Mathematics

Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) and Ochre Education have partnered with Teach Well to support teachers and schools to get the most from the new Ochre Education materials that all of MACS have access to .

In Term 1 2024, primary schools were invited to join the first wave of the Teaching for Impact in Mathematics (TIM) Series delivered by Teach Well. Last term all classroom teachers at St Cecilia's took part in the Teaching for Impact in Mathematics Series (TIMS) professional development. 

The TIM Series works from a robust research and evidence base to support teachers and leaders to build more high-impact instruction into their own classroom and accelerate learning for all students.  

Please see below for an example of the Ochre resources in use in the Year 1 classroom.

Maths in Year One 

Focus - Sharing equally into groups

Learning Intention: We are learning to share equally into a given number of groups.

Success criteria: I can use concrete materials to share a collection into a given number of groups and state how many are in each group

The purpose of this unit is to build fundamental skills in grouping and sharing, which will later pave an understanding of multiplication and division. As students are introduced to sharing and grouping within this unit, it is imperative that concrete materials and real-life pictorial examples are used to make learning engaging and more familiar. 

Students are introduced to the language of sharing and grouping, without yet progressing to the symbolic representation of ‘x’ and ‘÷’. Sentence frames are used as a basis for students to practise their sharing and grouping skills. This includes: 

_ shared between _ is _.

half of _ is _.

_ groups of _.

_ rows of _

_ columns of _.

Here are some of the lesson presentation slides from the Ochre resource

Sharing Equally

In this small step, children explore division in the form of sharing. Children first explore this practically using concrete resources and physically sharing them into groups. They should see that each group will then have the same amount. At this stage, children do not need to write number sentences using the division symbol, but they should be encouraged to explain what is happening using the language of division, for example “There are ___ counters shared equally into ___ groups. There are ____ in each group.”

Independent Practice - the Year 1's at work

We look forward to sharing more about the Teaching for Impact in Mathematics Series (TIMS) in future newsletters.

If you have any questions about Mathematics at St Cecilia's please contact:

Kate Sutherland, Mathematics Leader

ksutherland@scgleniris.catholic.edu.au