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Resource of the Week: Multiplication in any order

Here we have a maths worksheet, one of a set from urbrainy.com, which looks at a vital part of understanding the process of multiplication: that it can be done in any order. This is also true of addition, but not of subtraction or division.
This page shows that ‘2 lots of 4’ is the same as ‘4 lots of 2’, therefore 4 x 2 is the same as 2 x 4. It does not matter which way the answer is worked out, it will be 8.
This little piece of knowledge helps children with mental arithmetic and with learning tables. Each table which is learnt gives further knowledge of other tables. Eg If you know 5 x 4 = 20 then you can quickly reverse the number sentence to 4 x 5 = 20.

The URBrainy site has a wealth of material for key Stage 1 and is well worth a visit, especially for teachers.

Multiplication in any order (pg 1)

Mathematical dates

Coming up tomorrow is another of those fascinating dates that mathematicians love. At the sixth second of the seventh minute of the eighth hour of October 2010 the date will be: 06.07.08.09.10 or it can be written as 6.7.8.9.10.

Children also find these dates fun so why not ask when the next interesting pattern can be made from a date. Certainly the 10th October has promise, but so do several others. Can you find them?

Coming soon: decimals, addition and subtraction

Well, a new term is just about to begin and we have some lovely pages to help get those minds working again. Next week we are concentrating on calculating fast.

Many Year 6 children are not as confident as they should be with multiplication and with decimals so we will be publishing a straightforward maths worksheet which looks at multiplying 2-digit numbers by 1 digit, with decimals.

We will also have the second in our mini series on practising mental addition for Year 4 children. This page looks at pairs of numbers that make 60. There are 8 snappy questions followed by a task to find all the pairs of odd numbers that make 60.

Sometimes it’s useful to have a page that tests how quickly children can respond to a set of questions – and next week we have a Year 4 maths worksheet which looks at addition and subtraction of whole tens. There are 30 questions and children who have a good grasp of adding single digits should be able to transfer their skills and answer these quite quickly.

Resource of the week: Writing fractions

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Reading and writing fractions remain a bit of a mystery for many children, but our cunning foxes can help. This worksheet looks at how to read and write fractions from halves to tenths using numbers or words. As well as reading a fraction such as 1/3 as one third, it can also be read as a division sum: 1 divided by 3, or 1 divided into 3 equal parts, but this comes a little later.

These pages can be found in our Year 4 section, under Counting and Numbers.

Writing fractions in words or numbers

Coming soon: Rounding, addition and doubling

Coming soon we have another in our series of rounding larger numbers to the nearest million. This page will look in particular at the world’s oceans and the numbers involved have already been rounded to the nearest 1 000 sq km.

We will also be publishing a snappy little worksheet to check that children can add on from 2-digit numbers to make 50. There are several different mental strategies that can be used, but the most efficient is usually to count on to the next whole ten and then count on in tens to 50.

Doubling 2-digit numbers can be quite easy or fairly tricky; it all depends on the numbers, so look out for a page on doubling next week.

Resource of the Week: Number squares for year 2

This wek we are highlighting a Year 2 worksheet on number squares. This is our second in a series for year 2 children where they have to complete the missing numbers in a 100 square. Some of the squares have been removed from the rectangles which, curiously, seems to make this task harder than when working with a complete rectangle. This is good practice for children who are not confident with counting up to 100. Don’t be surprised if children stumble over counting up to 100 out loud. It is something we often take for granted, but of course, has to be learned.

Thanks to URBrainy for letting me use this page. They have thousands of worksheets for Key Stage 1 and you can try it out for nothing here.

Missing numbers on a number (p 2)

Coming soon: multiplication, rounding and subtraction

With the new term looming why not get in some early maths practice? Next week we look again at multiplying 2-digit multiples of 10 by a single digit. Dead easy if tables are known.

Many children in Year 6 have difficulty reading and writing large numbers, including millions. We will be publishing a great page which looks at the area in square kilometres of some of the largest countries in the world.

Younger children still need plenty of practice with adding and subtracting small numbers mentally. We will show a nifty way to give practice in subtracting a single digit from a teen in a slightly different way from the usual questions. Suitable for bright year 2 or year 3 children.

Resource of the Week: Year 4 division problems

This page has a range of different ways of asking division questions which children need to be able to recognise and there are a number of methods that can be used to work out the answers mentally.

It is important the tables are known so that the facts can be used. For example if it is known that 6 x 6 = 36, then 6 x 60 can be quickly worked out as 360, and in turn 360 divided by 6 is 60.

Another useful tip is when dividing by 5 mentally it is often possible to divide by 10 and then double the answer.

Please note: Factors need to have taught before trying this page.

Division problems to calculate mentally (pg 2)

Coming soon: more estimating, number puzzle and calculator activities

Next week we have a follow up maths worksheet to the earlier explanation on how to estimate on a number line up to 10 000.

Most of the work on number lines in year 6 involve using decimals so this is a good chance to make sure that large whole numbers are understood. All answers are approximate but a guess can be considered good if it is about 50 either side of the answer given. Most suited to Year 6 (10/11 years old).

Our first ‘One to Nine’ puzzle proved to be very popular so we will be publishing another. Excellent quick activity for a wet break as the autumn term approaches.

We will also be publishing another in our calculator series, this time for the 8 times table. The grid has a selection of multiples of 8 up to 10 x 8. The idea is to play with a partner, choose a square and then enter a number on the calculator that you think will produce the number in the square when multiples by 8. if successful place a counter on the square. The aim is to try and get four in a row.

Remember that if the 8 times table is not known, multiplying by 8 can be achieved by doubling, doubling and doubling again.

This page will be found in our year 5 section under Knowing Number Facts.

Resource of the Week: Year 2 maths worksheet

This is the second page which looks in detail at a 1-100 number square and is excellent practice at understanding place value as well as counting.

A small section of the whole number square, just 4 by 3 is taken and most of the numbers removed. The skill is in replacing the missing numbers.

This can be done in a variety of ways. Probably the easiest way is to work across as each number is one more than the number to the left. One of the more interesting ways is to work down as each number is 10 more than the number above.

Missing numbers on a number square (pg 2)

Many more KS1 resources can be found at urbrainy.com