Math Practice Problems for Third Grade in Number Sense

3N-39) Answer: $1.63

Jill bought 2 packages of crayons for 59 cents each.  She also bought one package of crayons for 45 cents.  How much did Jill spend? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-38) Answer: 40 pennies

Joe collects coins.  He has 84 coins in his collection.  There are 14 dimes and 30 quarters. The rest are pennies.  How many pennies? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-37) Answer: 1/6 pizza

Three friends shared a pizza.  Tim ate 2/6 of the pizza. Kate ate 3/6.  How much pizza is left? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-36) Answer: 1.4 gallons

Pam’s car holds 10 gallons of gasoline.  After filling the tank, she drove to the beach.  She had used 8.6 gallons.  How many gallons are left in her gas tank?  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-35) Answer: .2 miles

Ed and Jason are hiking 1 mile to a waterfall.  They walk .5 miles to a bridge.  Then they walk .3 miles to a river.  How much farther do they have to walk to the waterfall? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

 3N-34) Answer: 10

Ruth, Roz, and Gladys bought two boxes of golf balls. Each box contains five sleeves of three balls in each. How many golf balls will each person get? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-33) Answer: 5 groups two each or two groups 5 each

There are 10 children in the art club. The teacher put them into groups, so that each group has the same number of children. How many groups could there be? How many children will be in each group? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-32) Answer: 7 children

When Alex got on the school bus, there were 3 other children on the bus. At the next stop, 3 more children got on the bus. How many children were now on the bus? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-31) Answer: 3 cookies

Edna loves cookies. She had 4 cookies. She ate 2 of the cookies, and her mom gave her another one. How many cookies does she have now? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-30) Answer: 7 stamps, pattern of odd numbers

Phoebe was putting her collection of postage stamps into a scrapbook.  She put one stamp on the first row.   She put 3 stamps on the second row.  She put 5 stamps on the third row.  How many stamps do you think Phoebe will put on the next row? Why? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-29) Answer: 27 eggs

A basket contains more than 12 but fewer than 32 eggs. When you count the eggs by fours, you have three left over. When you count by fives, you have two left over. How many eggs are in this basket? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-28) Answer: when John has taken 4 steps

John and Jean have a foot race starting with their right feet at the starting line, stepping forward on the left foot. If John takes two steps to every three Jean takes, when will their right feet hit the ground together again? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-27) Answer: 27 glasses

Apple juice was served at the picnic. Each of 3 girls poured 9 glasses of juice. How many glasses of juice were there? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-26) Answer: 48 plates

Patty bought 6 packages of paper plates. There were 8 plates in each package. How many plates did she buy? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-25) Answer: 45

Tabby Tiger roars every time someone passes her home in the zoo. One day the zookeeper kept track of how many times Tabby roared in one hour. Here are the clues he gave: Tabby roared more than 39 times; she roared fewer than 46 times; she roared an odd number of times; you say the number when you count by threes and by fives. How many times did Tabby roar in one hour? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-24) Answer: 44

In Bird Hotel, there are 46 nests for guests. Bird families stop in for a rest on their way south. Big Bird wants to know how many empty nests there are in the hotel today. Here are the clues his workers gave; not all of the nests are empty today; more than 40 nests are empty; an even number of nests are empty; the empty nests could be counted by fours, with none left over. How many of the nests in Bird Hotel are empty today? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-23) Answer: 2 yellow, 7 purple

Stuart and Marsha are playing a game called Pirates. They get 3 points every time they draw a yellow card, and 5 points every time they draw a purple card. Whoever gets 75 points first wins the game. Stuart has 41 points now, and he has 9 cards. How many cards does he have of each color? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-22) Answer: 63

People boarded the train at each stop in the animal park. A few people got on at the alligators. Three more people got on at the buffaloes than at the alligators. Later the train stopped at the camels, the donkeys, the elephants, and the giraffes. At each stop, 3 more people got on the train than at the stop before. At the giraffes, 18 people got on the train. How many people in all boarded the train? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-21) Answer: 42

Sam and Mary have their own secret recipe for ice cream. They will tell you how much cream they put in, but they won't tell you how many marshmallows they put in. Sam will give you a few clues. She says, "We put in more than 36. We put in fewer than 43. Mary always puts the marshmallows in 3 at a time, with none left over. I always put the marshmallows in 2 at a time, with none left over." How many marshmallows do Sam and Mary put into their ice cream? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-20) Answer: 50 blocks; 30 flags

Here are ten children. Each child is pulling a wagon. There are five blocks in each wagon. Each child holds three flags. How many blocks? How many flags? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-19) Answer: Varies; example:  Jack has $8 and Bob has $1 less than Jack. How much do they have together? 

Write a story to go with this number sentence, including a question. Make a picture to match. Then provide the answer. 8 + 7 = ____  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-18) Answer: Kim 9 cows, Bud 8 cows, Sam 10 cows; 27 cows in all - herds not equal - Sam should give Bud a cow

Kim, Bud, and Sam each have a herd of cows. Kim has two black cows, four brown cows, and three red cows. Bud has three black cows, one brown cow, and four red cows. Sam has five black cows, three brown cows, and two red cows. How many cows does each person have? How many cows in all? Are the herds equal? How can we make them equal? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-17) Answer: If I have 9 dollars, how much more do I need to have 14 dollars in all.

Write a story to go with this number sentence. Make a picture to match. Then provide the answer. 9 + ___ = 14  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-16) Answer: 6 kickballs, 11 footballs, 17 baseballs; 9 balls/1st, 12 balls/3rd, 13 balls/4th

The first-graders have three kickballs, two footballs, and four baseballs. The third-graders have two kickballs, four footballs, and six baseballs. The fourth-graders have one kickball, five footballs, and seven baseballs. How many of each kind of ball are there? Kickballs ___ Footballs ___ Baseballs ___ How many balls in each grade? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-15) Answer: 29(Blue); 28(Green); 25(B); 22(B & G); 19(G); 16(G); 15(B); 13(G); 10(G); 8(B); 7(G); 4(G); 1(B & G)

Make a number line from 30 to 0. Starting with 29, put a blue dot over every seventh number. Starting with 28, put a green dot under every third number.  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-14) Answer: girls, 30 balloons; boys, 50 balloons; 80 balloons in all; 64 balloons left

There are three girls and five boys. Each child has ten balloons. How many balloons do the girls have? How many balloons do the boys have? How many balloons in all are there? If each child loses two balloons, how many balloons will be left? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-13) Answer: Sam has 2 more plants; 13 tomato plants + 13 lettuce plants

Frank planted five tomato plants and seven lettuce plants. Sam planted eight tomato plants and six lettuce plants. Who has more plants? How many more? How many tomato plants are there? How many lettuce plants are there?  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-12) Answer: 3 orange trees; 3 pine trees

Draw pictures of 12 trees. 1/2 of them are apple trees. 1/4 of them are pine trees. The rest are orange trees. How many of the trees are orange trees. How many pine trees are there?  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-11) Answer: 8; 6; 4; 3; 2

There are 24 slices of pizza. How many slices would each person get if there were: three people?...four people?...six people?...eight people?...twelve people? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-10) Answer: Paul 11, James 8, Ann 14; Paul 17, James 14, Ann 14; Paul gives a fish to James & a fish to Ann

Paul has 17 fish. James had 16 fish. Paul gave 6 fish to Ann. James gave 8 fish to Ann. How many will each have now? Paul _____ James _____ Ann ______ Ann buys 12 fish and gives half to Paul and half to James. Now how many are in each tank? What would we need to do to get an equal number of fish in all three tanks? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-9) Answer: blue team has more pounds; Gloria changes with Sam or Sandy changes with Larry

The children are having a tug of war. For the blue team, Betsy weighs 60 pounds, Jess weighs 90 pounds, Gloria weighs 80 pounds, and Sandy weighs 60 pounds. For the red team, Kevin weighs 90 pounds, Larry weighs 50 pounds, Sam weighs 70 pounds, and Jane weighs 60 pounds. Which team has the advantage with more pounds? How can we make the teams equal? Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-8) Answer: Bob has 42 balls. How many must be add to his collection to get a total of 67 balls?

Write a story to go with this number sentence. Make a drawing to match. Then provide the answer. 42 + ___ = 67  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-7) Answer: 32 acorns; 20 more; 5 squirrels

Eight squirrels each carry four acorns. How many acorns?___ They want to store fifty two acorns. How many more acorns do they need?____ How many squirrels, with each carrying four acorns, do they need?____  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-6) Answer: 3 boxes; yes; 10 clips

We are going to use paper clips for measuring. Each student will get 5 clips. There are 28 students in the class. There are 50 clips in each box. How many boxes will we need?____ Will there be clips left over?___ How many?___  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-5) Answer: 48 pencils; 2 pencils

There are 12 pencils in each box. There are 4 boxes on the table. How many pencils are on the table?___ There are 24 students in the class. If we divide the pencils evenly, how many will each one get?___  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-4) Answer: I have 6 stars with 5 points each. How many points on the 6 stars?

Using stars, make a picture to go with this number sentence. Then provide the answer. 5 x 6 = ___  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-3) Answer: red-1 cup; orange-2 cups; yellow-4 cups; green-6 cups; blue-3 cups

Sylvia has five containers. The red one holds one cup. The orange one holds twice as much as the red one. The yellow one holds twice as much as the orange one. The green one holds as much as the orange and yellow ones together. The blue one holds half as much as the green one. Draw a picture of each container.  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-2) Answer: red-8 cups; orange-4 cups; yellow-2 cups; green-6 cups; blue-3 cups

Jay has five containers. The red one holds eight cups. The orange one holds half as much as the red one. The yellow one holds half as much as the orange one. The green one holds as much as the yellow and orange ones together. The blue one holds half as much as the green one. Draw a picture of each container showing what each one holds.  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

3N-1) Answer: 3 children each have 10 marbles. How many marbles all together?

Write a word problem about children and marbles, using multiplication. Then draw a picture of our word problem.  Write to help explain your best thinking using words, numbers, or pictures.

Share a problem (thank you) to add to this list and submit to:   donna_buck@pasd.wednet.edu Please title the subject "Problems for 3N"and include the answer.