Anyone know about Heinmann Maths?

[MrsSpoon]

My DS1 is learning Maths with the Heinmann (?) Scheme. He has been getting on great with it, Maths seems to be one of his strengths. However he brought home some homework that was taking away from 11 and 12, ie 12 - 5 = ? or 11 - 7 = ?, and he is struggling because he has run out of fingers. He couldn't remember how the teacher taught them to do the sums and anything I suggested was "too difficult" or "not right".

Would greatly appreciate if anyone could advise on the correct (if there is such a thing) way to do these sums so that I will be able to help him next time.

TIA.

Anyone? Don't know how widely used this system is?

Or if I've even got the right name, LOL!

have heard of the scheme but don't understand this one - ask the teacher, she/he should be grateful you are asking.

My dds do heinneman maths, mrs spoon, though they are a bit olde than your ds. All I would say is that he shouldn't be using his fingers to add up for this very reason. IIRC my dds would count down, so eg 12-5 would be "start at twelve, count back 5, 11,10,9,8,7 so the answer is 7". don't be fobbed off with "too difficult", if he has been doing his maths by using his fingers then any other method will seem difficult at first!

Sorry, I've probably made it sound really complicated! You're right Finn2, I probably should ask the teacher, I don't like to take up any of her time if I can avoid it.

He's only 6.5 so nothing too taxing, will have a go at explaining again in case anyone else can help.

He has been happily doing takeaway sums when the biggest number is 10 or less, ie 10 minus 5 = 5, he would do these sums on his fingers. Now he is being given sums that he cannot do on his fingers because the large number is to big, ie 12 minus 4 = 8. I just wondered if there was a universally accepted method of teaching this, so that I can help DS1.

Ah, thanks Miaow, that makes sense, presumeably they would use their fingers whilst they count back?

I'll try your spelling in Google and see if it comes up with anything, was pretty sure I had it wrong.

yes h can use his fingers to count back, the idea though is that eventually he will repeat the numbers without needing his fingers

i love heinemann maths, it is fun! used to be classroom assistant and we plyed some great maths games.

Thanks Miaou, was drawing a blank with Google.

I did write a note to the teacher along with DS1's homework, explaining that he didn't understand how to do this so I am assuming she will explain it again to him but it helps if I know what he's suppose to be doing.

The scheme looks great Miaou, love looking at his books when he gets them home, they look great fun, almost like children's fun magazines rather than 'work'.

I am a teacher. ask her/him, honestly we love it when parents care about their kids work.

My DD is getting Heinemann maths too, I,m sure there are number lines on the workbook pages they use. I didn't know this until we saw the books at the end of the year. What primary?

Skribble, he's in P2, level B maths.

Thanks finn, I'll pluck up the courage! Actually this teacher seems a bit more laid back than his P1 teacher, she always seemed in a great hurry.

DD is P2 as well so i haven't seen P2 books yet.

MrsSpoon, when I teach it, we count on from the lower number. So, for 12-5, we would find the difference by starting at 5 and counting on to 12. (this is where the number lines come in handy)

We use the same method for tricker ones like 152-68. We'd count on, first to next multiple of 10 then 100 etc. So for 152-68, 2 takes us to 70, then 30 takes us to 100, then 50 then 2. Add them all up to get answer.

Children find addition much easier than subtraction so when you tell them they can change their subtraction into an addition they love it. It helps explain subtraction as the 'difference' between two numbers ie the gap between them.

This is the method set out in the numeracy strategy BTW. Sorry f this sounds like a ramble or 'too teachery' Hope it helps.

I typed it into google last year(make sure you get the uk distributer) you can ask for a catalogue and get a few pupil workbooks (quite cheap). Dh and I both have numerate degrees but couldn`t "get" the system until we looked through the workbooks.

I think you can buy the workbooks in larger book shops.

Thanks Figleaf and Skribble, I will look into getting some of the books.

DS1's homework came back today and his teacher has explained on the homework log sheet how they teach it, it is basically as Homemama says, although they do use a number line and the children were encouraged to use cars or pencils at home until they got the hang of it (DS1 couldn't remember).

Thanks to everyone!

Where abouts are you in the country? Heinemann make a separate scheme for Scottish schools. Some schools use Scottish Heinemann (SHM) and some use the more universal Heinemann maths. Some activities didn't match the scottish 5-14 levels

We are in Scotland, Hullabaloo, I assume his School is using the Scottish system but will check when he gets his next lot of books home IIRC it will be Friday. Thanks for pointing that out I might have gone and bought all the wrong books.

Oh and I had a look again and what his teacher wrote and it's the other way round from Homemama's way, it's the way Miaow suggested, counting down the way, although obviously same result.