Maths by Month – December (updated 2019)

Welcome to the fourth installment in this year’s series of posts designed to explore the Operation Maths topics on a month-by-month basis, giving teachers greater insights into the concepts at hand, when they are most relevant. While each monthly overview will specifically zone in on the Operation Maths topics for that particular month, the information and suggestions will be relevant to ALL primary teachers, whether they are Operation Maths users or not.

Operation Maths for Junior Infants to Sixth Class:

• Junior Infants: Analysis of Number (Numeration) looking at the number four
• Senior Infants: 3D Objects, Spatial Relations and Time (the days of the week).
• First Class: Money, Place Value within 20, Patterns and Capacity.
• Second Class: Time (the calendar) Place Value within 99 and Representing and Interpreting Data

• Third Class: Multiplication and Division, Time and Money
• Fourth Class: Fractions and Patterns & Sequences
• Fifth Class: Fractions and 3D Objects
• Sixth Class: Fractions  and 3D Objects

Operation Maths users can also access a class specific, month-by-month list of relevant links and online resources via the Weblinks document, accessible on www.edcolearning.ie. 

1. Log into your edcolearning account
2. Click on the At School Book/Pupil’s Book for your class level.
3. Click on the Edco Resources icon (on book cover image on left-hand side)
4. Select Weblinks from list of categories and then click to download the document.

• Also accessible on  www.edcolearning.ie.  are the custom-made digital resources to support these topics. These will all be viewable when you click on the Edco Resources icon as directed above.

Other suggestions for December:

• This year, Computer Science Education Week runs from 9-15 December, during which time, they are also encouraging everybody, young and old, to engage with their annual Hour of Code event.  Coding is the future! Computers are changing every industry on the planet. Every 21st-century student should have the opportunity to build technology. Click on the links above to access Hour of Code and other computer science activities for learners of all ages. Operation Maths users can also access the tailor-made Operation Maths Scratch lessons on https://edcolearning.ie 
• NRICH have recently launched their 2018 Primary Advent Calendar. They have lots of other Christmas-themed activities that can be accessed here: https://nrich.maths.org/public/search.php?search=christmas. They also have an Advent-themed sudoku challenge that some of the more-able senior class pupils might like to tackle.
• Mash-up Maths have a Christmas-themed 12 Days of Holiday Math Challenges. Suitable for 1st class up, it might be better to hide all the puzzle initially. Then, reveal just one line at a time and ask the children to record and justify all the possible solutions based on what they know at that point. As they move through each line, they can then justify why they should now discard certain options. This is a better way to engage all of the children in thinking mathematically, rather than it just becoming a race to the solution (which can often turn-off those less mathematically-inclined). For more of this type of problem sign up to the Mash-up Maths weekly newsletter, to receive lots of other themed maths puzzles and challenges like this Grinch-themed challenge.

• Interested in more Christmas-themed maths problems? From Dec 1-24 the German Maths Society posts a daily problem (in English) on its online Advent Calendar. There are 3 levels of difficulty, 4th class to adults.