How to read this page
Quebec 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 Quebec, that's Mathematics, Grade 3 — 5 units, 94 skills.
Arithmetic
- Counts or recites counting rhymes involving natural numbers — counts forward or backward
- Counts collections (using objects or drawings)
- Counts collections (using objects or drawings) — counts a collection by grouping or regrouping
Geometry
- Locates objects in a plane
- Locates objects on an axis (based on the types of numbers studied)
- Locates points in a Cartesian plane
Measurement
- Estimates and measures the dimensions of an object using conventional units — metre, decimetre, centimetre and millimetre
- Establishes relationships between units of measure for length
- Calculates the perimeter of plane figures
Statistics
- Formulates questions for a survey (based on age-appropriate topics, students’ language level, etc.)
- Collects, describes and organizes data (classifies or categorizes) using tables
- Interprets data using a table, a bar graph, a pictograph and a broken-line graph
Probability
- When applicable, recognizes variability in possible outcomes (uncertainty)
- When applicable, recognizes equiprobability
- When applicable, becomes aware of the independence of events in an experiment
See the full Mathematics, Grade 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 Quebec, that's English Language Arts, Grade 3 — 12 units, 21 skills.
Understanding the Conventions of Written Language
- Notice: In simple and compound sentences
- Use: Applies capitalization rules: the first word in a sentence,…
Producing and Interpreting Media Texts
- Notice: Uses and interprets the visual element of perspective in…
Response Process
- Use: Description of ideas and concepts
- Notice: Identifies and locates information about who wrote the text
Writing Process
- Use: Selects topic and text type based on purpose and audience
- Notice: Adjusts writing decisions to purpose and audience
Production Process (Media)
- Notice: Identifies and gathers material, resources, expertise for…
Self-Expressive: Texts That Reinforce or Maintain Relationships
- Use: Images (photo or drawing) to respond to the reader’s…
Narrative and Literary Texts
- Use: Role-play involving character from own stories, from…
- Notice: Illustrated wordless and picture books written for older…
Information-Based: Planning Texts
- Notice: Graphic organizers, outlines, timelines, graphs and…
Information-Based: Explanatory Texts
- Use: Texts that explain a process/procedure
- Use: A title and a series of logical steps, in images and/or…
Information-Based: Descriptive Reports
- Notice: Local and national radio and television news reports that…
Information-Based: Persuasive Texts
- Notice: Texts that seek to persuade peers to change their habits…
See the full English Language Arts, Grade 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 Quebec, that's Science and Technology, Grade 3 — 3 units, 25 skills.
Material World
- Describing matter: mass and weight
- Why some things sink and others float
- Physical changes keep the same matter
Earth and Space
- Soil, and the quality of water, soil, and air
- Rocks, fossils, and crystals
- The water cycle
Living Things
- Life needs and how living things reproduce
- Kingdoms and classifying living things
- The parts of a plant and their jobs
See the full Science and Technology, Grade 3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
French this year
French builds through listening, speaking, and simple reading — confidence first, grammar second. In Quebec, that's Français, langue d’enseignement, 3e année — 9 units, 86 skills.
Écrire — Section Organisation et cohérence du texte
- Le paragraphe et le découpage du texte (paragraphs and text structure)
- Découverte : Le paragraphe et le découpage du texte (paragraphs and text structure)
- Découverte : Les genres de textes (text genres)
Écrire — Section Lexique
- Découverte : Le sens des mots (propre, figuré) (word meanings (literal and figurative))
- Découverte : Le dictionnaire (using the dictionary)
- Découverte : Les relations entre les mots (synonymes, antonymes, génériques) (relations between words)
Écrire — Section Orthographe d’usage
- Le rôle des lettres muettes (silent letters)
- Les règles de position (c/ç, g/gu/ge, m devant b, m, p) (position-based spelling rules)
- Les stratégies orthographiques (spelling strategies)
Écrire — Section Conjugaison
- Découverte : L’infinitif du verbe (the infinitive form)
- Découverte : Les modèles de conjugaison (conjugation models)
- Découverte : Les temps de conjugaison (verb tenses)
Écrire — Section Accords
- L’adjectif et son accord (the adjective and its agreement)
- Les pronoms de conjugaison (conjugation pronouns)
- La formation du pluriel (forming the plural)
Écrire — Section Syntaxe et ponctuation
- Les sortes de point et la ponctuation finale (end-of-sentence punctuation)
- Le groupe du nom (GN) (the noun group)
- Les manipulations syntaxiques (syntactic manipulations)
Compétence Lire des textes variés
- Reconnaître les genres de textes en lecture (recognising text genres in reading)
- Comprendre le sens d’un texte (understanding a text)
- Comprendre les mots nouveaux en contexte (understanding new words in context)
Compétence Apprécier des œuvres littéraires
- Connaître le livre (couverture, format) (the book's features)
- Les genres littéraires (comptine, poème, BD…) (literary genres)
- Connaître le livre (couverture, format) (the book's features)
Compétence Communiquer oralement
- Participer à un échange (taking part in an exchange)
- Participer à un échange (taking part in an exchange)
- Écouter et réagir (listening and responding)
See the full Français, langue d’enseignement, 3e année curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
French as a Second Language this year
French builds through listening, speaking, and simple reading — confidence first, grammar second. In Quebec, that's Français, langue seconde (Core), Grade 3 — 5 units, 35 skills.
Stratégies
- Use: des éléments prosodiques
- Use: Réutiliser des mots ou expressions entendus, lus ou vus
- Discover: pour inciter l’interlocuteur à poursuivre
Vocabulaire utilisé à l’oral et à l’écrit
- Using French for expressing needs (1)
- Using French for vocabulary-building strategies (1)
- Discovering French for core vocabulary
Conventions de communication orale ou écrite
- Use: la majuscule en début de phrase et le point final
Connaissances liées au texte oral ou écrit
- Use: des éléments sonores
- Use: le respect du sujet
Connaissances liées à la phrase
- Use: Reproduire diverses phrases modélisées, à l’oral ou à l’écri
- Use: je, tu
- Discover: Observer les principales classes de mots dans une phrase
See the full Français, langue seconde (Core), Grade 3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →
English as an Additional Language this year
English language skills for learners whose first language is something else — practical, everyday, encouraging. In Quebec, that's English as a Second Language (Core), Grade 3 — 5 units, 26 skills.
Contextual and Functional Language
- Discover: Participates in classroom routines
- Using English: Uses vocabulary related to objects
Strategies
- Discover: Makes up for the lack of a precise word or expression by sub
- Discover: Questions the pronunciation of new words read or heard
Language Conventions
- Discover: Uses knowledge of word order in simple sentences to construc
- Discover: Uses understandable intonation and pronunciation
- Discover: Uses knowledge of capital letters, periods, questions marks,
Text Components
- Discover: Uses knowledge of connecting words to construct meaning
Three ways parents use this list
Common questions
What does my child learn in Grade 3 in Quebec?
Quebec's official curriculum sets out Mathematics, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies, French, French as a Second Language, English as an Additional Language for Grade 3 — 298 specific skills in total. The big themes: Mathematics covers arithmetic and geometry; English Language Arts covers understanding the conventions of written language and producing and interpreting media texts; Science covers material world and earth and space. The full list is on this page.
Is this the official Quebec curriculum?
It's built from Quebec'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 Quebec, that's Social Sciences (Geography, History and Citizenship Education), Grade 3 — 4 units, 11 skills.
Organization of a society in its territory
- Where and when Iroquoian society lived
- The people and how they lived
- What the land gave and what it limited
+ 4 more skills in this unit →Change in a society and its territory
Diversity of societies and their territories
Researching and Techniques
- Making a research plan
+ 1 more skill in this unit →See the full Social Sciences (Geography, History and Citizenship Education), Grade 3 curriculum, with the ministry's own wording →