What does your 9yo learn in Maths?

[Autumnwinterspringsummer]

DS has just turned 9 and is complaining about how boring school is. Maths was the problem yesterday and to be honest I think the class seem to be way behind and they should be being challenged way more.

Out of interest, what does your 9yo learn please?

at the moment, homework seems to involve very basic/introduction to alegebra, prime numbers, number puzzles and games, rounding, long multiplication - year 5, independent school, middle set

Timetables, 24 hour clock, bar models, fractions etc, place value, word problems, vertical addition and subtraction, statistics, multiplying by multiples of ten.

The school run has a good summary.

Mine (y5) is currently doing adding / subtracting 4 digit numbers, place value for numbers up to 100000, and using Roman numerals. Mine also complains it's boring / that they repeat the same things every year - he has done the homework quickly and easily 🤷. State school, average ability.

They are way behind then as I thought.

Year 5 National Curriculum Programme of Study here:

DfE website

It may be that, early in the year and post pandemic, they may be securing sone aspects of the Year 4 curriculum as well - but the basic plan is that the Year 5 programme of study describes what is compulsory for Year 5 to cover.

If it appears that what your child us doing is much lower, then asking the school about their plans to cover the full Year 5 Maths programme of study within this academic year is entirely reasonable.

Note that you need to make sure you are judging class work not homework - many primaries use homework to consolidate and revise very basic skills, not rehearse recently taught ones, so homework is often a lot easier (so all children can complete it independently).

You can easily supplement by signing up for doodle maths or logging onto White Rose where there are videos and accompanying workbooks. You could also buy a copy of the text book and work book for Maths No Problem (not easy-Singapore method!) and try 5 a day on Corbett Maths. Khan Academy have great explanations.

Maths is one of the easiest subjects to supplement.

Of the above, White Rise is probably the closest to how most schools will now be teaching (if your school has ever mentioned ‘Mastery’, White Rose is a common supplier of resources).

Maths No Problem is good for children who like a challenge, but is relatively poorly aligned with the National Curriculum so less good for filling gaps or giving an idea of what schools ‘should’ be doing.

nRich is a good source of open ended ‘mathematical thinking’ problems that often use very simple Maths in subtle ways.

This book might help you:

www.amazon.co.uk/Target-Your-Maths-Year-5/dp/1906622299/ref=asc_df_1906622299/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=310850997089&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=1585442596091222048&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007246&hvtargid=pla-490660982866&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

If they’re following White Rose, the autumn term is quite dry I’m afraid, but it’s all about securing their understanding of number before they move on to a huge block on fractions in spring.

WRM is very repetitive in the autumn term of Year 5.

Maths no problem is a good one for any kid, not only those who love challenges. It brilliant explains new topics. But yes, you need to do it one by one and not jumping from chapter to another as the school teachers love to do.

If he's 'just' turned 9, he'll be in Y4, not Y5.

We always found the first few weeks of the year were the worst, because they're often spent consolidating work on basic number - place value, arithmetic. It's very necessary for those kids who might have gaps, but it never seemed that much thought was given to those who might have had the number system sussed years ago. It's when there most needed to be some extension tasks for the stronger ones, but at the point in the year when the teacher knew them less well.

The thing is, it could have been aligned with the National Curriculum - but the publishers chose not to. So teachers - constrained by the NC - if they choose to use this book, have to use it selectively. It’s a publisher issue, really.

Most of these we were doing 2 years ago via zoom in the home schooling phase of covid. I thought it was way too hard (for me). Poor DS was only 7

inheritance
Covid was so tough. In fact a lot of the material is repeated each year and there's quite a lot of overlap so you haven't necessarily missed the boat if your child is unready. Doodle Maths is really useful in asking the same kind of questions repeatedly and gradually taking you through the syllabus (not comprehensive syllabus though). My child felt a lot more ready for new areas because of this.

I should have clarified, I was thinking of White Rose in terms of the wide overlap year on year.

There will be time spent consolidating what was taught the previous year. Most schools use White Rose maths. There will be a reason for the sequence of learning. Many kids moan that something is boring.