Mathematics

Welcome to Mathematics at Rangeview! In this issue we provide some parent information about Maths games you might play at home with your child and some perplexing puzzles.

PARENT INFORMATION- MATHS GAMES 

The afternoon of the Curriculum Day on Friday 29 April was used to provide staff with some training and time to play a range of Maths games. The training was provided by Pete Sanders, an experienced primary Maths educator and consultant with Love Maths (https://www.lovemaths.me/).  

Throughout the session, Pete highlighted 5 principles that make a great Maths game. These ideas come from James Russo, whose article on this can be found at: https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1231221.pdf The 5 principles are: 

We have previously written about number fluency and how it has been impacted by remote and flexible learning. Now we are back in the classroom, we feel that Maths games provide opportunities to build their number fluency whilst collaborating with their peers with (hopefully) high levels of engagement. Bragg (2012) found that games lead to increased on-task behaviour and discussion than non-games activities.  

The games are not about being the cleverest or fastest to answer (none of the games we use prioritise speed), since they need to provide an opportunity for both players to succeed. This balance of skill and luck is the key to a great game. Without luck, high performing students will dominate and without skill students will not be as motivated or challenged to think deeply.  

Please visit https://www.lovemaths.me/operations-f-2 for some examples of games you can play with your child at home. Each game has a short video demonstration of how to play the game, which Michael Minas does with his son. On our curriculum day, the staff played the game Get out of my House.  For parents of students in the senior school, please look at https://www.lovemaths.me/operations-36 for some examples.  

PARENT STUDENT PROBLEM SOLVING 

The outstanding website https://drpaulswan.com.au/resources has so many free printable Maths games and resources. One I found last year was called Perplexing Puzzles. It has been removed from the site now, though can be found at: https://highvaleps.vic.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Perplexing-Puzzles-123-4-for-Years-3-4.pdf  

If you would like to learn more about something specific in Mathematics, please email the office at rangeview.ps@education.vic.gov.au with ‘Attention: Vicki and Lee’ in the subject line and we will respond to you directly. 

Go Maths! 

Lee Giddings and Vicki Tzimos