Coming soon: Multiplication, division and negative numbers

plane3aOne of the best ways of explaining multiplication is to think of it as repeated addition. So, a multiplication such as 4 x 3 is the same as adding 4 three times (4 + 4 + 4) or 3 lots of 4. We have an excellent page on this coming up next week, thanks to urbrainy.com.

We also have the next worksheet in our series of dividing mentally. This page will look at dividing larger numbers by 100. All the numbers are multiples of 100 so there will be no decimals involved with the answers.

Ordering negative numbers can prove tricky but we have a great page on this next week, suitable for Year 5 children. Putting two numbers in order on a number line follows one simple rule; the number to the right is always the larger number of the two. So -3 is smaller than -1.

Maths worksheet: Converting metric units (2)

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This is another maths worksheet which looks at converting a larger metric unit to a smaller one, and is suitable for Year 5 children who have a good grasp of the metric system. Even so, don’t be surprised if children make mistakes with these, especially when multiplying by ten, one hundred or one thousand. Continue reading “Maths worksheet: Converting metric units (2)”

Resource of the Week: Counting in twos

If you have young children don’t forget to go to our fun maths games. Here we have Colin Caterpillar and his chums who love eating apples two at a time. Help him count up in twos. There are plenty more in our Free Maths Interactive Games section aimed at helping 5/6 year old children with counting, addition, subtraction etc.

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Maths Worksheet: Divide by 10 with decimals (2)

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This is the second in our series of dividing by 10 with decimals. These should all be completed mentally as all it involves is moving each digit one place to the right and ensuring that a decimal point is placed between the units and tenths.

The key to success here is to understand place value and that moving digits one place to the left makes them ten times bigger and one place to the left, ten times smaller. The decimal point remains in the same place, but is not usually shown if the number is whole. This also highlights the relationship between multiplication and division. If children have been told to ‘add a nought’ when multiplying by ten there is a whole lot of unlearning to do when it comes to dividing by ten, so adding a nought is definitely not a good idea!!

Divide by 10 with decimals (pg 2)

Percentage worksheet for Year 5

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This percentage worksheet looks at finding percentages of amounts of money or measurements. A key factor in being able to do this type of question is to be able to work out 10% of an amount mentally. Of course, 10% is equivalent to dividing by 10, so is easy to work out. Once 10% has been calculated it is then straightforward to work out 20% or 30% etc. To find 30%, divide by 10 to find 10%, then multiply the answer by 3 to find 30%.

There are also certain percentages that children should know the equivalent fractions of: 50% is a half, 25% is a quarter and 75% is three quarters.

Another  important concept is that 100% is the whole amount: although footballers will say they gave 110% or more, mathematically this would be untrue!

Percentages_(pg 1)

Maths Games and Worksheets links

monkeyWhilst browsing my stats I can see that a lot of you are missing the links at the top of the page which go to the games and worksheets. The maths worksheets, in particular, are organised in a much better way from these links (by year and topic) than by going down the right hand side (Categories) where they are organised chronologically.

Hope this is of help.

Coming soon: Percentages, fractions and metric units

rocket1Much has been made of percentages and even in High Schools students find them tricky. However, the basis is pretty straightforward and next week we have a percentage worksheet which looks at finding percentages of amounts of money or measurements. A key factor in being able to do this type of question is to be able to work out 10% of an amount mentally.

Quite closely related to finding 10% of numbers is the second in our series of dividing by 10 with decimals. The questions on the forthcoming page should all be completed mentally as all it involves is moving each digit one place to the right and ensuring that a decimal point is placed between the units and tenths.

We really are concentrating on year 5 next week as the third of our worksheets will be about converting metric units, suitable for the 9/10 year old.

Maths worksheet: Year 5 negative numbers (1)

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Children are most likely to come across negative numbers when using a calculator and they are usually taught about them in the context of measuring temperature. Number lines are also very helpful as they show that numbers continue after zero when counting down. Continue reading “Maths worksheet: Year 5 negative numbers (1)”

Resource of the Week: Written multiplication

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We have an ever increasing number of maths worksheets explaining how standard written addition, subtraction, multiplication and division should be carried out. This is just one example of  ‘short multiplication’. It leads on from the earlier worksheets on ‘Moving towards a standard method’. These can all be found in our Four Rules section, under written multiplication.

Before starting this type of sum a good knowledge of times tables is needed.

The stages are as follows:

Step 1: write the sum out correctly

The question may be put in a different layout eg 38 x 7 =

Make sure it is laid out with the units under each other as shown on the example. Continue reading “Resource of the Week: Written multiplication”