Counting games for Early Years

Counting is a major part of maths in Reception and Year 1. Children should be able to say and use number names up to 10. A good example of this would be to join in nursery rhymes or songs such as

“One, two three, four, five. Once I caught a fish alive.”

Children should also  be counting up in ones, up to 10 objects. This would be in a practical sense of counting a number of objects that they can touch (pieces of a jigsaw, coins, hats etc).  Later they can count things they can see, but not touch (panes in a window, cows in a field etc ).They can then begin to count down from a small number e.g. 5,4,3,2,1,0.

We have a great set of fun maths games on counting for Reception/Early Years and one of my particular favourites is the Counting Goats game. This is really good practice at counting up to 5. Young children can not get too much practice with this both in the home and on the computer. They may well use their fingers to help and count out loud, but after a time they will begin to count in their heads. Adults can often glimpse at a picture to see how many there are, almost without counting – don’t expect this of 5 a year old! Don’t forget to click on the banjo playing goat at the end for a happy tune!

We have a great set of counting games, so why not have a go today?

Go to our Counting games

How to add two 3-digit numbers

This is a year 6 revision sheet to help children who are still not confident with adding. The method implies a good understanding of place value. At one time it was fashionable for schools to use square paper to carry out written sums but this has tended not to be the case in recent years, making it harder for children to line the numbers up correctly.

When using the standard written method of addition it is important to  lay the sum out correctly, keeping the columns neatly in line. The method is to add the units first, put the units in the answer and ‘carry’ any tens into the tens column, underneath the answer. Then add the tens in the same way, remembering to include any ten which has been carried forward from the units. finally add the hundreds in the same way.

How to add two 3-digit numbers

SAT tests for 11 year-olds

With very little support from anybody, apart from the last Labour government, it seems that things are stirring with regard to the SAT tests for 11 year olds. Last year many teachers and schools boycotted the tests as a protest, meaning this year’s results were pretty meaningless.

Michael Grove, the Education Secretary, has been given information that suggests the curriculum for Year 6 has been badly affected by concentrating too much on getting good results in the tests. He has ordered an independent review which will be led by Lord Bew. This review should be able to report by June 2011, which will not be of much relief for all those children talking tests next summer. However, I believe it is a step in the right direction, but Grove is stating that parents will still need to know how well their local primary school is doing. Hopefully this will be judged on a wider range of issues.

Russell Hobby, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers said,

“It is wrong that a narrow snapshot of attainment can be used to judge the performance of a school….it is wrong that  the education of children in primary schools is narrow and distorted.”

It seems that the governments efforts to remove quangos will take an early leap forward by getting rid of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, responsible for the administration of tests, with the Department for Education taking over.

Year 2 maths worksheet: graphs

Here is one of the superb sets of year 2 maths worksheets which URBrainy.com have allowed me to publish. It is suitable for 6/7 year old children who are just beginning to understand and interpret block graphs and it 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

Year 3 maths worksheet: division practice

Once children have learnt the 2x, 4x, 5x and 10x tables they can put their knowledge to good use by working out division questions. Because division is the inverse of multiplication the only knowledge needed to work out 14 divided by 2 is that 2 x 7 = 14.

This is a more abstract way of working with division and children should have had a great deal of practical work sharing out coins, cubes, sweets etc before moving onto this type of question.

Division practice (1)

Resource of the Week: Multiplication of money

money-multiplication-p1

Here we have a straightforward worksheet dealing with the multiplication of money by a single digit. It would normally be expected to answer these using written methods. The main concern here is that the process is carried out much as multiplying a 3 or 4-digit number, but remembering the decimal point.

The second set of questions, from 9. to 15 should be set out in the correct way and not attempted as shown.

It is often a good idea for children to check the answers to these types of page by using a calculator. (If they just use the calculator to find the answer this is quite obvious as there is no working shown!)

This page any many others can be found in our Four Rules section.

Multiplication of money (pg 1)

Year 2 maths worksheet: 3 sided shapes

A pinboard is a great way to investigate shapes.

This may be made by nailing panel pins or small nails into a piece of plywood approximately 24cm × 24cm.

Cut out the plywood and mark a grid of lines at 2cm intervals in both directions across the plywood. Tap in the pins at the points where the lines of the grid meet. Leave enough of the pins protruding to accommodate elastic bands.

This page looks at how many different 3-sided shapes can be made. The results can be drawn onto the page of ‘pinboards’. When investigating this it is important  to talk about the shapes and ask questions such as:

what counts as a triangle?

how many different kinds of triangle have you made?

Are some the same, but just a different way round?

etc

3 sided pinboard

Teacher Awards

At the start of a new half term it’s good to know that some of the very best teachers in the country have been recognised for their efforts. Eight teachers were named at the reward ceremony in London, hosted by Lenny Henry and attended by stars such as Emma Thompson, Henry Winkler and education secretary Michael Grove.

Kelly Steeples, a primary teacher from Ossett won the outstanding new teacher award for her amazing lessons incorporating dance and science.

Becky Newman won the award for best teaching assistant. She retook her Maths GCSE at the same time as helping in the maths department at Tendring Technology School, showing it is never too late to learn.

Perhaps the star of the show was Peter Jones who was given a lifetime award after getting over 50 nominations. He has been described as a ‘legend’ with a genius for innovative teaching, again using inventive drama to create outstanding lessons.

Well done to all the winners. As Emma Thompson said at the awards:

“Without great teachers we are not going to have a great society.’

Coming soon: Graphs, shape and division

Next week I concentrate on resources for younger children.  Firstly, there is one of a superb set of year 2 maths worksheets which URBrainy.com have allowed me to publish. It is suitable for 6/7 year old children who are just beginning to understand and interpret block graphs and it looks at the favourite sandwich fillings of a class:- always a popular subject.

A pinboard is a great way to investigate shapes with young children. One can be made by nailing panel pins or small nails into a piece of plywood approximately 24cm × 24cm. I will be publishing a page which looks at how many different 3-sided shapes can be made with a pinboard. The results can be drawn onto the page of ‘pinboards’.

Year 3 children should be getting to grips with some of the easier ‘tables’. Once children have learnt the 2x, 4x, 5x and 10x tables they can put their knowledge to good use by working out the division questions on our division practice page.

Year 5 Calculator game: Multiples of 9

The final game in our calculator series looking at tables and multiples. Once again the idea of the game is to get four counters in a row, this time on a multiples of 9 grid. Recognising multiples of 9 is relatively easy as the digits always add up to 9 or a multiple of 9. But knowing exactly which multiple is needed is much harder. Why not challenge your children?!!

Multiples of 9 calculator game