Maths help for parents of children aged 5 to 11
Here we have the second page which looks at the vocabulary used for multiplication questions. This can used as a quick check to see how well the language is understood as well as how well tables are known. Terms such as ‘lots of’, ‘multiply by’, ‘times’, ‘multiplied by’ are all important to know.
This can be found in our year 4 Calculations section but there are also a lot of other multiplication pages in our Four Rules section.
Many people criticise the fact that children use calculators and, indeed, they have huge potential for giving incorrect answers: numbers left in the memory and mishit keys are just two ways of ensuring wrong answers. That is why it is so important that a mental calculation, no matter how brief, always goes on at the same time as the calculator is used, to ensure that the answer is ‘sensible’.
For example, a child might want to know quickly what 3 876 x 3 is. By all means use the calculator, but at the same time, he should be rounding 3 876 to 4 000 and multiplying 4 000 by 3 to make 12 000. This should take only a second or so to do in his head. He then knows that the answer will be just less than 12 000.
3 876 x 3 is actually 11 628
This is why the ability to round quickly and sensibly is so important. Hence this worksheet, found in our Year 5 Counting and Number section.
Here is another in our series of calculator activities for year 3 children. It is a two player game intended to help with reinforcing the 4 times table. Calculators for young children have been frowned upon over the last few years but they can be a powerful tool for learning and should not be ignored as a resource. We will be following this up with a similar ‘multiples of 4’ page in a couple of weeks time.
Calculators are very much the theme for next week.
Many people criticise the fact that children use calculators and, indeed, they have huge potential for giving incorrect answers: numbers left in the memory and mishit keys are just two ways of ensuring wrong answers. That is why it is so important that a mental calculation, no matter how brief, always goes on at the same time as the calculator is used, to ensure that the answer is ‘sensible’.
For example, a child might want to know quickly what 3 876 x 3 is. By all means use the calculator, but at the same time, he should be rounding 3 876 to 4 000 and multiplying 4 000 by 3 to make 12 000. This should take only a second or so to do in his head. He then knows that the answer will be just less than 12 000.
This is why the ability to round quickly and sensibly is so important. Hence our worksheet on rounding, found in our Year 5 Counting and Number section.
A calculator will be needed for our Year 6 page as changes have to be made to decimals, using just one step. This is a good practice page for understanding multiplying and dividing decimals by 10, 100 or 1000, as well as some nifty mental arithmetic adding and subtracting. It is the second of our pages for the Year 6 plans for Counting, partitioning and calculating. (Block A Unit 3 Week 2) which most schools wil be following next week.
Also coming soon is another in our series of nifty calculator activities for year 3 children. It is a two player game intended to help with reinforcing the 4 times table.
If it’s something away from the calculator you are looking for then we will also be publisheing a page on Multiplication using words for Year 4.
This week I am slightly reorganising the way that pages are being organised. I have had a lot of requests from teachers asking if resources can be organised in terms of the Block and Unit Planning required by the Primary Framework for Teaching. I have decided to start with Year 6 and with ordering decimals. As this is the first full week of the summer term for most schools, it follows as Block A Unit 3 Week 1 in the planning: Counting, partitioning and calculating.
I have added a heading in the Year 6 worksheets called Block and Unit Planning. This page can be found there, as well as in the Year 6 Understanding Number section. A small beginning, but over the weeks this should develop into a useful resource.
This maths worksheet is another in our set on rules of divisibility. Knowing these rules will really help children in their maths up to the end of High School and beyond.
The rule for dividing by 10 is the easiest of them all:
If the whole number ends in a 0 then the number is divisible by 10.
The rule for 9 is also easy, but it does require a little adding up:
Add up all the digits. If the total of the digits is divisible by 9 then the whole number will be.
Example: 2304
2 + 3 + 0 + 4 = 9
So 2304 is divisible by 9.
Example: 9630
9 + 6 + 3 + 0 = 18
18 is divisible by 9 therefore 9630 is also divisible by 9.
The second part of the worksheet asks which numbers are divisible by both 9 and 10. Probably the best way to do this is to ignore any numbers that do not end in a zero, then add up the digits of the rest and see if they come to a multiple of 9.
If they do, and the last digit is a zero, then they are multiples of both 9 and 10. Easy!!
Here is another in our series of multiplication and addition, suitable for Year 4 upwards.
The rule is that multiplication should be worked out before the addition and in most of these questions that is fairly straightforward. However the questions towards the end are quite tricky.
Let’s look at 70 + ?? x 4 = 150
The best way to go about this is to go in reverse order; subtract 70 from 150 which leaves 80.
Then work out what number multiplied by 4 makes 80, which is 20.
Therefore the missing number is 20.
It is best to check this by going back to the original question; multiply 20 by 4 = 80 and then add 80 and 70 = 150, making the statement true.
Many children will find these very difficult to work out as they require several steps.
Here we have a re-inforcement page for the recently published page on how to round numbers to the nearest 10 000.
Useful as a homework sheet or consolidation for those who are still unsure about how to do this. Children do not come across larger numbers very often and it can also be used as practice at reading larger numbers out loud.
I have had a lot of requests from teachers asking if resources can be organised in terms of the Block and Unit Planning required by the Primary Framework for Teaching. This seems like a sensible idea and I have decided to start with Year 6 and with ordering decimals. As this will be the first full week of the summer term for most schools, it follows as Block A Unit 3 Week 1 in the planning. Just a small start but each week there should be a new year 6 activity for the Block and Unit plans.
Next week we have a re-inforcement page for the recently published worksheet on how to round numbers to the nearest 10 000. Useful as a homework activity or consolidation for those who are still unsure about how to do this.
I will also be publishing another in our series which looks at the order of calculating with multiplication and addition, suitable for Year 4 upwards. The rule is that multiplication should be worked out before the addition and in most of these questions that is fairly straightforward. However the questions towards the end are quite tricky.
By year 4 it is expected that children have a pretty good knowledge of their tables, but, of course, they also need to know when multiplication is the correct option. This depends on having a good understanding of the vocabulary involved. Continue reading “Year 4 calculations: Multiplication with words”