Author Archives: Operation Maths

Dear Family, your Operation Maths guide to Decimals and Percentages

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

• Third and Fourth classes (Decimals only)
• Fifth and Sixth classes (Decimals and Percentages)

Understanding Decimals and Percentages

Decimals, or decimal fractions, to give them their full title, are fractions of a whole amount, where the whole has been divided into ten parts (tenths), a hundred parts (hundredths), a thousand parts (thousandths) etc. They are typically written using a decimal point. This means that an amount that is the same value may be describes as a fraction, as a decimal fraction and as both, e.g.:

1/2 (1 half) = 5/10 (5 tenths) = 0.5 = 50/100 (50 hundredths) = 0.50 etc

Percentages are very closely related to both fractions and decimals: per cent means out of 100, therefore an amount of percent is the same as that amount of hundredths, e.g.:

25% (twenty five percent) = 25 hundredths = 25/100 = 0.25

In Operation Maths, the children are first formally introduced to decimals (tenths only) in third class and then to hundredths in fourth class and thousandths in fifth class. The children are also introduced to percentages in fifths class. However, it is worth noting that the children would have informally explored decimals since being introduced to euro and cent in first class.

Since decimals are inherently linked with both fractions and the place value system, (also introduced in first class), the children’s understanding of decimals and percentages in the senior classes will build on this prior knowledge.

Practical Suggestions for Supporting Children

• Draw your child’s attention to decimals and percentages around your home and in the wider environment, e.g:
  • Decimals on products 1.5 litre bottle of water, 2.5 kg bag of dog food, petrol or diesel sold per litre as cents to tenths (e.g. 125.9c/litre)
  • Percentage discount: 20% off, 10% off, 50% extra free etc.
  • The percentage left for a device to fully charge or for a program/movie to fully download.
  • The percentage power left in the battery
  • Recorded times (as decimal fractions of a second) for races, etc.
• When you are talking about decimal numbers be careful to use the correct language e.g. for 23.05 say ‘twenty three point zero five’. (Remember: 0 is a digit called zero, whereas O or ‘oh’ is a letter of the alphabet and not a number at all! So, when verbalising numbers with zero, try to get into the habit of saying ‘zero’ instead of ‘oh’).

Digital Resources for Third and Fourth Classes

White Rose Maths – Decimals: a series of lessons, including Tenths as Decimals, Hundredths as Decimals, Writing Decimals, Comparing Decimals, Ordering Decimals and Rounding Decimals.

 

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Matholia – Decimals: A series of video lessons. Third class should focus on decimals to tenths, and fourth class on decimals to hundredths.

 

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Khan Academy – Decimals: in this video and the videos that follow, explore decimal fractions and then answer the practice questions. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics. 

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Happy Numbers – Decimal Fractions: A series of lessons and activities; scroll down to do Module 4 (Fourth Grade)

 

 

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Maths Frame – Empty Number Line: Practice placing decimal numbers (tenths and hundredths) in the correct position; choose 0-1 in tenths or hundredths initially and then move to the next levels to challenge yourself. 

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Caterpillar Ordering: Choose ordering to order numbers with tenths (1 decimal place)

 

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Coconut Ordering: Hit the numbers in order of size. Select ‘numbers’ and then choose from numbers up to 10, 1 decimal place or 2 decimal places or both.

 

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Hit the Button: a great site for practicing quick-fire questions; options include Number Bonds (make 1 and make 10 with numbers to 1 decimal place), Doubles (to 10, 1 decimal place) and Halves (to 10, 1 decimal place).

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Place Value Charts: Make a given number by combining the parts that make up the number. Select practice and then either T O . t (1 decimal place, for third class) or T O . t h (2 decimal places, for fourth class) in either column.

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Rocket Rounding: A multiple choice game with options to round decimals to the nearest whole number. Start with the easier option of having a number line and then try to play the other more difficult option, no number line.

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Battleship Numberline: Can you blow up the enemy submarines? This game starts very easy, where you must click the correct fraction on the number line, but then the game progresses in difficulty as the player must work out where a given fraction would be placed on the blank number line. Choose the decimals game. 

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I Know It! – Decimals: Scroll down to Decimals (Third Grade) to do any of the activities with tenths (third class) and/or hundredths (fourth class). There are some more advanced decimal activities in the fourth grade section, both in the section on Numbers & Place Value and in the section on Fractions & Decimals. 

 

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Splash Learn – Decimals: An assortment of decimal games organised according to US grade levels; third classes could do the games that include tenths only and fourth classes could look at all the Fourth Grade games.

 

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That Quiz: Each of these quizzes have lots of options, on the left hand side, that can be changed to suit the ability of the child. Each time do the set 10 questions, if you get 10 or 9 correct, go up a level; if not stay at that level. Choose from Identify to identify and order decimals (choose decimal options for both on left hand side), Arithmetic for various calculations involving decimals (choose decimal option on left hand side), Inequalities for comparing decimals and/or fractions and Reduce for converting decimals to an alternative form. 

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Decimals: a selection of games from ixl.com. 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 Fifth and Sixth Classes

White Rose Maths – Decimals & Percent: a series of lessons, including Decimals as Fractions, Thousandths, Rounding Decimals, Order & Compare Decimals, Percentages, Percentages as Fractions and Decimals, Adding Decimals 1, Adding Decimals 2, Subtracting Decimals 1, Subtracting Decimals 2, Multiplying Decimals,  and Dividing Decimals.

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Matholia – Decimals and Percentage:  A series of video lessons. For decimals, fifth and sixth classes should focus on the lessons involving decimals to thousandths (3 decimal places).

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Khan Academy – Decimal Place Value: explore decimal fractions in this series of lessons, and then answer the practice questions. If you wish, follow this up with Adding Decimals, Subtracting Decimals, Multiplying Decimals, Dividing Decimals or a series of lessons covering all Decimal Operations. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics. 

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Khan Academy – Ratios, Rates and Percentages: Scroll down to the sections on percentages to explore them in this series of lessons, and then answer the practice questions. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics. 

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Mashup Math: A collection of video lessons including Writing Decimals in Expanded Form, Converting Decimals to Fractions, Adding & Subtracting Decimals, Multiplying & Dividing Decimals and Percent Increase Problem.

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NCETM – Linking Fractions, Decimals and Percentages: A series of video lessons aimed at years 5 and 6

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Happy Numbers – Decimal Fractions: A series of lessons and activities exploring decimals to thousandths and operations involving the same. Work through the activities in Modules 1, 2 and 4.

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Maths Frame – Empty Number Line: Practice placing decimal numbers (tenths and hundredths) in the correct position; choose 0-1 in tenths or hundredths initially and then move to the next levels to challenge yourself. 

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Hit the Button: a great site for practicing quick-fire questions; options include Number Bonds (make 1 and make 10 with numbers to 1 decimal place), Doubles (to 10, 1 decimal place) and Halves (to 10, 1 decimal place).

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Rocket Rounding: A multiple choice game with options to round decimals to the nearest whole number. Start with the easier option of having a number line and then try to play the other more difficult option, no number line.

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Battleship Numberline: Can you blow up the enemy submarines? This game starts very easy, where you must click the correct fraction on the number line, but then the game progresses in difficulty as the player must work out where a given fraction would be placed on the blank number line. Choose the decimals game. 

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I Know It! – Decimals & Percent: Scroll down to Fractions-Decimals-Percent (Fifth Grade) to do any of those activities. There are also more decimal activities spread throughout the Place Value, Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication and Division sections. 

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Splash Learn – Decimals: An assortment of decimal games aimed at Fifth Grade

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Decimal Games & Percentage Games: An assortment of games using numbers of various sizes. Fifth and Sixth class should do the games up to 3 decimal places.

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That Quiz: Each of these quizzes have lots of options, on the left hand side, that can be changed to suit the ability of the child. Each time do the set 10 questions, if you get 10 or 9 correct, go up a level; if not stay at that level. Choose from Identify to identify and order decimals (choose decimal options for both on left hand side), Arithmetic for various calculations involving decimals and/or percent (choose desired options on left hand side), Inequalities for comparing decimals, percentages and/or fractions and Reduce for converting decimals and percentages to an alternative form. 

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Decimals and Percents: a selection of games from ixl.com. 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)

Dear Family, your Operation Maths guide to Directed Numbers

Dear Family, below is a brief guide to understanding the topic of directed numbers (fifth and sixth classes only), 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 directed numbers.

Understanding Directed Numbers

Directed Numbers are numbers with both size and direction; one direction is positive, and the other is negative. For example, temperature is typically described in a number of degrees either above zero (positive values) or below zero (negative values). Positive and negative numbers are also referred to as integers.

In Operation Maths, the children are first introduced to directed numbers in fifth class, where the focus is on the children appreciating where directed numbers can be encountered in real life, for example:

• Temperature
• Bank statements/ money accounts: having money is shown as positive (+) and owing money or overdrafts are shown as negative (-)
• Elevations above and below sea level
• Floors below the ground floor in a large building are often labeled as -1, -2 etc
• Golf scores are written as above and below par
• Goal difference in soccer league tables
• Depths in a swimming pool

In school, the children are encouraged to use the words positive and negative, rather than plus and minus; for example for the value -6 we should say negative six rather than minus six. This is particularly important for when the children start adding positive and negative numbers (in Operation Maths 6): for example (–3) + (+9) should be read as ‘negative three add/plus positive nine’ rather than ‘minus 3 plus plus 9’. It is also important that the children recognise that positive numbers can be written either with, or without, the positive sign, therefore we can assume that any number, without a sign, is positive.

Practical Suggestions for all Children

• Draw your child’s attention to wherever they or you encounter directed numbers (see above for possible examples).
• If your child is having difficulty visualising, comparing, ordering etc directed numbers, encourage them to think of a real example. One of the most-relatable of these is that of temperatures and the thermometer. Look at a real thermometer or use an online virtual example such as this one.
• As explained above, encourage your child to use the words positive and negative, rather than plus and minus, when describing directed numbers.

Digital Resources for Fifth and Sixth Classes

Integers: Video lesson that introduces integers (positive and negative numbers) and where they occur in real life

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Mashup Math – Elevation above or below sea-level: A video lesson that explores elevation as examples of positive and negative numbers.

 

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Negative Numbers: A series of video lessons from White Rose Maths, including Introducing Negative Numbers (Year 4), Negative Numbers (Year 4), Negative Numbers (Year 5), Negative Numbers in Context (Year 6), Negative Numbers (Year 6), Add and Subtract Integers (Year 6).

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Khan Academy Negative Numbers: A series of videos and practice questions exploring negative numbers. Afterwards, for more of a challenge, look at Integers and Whole Numbers. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics/grades. 

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Maths Frame – Empty Number Line: Practice placing positive and negative integers in the correct position; choose -5 to 5 initially and then move to the next levels to challenge yourself. 

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What is the Temperature? Identify the temperature shown on the thermometers. A way to practice directed numbers in a real-life context. Includes values above and below zero, and has options for various ranges.

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Caterpillar Ordering: Choose Ordering and then -10 to 10 to order integers.

 

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Coconut Ordering: Hit the numbers in order of size. Select ‘numbers’ and then choose from numbers from -10 to 10 to order integers.

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Number Lines in Disguise: A challenge and interactive game (scroll down) from NRICH; Can you work out the number marked by the dot? Includes positive and negative numbers.

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That Quiz: Inequalities for comparing numbers, Arithmetic for addition calculations involving directed numbers and Number Line for identifying numbers by their position. In each of these activities there is the option to include negative numbers along with positive; just make sure the the “negative” option is selected on the left hand side.

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Number Line App: This virtual tool can be used to explore the position of values on a number line,including positive and negative numbers; also to model addition and subtraction involving positive and negative numbers.

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Directed Numbers Counters: These double sided counters can be used to model addition and subtraction involving positive and negative numbers (ensure that the “sign” option is ticked).

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Integers (Directed Numbers): a selection of practice games from ixl.com. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription. Start with the second class games and work up through the activities.

 

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

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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 copncepts 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.

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

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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.  

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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.

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

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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).

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Area Games: From Splash Learn 

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

 

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.  

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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.

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

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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).

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

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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.

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Area Games: From Splash Learn 

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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

 

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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.

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

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

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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

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Comparing Lengths: A story lesson from Matholia

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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Digital Resources for First and Second Classes

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

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

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

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Comparing Lengths: A video lesson from Matholia

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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.

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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

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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. 

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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.

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

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

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

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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.

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Digital Resources for Third to Sixth Classes

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

 

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Converting metres and kilometres: A video lesson from Matholia.

 

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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

 

 

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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

 

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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.

 

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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. 

 

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

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Maths by Month – February (updated 2021)

Welcome to the February installment of Maths by Month.

As we proceed with the current reality of distance learning, 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: Analysis of Number Comparing and Ordering and Combining and Partitioning amounts up to five.
• Senior Infants: Analysis of Number (Numeration) looking at the number nine; Comparing and Ordering and Combining and Partitioning amounts to up to nine.
• First Class: Representing and Interpreting Data, Place Value within 99, Counting and Numeration to 100 and exploring Pattern in repeated addition, and addition facts on the 100 square. The Operation Maths 100 square eManipulative will be invaluable for these latter activities.
• Second Class: Weight, Time (to quarter hours on an analogue clock and to half hours on a digital clock) and Estimation (how to estimate to total of addition calculations within 99). The development of keen estimation skills is very important throughout Operation Maths and work here will lay future foundations.
• Third class: Decimals, 3D Objects and Addition & Subtraction
• Fourth class: Length and Addition & Subtraction
• Fifth class: Fractions, Decimals & Percentages and Length
• Sixth class: Data and Length

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 February:

• Lá ‘Le Bríde, is Monday, February 1st. The story of St. Brigid’s Cloak could be used as springboard into a pattern activity, or a discussion on exponential growth with older students.
• Ireland’s first game in the 2021 Six Nations (against Wales in the Principality Stadium) is on Sunday 7th February. Some mathematical possibilities:
  • With older children, use the opportunity to explore the rugby union scoring system, and to identify what scores (up to 30, for example) are possible (how?) or impossible.
  • Calculate the number of games to be played; what if the competition had less or more teams, how many games would need to be played then?
  • Use the language of chance to discuss the possible outcomes for each nation in the competition and recognise that while it is impossible to predict the actual outcomes, we can use of knowledge of the teams performances to make informed predictions.
  • Calculate the dimensions of the pitch
  • Run a Fantasy Rugby League in your class
  • Make score predictions for each match and plot how these scores would be recorded on the Six Nations Table
• Storytelling Week runs from 30 January to 6 February. While this is primarily a UK based event, it does serve as a timely reminder of the rich role that mathematical stories can play in the early years.  For teachers of infants to second class, be sure to check out the Literacy suggestions within the Integration section of each short term plan in the TRB.
• Valentine’s Day is Sunday 14th February. Try out these themed problems  and challenges (suitable from first class up) from Mashup Math and, from the Routty Math Teacher, this selection of five Valentine’s Day-inspired starters, that are sure to engage your students and get them thinking critically about maths.
• Pancake (Shrove) Tuesday is Tuesday 16th February. Recipes naturally provide great opportunities for real world maths, for example identifying the measures and amounts required, adding the correct measures to the mix, adapting the recipes to suit more or less people, etc. For more maths-related activities check out these pancake problems.

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 Symmetry

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

• Second classes
• Third and Fourth classes

Understanding Symmetry

Symmetry is introduced in second class and is a stand-alone maths topic in only second to fourth classes. That said, it also features as part of the topic of 2-D shapes in fifth and sixth classes where the children in those classes are asked to “classify 2-D shapes according to their lines of symmetry”.

While there are different types of symmetry (which children will explore deeper in second level maths), the primary curriculum specifies line symmetry, also known as mirror symmetry, reflective or reflection symmetry. 

In school, the children will often have the chance to use special child-safe mirrors to explore this concept, and to look at the mirror image of arrangements of various items. It would be really valuable for the children to be able to do something similar at home, with any suitable small mirrors that might be available (Tip: mirrors with straight outside edges rather than curved edges are better for this, eg a small mirror from the lid of a make-up pallet). Draw your child attention to the way in which the pattern appears to be reversed e.g. in the image above the order of the real cubes is orange, yellow, green, but in the reflection we see green, yellow, orange.

Practical Suggestions for Supporting Children

• Symmetry at home: explore the symmetry that is all around you:
  • Look for examples of symmetry in clothes, furniture, windows, dishes, ornaments, doors, etc.
  • If going for a walk, look out for examples of symmetry in nature eg flowers, leaves.
  • Is there symmetry in any of the numbers we write? What about letters of the alphabet; lower-case and/or upper case (capital letters)? What about the letters in your name?
• Take some time to use mirrors to explore symmetry (as mentioned above, small square, or rectangular, cosmetic mirrors are ideal for this). Using the mirrors the children can create and check symmetrical patterns using cubes, counters, objects etc. They can look for symmetry in numbers and capital letters (eg the letters on the cover of their Operation Maths book, other books, newspapers, boxes, food containers etc). Can your child answer the following questions?
  • What letters or numbers look the same in the mirror? What shapes or images look the same in the mirror?
  • Can you put the mirror along the middle of any letters and numbers so that they look complete? Does this work with any other shapes or images?
  • For some shapes/numbers/letters, is there more than one than one way, that the mirror can be placed?
• Using the mirrors the children can create and check symmetrical patterns using pieces of lego, blocks or other suitable objects etc.
  • Place a mirror to the right or left of the arrangement. Describe what can be seen in the reflection.
  • Change the position of the mirror, perhaps above or below the arrangement. Does the reflection in the mirror look the same? Is it different? How? Why?
  • Repeat using different items and/or arrangements. Ask your child to predict what the mirror image will look like before they actually look into the mirror.
• If your child has his/her Operation Maths twenty frame at home (free with Operation Maths 1 and 2) it can be used to create a symmetry challenge (see below). One person uses counters, lego pieces, buttons etc, to make an arrangement and the other person makes its mirror image. You could also do something similar with a chessboard/draughtboard and the playing pieces.

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• Art and Maths are often very connected, and this is especially the case with symmetry. Why not try making a symmetrical butterfly, symmetry painting and/or your name as symmetrical art? For more art ideas search Google for symmetry art for kids. Older children could also explore mirror writing and how Leonardo da Vinci used it.

Digital Resources for Second Classes

In second class, the children are being introduced to simple symmetry. If your child knows very little about symmetry already, a good starting point is to watch some of the videos below.

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Symmetry: A series of video lessons from White Rose Maths, including for Year 2,  Lines of Symmetry, Draw the Whole.

 

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Intro to Symmetry: A YouTube video that introduces  and explores reflectional (mirror) symmetry.  

 

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Symmetry Land: Learn about lines of symmetry through this song from Numberock

 

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Symmetry Painter: This simple activity allows you to paint on one side and watch as the symmetrical image magically appears on the other side!

 

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Symmetry Matching: 3 different games where you choose the matching symmetrical half.

 

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Symmetry Sorting: 3 different games where you decide if the image shown is symmetrical or not symmetrical.

 

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I know it – Symmetry: Interactive quiz for Grade 1. After, you could try the Grade 2 quiz

 

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Pattern Blocks: Use these interactive pattern blocks to make numerous designs, pictures etc on one side of the screen. And then challenge yourself, or another, to complete the symmetrical image on the other side. 

 

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Symmetry: A selection of simple games from ixl.com. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription. 

 

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Math Games: a simple symmetry game ideal for beginners.

Digital Resources for Third and Fourth Classes

NB: Children in these classes may also enjoy the links for second class above

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Symmetry: A series of video lessons from White Rose Maths, including for Year 4 Lines of Symmetry and Complete a Symmetric Figure.

 

 

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Khan Academy – Symmetry: 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.

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Vertical and Horizontal Lines of Symmetry: learn about different types of lines of symmetry from Mashup Math

 

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Symmetry Shapes: You will be shown a shape and you must create the reflection or mirror image of the shape as reflected in the line of symmetry. Click on the grid squares to colour them in, and then click check to see if you are correct. 

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Symmetry Counters: Similar to the game above, an arrangement of counters will be shown and you move the other counters to create the reflection or mirror image of the arrangement, as reflected in the line of symmetry. 

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Symmetry Invaders: Can you complete the symmetrical images to win this space invaders-type game?

 

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I know it – Symmetry: Interactive quiz for Grade 3. After, you could try the Grade 4 or Grade 5 quiz

 

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IXL: A selection of symmetry games from ixl.com. You can do a number of free quizzes each day without having a subscription.

 

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Maths is Fun: Background information on reflection (mirror) symmetry

 

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Math Games: a whole suit of symmetry games, for a range of class levels; start with second class and work your way up.

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Line Symmetry Quiz: Identify the number of lines of symmetry in each shape by dragging the answers into the correct places.

 

Maths by Month – January (updated 2021)

Wishing you all a healthy and happy New Year and here’s hoping that there are better times ahead for us all.

But, for the meantime, we are all back in the reality of providing distance learning for our classes. As we journey forward together, 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: Analysis of Number (Numeration) looking at the number five, Comparing and Ordering and Combining and Partitioning amounts up to five.
• Senior Infants: Analysis of Number (Numeration) looking at the number eight; Comparing and Ordering and Combining and Partitioning amounts to up to eight; Weight
• First Class: Counting and Numeration (within 99), Place Value within 60, Operations (including developing mental strategies for addition and subtraction within 20) and Comparing and Ordering (comparing sets and identifying the inequality)
• Second Class: Money, Symmetry, Operations (addition and subtraction without renaming, including subtraction as deduction) and Fractions.

HINT: Teachers of Infants to Second Class – if not yet done, don’t forget to use the Operation Maths Assessment Records on excel for recording and collating the End of December Assessments

• Third class: Fractions and Length
• Fourth class: Multiplication & Division and Decimals
• Fifth class: More Division and Data
• Sixth class: Multiplication & Division and Fractions, Decimals & Percentages

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 January:

• Backward Day! The 31st of January marks this little-known celebration which encourages us to reverse or invert the typical societal rules. Without encouraging anarchy, there are obvious opportunities here to explore symmetry, mirror writing etc.
  • Challenge your class to write out the capital letters of the alphabet backwards; not only starting with z but writing each letter as flipped image of itself.
  • Ask them to consider in advance which letters might appear the same when flipped backwards and what letters will appear different.
  • The children’s letters can be checked using small plastic mirrors to see if the image in the mirror is correct.
  • The children can also be asked to do the same thing with the digits 0-9 or even bigger numbers.
• Most parts have had some snow already, and there could be more! The Routty Math Teacher has a whole library of Solve it Friday puzzles many of which align themselves with feasts and seasons. Sign up here to get access to the library and then check out weeks 16-19 for snow-themed puzzles.

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 

Maths by Month – December (updated 2020)

Welcome to the December installment of this year’s Maths by Month posts, designed to explore the Operation Maths topics on a month-by-month basis.

As we journey together through on this school year, with all the uncertainties and possibilities that it may bring, rest assured that Edco Primary Maths and the Operation Maths blog will continue to support teachers, schools and families, along the way.

Central to this will be our Digging Deeper series of posts aimed at teachers and the ever-expanding series of Dear Family posts, aimed at parents and families, supporting children’s mathematical development at home. In addition, for teachers who want to find out more about the Operation Maths program, check out the About Operation Maths posts.

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: 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

HINT: Teachers of Infants to Second Class – don’t forget to use the Operation Maths Assessment Records on excel for recording and collating the End of December Assessments

• 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

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 December:

• This year, Computer Science Education Week runs from 7-13 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 
• Check out the NRICH 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 can be better to hide all the puzzle initially, and 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 explain 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.

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 Fractions

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

• First and second classes
• Third and fourth classes
• Fifth and sixth classes

Understanding fractions

Fraction comes from a Latin word meaning “to break (something) in pieces”; it’s related to the word fracture, meaning to break into pieces, usually used to describe a broken bone. In maths, fractions are the result of dividing something (a shape, object or amount), into a number of equal pieces or parts.

Equal is very important; if we divide something into two parts, but they are not equal, then they are not halves. Therefore it is very important to emphasise to children from the very beginning that the parts made must be equal; in school we often talk about it being a fair share.

And while fractions might seem straight-forward enough, i.e. dividing something into equal parts, even the basic fractions can be interpreted in many ways:

3/4 (say “three quarters”) can be describing 3 parts of something that is is divided into 4 equal parts, eg 3/4 of the square is red (above) or 3/4 of the blocks are red (below).

3/4 can also be interpreted as three out of four i.e. that 3 out of 4 cubes are red or that 3 out of every group of 4 cubes are red (below).

3/4 can also be interpreted as three divided by four or 3 ÷ 4 which gives a value of 0.75, the decimal equivalent for 3/4 (below).

Initially much of children’s exploration of fractions in school, will focus on creating and identifying various fractions (starting with familiar fractions such halves, quarters, eighths, tenths etc).

They will also learn to recognise fraction forms that are the same value (i.e. equivalent fractions eg 1/2, 2/4, 4/8, 5/10 etc), and comparing and ordering fractions. In the senior classes, children will work with less familiar, more complex fractions as well as calculating with, adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions.

Practical Suggestions for Supporting Children

• Use fractions and the language of fractions at home, e.g. when dividing up food (cutting up pizzas, cake, bars of chocolate), when baking (e.g. half a teaspoon, a quarter of a cup, half a dozen eggs).
• Look for fractions when out shopping, e.g. half price. Ask your child to calculate the current price, or what the price was before the reduction.
• Be careful about using fractional language accurately, e.g. there’s no such thing as a big half or a small half! To make fractions, we must create equal parts. Encourage your child to be accurate and to recognise that if something is divided into two parts that are not equal, they are not halves.
• Fractions names can be confusing for children: it makes sense that each part of something divided into ten equal parts is a tenth… similarly for fifth, sixth, eighth, ninth etc. But each part of something divided into two equal parts is a half (plural is halves) and each part of something divided into four equal parts is a quarter. Furthermore, when speaking one eighth (1/8) it can be difficult to distinguish from eight (8). Try to say and explain fraction names clearly, and encourage your child to say them clearly also, so that they appreciate the difference between these similar-sounding words.
• If your child is experiencing difficulties with converting fractions, adding, subtracting or multiplying fractions, encourage him/her to use concrete materials (eg paper plates, paper straws and or pieces of paper) and/or draw pictorial representations, e.g. pie pieces or number lines, to help them visualise what is happening and develop his/her “fraction sense”.

Want to find out more about fractions? Check out this article How can I Teach my Child about Fractions?

Digital Resources for First and Second Classes

Khan Academy Fractions: Watch the videos and then answer the practice questions on halves and fourths (another name for quarters). Afterwards, try the activities in Second Grade. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other areas of First Grade Maths. 

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Hit the Button: Use the Halves game to practice calculating half of a number

 

 

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Fractions practice games from ixl.com. 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) 

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Digital Resources for Third and Fourth Classes

Happy Numbers Third Grade: Third and fourth class pupils could work through the activities in Module 5. 

 

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White Rose Fractions: a series of lessons on Fractions for year 3 and year 4.

 

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

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Fractions Intro: An interactive fractions simulation which explores fractions, equivalent fractions and improper fractions. The accompanying fractions game has various levels of difficulty. Other related fractions simulations at this site include Build a Fraction, Fraction Matcher, Equivalent Fractions and Mixed Numbers.

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That Quiz – Fractions: Use this quiz to practice Identifying Fractions and Comparing Fractions. You can choose different options from the menu on the left-hand side.

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I Know it! – Fractions (Third Grade): Scroll down to the Fractions & Decimals section to do any of the activities. You could also try the Fractions sections in Fourth Grade.

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Hit the Button: Use the Halves game to practice calculating half of a number

 

 

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Battleship Numberline: Can you blow up the enemy submarines? This game starts very easy, where you must click the correct fraction on the number line, but then the game progresses in difficulty as the player must work out where a given fraction would be placed on the blank number line. Choose the fractions game.

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Splash Learn – Fraction Games: An assortment of games organised according to US grade levels; start with the games for third grade level. If too simple, go to the Grade Four games.

 

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Fractions practice games from ixl.com. 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 Fifth and Sixth Classes

Happy Numbers Fourth Grade: Pupils should start with the activities in Module 3. And then progress to Fifth Grade to do the activities in Module 3 and 4

 

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White Rose Fractions: a series of lessons on fractions. These lessons could be followed up with other fraction lessons in year 5 and/or year 6.

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Khan Academy Fractions: Learn how to Add and Subtract Fractions and Multiply Fractions. Afterwards, for more of a challenge,  look at more on Add & Subtract Fractions, Multiply Fractions and Divide Fractions. You can also register for a free Khan Academy account to record your progress and explore other topics/grades.  

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Fractions Intro: An interactive fractions simulation which explores fractions, equivalent fractions and improper fractions. The accompanying fractions game has various levels of difficulty. Other related fractions simulations at this site include Build a Fraction, Fraction Matcher, Equivalent Fractions and Mixed Numbers.

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Thinking Blocks for Fractions: an ideal way to start using bar models, or further practice using bar models, to model fraction word problems and computation. Sixth class pupils could also try out the thinking blocks activities on ratio.

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That Quiz – Fractions: Use this quiz to practice Identifying Fractions,  Comparing Fractions and Operations with Fractions. You can choose different options from the menu on the left-hand side.

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I Know it! – Fractions (Fourth Grade): Scroll down to the Fractions & Decimals section to do any of the activities. You could also try the Fractions sections in Fifth Grade.

 

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Hit the Button: Use the Halves game to practice calculating half of a number

 

 

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Battleship Numberline: Can you blow up the enemy submarines? This game starts very easy, where you must click the correct fraction on the number line, but then the game progresses in difficulty as the player must work out where a given fraction would be placed on the blank number line. Choose the fractions game.

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Splash Learn – Fractions: An assortment of place value games organised according to US grade levels; start with the grade below your current class level i.e. for fifth class pupil’s start with fourth grade games and for sixth class pupils start with fifth grade games.

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Fractions practice games from ixl.com. 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)