Maths levels?

[Flexibilityisaghost]

Been asking DS maths questions this evening, which is something he quite enjoys. I am just wondering what level he is at if anyone can tell me please? He has correctly answered questions like 5-8, 20x20, 3 divided by 9, 10 divided by 3, 5 divided by 4, using fractions in his answers. He was able to start with 2, and double up to 256, but then got a bit lost. He can add, subtract or times small numbers in his head easily. I am just curious to know whether this is about right for his age, or ahead or behind? If anyone can tell me what age child you would expect this from I'd be grateful please.

My DS is the same, enjoys answering math questions, and he usually tells me the results of sums, substractions, etc he has been thinking in his head at random moments.

He already can do most of the things from your list. He is 5 years old in Y1.
His teacher said at Parents Evening he is working at an above average level, and mentioned he could be doing maths with the Y2 group.

I expect it is a similar situation with your DS.

well my year 2 dd is pretty good at maths and in top group, but she couldn't do some of the things in your list. Especially 20x20.

Some things though are just if they have been taught or not, especially how to divide if there is a fraction in the answer.

Although (contradicting myself) if I gave that to dd (eg 3 divided by 9) and she said you can't do it, I would then say - imagine if you had 3 cakes and 9 people what would you do and then she would work it out, but initially she would need to think in very concrete terms I think.

I agree with you steppemum, for most bright kids it's also a matter of whether they have been taught or not.
But, some kids on their own who might enjoy thinking about numbers on their heads could transfer the knowledge that if three cakes could be divided between 9 people, then there must be a way to divide 3 by 9.

Well, my DS is not at all thinking about dividing fractions in his head, but he knows about fractions, and like you said, I'm sure if I ask him your question about the cakes he could work it out.

The doubling of 2 up to 256 he just did it yesterday off the top of his head when we were talking about viruses and bacteria, and how bacteria reproduce by division. So I gave him an example of one bacteria dividing into 2, then those 2 dividing, how many would you have? And he started of.
(We had been talking about that because he is at home at the moment with chickenpox and we were talking about what causes it, etc).

The 20x20, he blurted out one day that he knew how much was 20x20. I asked him how he knew, he said I know 10 times 20 is 200, and 20 is 10 + 10. So 200 plus 200 is 400. I was quite impressed by that logic.

Anyway, OP, the answer to your question is yes, the things that your DS is doing in maths are ahead for his age.

Thanks for the replies and for not telling me off for a blatant stealth boast. I'd had a couple of glasses of wine after DS went to bed last night and got carried away with my desire to tell someone about how clever he is. I know damned well he is ahead, although I have no idea by how much. He amazes me so often with his understanding of maths related things. I usually manage to keep my trap shut about it though, as I know in the greater scheme of things it is no big deal.

hmm, interesting Elle, I hadn't thought about 10 x 20 is 200, she knows that and would make the leap to do 200 + 200.

My ds is now 11 and has always had that ability to think about/play with numbers. He would often do odd things with numbers and when I asked how he did it, his logic was perfect, but it did it in a completely different way to me.

It wasn't so obvious as he went through school, he just did what was given to him, and I knew he could do more. He did 11+ (we are not in an 11+ area), and when I told school at beginning of year 5 that he was going to take it, I noticed a subtle upping of expectation from school. He was then put into a level 6 group, and got that at the end of year 6, and is now in grammar, he came home before half term and told be he was being put in an extension group for maths in his grammar school.
I must say it was good to hear, I have known since he was 3 that he had this ability to play with numbers, and it has taken a long time for it to show at school.

Op you don't say how old he is? Go right ahead a stealth boast, sometimes I think if we can't be proud of them, who can!

steppemum, your DS sounds very much like mine. He is just 7, currently Y2. He did 20x20 by working out that there are 5 20's in 100, and 4 times 5 is 20, so the answer was 4x100. He often seems to go a convoluted way about it like that, but when I try and explain what I think is a simpler way of doing it he gets upset and says I'm confusing him.

The school know he is good at maths, but all my examples are things he hasn't been taught as such, just picked up by discussions at home because it interests him. Once something is explained to him once he generally seems to just get it.