, multiplication and division as inverse operations, and the efficiency of multiplication and division in place of repeated addition and subtraction.
Students explored the attribute of area informally in grade 2, and now in Unit 2 (Discovering Area), they formally explore area of two-dimensional shapes. They directly measure area with unit squares before discovering that multiplication can be used to indirectly measure the area of a rectangle. This work with area early in the course supports the use of area models of multiplication in subsequent units.
In Unit 3 (Exploring Multiplication and Division Strategies), students begin to develop more efficient multiplication strategies by using known foundational facts (such as 2s and 10s) to derive unknown facts using strategies such as grouping, partitioning, and compensation. They use their knowledge of area in order to use area as a model for multiplication and to support strategy development.
Students delve deeper into two-dimensional shapes in Unit 4 (Discovering Perimeter and Exploring Area), differentiating between quantifying the size of shape as perimeter or area and investigating the relationship between the two. Students synthesize their understanding of area, multiplication, and division in Unit 5 (Extending Multiplication and Division Strategies) as they pair symbolic representations with area models, multiply and divide fluently, and extend their strategies to multidigit numbers.
In Unit 6 (Using Place Value to Add and Subtract), the focus shifts to place value understanding and how that supports comparison, addition, and subtraction of multidigit numbers. As students begin working with greater numbers, there is an emphasis on real-world examples in order to support understanding of magnitude.
In earlier grade levels, students partitioned shapes into equal shares and described the pieces as halves, thirds, etc. Unit 7 (Discovering Fractions) formally introduces students to fractions and fractional notation. Students first come to understand unit fractions as one piece of a whole, and then extend their understanding to non-unit fractions through both iteration and partitioning. This builds on students’ schema of iterating units of length and area. In Unit 8 (Exploring Fractional Thinking), students extend their understanding of fractions in order to generate simple equivalent fractions and to make comparisons. They come to understand fractions as numbers and recognize that there are many equivalent ways to represent the same number.
In Unit 9 (Exploring Measurement), students make use of their new knowledge of fractions to understand measurement as continuous, and express length measurements as fractions. They also extend their measurement schema to the attributes of volume and weight. With a larger repertoire of ways in which to quantify size, they learn to select appropriate attributes and units in context.
Unit 10 (Deepening Financial Literacy) provides students with an opportunity to apply their addition and subtraction skills to solve problems related to money while also considering how financial decisions impact one another. Students complete the year applying their skills to more real-world contexts in Unit 11 (Investigating Data).