Mathematics News

Mathematics at Westgrove!

This term students have been exploring the concepts of number and place value in their classrooms.  You can assist your child at home by following some of the suggestions below.  You can also find out exactly what your child is learning each week by looking at the post on the ‘Class Story’ on Class Dojo. 

How to help your child at home 

You don’t need to be an expert to support your child with maths! Here are four simple but effective ways to help your child develop their understanding of number and place value: 

 1. Play counting games 

Board games often show ordered numbers on tracks or grids. Make sure these numbers are clearly visible and count out loud as you progress around the board. This will help your child quickly get a sense of what the numbers mean. 

Dice can also help your child recognise number patterns quickly. For example, a pair of dice is a great way of showing your child doubles, or what it means for a number to be 1 bigger than another number. 

Games like ‘What’s the time, Mr Wolf?’ and songs like ‘Ten Green Bottles’ can help build early counting skills. 

 2. Break down numbers 

Look for numbers in the world around you and encourage your child to break them into parts. Breaking numbers up like this is called ‘partitioning’.

3. Have counting races

Choose a starting number and a multiple to count up by. For example, you could start at 12 and count in steps of 4.

Take turns to say the next number in the sequence (12, 16, 20, 24, 28, etc.). Set a timer and see what number you can reach in one minute. This kind of game could also work as a bit of healthy competition between siblings or friends!

4. Ten questions

To really understand numbers, we want children to investigate place value through language. A simple game of guessing a number in ten questions is a great way of exploring mathematical language whilst developing their reasoning skills.