Math Matters

Confidence in our own Numeracy abilities can have a big impact on how our children perceive their own abilities.

• involve your child in numeracy-related activities
• be positive about their numeracy experiences and praise effort and perseverance
• let your child know that everyone can be successful

Numeracy in the Supermarket - The fruit and vegetable section

• encourages reading of scales, estimation, mass and density, size and proportion
  • play games to see who can be the closest in estimating the weight of a bag of apples then use the scales to check who was closest
  • compare the size of two different vegetables or fruits - eg, 200g of carrots to 200g of beans
  • estimate the weight of a watermelon section before weighing it 
• Have everyone use calculators (on their phones) to find the cost of a bag of apples, or other items, according to their price per weight. You can then check their solutions when at the check-out
• When at the check-out have a competition to see who can guess the total $$ spent for the grocery items

Julie Chambers

Director of Whole School Numeracy and Mathematics