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Original poster

Maths for a 6 year old

28 replies

slithytove · 31/07/2019 23:05

Please can someone help me? I am working through some maths work with my 6 year old and came to a question I can’t work out how to explain at a level he can understand.

It’s question two. There seems to be a massive leave from question one, and I just can’t figure out how to explain it. I started in on quadratic equations which was not the way to go 😂

Any tips?

Maths for a 6 year old
OP posts:
Original poster
slithytove · 31/07/2019 23:05

*massive leap

OP posts:
Elisheva · 31/07/2019 23:08

Why have those answers been marked as incorrect?

FusionChefGeoff · 31/07/2019 23:12

Have they done number triangles yet? So number at the top is the sum, 2 numbers on the bottom are the factors. Then there's a minus between each top and bottom number and a plus between the 2 bottom numbers.

Shows the correlation between plus and minus then you use a number line to get the answer?

So in your example. Oh, hang on I'll need to post then look again!

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

6 year olds Behaviour & development General education
RainbowBrite41 · 31/07/2019 23:15

I don’t think they’re marked as wrong - think they’re labelled as X is algebraic terms!
I agree this does seem a big leap from the questions above but should be easy enough to work through with a hundred square if you have, or can download, one.

FusionChefGeoff · 31/07/2019 23:17

So the bottom one on the first section the blank goes at the top, then 18 and 6 are at the bottom as that's how you get the minus sign to appear in the right place. And then it shows that the blank is the sum of 18 and 6.

God this is hard to explain in words!!

Wallabyone · 31/07/2019 23:22

Explain that subtraction is a way of finding the difference between the two numbers. So e.g How many more is 34 than 6? You could also begin introducing the inverse as a method of checking.

Elisheva · 31/07/2019 23:25

Does he understand that subtraction is opposite of addition?
I think I would use a number line and show him how to count on or back to find the answer. It does seem a little difficult though!

Nordicwannabe · 31/07/2019 23:28

I'm not a teacher, but I think the way to do it is to use the number line, like they show in the first question.

They know that to add, they move right on the number line and to subtract they move left.

For 30 -? = 6
You're going to start at 30 and then jump left until you get to 6
The number of jumps is the answer (they can count as they jump)

For ? - 12 =6:
You're going to end up at 6.
You're going to start off somewhere, then move 12 jumps to the left to land on 6
So to find where you need to start off from, you can start at 6 and move 12 jumps to the right
That takes you to 18
(Then they can check it by doing the 12 jumps left from 18 to reach 6)

DaphneFanshaw · 31/07/2019 23:33

What wallaboyne said, he can count on or use a number line.

DaphneFanshaw · 31/07/2019 23:34

To be able to do it mentally is a skill that really helps in numeracy so I would lean to the counting on method. Just use a number line if they really need to.

Original poster
slithytove · 31/07/2019 23:38

It is so hard to explain in words! And I have a maths a level so not completely helpless.

The x’s were the beginning of me saying that blank is x, in prep for an equation. It failed.

Ok I’m going to make him a big number line and also google number triangles. Whichever he finds easiest I will then get him to practice doing the same in his head.

Thanks for help, I was really stumped on this one and he was gutted I couldn’t explain it!

OP posts:
DaphneFanshaw · 31/07/2019 23:40

You can print number lines off google images if that helps, saves you writing one out.
A 100 square may help for the larger calculations, they are on there too.

Original poster
slithytove · 31/07/2019 23:42

Oh thanks I’ll get both at work tomorrow

OP posts:
PurpleDaisies · 31/07/2019 23:45

I started in on quadratic equations which was not the way to go

Where have you got x squared terms from? Confused

I agree that using the number line is helpful. Reading the questions as “30 subtract how many is equal to 6?” can help kids realise what’s being asked.

Make it really practical with lots of small items (a bag of pasta is good!). Lots of kids learn the “inverse” without ever really understanding the physical significance of what it means.

Bar models are really nice for this sort of questions. You can get him to put counters/pasta pieces in the boxes to show the top is equal to the bottom.

mummmy2017 · 31/07/2019 23:48

Ok you need counters.
Sweets work....
DS. You have.

6 sweet left in your pocket.... Put them in a dish...
You ate. 12..... Put in a dish....
If you add them together that is how many you start with....
Show him how if you have the missing then a minus number, then you add the numbers together to find the number...
But if you have a plus in the sums... The bigger number is after the equals....

PurpleDaisies · 31/07/2019 23:49

So number at the top is the sum, 2 numbers on the bottom are the factors

Just be really careful with terminology. Factors are numbers that the whole can be divided exactly by. They aren’t anything to do with addition.

PurpleDaisies · 31/07/2019 23:50

But if you have a plus in the sums... The bigger number is after the equals....

This leads to misconceptions, don’t word it like this.

1 + 2 = 3

3 = 1 + 2

mummmy2017 · 31/07/2019 23:58

Most schools wouldn't put the answer on the left, and hopefully when they do the children will understand it means the same thing.
But yes say other side to the sum.

PurpleDaisies · 01/08/2019 00:00

They do now mummy so the children get to understand what equals actually means. I’m primary school teacher.

mummmy2017 · 01/08/2019 00:09

Ok, thanks.
I remember our teachers always made maths fun, we had cake for fractions...
Bottom was how many you cut the cake Into and top was how many you could eat....

PurpleDaisies · 01/08/2019 00:12

I remember our teachers always made maths fun, we had cake for fractions...

We still do that (not so much eating of cake in our healthy school but hey!). Maths lessons have got much more practical now so kids aren’t just mindlessly following procedures without understanding why.

Original poster
slithytove · 01/08/2019 00:59

Purple because I began with x is the blank, and let’s find x by putting the same thing on both sides, and he asked what they were and I said they are equations and that turned into mummy doing quadratic equations at school and it was all very confusing 😂

OP posts:
Original poster
slithytove · 01/08/2019 01:00

Will also try with pasta (sweets will be eaten!) if the number line doesn’t work

OP posts:
mummmy2017 · 01/08/2019 01:40

I think the vested interest in the sweets, may be why it works.....lol
Nothing focused the mind like being cheated of a sweet....

Brain06626 · 01/08/2019 02:06

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