Maths Work Books

[babysbreath]

My DD will be going into Y2 in September, and her Maths skills are very very basic.

I am think of getting her a Maths work book to work through to help her before she returns to school.

Can anyone recommend a good Maths book?

I am wondering if old fashioned pencil and book is better than computer apps.

Any help would be appreciated.

www.amazon.co.uk/KS1-Maths-Numeracy-Workout-Book/dp/1841460818/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1376673179&sr=1-1&keywords=year+2+maths is very inexpensive and has short sections to work through.

Research shows that maths is most effectively learnt in a problem solving way. Workbooks are the opposite of this. They are boring and do not teach transferable skills. Go out and about and use maths wherever you can in the real world.

The most important thing you can do with her is count, count, count, everywhere and at every opportunity.

There are some nice, easy low resource games you can play to develop counting and calculation skills:
www.beatrixpotterschool.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/supporting_your_child_yr_1.pdf

Make sure you practise her number bonds to ten (subtraction and addition facts) as well. Also make sure you practise number bonds to 1-digit numbers as well by asking questions like 'I've got one finger, how many more make 9?' etc.

Hope this helps.

Just to add to my previous post - Rather than buying a work book, here are some nice open ended activities she can do on paper. These are the sorts of activities I set my Key Stage 1 pupils to do when working independently and will make her think more 'deeply' about maths.

Can you show me all the different ways I can make 20?

Can you draw all the different ways I can make [this number]?

How many subtraction number sentences can you make that have an answer of 5?

How many different number sentences can you make with the numbers 1, 3 and 4?

There is a fab board game called shut the box which is great for number bonds to 10.

If you have an iPad, the squeebles apps are good. DD likes the maths bingo one.

I use a combination of books,apps and everyday situations.

I do find books useful if you use a variety.I find they can get the basics more fluent which you an use in real life problem solving situations.

Dd likes the Mythical Maths books.We've also used Carol Vorderman and CPG.The Squeebles apps are fab.

Dd has enjoyed going round Sainsbos with me asking questions re offers,how much would 2 cost,which is cheaper etc etc?

Hi - retired male TA here, with 20 years KS1 experience:

I will quote information I have sent to other parents with similar queries, but in particular try to use REAL objects and situations to aid number understanding. Use IT and books as well by all means, but UNDERSTANDING is the important thing:

QUOTE:

Practical things are best for grasping number concepts - bricks, Lego, beads, counters, money, shapes, weights, measuring, cooking.

Do adding, taking away, multiplication (repeated addition), division (sharing), using REAL OBJECTS as just 'numbers' can be too abstract for some children.

Number Bonds of Ten forms the basis of much maths work, so try to learn them. Using Lego or something similar, use a LOT of bricks (of just TWO colours, if you have enough) lay them out so the pattern can be seen of one colour INCREASING while the other colour DECREASES. Lay them down, or build up like steps.

So:

ten of one colour none of other
nine of one colour one of other
eight of one colour two of other
seven of one colour three of other

etc, etc

then of course, the sides are equal at 5 and 5; after which the colours 'swap over' as to increasing/decreasing.

To learn TABLES, do them in groups that have a relationship, thus:

x2, x4, x8

x3, x6, x12

5 and 10 are easy

7 and 9 are rather harder.

Starting with TWO times TABLE, I always say: "Imagine the class is lining up in pairs; each child will have a partner, if there is an EVEN number in the class. If one child is left without a partner, then the number is ODD, because an odd one is left out."

Use Lego bricks again, lay them out in a column of 2 wide to learn 2x table. Go half way down the column, and move half the bricks up, so that now the column is 4 bricks wide. That gives the start of 4x table.

Then do similar things with 3x and 6x.

With 5x, try and count in 'fives', and notice the relationship with 'ten' - they will alternate, ending in 5 then 10.

It is important to try and UNDERSTAND the relationships between numbers, and not just learn them 'by rote'.

I am sorry it seems complicated trying to explain these concepts, but using Lego or counters should make understanding easier.

An inexpensive solar powered calculator (no battery to run out!) can help learn tables by 'repeated addition'. So: enter 2+2 and press = to give 4. KEEP PRESSING = and it should add on 2 each time, giving 2 times table.

There are good web sites, which can be fun to use :

www.ictgames.com/

www.resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/index.html

UNQUOTE

[Much of this may not be relevant for you now, but take what you want from it, and the rest may be more useful in the future]

[If the 'links' don't work, paste them into your browser.]

If any of this is not clear, or you need any more help, feel free to come back to me.

The Mythical Maths books by letts are great fun. Whistle stop tour but great for increasing confidence and showing you exactly where the gaps are.

Another activity that is useful, which will be covered in Yr2 (and may already have been introduced in Yr1) is Data Collection and producing charts and graphs from the Data.

When out-and-about record things like traffic (so many cars, trucks, vans, buses, bikes, motor bikes, etc), animals, birds, plants, trees, people (male/female, babies, toddlers, children, teenagers, adults, mature adults, elderly).

Record numbers by 'tallying' (4 sticks, and diagonal line for 5), then it is easy to count up in 5s. Do bar charts, or pictograms, whichever seem convenient, and try to make them neat and colourful.

wonder if I'm the only person who wonders why ferguson starts his posts with the fact that he's a retired male TA

My DD is also going in to year 2. We've done lots of baking, made a pretend cafe complete with menu, prices and plastic coins. We've measured things and worked out how much bigger one thing is compared to another. We've estimated how many cups of water it'll take to fill a jug/empty bottle.

However she's also enjoyed the Gold Stars workbook. It explains how to work things out and then has a test after each section

Dd also enjoyed Mythical Maths books. The Letts KS1 revision guide and workbook were also useful. At least then you know you are following the curriculum. CGP also do similar books. I think going into Waterstones, Smiths or supermarkets and seeing which you like would be best.

For websites, I've found nrich good for thinking skills.

I'd like to second a few things:

chauffeurmummy is spot on. Mythical maths books pages were given as homework to DD2 in YR & Y1 and she absolutely loved these. Seemed a nice balance of explaining how to do things and then a range of problems, riddles, etc... to solve using the new skill.

Heartily agree with Ferguson that Woodlands Junior school maths zone is fabulous resource with links to great maths games to work on whatever area is particularly weak. resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/. Just find the area you want to work on and then search through the game options for the 'best fit'. It's a bit of trial and error - but it has been very helpful.

I'd also like to add...

Mumsnet introduced a link to mathschamps: www.mathschamps.co.uk/ - games are banded by age and we've found this to be a lot of fun. Good useful practice and easily fit in to those little bits of time (20 minutes before going somewhere, whilst you're cooking dinner, etc...).

Now what I don't understand from your post is what the issue is. If like DD1 you've discovered that she's struggling to add/subtract numbers >10 - the issue may be fundamentally not understanding the concept of carrying over (addition) or borrowing (subtracting). There also may be issues with understanding what the position of digits is meant to be indicating (units, tens, hundreds, etc.... - so knowing 3 in 838 stands for 3 tens or 30. [One way we resolved this is to play a game with two objects - say grapes and raisins - where the raisins are units and the grapes are tens. Then when you need to borrow or carry over - you can cash in grapes for 10 raisins or trade in ten raisins for a grape. Subtracting is great fun because you can eat the ones you're taking away].

DD1 finished KS1 SATs on NC Level 1 in Maths and we'd been asking hard questions of the school in the run-up to this result because of her complete inability to subtract and her confusion over estimation (thus giving me the answer to 2 + 2 as 5 and then bursting into tears when I said, no sweetie it's 4. Apparently recent lessons about estimating became 5 is the answer to 2+2 = 4).

We turned to an on-line tutorial because we realised for DD1 there were several issues: 1) basic mechanics (how to add/ subtract) weren't well understood, 2) she's a visual learner - one who likes to see things demonstrated whilst explained and 3) she learns through doing and does require practice (our school rarely sent home homework in maths for DD1 & no actual number work at all in YR to Dec Y2 - just pattern colouring).

I also started out looking for workbooks but realised that in many cases on-line tutorials were more cost effective and continuous (no rushing out to get the next workbook involved). DD1 also responded better to video lessons/ game format - than pen to paper method. There are several on-line maths tutorials out there - we're using and very pleased with mathsfactor (www.themathsfactor.com/ - they run summer schools & a monthly subscription arithematic school.

Others on Mumsnet have sung the praises of:

Mathletics: www.mathletics.co.uk/
Maths Whizz: www.whizz.com/
Komodo: komodomath.com/

What I will say is after 3 years with a school, if you're feeling that the maths curriculum isn't working for your otherwise reasonably intelligent child and there is no obvious explanation (learning disability, illness, etc...) - then going 'off plan' and finding resources to support maths at home is really the best solution, especially if your expectation is that by end Y6 you should have a child able to add, subtract, multiply & divide to 3 digits. It's not to say that they aren't covering this at school - but just that the approach may be too scattergun to 'fit' your child's learning style. We've found doing our own thing through mathsfactor at home, taking time over the 'tricky bits' & playing games (mathsfactor provides lots of game ideas & resources for off-line work) has been a huge help and we've never looked back. Others here on MN have said similar about Mathletics, Maths Whizz & Komodo maths.

What I will say is that at age 7/8 you have to accept that at first you'll have to be with them at the computer to help type things in, etc... Sometimes this is essential because tests/ challenges are timed and they may not be able to find numbers very quickly. But gradually they'll be better able to do it and you will become less directly involved.

HTH

Wow, what a great response from my original post.

Thank you to everyone who has commented, great ideas and advice, it is really appreciated.

I am now off to put it into practice!