A useful video can be viewed here
Looking for sites for your child to use? Click here.
Homework - Numeracy
*In the juniors children will be given specific number goals. A lot of those can be done out loud, wherever you are. Children enjoy playing games to help them practice their goal, so having flash cards of numbers ready is a great way to help. Children also enjoy using window markers to record answers and small whiteboards or chalkboards. Physically practising a number goal is always a great idea, if it is backwards counting, a child could jump backwards as they count along a number line to help them understand the concept. If it is about numbers that come before and after, they could physically jump to the number that comes before or after a number that you call out.
*Children also enjoy a bit of competition, if you can make it a competitive game somehow, this will build up their speed of recall. Using a fly swat to swat the correct answer first is something we use in class and children love doing this.
*Children do need to have instant recall of the knowledge they are working on, this can take time, don’t be in a hurry for them to rush through number goals as taking time to consolidate knowledge will be better for them in the long run.
*As this knowledge is vital to a child’s strategy development at school it helps to go back through old number goals from time to time to ensure children have not forgotten these.
*At all levels it is a great idea to use playing cards for practise, deal two cards and add them together, subtract the smallest, multiply them, or practise a specific times table or division by dealing one card and multiplying or dividing by that number.
*Playing catch while doing the number goal is always a great way to make numbers fun. You can take turns counting in 2’s, 5’s, 10’s as you throw the ball, or you can you can practise basic facts with the person throwing the ball posing the fact and the person catching answering.
*Middle and senior children will also have a goal focus to practise and all the ideas listed above work just as well for these. If in doubt practising addition, subtraction, multiplication and division are always a good idea. Basic fact knowledge is crucial for children to have instant recall of, this is vital to support their learning in class. Nothing beats good old rote learning when it comes to basic facts. Children all seem to have difficulty developing speed with subtraction. If they do not have a goal to focus on, this is always a good thing to work on. Subtraction to 10, 100, 1000 etc, as far as your child is able to go.
*Remember - number goals focus on knowledge, the idea is for children to have instant recall of this knowledge. The more they practise the basics, the more confident they will be when working in class. This leaves children better able to develop strategies in class.
Websites/Apps to help:
Sumdog - www.sumdog.com
https://www.nessy.com/tablesofdoom/ (you need to pay to subscribe to this)
There are numerous apps out there for free download or payment through i-tunes account. The EdAlive series are always good and are available on the app store.
There are also a lot of songs based on multiplication on i-tunes, and loads of maths related songs on youtube.
For lots of good ideas based on the New Zealand Curriculum please visit:
www.nzmaths.co.nz and click on the link that says families.
