Maths Blog

Calculator game: 9x table

Peter — Thu, 23 May 2013 04:00:38 +0000

It is important that children become familiar with calculators as they will be using them more and more as they progress through High School. There are many skills to learn and in this activity it is certainly a great help to be able to work out mentally division calculations. as the calculator will only confirm [...]

Year 4 maths worksheet: decimal fractions and tenths

Peter — Mon, 20 May 2013 04:00:28 +0000

Some children do not realise that a fraction such as 2/10 can also be written as a decimal i.e. 0.2. In one sentence we have two of the major sticking points in maths, but here we have a maths worksheet which neatly combines the two, showing the equivalence between fractions and decimal fractions. One way [...]

Resource of the Week: short division of decimals

Peter — Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:40 +0000

This week I would like to look at a page of practice on using the short method of division of decimals. The numbers being divided are just units and tenths which helps with getting the method correct. There are arguments for and against putting the decimal point in before you start, or leaving it until [...]

Year 3 Maths: Find the missing numbers

Peter — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:42 +0000

What looks like a very simple worksheet is actually rather tricky. There are six statements about pairs of numbers, along the lines of: Find a pair of numbers with a sum of 8 and a product of 15. Firstly, children need to know that the sum of two numbers is found by adding up. Secondly, [...]

Resource of the Week: know number facts in year 2

Peter — Thu, 09 May 2013 04:00:00 +0000

A lot is expected of children in Year 2, especially what they should know off by heart when calculating. By the end of the year they should: • know all addition facts for two numbers up to a total of 10. (eg 4 + 5.) • be able to derive subtraction facts for numbers up [...]

Year 4: What sign?

Peter — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:00:47 +0000

Children in Year 4 will be investigating a whole range of problems involving number and being able to recognise and explain patterns. Children should then be able to extend the ideas presented and use these to make predictions and ask ‘What if….?’ questions. Problems may appear in many forms such as the following: Find numbers [...]

Resource of the week: adding 2-digit numbers mentally

Peter — Thu, 02 May 2013 04:00:21 +0000

One of the keys to success with maths is being able to calculate mentally. There should be no need to resort to written methods or to a calculator to add two 2-digit numbers; mental calculations should rule! Having said that, these are not easy, and a number of skills need to have been learned to [...]

Division: 3-digit numbers divided by 8

Peter — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:00:55 +0000

Here is another page for practising the short division method, this time just using the eight times table. The key to this method is, of course, a good knowledge of the 8 times table, as without this the solution can take an awfully long time and lots of errors may occur. The table has been [...]

Measuring in kilometres

Peter — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 04:00:53 +0000

Children in the UK get far less experience at using kilometres than most Euoropeans because we have decided to keep with the mile for most of our longer measuring. Of course this is a nonsense: to start with a system using mm, cm and metres and then switch to a completely different system ie miles [...]

Reading and writing larger numbers

Peter — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 04:00:04 +0000

In Year 4 children are expected to be working with larger numbers, including thousands. However, it is often presumed that they can read and write these numbers without any practice. This is not the case, as many children find difficulty with this and often demonstrate the problem when asked to write down a number such [...]