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How can I help my child?
Should I be worried that my child reverses their numbers?
What language should I be using?
How do I support my child with written methods?
I want to help my child with telling the time. How would you advise?
I want to help my child with dealing with money. How would you advise?
What should my child be able to do by the end of their year?
How will I support my child at secondary school?
What can I do to help them get a Level 5?
What is Chunking?
Why aren’t children taught the same way as we were?
How can I help my child learn their tables?
How can I increase my child’s confidence in maths?
If you still have any specific concerns, please
contact
your child’s class teacher.
______________________
Use everyday opportunities – talk to them when out shopping, counting steps up and down, adding numbers from a pack of cards, sharing out the pot of chocolate buttons etc.
Find out which number facts your child is learning at school (addition facts to 10, times tables, doubles etc). Try to practise for a few minutes each day using a range of vocabulary.
Have a ‘fact of the day’. Pin this fact up around the house. Practise reading it in a quiet, loud, squeaky voice. Ask your child over the day if they can recall the fact.
Play ‘ping pong’ to practise complements with your child. You say a number. They reply with how much more is needed to make 10. You can also play this game with numbers totalling 20, 100 or 1000. Encourage your child to answer quickly, without counting or using fingers.
Throw 2 dice. Ask your child to find the total of the numbers (+), the difference between them (-) or the product (x). Can they do this without counting?
Use a set of playing cards (no pictures). Turn over two cand ask your child to add or multiply the numbers. If they answer correctly, they keep the cards. How many cards can they collect in 2 minutes?
Play Bingo. Each player chooses five answers (e.g. numbers to 10 to practise simple addition, multiples of 5 to practise the five times tables). Ask a question and if a player has the answer, they can cross it off. The winner is the first player to cross off all their answers.
Give your child an answer. Ask them to write as many addition sentences as they can with this answer (e.g. 10 = + ). Try with multiplication or subtraction.
Give your child a number fact (e.g. 5+3=8). Ask them what else they can find out from this fact
(e.g. 3+5=8, 8-5=3, 8-3=5, 50+30=80, 500+300=800, 5+4=9, 15+3=18). Add to the list over the next few days. Try starting with a x fact as well.
Should I be worried that my child reverses their numbers?
No as long as it is only the digit that is back to front as generally this should improve.
However, if they are reversing their tens and units e.g. 63 instead of 36, it is important to find as many opportunities as possible to reinforce correct order. For example, practise drawing it in sand, finding the correct number on a number line, stick up numbers around the house, read door numbers etc…
What language should I be using?
Please refer to the Resources and Vocabulary section and the calculation policy.
How do I support my child with written methods?
Talking and applying their maths practically is one of the most important tools before writing any methods. It is really important to secure non-written methods before relying on written methods.
The stages of written methods taught in schools can be found in the calculation policy.
I want to help my child with telling the time. How would you advise?
Talking about the passage of time e.g. days of the week, months of the year, what time you have breakfast or return from school, how long until dinner etc. It is really helpful if they have their own analogue watch, at least until they are confident with telling the time and expressing it correctly.
When children are talking about telling the time, they should refer to both digital and analogue clocks.
I want to help my child with dealing with money. How would you advise?
The most valuable experience you can give is incorporating maths into everyday life as often as possible. Wherever possible, give them real money and give them the experience of counting out change or counting up the coins. As always, a little and often is far better than an hour at the weekend trying to master it!
What should my child be able to do by the end of their year?
Children progress at different rates, often finding one area of maths easier than another so the next steps of their learning will differ from child to child. You can find out the end of year expectations referring to the APP guidelines in the Resources and Vocabulary Section.
How will I support my child at secondary school?
All schools are generally very keen to support parents with supporting their child. It is important you talk through concerns with your child and if you feel you would like information, contact your child’s maths teacher.
What can I do to help them get a Level 5?
By the end of Year 6, pupils are aiming to reach Level 4b. For some pupils who are aiming for Level 5, the majority of questions are the application of Numeracy skills in different contexts, often through problem solving. Practice of applying their skills rather than moving onto bigger numbers is recommended and you can find examples in old SATs papers.
The emphasis in maths is often on the process and the route they take to get to the answer. Pupils can score in tests with an incorrect answer by showing their working out or method. There are also times when there is more than one possible answer.
What is Chunking?
Chunking is a method of division that relies on repeated subtraction. You can find explanations and an animated clip in the Stages in Learning section.
Why aren’t children taught the same way as we were?
The maths work your child is doing at school may look very different to the kind of ‘sums’ you remember. This is because children are encouraged to work mentally, where possible, using personal jottings to help support their thinking. Even when children are taught more formal written methods (from late year 3 onwards), they are only encouraged to use these methods for calculations they cannot solve in their heads.
Many of the ways children are taught are still the same, from partitioning the numbers into tens and units to the standard methods. The stages of learning are possibly more practical based and the children are encouraged to explain their understanding at each stage, rather than learning by rote. This level of talking through their methods helps them to apply different skills in different contexts.
How can I help my child learn their tables?
There are many different activities you can do. Most importantly they need to practice them for a short time often rather than in one long burst. It is important to learn the inverse (if you know 7x3=21, then you should also know the division facts) and out of order. If you feel your child knows a set of tables, still continue to revisit them regularly.
There are a variety of online activities they can do to reinforce their learning in the activities session.
How can I increase my child’s confidence in maths?
Plenty of praise! Let them know what they can do. They are lots of games you can play from darts or monopoly to football league tables and dice games where maths can be used. Practising often and for a short time. The aim is to give your child as many opportunities to practice maths (sometimes without them knowing!)