She did a maths test at school today and only got half marks and is devastated
FIRST OFF - EXPLAIN TO HER THAT SHE SAT A L3 TO L5 MATHS SATS. L5 to L6 IS THE EXPECTED LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE FOR CHILDREN AT THE END OF Y9 IN SENIOR SCHOOL.
Only about 45% of all primary students in England achieve NC L5 in maths at KS2 SATs: source The Guardian (scroll down to tables at bottom of this article): www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/sep/19/sats-results-key-stage-two
Without knowing which test she took it's difficult to know whether her score = NC L4 or not - but answering about half the questions correctly should be about NC L4.
For example in 2012 the thresholds were: orderline.education.gov.uk/gempdf/1783150653/STA-13-6932%20-%202012%20Level%20threshold%20tables%20for%20the%203-5%20and%20level%206%20English%20and%20mathematics%20tests.pdf
Now what I don't know is whether your DC took Part A/ Part B and the mental maths test or just one of these.
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She says she got some of the questions right but the teacher marked them wrong because she used a number line rather than column subtraction and chunking I'm not sure how true that is
NO CLUE ON THIS - AS FAR AS I UNDERSTOOD SATs ARE GRADED BY THE ANSWER NOT HOW YOU CALCULATE IT. SO YOU CAN USE COLUMN METHOD/ GRID METHOD/ YOUR FINGERS & TOES - AS LONG AS YOU GET THE ANSWER RIGHT. TRUST ME - COME THE TIME YOUR DC'S SCHOOL WILL JUST WANT THE ANSWER RIGHT AND WON'T WORRY ABOUT HOW YOUR DC CALCULATED IT.
PERHAPS WHAT THE TEACHER MEANT IS THAT YOUR DC LOST TIME FROM USING THE NUMBER LINE AND NOT FASTER METHODS OF CALCULATION. (Not meaning to upset you - but by Year 5 she really should be able to add/ subtract making jumps mentally - so perhaps this is a real area of weakness - you can help by playing 21/ blackjack - which helps build those adding skills - or by playing snap.
With snap use a normal deck - but Ace = 1 and Jack = 10/ Queen = 20 and King = 30. Think of any number to 100 (let your DC chose if you like). Write this down on a post-it and shuffle deck and place entire deck face down next to post-it.
Addition version: Flip card - say it is an 8. 8 + ? = 39. First to shout 31 gets the card.
Subtraction version: Flip card - again say it is a 8. 39 - 8 = ?.
When she's good at that you can flip 2 cards for target numbers >30.
So again say it's 39. Flip 8 and 4. 12 + ? = 39 - answer 27.
First to get answer right in any version keeps the card. Winner is the one with most cards.
Any clues how I can build her confidence?
YES.
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She is only 2/3rds the way through year 5 and has an entire year to go before Y6 KS2 SATs - there's a lot of learning time there.
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If speed is the issue (and strengthening mental calculation skills) encourage her to play more maths video games (it's practise but won't feel like it to her) and these links are all free:
Woodlands Junior School Maths zone: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/
Math Champs: www.mathschamps.co.uk/#home
Multiplication dot com: www.multiplication.com/games
Have her play for 10 - 15 minutes whilst you make dinner or are getting ready to go to school in the morning. Perhaps not every day - but maybe in the week. You'll be surprised what a difference it will make and cumulatively all that practice will add up to her being very confident in her calculation skills and make test situations less upsetting.
HTH