Published on 20/10/17
On October 4 Mrs Digby and Miss White ran a mental maths workshop for all of our Pre-Prep parents. There was a great turnout with between 30 and 40 parents attending.
We discussed how we always use practical equipment when first introducing a concept to the children. This included how we model maths problems with the manipulatives and then move on to a pictorial representation of the problem, to enable the children to really visualise and understand what they need to do. We gave parents a pack of resources that they could use at home with their children.
We emphasised the importance of practising times tables, discussing one more and one less, ten more and ten less etc. for different numbers and learning number bonds to 10, 20, 50, 100, along with doubling and halving. A key part of maths is helping children to see patterns.
Practically at home, children could work out how many knives and forks will be needed for dinner or how much change they would get from 10p, 20p, 50p or £1 for different items. Could they make their own shop? Using chalk to draw maths problems and shapes also works well, as does writing numbers in the sand. There are endless possibilities to be creative with maths and playing maths games really does help children to enjoy maths. Make it fun!
Parents really appreciated the workshop and the handouts, and went away ‘buzzing’ with ideas.