Dear Family, your Operation Maths guide to Area

Dear Family, below is a brief guide to understanding the topic of area, as well as some practical suggestions as to how you might support your children’s understanding at home. Also below, are a series of links to digital resources that will help both the children, and you, learn more about area. The digital resources are organised according to approximate class level:

• Second to Fourth classes
• Fifth and Sixth classes

Understanding Area

Area is the size a surface takes up: the size of the space that the grass of your garden covers, the size of the space on the cover of an Operation Maths book, the size of space that your house covers on its site. As children often confuse area and perimeter encourage them to compare these concepts to real examples eg:

• Garden: Area = the ground covered by lawn, decking and/or patio; perimeter = the length of fencing or walls.
• Room: Area = the space covered by flooring (carpets, tiles etc.); perimeter = the length of the skirting boards or length of walls.
• Playground or school yard: Area = the space covered by tarmac, grass etc; perimeter = the length of the fencing or walls.

Area is measured in square units. Like other measures, area has been traditionally measured using two separate systems: imperial units/US customary units (square foot, square yards, acres, square miles) and metric measures (square centimetres i.e. cm² , square metres i.e. m² , hectares and square kilometres i.e. km²). In Ireland, the changeover to all metric measures began in the early 1970s and was completed in 2005. Therefore, only metric measures are taught in Irish schools.

In school, the children are first introduced to area in second class, where, using non-standard measures, like books, copies, cards, envelopes (see above), they start to estimate and measure how many are required to cover various surfaces. They will be enabled to consider space on a surface and which has the greater area (covers more) or the lesser area (covers less) as shown below.

In third and fourth classes the children measure area by counting square units. In fifth and sixth classes the children estimate, measure and calculate area using the standard metric square units (square centimetres i.e. cm² , square metres i.e. m² , hectares and square kilometres i.e. km²) will also explore “short cuts” like using formulas for area ie Area of a Rectangle = Length x Width. However, it is hope that the children come to deduce this “short cut” for themselves, after lots of exploratory work, rather than just being given it.

Do you know how the metric system came into being? It has an interesting history! Watch this video and/or read this article. For more background info on area you can read these posts from Maths is Fun and SplashLearn.

Practical Suggestions for all Children

• Draw your child’s attention to area and perimeter in their lives at home and beyond, and make distinctions between the two maths terms:
  • Garden: Area = the ground covered by lawn, decking and/or patio; perimeter = the length of fencing or walls.
  • Room: Area = the space covered by flooring (carpets, tiles etc.); perimeter = the length of the skirting boards or length of walls.
  • Playground or school yard: Area = the space covered by tarmac, grass etc; perimeter = the length of the fencing or walls.
• Encourage younger children to play with shapes like pattern blocks, tangrams etc. How many of one shape is required to cover another?
• Encourage your child to identify their own personal benchmarks for these metric measures e.g. the top of a child’s little finger covers approximately 1 cm² ; look around the house to find a window or mat of anything that is approximately 1 m² . This will help the child relate to these units of area and to internalise them.
• Involve your child in any area measuring activity that might be required around the home. Reseeding the lawn? How much grass seed is required for that area? Getting new carpet or flooring? Painting the walls? How do you calculate the area to make sure the correct amount is bought?

Digital Resources for Second to Fourth Classes

Maths at Home – Area: (Year 4) a series of lessons.

Matholia – Area: A number of video lessons including Introduction to Area and Comparing Area.

Khan Academy – Area (Third Grade): Watch the videos and then answer the practice questions. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics/grades.  

Happy Numbers Third Grade: Pupils could start the activities in Module 4, Topic A,  B and D.  When completed they could move on to all the topics in Grade 4, Module 2, Topic A.

Area & Perimeter: Tool from Toy Theater, for exploring and creating shapes with various areas. Another similar tool is this one from Maths Frame

Area Builder: Choose GAME. You will be challenged to build a shape with an area of a specific number of square units. (You could also try the EXPLORE option allows you to build shapes of various areas).

Area Games: From Splash Learn 

I know it: Choice of games including Counting Square Units and Area of Rectangles and Squares

Area: a selection of games from ixl.com. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription. Choose your class level.

Area: Practice games from Math Games. Choose your class level.

Digital Resources for Fifth and Sixth Classes

Maths at Home – Area: (Year 4) a series of lessons, that could be followed up with the Area lessons in Year 5.

Matholia – Area: A number of video lessons inclding Introduction to Area, Comparing Area, Measuring Area in Sq Centimetres, Area & Length of a Square, Finding the Area of Composite Figures and an Area Problem Solving Lesson.

Khan Academy – Area (Third Grade): Watch the videos and then answer the practice questions. Afterwards, for something more challenging,  look at the Fourth Grade activities on Area and Perimeter. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics/grades.  

Happy Numbers Third Grade: Pupils could start the activities in Module 4, Topic A,  B and D.  When completed they could move on to all the topics in Grade 4, Module 2, Topic A.

Area & Perimeter: Tool from Toy Theater, for exploring and creating shapes with various areas. Another similar tool is this one from Maths Frame

Area Builder: Choose GAME. You will be challenged to build a shape with an area of a specific number of square units. (You could also try the EXPLORE option allows you to build shapes of various areas).

Scootle – Compound Shapes: Play this game to find the area.

That Quiz – Geometry: Options to calculate the area of rectangles, triangles, circles and trapezoids. You can also choose to calculate the length of the perimeter of the shapes.

Area Games: From Splash Learn 

I know it: Choice of games including Counting Square Units, Area of Rectangles and Squares, Area of Rectangles 1, Area of Rectangles 2 and Area of Triangles

Area: a selection of games from ixl.com. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription. Choose your class level.

Area: Practice games from Math Games. Choose your class level.

Math is Fun – Area: Background information on length and its main metric units.  

Maths by Month – March (updated 2021)

Welcome to the March installment of Maths by Month.

Whether your children return to face-to-face teaching this month, or continue to engage in distance learning at home, rest assured that Edco Primary Maths and the Operation Maths blog will continue to support teachers, schools and families, including:

• Dear Family, our ever-expanding series of posts, aimed at parents and families, supporting children’s mathematical development at home
• Digging Deeper, our series of posts, aimed at teachers, providing deeper insights into the underlying theory, approaches and pedagogies behind the various maths topics
• About Operation Maths posts, for teachers who want to find out more about the Operation Maths program itself.

HINT: To ensure you don’t miss out on any future blog-posts, please subscribe to the Operation Maths blog via email, on the top right hand of this page.
Another way to keep up to date an all new maths-related developments is to like/follow the Edco Primary Maths page on Facebook and/or Twitter 

Operation Maths for Junior Infants to Sixth Class:

• Junior Infants: Representing and Interpreting Data (week 1), exploring aspects of Shape and Space via 2D shapes, 3D objects and spatial awareness (week 2), and developing an understanding of the concept of Time via sequencing of familiar daily events and the days of the week (week 3).
• Senior Infants: Length, Analysis of Number (Numeration) looking at the number ten; Comparing and Ordering and Combining and Partitioning amounts to up to ten. They will also further consolidate their understanding of Pattern (Algebra) and graphs (Representing and Interpreting Data) via linked activities.
• First Class: Length, Operations (addition and subtraction without renaming) and Fractions.
• Second Class: Operations (addition, without and with renaming, and subtraction without and with renaming, the latter of which is new content while the other material will be revision of first class work); Length (including the formal introduction of the centimetre as a standard unit of measure). 

Teachers of Infants to Second Class: if you choose to administer the Operation Maths End of February Assessments when you return to school, don’t forget to check out the Excel Record Spreadsheets to accompany the assessments in the Assessment Booklets; if you have any suggestions for how to improve these, please leave them here.

• Third class: Area, Multiplication & Division and Symmetry
• Fourth class: Money, Area and Symmetry
• Fifth class: Area, Addition & Subtraction and Directed Numbers
• Sixth class: Money, Directed Numbers and Area

To access lists of relevant links and online resources, navigate towards the end of the relevant Dear Family posts, for a whole suite of suggestions, organised into approximate class levels.

Don’t forget that integrated with your digital Operation Maths pupil books, are numerous custom-made digital resources to support each maths topic. Just click any of the hyperlinks while viewing the digital book to bring you direct to the relevant resource.

TIP! If there are any digital resources for a particular page, they will also be briefly given and described in the footer of that page (both print and digital books). 

HINT: If you are new to Operation Maths this year or have changed class level, be sure to check out the Quick Start Guide to the Operation Maths books and the companion Quick Start Guide to the Operation Maths Digital Resources. Don’t forget that Operation Maths also has you covered for planning whether you’re teaching a single class or multi-class. 

Other suggestions for March:

• Engineer’s Week runs from Saturday, 27 February – Friday, 5 March. There are obvious connections between Maths and Engineering, a fact which is being celebrated by the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) movement globally. Click on the link above to access lots of ideas to help you organise fun challenges that create a positive awareness and spark enthusiasm about the engineering profession in young people.
  • Of the STEM areas, coding is one of the most exciting, not least of all to kids! And Operation Maths is the only Irish maths programme that has integrated coding activities via the Scratch Lessons for Operation Maths 3-6. Check out the scratch lessons that are included in the Operation Maths digital resources via your TRB or edcolearning.ie
  • For infants, the Aistear Themes are an ideal way to explore STEM using a thematic focus; consult the Junior and Senior Infants TRB for the monthly Aistear suggestions.
  • For some more primary-focused STEM activities, check out the links below:
    • Twinkl’s FREE resources for Engineer’s Week
    • https://thestemlaboratory.com/kindergarten-stem-activities/
    • https://www.playdoughtoplato.com/stem-activities-for-kids/
    • https://www.stem.org.uk/resources/elibrary/resource/31235/primary-school-activity-booklet
    • https://www.steampoweredfamily.com/education/free-stem-activities-for-the-classroom/
• World Book Day is on the first Thursday of March, and while the primary resources accessible on the site are mainly literacy linked, there are lots of possibilities for numeracy and literacy linked activities for this global celebration including:
  • Book measurements: Find the longest, widest and thickest/deepest book from a collection of books. How can you prove you are correct? (Great way to link with length if you are doing it this month!)
  • Carry out a survey to find out the favourite books / authors of the children in your class.
  • Choose a page from a book. Work out the average number of words per sentence.
  • These ideas are included among many other suggestions from Teaching Ideas for World Book Day and World Book Day Maths Activities.

We’re here to help! If you have any questions on Operation Maths, Number Facts or anything related to primary maths over the course of the school year, please PM or contact Edco Primary Maths via Facebook and/or Twitter 

Dear Family, your Operation Maths guide to Length

Dear Family, below is a brief guide to understanding the topic of length, as well as some practical suggestions as to how you might support your children’s understanding at home. Also below, are a series of links to digital resources that will help both the children, and you, learn more about length. The digital resources are organised according to approximate class level:

• Junior & Senior Infants
• First and Second classes
• Third to Sixth classes

Understanding Length

Length is the distance between two points; the length of the pencil is the distance from one end to the other; the length of a person is the distance from their feet to the top of their head. Certain lengths will often be described using other words; lengths that are typically vertical will be described as height; if an something is 2-D or 3-D the side with the shorter(est) length will typically be described as the width or breadth or depth. There are many adjectives to describe length: long, tall, wide, broad, deep, short, narrow, shallow etc.

Like weight and capacity, length has been traditionally measured using two separate systems: imperial units/US customary units (inches, feet, miles etc) and metric measures (metres, centimetres, millimetres, kilometres etc). In Ireland, the changeover to all metric measures began in the early 1970s and was completed in 2005. Therefore, only metric measures are taught in Irish schools.

In school, the children are enabled to compare, estimate and measure length. In the infants classes, the children work with non-standard units (e.g. what is the length of the table in paper clips, markers or straws?) and then they are gradually introduced to the standard metric units of length i.e. metre (first class), centimetre (second class), kilometre (third class) and millimetre (fifth class). Children in the older classes will also be introduced to, and work with, more complex concepts related to length, such as perimeter and scale on maps etc.

Do you know how the metric system came into being? It has an interesting history! Watch this video and/or read this article. For more background info on length you can read these posts from Maths is Fun and SplashLearn.

Practical Suggestions for all Children

• Talk about length, width, distances etc with your children. Draw their attention to length in their lives at home and beyond:
  • Long items and short items; tall people and short people; narrow bridges and wide roads; deep end of the swimming pool and the shallow end.
  • Look at the labels on children’s clothes; do they notice how, in many shops, there is a number on the label (eg 128, 134, 140 etc) that indicates the height of the child in cm. What other clothing items mention cm?
  • If competing in, or spectating at, running races (eg Community Games, Athletics Ireland events) or swim meets, take note of how the distances are usually in m and km.
  • Look at road signs indicating distances in km; explore map apps and sat navs on devices (e.g. Google Maps) to identify the distance between your location and your destination.
  • If looking at maps, locate the scale reference to get a sense of how the distances represented on the map relate to the distances in reality.
• Encourage your child to develop their own personal benchmarks for metric measures e.g. the width of a child’s little finger is approximately 1 cm; the width of a child’s outstretched arms (arm span) is often 1 m; the length of a child’s ‘giant’ step is often 1 m; the width/depth of a bank card or loyalty card is approximately 1 mm. This will help the child relate to these units of length and to internalise them.
• At home, use a height chart to measure and record your child’s height. Or mark and measure heights on a piece of furniture, door jamb, etc. Return to this every six months or so, to allow your child to reflect on their own growth.
• What objects do you have at home that can measure length? Measuring tapes, rulers etc., could be left somewhere, easily accessible, so that they can be used for play purposes. Allow the children to explore how they work and use them to measure the length/height of the items and people. Draw your child’s attention to the markings and their meaning, and to how many mm there are in a cm or a m, how many cm in a m etc.
• Involve your child in any measuring activity that might be required around the home. Getting new furniture? How big is each piece? Will there be enough room for it? Getting new curtains or blinds? Measure together the width and drop that is required. Getting new carpet? What length of a roll is needed?
• Enlist the help of older siblings if available. As they explain and support the younger members of the family, they will also be developing and consolidating their own knowledge and skills, especially communicating mathematically.
• Draw the children’s attention to any other situation where length needs to be considered: height requirements for fairground or theme park rides; height requirements for children’s car seats, maximum size of baggage allowed with airlines, etc.

Digital Resources for Infants

Comparing Lengths: A video lesson from Matholia

Comparing Lengths: A story lesson from Matholia

Measuring Length (non standard units): A video lesson from Matholia

Long and Short with Kermit & Grover: The Sesame Street favourites explore long and short.

Number Jacks: Going Wrong, Going Long. Another episode for length is Measured Response

Happy Numbers Kindergarten: Work through the activities from Module 3, Topic A and B.

Let’s Compare: A comparing sizes game, including picking out the biggest, smallest, shortest etc

I know it – Longer/Taller or Shorter: Interactive quiz for Kindergarten. Also available: Measure length in non-standard units. 

Long, tall, short, wide, narrow: a selection of games from ixl.com. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription.

Digital Resources for First and Second Classes

Measuring Length (non standard units): A video lesson from Matholia

Units of Length – Metre: A video lesson from Matholia. Follow this with Measuring Length in Metres

Units of Length – Centimetre:  A video lesson from Matholia. Follow this with Measuring Length in Centimetres

Comparing Lengths: A video lesson from Matholia

Bar Models: A video lesson from Matholia, showing how to use bar models to solve length addition problems. Follow this with how to solve length subtraction problems.

White Rose Length & Height: a series of lessons on comparing and measuring lengths and heights. These series of lessons could be followed up with other measurement lessons in year 1 and/or year 2

Khan Academy – Length (First Grade): Watch the videos and then answer the practice questions. Afterwards, for something more challenging,  look at the Second Grade Activities. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics/grades. 

Happy Numbers First Grade: Pupils could start the activities in Module 3, Topic B.  When completed they could move on to all the topics in Grade 2, Module 2.

That Quiz – Measurement: Measure the length of the fish in cm. Select level 1 on the left hand side.

Splash Learn – Measurement Games: (First Grade) Estimate and measure length. Second class class could try the Second Grade games, choosing metric units. 

I know it – Length: Interactive quizzes on longer/taller and shorter, measuring length, estimating length in centimetres and measuring length in centimetres.

Measurement: a selection of games from ixl.com. Choose the games to do with long/tall and short, length and centimetres. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription.

Digital Resources for Third to Sixth Classes

Converting metres and centimetres: A video lesson from Matholia. Follow this with converting metres to centimetres

Converting metres and kilometres: A video lesson from Matholia.

Bar Models: A video lesson from Matholia, showing how to use bar models to solve length multiplication problems. Follow this with how to solve length division problems.

White Rose Length & Perimeter: a series of lessons, that could be followed up with other measurement lessons in year 3, year 4, year 5, and/or year 6.

Khan Academy – Perimeter (Third Grade): Watch the videos and then answer the practice questions. Afterwards, for something more challenging,  look at the Fourth Grade activities on Area and Perimeter, the Metric System and/or Converting Metric Units. Or even the Fifth Grade activities on Converting Metric Length Units. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics/grades. 

Finding the Area & Perimeter of a Rectangle: A video lesson from Mashup Math.

That Quiz – Measurement: Measure the length of the fish. Select level 1 on the left hand side, initially and then work up to level 2 and 3.

That Quiz – Geometry: Options to calculate the perimeter of rectangles, triangles, circles and trapezoids. You can also choose to calculate the area of the shapes.

Splash Learn – Measurement Games: These games cover how to measure length, measure the perimeter of regular shapes, the perimeter of non-regular shapes,  calculate a side length when given perimeter, calculate the perimeter of simple shapes, perimeter of complex shapes, converting metric units, including metric units with decimals.

Coconut Ordering Game: Select Length to order amounts of cm and m.

I know it – Third Grade: Scroll down to Measurement (metric units of length) to select those activities. For perimeter activities scroll down to Geometry (perimeter). There are similar activities in Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade.

Measurement: a selection of games from ixl.com. Choose the games to do with length and metric units of length. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription. 

Comparing and converting metric units: Practice games incorporating metric units of weight, capacity and length.