A typical day in a Killara classroom incorporates a Numeracy “block”. At Killara Primary School, our daily one hour numeracy block is divided into 3 parts.

Each lesson begins with a whole class focus involving number fluency practise and explicit teaching and modelling of the skills to be developed.

Students then move into small groups where they participate in guided practise with the teacher or independent practice of the skill taught at the beginning of the session. During this time students use concrete materials to explore mathematical concepts through reasoning, understanding and problem solving strategies.

The lesson concludes with a whole class reflection, reinforcing the learning intention through reviewing and clarifying key ideas.

If you would like further information regarding the National Prep – 6 Mathematics Curriculum, click here.

Helping at Home with Numeracy

Children need lots of experiences in making, counting, drawing and talking about numbers. Make connections for your child by explaining how numbers and counting are a part of everyday life. The activities below are examples of ways you can help your child develop these skills. You may feel that the maths your child is doing at school is different from how you were taught, but you will still be able to support your child in many ways.

• Playing shop
• Playing games such as Snap, 21, Dice roll and add, ‘I Spy’ locating numbers and shapes
• Play number games online with your child. Try this website: ABC Count Us In
• Identifying, making and drawing patterns
• Measuring things whilst cooking, in bath, sandpit or around the house. Play who can find the heaviest or lightest thing
• Build towers to see who has the tallest, smallest, most blocks
• Go on a Number Hunt and discover all the numbers around, especially for older students, assist in reading them out loud
• For older students, looking at sport scores and working out quick ways to find totals or differences in scores
• Look at weather maps, what is the differences in the minimum and the maximum temperature
• Using recipes to cook is a great way to use a lot of mathematical thinking when measuring and estimating
• Catalogue shopping allows for great discussions on the ‘Best buy’ or how to work out a 25% discount
• Encouraging children to think about money, saving money and considering how they spend money are important skills for all children to develop.

As an extra way to keep in touch with your child’s learning, remember to check your child’s class blog regularly. Follow this link for some more ideas on how you can help your child at home in both Numeracy and Literacy.