Maths help for parents of children aged 5 to 11
Sometimes it’s useful to have a page that tests how quickly children can respond to a set of questions – and here is one. This Year 4 maths worksheet 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.
Whilst being aimed at year 4, it could also be used with older children who are unsure of mental methods of addition and subtraction.
This is the second in our mini series on practising mental addition. 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. Not too long as there are only 15 pairs of odd numbers!
If children can work out these 2-digit additions ‘in their head’ it gives them a great deal of confidence when working with larger numbers, so the practice is well worthwhile.
Here is 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.
Watch out for a common error whereby children add on to make 10 and then add on again from the original tens number; this will give them a total 10 more than is correct.
The summer holidays are drawing to a close so what better for all those children just entering year 4 than a nice little mental arithmetic page. This page looks again at multiplying 2-digit multiples of 10 by a single digit. Dead easy if tables are known. If tables are not known this becomes much more difficult, so it is a good page to give to check that tables are sharp!
This page and many similar can be found in our Year 4 maths resources, Knowing Number Facts.
Whilst children get used to counting on in tens and hundreds, sometimes it can be useful to count on in 25s and 50s, especially when using money or measurement. This is the second page published on counting in 25s and 50s, concentrating on money and is probably most suited to year 4 children.
This page can also be used to check that children use the correct method of writing money – some are very keen on adding a p, making £6.90 become £6.90p, which of course is incorrect.
Of all the tables, the 7x table is probably the least well known. The latest in our series of calculator games for two players helps with reinforcing the 7x table. Remember, as before, the aim of the game is to get four in a row, in any direction, before your opponent. A good knowledge of the 7x table will help with this.
This sequence of calculator games can be found in Year 3 and Year 4 Knowing Number Facts.
The six times table is one of the hardest to learn, but here is another in our calculator games sequence which will help reinforce the table. Remember the idea is to choose a number on the board and then work out which number multiplied by 6 will make the chosen number.
This can be found in our Year 4 resources under Knowing Number Facts.
By year 4 children should be confident enough to count on in steps of 50 or 25. This can be useful when using money or length. Here we have a straightforward free maths worksheet that looks at counting in these steps. Some of the counting on in fifties start with multiples of 50 but the later questions don’t, but children should quickly see the patterns involved.
This page is an excellent illustration of how knowing ‘tables’ and understanding place value can make other maths much simpler. These questions are all multiplying multiples of ten by a single digit.
If you know that 7 x 8 = 56 then 70 x 8 can be done ‘in your head’ very quickly.
probably the hardest questions on this sheet are those set out like this:
490 x 7 = ??
The best way to approach this is to ask what times 7 makes 49? and work from there.
What have we got today? It’s the second in our multiplying by 3, 4, 6, 8 and 10 worksheets, suitable for year 4 children or those who are beginning to know their tables.
The best way to learn tables is to recite them out loud eg ‘4 times 3 is 12, then shorten it to, ‘4 3s are 12’, with the ultimate aim of being able to say the product for any two single digits without having to work it out.