Operation Maths Quick-start Guide

Using Operation Maths for the first time? Here is a general quick-start guide for teaching the topics.

Operation Maths for Junior Infants to Second Class:

1. Start with whole class warm-up and oral; see topic-specific suggestions in the Teacher Resource Book (TRB) or choose your own. Follow this with discussion questions (also in TRB).
2. Pair work, an activity based in the At School book.
3. Exploration of concrete materials via Maths Stations; again see topic-specific suggestions in the TRB.
4. Complete relevant activities in At School and At Home books. The introduction of the TRB includes a year plan that lists the relevant pages of each book per topic, along with other details such as strand and strand units. Bearing in mind that Operation Maths is based on a CPA approach, it is envisaged that the child would engage in all the concrete and pictorial activities for the topic before doing the pages in their books.

For more detailed information on managing the content with Junior Infants to Second Class please read on here.

For a quick-start guide to the digital resources, please read on here.

Operation Maths for Third Class to Sixth Class:

• The Teacher’s Resource Book (TRB) for Operation Maths 3-6 is divided into daily sections, each dedicated to a specific learning outcome.
• Each topic has material for for either five or ten days, depending on whether it is a single/one week topic or double/two week topic. Double topics are indicated on the contents page of each book using an asterisk (*).

Teachers should start with the daily lesson suggestions in the Teacher’s Resource Book (TRB) as follows:

• Oral and mental starter
• Discuss and teach provides suggestions on how to achieve the learning outcome.
• Pupils’ book and/or discovery book: gives the details for the location of the specific questions that reinforce and consolidate the learning outcome(s) covered in the discuss and teach section.
• Digital Resources will briefly list any relevant digital activities that can be used from the comprehensive suite on edcolearning.ie . These are also referenced in the Pupils’ books as well and, if accessing the digital books, clicking on the hyperlinks in the Pupils Book will open the resource directly from the book (this is actually the easiest way to access the digital resources).
• Extra exploration: Suggested activity for early finishers.

Pupils’ Book & Discovery Book: Since Operation Maths is based on a CPA approach, the children’s experience of Operation Maths should not be a purely book-based one. That said, when navigating the children’s books, it will follow this general pattern:

• The topic (be it single or double), starts in the Discovery Book with the Starting Point activity (see example below), which revises familiar topics or sets the scene for new ones. There may often be no other book-based activities for Day 1.

• Subsequent “days” (excluding the last day of each topic ie day 5 or day 10) may focus on the Pupils book only, or move between the Pupils’ Book and the Discovery Book. On the days when both books are in use, icons are used to indicate when it would be most appropriate to move to the other book (see below)

When the child has completed the activities in the Discovery Book there is often a similar icon there, redirecting the child back to the Pupils’ Book.

• Consolidation is the focus of the last day of each topic i.e. day 5 or day 10. The children can complete the Learning Log activity in their Discovery Book either on this day or on the previous evening as a homework activity. They can also complete the topic assessment in
• their Pupil Assessment book.

For more detailed information on managing the content with Third to Sixth Class please read on here.

For a quick-start guide to the digital resources, please read on here.

If you are new to Operation Maths, we recommend that you:

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