Good book for KS1 maths?

[marthamoo]

Ds1 (Year 2) brought home a maths worksheet at the weekend. He had done it at school and had got most of them wrong (fractions) so his teacher had sent it home for him to do again. Pretty unfair, imho, as if he got them wrong it's obvious he doesn't understand the work, and needs some further help at school. But I digress..

Maths is not my strong suit and I just couldn't find a way of explaining HOW to do the fractions..they were really hard, eg., a quarter of 36, half of 70. He ended up getting frustrated and upset and we just gave up in the end. I hated maths at school and I really don't want him to have the same mental block about numbers that I have. Can anyone recommend a book that will help me explain things to him in a way he can understand?

[janh]

marthamoo, my DS is in Y6 and he still has a bit of trouble with fractions - it's the concept that 1/4 means "divide by 4". Must say that giving Y2 fractions with numbers like 36 and 70 seems unnecessarily difficult.

He has now grasped that 1/4 does mean divide by 4, but it gets harder, because as they get older the sums get reversed, eg what is 24 3/4 of? In a sum like that he will divide 24 by 4, not 3, multiply the answer by 3 and come up with a number that is smaller than the number he started with! (Hope you are still with me and not running round the room singing with your fingers in your ears....)

I don't know of any useful books, there are primary school teachers here who may be able to help - but for now, could you try writing out the same fractions but using smaller numbers? Instead of a quarter of 36, a quarter of 8, and so on, and then work up to the bigger numbers - how far along has he got with times tables? (I still think using 70 is out of order!)

HTH...

[mumeeee]

That work seems a bit hard for year2 they dony usually do fractions like this until the Juniors.
I'm sure my children didn't have fractions in their KS1 SATS. I should have a word with his teacher. I live in Wales and 7 year old SATS have been abolished here.

[popsycal]

hello folks...
i have asked my kids today after following a homeworj where many strggled (they sholdn;t have - they are an able set) whether thye would ask their parents if they would like a 'parents' sheet' about al the new methods.....grid method...chunking...etc
LOADS of parents said yes
have has many letters in past saying that they want to help ther kids but don't understand the new methods
Am trying to create some un-patronising 'help your child do new maths' sheets and would appreaciate input from MNers .....

[popsycal]

GOD APOLOGIES FOR BAD TYPING!!!!

[popsycal]

ps - a company called CGP have cheap and quite fun books...nd if you can bribe your school to order them for you they are even cheaper.
let me know if you want the contact details

[soyabean]

Could you ask the school to do a workshop for parents on how to help your child with maths? We have them about once a year at our school and they are very useful and well attended.

[marthamoo]

Thanks for that - sorry I've not replied til today, NTL was playing up last night so no internet. I'm glad it isn't just me that thinks it's too hard, janh! I am going to have a word with his teacher about how to explain things (I think workshops for parents are a fab idea, soyabean).

popsycal, yes please, I'd be interested in knowing where to get the books - and I think the "help" sheets would be a good idea..why don't you write a book? I had a look in Smiths and Waterstones yesterday but they mostly had workbooks and I'm after an "explain it to un-mathematically minded Mum book"! Plus, most of them seemed to be by Carol Vorderman and I can't stand the woman.

[popsycal]

martha....the books are by CGP publishing...you can buy them from waterstones etc
but if you school requests a catalogue and is willng to process the order...maybe for you and other parents..then you will get them for between £1.00 for workbooks to about £2.20 for explain all the key facts books
they do them for all year groups and have loads of different titles
not at work today - ds sick and asleep atm
but will dig out info tomorrow
hold on - gonna google and will post a link here in a mo

[popsycal]

here you go
i like the idea of me writing a book!!!!!

[marthamoo]

Thanks, popsycal, you're a sweetie

[popsycal]

however....i am here most evenings...and more thanhappy to help if you get stuck on homework

you comment about the book has got me thinking...there is definitely a gap in the market
and i do write......
how do i go about this before someone beats me to it!!!!

[Sonnet]

My DD is in year 2. I have found the "Collins" books good - purchased from Amazon. They do 3 books per school year designed to cover each term.
DD "Struggled" with Maths last year and I bought the year 1 books and we went over them in the summer holiday (horrid Mum eh?!). The result was that she was much more confident starting year 2 and so far has done brilliantly with Maths.

[hmb]

CGP books and excellent at KS3 and KS4. Don't know much about their books at KS1 and 2, you can doen load some free work sheets, and they look quite good

[popsycal]

they are brill for ks1 and 2 - especially sats revision

[Tinker]

Blimey, glad it wasn't just me who thought they seemed hard for Year 2. My daughter is Y2 and on Saturday I got her (her choice?) a Letts maths Basics book from Waterstone's. She loves it, just sees it as a puzzle book. It's aimed at Key Stage 1 (and let's hope SATS for 7yr olds get abolished here as well). Would recommend this marthamoo

[hmb]

I think that the revision books are excellent for KS3 and $ as well (no, I don't get paid by them). We get them in school and 'encourage' the kids to buy them from us. We pass on all the discount the we get for buying in bulk. They are very good. I wish the kids would spend their cash on them instead of getting hyper on E number laden Panda Pops at lunchtime. Lesson 7 and 8 tend to be spent getting some of them down off the walls and down to some work.

I'm off work at the moment as Ds is still ill, and I almost broke my foot falling down the stairs, so I'm on crutches! I'm almost missing school!

[popsycal]

hmb
am off work too
ds ill too
no broken foot tho...although it may get me more time off work....

[hmb]

Don't try it! It hurts too much, and everyone laughs at you!

Thank goodness, didn't break the foot, but it is very swolen, and brused all over. I'd almost rather be teaching my awful year 11s!

[popsycal]

it must be bad then!!
ds is sleeping loads today...getting this stupid form done!

[hmb]

YUP! Year 11, don't you just love them? At this class are the pits. All 'attitude' driven, no SN. I'd done a very detailed cover lesson, with lots of W/S and drawing and writing (amazingly they like that sort of thing). One of my mates tried to go in an be nice to them! An almost fatal mistake

[soyabean]

Marthamoo you could ask the PTA or a parent governor whether a parents workshop/,meeting could be arranged. We had one tonight and although I did go to one a couple of years ago this has reminded me about number lines, inversion and partitioning. TRhese seem to me to be the key ways they teach now and are very different from the way I learnt, but they do make sense. The teacher (Numeracy coordinator)showed us how they teach and it was extremely helpful. Only 45 mins or so, so I dont think it was too much of an imposition for her. One workshop for all parents, KS 1 and 2.

[popsycal]

this has made me decide...i am going to do one of these parents evening things