Maths help for parents of children aged 5 to 11
Similar to the 2x table game published last week, this is a game of strategy for two players to help improve knowledge of the 3x table. The aim of the game is to place counters over the numbers to get four in a row, either across, down or horizontally.
The Player must say which number they are going for before typing in the multiplication on the calculator and can only place a counter if correct. Try it!
A good way to reinforce the 2x table is to play this fun game. All you need is the grid, some counters or cubes and a calculator. Set the calculator up as a 2x table answer machine by keying in 2, x, x, =, 0 and then all you need to do is press a number and the equals sign and it will show the answer to the number multiplied by 2. Just type in the next number, press equals and so on…
The aim of the game is to make a line of four in a row in any direction.
It might sound simple, but it is important for children to know that multiplication can be done in any order. This is also true of addition, but not subtraction or division and this knowledge comes into play a great deal later on with ‘BODMAS’ etc.
Put at its simplest 4 lots of 5 is the same as 5 lots of 4 or 4 x 5 is the same as 5 x 4. Children should have had a lot of experience with arrays which are a great way to show this.
This worksheets asks that the child completes the number sentence by putting in the missing number and then working out the times table.
This can be found as part of our Year 3 worksheets, under Counting and Number.
The third of our money problems worksheets is a little harder than the first two. It involves adding pounds and pence. When working mentally it is usual to add the pounds first and then the pence, which, of course, is the opposite of the way we do a question on paper.
Some of these questions involve more than one stage and it might well be a good idea to jot down intermediate answers. For example, when working out the cost of 3 items jot down the answer to the cost of the first two before adding the third. This also makes it easier when checking that answers are correct.
The second in our series of worksheets on money for year 3 children. This page looks at addition of whole pounds. Again, the questions should be answered mentally, perhaps with the help of jottings.
The last 3 questions are slightly more complex and involve a higher level of problem solving skills. It is important that children become confident with dealing with money as most of their real life calculations will have to be done without the help of pencil and paper or calculator.
This is the second in our time worksheets for Year 3 children. It is quite a bit harder than the first as it deals with hours and minutes rather than just minutes.
With the analogue displays the best way to approach this is to count on the whole hours and make a note if necessary, and then count on the extra minutes, usually in steps of 5 minutes.
With the digital display again work out the hours and then count on. This can be tricky as you may need to stop at the hour before if the minutes on the later time are less than the minutes on the earlier time (sounds complicated but an example would be from 6:55 to 8:20, only count on one whole hour to 7:55).
Reading clock faces is a tricky subject for many children, especially as they see time displayed digitally more now than ever before.
This page looks at finding lengths of time under an hour by comparing two clock faces.
There are several stages of development with this and children should be able to count up in fives confidently before starting this exercise.
At first children will probably go round the clock face counting in fives. later they might well move in 30 minute or 15 minute blocks.
This is the first of a new series of maths worksheets for Year 3 on money and shopping problems. This page looks at addition of whole tens at the greengrocers, working with multiples of 10p.
These questions should be solved mentally, although children may want to make jottings to help them. Most only need one operation to work out although the later questions involve both addition and subtraction.
Here we have a straightforward mental arithmetic worksheet on subtracting 9 from any 2-digit number. Usually the best way to do this is to subtract ten and then add one. Probably the only time that this is not the best way is if the number to take 9 from also has a 9 in the units.
Knowing this quick technique gives children confidence and they can then move on to subtracting 19, 29, 39….. etc in their heads.
Being successful with mental arithmetic is all about having a ‘feel for numbers’ and being able to manipulate them to suit the way you like to calculate. Knowing a few basic ‘tricks’ helps enormously with this and gives children confidence.
Adding 9 might sound a little dull, but knowing that you can do it in your head by adding ten and subtracting one can make all sorts of other mental additions easy, as we will see later adding 19, 29, 39 etc all follow the same path as do adding 18, 28, 38 etc; these tasks which at first glance might seem tricky end up being easy.
This is suited to year 3 children who are confident with adding single digits and can count up to 100.