Which one is missing?

A full set of dominoes has twenty eight different tiles. But how do you find which one is missing when you are deliberately given an incomplete set?
You use your systematic thinking skills that's what you do! So that is just what the pupils of Ganges class have done. It was great to see everyone rising to the challenge and working step-by-step to find the piece, or even pieces, they needed to complete their domino set.

Thinking systematically

Systematic team work

Knowing how to think and work systematically is a great skill to develop for continued maths understanding, so that is just what we have been doing in class. Tackling each aspect of the problems given step-by-step as you work with a partner also helps us to cooperate and discuss what we are doing with each other. 

Here we have worked out the different ways to make a 3 X 3 square using just Numicon 1 and 2 tiles. Very important to think systematically so that we discover all of the possibilities.

A tasty maths lesson

Let's solve this and then we can eat!

The children in Ganges have all been working on solving challenging fraction problems based around a maths story of a number of children going on a picnic and sharing the food out. To make it clearly a real life problem we had a number of freshly baked and deliciously smelling French baguettes in class.

Once they had written their maths story with the key fraction facts included in the narrative it was time to eat. It seemed that working our brains hard had given everyone a good appetite!

Different ways to arrive at the same answer

It is sometimes the simple equipment which is the best and it doesn't come much simpler than interlocking plastic cubes. These simple, yet effective, cubes have been so useful in giving a clear visual on the different multiplication problems that end up with the exact same answer.

We were working in partner pairs on this work which also led to a good deal of mathematical discussion and great team work.

You write it down and I will show it with cubes

Venn diagrams and times tables

Knowing your times tables is one of the important things we work on in Year 4. When thinking about two different times tables at once it can be quite a challenge. To help our understanding we have been using a practical Venn diagram where the answers from one times table go on one side, the answers from another times table go on the other side and the same answers that appear in both of them go in the middle.

Seeing it in this practical way where we have to physically place the numicon tiles really helps in securing the times tables facts.

Year 4 + Year 6 = Success

Solving a maths challenge

As part of our Science/STEM week we have been working on a whole range of fun maths challenges kindly loaned to school by the university. Children from Ganges class spent an engaging lesson in the Year 6 classroom where the older pupils worked with the younger mathematicians to assist them in trying to complete all manner of tasks.

From number to 2D shapes to time and compass points, the activities most certainly ensured the children from Ganges had to draw on all different aspects of their maths learning to have any chance of solving the challenges. The Year 6 children would drop in a gentle hint if it was needed and worked really well as mentors to all of Ganges class.

Year 4 + Year 6 = Success

STEM Week Maths Measuring

As everyone in Ganges class now knows, STEM stands for Science Technology Engineering and Maths - STEM. In the first week of February we have had a whole school Science/STEM week and this gave us the perfect opportunity to use maths in science experiments. 
After hearing a story which posed the question of which type of ball would bounce the highest the children set about designing a 'fair test' to see if they could answer that very question. 

The experiment in action

The children used a metre ruler to ensure that they dropped the ball from the same height and also had a clear point of reference for the bounce measurement.

Watching carefully to get an accurate measurement

Everyone had a role and here you can see the experimenter, the observer and the data recorder testing a tennis ball. The groups worked on either a wooden floor, carpet or an outside surface so they could see if the type of surface had an impact on the results of how high the balls bounced. 

The results made for interesting reading which generated a great deal of mathematical discussion.

Cooperating with coordinates

X axis is horizontal, Y axis is vertical

So many areas of maths have applications to real life and if you are ever stuck on a Lakeland Fell with a broken ankle you might just need to let the emergency services know exactly where you are. Knowing how to correctly read the coordinates on a grid is just what the children in Ganges have been doing as they have made a selection of different shapes with pegboards.

Working with a partner to form symmetrical shapes and then record the coordinates ensured there was lots of discussion about how to correctly record the coordinates with the coordinate on the X axis recorded before the coordinate on the Y axis.

Team work in action

Developing mental strategies for dividing and multiplying by 10 and 100

Using base ten resources

Being able to efficiently divide and multiply by 10 and 100 is a useful skill to have and one we have been working on in class. Using the base ten resources comes in very useful to assist in that development. As you can see in these photographs the children have been moving the resources around the place value grids to check their thinking as they work on different questions.

Physically moving the resources helps to develop thinking.

Number cards showing the starting number

 

Moving the number cards to clarify understanding

Maths - Whatever the weather!

It might be January and rather chilly but that doesn't stop the children in Ganges putting their coats on and getting out in the grounds for some outdoor maths. 
We are thinking about positive and negative numbers here as we see how long a positive and negative numberline we can make across the playground. You can see we used metre sticks so that the numbers were all equally spaced out and once we had done that we investigated the differences between some positive and negative numbers.

Being negative in maths

Some of the class worked inside and they used Numicon tiles to create a positive and negative numberline. It was a clever idea of the group to show the negative side of the line by placing the tiles under the 'line' and the positive numbers above. It shows the difference between the two types of numbers really well.

Clearly showing negative numbers.

Doubling and Halving Challenges

Something 'fishy' about this!

It isn't often that it is good to get questions incorrect but carrying out an investigation into which numbers double and halve using these triangular grids has given us just that opportunity.
As you can see in this example, starting with the number 6 works here. As well as working up the grid we also worked down the grid.
Doing this we found out that numbers such as 18, 30, 42 do not give us an answer with a whole number (the rule was we couldn't get to a fraction or a decimal number).
Working on questions like this where we are uncertain about the outcome really helps us develop our mathematical understanding and is another way of helping us respond positively to challenges.

Using Number Trios

Practical resources help our learning.

The children in Ganges have started the  new term full of vigour as they continue to build on the knowledge they have developed so far this school year. Knowing that there are many different ways to solve maths problems is a key point to understand and using number trios for addition and subtraction is an area they have been working on in class. 
Using the practical Numicon tiles always helps to get the point across visually. We love a challenge in Ganges and it is clear from this book that the work was extended with a more challenging question to really test the understanding. 

Sharing learning with the rest of class.