Monnow Primary
School
Maths support for
parents
Dear Parents/Guardians
Last academic year during our parent’s forum meeting you said you
would appreciate more support in helping your child with maths at home.
The majority of you felt that you would prefer the support in the way of a
resource pack with useful web-sites as reference.
As a result of this we have put together this pack outlining the objectives
your child is working towards this year, and the strategies we teach to
help them meet those objectives. Within this pack you will find
objectives, examples of each strategy taught and web-site links to
enforce these strategies which can be used by your child at home. We
have also included a number of ways in which you can incorporate
maths into everyday life bringing the learning to life for your child.
We hope you find this useful and as your child moves through the school
you will receive updated versions of this for you to keep up with their
learning.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s
class teacher.
Yours sincerely
Year 6 Teachers
A lot of emphasis in Numeracy teaching is placed on using
mental calculations where possible, using jottings to help
support thinking. As children progress through the school and
are taught more formal written methods, they are still
encouraged to think about mental strategies they could use first
and only use written methods for those calculations they cannot
solve in their heads. It is important that children are secure with
number bonds (adding numbers together and subtracting them
eg 10-6=4, 13+7=20) and have a good understanding of place
value (ten and units etc) before embarking on formal written
methods.
Discussing the efficiency and suitability of different strategies is
an important part of maths lessons. Explaining strategies and
processes orally helps to develop the use of appropriate
mathematical vocabulary.
When faced with a calculation problem, encourage your child to
ask:
 Can I do this in my head?
 Could I do this in my head using drawings or jottings to
help me?
 Do I need to use a written method?
 Should I use a calculator?
Also help your child to estimate and then check the answer.
Encourage them to ask whether the answer is sensible.
Year 6
BIG Maths ‘CLIC’
Jigsaw numbers
Fact families
Smile multiplication
Objective
Calculate mentally with integers and decimals.
Strategies
Mental addition:
56 + 85
(50 + 80) + (6 + 5)
130 + 11
141
With decimals:
7.8 + 6.6
0.8 + 0.6 is 1. 4 and 7 + 6 is 13
13 + 1.4 = 14.4
Mental subtraction:
73 – 38
73 – 30 - 8
43 – 8 = 35
Using a number line:
What is the difference between 56 and 93?
+33
+4
56
60
93
Add 33 and 4 to find the difference which is 37.
Counting on:
84 – 57
Count on from 57 to 60
( hold 3 in your head)
Count on 60 to 84
(24)
Add 24 and 3, which is 27.
This is a good method for finding the change from money amounts.
Mental multiplication:
46 x 5
Partition Tens and Units
46 x 5
(Break up into tens and ones)
40 x 5 = 200
6 x 5 = 30
So 46 x 5 = 230
Mental division:
48 ÷ 6
6 |48
48
6
Division is the inverse or opposite of multiplication.
3 x 9 = 27
27 ÷ 9 = 3
27
27 ÷ 3 =9
3
9
Objective
Use efficient written methods to add and subtract
integers and decimals, to multiply and divide integers
and decimals by a one-digit integer, and to multiply
two-digit and three-digit integers by a two-digit
integer.
Strategies
Written Addition
3896
+
749
Don’t forget
to add these.
4645
1 1
1
Start by adding from the units column. For any total over 9
just put the tens digit under the next column.
Adding decimals:
When you add decimals remember to line up the decimal
points.
Start by adding from
the right – hand
+ 234.56
column.
74.85
Keep going to the left
until all the columns
309.41
1
1
have been added.
1
This will help: When adding decimals, write the
decimal point in the answer space before you start.
Make sure it is lined up with the ones above.
Written subtraction:
Counting on:
+4483
+44
+200
_________________________________________
756
800
1000
5483
4483
200
+
44
4727
Decomposition:
Exchanging:
If one of the columns has a smaller number on top, you exchange
with the number to its left.
When working out the units in this calculation, as 2 is less than 4,
you have to take one of the tens from the tens column and exchange
it for ten units.
So 2 becomes 12. In the tens column, as we have exchanged one of
the tens for units, we now have 8 tens.
Exchanging because of a zero:
This is the same as if one of the columns has a smaller number on top, you
exchange with the number to its left. (Some children will call this knocking next
door)
Written Multiplication:
Grid Method:
54 x 63
x
60
3
50
3000
150
4
240
12
3240
162
3402
Write the numbers round a grid, partitioning each number
into tens and units.
Multiply each pair of numbers to complete the grid, then
add up each row.
Add up the two totals.
Column method:
Set out in the column method, and if you are
multiplying by a single unit you need to multiply every digit,
by the unit. Remember if it’s over 10 to carry over.
Long Multiplication
255
x 25
5100
1275
6375
Long multiplication can start with the tens first
or the units but don’t forget to add the zero.
forget
Written division
Short Method
Long division:
‘Chunking’
597 ÷ 22 = 27 R 3
We use repeated multiplication with numbers we are
confident with such as 10 or 5.
22 x 10 = 220
So we deduct 220 from 597 and we are left with 377. We
still have more than 220 so we repeat the step and we are
left with the remainder of 3.
597
-
2 2 0 ( 10 x 22)
377
2 2 0 ( 10 x 22)
157
1 1 0 ( 5 x 22)
47
4 4 ( 2 x 22)
3
(3 is the remainder)
Objective
Relate fractions to multiplication and division
(e.g. 6 ÷ 2 = ½ of 6 = 6 x ½) ; express a quotient as a
fraction or decimal ( e.g. 67 ÷ 5 = 13.4 or 13 2/5); find
fractions and percentages of whole number quantities ( e.g
5/8 of 96, 65% of £260).
Strategies
A fraction is a certain number of equal parts of a whole.
numerator
¾
denominator
Equivalent fractions are worth the same even though they
may look different .
3/5
6/10
9/15
You can change a fraction into an equivalent by
multiplying the numerator and denominator by the
same amount.
2x3 =6
3x3 =9
You can cancel the fraction down to its simplest form
by dividing in the same way.
16 ÷ 4 = 4
20 ÷ 4 = 5
Comparing fractions:
Making common denominators is one way of comparing
fractions.
Which is bigger, 5/6 or 2/3 ?
5
2
6
3
5 is bigger
6
10
12
›
8
12
Fractions of quantities
1 of 45 = 45 ÷ 5 = 9
3 of 45 = 9 x 3 = 27
5
5
Converting decimals to fractions:
0.64 = 64
16
100
25
0.4 = 4
10
2
5
Percentages
These are just fractions of 100, this is what per cent (%) means – ‘in
every 100’.
15
(x4)
25
60
= 60%
100
Percentages of amounts:
Using 10% and 1% is a good way of working out
percentages quickly:
10% is the same as 1/10 10% of £24 = £2.40
5%
half 10%
20%
double 10%
30%
3 x 10%
£1.20
£4.80
£7.20
Percentages of amounts:
1% is the same as 1
1% of £80 = 80p
100
2%
double 1%
£1.60
3%
3 x 1%
£2.40
Web-site links
Many of the children will recognise areas of these websites as they are often used in the classroom to
consolidate the children’s learning.
https://www.sites.google.com/site/mathsghost13/
We have designed this website to fit in with the Big maths
strategies used in the classroom
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths
http://durham.schooljotter.com/coxhoe/Curriculum+Links/Numerac
y
Broken down into the different areas of maths. This web-site has
many links to other sites, plus a large number of maths games and
activities.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/
Each specific area of maths has a number of different games to
play to practise maths skills.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/websites/4_11/topic/numeracy.shtml
A general web-site covering various different maths topics
http://www.mathsisfun.com/
This site has teaching methods, games and activities ranging from
basic counting up to more complex methods.
http://www.mathszone.co.uk/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/