Curriculum
Numeracy News
In order to support your child's learning, it is important to give them opportunities to discuss and engage in maths. Your child will begin to connect the importance of maths with everyday activities. Including navigating public transport, choosing the best item to buy, budgeting, and cooking.
Talk positively about maths so your child also values it. If your experiences in maths at school were less than ideal, avoid making comments like “I was bad at maths at school”. Comments like these can lower your child’s expectations of themselves. They can also perpetuate myths about people being good or bad at maths. If you did well at maths in school, avoid jumping in with answers or solutions. Encourage your child to talk about how they might work out maths problems. This helps boost their confidence and deepens their understanding.
Maths today is not about learning by repetition. Today, the focus is on recognising that there are many ways to get an answer. Rather, it is important to be able to explain how and why you chose the approach you did. At St Matthew’s, we also focus on being able to represent our thinking visually. Being able to add, subtract, multiply and divide a multitude of mathematical algorithms does not necessarily make a numerate learner. Expecting your child to work through algorithms or “busy work” will not forester a love of mathematics. In fact, you may find that you child begins to resent it. All maths activities conducted in primary school or at home should incorporate some element of the use of manipulatives.
"Children must hold maths in their hands before they can hold maths in their heads"
Anonymous
There are many activities you can do at home to help explore maths with your child. When participating in these activities, avoid associating them with speed. Expecting your child to work quickly on maths can cause maths anxiety. Try to focus on the process and not the outcome.
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Watching the weather |
Browsing catalogues |
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Because it changes daily, (especially this year) the weather can be a great topic to discuss maths with your child.
Try these activities:
Visit the Bureau of Meteorology website Ask your child the difference between each day’s minimum and maximum temperatures. Do they notice a pattern or trend in the weather changes?
Find a seven-day forecast, then record the actual temperature for each day and compare. Ask your child if the forecast was accurate. Ask them what similarities and differences they notice.
Use the information on the website to explore differences in weather. Ask your child how much rain you get compared to other areas. Ask your child to identify differences in temperature between yours and other areas.
Who might an increase or decrease in rainfall affect? |
Catalogues can be a great way to improve your child’s knowledge of money and percentages.
Here are some questions you could ask:
How would you spend $40 from a catalogue?
How many products can you buy for $40?
Select five products from the catalogue, then calculate what the cost would be if there was a 50% sale. Does it make a difference if you add up the items, and then deduct 50%, or if each item is 50% off and then totalled?
What is the best value sale item in the catalogue? Can you explain your reasoning?
Compare the cost of a product across different stores using different catalogues. What did you find?
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Rachel Powell
Curriculum Coordinator
Rachel.powell@cg.catholic.edu.au