Archives for "May, 2011"
Year 3 maths: Pairs that make 100
When working out how many more to make a number up to 100 it is important not to mix up two different ways of doing it. Let’s take the question: ‘How many more is there from 45 to 100?’ One way of doing this is to add 5 to 45, making 50 and then counting [...]
More year 4 mental arithmetic: subtraction
This is the second page of ‘quite hard’ subtraction questions for year 4, which should be answered using mental arithmetic methods, although many adults would struggle to reach the correct answers: they really are quite hard! Once again it shows that there are several possible ways to approach each question; the key is to choose [...]
What boosts school performance?
We all know that smaller classes, uniforms and primary homework are ways of boosting schools’ performance. Or are they? Not according to a recent report from the Sutton Trust. In fact, reducing class sizes, setting homework during primary school, and introducing school uniforms are among the least effective ways of improving school results. Looking at [...]
Reading, writing and ordering numbers at level 1
To attain maths level 1 children need to be able to recognise the number names up to 20, say them clearly and write them. They will be counting forwards and backwards up to 20, starting at any whole number. To enable this to happen the numerals need to be displayed clearly on a wall so [...]
Resource of the Week: Year 6 maths challenge
Here is a tricky little puzzle which is aimed at Year 6 or upper juniors (9/11). Ideal for wet breaks! Using just the digits 1 to 9 complete the number sentences, both across and down, so that they are all correct. A good knowledge of tables is needed, together with the ability to add and [...]
Should maths lessons be quiet?
Should maths lessons be quiet is clearly a tricky one to answer. There should certainly be allowances made for children to discuss the work they are doing, explore ideas, work in small groups on a tricky investigation, but there is a big difference between quietly discussing options and shouting at each other. There are ceertainly [...]
Percentages and Fractions
The relationship between percentages and fractions is one that many children fail to grasp, yet it is essentially quite easy. What is harder, is understanding equivalence and that fractions of the same size can be written in different ways. 100% means 100 out of 100. It can written as a fraction 100/100 and is equivalent [...]
0 to 9 cards
I am continuing to add to the useful Resources section of the site. Today I have added a set of 0 to 9 cards. There are actually two sets, using different fonts. It is mainly the number 4 which changes from font to font and many teachers like to use a font which shows the [...]
Written methods of subtraction
During the early years children are not expected to employ written methods to subtract numbers. The aim at this stage is to use mental methods and become really efficient with this. However, the time comes when they must be taught one efficient method of subtraction. There are three essential skills children should have before embarking [...]
Multiply by one and ten
We often presume that much of what young children have to do in maths is self evident and easily understood by them. However, often this is not the case, especially if children have missed some time or not had enough practice to consolidate their learning. Here we have a simple exercise to just check that [...]
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