Y1 maths question

[Bundlebuns]

Hi,
I've posted previously about my Y1 DS and his difficulties with maths. I bought the Power Maths practise book to go through at home with him as this is what they use at school and he gets quite a lot of it wrong. Unfortunately I don't always know the answers myself! Can anyone help me with this question? Other than what DS has already filled in, I'm stumped.

[Orchidflower1]

I’m stumped too so you’re not the only one!

[barnconversion5]

3-3=0 ?

Strange picture as 3 on each side yet not balanced!

[ourweeschool]

It’s part part whole but with a bad example! What your DS is written is correct.

If the whole number was 6 and the two parts 4 and 2 it would be better- you would get the four number stories

2+4=6
4+2=6
6-4=2
6-2=4

[ChristinaMarlowe]

Are we over thinking and it just means use the six kids as counting tools, and it's just 4+2, 6-5 etc? I don't see how it can be anything else as they've written in the plus and minus signs and all the kids are the same size! I think the picture confuses matters.. Either that or it's crazy difficult for a 6 year old cos I'm stumped!

[Bigearringsbigsmile]

Yep, just they look identical.
3+ three = 6
Three + 3=6
6 - 3 = three
6- three = 3
It’s just a really bad example they’ve chosen

[ChristinaMarlowe]

Or you're allowed zeros too and it's 6+0 and 6-0?! But then why the picture, you can remove any! 😂 I give up

[BlueMerchant]

6+3
3-3

[ourweeschool]

You’re all way over thinking it!

It wants to know the relationships between the three numbers given.

[noblegiraffe]

You’d only get 4 distinct examples if the two threes were different numbers. Bunch of crap question.

And yes, the three kids on either side of the seesaw yet it not being balanced makes me sad, as we use that kind of image when balancing equations. Three on one side and three on the other should be balanced!

[DobbysLeftSock]

Argh that is awful, the picture makes it more confusing! Why not just say "how many ways can you make up 6?"

Dreading dd starting to do this stuff... 😣

[ourweeschool]

how many ways can you make up 6

It’s not asking that though. It’s about addition and subtraction being opposites.

[noblegiraffe]

The numbers in the circles making the triangle next to the question confirm that you should only be using 3s and 6.

But it should be something like 6, 4 and 2.
Then you’d get
4+2=6 6-2=4
2+4=6 6-4=2 as your four answers.

As it’s threes you get
3+3=6 6-3=3
3+3=6 6-3=3

[DobbysLeftSock]

Urgh brain melting. I would (clearly!!) get this conpletely wrong. But obviously I understand how to add and subtract! I would need the question to actually tell me what to do though- this type of question makes no sense to me!

Use the picture to write four facts.

1. There is a see-saw
2. One child has a pony tail
3. One child has bunches
4. Three children have lead in their pockets.

Three children have lead in their pockets
3.

[DobbysLeftSock]

Not sure what happened at the end there...

[PurpleDaisies]

Rubbish question with a really unhelpful picture.

As others have said, you can’t get four different number sentences from that part part whole model.

Looking at the picture, the number sentence should include a greater than or less than sign because it isn’t balanced.

[OutwiththeOutCrowd]

Using what looks like an out-of-balance seesaw with children of presumably different weights is confusing, given that it is suggestive of a very different sort of problem altogether - a mathematical inequality or a law of the lever type of problem.

[mummmy2017]

Looks like 3 girls 3 boys...
So why not use that as a way to show your child simple algebra.
3 children plus 3 children. Is 6 children...
2 girls and 1 boy. Plus 1 girl and 2 boys.... Is 6 children...
Ect

[Nessiej78]

I have taught this actual lesson. The idea is for them to put in 3+3=6 and 6-3=3 twice so they see that it is the same numbers no matter which way around you put them.
It is our first year in school of teaching Power Maths and there are some questions us teachers have to think through before we teach them as some are rather strange so you're not the only one

[Bundlebuns]

Thanks to everyone for replying so quickly and making me feel a bit less stupid! It's awful seeing DS struggling and I'm not very confident with maths myself so it does seem like we're muddling through at times. This has been very helpful xx

[itsinchicago]

What an utterly ridiculous picture to go with that question. Any fool can see that in the picture the see-saw isn't level so one set of 3 can't be equal to the other set. Especially since the bigger 3 are lighter than the smaller 3, which goes against common sense for that age group.

Stupid, stupid question.

It seems to be almost deliberately calculated to confuse rather than to make things crystal-clear. If a child already understands the relationship between 3, 3, and 6, then this is going to make them doubt themselves.

[mummmy2017]

Got an idea... Use a red and a blue pen....
This way numbers can be seen to be different, but also the same.