supporting your child in Key stage 2 maths
So your child is progressing through school and you are unsure how to help with maths ?
liz Henning - former senior teacher and head of mathematics
What are your feelings about maths yourself ? If you loved it at school or grew to love it when you left , the chances are that you have a fairly positive attitude which your child will pick up on . On the other hand if you detested it at school you will need to be careful not to transmit this to your child .
We are not born loving or hating a subject so it is our experiences that influence us . Children absorb these influences like sponges . Be mindful of your reaction when your child says ’ s he has maths homework to do . A positive reaction will create a healthier learning starting point .
Encouraging your child ’ s effort is preferable to giving praise for ‘ being clever ’. We want our children to grow to respect effort over innate ability . This will help to develop a growth mindset rather than a fixed one .
Maths can be incorporated into everyday home life very easily indeed . If you are trying to amuse children on a car journey ( and are not driving of course ) you could ask them to gauge whether there will be music or talking on the radio before you switch it on . Do their guesses change if you are tuned to Radio 1 or Radio 4 ?
Car number plates provide easy numerals to play with . For example you could add the digits to see if who can get to 20 , 40 or 50 exactly . One child could read the plates of red cars only whilst another blue cars only , to create competition . Who gets closer ?
In the house , ensure that you have analogue clocks on view and not always rely on phones or digital clocks to read the time . Refer to the passage of time , for example ‘ Gosh I have been ironing for 45 minutes ; I started at 4 0 ’ clock and it is now a quarter to 5 ’. When approaching bedtime you could ask how long they have left . It is surprising how many teenagers today cannot read the time , do not wear a watch and rely on mobile phones to give digital displays .
Involving your children in baking is a good way to help them to understand weighing and measuring ingredients . Sharing cake or pizza also provides a working knowledge of equal parts and fractions . Letting your children have a bath instead of a shower allows them the opportunity to play in the water and get a sense of capacity as well as floating and sinking . Washing up dishes also helps here too .
When you are in the shops , allow your child the chance to see real money in use , rather than plastic cards . This will help with understanding the cost of items , the value of currency and change . Where possible let them buy items and check the change . Ask questions such as ‘ Will I have enough money to buy this ?’ ‘ How many can I buy for £ 1.00 ?’ How much change will I get ?’ ‘ Can you check the change for me please ?’
We live in a world where mobile phones , showers , dishwashers , credit cards and online purchasing all make calculations less obvious . With a little extra thought however , parents and carers can easily help remedy this .
Another easy way you can help your child is to buy a times table chart , available at budget book stores . This will allow the child to start to see patterns . For example the multiples of 5 are 5 , 10 , 15 , 20 , 25 , 30 etc . and end either in a 5 or a 0 . The digits of the 9 times table add up to 9 for ex-ample 9 , 27 , 36 , 45 , etc . What other patterns can your child spot ?
You might consider buying some Numicon tiles which are a great help in assisting children in number from early number through to fractions and decimals . Starter homework bags are available for just over £ 13 from https :// global . oup . com / education / product / 9780198487067 ? region = uk ( ISBN 978 0 19 848706 7 ).
Finally there are lots of great websites available with free ideas . You might like ‘ Hit the Button ’ http :// www . topmarks . co . uk / maths-games / hit-the-button which is great fun !
Another site with great activities is ‘ Mathsticks ’ http :// mathsticks . com / Enjoy !
Together Magazine 9