Maths help for parents of children aged 5 to 11
You all know how I like interesting dates and we are rapidly moving towards another fascinating date.
On the 9th second of the 9th minute of the ninth hour of the ninth day of the ninth month of the ninth year the date will be:
09 09 09 09 09 09 .
To you and me that’s the 9th of September 2009.
If you are teaching these kinds of dates can lead to some fascinating maths investigations – how long before the next time this happens? What similar dates are likely to come up soon? etc.
This worksheet looks at interpreting a tally chart on illnesses which people had when they were children. As well as answering questions which can be worked out mathematically it is important to try and use the data to draw some conclusions. So it is a good idea to discuss the results shown and think whether they show a trend or are they saying anything significant about the world we live in e.g.
If a similar chart had been made in 1900 would the results have been significantly different?
It is also important for children to have a go at collecting data in the form of a tally. A tally is a really good way of showing numbers as it groups them easily into fives, which are easy to count. The usual way of doing a tally is to do four lines down and the fifth across. If, for example, we were to do a tally in tens there would be much more scope for mistakes in the counting of the lines.
Making the effort to learn times tables or multiplication tables is one of those things which keep coming back as being crucial for success with maths. Certainly having a rapid knowledge of tables is an enormous help and they should be learnt as sentences eg ‘4 times 6 is 24’, ‘5 times 6 is 30’ etc and not just ‘6, 12, 18, 24, 30’ etc.
I still remember rote learning times tables as a child and there is really no other way of doing it.
There are a number of pages on the site which test knowledge of tables to be found in our four rules section, under multiplication.
This bar chart is of a type which children may not have come across before. It shows the frequency of events; in this case the frequency of the number of goals scored by ‘The Albion’. The term ‘mode’ is used, which means the most common as well as other terms such as ‘maximum’.
Care needs to be taken when answering questions such as how many goals did they score in total? It is no good just reading the frequency from the left hand side – look at the number of times two goals were scored, which is 6 times. This means that 12 goals were scored in these games!
Old football tables can be easily found in papers etc and prove a rich source of data for children to create their own frequency charts.
Once children are familiar with the standard method of addition for 3 digits they can be introduced to addition of decimals. One of the best ways to do this is by adding money. On this page the first eight questions have been written out in the correct way, but the next seven will also need to be written out using the same method. The key here is to keep the decimal point in line as the numbers in later addition of decimals may not necessarily all have two digits after the decimal point. Also, don’t forget the £ sign in the answer.
This week we have two worksheets on data handling. One looks at interpreting a tally chart on illnesses which people had when they were children. As well as answering questions which can be worked out mathematically it is important to try and use the data to draw some conclusions. So it is a good idea to discuss the results shown and think whether they show a trend or are they saying anything significant about the world we live in e.g.
The second is a bar chart of a type which children may not have come across before. It shows the frequency of events; in this case the frequency of the number of goals scored by ‘The Albion’. The term ‘mode’ is used, which means the most common as well as other terms such as ‘maximum’. These types of graph are quite tricky to interpret and is most suited to Year 5.
We also have another page on standard addition with money – don’t forget those decimal points!
The second in our series of worksheets on money for year 3 children. This page looks at addition of whole pounds. Again, the questions should be answered mentally, perhaps with the help of jottings.
The last 3 questions are slightly more complex and involve a higher level of problem solving skills. It is important that children become confident with dealing with money as most of their real life calculations will have to be done without the help of pencil and paper or calculator.
We have been using metric measurement for a long time now yet many children still seem confused when measuring, whether it is distance, weight or capacity.
There are a few simple facts that children need to know, including:
1 kilometre equals 1000 metres
1 kilogram = 1000 grams
1 litre equals 1000 millilitres
Not too tricky and much easier than the old imperial unts where 1760 yards equals one mile!!
There are a number of excellent metric worksheets for Year 4, thanks to Mathsgogogo and MathSphere for allowing me to ‘borrow’ them.
Here is another maths worksheet of addition of two 4-digit numbers. To be successful with these children need to have a very good knowledge of number bonds up to ten eg know that 6 + 5 is 11. They must also be confident with place value, understanding that each column of numbers needs to be vertically in a line.
A full explanation of this method can be found on the first of the adding two 4-digit numbers worksheet.
This page and other similar standard written addition worksheets, can be found in our Four Rules, Addition section.
This is very similar to the process of adding 19 to a 2-digit number. The easiest way to do this is usually to take twenty and then add one. This mental arithmetic method is much quicker than carrying out the question using pencil and paper methods.If children can grasp these ideas it gives them a great deal of confidence and they can develop their own mental methods of answering other, similar questions; eg subtract 18 by taking 20 and then adding 2, or subtracting 39 by taking forty and adding one.