Mental arithmetic is the key to success with calculating. At first glance you might reach for a pencil to do a sum such as 2.5 + 4.7. However, the Primary Framework for Maths suggests that children should be competent in adding two 2-digit numbers in their heads, and there is no reason why, with a little practice this can’t include adding two decimals. The most common approach is almost identical to adding tens and units. Continue reading “Resource of the Week: Adding decimals mentally”
Month: March 2010
Year 4 Maths: Multiplication and addition
This is the second worksheet which looks at multiplication and addition. The rule is that the multiplication should be worked out before the addition, whatever the order of the question.
This is a good mental arithmetic exercise but children may need to jot down the answer to the first part (multiplication) before moving on to the addition.
Year 4 maths worksheet: Multiplying by 10 or 100
Remember the golden rules about multiplying:
When a number is multiplied by 10 it moves one place to the left.
When a number is multiplied by 100 it moves two places to the left. if this leaves a gap in the units or tens and units a zero must be inserted as a ‘place holder’.
Don’t get dragged into saying ‘add a nought’ because this doesn’t work with decimals eg 1.5 x 10 is not 1.50!!
This page can be found in our Year 4: Calculating section.
Coming soon: Multiplying and calculators
Next week we concentrate on multiplication together with a calculator activity.
The first worksheet is a reminder of the golden rules about multiplying:
When a number is multiplied by 10 it moves one place to the left.
When a number is multiplied by 100 it moves two places to the left.
The second worksheet looks at multiplication and addition with another golden rule. The rule is that the multiplication should be worked out before the addition, whatever the order of the question. This is a good mental arithmetic exercise but children may need to make jottings to help them.
We also have a harder version of the 2x table calculator game, published earlier, in that the grid has larger multiples of 2.
Calculator game: 3x table
Similar to the 2x table game published last week, this is a game of strategy for two players to help improve knowledge of the 3x table. The aim of the game is to place counters over the numbers to get four in a row, either across, down or horizontally.
The Player must say which number they are going for before typing in the multiplication on the calculator and can only place a counter if correct. Try it!
News: Latest Ofsted report
The latest Ofsted figures show that more schools are being judged as inadequate. In 2008/9 the proportion of schools judged as inadequate was 4% but this has more than doubled to 10% this year.
Why? Well, it has more to do with the way Ofsted works than schools actually getting better or worse. Ofsted is concentrating on inspecting schools which have a poor record in the past, so they are not looking at the best schools as often. Outstanding and good schools will only be inspected every 5 years whilst inadequate schools receive regular visits.
Resource of the Week: Year 4 data handling
Most of the worksheets that you see free online are for numbers and calculating, as these are the easiest to produce. However, mathsblog has an excellent range of worksheets across all areas of maths, including data handling. Here is a page on interpreting bar charts, which also uses the 24 hour clock. it is important to point out that charts such as these must have a proper title and that the axes must be labelled. When children produce their own bar charts they often forget to do this labelling.
When looking at a bar chart one of the first things to do is work out how the numbers are being represented. In this case the number of people on the bus is shown in blocks of 10 and half way between would be a block of 5.
Year 2 Time: One minute
Getting a clear concept of amount of time is important for young children. This page challenges children to complete a number of tasks in one minute, such as how tall a tower can be built using blocks/lego etc.
An important part of this is to make sure that they make an estimate/guess before starting which shows how realistic they are about time. This resource can be found in our Year 2 measurement section.
Year 6 maths worksheet: Reading decimal fractions
By Year 6 children should have a good understanding of place value, including decimals. Decimal fractions are often best taught in the context of money, but this only covers tenths and hundredths. This maths worksheet looks at thousandths as well. There two main parts: firstly, writing the value of decimal fractions in words and secondly, writing decimals in digits using the decimal point correctly.
Just like whole numbers a digit becomes ten times smaller when it is moved one place to the right after the decimal point, so the digit 6 in 0.467 is 6 hundredths and the 6 in 0.356 is 6 thousandths.
Year 6 Maths: Fractions
Several different sets of skills and knowledge needed for these questions. Firstly knowledge of measurements eg that there are 1000 metres in a kilometre, 1000 ml in a litre etc, as well as a couple of Imperial measures thrown in as an extra challenge.