DD (Y5) struggling with mental maths

[pilates]

My DD has advised me that she has a maths test every week and she is not scoring very well. They only get 5 secs to answer the questions. How can I help her improve? I think they are preparing them for their SATS.

Mental maths (in my opinion anyway) is all about learning little 'tricks' and then being able to apply them first.

So maybe a strategy is to look at the sort of questions they are getting and devise strategies for answering them. You can do all this at a slow pace until she gets how they work. Then get her to speed up once she has her box of tricks.

Things like adding 18 or 19 is done by adding 20 and taking one or two away. You know, that sort of thing?

Post up some of the questions (or PM me) and I'll help with some tricks if need be.

Oh thanks so much cbsg. I think I'll pop in and see her teacher and see if I can get a copy of a paper she has done to get an idea of what they are doing.

Have a look at my own thread about DSs struggle with Mental Maths. I got some v useful replies. Hope this link works:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/1092828-How-can-you-get-better-at-Mental-Maths

link

Thanks for the link. My daughter's teacher has given me some of the papers they have done already. Solo 2, have you found anything that has worked well with your boys?

Learning basic facts is key.

Number bonds to 10, 20.

Play games, use materials and work on these until the penny drops. ie 20 blocks, move two away, you have 2 + 18. move 4, you have 4+16 etc.

Once this knowledge is solid, you can use this basis to then add additional numbers, ie 4+17 because you know that 4+16 is 20 so the answer must be 21.

Once these are known, then work on the tables.
Again by using materials and playing games.

There are lots and lots of websites that you can play on line and build up your speed