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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Be gentle with me.Divisor Spiders

6 replies

wizzler · 21/11/2011 22:07

Ds is in Y3. Maths homework tonight is Divisor Spiders. I am struggling to make head or tail of it. Is there anyone out there who can explain what numbers go on the end of a spider's legs if his body is 30? (and why!)
Am desperately concerned that if I am struggling now , how will I cope when he is 14!

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MorningPurples · 21/11/2011 22:15

could it be factors? (things that divide evenly into the number in the middle?) So for 30, it might be pairs of factors that multiply to make 30, like 5 and 6, 2 and 15, 3 and 10, 1 and 30, which would give numbers for eight legs.

without seeing the instructions it's hard to know for sure, though.

Original poster

wizzler · 21/11/2011 22:20

Thanks morning, you may be right. There were no instructions. I sent DS with a note asking for more help, but teacher apparently said he thought it was clear enough

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LindyHemming · 22/11/2011 07:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

blackeyedsusan · 22/11/2011 08:02

the teacher said what! i would be sending a little note into the head to ask him/her to explain as you don't understand it (things have changed since you were at school blahdy blah) and please could he/she explain as you want to support the school an be involved in your son's education (creep) and the teacher was unable to explain!

the teacher's response has annoyed me slightly, can't you tell?

Wellthen · 22/11/2011 10:35

Its almost certainly factors. Did the teacher say this to the child or send a note back? It may be that in lessons and when discussing homework your dc showed complete understanding of the concept and so the teacher is slightly ticked off that they are now saying they can't do it! But children do forget so he should be more understanding, particularly at 7.

The problem for you here is not the concept but the language. Secondary school stuff tends to stay the same for longer in my experience so you'll probably be fine when he's older!

Lancelottie · 22/11/2011 10:48

A quick google suggests that different schools and maths schemes use this term for different things (oh loverly). In this case it looks like it's factors, as the others say, but some places use it to mean 'an informal representation of the chunking method, with the number of spider legs depending on the chosen divisor'. Bet you wanted to know that.

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