Can someone please help and tell if this is year 1maths

[LovingBeingAMummy]

My DS1 had a piece of work in his bag today with a note from the teacher saying he is struggling with the concept of halving.
She asked if I could go over doubles and halves with him.
I did and he said that he found it difficult in school but he also admitted that he didn't pay attention.
I went over it with him and even though he isn't 100% cobfident he is better and happier to try harder at school.
What I would like toknow is if doubling/halving is KS1 work. It just seems a bit too much for him ... could be tired. We are so looking forward to a week off.
Thanks for any info you might have. Don't really want toask the teacher as I want to see what she says atparents evening after half term.

[WigWamBam]

Dd started doubling and halving in year 1.

It's a difficult concept for them to start to grasp, though, and she struggled with it to begin with. They all pick it up eventually, though.

Actually, a lot of the work they started doing in Y1 shocked me - they seem to start them on quite complicated stuff so young these days.

[perpetualworrier]

Mine are in Y2 and reception and some of what he cover has really shocked me. I thought I might get through infant school before having to use reference books to help with their maths! (I have A Level maths, but it was a long time ago )

DS1 did doubles in YR1, I don't remember halving specifically, but I suppose it follows that it would be covered together.

This week in science they have covered how a lightbulb works - I'm sure we didn't do anything like that until secondary.

[LardyMardyDaisy]

DS in Yr1 has done counting in 10s and 5s, adding and now subtracting, as well as the usual counting, but no halving or doubling yet.

[Reallytired]

My son has done halving and doubling in year 1. I think its only difficult if you make it too abstract.

Children of six years old are very much concrete thinkers. If you use objects to explain the concept then it gets much easier. For example

Put 8 cars on a table and ask the child to put half the cars back in a box. You can use any type of toy or sweets even.

You can practice the concept of doubling as well with objects.

Ask them to cut a cake/ pizza/ chocolate bar into two equal pieces. Chocolate with lots of squares is particularly good as you can count the squares.

[suwoo]

Mine is in 'top set' of year one and is bright but no doubling and halving here either. Not sure she would grasp it either?

[dippydeedoo]

Matts is home educated hes 7 now but we halved and doubled by sharing sweets with his brother that inda put it in perspective once it clicks he will race on ....its hard bcos they are very young and i agree its a lot to learn

[PandaG]

halving and doubling def part of Y1 here, ds did it in Y1, and DD is now doing it in Y1 - you need to use concrete objects - counters or sweets or similar, and either sort into two equal piles (or see there is a remainder) or count out another pile with the same number in as the first pile and then push all together and count again

I do some supply TA and this is exactly the maths we were doing in Y1 a couple of weeks ago

[perpetualworrier]

I've just rememberred, DS found saying 6 plus another 6 was easier to understand than double six, so we worked on "translating" it in his head. ie what's double six? is the same as six plus another six.

[hockeypuck]

they have a 'top set' in year 1? Surely they don't segregate kids like that till High School?!!!!

Back to the question. DD in Year1 does mental maths which is adding and substracting, but no doubling and halfing yet. (although they have learnt all about the 50s and 60s and having no tv and coming off rationing. DD said at christmas "I'm very lucky to have all these presents, much luckier than you when you were young and had no electric - I'm 33!!!)

[hockeypuck]

they have a 'top set' in year 1? Surely they don't segregate kids like that till High School?!!!!

Back to the question. DD in Year1 does mental maths which is adding and substracting, but no doubling and halfing yet. (although they have learnt all about the 50s and 60s and having no tv and coming off rationing. DD said at christmas "I'm very lucky to have all these presents, much luckier than you when you were young and had no electric - I'm 33!!!)

[PandaG]

exactly - a pile of six counters, plus another pile of six counters is 12 counters...just need to get the concept that this is doubling

how about using choc buttons, and saying if you can tell me what double these 4 choc buttons are you can have one..or if yo can tell me what half of this number or choc buttons is you can have half? bribery and corruption I know, but may help!

[Reallytired]

suwoo, Why do you not think your child would grasp the concept of doubling and halving?

My son had absolutely no problems and he is on one of the middle tables in his class.

My son found doubling much easier than halving. For doubling all you do is add the number to itself.

He can halve numbers up to ten. He counts on his fingers in twos until he reaches the number he wants to halve.

ie. if he was halving 10 he would count

2,4,6,8,10 using 5 fingers. His answer is 5.

He hasn't yet learnt how to halve odd numbers.

He understands what he is doing because he has played about with marbles putting them into pairs and then counting them.

[jennifersofia]

Yep, just taught doubling and halving last week (am Y1 teacher). They didn't do too badly with it, but some still haven't got concept yet.
We definitely stream children in Y1. Not for everything, but for many of our literacy and numeracy activities we do. I think it would be very difficult to teach them if we didn't.

[FAQ]

Doubling and halving only started in YR2 at DS1's school.

[mankyscotslass]

My son is in YR 1 and they are going to be starting this after half term....they finish for half term today.
Yes, the do stream at yr1, or at least the do in my DS's school. Different colour tables for different levels, although the kids don't recognise what it is (yet).

[LovingBeingAMummy]

Thanks for your helpful messages.
We practised doubling first, with spoons!! He got the grasp of doubling till 5 then used fingers to double 6,7,8,9 but knew 10!!
Once I was happy that he understood doubles we practised halving. He grapsed it quickly using the spoons but when I took the spoons away he knew half of 2,4,6, and 10 but struggled with 8!!
Anyway that was last night and this morning I weaved numbers and doubles/halving into breakfast routine!! He remembered!!
Told teacher what I had done to teach him and she said he really struggled in school. I think he is tired and sometimes doesn't pay attention,especially if he thinks something is too hard. He kept on telling me last night that he couldn't do halves as it was too hard.
It's a shame that school doesn't have the resources to do 1 to 1 when a child struggles with something... what would have happened if I couldn't explain it to him? A fail?
Do anyone know where I can find worksheets for this type ofmaths? Ended up quickly making my own last night to sort of test him.

[suwoo]

Reallytired, I was wrong. I asked her last night and although they haven't yet done it at her school, she grasped the concept and was happily doubling and halving her way up to 100. Its really suprising what they can do without you realising.

Hockeypuck, re the 'top set' that was my terminology. My understanding is that they stream children into similar ability groups mainly biaised towards reading levels. This enables the teacher to teach them the same sort of things when they are all of the same level IYSWIM.

[Reallytired]

Once they understand that 2+2=4 then its easier to remember it. For a child to be happy with maths its important that they UNDERSTAND what they are doing.

Concepts are important like understanding that 2+3=3+2 however 3-2 does not equal 2-3. Or understanding that 2X3=3+3 or 2+2+2.

If a child understand maths then its no longer difficult. Also as parents we need to hide our fears about Maths. If you never tell a child that maths is difficult then they will never know.