Maths people help please.

[samanthawashington]

Doing maths with 7 year old. Just to make it easier can you think of the different ways the sums indicate whether it is add, subtract etc.

So when it say what is the difference, we know it is minus.

The sums keep using so many different ways to say things, like, when we are doing pictograms each 'suitcase' equals 10 people, so how many passengers go on holiday to xyz destination? So it's a multiplication sum.

Trying to teach the kid what the sentence says and what it actually means in terms of actual sum? Not just multiplication, all the different sums (+, -, , *).

Hoping to make a game so that he recognises what the cryptic sentence means in terms of the sum he needs to do. 😳

lego bricks? stick them together in blocks of 10, give him several of them and see how he works out how many he's got in total without counting each brick. Same with adding and subtracting, you can stick them together, take them apart, put them in groups etc.

Write them all down as you see them, then cut them out, write the 4 operations on paper and get your son to match each phrase (e.g. "difference") with the operation it refers to?

Teach multiplication as an alternative to addition.

Teach division as an alternative to subtraction.

So the suitcase situation. "Should we add all the tens together? Or is there an easier way?"

Totally different to the topic, but I think sum means add in maths. So parents using sum to mean any calculation may be confusing for the children.

(the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are "product" for multiplication, and obviously "sum of" etc for addition)

Great point!

crib sheet here!
www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/T-N-013-Maths-vocab-signs-p

you can make your own version of this and he can keep it infront of him. when he is reading the word problem, underlining the important words with a coloured pencil can really help.

@lockedownloretta That Twinkl chart is just what I need. I'll print it out and use it to make some games. I understand what the maths problem want to achieve, but struggle to explain this to the child.

Lots of children find this really hard. I often have year 6s ask what ‘product’ means. The problem is, so many maths words have alternative meanings in other context - difference, product, take away etc.