Take Flight - Senior School

Mathematics in Year 3

Life in Year 3 has been full of energy and enthusiasm as students have settled into Term 2. Over the first two weeks, our mathematicians have been diving into the world of addition, building on their prior knowledge and developing new strategies to solve problems with confidence.

We began by exploring the jump strategy, where students used number lines to “jump” forwards in chunks. This visual approach helped them see how numbers change and supported flexible thinking when solving addition problems. From there, students moved on to the split strategy, breaking numbers into parts to make calculations more manageable. This has strengthened their understanding of place value while improving accuracy.

Alongside this, students have also been introduced to the CUBES problem solving strategy. This has helped them unpack worded problems by identifying key information, deciding on the correct operation, and checking their answers.

It has been fantastic to see students explaining their thinking, comparing different strategies, and choosing methods that work best for them. There has been a strong focus on reasoning and communication, with students confidently sharing how they solved problems and why their strategy was effective.

Looking ahead, students will begin learning the vertical addition algorithm. This more formal written method will build on the strong foundations they are currently developing, helping them to solve larger problems efficiently.