How DO they teach yr 3 maths these days?

[miljee]

It's the one subject I can really confuse my 7 y.o in! Apparently they don't add up in columns any more- so how are they taught '212+453=' for instance? A 3 mile long number-line? In the infants school it was all about sets and so on and whilst I understand the teaching of maths has changed a lot since I was at school ('66-'80!) probably because it was felt many children just didn't understand the basic CONCEPT behind numbers, I just don't get what they're doing now! ALSO, I did hear that a year 5 child was given '47+32=', the acceptable answers (!) being 79 or 80, as in 47 is almost 50 and 32 is almost 30. No problem - perhaps a good thing!- if a child's highest mathematical ability need only ever be "how much flour will be left in this 20kg bag if I take 7kg out?" But not perhaps as useful if you need to know the square root of 345.6578 for instance!

A friend of mine was horrified when her daughter announced that it didn't matter if she got the wrong answer provided she used the right method. Seems to beat the object of learning to add up in the first place.

you have beaten me to this thread.

My question was slightly different. In DS's school they are already doing BODMAS with 7 year olds. I dont remember doing that till i was at least 10??

Hes doing it ok but just think they are pushing him quite hard.

I havent come across acceptable answers
I do remember though our teacher telling us that even if the final answer wasnt totally correct we would get some marks for using the correct method

what the dickens are Bodmans ?

BODMAS
Explains it better than I can.

The 212+453 + they would do using partitioning, which helps them understand that 212 is made up of 2 hundreds, one ten and two units so you get two hundreds plus four hundreds, one ten plus five tens, two units plus three units. If it's properly taught (ie not by me) it makes it much easier for them to do sums in their heads, which is much more useful than having to get a bit of paper to write it down.
With the year 5 child, I would guess that what they were actually doing was estimating the answer. it can actually be quite difficult to get some children to do this, as thay want to get it exactly right , but it is a very useful skill to be able to get a rough idea of the answer before you work it out, so you can tell if you're close. It's often taught as a separate skill, before being put into use in solving problems.

Thanks, esp Rustybear. How do they do addition like our example if, say, it's 287+434=; ie do they 'carry' like we used to?

Oh, sorry, meant to put this in the previous post- the 'estimating' was being done by an 8 year old, hence my concern! I agree entirely that 'estimation' of the likely answer is very important and also that 'points' should be awarded for correct working out ('show your working!!') even if the final answer is a bit out.

There are two document that can be downloaded from here. They explain how children are taught maths in a nice easy to understand way.

"Helping your child with maths -a booklet outlining the progression in calculation"

"Parent guidance on mental and written calculation (Sums and Things"

on this website

miljee

287+434= could be done in a number of ways, depending on exactly what method the children are learning or practising at the time. It could be done in columns, either by the 'traditional' carrying method (yes, they still do that) or by partitioning into H, T & U, like rustybear explained - so:
7 + 4 = 11
80 + 30 = 110
200 + 400 = 600.

Then add up 11, 110 & 600 iyswim

hard to explain on here - but hth

ds is in Year three and currently the expectation is that they become adept at adding two 2 digit numbers in their head. They do this by either rounding up or down and then making the necessary adjustments.

dd is in Year 5 and is calculating addition, multiplication and division sums by using the method that mamama listed. My understanding is that they eventually learn the carry over method but need to understand what they are doing first.

As for getting the wrong answer provided the method is right, that is certainly not the case in our school!

There is a much greater emphasis on mental maths these days. Children should be familiar with different strategies for working out maths problems mentally before they go on to written methods where there can be a lot of confusion about what they are actually doing with the numbers.

Miljee

Las year ds's school held a meeting for parents to explain how maths was taught from year 1 to year 5. It was fascinating to me, and we got handouts to use when helping with homework.

Perhaps your DC's school could be persuaded to set up an evening to do the same?

going to do you a link to a brilliant website which does help sheet for parenbts

oh wrigglejiggle beat me to it lol!!

it is a really good site -thoroughly recommned it - has posted it here lots

also look at the homework help pages on the link below - they are great and i use them for homework a lot