How to read this page
Alberta publishes its curriculum as long official documents written for teachers. This page is the same content, translated for the fridge door: each subject below shows this year's units and the skills inside them. If a skill sounds unfamiliar, that's the point — now you know what to ask about at dinner.
Mathematics this year
Numbers stop being abstract this year — they become things your child can count, compare, build, and explain. In Alberta, that's Mathematics 3 — 7 units, 22 skills.
Number
- Reading and writing big numbers
- Addition strategies
- Multiplication as equal groups
See the full Mathematics 3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
English Language Arts this year
Reading and writing grow fast at this age — this is the year the letters turn into stories. In Alberta, that's English Language Arts 3 — 8 units, 34 skills.
Text Forms and Structure
- Recognizing text forms
- Titles and headings as signposts
Listening and Speaking
- Listening to understand
- Speaking clearly and loudly enough
Vocabulary and Word Parts
- Using clues in the sentence
- Prefixes change the meaning
Phonics and Word Building
- Vowel teams and long-vowel patterns
- Sounding out longer words
Reading Fluently and Understanding
- Pace, phrasing and expression
- Noticing when meaning breaks — and rereading
Understanding and Connecting to Texts
- Finding the main idea
- Connecting a text to your own life
Writing and Research
- Writing a topic sentence
- Planning then drafting
- Asking a question to research
See the full English Language Arts 3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
Science this year
Science at this age is guided curiosity — observing, sorting, asking why, and testing ideas hands-on. In Alberta, that's Science 3 — 6 units, 15 skills.
Materials
- Sorting rocks by their properties
- Matching a material to the job
- Testing a material or design fairly
Forces and Movement
- Forces start, stop, and turn things
- How the size of a force changes the movement
Earth's Surface
- How Earth's surface changes
- Layers hold stories of the past
Living Things
- What plants need to grow and change
- Stages of an animal life cycle
- How plants, animals, and places connect
Creativity and Computational Thinking
- Planning clear step-by-step instructions
Investigating Like a Scientist
- Asking a question and observing carefully
See the full Science 3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
Three ways parents use this list
Common questions
What does my child learn in Grade 3 in Alberta?
Alberta's official curriculum sets out Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies for Grade 3 — 82 specific skills in total. The big themes: Mathematics covers number and algebra; English Language Arts covers text forms and structure and listening and speaking; Science covers materials and forces and movement. The full list is on this page.
Is this the official Alberta curriculum?
It's built from Alberta's official program of studies, reorganized into plain language — and each subject links to a course page that quotes the ministry's own wording and links to the government source, so you can check our work. One honest caveat: we're not the ministry, curricula do change, and we can't guarantee this reflects the very latest revision, so confirm anything important against the live provincial curriculum data.
My child is finding one of these skills hard. What can I do?
That's normal — every skill on this page is one most kids wobble on at first. MapleMind teaches any of them one-on-one: a short lesson in plain words, a worked example, then solving together. It's free to start, on any device, in 14 languages.
Keep exploring
Knowing the list is half the job
The other half is the teaching — and that's what MapleMind does. Pick any skill on this page and see it taught properly, free, in under a minute.
MapleMind isn't affiliated with any ministry of education. We build these guides from each province's official program of studies and refresh them from time to time — but curricula change, and we can't guarantee this page reflects the very latest revision. Always confirm against the live provincial curriculum data. Last updated 2026-08-15.
Social Studies this year
Social studies starts close to home — family, community, and how people live together. In Alberta, that's Grade 3 Social Studies — 3 units, 11 skills.
Time and Place
- First Nations territories and the numbered treaties
- First Nations diversity in Alberta
+ 4 more skills in this unit →Systems
- Renewable and non-renewable resources
- Municipal government
+ 2 more skills in this unit →Citizenship
See the full Grade 3 Social Studies curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →