Daft Draft National Curriculum changes in maths

Well, I was going to let this pass by with no comment, but on reading it I am becoming more and more certain that it has been written by idiots who last visited a primary school in 1961.

Firstly, it expects children to ‘use a compass to draw circles and arcs with a given radius’ in year 3. Hard enough with a pair of compasses but impossible with a compass which I use to find directions!

Secondly, children will have to learn tables up to 12, although we did away with 12 pence to a shilling many, many years ago. Whilst I have no problem with children knowing this I fail to understand why they need it.

Thirdly, ‘childen’ are no longer mentioned; they have become impersonal ‘pupils’ throughout.

Oh, and why has addition and subtraction of money suddenly become part of measurement and not part of addition and subtraction?

Rant over.

Maths Champ for iPhone & iPad

Be a Maths Champ!

I have just played a great new iPhone and iPad game Maths Champ.

There are a couple of mini games included, Hurdles and Javelin. Each time you play, you answer a set of maths questions which boosts your speed or distance when playing the game and gives you a better chance of achieving a Gold medal.

It’s not easy to find apps with a combination of maths and fun games skills, but this is certainly challenging and fun. It gives excellent practice at mental maths and could really improve your mental maths skills – I have really struggled to achieve Gold on the hard level!

Maths Champ is a universal app with iPhone and iPad support. It looks great and support the normal and retina display of both the iPhone and iPad.

Currently it is on a launch offer, so get it whilst it’s cheap!

Resource of the week: Maths puzzles

With half term upon us and most of the serious testing and examining over for another year, now is a great time to try out some maths puzzles which lead to a better knowledge of the subject and an improvement in logical thinking.

There are some great games and puzzles on the site for all aged children and they have been organised in broad area of difficulty. The ‘easy peasy’ section is geared towards young children and the word searches are all on the themes of maths vocabuary suitable for that age group. The maths wordsnakes come into the ‘tricky’ and ‘fiendish’ categories and are a challenge even for adults. Why not try them out?

It can still rain in the summer term and these worksheets are also ideal for wet breaks and lunchtimes!

Go to our maths puzzles

Resource of the Week: addtion, subtraction, multiplication and division

Most of our calculating worksheets are found in the respective year groups under ‘Calculations’, but I have provided a considerable number of extra pages in the ‘Four Rules’ section of the site which is often overlooked by our browsers.

This section covers both mental and written methods of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division and is steadily increasing over the weeks. With over 100 worksheets already, it covers skills from Year 1 right up to Year 6; from adding a single digit up to long division and there are some very clear descriptions about how to tackle these tasks.

Siome of the most tricky concepts, including the standard methods of multiplication and division can be practiced at length and there are clear set by step guides on how to do them.

Why not go to our Four Rules category

Resource of the Week: decimal fractions

$decimal-fractions-hundredths-y5$

Some children have difficulty realising that the same numbers can be written in different ways, especially when dealing with decimals and decimal fractions. This page is a good test of understanding, probably most suited for year 5 children (/10 yrs old).

0.23 can be read as 23 hundredths or 2 tenths and 3 hundredths. As a fraction it would be written as 23/100.

With a number such as four and three hundredths it is important to keep the zero in the tenths so that it is written as 4.03.

Watch out for a common mistake on a question such as thirteen hundredths when children write 0.013; the one digit has been placed in the hundredths column when it should be in the tenths with the 3 digit in the hundredths.

Decimal fractions: hundredths (pg 1)

Resource of the Week: subtraction across the thousands boundary

This Year 4 maths worksheet can reveal a great deal about how children deal with numbers. It looks at finding differences crossing the thousands boundary.

Let’s look at 3005 – 8 which is easier to do mentally than on paper.

There are several ways that this can be done.

1. Count down, one at a time, 8 from 3005, saying each number as you go. Fingers may be held up on each count down until 8 is reached.

3004, (1), 3003 (2), 3002 (3), 3001 (4), 3000 (5), 2999 (6), 2998 (7), 2997 (8)

2. A different way is to take the 8 from 3000, then add 5.

3000 – 8 = 2992

2992 + 5 = 2997

3. A third way is to take 5 off the 8 leaving 3.

Then take 3 off 3000 = 2997

It is well worth talking to children about how they do this kind of question and what strategies they employ. Much will depend on their knowledge of number.

If this question ia attempted using the standard written method for subtraction there are many children who will get confused with the adjustments that have to be made (crossing out tens and borrowing etc).

Find a difference by counting up (pg 1)

Resource of the week: change from ten pence

Using coins is a vital part of understanding number as it provides concrete examples of numbers in action. It is a really good idea to have a set of coins that can be counted out and swapped e.g. 5 one pence coins exchanged for a 5p piece etc. Why not set up a little shop at home and take turns buying and selling items? There is an amazing amount of maths involved in this, from learning how to write numbers to counting on and back and finding two or three lots of a number. If a shop is not available why not try this page?

Thanks to urbrainy.com for this money worksheet, suitable for year 1 children.

The worksheet asks for the change needed after spending various amounts. The easiest way to work out change is to start with the amount spent and count on up to 10. Eventually it is expected that children will know, off by heart’ the answers. In other words they will know, without counting that if you spend 6p you will have 4p change.

Change from 10p

Resource of the Week: Year 6 Prime Factors

The term ‘prime factor’ is one which would make many adults shudder as they try to think back to their school days. In fact, it is a term that children would probably not met until secondary school, but is now firmly incorporated into the primary curriculum.

Here we have a maths worksheet for year 6 on how to find prime factors. Before attempting this page it is necessary for children to have a good understanding of what factors are and what prime numbers are.

One of the easiest ways of finding prime factors is to use a diagram, rather like a tree diagram with the numbers at the bottom all being the prime factors. Frequently the same number is found more than once. For example the prime factors of 36 are 3, 3, 2 and 2.

Starting with the number itself, find two numbers which multiply together to make that number. For example 36 can be made by multiplying 18 by 2. 18 and 2 are both factors of 36. Repeat this process until only prime numbers are left.

A good way of checking if all the factors have been found is to multiply them and the original number should result. e.g. 3 x 3 x 2 x 2 = 36

This page is found in our Year 6 calculating section .

Go to prime factors page

Resource of the week: More than and less than signs

This week I am highlighting a worksheet on the ‘more than’ and ‘less than’ signs. Children from Year 3 onwards are now expected to recognise and understand these signs. This is very different from most adults experience, who would not have met these signs until much later. As the two signs are so similar this can be quite a tricky idea for children to remember. Hopefully, this page will help.

> means ‘is more than’

< means ‘is less than’

From year 1 children have been used to working with the terms ‘more than’ and ‘less than’ but this does not mean that they will understand and use the signs (especially as to many children it looks like the same sign flipped on its side). The way I remember it is that the arrow always points to the smaller number.

A key point in trying to become familiar with the signs is to read out loud number sentences so just as you can say that

3 +4 = 7 (three add four equals seven)

you can say that 3 + 4 > 6 (three add four is more than six).

This page can be found in our Year 3 Counting and Number category.

More than less than signs

Resource of the Week: Year 2 block graphs

It is in year 2 that children really get to grips with simple block graphs and here is one of the superb sets of year 2 maths worksheets which URBrainy.com have allowed me to publish. There are two aspects to block graphs. Firstly, interpreting a graph and understanding what it shows. Secondly, collecting suitable data to create a block graph.

This page is suitable for 6/7 year old children and looks at the favourite sandwich fillings of a class:- always a popular subject.

The first page involves interpreting the results of the graph, whilst the second page is a template which can be printed and used by the child to show the results of their own survey. It is well worth going to URBrainy as a simple log in process allows access to all their resources for a week as well as printing up to ten sets of worksheets. If you are looking for full and detailed coverage of Key Stage 1 then I can highly recommend this.

Sandwich graph