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Gifted and talented

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Original poster

school has surprised me!

427 replies

blackeyedsusan · 08/11/2011 13:38

last week I asked for harder words to read... one (or more) groups have been given spellings!

I also asked for more challenging books as the yellow band books were a "little easy." given that we are reading easy chapter books at home they have put her up one band. I am shocked as we normally play a little game every couple of months where I say the books arer too easy and they ignore me and we carry on doing our own thing in our own happy way. once pmt has passed Grin

ok so she could spell the words first time at home and green band is not a big leap, but i do not know whether she will cope with spelling in a test and at least the green band books are a little harder and we can get something out of it now. she has been asked to practice adding numbers in the teens as she doesn't use the number line to count on. (tends to do these things in her head) well we have practised and introduced a strategy of using number bonds of single digit numbers to check teens+ addition (ie if 2 and 4 =6 then 12+4=16 and 22+4=26 etc) doubt that will go down well! Grin I hope she talks about her strategy at school.

I think I want to push for more, but not until she has had time to try out/prove herself for another month or so. (after all she might go to pieces under test conditions and we have a lot of work to do on handwriting) anyone fancy sitting on me and administering the duct tape for the next month?

(disclaimer, i know she is not doing some of the stuff other really bright children do at this age, though she is the top end of normal and I post mainly because i as fed up of the lack of progress ith reading in school compared to home)

ps, sorry about the lack of capitals, intermittent shift key!

OP posts:
simpson · 09/12/2011 20:41

did a little bit on fractions today (as we have no school homework this wk) to be told
"mummy this is easy and 4/8 is the same as 1/2"

So looks like I will have to think of something else to do Grin Grin

blackeyedsanta · 09/12/2011 21:11

what about 1/3 and 2/6 etc. also 5ths and 10ths? I think they are the standard ones I have seen. l3 now has less times tables in I think too. I am pretty sure it had all of them in before though I could be remembering incorrectly. need to know 2,3,4,5,10 by rapid recall. they also need to be able to use multiplying and dividing in problems.

simpson · 09/12/2011 21:18

he knew 1/4 was 2/8 but not 3/4 iyswim.

He wants me to teach him 4 times tables next so will work on that.

Also I think he is ready to be doing basic sums ie with the numbers written on top of each other to work out. Actually, think he could probably do it already but needs to be shown iyswim.

How do I teach division in easy terms??? Blush

mrsshears · 09/12/2011 22:02

comes back in after major sulk

Fraidylady · 09/12/2011 22:26

Don't stop at time tables according to what the levels say - just learn them. I'm expecting my Y2 class to do just that.
Fractions are really difficult - you could try with chocolate bars!
However, don't expect him to remember it from one week to another... (from one who has had stunning short- term success with fractions! Grin)
Small children have no frame of reference for equivalent fractions,etc. I usually introduce it by giving children a circle divided into 8 segments. I give them 8 mental maths questions and they write their score x/8 and then shade in their score in the segmented circle. In this way, the children start to understand the x 'out of' x of fractions, equating to a portion of a shape.
I'd do this for several weeks before even talking about 'fractions'.

Joyn · 09/12/2011 22:37

Simpson, I went to a how they teach the dcs maths class today & was shocked to find they don't usually teach division at all until year 4! And they don't teach the way we did sums (on top of each other) for multiplication etc until yr 5!

Ds & dd can both do division already, to varying degrees. But apparently, they don't do anything beyond things like, giving them 21 smarties & asking them to share them equally between 3 plates. And they also don't do percentages usually until the very end of primary school!

So the teacher today said they usually start learning division in yr4 (so about level 3b, I'd guess,) & they start teaching that using a blank number line on a simple sum like 16[division sign]4. going from 0 up to 16 in 4s.

Then they progress to chunking on a blank number line, using known multiplication facts. So for 176[division sign]8. The dcs, might use the fact they know 10x8=80, to make first jump on number line, then they'd probably realise they could do another jump of 10x8=80, which would leave them with 2 jumps of 8.

Then, finally year 5, they'd write a division sum like we used to, with answer over the top.

I personally wouldn't teach the over the top method yet, I've shown ds, (whos working above a 3b,) he still doesn't like this when I do maths with him. Mind you he doesn't really like number lines either, he does most maths in his head!

blackeyedsanta · 09/12/2011 22:57

comes back after being interupted mid typing.

the division problems should include remainders... which if i remember correctly is things like being able to tell if you need and extra box to fit the remainders in (eg need 3 boxes to fit 14 eggs in if 6 in each box 2 full boxes and an extra box for the couple left. ) if ddshears has a box of 14 doughnuts, they would get 3 each and there would be 2 left over for me

teaching division. practically, sharing out a pile of 15 raisins into groups of 5, groups of 3 etc and then writing it down...15 shared into 3 gives 5 in each group then use notation which I have lost on the keyboard Xmas Blush

division and multiplication go hand in hand

15 shared into 3 groups is 5 per group
15 shared into 5 groups is 3 pergroup

and 5 lots of 3 is the same as 3 lots of 5 (even if they are arranged differently)

fractions. don't forget to tell them that they are equal pieces

and show them how it looks written down. dd knows that 4 bits are 1/4 etc but has not seen 1/4 written down until recently. she can tell you that 2 bits are halves; 3 are thirds, 4 are quarters, 5 are 5ths 6 are 6ths. I need to remind her of the equal part!

I think i have seen stuff where they have to colour in 1/4 1/2 or 3/4 of a shape or number of pictures. I am not sure where i have seen that though.

blackeyedsanta · 09/12/2011 23:01

joyn, yes definitely teach it ppractically first. they have to understand the sharing into equal groups first/groups of x amount. best done with raisins as you can work with a largish number of them and eat the groups without being sick!

simpson · 09/12/2011 23:42

I have horrific amounts of paper plates (left over from DD's birthday party) so today I asked him to shade in 1/8 of a plate after drawing pizza segments on it iyswim and he grasped it straight away.

Not really going to do much more than that really WRT fractions apart from teaching him 2/8 is a quarter (1/4 etc) and yes telling him they are all equal.

Sums on top of each other am only going to do adding nothing else as am afraid of teaching it wrong Blush

Good idea re the smarties/raisins etc Smile

Hi - Mrs S Grin

Also want to have a bit of a moan Blush DS's school now have all the books in the classroom rather than the teacher going to the main book cupboard like they did last yr and they only have books going up to ORT level 9 which is why he is not getting a higher book.

All the higher books are in other classrooms in the junior classrooms Hmm

blackeyedsanta · 10/12/2011 00:01

we had a small pile of books brought over from the juniors specially, by the head

sorry simpson. it is the one thing that has gone "right" since she started school 4 terms ago and a year of banging my head against a brick wall with no response! (with respect to reading) what a pathetic excuse they have com eup with! doesn't it want to make you scream! Some people seem to have a much easier ride of it through the system.

simpson · 10/12/2011 00:24

This is why I am so gutted about DS's teacher leaving because she has written a list of what she thinks he will like and also lent a couple of her own books for him although we are now in a rush to finish them by next thursday (her last day)

iggly2 · 10/12/2011 00:43

Can you wait till DC show interest in the various maths signs and then answer any questions. DS woke me up to ask about the bus stop sign for division and long division and I had to explain it at 4.30 in the morning.

iggly2 · 10/12/2011 00:44

Hi Mrs ShearsSmile

simpson · 10/12/2011 00:58

he is already showing interest in the things I am going to do with him (unfortunately) as I am pants at maths Blush

he tells me everyday he loves maths and yesterday at school the kids got to watch a DVD at break time because it was raining and he asked his teacher for some maths work Shock because he did not want to watch the film

iggly2 · 10/12/2011 01:12

I think getting a book as BES suggests. I think you have a confidence issue with maths. You will be able to do it if you decide you can.

mrsshears · 10/12/2011 08:30

waves back to everyone

Fraidylady · 10/12/2011 11:14

We definitely do division in y2! I will extend the more able to L3 objective of division with reminders.

Joyn · 11/12/2011 10:44

Mrs Shears, I was always worried about teachers doing job share, but both my dcs have had the same 2 teachers in the past & it worked wonderfully. dd has had the deputy head since half term & he seems to bearly there half the week, so she is effectively having job share as the same teacher covers when hes not there, but we never know who shes going to have each day or half day & every time i have a query she has to refer it back to him (and it was similar for ds when he had the head of ks1). i much prefer the job share arrangement & like you said, it could just be the chance your dc needs. hope it goes well in January!

Joyn · 11/12/2011 10:45

Mrs Shears, I was always worried about teachers doing job share, but both my dcs have had the same 2 teachers in the past & it worked wonderfully. dd has had the deputy head since half term & he seems to bearly there half the week, so she is effectively having job share as the same teacher covers when hes not there, but we never know who shes going to have each day or half day & every time i have a query she has to refer it back to him (and it was similar for ds when he had the head of ks1). i much prefer the job share arrangement & like you said, it could just be the chance your dc needs. hope it goes well in January!

mrsshears · 12/12/2011 16:19

Thanks joyn i hope so Smile

blackeyedsanta · 13/12/2011 11:04

after a term of promising, it seems that they have finally found dd a writing slope.

Joyn · 13/12/2011 20:39

Thats really good news Susan. Smile Hope it helps.

onesandwichshort · 14/12/2011 13:03

That is good news - signs of progress!

simpson · 15/12/2011 19:24

How is everyone doing???

DS very upset today as he sad good bye to his teacher Sad

She gave him a big hug and told him to work hard next year.

DS told me she has put up a chart on the wall listing literacy, numeracy, guided reading, spellings and he could not remember the rest Grin

Anyway under each heading each child is listed on where they are in the class iyswim. DS told me very proudly he was top in everything

simpson · 15/12/2011 19:24

said