Maths by Month – June (updated 2021)

The final month of the school year is almost upon us, and as usual, this heralds the last installment in this year’s series of posts designed to explore the Operation Maths topics on a month-by-month basis.

As we move towards the end of this challenging school year, rest assured that Edco Primary Maths and the Operation Maths blog will continue to support teachers, schools and families, via:

• 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.

Book lists not finalised yet? Please consider Operation Maths, Number Facts, Bua na Cainte, Exploring Spelling, Let’s Talk Literacy, Explore with Me and My Learner ID. Click on the links for more information and to view sample pages from each program and/or contact your local Edco reps for samples.

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: will be reinforcing their understanding of the numbers 0-5 via the topic of money.
• Senior Infants: Further Counting and Numeration, Comparing and Ordering and Combining and Partitioning of numbers to 10; patterns (different arrays of the same number, colour patterns, number patterns, odd and even numbers); time (one-hour intervals).
• First Class: Weight; Patterns; 3-D objects (in particular, connecting their understanding of 3-D objects to their understanding of 2-D shapes)
• Second Class:  More Place Value to 199; Area; Lines and Angles (revisiting half turns and quarter turns)
• Third to sixth classes: Operation Maths 3-6 is specifically structured so that the programme can be completed by the end of May, thus covering all of the topics in advance of the standardised testing.
  Depending on your own specific school circumstances, you may find yourself looking for inspiration to fill the maths lessons from now until the end of month. Whether you’re an Operation Maths user or not, there are a whole suite of suitable ideas for June maths on this blog post.

Teachers of Infants to Second Class: if you choose to administer the Operation Maths End of June Assessments, 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.

To access lists of relevant links and online resources (eg lessons, videos, games etc), 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 June:

• We have a separate post entitled Maths for June where there is a whole suite of ideas, that are ideal as end-of-year maths, whether you’re an Opeation Maths user of not.
• Maths outside: not only is this typically the time of the year when teachers are bringing their classes outdoors for learning, but this yer we are being encouraged to be outside as much as possible.
  • Outdoor Classroom Day was May 20 2021. This global event promotes the use of the outdoors to teach, explore and learn. If you missed this day, you might like to do an Outdoor Classroom Day in June instead. There are lots of resources with suggestions for all subject areas, including maths, https://outdoorclassroomday.com/.
  • For more ideas for outdoor maths you could also check out:
    • the Maths Around Us activity ideas in your Operation Maths book
    • the Maths Around Us videos accessible at https://www.edcolearning.ie/
    • this post, Maths fun in the sun
    • Stem Smaointe 8 from the PDST

Dear Family, your Operation Maths guide to Spatial Awareness

Dear Family, below is a brief guide to understanding the topic of spatial awareness 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 spatial awareness. The digital resources are organised according to approximate class level:

• Infant classes
• First and second classes

Understanding Spatial Awareness

Spatial awareness is being able to describe the position of something/someone in relation to another, using words and/or gestures, and being able to represent spaces and locations using models and/or drawings. For example, it includes being able to tell another where to find shoes, books etc., and it would also include being able to draw a simple map for someone with directions for how to get somewhere.

This maths topic has a lot in common with language, communication and geography skills. The concepts of spatial awareness also lay the foundations for all aspects of geometry, be it at upper primary, secondary or an even higher level.

Essentially your children need to develop an understanding that:

• The spatial relationships between objects and places can be described and represented, for example using positional words (such as over, under, up, down, on, beside, in, above, below, near, far, right, left), and directional words (go straight, go through, stop, turn left, turn right, clockwise, anticlockwise).
• These relationships may be viewed, described and represented differently depending on the perspective of the viewer (in particular, consider left and right; if we’re facing each other and I hold up my right hand, it is opposite your left hand).
• Developing the ability to mentally visualise the representations will enhance a person’s ability to picture how a shape will look when rotated when turned, flipped etc. Therefore, we should encourage our children to imagine or picture places and locations e.g. “Think: when we go to Granny’s house, do we turn right or left at the end of our road/street/driveway?”

Practical Suggestions for Supporting Children

• When doing things together at home, or when out and about, try to use the language of spatial awareness as much as possible with your child, for example using positional words (such as over, under, up, down, on, beside, in, above, below, near, far, right, left), and directional words (go straight, go through, stop, turn left, turn right, clockwise, anticlockwise).
• Always remember that most spatial language depends on the perspective and direction/location of the person using it; an object could be very close to me but far away from you. Of all the spatial words, left and right are possibly the most confusing: an object to my right, will be to your left if you are facing me. Therefore, be especially mindful of using these words correctly with your child. Click here to read more on the difficulties with left and right.
• Play, play, play! Games and puzzles such as jigsaws, tangram puzzles, using mazes, grids and board games all promote the development of spatial skills. Twister is a particularly good example of a suitable game.
• Children often find looking at maps really interesting! When out and about or travelling somewhere, use maps to track where you are going. If you visit a tourist attraction (e.g. zoo, forest park etc.), let your child have a copy of the accompanying map/guide so that he/she can be responsible for directing the family around. Other ideal outdoors activities include treasure hunts and outdoor mazes.
• Look at Google Maps. Find your local area in satellite mode; can your child(ren) pick out any familiar features? Can they trace their regular journeys to the school, shops, friend’s houses etc?
• Coding is a STEM area that develops spatial awareness and the ability to mentally visualise various representations. Your child could explore basic coding via simple coding programs and apps, such as Lightbot and Scratch Jr.

Digital Resources for Infant Classes

White Rose Geometry – Position & Direction: a series of lessons on position and direction for year 1. 

Spatial Awareness: A series of video lessons from Matholia including Introduction to Positions and Naming Left and Right

FCPS – Positional Words: An instructional video

Happy Numbers Pre-Kindergarten – Above and Below: Pupils could start the activities in Module 2, Topic A, and then progress to the activities in Kindergarten, Module 2 also. 

Right or Left: Which way is the animal facing?

I Know It! A game on Position and Location and another on Right and Left.

Math Games – Geometry: Select any of the positions games from Junior Infants or Senior Infants

Geometry: a selection of games from ixl.com. Select any of the games from Junior Infants, Section F and Senior Infants, Section I. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription. (Please note that the class levels given do not always align accurately with the content of the Irish Primary Curriculum)

Digital Resources for First & Second Classes

White Rose Geometry – Position & Direction: a series of lessons on position and direction for year 1. These could be followed up with other lessons in year 2, week 1 and week 2

Spatial Awareness: A series of video lessons from Matholia including Introduction to Positions, Naming Left and Right, Clockwise and Anticlockwise, Turns 1 and Turns 2.

FCPS – Positional Words: An instructional video

Turns on a compass: Compare the start and end positions of the dial and decide how it turned.

Turn the man: Explore how many times you need to turn the man to match the images. 

Right or Left: Which way is the animal facing?

I Know It! A game on Position and Location and another on Right and Left.

Math Games – Geometry: Select any of the positions games from First Class or Second Class

Geometry: a selection of games from ixl.com. Select any of the games from First Class, Section O. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription. (Please note that the class levels given do not always align accurately with the content of the Irish Primary Curriculum)

Maths by Month – May (updated 2021)

Welcome to the May installment of Maths by Month. Summer is officially here, made even more real by some of the recent spells of fine weather. Hopefully we get to enjoy more good weather this coming month!

As we move towards testing season, and the end of this challenging school year, rest assured that Edco Primary Maths and the Operation Maths blog will continue to support teachers, schools and families, via:

• 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: Weight, Capacity, and more exploration of Comparing and Ordering and Combining and Partitioning amounts to up to five
• Senior Infants: Further consolidation of amounts to up to ten via Counting and Numeration, Comparing and Ordering and Combining and Partitioning; Money
• First Class: Money, 2-D shapes and Operations (to include addition with renaming)
• Second Class:  Operations (addition & subtraction within 99, without and with renaming), Money and Place Value to 199.
• Third class: Capacity, Sequences & Number Sentences and Chance
• Fourth class: Capacity, Number Sentences and Chance
• Fifth class: Capacity, Number Sentences & Equations and Chance
• Sixth class: Capacity, Equations & Variables and Chance

Teachers of Infants to Second Class: if you chose to administer the Operation Maths End of April Assessments, 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.

To access lists of relevant links and online resources (eg lessons, videos, games etc), 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 May:

• May the Fourth Be With You! International Star Wars Day (May the fourth) is almost here!
  • For any of the Star Wars fans in your class, why not try out this selection of themed puzzles and images from MashUp Math? And stay away from the dark side!
  • Another teacher has created a selection of attractive and free posters Star Wars that also promote a growth mindset to maths at the same time. To download yours, go to his blog here.
• Outdoor Classroom Day is May 20 2021. This global event encourages us to use the outdoors to teach, explore and learn. There are lots of resources with suggestions for all subject areas, including maths, https://outdoorclassroomday.com/.
• For more ideas for outdoor maths you could also check out:
  • the Maths Around Us activity ideas in your Operation Maths book
  • the Maths Around Us videos accessible at https://www.edcolearning.ie/
  • this post, Maths fun in the sun
  • Stem Smaointe 8 from the PDST

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