1. Welcome to or P6 Numeracy Workshop
Miss Byrne
Mrs Stewart

2. Purpose of our workshop tonight:
Highlight four key mental strategies that we use.
Demonstrate a variety of learning and teaching approaches.
Suggest some activities we do in class that you can try at home.
The purpose of tonight is to give you a flavour of the strategies that help your children the most during mental maths. We will do this by highlighting 4 key strategies that are essential skills for confidence, showing various resources and suggesting techniques you may wish to use at home to reinforce.

3. At this stage, what makes a confident mathematician?
Rapid recall
Selecting the most efficient strategy
Being able to explain their processes
So first of all.. What makes a confident mathematician?
Well, they need to have rapid and confident recall, be aware of many strategies available in order to select the most efficient method and be able to explain their processes. This is important because not everyone solves the same calculation in the same way, therefor they need to be able to explain exactly how and why they went about solving the problem the way they did. This can help not only cement thought processes for the individual but may open up doors for other within the class.

4. What do we do? Engage in mathematical conversations.
Use different strategies for calculations.
Practise skills in a range of contexts to make learning more relevant to them.
So how can we help make this a reality for our children?
Well it is essential that we engage in Mathematical conversations where children have the opportunity to not only explain their own processes but also hear the processes of others. We can encourage them to use all the different strategies to find out which one suits them best, practice new skills and use a variety of resources to help us.

5. Confident learners should regularly use the following strategies…
Counting on and counting back
Partitioning
Number bonds
Doubling and halving
These are the skills, although on the surface, can seem self-explanatory we will delve into each one separately and discuss how we can support the development of each of the skills in order to help our children at this stage in their education.

6. Strategy 1: Counting on and counting back
So, lets look at each Strategy in more depth.

7. What P6 should have already practised:
Count forward in ones to one hundred - then back
Count forward in tens - then back
Count in fives, threes...
Count on in twos from 5...
Before reaching P6 all pupils should have had experience with all of these at some stage.
We start counting on and back from the very beginning moving up and down the number line in 1’s. this then progresses to going up and down in 2’s and so on untill we begin to grasp the concept of this repeated pattern of addition which we will recognise as Multiplication tables.

8. What P6 will now be working towards:
Count on in threes from 55...
Count back in fours from 40...
Count in halves from one half
Count in fractions, decimal fractions and percentages
In light of this we will now begin to focus on extending this skill. For example counting up in 3’s from 55. This can also be used with more complex number lines such as those including fractions, decimal fractions and percentages.

9. What does this look like in the classroom?
Using Counting Stick/Number Lines to count and estimate
Using 100 square to recognise patterns
Playing “Buzz” game
Pendulum or throwing and catching a ball
We develop this skill through the use of a range of resources and games such as the counting stick where we can practice sectioning of a number line. The children also have individual number lines which allows them to physically carryout different task and allows them to customise their own number line. We also play games, that I am sure you will even remember, such as Buzz and Buzz Light-year, for extending the skill. Pendulum Counting is also a firm favourite of the teachers as it helps with the rhythm and recall of answers.

10. Strategy 2: Partitioning
Our next Strategy is Partitioning.

11. What P6 should know already have practised:
Breaking up 3 digit numbers into their components e.g. 124=
Place Value (knowing value of a digit e.g. in 354, knowing that the 5 digit is worth 50)
Before reaching P6 all the children will have had practised with all of these.
They are also be able to break up larger number into their component parts like described here.

12. What P6 will now be working towards:
Splitting larger whole numbers (up to a million).
Understanding the value of digits in decimal fractions (e.g. 6.45= 6 units, 4 tenths and 5 hundredths)
So now the focus becomes splitting even larger numbers into their component parts and extending this to decimal fractions.

13. What does this look like in the classroom?
1. Using digit cards to read numbers
2. Reinforcing Place Value with number generator cards. Putting numbers in order from greatest to least and vice versa.
Place value order cards
M HTh TTh Th H T U

14. Strategy 3: Number bonds
Next on the list we have Number Bonds.

15. What P6 should have already practised:
Rapid recall of stories of numbers 0-20
Looking for complements to 10 in calculations (e.g. 4+?=10)
Link those facts ( e.g. 14+6=20, 6+14=20, 20-14=6, 20-6=14)
Number bonds to 20 should really be secure before pupils reach P6 because these are essential for building confidence throughout the whole of Mathematics.

16. What P6 will now be working towards:
Extending knowledge of complements to:
100 e.g = 100
1000 e.g = 1 000
1 e.g = 1
Applying strategies in looking for complements to assist in quick calculation
e.g =
We will then build on these, hopefully strong foundations, and develop much more complex skills.

17. What does this look like in the classroom?
1. Ball response games
We like to maintain the pupil’s quick response and enthusiasm for number bonds and therefore use several different games and activities to continue to practice these skills. For P6 we move on to investigating numbers and here is an example of the types of facts your children can come up with. We use Chain calculations to provide children the opportunity to identify the quickest method of calculation.
2. Tell me about a number
3. Matching activities
E.g = 40+60

18. Strategy 4: Doubling and halving
Our final strategy is doubling and halving.

19. What P6 should know already have practised:
Doubling and halving numbers up to and including 10
Doubling and halving multiples of 10 up to and including 100 e.g. half 80 = 40
Understanding ‘near doubles’ e.g.
= (double 35) + 1
This skill, although on the surface, can be seen as a simple calculation it plays a much bigger role in calculations than first anticipated. Before now most pupils have had experience with doubling and halving numbers to 10 and multiples of 10 and being able to identify where this skill can be used in calculations with similar numbers.

20. What P6 will now be working towards:
Recognising links to multiplication tables e.g. 2 to 4 to 8, 3 to 6 and 5 to 10.
Extending the use of doubles, near doubles and halving in calculations (e.g )
Extending to the doubling and halving of decimals (e.g. double 0.5=1.0)
Moving on from this we start to identify links between the multiples of 2, 4 and 8. There are many examples of where this technique is useful and a variety of different ways it can be used like these mentioned here.

21. What does this look like in the classroom?
1. Ping Pong – doubles and halves
2. Ball response
games
3. “Show Me” (on whiteboards) e.g. double 21, half of 42
4. ‘Hit the Button’ online game
Again we take advantage of the 100 square to highlight multiples and those which overlap. Ball response games is a great idea to use as a class activity, however, in order to increase rapid calculation then we play games such as Ping-Pong, Ping-Pong is a game which the children enjoy that involves throwing back and forward numbers to double or half.

22. So, lets have a look!
We are going to move into the other room where there are lots of resources which we use with your children. Feel free to have a browse and ask any questions you may have.
So now its time for you to have a nosey. We have set up various resources next door for you to peruse. Fell free to ask us any questions you may have.

23. Thank you for coming along tonight
Thank you for coming along tonight. We hope you have found this presentation informative and useful. Please complete the evaluation before you leave and don’t forget your goodie bag!
In your good pack you’ll find parent guides to support your children with maths skills. There are also a great number of links mentioned in these booklets which are very useful and usually great fun for the children to use. You will also be given a copy of the 100 square we use here in St Joseph’s.