Mathematics

Welcome to Term 3 Mathematics at Rangeview! In our last issue we introduced learning behaviours (learning dispositions) in Mathematics, and discussed how all students have the opportunity to achieve success given the right mindset.  

We introduced Growth vs Fixed Mindset and ‘The Learning Pit’, a learning framework that provides reassurance to students during their mathematical learning journey. More importantly, ‘The Learning Pit’ highlights to students that it is okay (and more precisely) it is normal, for students to struggle with new concepts. Knowing when to provide scaffolded support to students to ensure they achieve success is vital in our Mathematics classrooms, and something Rangeview Teachers are very experienced in accomplishing. 

‘The Learning Pit’ also supports collaborative learning, not only in Mathematics but across all areas of teaching and learning. The below student friendly graphic highlights how students can benefit when working together to solve problems. At Rangeview, students learn how to collaborate, evaluate their efforts and reflect on their work in Mathematics. They certainly love any opportunity to work with their peers! 

Please visit https://www.challenginglearning.com/learning-pit/ for further information. 

Please don’t hesitate to reach out via the office if you would like further information on how to support your child at home if they are not feeling confident about their Mathematics learning or if you would like further information about the information provided here. We are here to support you and your child! 

Family Game Time – Dice Games 

Please enjoy playing these dice games with your family. We have included games to suit our junior, middle and senior students. Good luck and we hope it doesn’t get too competitive! 

Junior School - PIG 

Tip: ‘PIG’ can be easily adapted to suit our middle primary students by using multiplication instead of addition or using 4 dice for addition instead of 2. 

Middle School – BLOCK OUT 

Tip: ‘BLOCK OUT’ can be easily adapted to suit students who are at the beginning stages of multiplicative thinking. For example, considering the rectangle 5x2: students can skip count by 2 to reach 10 (2, 4, 6, 8, 10). They could also use repeated addition (2+2+2+2+2+2), or they could simply count each square. This would work well if younger siblings wanted to play the game with their older siblings. We can supply the grid paper for you. Please just send your child to the Level 3/4 classroom anytime to see Mrs Tzimos or Mr Giddings for some paper. We may even give them some hints before they play the game at home with you 😊 

Senior School – SCORING WITH DICE 

Tip: ‘SCORING WITH DICE’ can be played by our middle school students (especially the first part where you add the scores from the three dice, and then multiply the scores from the three dice). The game could be adapted to just play it this way and taking turns. Try ‘first to 150 wins’ or ‘first to 200 wins’ and let us know how it goes. Ideally, it’s a fun and challenging game for parents to play with our senior students. 

We hope you enjoy exploring and playing these dice games with your family. Please don’t hesitate to send us a message if we can help in any way. 

Go Maths! 

Lee Giddings and Vicki Tzimos