#MathsWeek: Engaging with a Maths Rich Environment: Angles & Scooter Stunts

Timing, and a whole lot of Luck
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Peter Kirkeskov Rasmussen via Compfight

5th Class are learning about angles.

We were using protractors

and learning that a right angle is

ninety degrees.

 

Teacher thought there would be

a lot of work to do learning about angles.

But it turned out many of the students

knew a great deal about angles already.

This is because of stunts they can do

on their scooters and skateboards.

 

Cian knows about scooter stunts.

Here is what he said.

‘The ‘ollie’ is important to learn.

 

It needs a lot of practice.

 

1. Place your feet firmly on the deck of the scooter.

 

2. Pull the handle bars up.

 

3. Follow with your feet.

 

4. Bring your feet up to your chest.

 

5. Land smoothly.

 

Try not to put your foot down. It looks cooler that way.

 

The ‘180’ or half spin is a  way of turning
without really moving the handle bars.
First you will need to ‘ollie’ high
and then swing your body round 180 degrees,
bringing the scooter round. 

 

The ‘360 ‘is a full spin or rotation. It needs a lot of practice.  
It is important to get speed and height when doing this move.’

 

And there’s more. We learned: 

 

‘The 270-degree spin is three quarters of a full rotation.

 

The 540-degree spin is one and a half full rotations.

 

The 720-degree spin is two spins or rotations.

 

The 900-degree spin is two and a half full rotations.

 

The 1080-degree spin is three full rotation.

 

‘All these stunts are just about possible. It’s all about practice.

Try these stunts over and over again.

Balance and skill will come over time so just keep practising.

It will take a while to master each stunt

but keep setting yourself targets and eventually

you will get there.’

 

You can see some simple scooter tricks here.

 

Most importantly Cian says:

‘Be safe. Always wear your helmet, elbow and knee pads’.

#Mathsweek Treat: A Party for Smarties

A Party for ‘Smarties’

Smarties
Smarties by Quimby on Flickr

These parties are great fun,

but students have to work for their reward!

I plan to have mine on Friday at the end of Maths Week

 

You will need a small box of mini ‘smarties’ 

(66kcal per box) for each child in the class. 

I usually buy two multipacks containing 20 boxes approximately.

I time this lesson for just after the children’s own lunchtime.

 

It is important to check if any child is allergic to chocolate.

They can have jellies instead perhaps.

 

Before the children can eat the sweets

they have to do some work.

 

Here are some suggestions:

You might want to use just SOME of them!

The activities chosen will depend on the age of the children.

 

General Observation

Look at the box

Can you find the list of ingredients?

How many ingredients are there?

What are they?

Are you surprised by any of the ingredients?

What do you think red cabbage is used for?

What other ingredients give the colours do you think?

What do you think the beeswax does?

Did you know spirulina is a seaweed?

It gives a blue colour.

There is information on the back of the bag

about other natural colouring used.

 

What percentage of these sweets is milk chocolate?

What percentage is the rest of the ingredients?

Who is the manufacturer of these sweets?

 

Shape

What shape is it? (cuboid)

How many faces has it? (6)

How many edges? (12)

How many corners? (8)

 

Open up the box.

What shapes can you find?

How many rectangles are there?

 

Number

Pour out the contents.

Are the colours of the contents similar to the colours on the box?

How does the size compare?

 

Estimate the number of sweets in your box.

Now count them.

How close was your estimate?

How many sweets does each child have?

Are there the same number in each box?

Why do you think this happens?

 

Who had the most sweets in their box?

Who had the least?

 

Can you work out the average number of sweets in each box?

 

There are approximately 20 boxes of sweets in each minipack.

Can you estimate how many sweets are in a full minipack?

 

With a younger class you can practise

adding and taking away using the sweets.

 

There is also potential for talking about

– tens and units

– and sharing/division.

 

Data

Count the different colours.

How many colours are there?

How many yellow sweets have you in your box.

How many red? pink? orange? green? purple etc.

Lay them out like a pictogram.

Smarties Graph #3
Smarties Graph #3 by Sneeu on Flickr

Which is the most common colour in each child’s box?

Which is the most common colour in all the boxes?

 

The children can create patterns

and pictures with the contents of their box.

 

And that’s not all!

Probability

A Lesson on Probability from ehow.com

 

Fractions

Fractions on primaryresources.co

 

Language

If your class can resist eating the sweets

for this length of time you can talk about

– the five senses:

sight,

taste,

touch,

sound (of the sweets rattling in the box)

and smell (there isn’t one.. initially at any rate!)

 

– Words to describe the

sensation of the sweets dissolving

or crunching in the mouth.

texture

taste

 

Sometimes too there are jokes or riddles

on the back of the box.

 

Music Potential for work on ‘composition’

using voice and sweets in their box

as a percussion instrument.

 

Science

You could also talk about

the journey the sweets will make

through the digestive system.

and the job saliva does in the digestion process

How long can you make a sweet last in your mouth?

 

Mindful of healthy eating concerns

I restrict giving out sweets to twice in the year:

 

Maths Week when the class earn a ‘Party for ‘Smarties”

as ‘Golden Time’ for hard work and good behaviour.

 

We will also have a pirate themed treasure hunt

in the Summer term where the ‘treasure’ will be edible.

‘All you need is love,

but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt’.

Charles M. Schulz

First Class Maths – Useful Websites

First class have asked me for some useful websites

so that they can practise their maths at home, so here we are:

A very popular game for practising addition

and take away tables is called ‘The Balloon Game’.

Click on this link to find it.

and away we go
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: darwin Bell via Compfight

Another one the children enjoy that helps them

with their learning is Crossing the Swamp .

It is also useful for practising addition and subtraction.

 

Add Like Mad and its sister site Subtraction Action 

are like gymnastics for the brain.

 

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment 

have a number of videos online

to help parents help their child with maths.

Scroll down to view them here.

 

First and Second class is a window of opportunity

for learning tables.

Knowing one’s tables is a skill which one will call upon 

through out one’s life.

Read about the importance of tables here.

You can find other maths websites for students from 1st-6th class here.

Student Favourite: ‘Crossing The Swamp’ – Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication & Division Practice

Spinning Objects d_02-0444
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Widianto Nugroho via Compfight

‘Crossing the Swamp’ from BBC.co.uk

 

You also can ‘Add Like Mad’,

try some ‘Subtraction Action’

and practise multiplication 

here or here.

 

Maths: Online resources for learning about & revising how to simplify fractions

Equivalent Fractions
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Judy Baxter via Compfight

Simplifying fractions explained from

Cool Math 4 Kids.com

Six minute video explaining how to simplify fractions

Maths Playground.com

Very comprehensive blog post with lots of ideas

‘Teaching Fractions: Tips, Tricks & Great Websites’

from Fascinate Educate.com

 

Online activities for learning & revising rounding off and estimation

Happy Pi Day (to the 69th digit)!
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Mykl Roventine via Compfight

Very simple estimation exercise from Jan Brett.com

Numbernut.com

Quick fire rounding off game on

‘Which One Rounds?’ from Math Nook

Dart game for rounding off Topmarks.co.uk

Extensive lists on Online Math Learning.com

Maths Zone.co.uk and AAAMaths

Table Races – Speed Tests for Addition/Subtraction/Multiplication&Division Practice.

Numbers
Photo Credit: Rich Bowen via Compfight

‘Addition Speed Test’ from Mr Myers.org

‘Timed Subtraction Test’ from Mr. Myers.org

‘Multiplication Speed Test’ from Mr.Myers.org

‘Division Speed Test from Mr Myers’.org

 

‘Tables Challenge’ from The School Hub.ie

and there’s MORE!

Online games for learning and revising Times Tables

Central City Times Tables
Photo Credit: Derek Bridges via Compfight

1. Games for revising and learning Times Tables from Maths Games.org

2. Lots of games on Multiplication.com

3. Interactive Times Tables Games from Woodlands-Junior.Kent.sch.uk

4. Tables grid game on BBC.Co.Uk

5. Games on Topmarks.Co.Uk

It’s all about pizza! Games for learning and revising fractions

pizza boy
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: tomek.pl via Compfight

1. Graded Resources for Teaching Fractions from www.bgfl.org

2. More from Sheppard Software.com

3. Comprehensive selection of activites  

from ‘Who wants pizza?’ by Cynthia Lanius

4. Tony Fraction’s Pizza Shop from MrNussbaum.com

5. Pizza Fractions Game from Soft Schools.com

6. More fraction games from Maths Games.org

7. And if you get tired of pizza …

there are other activities here Classroom.JC-schools.net

Online activities to teach and revise place value – Senior Classes

5376883 pairs of scissors on the wall, 5376883 pairs of scissors, take one down, pass it around, 5376882 pairs of scissors on the wall
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Tal Bright via Compfight

1. Resources for the whiteboard  from Topmarks.co.uk

 

2. Learning about Place Value on Kids Math Games Online.com

 

Games to practice Place Value on  

3. Sheppard Software.com

4. Toon University.com (Hundreds, Tens and Units)

5. Toon University again (Thousands, Hundreds, Tens and Units)

and 

6. Mr.Nussbaum.com – Place Value Pirates (includes decimals)

2. Helping your Child’s Learning; Mostly Maths (for 2nd Class going into 3rd)

Tirando Los Dados. / Rolling The Dice.
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Gonzalo Barrientos via Compfight

Dear Parent,

 

A number of parents have asked for more details

than was contained in the end of year report

about how parents can help their child’s learning over the Summer.

 

I have already posted some suggestions about reading

Suggestions for Children’s Reading Over The Summer

 

This post relates to Maths.

There will be a third post about using higher order questions

to develop your child’s learning.

 illustrated math problem
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Jimmie via Compfight

 

The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

have several short videos for parents

about working on maths with your child.

Short Videos from National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA)

 

They appear to be still compiling resources for 3rd/4th class

For Parents of 3rd/4th Classes – National Council for Curriculum and Assessment

 

This post relates specifically to

students in 2nd Class going into 3rd.

It is a long post and you will find

the contents will help you

over the next school year.

 

In many reports I wrote that;

‘3rd+4th Class is the window of opportunity

for learning multiplication+division tables.

They are easier to learn than

the addition/subtraction tables from this year

because of the number patterns apparent in them.

Prioritizing these tables next year will

give your child a very useful life skill.

Tables are gymnastics for the brain.

Knowing them well is confidence building

and allows your child to concentrate on methodology’.

 

Multiplication is introduced as repeated addition.

Towards the end of 2nd class, we did this in class.

 

You may find the following websites helpful.

The two introductory videos here are useful;

Teach the Times Tables on Multiplication.com

 

This is a useful follow up game;

Carl’s Cookie Capers from Multiplication.com

 

The Balloon Popping Game from the School Hub

with which your child is very familiar will also be helpful.

 

Other online games that practice multiplication can be found here;

Multiplication Games from ICT Games.com

 

It may be that your child finds it hard to learn by rote.

So you may find this site useful;

Strategies for Learning Multiplication Facts from Olc.spsd.sk.ca

 

This  game also provides some gymnastics for the brain;

http://members.learningplanet.com/act/count/free.asp

 

Problem Solving is a skill that all students would benefit from practising.

I suggest an inexpensive purchase  Mad 4 Maths – 3rd Class

To start with your child could do a few of these with you

perhaps using the 3-step strategy highlighted below.

Once they master these steps they can continue on, independently.

 

How can you help your child with problem solving in Maths?

Problem Solving:

The following strategies are useful in relation to problem solving
• Discussing the problem
• Rephrasing to make the meaning clearer
• Using concrete materials where possible
• Using smaller numbers
• Setting out problem on paper using diagrams, drawings etc.
• Estimating

 

Some teachers use the mnemonic  RUDE 

to remind the children of problem solving strategies.

So the children are encouraged to 

Read,

Underline key words, 

Draw, 

Estimate (Answer).

This is the simplest approach.

‘Drawing’ the problem can be very effective.

It gives the child time to think and process the information.

 

Another approach is

We LUV 2 C word stories!

Look, 

Underline (the key word), 

Visualise(draw), 

Calculate and 

Check.

 

In tandem with these approaches you could ask your child:

 

1. What do I have? (what info is given?)

 

2. What do I want to have at the end? (What am I being asked to do?)

 

3. How do I get there? (add/subtract/multiply/divide or a combination)

 

The additional website may be useful for some.

 

It teaches a visual strategy for problem solving:

 

Problem Solving with Thinking Blocks

 

Penrose Triangle
Photo Credit: gfpeck via Compfight

 I have checked out all these websites,

but please supervise your child online.

Supplementary Homework in Maths

Here are a dozen links to Maths Activities

that you might like to try:

 

Many of these games were sourced from 

Maths Primary National Strategy – Maths Activities

This is easy; practising ‘counting on’ with 

Online ‘Snakes and Ladders’

Snakes and Ladders
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: John Johnston via Compfight

As an alternative to the

Balloon Popping Game to practice tables,

you can practice addition tables on Circus Climber

 

This activity teaches about Data

 

These are more challenging:

Practising computation with

Swimming Lengths

Long Jump

 

Measurement;

Reading measure with Javelin Throwing

 

Measuring angles;

estimating or using an online protractor with Sailing

 

Practicing Addition using ‘Who Wants To Be A Mathionaire?’

 

This is a more challenging game;

 ‘Who Wants to Be A Mathonaire?’

Mastermind
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Steve Berry via Compfight

Like the game Mastermind this is an online game

called Code Breaker

Here is another version from Creativity Games.net

Explaining subtraction with ‘renaming’ for the parents of 2nd class Room 6

At the moment the children are learning subtraction with ‘renaming’.

This methodology is required for example when you are doing a sum like:

T U

 4 3

-3 5

_______

The student starts ‘taking away’ the units and realises that they can’t take 5 from 3.

We are doing subtraction with ‘renaming’ in school.

We have done a lot of practical work using Dienes Blocks.

We are at the early stages of learning how to do these kind of sums.

At the moment, for homework, the majority of the class are getting

a worksheet of subtraction without renaming.

 

This has caused some confusion as the children attempted to ‘rename’

when it wasn’t necessary.

Identifying when a sum will need ‘renaming’ is a skill in itself

and one which we are working on!

 

More confusion can arise because some parents may have learned

how to do this kind of subtraction using the

‘borrow and pay back’  method.

 

Another factor that may confuse you is that ‘renaming’ is also referred to as ‘regrouping’!

 

You might find this Tips Sheet from the NCCA helpful:

NCCA’s Tipsheet for Parents: Helping your child with subtraction

 

or on the Maths is Fun website below where the methodology is clearly demonstrated:

 

A demonstration of ‘renaming’ on the Maths is Fun website

 

Strategies we use – Bridging the Ten

I have found that the children who know their tables are completing these sums sooner than the children who don’t.

I am encouraging the children who find tables hard to use strategies to help them.

You might hear them talk, for example about ‘bridging the ten’.

 

Ask a child to take 7 from 10 and they will say 3 with confidence.

This is because they are very sure of ‘what makes 10’.

However when one asks a child a sum like 17 take away 9, they are less sure of the answer.

 

One of the solutions is for the child to learn the ‘make up’ of 20

and be as sure of it as they are of ‘what makes’ 10.

Again, we are working on this!

 

The other solution is that the child learns to ‘bridge the 10’.

Take that sum 17-9 again:

The children are fairly secure in the knowledge that 7 steps will bring them back to 10

‘Nine is one less than ten. So you add 7 and 1 and the answer is eight’.

 

Just in case you missed it…

I am reposting the link the the post on this blog on the importance of learning tables.

Click here for that link!

Thank you for your continuing interest and support.

Look what you can do with K’nex. Nice work Senan!

 

A Tasty Maths Lesson: A Party for ‘Smarties’

A party for ‘Smarties’

Smarties
Smarties by Quimby on Flickr

These parties are great fun,
but students have to work for their reward!.

One needs a small box of mini ‘smarties’ (66kcal per box) for each child in the class. I usually buy two multipacks containing twenty boxes approximately. I time this lesson for just after the children’s own lunchtime.

Important to check for any child who is allergic to chocolate.
They can have jellies instead perhaps.

Before the children can eat the sweets
they have to do some work.

Here are some suggestions:

You might want to use just SOME of them!
The activities chosen will depend on the age of the children.

General Observation

Look at the box
Can you find the list of ingredients?

How many ingredients are there?
What are they?

Are you surprised by any of the ingredients?
What do you think red cabbage is used for?
What other ingredients give the colours do you think?
What do you think the beeswax does?
Did you know spirulina is a seaweed? It gives a blue colour.
There is information on the back of the bag about other natural colouring used.

What percentage of these sweets is milk chocolate?
What percentage is the rest of the ingredients?

Who is the manufacturer of these sweets?

Shape
What shape is it? (cuboid)
How many faces has it? (6)
How many edges? (12)
How many corners? (8)

Open up the box.
What shapes can you find? How many rectangles are there?

Number
Pour out the contents.
Are the colours of the contents similar to the colours on the box?
How does the size compare?
Estimate the number of sweets in your box.
Now count them.
How close was your estimate?
How many sweets does each child have?
Are there the same number in each box?
Why do you think this happens?

Who had the most sweets in their box?
Who had the least?

Can you work out the average number of sweets in each box.

There are approximately 20 boxes of sweets in each minipack.
Can you estimate how many sweets are in a full minipack?

With a younger class you can practice adding and taking away using the sweets.
There is also potential for talking about
– tens and units
– and sharing/division.

Data
Count the different colours.
How many colours are there?
How many yellow sweets have you in your box.
How many red? pink? orange? green? purple etc.

Lay them out like a pictogram.
Smarties Graph #3
Smarties Graph #3 by Sneeu on Flickr

Which is the most common colour in each child’s box?
Which is the most common colour in all the boxes?
The children can create patterns and pictures with the contents of their box.

And that’s not all!
Probability
A Lesson on Probability from ehow.com

Fractions
Fractions on primaryresources.co

Language
If your class can resist eating the sweets for this length of time you can talk about
– the five senses:
sight,
taste,
touch,
sound (of the sweets rattling in the box)
and smell (there isn’t one.. initially at any rate!)
– Words to describe the
sensation of the sweets dissolving or crunching in the mouth.
texture
taste
Sometimes too there are jokes or riddles on the back of the box.

Music Potential for work on ‘composition’
using voice and sweets in their box as a percussion instrument.

Science
You could also talk about
the journey the sweets will make through the digestive system.
and the job saliva does in the digestion process
How long can you make a sweet last in your mouth?

Mindful of healthy eating concerns I restrict giving out sweets to twice in the year:

Once before the Halloween midterm,

when the class earn a ‘Party for ‘Smarties”

as ‘Golden Time’ for hard work and good behaviour.

We will also have a pirate themed treasure hunt in the Summer term where the ‘treasure’ will be edible.

‘All you need is love, but a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt’.

Charles M. Schulz

A Collection of Wonderful Websites: Everything but the kitchen sink!

Literacy

I hope to get a lot of use out of this magical,

inspirational and innovative website next year.

The Literacy Shed

The Literacy Shed

These are other useful websites for literacy

and contain online books to listen to and to read.

We Give Books

Storyline Online

Zingertales

Tumblebooks

 

Picture books:

A number of stories about a dinosaur

Short stories on Learn English Kids British Council

CBeebies: Picture Stories for Infant Classes

 

Animated books (no reading involved!

Would be good for oral comprehension

perhaps to end of First Class) @ We do listen

 

Comprehension will be a focus of this school year.

Inference is a useful skill.

Here are fifteen riddles that require the student to infer:

http://www.philtulga.com/Riddles.html

 

Prediction is another skill which assists comprehension.

This visual puzzle gives students the opportunity to predict.

http://www.philtulga.com/Prediction.html

You will see that the excellent website  

from which these two activities come from

has all sorts of other original ideas for

the teaching of reading, maths, science and music. 

 

Maths

This is a good site for literacy and maths:

Oxford Owls

 

Sumdog comes highly recommended for learning maths.

One has to register to join.

Link to Sumdog

 

One has to register to get the best from this site too.  

The content is cross curricular but this is a maths index for children aged 7-9

TES iboard.co maths 7-9

 

These are the strategies we are learning

to speed up our understanding of this computation.

Strategies for Learning Tables

 

The following is a site where the children can practice

computation, which tracks individual progress

ADDieMath.com

 

Problem Solving

Recently in school we talked very briefly about this problem.

Perhaps the children would like to experiment with solutions at home:

The River Crossing

 

Pokemon

For fans of Pokemon:

This activity involves reading, comprehension and decision making:

A Pokemon Adventure from Woodlands Junior Kent

The Arts

Here are some useful suggestions for integrating art and drama:

Games that integrate art and drama

These ideas are from a great art blog that I discovered recently

Drydenart.weebly.com

The author is a specialist art teacher, teaching at primary level in the US.

The standard she is reaching with the children is exceptional.

Reading quickly through her philosophy it appears that she would prefer

five fully finished masterpieces from a child over a year

rather than a weekly unfinished one.

 

Included in this blog are a series of short videos (on Vimeo)

for use in class.

‘White Spot Inspector’ is an inventive approach

to getting the children not to leave spaces in the picture unfinished.

Other videos include advice about

sketching lightly with a pencil instead of digging down onto the page,

being kind to paintbrushes and glue pots,

concentrating,

being neat,

avoiding careless brushwork

and using black marker to tidy up untidy paintwork.

There is also one on craftmanship i.e. touching up your work, ‘redrafting’ etc.

Index of Instructional Art Videos

There is also a link to an extensive archive of artwork.

Art Archive

I would be doing this wonderful blogger a disservice

if I didn’t mention that she also uses a lot of IT in her work.

This is presently beyond me, but it is something to be inspired by and to aspire to.

 

25th August 2012:

I have been adding to this post all summer.

As a result it seems to contain everything but the kitchen sink.

Here are some more!

They are classroom tools for timing/counting down and picking names:

Countdown Timer

Dartboard Student Selector

Fruit Machine Word or Name Picker

Picking A Name Out Of A Hat

 

Great Homework!

This week for homework the children were asked to write number problems featuring repeated addition.

This is some of the excellent work Patrick did.

How many legs have three dragons got?
4 + 4 + 4 = 12


How many legs have four ladybirds got?
6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24

How many legs have four spiders got?
8 + 8 + 8 + 8 = 32

Well done Patrick 🙂 Teacher is impressed!

Add Like Mad

Add Like Mad was a very popular game in 2nd Class, Room 6.
We have been playing it on the Interactive Whiteboard.

Here is the link if any of the children would like to try it at home.

ADD LIKE MAD

This is a picture of a family of owls that Jessica did 🙂

The Importance of Learning Tables

I came across these articles online

and thought they makes a great case

for the importance of learning tables.

WHY SHOULD MY CHILD LEARN THEIR TABLES

Numbers
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: Heather aka Molly via Compfight

We don’t learn ‘times’ tables until third class,

but what is said about them here also applies to

addition and subtraction tables:

WHY LEARNING TABLES IS IMPORTANT

If you have an older child who is

learning multiplication or division tables,

this site might be useful

HOW TO LEARN A TIMES TABLE IN A WEEK

I am filing it here for future reference.

It might come in useful to your child

in Third Class next year.

I also thought the following articles fascinating

and ‘food for thought’.

US STUDY: PARENTS ARE ASKED FOR THEIR OPINIONS ON LEARNING TABLES

THE IMPORTANCE OF MEMORIZING TABLES
How Parents Can Help Their Child Memorize the Times Tables

 

The Importance of Learning Tables

Tables are a basic essential for when learning mathematics.

Children need to master them.

Unless they do this…

it will be difficult for the children to learn other aspects of maths.
studying in math class
Photo Credit: woodleywonderworks via Compfight
Addition and Take Away Tables

are taught in 1st and 2nd class.

In this school tables to 6 are taught in 1st.

The class teacher revises these in 2nd

and then the children continue to learn

tables up to adding and taking away 12.

Multiplication/Division are taught in 3rd and 4th.

Regular revision of tables is part of the

5th and 6th class programme.

 

1st/2nd Class provide ‘a window of opportunity’

to learn addition/subtraction tables.

It is important to master these tables

by the end of 2nd because

• in 3rd and 4th the focus changes to multiplication and division.

• if a child knows their simple number facts

then they can give their full attention to methodology when being

taught new maths

 

If the children have the answers to the tables

at the tip of their tongue then they can concentrate

on learning the methodogy of new sums.

 

 

The children who know their number facts speed

through the maths worksheets in class.

 

Teachers can teach the tables, but

children really need to learn them.

 

Tables are regularly given as homework.

Sometimes children think that homework

of a ‘learning off’ type is less important

than written homework.

But learning tables is very important.

 

Teachers in 5th and 6th find they are

teaching tables that should have been

learnt in 3rd and 4th.

Teachers in 3rd and 4th

find themselves teaching addition

and take away tables to a number of their class.

 

Learning tables needn’t be done at the kitchen table.

You can work on them with your child on the journey

to and from school

or while waiting in the supermarket queue!
Let's-Go-Shopping
Creative Commons License Photo Credit: James Vaughan via Compfight
Knowing tables really helps when

children are learning new sums.

 

Children need to be able to rattle off

their tables like they know their own name.

Otherwise, though they understand

how to do a sum, they may make mistakes

in simple addition or take away.

Little Professor Hand-held Calculator
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Why not use a calculator?

Children can become over reliant on calculators.

They don’t develop estimating skills.

Keying in the wrong number can happen.

But because the student hasn’t developed estimating skills

they are then unaware when a particular answer is unlikely.

 

Failing to learn tables makes learning more complicated maths,

more difficult than it need to be.

If a child can automatically knows the answer

to a table then more difficult maths will be less challenging.

Teachers are finding that children think

they don’t understand a sum when

all that is happening is that they are

making simple mistakes in addition,

subtraction, multiplication or division.

 

This can be discouraging for the child.

Losing confidence in their ability can be demotivating.

Children may view themselves as someone

who doesn’t understand maths,

when in reality it is that they don’t know their tables.

Lollipop Sticks
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Ways of learning

In 1st and 2nd Class we practise tables,

in a concrete way, using lollipop sticks and unifix cubes.

We also use the table book.

In school we use Joyce O’Hara’s Addition and Subtraction CD

from Ashton Productions

ADDITION AND SUBTRACTION CD

 

In class we say ‘one and zero make one’,

one and one make two’…’one from six leaves five’.

In this way we use the same language as this cd.

squared
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Children learn in different ways.

Many respond to working with concrete objects;

lollipop sticks, cubes, smarties.

Some children learn best by singing or chanting the table.

For some, keeping track of their tables on their fingers

(a kinaesthetic approach) helps.

 

Towards of 2nd class multiplication is introduced

as repeated addition.

In class the children learn about number patterns

and learn to count in 2s, 4s, 5s,etc., using the hundred square.

 

You may find these lively online videos from

Havefunteaching.com helpful

for learning number patterns.

NUMBER PATTERN VIDEOS

 

Children REALLY need to know their tables!

As is mentioned on the coolmaths4kids site

WHY LEARNING TABLES IS IMPORTANT

among the concepts in primary school maths

which children find challenging are long division and fractions.

In a typical long division sum, a child will need to

divide, multiply and subtract several times.

 

Working with fractions also need the ability

to add, subtract, multiply and divide.

 

Without knowing their tables, children will find this very hard.

 

From THE IMPORTANCE OF MEMORIZING TABLES

How Parents Can Help Their Child Memorize the Times Tables

– Let your children see, that you place value on learning tables

and that you think tables are important.

– Show your child how quickly an answer should be arrived at!

– Find out what your child already knows. Once again the following

game is useful for checking tables.

BALLOON POPPING

-Focus on what they need to learn.

Involve your child in setting goals.

Monitor progress.

– Spending quality time together practicing.

Praise and encouragement are all motivating for your child.

Have fun!

Ambiguous Symbolism III : Numerous Options
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