British Columbia · Grade 3 · 2026–27 · For parents

What your child learns in Grade 3 in British Columbia

In Grade 3, British Columbia students work through Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies — 83 specific skills across 20 units, set by the province's official curriculum. This page lists them all in plain words, subject by subject, so you know exactly what "how was school?" is actually covering this year.

4Subjects
20Units
83Skills
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Built from the official British Columbia curriculum · free to start · web, iPhone & Android

How to read this page

British Columbia 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 British Columbia, that's Mathematics 3 — 8 units, 14 skills.

Number

  • Understanding numbers to 1000
  • What a fraction shows
  • Adding and subtracting bigger numbers
+ 1 more skill in this unit →

Multiplication and Division

  • What multiplying and dividing mean

Patterns

  • Finding growing and shrinking patterns
  • Saying the rule for a pattern

Algebra

  • Solving for an unknown number

Measurement

  • Measuring length, mass, and capacity
  • Reading clocks and calendars

Geometry

  • Making 3D shapes

Data and Likelihood

  • Reading and building graphs and tables
  • Describing likelihood with a simulation

Financial Literacy

  • Counting money and understanding earning

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 British Columbia, that's English Language Arts 3 — 3 units, 51 skills.

Story and Text

  • Character
  • Functions of text
  • Using text features
+ 14 more skills in this unit →

Strategies and Processes

  • Predicting from illustrations and prior knowledge
  • Focusing on the speaker
  • Reflecting
+ 20 more skills in this unit →

Language Features, Structure, and Conventions

  • Tone
  • Word patterns
  • Legible handwriting
+ 8 more skills in this unit →

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 British Columbia, that's Science 3 — 4 units, 12 skills.

Biodiversity in the Local Environment

  • The many living things nearby
  • What local First Peoples know about ecosystems

Energy, Matter, and Atoms

  • Why living things need energy
  • Matter has mass and takes up space
  • Atoms are the building blocks of matter

Thermal Energy

  • Sources of heat
  • Conduction: heat moves by touching
+ 2 more skills in this unit →

Local Landforms and How They Change

  • Naming major landforms nearby
  • What local First Peoples know about the land
  • Watching erosion and deposition happen

See the full Science 3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Social Studies this year

Social studies starts close to home — family, community, and how people live together. In British Columbia, that's Social Studies 3 — 5 units, 6 skills.

Ways of Life

  • How local and global First Peoples live
  • Things every culture has in common

Innovation and Connection

  • Inventions that connect peoples

Governance and Community

  • How indigenous societies organize and lead

Learning from the Past

  • What stories and objects tell us

People and the Land

  • People and the land, working together

See the full Social Studies 3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →

Three ways parents use this list

At report-card timeMatch the teacher's comments to the units above — "working on number sense" stops being a mystery phrase.
At parent-teacher nightPick one unit per subject and ask "how is my child doing with this?" — specific questions get specific answers.
When they're stuckFind the exact skill on this page, open it in MapleMind, and the tutor teaches just that — step by step, as many times as it takes.

Common questions

What does my child learn in Grade 3 in British Columbia?

British Columbia's official curriculum sets out Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies for Grade 3 — 83 specific skills in total. The big themes: Mathematics covers number and multiplication and division; English Language Arts covers story and text and strategies and processes; Science covers biodiversity in the local environment and energy, matter, and atoms. The full list is on this page.

Is this the official British Columbia curriculum?

It's built from British Columbia'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

All Grade 3 courses in British ColumbiaThe full curriculum, skill by skill Grade 1 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 2 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 4 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 5 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 6 in British ColumbiaParent guide Grade 7 in British ColumbiaParent guide All parent guidesFilter by province & grade

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.

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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.