Since Common Core Math for 3rd grade has such an emphasis on multiplication and division, any practice with math facts is beneficial. If the students feel more confident with their addition and subtraction fluency they can apply that knowledge to addition, subtraction, and even their word problems. However, if you have tried the flashcards, computer games, and dozens of other ways to practice facts and it seems to be causing more anxiety than results... please consider working with your student on the use of a calculator. We all know that in this day and age the calculator is a tool readily available for use. It will also be an accommodation that can be made for high-stakes as well as classroom based testing. All too often a calculator may be available for a problem but the student is unaware of how this might alleviate anxiety for a multi-step problem. They might not know how to work a calculator or plug in a problem. We will work on this a bit in school as well but carryover to the home environment would be great. Let them have fun with calculators and use them for real-world problems. If they are more familiar with calculators they may have a big advantage in the years to come (and they may also seem like less of a novel toy when it comes to test time). Happy computing! :)