dd2 stuggling in Y3. Homework too hard and she's losing confidence.

[Madsometimes]

Oh dear. I'm quite worried about my daughter. She's not happy about being in Y3. First of all, she's scared of the playground with the big children. Although she's tall she's Aug birthday and she knows she's young and she's hurt herself a few times.
Now she's also saying she is no good in class and wants to be moved down a set. She thinks she's on the wrong table (middle set).
Her homework at the weekend was incredibly difficult, things like multiplying 26 by 6. I won't even mention the division because I don't know my 29 times tables either. In fact the work was inappropriate, none of the children could do it, but it still dented dd's confidence.

I am worried that because her teacher has not taught Y3 before she may be expecting too much of them. dd says the work is easier when a cover teacher (senior member of staff) is in charge. I know I should talk to the teacher but I find this really difficult and don't want to come across too critically. Any advice please.

Talk to the teacher. Your child is losing confidence. At the very least her teacher needs to know. You need to know what approach the teacher is taking with this so that you can help her at home.

Yup, talk to the teacher.
My DD's in yr 4 so I am pretty sure something like 26x6 would be appropriate in the last term of year 3 rather than the first. And if the division was really a larger number divided by 29 then that really does sound too hard.

Does the school not follow the National Curriculum?

It certainly sounds a lot more difficult than the kind of work my ds1 (Yr3) is bringing home, and AFAIK he is in the top group for maths. I would speak to the teacher and explain that your dd is finding the work (understandably) difficult.

My ds1 is in yr 3 and has been doing sums like 26 x 6...he is really good at maths though, better than me! .
I'm not sure but I think the idea is that they divide the sum so it is smaller so in this case 26 x 6,...1/2 it..so 13 x 3 = 39...x2...78 does that make sense?

God I've got that wrong!! ...do you know I mean though

My ds brought that sort of work home near the end of Y3 (and he was in the bottom set)

Iirc they have to break the sum down into units, so 26 x 6 would be 20 x 6 = 120
6 x 6 = 36
120 + 36 = 156

Talk to the teacher. Firstly explain your dd is losing confidence. Secondly, ask for a booklet outlining how they teach maths - our school gave these out at the start of Y3 so I could look up how to do sums and help ds.

That's what he's doing hippi..told you he was better than me...
I definitely need one of those booklets as I can't work out how he's doing long subtraction either they don't seem to stack the numbers up in the sum and I think he's subtracting the hundreds, then then tens and then units to make smaller sums each time..does that sound right?

Yes, they are breaking everything into units (and writing it all out the long way too) Always start with the largest unit and work your way down (I think)

dd1 is in year 3 and has been doing factors and long addition and subtraction and some times-ing but not those knid of sums they do sound hard

I complained yesterday about dd1s homework needing a calculator and they didnt really take my complaints on board tbh

Thanks a lot....Did your school offer this booklet? Do you know what it's called?

dh recycled our booklet, so I am 'flying blind' as it were now. Makes maths homework day very fraught!!

our school is c**p at supporting parents! Have to say I'm really ashamed I have no clue how to help ds1...luckily he doesn't need much atm. Right I'm going in to ask for this booklet, they already think I'm a pushy mum, might as well reinforce it

It was a booklet printed by the school - so not a national thing or lea thing.
It was part of the Y3 welcome pack, along with the names of all the Y3 teachers, who to contact, their bullying policy, new parent information etc.

Thanks everyone. I will talk to the teacher. dd goes to a state school so does follow nat curriculum.

I don't think she is ready for partitioning multiplication yet because she does not know her times tables properly. A friend's Y3 child (another school) was given a times tables square to tackle these sums but my daughter has not. Basically she is very scared of maths and always has been because she hates getting things wrong. My four year old is a natural which doesn't always help.

Her school sometimes has curriculum evenings when the teaching methods are discussed in a general sense. I'll ask when they are going to do a maths one.

I know I'm old fashioned but wasn't it so much easier when it was all done in columns.
hippi - I am so impressed with you. You have these methods licked!

Could you give your dd a times table square yourself? If you think it would help her it might be a good idea until she becomes more confident with what she is doing.

Sounds like a good plan Mad! Good luck.

Oh, and thanks, I am not just a pretty face

Ds1 has been doing partitioning but with addition and subtraction first so that they get used to the method before moving on to multiplication.

Y3 Welcome Pack!!!???... Yep, well never had one of those either...

ingles, is your dc's school a primary (R - Y6) or a junior school which starts at Y3. Ours is a junior school, so it was new to all children starting in Y3. Hence welcome pack.

our school organiesd a maths talk for the year 3 parents to explain how things are taught these days (not like in our days...) it was really useful. perhaps you could suggest your school organise something similar ? and teacher said we could always ask in private if we didn't understand how they should be doing things!

it's a primary, very tiny village school which historically has had a bit of a problem with gettng parents involved in ANYTHING... This has changed in the last few years but the school is very slow to catch on,.. I'm going to suggest this,...Thanks a lot