Maths websites/subscriptions for very able Year 1?

[IlFaitBeau]

Wondering if parents of KS1 children have any suggestions of maths subscriptions to choose which aren’t super pricey and which will help challenge a Year 1 child exceeding expectations in maths and genuinely loving numbers? DS loves maths and enjoys setting us all Number challenges and would greatly enjoy something regular/daily that challenges him a bit.

I’ve looked on MN and it appears that -

1. people rate Carol Vorderman’s Maths Factor but some find it repetitive
2. Komodo Maths appears to have some likers
3. Maths Whizz too
4. Ixl as well

Since we can only do 1, just wondered what might help? Also we aren’t looking for extra support/there aren’t particular areas where he is struggling - it’s more about stretching him a bit in ways which he will enjoy. He enjoys multiplication, division, balancing number sentences using the 2, 5 and 10 times tables for example.

Thanks for any help :)

White Rose have recently launched an app that focuses on fluency in the 4 operations.

My very able Y2 DD enjoys it. It’s free too!

Is it the 1 minute maths app? We love it! Their school uses the white rose scheme and got parents to install it!

hopeful bump

we use doodle maths which adapts to your level. There is also something called Beast Academy which is designed for gifted mathematicians I think.

Nrich is free and great:

nrich.maths.org/

We use ‘Doodle’. Every night my child does maths, timetables, English and spelling (£11.98 per month). It only takes about 20 minutes. Their progress is tracked and I can see their progression. I would highly recommend, my child has flourished! Good luck in finding what suits your child

Squeebles and Maths Splash are good for daily fun practice of a variety of maths skills including telling time, geometry, fractions, division and multiplication as well as addition and subtraction skills for primary maths.

Oooh i hadn't heard of Doodle. If you dont mind @Happyhulahooping - a few questions. So - i guess DS and I do about 20-30 mins of learning each day, divided across over breakfast and then before bedtime - and we are tending to cover maths, spelling, writing and reading/topic. Would you say we'd still benefit from Doodle as part of our existing 25 mins a day? I am thinking of signing up on the 7 day free trial to see if it might work....

Mathseeds but depends on how far ahead he is. It goes up to y3 i think

Have you heard of Prodigy?

You need to be careful to extend sideways rather than onwards through the curriculum (assuming he’s at a non selective school). Which is why I wouldn’t rate Doodlemaths for this, as he will end up way ahead and that makes school lessons very dull and can irritate his teachers. A maths club (online or if you have one locally), nrich or something like Dragonbox would probably be better.

There are piles of apps out there that are more than willing to take your money in exchange for your child's eyeballs but I'd advise against them.

Typically you'll find your child uses them briefly and then you'll forget to cancel the direct debit for 3 months ! Definitely ask their school whether they have a TT-Rockstars account that you can use (or MonsterMath, Mathletics etc) before you throw money at the problem. They'll probably share the login with you.

Instead I'd recommend you try either a local tutor or buy some printed books (e.g. these).

I'm a big believer in kids associating screens with leisure and hence there's no substitute for a desk and a workbook/worksheet/etc, especially when there's an adult to help guide them through. It also means less screen-time !

Maths Whizz is decent and has an inbuilt assessment that will adapt to the level your child is at. It sets appropriate work, so you don't have to, which takes a lot of guesswork out of it.
Beast Academy is a package pitched at high ability kids. It is superb for kids with mathematical ability, but most other kids would struggle. last time I looked it was $96 for a 1 year subscription which is good value.
Squeebles is good for basic fluency, times tables practice.
Dragonbox have some very nice apps. generally fairly cheap with a one-off purchase cost, not an ongoing subscription.
I didn't like IXL - it doesn't really teach the content - no videos/tutorials, only provides exercises, and the exercises have too many repetitions, which bore a bright child. It might be good for average / below average ability kids, who need the extra repetition.

Another vote for a look at Nrich.
It's definitely more about sideways thinking rather than straight maths, and my mathsy childlike it over lock down.

Maybe not quite yet, but also sudokos and other logic style maths puzzles too.

There is lots of stuff online for free. Wouldn't bother with any of the apps. Given the level of maths, why not get sample questions from what you already use and just substitute in different numbers. If child is doing well in year 1 concentrate on useful practical maths being sound, e.g. times tables and division, number patterns, telling the time and using timetables, using money, weights and measures. I echo the PP that mentioned about extending the child's breadth of understanding, rather than moving forward with the curriculum into Year 2 year 3 and year 4 maths.

You need to be careful to extend sideways rather than onwards through the curriculum (assuming he’s at a non selective school). Which is why I wouldn’t rate Doodlemaths for this, as he will end up way ahead and that makes school lessons very dull and can irritate his teachers.

Really hate this attitude. Eyfs & ks1 maths are very basic for a child that "gets" maths and there's only so far you can "extend sideways" . Its not up to OP to avoid irritating his teachers, it's up to OP to do what's best for their child/meet their needs.

OP if your child really loves maths can you extend them with fun projects? Pocket money investments, coding games etc?

You can do a lot to explore shape/space/measure, money, time etc far more so than they do in school.

Great thread!

Pmk

@OfstedOffred

You need to be careful to extend sideways rather than onwards through the curriculum (assuming he’s at a non selective school). Which is why I wouldn’t rate Doodlemaths for this, as he will end up way ahead and that makes school lessons very dull and can irritate his teachers.

Really hate this attitude. Eyfs & ks1 maths are very basic for a child that "gets" maths and there's only so far you can "extend sideways" . Its not up to OP to avoid irritating his teachers, it's up to OP to do what's best for their child/meet their needs.

OP if your child really loves maths can you extend them with fun projects? Pocket money investments, coding games etc?

You can do a lot to explore shape/space/measure, money, time etc far more so than they do in school.

I speak from experience. I used to agree with you, but it just led to dcs being more frustrated by school and disliking maths lessons. Unless the school is up for acceleration, and IME state primaries are very much not, sideways is better as otherwise maths lessons in school become even more excruciatingly slow and dull, as dc have already covered all the content out of school.

You might disagree about whether schools should take this approach, but I’ve been told by quite a few teachers that they have to do so due to the constraints of the National Curriculum. So it’s not a fight you’re likely to win. Whereas you can usually get agreement to using nrich or other things that extend sideways, and that can make school lessons much more interesting - though IME they do have to plough through the easy stuff first.

"You need to be careful to extend sideways rather than onwards through the curriculum ... he will end up way ahead and that makes school lessons very dull and can irritate his teachers"
This is bad advice. He will probably find school lessons dull regardless of what you do, unless they are willing to meet him at the level he is actually at. What is being suggested here is that you should sacrifice his progress for the convenience of his teachers.

" I’ve been told by quite a few teachers that they have to do so due to the constraints of the National Curriculum. "

They are mistaken. There is no such constraint in the national curriculum, though some sources pretend there is, and this has led to confusion among a subset of teachers. According to Mark McCourt this is " driving some of the worst practice I have witnessed in England’s schools, which is also a result of official bodies erroneously spreading the myth that all pupils should learn the same content, namely the practice of keeping high-ability pupils on mundane work for months on end. An increasing number of teachers and parents are telling me about their frustration at this practice, with many going further to say that officials have told them they are ‘not allowed’ to let the pupils progress further up the curriculum no matter how secure they are in the concepts they are being kept on."

Chapter 1 of Developing Math Talent has a long list of excuses that are used by schools and teachers for not developing mathematical talent. The statements in the above posts correspond to excuses 3 and 15.

Programs based solely on enrichment do not present sufficient challenge to highly able students.

Acceleration is the best-researched, yet most under-utilized intervention for gifted students. It should be the first intervention for gifted students: first accelerate, and then enrich

Thanks everyone. Lots of food for thought. We are sort of guided by DS here rather than the curriculum. So I suppose it’s both working at greater depth and also clearly covering topics in later years. Year 1 doesn’t do times tables (they count in 2,5,10) or adding or subtracting fractions for example. DS enjoys these. He self initiates much of this and often sets us games/challenges. We aren’t going to stop him doing that. We aren’t going to stop him trying to figure out how to solve 1/4 + 1/2 in his head and then how to write it as a number sentence just because that isn’t explicitly covered in class in year 1. That’s just one example. I think it’s important to let DS discover, explore, ask questions and let him learn and challenge himself without worrying too much about sideways/vertical/consulting the curriculum etc.

@extrastrongmints can I ask a question - what are you suggesting they are accelerated towards? Ie are you thinking they do gcse / a-levels early? Enter a degree early (although oxbridge ime ask accelerated candidates to delay before attending)

Mainly my question with acceleration is “to what” as I agree - if they are finding it easy no amount of acceleration is going to make it less dull until you get to degree level and even then it will probably be “more stuff” vs that challenging

I agree with JurasicPerks about logic and number puzzles rather than maths apps. They teach useful reasoning skills that will support DC's maths. You can buy puzzle compendiums online tailored to the DC's age/level, or there are plenty of free online games and apps. Much more fun and varied than TT Rockstars. My yr1 DD2's favourite app at the moment is the game where you move layers of coloured liquid around until each tube is full of one solid colour (eg SortPuz). She is also obsessed with games that give a selection of letters and you use them to make words and fill the grid above (eg Garden Of Words). DD1 enjoyed doing non-verbal reasoning exercises at the same age.
DCs' school give us logins for TT Rockstars and Sumdog. TTRS is a battle to get them on, but they both enjoy Sumdog and it seems pretty varied in the questions.

Maths is everywhere and can be fun.
Things that we tried and can recommend ;
Watching the thrilling test launch of falcon heavy on you tube. You can see the rate of acceleration in the corner tracking along with height. This can be plotted in a graph.
Probability games eg heads/tails or pack of cards or cup and balls. Work out the odds.
Get them involved in the family shop working out the best value for money. Let them have cash to spend in shops and getting them to check the change.
Have them read the meters and get them to work out how much energy they use.
Baking following recipes, but also scaling up and down.
My LO loved Guardians of Mathematica on BBC bite size.

I can also recommend the ‘You Do the Maths Books’.

Maths Whizz. Free trial for a month, then around £20 per month but it tailors to your child's needs rather than clicking through activities. If you don't sign up for the subscription they always offer a discount within approx a week