I am often asked about the words and ideas that children should be familiar with by the end of Year 1 and there is an excellent set of pages which help with this, found in the Year 1 Maths Worksheets/Vocabulary section.
If a child does not respond to a mathematical question it may be because they do not understand the words or instructions used. Another difficulty can arise when a mathematical term has a different meaning in everyday English eg ‘table’.
The following list has the new words that they should come across in school during year 1 to do with calculating and solving problems.
Words to do with calculating and solving problems:
plus near double
how much more is…? how much less is…?
subtract minus
half halve
equals sign
number sentence
operation
Further lists on Number, Measures and Positioncan be found in the