Month: December 2012

Year 3 maths: adding with 2013

Knowing how much I like anything mathematical to do with dates, those kind people at urbrainy.com have let me publish a nifty little investigation to introduce the new year of 2013.

It is a simple idea; how many different addition questions can you find by just using the four digits, 2013.

At first it would be a good idea to look at adding two single digit numbers. Then there are the possibilities of adding a 2-digit number to a single digit; then adding two 2-digit numbers, and so on.

This is good practice at addition as well as encouraging logical thinking and presenting results in a well ordered, methodical way.

There are plenty of extension ideas with this investigation. For example the digits could be used twice, or the numbers could be multiplied rather than added, or even a mixture of the two

e.g. 2 x 0 + 1 = or 2 x 1 + 0 =

Subtraction could also be used, which might well lead on to negative numbers.

This page can be found in the year 3, Using and Understanding Maths category.

Addition using 2013

Resource of the Week: Christmas maths activities

It’s getting very close to Christmas now and with many activities going on in school why not try a little Christmas maths as well?

This page is quite an open ended challenge as all the possible combinations of presents need to be found. There are four items with prices; a set of beads for £2, a box of chocolates for £3, a bag for £5 and a bottle of perfume for £7.

The task is to find as many different combinations of presents that can be bought for up to £10. The key here is that the whole £10 does not have to be spent.

So 3 sets of beads and a box of chocolates is one possibility, costing £9 in total.

As usual, look for well a well organised logical approach.

This page can be found in the year 4 Using and Applying Maths category.

Christmas presents

 

12.12.12 an interesting date

Those of you who have followed the site for some time will know that I enjoy the quirky dates which come up from time to time, and we have a really good one next week; on 12th December 2012 the date can be written as 12.12.12. On the 12th second of the 12th minute of the 12th hour it can be written as 12.12.12.12.12.12!!

It will be quite some time before this type of recurring number pattern happens again; in fact not until 2101, when I don’t think I will be around to enjoy it!!

of course there are the usual doom mongers suggesting that the world will end as we all get sucked into a black hole, but I think it is a great chance to do a little maths and I was delighted to see that urbrainy.com have published a superb couple of worksheets which they have allowed me to publish.

The first takes a look at the digits 121212 and how many different 3-digit addition sums can be made from them. This type of activity really encourages thinking in a logical, well ordered way and it also brings some issues up, in particular whether the order of addition makes any difference as is 111 + 222 the same as 222 + 111. This is suitable for children around year 4 and can be found in the Year 4 Using and Applying Maths category.

The second set of worksheets looks at using three twelves and the four operations and raises all kinds of interesting mathematical questions. Suitable for Year 6 who have been introduced to BODMAS or as an introduction to it.

Adding with 121212

Calculating with 12 12 12

 

Year 4 maths worksheet: suggesting suitable units to measure

By year 4 it is important that children have a good understanding of the units used to measure and what kind of unit would be sensible to estimate or measure length, mass or capacity.

They should be able to respond to questions such as;

‘About how heavy is a tennis ball?’

or

‘Would you expect a bungalow to be 2 metres, 6 metres or 60 metres tall?’

They should also be able to suggest things that could be measured in:

millimetres, centimetres, metres or kilometres

kilograms or grams

litres or millilitres.

This page takes a look at some common objects and what would be the most sensible estimate of them. it can be found in our Year 4 Measuring category.

Sensible units