Maths Blog

Plenty of progress is expected with data handling during Stage 4. By the end of the year children should have a good understanding of, and be able to spell, these words:

Vote, survey, questionnaire, data, count, tally, sort, set, represent, table, list, graph, chart, diagram, axes, label, title, most common or popular.

One of the most difficult concepts for them is the pictogram. This will be the first time that they come across a symbol which represents more than one item (eg. one stick person represents 10 people). Help is often needed in pointing out that the picture means ten people, not just one and that half a stick person represents 5 people. They should be able to interpret and answer simple questions about pictograms.

4701-01 Interpreting a pictogram (pg 1)

4701-02 Interpreting a pictogram (pg 2)

A couple of data handling worksheets. The first re-inforces the year 2 work on sorting numbers. The second uses a Venn diagram to sort shapes. This is the simplest kind of Venn diagram where squares are sorted as a special set of shapes. Give your children plenty of practice at sorting into different sets, using a variety of criteria, including shape, colour, size etc. Also get them to discuss the best way to show their results. Further examples of this will come later, including more on Venn diagrams and tallying.

3701-01 Sorting data

3701-02 Sorting shapes

Take every opportunity to make lists with your children. Making lists and organising data into different categories continues in year 2. One key aspect is to use numbers as the source of data and organise numbers according to their properties. For example numbers can be sorted into even and odd. Children should also be able to generate their own lists of cars, sweets, girls’ names etc. as well as helping parents with shopping lists, rotas, names for a birthday party etc. Be imaginative and use every opportunity to make lists!

2701-01 Making lists (pg 1)

2701-02 Making lists (pg 2)

Collecting sorting and counting are the first steps to data handling. Making lists is important; there are ‘closed’ lists such as days of the week, which have a small possible range and ‘open’ lists such as names with 5 letters.

Whilst trying to sort a list it is important to talk about the reasons for including an item. Make the most of the plentiful opportunities at home to create lists, ranging from shopping lists, to jobs to do, to Christmas presents.

Free Y1 maths worksheet: Making lists (pg 1)

Free Y1 maths worksheet: Making lists (pg 2)

Imperial Units and quick conversion to metric.

Whilst schools do not generally teach imperial units, unfortunately many of the public still use them. Continue reading “Maths worksheets: Converting units of measurement. Y6”

The first of these maths worksheets looks briefly at Imperial measurements of length, mass and capacity. These terms are still widely used by older people in the UK but all schools predominately use metric in the classroom.

The second maths worksheet looks at accurately measuring lines to the nearest cm. These pages have been produced using A4 pdf and there may be a slight discrepancy when you print – try to make sure that you do not have ‘fit to page’ on as a printing option.

5601-01 Imperial units

5601-02 Using cm and mm