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Ideas to help with mental maths?

7 replies

redskyatnight · 25/06/2014 11:49

DD (Year 3) is good at maths but poor at mental maths and it is starting to cause her problems.

I'd like to work on it at home (thinking 5 or 10 minutes a day, nothing ott) but am not really sure what to focus on!! She does have good recall of all her times tables, so it's not that that is causing the problems. Just not sure where to start!

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TeenAndTween · 25/06/2014 12:08

Can you get her to do stuff out loud so you can she how she is approaching things.

e.g. If I was doing 36 add 22 out loud I would say:

36 add 2 makes 38
38 add 20 that's 38: 48, 58.
58.
This is a really good way to see how they are trying to do things.

Does she know strategies e.g. for adding 9 (add 10 take away 1)

When subtracting does she know about forward counting
eg 31-28: 28: 29, 30, 31 = 3.

Can she use her times tables for division e.g. 42/7 or only as times?

Is she confident going over 10s and 100s boundaries. e.g. can she count backwards from 105?

(not a teacher, but v keen on mental maths).

RedToothBrush · 25/06/2014 12:54

When I was a child I had real issues with this. To this day I can't do mental maths. I also was fairly good at times tables. At primary school they held me back in maths because of it despise being very good as I was near the bottom of the class in mental maths. My parents tried to help me at home but unfortunately I didn't find anything that helped and I remember getting upset about it. It was extremely frustrating and if anything the pressure of parents trying to help me just frustrated me more because I couldn't get my head round it.

I went on to be one of the very best at maths in my year at GSCE and in the past my work has involved a lot of bookkeeping. I just have to write everything down to be able to 'see' the problem. I can't visualise it in my head, if that makes sense. Its very difficult to explain.

Essentially my problem was/is that I can't recall numbers. I also have trouble reading them out loud or writing them done. I frequently get digits the wrong way round when I speak out loud. For example, some one will say 5,7 and I'll write down 7,5. So telephone numbers I find a nightmare. I have learned to cope with it by also repeating numbers back to someone when I write them down to check I have got it right; something I found very stressful when I started work but have learned to cope with.

I suspect in my case it is probably some sort of learning difficulty, but its offset by the fact that I have also have a high IQ and ability to understand the principles of maths so I learned to cope with my weakness early and it was never picked up as being a problem for me beyond primary age. I believe its possibly some sort of mild dyscalculia, but obviously I have never been assessed and it didn't cause me issues in the long run so I never really thought much about it. I don't display any other common symptoms of dyscalculia either; I just know there is definitely something 'not quite right' with how I think about numbers compared with the average person. Certainly I know that DH was the same with English. He was diagnosed with severe dyslexia as an adult, but achieved highly because he had a high IQ and developed coping skills and strategies. He struggles with reading, but you would never ever know. So I know in theory, the possibility of me having a learning difficulty is there and isn't restricted to people who struggle with words or numbers.

With her being good at maths and times tables, but not being good at mental maths, I do wonder if she has similar problems to those I had. I think you might be wise to be cautious about how you approach trying to help her though, with that in mind. I would definitely try and identify what aspects of mental maths she is struggling with first. I tried and know all the tricks above - (they are definitely worth learning as they are helpful for maths in general) - but knowing them doesn't really help with my mental maths, because I can't visualise and recall numbers. They just get jumbled up in my head.

Sorry, this isn't more helpful, but it does sound similar to my issues with mental maths, so I thought it was worth at least putting forward the idea of the possibility. Of course, it may not be the case and you may find a way of helping her.

The only reassurance I can offer you, is that not being good at mental maths, isn't necessarily going to hold her back in life. Provided she is doing well at maths elsewhere, it wouldn't concern me hugely.

PastSellByDate · 25/06/2014 13:00

DD1 had big issues with adding on numbers that jumped over a tens boundary (so 18 + 7 - would struggle to work out 25 is the answer very quickly). Much the same in reverse with subtraction.

We used two dice on snakes and ladders - and insisted she did it in her head no paper. Play forward for addition/ backwards for subtraction - works 1 - 100 adding/ taking away (1 - 12).

We tend to play the board forward 2x with two dice - because it goes faster (obviously backwards 2x for subtraction version - where you'd start at 100). You can play 3 or 4 dice if you want bigger numbers - but will have to play the board more times.

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using deck of cards

start with a start number (say its 18) then you can play adding up to 10 SNAP (just flip the card and first to say what 18 + whatever the value of the card gets the card). Ace - 1, 2 - 9 as numbered and face cards = 10.

You can play this either as addition or subtraction. May be easiest to start with lower numbers (11 - 13 - to get the idea and then build up gradually to numbers that will require you to go over the tens boundary - so 17 - 18 - 19, for example). If you want to spice it up you can have all players pick a card (so say there are 3 of you and your start number is 18) - flip 3 cards - say King (=10), 8 and 7 first to shout = 43 wins.

This can be frustrating so as a parent I tend to be terribly slow at first with this to give DDs confidence but now they are sincerely beating me more often than not.

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I'm thinking of a number (great for in the car).

I'm thinking of a number if you add 2 and divide by 10 you will get 4 - what was the original number. (this is basically algebra and will help a lot later - but somehow this doesn't seem like maths homework in the car).

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Maths video games are great and sometimes they help highlight areas where there are problems:

Maths champs has some great games to help improve mental calculation speeds (your daughter is in the 7 - 9 games range - but may be able to handle 9 - 11 range): www.mathschamps.co.uk/#home - Brick blaster ages 7 - 9 is great for mental maths - bop a bot (ages 9 - 11) is harder - but works the same issues.

Woodlands Junior School Maths Zone has all sorts of games:
resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/ - just search the area you'd like to do a bit more practice (maybe subtraction and then explore the game links they have).

but also has a specific mental maths section for Year 3 - which may be helpful: resources.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/maths/wordproblems/index.html

HTH

Yogurthoney · 25/06/2014 20:30

letts has a serial of books in Maths called mental maths. I think you can start year 7-8 one with DD.

emmaMBC · 27/06/2014 08:42

I'd definitely second the dice games. These are great to sneak in after dinner when everyone is still at the table. You can pretend to be competition with each other but let DD answer most of them first.

outtolunchagain · 27/06/2014 09:06

Playing cards is very goos I've found and also any games where scoring is involved.Using a number square and really practising tables concentrating not on just the answers but on what the answers mean IYSWIM

BlueChampagne · 27/06/2014 22:14

Games like Rummikub? Apps like math bingo?

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