Hi and welcome to the second section of our MENTAL AGILITY rainbow this term!
Until Christmas our school will focus on ADDITION and SUBTRACTION!
Please find attached activities children work on in class.
We would really appreciate your support in practising them at home too!
One of our main aims is for children to be competent with numbers.
Pupils are introduced to a new mathematical concept through the use of concrete resources (e.g. fruit, Dienes blocks etc). When they are comfortable solving problems with physical aids, they are given problems with pictures – usually pictorial representations of the concrete objects they were using.
Then they are asked to solve problems where they only have the abstract i.e. numbers or other symbols. Building these steps across a lesson can help pupils better understand the relationship between numbers and the real world, and therefore helps secure their understanding of the mathematical concept they are learning.
Most Second level learners are ready to move on from concrete materials and focus on pictorial and abstract methods. An increasing understanding of number allows transitioning through the approaches.
It is vital to have a variety of strategies to solve addition and subtraction problems.
Here are some examples:
At second level learners will also work with numbers up to/beyond one Million, decimal, percentages and fractions as well as negative numbers:
Take a look at this amazing website, have a go at the games or quizzes!
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z2wrf82
