Maths Blog - Free Maths Worksheets, Resources and Reviews

Resource of the Week: Year 5 Scalene triangles

A lot of work is done on triangles in Primary Schools and by year 5 and 6 most children are familiar with the properties of right angled triangles, equilateral triangles and isosceles trinagles. However, fewer children know about the scalene triangle. A scalene triangle is one which has no sides the same length and no equal angles. Right angled triangles could also be scalene if all the sides are different lengths.

Thanks to MathSphere Ltd for this worksheet: and there are many more similar pages, both on their site and part of the ‘It’s All Figured Out’ CD.

Go to our year 5 shape resources

Year 4 Maths Worksheet: division problems (pg 1)

Division problems worksheet

Solving division problems ‘in your head’ can often prove to be tricky and a good knowledge of tables and multiplication facts is needed.

Here we have a set of questions all involving mental division.

There are a number of different skills which can be used to answer them. For example, dividing by 4 can be achieved by halving and halving again. Dividing £1 between 5 involves converting the £1 into 00p first.

Perhaps the trickiest question asks how many 10 cm lengths of wire can be cut from 156 cm of wire; of course there will be some left over, which in the context of the question can be ignored.

Division problems to calculate mentally (pg 1)

Year 4 maths worksheet: equivalent fractions, halves

$fractions-equal-to-a-half$ One of the hardest ideas to get over to children is equivalent fractions, but it is one of the most vital. These pages look at some of the easier equivalence, using sixths, eighths and tenths and relating them to halves. It is a good idea to have as much practical work as possible, either shading in or cutting into pieces. The aim is for the child to see a developing pattern of numbers: if the numerator doubles and the denominator also doubles then the fractions will remain equal. Tricky, as children are unused to the idea of different numbers being equal to each other.

These pages can be found in our Year 4 resources, under Counting and Number.

Fractions equal to a half

Coming soon: fractions, decimals and division

It’s up, up and away with some quite tricky subjects coming up next week, including division, decimals and fractions. One of the hardest ideas to get over to children is equivalent fractions, but it is one of the most vital. We have a year 4 worksheet which looks at some of the easier equivalence, using sixths, eighths and tenths and relating them to halves. It is a good idea to have as much practical work as possible, either shading in or cutting into pieces.

Solving division problems ‘in your head’ can often prove to be tricky and a good knowledge of tables and multiplication facts is needed, but it is surprsing how many different strategies we use when working mentally.

We also have the second in our series on rounding decimals for year 6; this worksheet will look at rounding to the nearest whole number and to the nearest tenth.

Times tables and square numbers

Rather a mixed bag of questions here. The first half asks questions derived from the times tables, such as ‘How many fours in 32?’ This is an important question to ask before moving on to the long method of division.

The second set of questions looks at square numbers, which, of course, give a diagonal pattern on a tables square. Children need to be familiar with the square sign to tackle this. It is extremely useful to know, off by heart, all the square numbers, up to at least 10 x 10, as it will be a great help later in High School.

This page can be found in our Four Rules section, under Multiplication (mental methods).

Times table questions (pg 1)

Resource of the Week: Maths wordsnake

In our Puzzles section we have a number of great activities related to maths. Some of these are quite tricky, including the Wordsnakes.

A Wordsnake is a little like a maze of letters. Start at the arrow to find the first word, moving across or down the grid of letters (but not diagonally) like a snake. The word will not be in a straight line but each letter in the grid can only be used once. The second word follows on immediately from the first, the third from the second and so on until each letter has been used and the maze is exited at the second arrow.

On this Wordsnake the first word has been done for you and the number of dashes shows how many letters there are in each word. As it is about data handling all the words are to do with this. Still not clear? Why not have a go as it is testing even for adults!

Go to our Wordsnake

More maths games can be found in our Puzzles section

Read the time to the half or quarter hour

Reading the time on an analogue clock face can prove very tricky for many children, especially if they have learning difficulties such as dyslexia. The problems usually occur when the minute hand has gone past the half hour so that we are looking forward to the next hour (eg a quarter to 9) rather than minutes past. We could say 45 minutes past 8, as it is technically correct, but no-one does! To complicate things even more, we do say 8:45 (eight forty five) when reading a digital clock!

This page, which can be found in Year 2 measures, just looks at quarter and half hours and can be used as a quick guide as to whether your child has grasped the concept.

Read the time to the half or quarter hour

Maths worksheet: Days in Months of the Year

Remembering how many days there are in any particular month is a challenge for many adults, yet alone children. There is of course the rhyme, ’30 days hath September’ etc, which is included in full on the worksheet but I prefer the ‘knuckle version’ where you can use the knuckles and dips on your hands to work out the number of days.

Starting with the left hand, little finger knuckle as January, move to the dip between knuckles for February, next knuckle for March and so on until you reach July as the last knuckle (don’t use thumbs!) on the left hand and then continue with the first finger knuckle on the right hand for August, next dip for September etc. Which months have 31 days? All those that are on a knuckle! Easy!!

This page can be found in the Year 4 Measures section of the site.

Days and months

Coming soon: time and times tables

It’s all about time next week and, of course, times tables’.

We also have a time worksheet on reading the time to the nearest half hour or quarter hour, suitable for those just getting to grips with reading the time and clock faces.

Also a tables worksheet where the second set of questions looks at square numbers, which, of course, give a diagonal pattern on a tables square.

Mental arithmetic: divide by 6

Being successful with mental arithmetic is all about making use of the knowledge you have. For example, once the 6 times table has been learned it needs to be put to good use. This worksheet looks at how the six times table can be used to answer division questions.

Because division is the inverse of multiplication knowing tables means that the inverse can be quickly worked out eg knowing that 6 x 10 = 60 means that 60 divided by 6 is 10 and 60 divided by 10 is 6 can be quickly worked out.

This page could be tackled in a variety of ways. A child might ask themselves what 60 divided by 6 is, or they might ask what number times 6 makes 60? Either way, responses should be quick!

Divide by 6