Y4 maths-I thought DD was fine but am now concerned

[papermover]

Hi all,

I'd like to gather opinions and maybe suggestions on what, if anything, I should do. I've been sorting out DDs reading and left the maths up to the school. I'm now thinking I should have been more on the ball and need to intervene in some way.

DD is in year 4 and scored 105 in her Y2 maths SATs and was at the expected level. Her comprehension and reading are good ( I think, oh!). All good with maths I assumed.

Every time I see a teacher I am told DD needs to be more confident in her maths ability. She will ask for individual help, receive it, then knows what she has to do.

This worries me as I was also a compliant, good girl who could read well and was considered intelligent but considered to lack confidence in maths. I got to secondary school and it was discovered I completely lacked the basics. My primary school had made assumptions based on my character not on my abilities. I got a C in GCSE by the work of the amazing secondary teacher but I lack the basics and this is still a problem. I couldn't do the sciences I wanted to do.

DD says that the teacher explains maths and DD thinks so hard about it that she can't hear what the teacher is saying anymore. I wonder if there is a working memory issue-maybe DD doesn't understand concepts enough so has to really think hard and can't concentrate on too many things?

I am only concerned now as the teacher gave DD CGP Y4 maths 10 minute Weekly Workouts for homework. We have done two tests so far and DD doesn't understand them. These tests are at the beginning of the book and are supposedly going over year 3 work.

So far the things she doesn't understand are;

. That + is opposite to -

Can't work out .......- 25=13

. Counting in 5s: she thinks you have to start from 5 and that it will always be 5, 10, 15... Even if the question asks you to count in 5s starting at 7.

. Maths questions in written form, especially where there is more than one step to the question. She needed to find out how long something was then work out that it needed to be divided and by how many. She got the length and couldn't understand why that wasn't the answer.


She will use number lines when there must be a quicker way of working things out.

I will of course talk to the teacher but I know any deficiencies will need to be sorted by me rather than the school. Should I be worried? Does it sound like there is a problem? Work books don't help if I can't explain to her what she should be dong, and I can't.

Should I get her a tutor? I don't know about tutors, it's an area where people cram for public and other private schools or super-selective grammars and I suppose I'd always imagined that's what tutors around here did. That's not what I am looking for, I'd like someone who could find the gaps and get her up to speed so she can carry on with school maths.

Does that even make sense or am I worrying over nothing?

Thanks !

[rainbowfudgee]

I'm a primary teacher. Definitely go back to concrete representations (using objects eg counters) then she will understand abstract representations better (number sentences eg 23- 4). You can explain the inverse with this eg 23 - 4 = 19 is the opposite of 19 + 4 = 23. It is physically impossible for the total to be smaller than the other two numbers when adding- show her with counters. When she is proficient with solving number sentences using columns (fluent) then you can work on problem solving by adding a context to the calculation : Max has 23 sweets. He gives four away. How many does he have left?
Reasoning is when you encourage broader thinking eg Max has some sweets. He gives some away and then has 19. How many could he have started with and how many could he given away? List all the possibilities.
Or: Max has 23 sweets. If he gives away an even number he always ends up with an even number left. True or false?

Whether you decide to get a tutor depends on whether you can afford it, if your DD is being given extra support already at school eg a maths intervention group in the afternoon, and whether it would suit her personality.

Hope that helps

[Papermover]

She's not being given any intervention at school as the school consider her to be good at maths. She must seem to be on target to do well with a SATS score of 105 and I've not been told otherwise. This is why I was so confused, the difference between what I've seen and the schools expectations.

We've been using Numicon and doing the GCP 10 minute tests together- working through why and how to do things seems to have helped. she seems to understand things she didn't at the begining of the holiday. I'm happier than I was anyway!

I'd rather not get a tutor ( expense is one issue) but will decide after talking to the teacher.

It's been great to get ideas from you all and to spend a short time most days doing a little bit of maths.

[GreenTulips]

I would also build in math in daily life.
Example telling the time, bed time is in 8 minuets at 10 past 8

It's nearly quarter past you have 3 minutes till we leave

Dinner will be ready in 13 minuets

Add innfractions whilst cooking

If you do count swap to 10 91/2 9 81/2 7 so she gets the sequence easier

Ask her to help divide ckenor biscuits up between guests etc

Every little bit of maths language will help her understand

(Ohhh and I love Numicon)

[Papermover]

Numicon is brilliant isn't it? The school use it. I bought a big set of it years ago so we could do homework in a way she understood. I was going to give it away but so glad I didn't, I think it might be useful for years.

A Smartie fits in each Numicon hole exactly which is handy! I wonder if they were designed with that in mind?

[stclair]

This has been such a helpful thread to me. I also did not get a good grounding in maths and had no idea of how addition/subtraction were related etc. My year 4 DD has been diagnosed with dyscalculia and I am finding it difficult explaining the reasons behind how we work things out so this has been invaluable. Thanks everyone!