Year 3 Teaching Resources
Explore printable worksheets, digital activities, games and more Year 3 resources, all aligned to the Australian curriculum! The teacher-created resources have all been designed with primary teachers and students in mind to meet the special needs of children as they transition into the middle years of their primary school education.
Carefully curated and thoroughly reviewed by the expert teachers of the Teach Starter team to ensure they're classroom-ready, our Year 3 resources can save you lesson planning time this school year with editable and differentiated options at the ready.
Teach Starter’s Year 3 resources utilise a vast array of resource types and have something for every learning area. Here's just a taste of what you'll find for your classroom!
- Spelling words and English worksheets
- Fractions activities and Maths worksheets
- Social and emotional learning activities
- Narrative writing stimuli
- Language conventions practice
- And so much more!
Are you new to teaching Year 3? Here's a look at what this year of primary school is all about!
What Is Year 3 in Australia?
Year 3 sits right in the middle of primary school for most students in Australia as the fourth year of compulsory education.
How Old Are Kids in Year 3?
The exact age of students will vary slightly by state (and birthday!), but most children in your Year 3 class will be 8 to 9 years old.
What Do Students Learn in Year 3?
Year 3 is a big one for Australian students. Many will sit the NAPLAN tests, and more than a few will hit double digits before the year is through. This is a big year for Maths between the introduction of more complex fractions and formal multiplication, as well as even more skill-building in other learning areas.
Exactly what they're expected to learn will depend to some degree on the state or territory where you are teaching, but here's a look at what your students can expect to encounter in the key areas of the curriculum!
English
Year 3 students continue to develop their reading, writing, speaking, and listening skills in their English lessons. Reading will involve more complex texts, including longer novels, non-fiction texts, and poetry.
Students will also be expected to analyse these texts more deeply, examining themes, character development, and literary techniques. Comprehension skill-building will require deeper analysis of texts and drawing inferences from what is read.
While Year 2 instruction focuses on basic writing skills such as sentence structure and punctuation, this older group of students will move toward more advanced writing skills such as paragraphing, using descriptive language, and organising ideas in a logical way.
Grammar and spelling will also become a greater focus this year, with an emphasis on understanding and applying more complex grammar rules and spelling patterns.
Maths
Fractions feature front and centre of the Year 3 Maths curriculum. Students will learn to identify, compare, and order unit fractions (those being fractions with a numerator of 1), as well as use them in simple problem-solving contexts.
We already alluded to this being a big year for multiplication, and is it ever! Year 3 students learn the basic multiplication facts — such as 2 x 2 = 4 and 3 x 3 = 9 — and they begin to use these facts to solve multiplication and division problems. They also learn to interpret and create simple multiplication and division problems.
Students will have the chance to build upon their understanding of measurement concepts from Year 2, including length, mass, and capacity. They'll learn to measure and estimate using standard units, plus how to compare and order measurements.
Maths students will expand their knowledge of 2D shapes this year, and they will begin to learn about three-dimensional shapes and their properties.
Place value is still a big part of maths, of course. Year 3 students expand their understanding of place value to include numbers up to 10,000, and they learn to read, write, and compare four-digit numbers. They also learn to use place value to solve addition and subtraction problems.
Science
Science instruction in Year 3 is more focused on building a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and their applications, as compared to Year 2. It also emphasises the development of scientific inquiry skills that will help kids become more proficient in conducting scientific investigations and communicating their findings.
Students in Year 3 learn to ask questions, plan and conduct investigations, collect and record data, and communicate their findings as part of their development of science inquiry skills. They spend a portion of the year learning about the characteristics of living things, including plants and animals. Year 3 students will have the chance to explore the life cycles of plants and animals, as well as learning about the needs of living things and their habitats.
While they're learning about things that live on Earth, they're also learning about the planet itself, exploring geological features such as rocks, soil, and minerals. They also explore heat energy and how it can be transferred from one object to another.
Last, but certainly not least, Year 3 students learn about the properties and states of matter, including solids and liquids (gasses are explored later on in primary school).
Humanities and Social Sciences
Building on the foundation set in Year 2, Year 3 HAAS lessons build a deeper understanding of historical events and concepts, as well as exploring the social and economic systems that underpin Australian society.
Students learn about the historical events, people, and places that have shaped Australia's history. They explore the concept of change and continuity over time and learn to use historical sources to investigate the past. Students also study significant cultural events celebrated in our country and how they contribute to Australia's diversity and identity.
Geography instruction will guide students as they learn about the physical and cultural characteristics of places and regions. They'll learn more about the representation of Australia as states and territories, and as Countries/Places of First Nations Australians. Students will also begin exploring Australia's neighbours such as New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia.
Civics instruction sees Year 3 students strengthening their understanding of what it means to live in a democratic society. They will draw upon their own personal experiences to examine why rules are important and to discuss how they can be active participants in the communities to which they belong.
Health and Physical Education
With their bodies rapidly changing, Year 3 students learn about the factors that influence their health and wellbeing, including the importance of good nutrition, hygiene, and sleep. They also learn about social and emotional health, including how to manage their feelings, develop positive relationships, and make safe and healthy choices.
In Year 3, there are a number of different types of safety on tap in lessons, including road safety, water safety, and personal safety. They develop an understanding of risk and learn strategies for staying safe in different situations.
Year 3 students also learn about the importance of being active and informed citizens in their community. They learn about the benefits of volunteering and begin to develop an understanding of the responsibilities and rights of individuals in society.
The Arts
In Year 3, students develop more advanced skills in drawing, painting, and other visual arts techniques. This includes studying the elements of art — such as line, shape, colour, and texture — and beginning to use these to create more complex artworks.
In music class, these children are learning all about musical notation and how to read and write simple music, while drama instruction explores different forms of drama, including role-playing, improvisation, and scripted performance. Students get the chance to learn about the elements of drama, such as character, plot, and setting, and begin to use these to create their own dramatic works.
- Plus Plan
Kandinsky Circles Colouring Pages
Introduce your students to the circle art style of Wassily Kandinsky with a set of fun International Dot Day colouring in sheets.
- Plus Plan
Coding with Robots - Pirate Coding Robot Mat
Implement coding for kids with a printable pirate coding robot map activity.
- Plus Plan
Skip Counting by 2,3,4,5, & 10 Mystery Picture
Have your students uncover a mystery picture by solving skip counting problems to and multiply by 2,3,4,5 & 10.
- Plus Plan
Main Idea and Details in Nonfiction - Interactive Activity
Help your students easily find the main idea and support details in a nonfiction text with this interactive activity.
- Plus Plan
3-Digit Addition and Subtraction with Regrouping - Anchor Charts
Break down the steps to use regrouping to find a solution with an addition and a subtraction poster.
- Plus Plan
Fractions Worksheet Pack – Differentiated
Practise partitioning shapes, shading in fraction models, representing fractions on a number line and more with this set of differentiated worksheets.
- Free Plan
Rain Cloud in a Jar Experiment
Use this science experiment when learning about the different types and features of clouds and how they contribute to the water cycle.
- Plus Plan
Climate Zones of the World – Poster Pack
Learn about different climate types with this set of 6 printable posters.
- Plus Plan
Australian States, Territories and Capital Cities - Class Display
Brighten up your classroom bulletin boards with a vibrant and informative classroom display about Australia’s states and territories.
- Plus Plan
Fractions of a Collection – Differentiated Worksheets
Differentiated worksheets that focus on fractions of collections.
- Free Plan
Where Do Natural Resources Come From? Worksheet
Discover where Earth's natural resources are located with a pair of differentiated Natural Resource Worksheets.
- Free Plan
Inclusion Poster
A beautiful poster to spread the message that inclusion is for ALL.
- Plus Plan
Individual Planet Posters
Use this set of posters with your space unit to teach about the individual planets.
- Plus Plan
Earth, Sun and Moon – Poster Pack
Display these posters with information about the Earth, Sun and moon in your science classroom.
- Plus Plan
Pizza Fraction Posters
Display information about fractions, decimals and percentages with this poster pack.
- Plus Plan
Life Cycle of a Frog Flipbook
Sequence the stages of a frog’s life cycle with this printable flipbook.
- Free Plan
Adding 2-Digit Numbers Task Cards
Practice adding 2-digit numbers with this set of 18 number sentence task cards.
- Free Plan
I Have, Who Has? Game – Measuring Mass with Scales
A game to reinforce the skill of reading scaled instruments when measuring mass.
- Plus Plan
Determining Elapsed Time-Word Problems Worksheet
Print an elapsed time word problems worksheet to provide students with practise measuring the passage of time.
- Plus Plan
Colouring by Larger Numbers - Operations
Colouring pages to be used when working with operations.
- Plus Plan
Multiplication Wheel Worksheets
A set of multiplication worksheets to helps students improve their recall of the multiplication tables.
- Free Plan
Multiplication Grid – Worksheet
A simple multiplication facts grid for students to practise their times tables.
- Plus Plan
Epic Editing Workbook – Year 3 and Year 4
Use these paragraph editing worksheets to get your students practising and refining their proofreading skills.
- Plus Plan
Goal Setting Template (Iceberg)
A goal setting template where students identify the smaller aspects that they will focus on to achieve one main goal.
- Plus Plan
NAPLAN-Style Assessment Rubric - Narrative Writing
A NAPLAN-style rubric designed to help teachers to assess students' narrative writing.
- Plus Plan
Novel Study Worksheet Pack
Download this set of novel study worksheets that can be used with any text to support your students in exploring characters and events in literature.
- Free Plan
Cyber Safety Poster - Know the Rules
A cyber safety poster to help the students understand correct online behaviour.
- Plus Plan
Recount Writing Word Wall
A set of 30 vocabulary words related to recount writing.
- Plus Plan
Forms of Poetry Teaching Slides
Explore the different forms of poetry with your students using this comprehensive and age-appropriate slide deck.
- Plus Plan
Types of Graphs Posters and Worksheets
A collection of posters displaying the different types of graphs along with matching worksheets to assist students with laying out graphs on the page.
- Plus Plan
Australian Landform Map
A map of Australia showing the major landforms.
- Plus Plan
Australian States and Capital Cities Map Worksheet
A worksheet for students to use when learning about Australian states, territories and capital cities.