Maths Parents Information Evening – Years 5 and 6

When your child comes home and says they have maths homework and you start to help them and they say, that’s not the way Mrs Hodgson does it , or that the way you are doing it is different to the way they have done it in lessons … THAT feeling – that’s what we are going to tackle today.

So, We can’t explain in detail all the areas of the calculation policy, but we’ve chosen multiplication as it covers loads of methods the problem is 396 x 12 = and your child starts off and gets stuck. What do you do?

The calculation policy will show you the ways in which we would teach a method to the children in each year group. We cover loads of methods so that the children have a range of strategies.

Children – how many different ways can you solve … When you ask children … How would you solve ?… 396 x 12 = ? They might use the following strategies, some of which you might not have learned at school. Grid method, partitioning and recombining. Column method, expanded method. Estimating, repeated addition

‘What are maths lessons like today?’ Mental fluency – each day, we practice some mental fluency, speedy recall of number facts and use them to calculate at speed. Some examples might be playing speed games with tables F.I.N.G.E.R.S, addition / subtraction using rounding e.g. 498 + 304 = also how would you calculate 1,000 000 ÷ 8 = Lots of problem solving – spot the mistake, which method is correct etc?

Other types of multiplication questions … Questions – look at SATs questions – obvious multiplication questions and hidden multiplication questions Examples of questions on tables – have a go at the different strategies

Ways to help at home Stuck on homework? Ask your child to explain a strategy, use the calculation booklet as a resource that will explain it to you. Children need to really know their times tables – it won’t happen by magic, they need to learn them. Invest some time in helping them and it will make the biggest difference to their confidence. Find their preferred strategy, e.g. chant them, write them out, use the internet – topmarks, beatbox. Practice them, test each other, sing them, whisper them. Ways to help at home: websites https://www.nationwideeducation.co.uk/www/flash/bso/bso- flash/index.html https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/daily10

Questions???