Maths

We use a maths mastery programme to help with our teaching of maths. Please read here for weekly updates about mastering number. 

13th June - Maths assessments week

6th June - Using Rekenreks to subitise.

23rd May -  This week, the children will continue to develop their understanding of the composition of numbers to 10 using different representations. 

16th May - This week, the children will consolidate their understanding of the composition of 5. They will also deepen their understanding of a ‘whole’ being made up of smaller parts through games and practical experiences.

9th May - This week, the children will continue to develop their subitising skills (seeing the quantity without counting) in increasingly complex arrangements. A key focus this week is to use the children’s developing understanding of doubles to support their subitising skills.

2nd May - This week, the children will continue to engage with activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. The children will also revisit the concept of cardinality – the idea that the last number in the count tells us how many things there are altogether.

25th April - This week, the children will use practical contexts to sort objects according to different criteria. They will be encouraged to notice different attributes in groups of objects – such as colour, size or function – and to describe what they notice.

28th March - This week, the children will consolidate their understanding of the composition of numbers by investigating the numbers within 7. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 7 can be made of 5 and 2.

21st March - This week we will be looking at the properties of 3D shapes and using them to build towers.

14th March - This week, the children will be encouraged to focus exclusively on ordinality: considering where numbers to 8 are in relation to each other. Language is a key focus and adults will  model the language of ‘more than’, ‘less than’ and ‘equal to’ to describe the relationships between numbers. This week, ‘less than’ is used instead of ‘fewer than’ when the focus is on each number’s position in the counting sequence.

7th March - This week, the children will continue to engage with activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. The children will also revisit the concept of cardinality – the idea that the last number in the count tells us how many things there are altogether.

14th Feb - Recap of skills taught so far.

7th Feb - The activities this week will focus on further developing the skill of comparison as the children are encouraged to focus exclusively on the numerosity of sets, without being diverted by colour, shape or size. They will then be encouraged to notice when quantities are equal or unequal, and will begin to consider how they can manipulate the number of objects in 2 sets to make them equal.

31st Jan - This week, the children will continue to engage with activities that develop their understanding of composition, or the numbers within numbers. A key focus will be on exploring ways to represent numbers using the Hungarian number pattern (die pattern). The children will secure their understanding of the pairs of numbers that make 5, and then use double dice frames to begin to explore 6 and 7 as numbers that are composed of ‘5 and a bit’.

24th Jan - This week, the children will consolidate their understanding of the composition of 5. Composing and decomposing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 5 can be made of 3 and 2 or 4 and 1.

4th Jan - This week, the children will use their perceptual subitising skills (seeing the quantity without counting) in increasingly complex arrangements, moving from dots in a line and arrangements of 2, to a focus on standard dice arrangements. For larger quantities, the children will begin to use skills of conceptual subitising, beginning to quickly see the sub-groups within these larger numbers.  

13th Dec - This week we will investigate the composition of 3, 4 and 5. Composing and de-composing numbers involves the children investigating part–part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. Through practical experience, they will consolidate their understanding of a whole being made up of smaller parts.

29th Nov - This week we will learn about composition - the concept of ‘wholes’ and ‘parts’. By investigating their own bodies and familiar toys, the children will begin to understand that whole things are often made up of smaller parts and that a whole is, therefore, bigger than its parts.

22nd Nov - This week the children will be encouraged to compare the number of objects in 2 sets by matching them 1:1. Seeing that objects in some sets can be matched without any being left over will draw the children’s attention to instances when the quantities of objects are equal.

15th Nov - This week, the children will continue to engage with activities that underline the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are altogether. They will reinforce their understanding of cardinality – that the last number in the count tells us ‘how many’ things there are altogether in a set of objects – and they will further practise their 1:1 correspondence skill, by counting numbers at the same time as moving or tagging objects

8th Nov -  This week, the children will compare and describe sets of objects that they can see. Language is a key focus and adults will model the language of ‘more than’ and ‘fewer than’ to describe how many objects there are in each set.

1st Nov - This week, the children will build on their subitising skills. They will continue to use ‘perceptual’ subitising – instant recognition – by saying the number of sounds that they can hear, such as claps or drum beats, without needing to count. They will be encouraged to look closely at small quantities and observe whether the quantity has changed or only the arrangement.

18th Oct - This week, the children will explore how numbers can be composed of 1s and, from this, begin to investigate the composition of 3 and 4. Composing and de-composing numbers involves children investigating part–whole relations, e.g. seeing that 3 can be composed of 1 and 2. The children will learn from practical experience that a ‘whole’ is made up of smaller parts and is, therefore, bigger than its parts.

11th Oct - This week, the children will engage with activities that draw attention to the purpose of counting – to find out ‘how many’ objects there are. They have used subitising to identify the number in a set; they will now develop their counting skills to enable them to identify how many there are in a set that cannot be subitised. This connects subitising and counting to cardinality whereby the last number in the count tells us ‘how many’ things there are altogether.

4th Oct -This week, the children will be encouraged to quantify sets of objects by subitising, rather than counting. When subitising, children can say how many there are in a small group of objects by ‘just seeing’ and knowing straightaway without needing to count.