Month: March 2012

Maths Games: Adding game for Year 3 onwards

This Maths game  is a great way to practise addition of small numbers. It is a game for two players and can be a good challenge for adults as well as children.  Each player takes it in turn to place a counter over one of the numbers. When a counter is paced on the board the number is added to a joint total. It is a good idea to write the totals down as you go along, so that totals can be checked, or there might be a dispute! Once a counter has been placed it cannot be picked up.

The aim of the game is to make the total come to exactly 31. The player who does so is the winner.

If a player places a counter to make the total over 31 he/she loses.

This is a game of strategy and  and there are times when the total can not be reached (perhaps if all the ones have been covered).

Make 31

Mental Arithmetic Questions for Year 3

This week’s mental arithmetic questions for year 3 cover just multiplication and division. Year 3 is the start of the learning ‘times tables’, and by the end of the year children should be confident with at least the 2, 5 and 10 times tables as well as developing 3x and 4x.

Some teachers argue that children should also learn the ‘division tables’. These are the equivalent facts for division. For example, the dividing by 5 table would go like this:

5 divided by 5 is 1

10 divided by 5 is 2

15 divided by 5 is 3

20 divided by 5 is 4

25 divided by 5 is 5

30 divided by 5 is 6

35 divided by 5 is 7

40 divided by 5 is 8

45 divided by 5 is 9

50 divided by 5 is 10

Although it must be said that children who really know the ‘times tables’ off by heart can very rapidly work out these facts. Whichever way they do it children should be able to answer a question such as; ’16 divided by 2′ in a second or less.

Year 3 mental arithmetic_(sets 41 and 42)

National Numeracy

Once again the poor performance in maths of many adults rears its head as the charity ‘National Numeracy’ states that almost half of British adults have the maths skills of an 11 year old, or worse. This is a new charity launched today as an organisation to champion the importance of number skills for people of all ages.

Over the last eight years the number of people with the numeracy skills of an eleven year old or worse has increased from 15 million to 17 million (49% of all 16 to 59 year olds.)

The charity also highlights the ‘badge of honour’ that people wear, proudly proclaiming that they are no good at maths, something I have talked about before on several occasions.

Chris Humphries, chairman of National Numeracy and former chief executive of the UK Commission for Employment and Skills, said: “It is simply not acceptable for anyone to say ‘I can’t do maths’.

Lacking maths skills has serious outcomes for people as people with low numeracy skills are twice as likely to be unemployed.

Interestingly, calculators are not blamed,
“Even with calculators they can’t do these problems because they don’t have enough understanding to interpret problems or analyse them,” he said.

Here are questions from the test
1. Screws come in packets of 30. Each bracket needs four screws. What will one packet of screws be enough for?
A: 6 brackets with 3 screws left over;
B: 7 brackets with 2 screws left over;
C: 7 brackets with 3 screws left over;
D: 8 brackets exactly

2. Hasran has planned a new TV cupboard. A TV is 40cm wide and will sit in the middle of a shelf that is 900mm wide. How wide is the gap on each side of the TV?
A: 10cm; B. 25cm; C. 43cm; D. 50cm

3. Match these discounts with the following labels:
1. £300 reduced to £180
2. £240 reduced to 160
3. £350 reduced to £280
Labels:
A. Amazing 1/3 off!
B. Massive 20% off!
C. Slashed by 30%!
D. Reduced by 40p in the £

Go to National Numeracy Charity

Year 4 Maths worksheet: Completing number statements

This Year 4 maths worksheet looks quite straightforward, but many children will find it tricky.

Four numbers are shown as well as four addition and subtraction statements with missing numbers. Just put in the missing numbers from the four shown.

With the addition questions the best way to proceed is to look at the units digit of the answer to the number statement. Then look at the four numbers to see which two added together will match the units digit. Check that the answer is correct by adding in a different order or subtracting one number from the answer, to leave the other number.

For the subtraction statements again it is best to look at the units digit, but remembering that an adjustment from the tens might need to be made to reach the correct numbers.

This page can be found in the Year 4 resources, under Using and Applying Maths.

Complete number statements