You are here: Home → Light Blue Series → Grade 3

Math Mammoth Grade 3 complete curriculum

Math Mammoth Grade 3 complete curriculum consists of two student worktexts (A and B), a separate answer key for each, chapter tests and an end-of-year test, cumulative reviews, and an easy worksheet maker (Internet access required) to make extra practice worksheets when needed.

151 pages
133 lesson pages


166 pages
149 lesson pages

3-A contents and samples
3-B contents and samples

---

Prices & ordering

---

Downloads:

Full set (A & B) $29.70

Full set for 1-A: $15.50
Full set for 1-B: $15.50

Supportive materials only $14
(answer keys, tests, cumulative reviews, worksheet maker, and Soft-Pak)

Order downloads
at Kagi store

---

Printed copies:

Part A worktext $12.45
Part B worktext $12.75
Answer Keys $14.00
Tests & Cumulative Reviews $11.05
(+ shipping; sold at Lulu)

The two books for Grade 3 focus on

• multiplication concept
• memorizing multiplication tables
• division concept and facts
• adding and subtracting 4-6 digit numbers
• using addition and subtraction to solve problems.

Also covered are time, money (US, Euro, or Canadian), measuring, and geometry topics, and introduction to fractions. Please see the table of contents for 3-A for a complete lesson list.

Some main features of the Lightblue Series books are:

• focuses on understanding of mathematical concepts
• uses clear explanations, lots of visual exercises and pattern exercises
• mastery oriented: concentrates fairly long on a topic, with fairly few topics per grade
• emphasizes mental math and developing number sense
• very little teacher preparation needed

AN ADDED BONUS! Buying this in Kagi store (as a download), you will also get Soft-Pak programs completely FREE. The 7 programs in Soft-Pak (4 math, 1 language arts, 2 testing) offer both on-screen and printable activities in a low-graphic, high content format. Read more and see screenshots.

Introduction

Third grade is a time for learning and mastering two (mostly new) operations: multiplication and division with single-digit numbers. The student also deepens his understanding of addition and subtraction, and uses those in many different contexts, such as with money, time, and measuring.

The first chapter in this book deals with addition and subtraction strategies. The student does a lot of mental math, learns addition and subtraction terminology, touches on algebraic problems in the lesson about addition/subtraction connection, practices borrowing, and more.

Then we tackle the multiplication concept in chapter 2. After that come multiplication tables in chapter 3, so multiplication does take a big part of book A. Then comes a chapter about clock and time (chapter 4) and a chapter about money (chapter 5).

In part B, we study place value with thousands (chapter 6), then measuring and geometry (chapters 7 and 8), followed by division in chapter 9. In chapter 10, we study a little about multiplying bigger numbers, and finally in chapter 11, it is time for some introductory fraction and decimal topics.

When you use these books as your only or main mathematics curriculum, they can be like a "framework", but you do have some liberty in organizing the study schedule. Chapter 1 should be studied before chapter 8 (place value). Multiplication chapters need to be studied before the division chapter, and all of those need to be studied before the chapter about all four operations (chapter 10). You can go through the chapters about clock, money, geometry, measuring, and fractions/decimals in some other order, if you desire.

This curriculum aims to concentrate on a few major topics at a time and study them in depth. It is for this reason that you will not see some topics that might be present in other third grade books, such as long division, or the standard way of multiplying vertically. I wanted the student to get a very good foundation in basic multiplication and basic division by single-digit numbers. I did not want to hurry through measuring topics, yet I didn't want to make a 500-600 page book either. There is plenty of time in grades 4, 5, and 6 to master division and multiplication with bigger numbers.

This is opposite to the continually spiraling step-by-step curricula in which each lesson typically is about a different topic from the previous or next lesson, and includes a lot of review problems from past topics. This does not mean that your child wouldn't need occasional review. However, when each major topic is presented in its own chapter, this gives you more freedom to plan the course of study and choose the review times yourself. In fact, I totally encourage you to plan your mathematics school year as a set of certain topics, instead of a certain book or certain pages from a book.

For review, you will get a worksheet maker page that you can use to make extra practice worksheets for computation or for number charts. You can also reprint already studied pages using the PDF file.

The chapter on Money (chapter 5) is included in three currencies: US, Canadian, and Euro money — you will get all three versions when you buy the Grade 3 Complete Curriculum or the 3-A part.

Manipulatives

Here is a list of manipulatives that are needed or recommended for grade 3. Measuring tapes, scales, and measuring cups are only used in the measuring chapter.

1. An old-fashioned alarm clock or other analog clock where you can turn the minute hand and the hour hand will turn as it is supposed to (optional; for 3-A).
2. A ruler that measures in inches (for 3-B).
3. A ruler that measures in centimeters (for 3-B).
4. A measuring tape that measures in feet (for 3-B).
5. A measuring tape that measures in meters (for 3-B).
6. A kitchen scales that measures in ounces (for 3-B).
7. A kitchen scales that measures in grams (for 3-B).
8. Measuring cups that measure 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/4 cup (for 3-B) of which at least one has markings for ounces.
9. A measuring cup that measures in milliliters (for 3-B).
10. A thermometer that uses Fahrenheit degrees (optional; for 3-B).
11. A thermometer that uses Celsius degrees (optional; for 3-B).
12. Fraction manipulatives. The curriculum contains printables to make your own fraction manipulatives. The text uses visual pie models extensively, and students even learn to draw them themselves for the exercises, therefore making or buying the manipulatives is entirely optional (optional; for 3-B).

Reviews / Testimonials

Dear Mrs. Miller,

Hello! I wanted to let you know that I ordered the Light Blue Series 3rd Grade and we've only used it about 4 days but my daughter is really starting to "get" math. She was using BJU and I absolutely love all of BJU's materials, however, the spiral approach to learning math just wasn't working with my oldest daughter. There wasn't enough repetition and the material seemed to only touch on the topics briefly before moving on. I was a bit behind on grading papers this semester and I noticed as I started grading tests and papers that she was really making some horrible mistakes in addition and subtraction. I looked at her and said "tell me what 5 + 3 is" and she held up her fingers counting them one by one and had to think about it a long time. I was mortified! Especially since my husband and I are both skilled in math more than just about any other subject. We started going through the lessons, and both of us cried many tears the first few days, but when she picked up on the "mental math" it all started to make sense to her. It was as if a light bulb came on! She has done well with math up until this point and so it really surprised me that she just wasn't getting it. I'm really excited about using your curriculum and hopefully she'll gain a much deeper understanding of math rather than having to use her fingers to add and subtract all the time. I'm glad I found you on the internet!

Amy from Oklahoma

From a homeschooling parent who has used Grade 3 Complete Worktext with a 10-year old fourth grader:

My favorite feature is the printable worksheets on specific topics. My daughter has struggled with confidence, but after a week of targeted worksheets, she knows that she can do it! Now for subtraction with borrowing from zero...

Vicky Schwartz

From a homeschooling parent who has used Grade 3 Complete Worktext with a third grader:

You asked how we liked your program.... Well, just to give you a little history... I found out about your math curriculum through Winter Promise and after looking at the samples from your site as well as ordering one of your small topic e-books, I went ahead & ordered the 3rd grade Lightblue curriculum from Winter Promise. Math is probably the least favorite subject for my daughter & we were having a real struggle with the program we were using before. Even though the program was colorful & looked interesting, it did not seem to explain the concepts behind the math facts. As soon as we switched to the Lightblue curriculum, I noticed an improvement in her attitude towards math. Also, I've noticed that she's been able to retain the information she's learning much better. I'm not sure if that's because we switched from a spiral approach to a mastery approach, but I'm sure that has something to do with it. :) On top of that, we just got her CAT test scores back a couple of weeks ago, and in math she scored in the 98th percentile with a perfect score! We also had her tested one on one with her evaluator and she scored in the 87th percentile with a grade equivalent of 5.1. So, as you can see, we are very happy with your program. :)

Tracy Homa

From a homeschooling parent who has used Grade 3 Complete Worktext with a third grader:

My daughter was in Saxon math but she was having difficulty learning new concepts and the teacher's book was just too much to sift through and I found it really didn't help much anyways. I switched to the Lightblue series grade 3 about a month ago and use it as our only math curriculum.

Please describe how you have liked the ebooks.
We really love it. I loved the helps on memorizing the multiplication table and within a couple of days my daughter had her 2's down. It is so nice to have the text with the workbook... my daughter really understands each concept as she does her problems. What used to take at least an hour to complete, she now does in 20 minutes. She recently completed her chapter 2 test and only missed one problem... but when I had her look at it again she realized what she did wrong... now that's what I call total comprehension! Thank you for created this series. I'm definitely going to order the grade 4 curriculum.

I wouldn't change a thing. Honestly. In my family we've done Lifepac, BJU, and Saxon and this is by far the best I've found.

Michelle Hall

See also a review of Math Mammoth Grade 3 complete curriculum by Carrie Kerr