Please explain what these targets mean in practice! Argh!

[Devexity]

Y3 DS came home with the following numeracy targets before half term:

1. To be able to recognise the value of any digit in a decimal number
2. Use positive and negative numbers in context and position them on a number line
3. To be able to order decimals and fractions

They haven't learnt anything related to these topics so far in Y3, so I did my own work with him over half term. He's a sponge for information, so by the end of the weeks he was very happily converting simple decimals into fractions, finding common denominators for groups of fractions, and then ordering the whole business.

Fear I may have completely misunderstood - what's the phrase? - pitch and expectation. Yes? No?

Oh that's interesting; DS (also y3) is a bit of a maths whiz (by common consent) & I can't seem to gently get him to grasp negative numbers, so I just hadn't pushed it, waiting for school who are much better teachers than me. And I know also that he's done very little with fractions and hardly any more with decimals (although he's seeming ready for both). DS has got to be top ability group (big school), so at least yours is not unusual; I've not had those targets written down on paper like yours, though.

This is how I'd interpret the targets:

1. simply understanding that the numbers after a decimal point refer to tenths, hundredths etc (depending on how far away from the point they are). And that 0.25 is equivalent to 1/4 etc

2. the way positive & negative numbers appear plotted on a numberline around zero. With an example of something they should understand being 'the temperature yesterday was 5c, it is currently 7c colder what temperature is it today?'

3. this is probably about being able to compare decimals/fractions to say which is smaller or bigger such as ranking high to low 0.19, 0.91 & 0.019, or 1/5, 1/8 & 1/3 or 12/16, 9/16 & 3/16. I'd doubt at this age (unless he's working at an older level,) they'd be expecting him to compare & rank fractions like 2/3, 3/9 & 1/18.