At Pakefield Primary School, our pupils participate in maths each day in their Numeracy lesson. They will also experience mathematical activities in other subjects across the Curriculum.

We encourage our pupils to enjoy maths through the use of differentiated activities, which develop their skills. These activities are related to everyday life whenever possible, and are often practical in nature. This makes maths fun, and approachable to all children.

The aim in mathematics is for children to develop mental strategies for solving problems, which are developed into strategies for recording working. These strategies will gradually develop into formal written methods as children become ready.

Maths is planned to include work which fall into four main categories:

Using and Applying Mathematics
Number
Shape, Space and Measure
Data Handling

How can you help your child?

Encourage them:

· to follow the mental and written strategies they have been taught at school
· to practice their tables regularly
· to complete homework and support them with any extension activities
· to check their work carefully before handing it in
· to use a calculator to check their answers where appropriate

Play games that they need to use calculations for or strategies to win. Card games are great too, and when they know the rules can be enjoyed alone:

Other ideas that link maths to everyday life are:

Cooking
Let your child help to bake a cake/biscuits etc.

They will need to:

list ingredients (for shopping)
look at amounts/measures needed

[They could work out how much each item will cost using leaflets with prices on, or using the till receipt when they get home.]

weigh out the ingredients using scales, spoons, measuring jugs etc.
calculate the cooking times and keep a check on them

A simple activity will encourage children to use maths and will make it fun. This can be made simpler for younger children, or more complex for older or more able children.

Ordering a takeaway

This could be a real order or just for fun and using different menus and numbers of people.

Choose an order for 4 people from the Chinese takeaway (On a page, with menu as a heading. Have lines for choices and £ signs down the side to write costs next to)

Write out a list including prices
Calculate the cost
Do they charge for delivery?

Answer questions like: How much does it cost per person? How much change will I need from £30s? Have we got enough to buy some onion rings?

Going shopping

Ask your child to check the till receipt using a calculator. Encourage them to put all values in as pence, so that issues like some values being in pounds and others in pence are eradicated. Make sure they know to take off the 2 for 1 offers, and check for reductions. Do they get the same total? If not check. Children need to be encouraged to check their work, and recognise and understand where mistakes have been made.

Look for information on Key Stage 1 and Foundation coming soon!