Maths by Month – October (updated 2022)

Welcome to the second installment in 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 the school year, Edco Primary Maths and the Operation Maths blog continues to support teachers, schools and families, along the way. Central to this is our Digging Deeper series of posts aimed at teachers and the extensive 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:

Teachers of infants to second….scroll down to Other Suggestions for October to access links to some Halloween and autumn-themed maths read-alouds and picture books!

• Junior Infants: Early Mathematical Activities (comparing and ordering), Algebra (extending patterns), Analysis of Number (Numeration looking at number one)
• Senior Infants: Data, Algebra (extending patterns), Time, Counting, Analysis of Number (Numeration, Combining, Partitioning)
• First Class: Counting and Numeration, Operations, Extending and Using Pattern
• Second Class: Comparing and Ordering, Operations, Counting and Numeration

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 October Assessments

• Third Class: Addition and Subtraction and 2-D Shapes
• Fourth Class: Addition and Subtraction and 2-D Shapes
• Fifth Class: Addition and Subtraction and Time
• Sixth Class: Addition and Subtraction and Time

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

Don’t forget that integrated with your digital pupil books, are numerous custom-made digital resources to support each maths topic. Just click any of the hyper links while viewing the digital book (see example of purple icon below) 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 October:

• Halloween and autumn-themed maths read-alouds and picture books: click on the link for each book below to bring you to a link on https://archive.org/ * or to a read-aloud version on YouTube:
  • At the Old Haunted House: In this house there are 2 witches, 3 monsters, 4 black cats…. all the way up to 11 spiders!
  • Ten Timid Ghosts: Ten ghosts, a witch, and a haunted house make this Halloween countdown (from 10 down) a spooky treat!
  • 10 Trick-or-Treaters: another story counting down from 10
  • Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins: First, Sam finds two pumpkins, then two more, then four more, then eight more. A perfect introduction to the concept of doubling and number sequences, as well as adding and subtracting, in general. 
  • It Was Halloween Night…a Scary Math Story — with Tangrams!  Angry about being given a tangram puzzle instead of candy, trick-or-treater, Greedy Pete smashes it and finds it pursuing him as it rearranges itself into various animals.  If available, the children could use their own tangrams to re-create the various animals for themselves.

* https://archive.org/ is an online digital library/archive that is free to access. Just click on a book link above, register/log in for FREE, and then simply “borrow” the required book for an hour. After an hour you can choose to borrow it again if required.

• The October plan for third to sixth classes has deliberately allowed for a free week, to enable teachers to engage with Maths Week, held every year at this time. This year, Maths Week will run from 15-23 October. So why not start to consider now, how your school might get involved in this national celebration of maths, and don’t forget to register your school at the link above. Check out their resources, including problem solving, puzzles, acmhainní as gaeilge, and their resource packs by class level also. You can also follow these links below, from previous Maths Weeks, to find out more about Maths Art (which, coincidentally, links very well with October Operation Maths for 3rd and 4th classes i.e. tessellations in 2D shapes), Maths and history and code breaking.
• You could also make Maths Week become a game-themed week in your class. Teachers of third to sixth classes could use the Games Bank in the Operation Maths TRB. Teachers of infants to second classes can use any of the games listed in the short-term plans in their TRBs.
• Another option for Maths Week, if you didn’t already do it in September, is Jo Boaler’s Week of Inspirational Maths. Click on the link for an overview of the activities in Week of Inspirational Math, and scroll down to the bottom of the page to access all the resources; Kindergarten roughly aligns with Infants, Grade 1 and 2 with 1st & 2nd classes, and Grades 3-5 roughly align with 3rd-6th classes.
• Other STEM events to consider during October:
  • Space Week 4-10 October
  • Codeweek.eu 8-23 October

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