In Year 3, Fractions focusses on counting up and down in fractions, finding simple fractions of amounts, writing, drawing, comparing and ordering fractions, equivalent fractions and adding and subtracting fractions.
This page aims to provide you with all the Year 3 Fractions National Curriculum objectives, along with some guidance for each objective and a range of games and activities that can be used to meet the learning objective in a play-based way.
Teaching Year 3 Fractions:
| National Curriculum Objective | Things to think about … | Playful Learning Games |
| Count up and down in tenths; recognise that tenths arise from dividing an object into 10 equal parts and in dividing one-digit numbers or quantities by 10. | Children need to understand what a tenth is and recognise that one whole divided into 10 parts are tenths. This will help them in the future with decimals and percentages. They need to be given opportunities to represent tenths in different ways. They should also explore what happens when you count beyond 10/10. | Cut the Tenths |
| Recognise, find and write fractions of a discrete set of objects: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators. | In year two, children have learnt about halves, quarters and thirds so now they will be exposed to fractions with different denominators. Ensure that you use a range of shapes divided to recognise fractions so they are exploring shapes that they are and are not familiar with. Before moving onto non-unit fractions, make sure children are secure in their knowledge of unit fractions. A common misconception when using diagram such a bar models is for children to count the shaded part as the numerator and what is left as the denominator. Therefore, make sure that children understand what is meant by numerator and denominator, with lots of practise in this. In this objective, children will also learn how to find fractions of amounts – this involves multiplication and division so children may need support if their times tables are not secure. Lots of manipulatives and pictorial representations should be used to support learning. | Fraction Pairs Draw A Fraction Calculate and Find |
| Recognise and use fractions as numbers: unit fractions and non-unit fractions with small denominators. | In this objective, children apply their fractions knowledge to real-life scenarios, by interpreting scales and also fractions on a number line. Children may confuse writing the fraction of the amount shown with writing the amount in ml, or cm for instance so they need clear guidance on how to answer the questions. This is also confusing as children are used to seeing fractions in diagrams coloured in but often on scales, the fraction is shown by an arrow pointing so lots of practise and exposure to different scales is needed. | Fractions Broom Dash |
| Recognise and show, using diagrams, equivalent fractions with small denominators. | Children explore this objective visually by using multiple and/or double number lines and bar models. Care needs to be taken when drawing the number lines/bars as if they are not equal in length, the equivalent fractions will not be easy to see. | Finding Equivalent Fractions |
| Add and subtract fractions with the same denominator within one whole. | Children learn how to add and subtract fractions with the same denominator in this objective. A common misconception is for children to add/subtract both the numerators and denominators so they need to be exposed to lots of practical and pictorial representations to understand why you do not add/subtract the denominators. | Make a Whole |
| Compare and order unit fractions, and fractions with the same denominators. | Children will compare and order unit fractions (where the numerator is 1 but the denominator is different) for this objective. They will also compare fractions with the same denominator but different numerators, for example 2/5 and 4/5. Use a range of pictorial representations to help children compare and order and then it is useful for children to understand that the greater the denominator, the smaller the fraction. A common misconception is for children to think that 1/2 is smaller than 1/3 because 2 is smaller than 3. This is where pictorial representations are needed to help children understand this concept. | Fractions Would You Rather |
| Solve problems that involve all of the above. |