Year 2 maths ability

[amazinggrace321]

Hi can I ask what your y2 child’s maths is like? I always thought mine was good at maths - knows times tables and number bonds well. The problem we are finding is comprehension of maths word problems and knowing what sum should be done. We’ve been doing some CGP books once a week and it’s proving a struggle! What are your Y2’s maths skills like?

You might be confusing your child with the CGP books. They phrase things differently. You’d be much better off speaking to their teacher and see what they recommend.

I worked in year 2 for years and abilities vary massively. Number bonds and times tables is a good place to be, but they need to learn shapes, to tell the time, and division and multiplication can seem very alien. In school they will have all sorts of manipulative tools to help. Using tactile objects and visualisations help it to make more sense.

Mine was the same. Really far ahead in Maths, but English help him back. Now year 8 and his maths is about year 11 level, English more like year 8 level. I did find though that wordy maths problems were a really good way to work on his English by making him think it's maths...!

Thank you they are quick at multiplication and division but as soon as it’s put in a word problem all the skills seem to go! Same with the time

Do you discuss math in your daily life? My Y2 doesn't know all the times tables but can do the type of problems you have mentioned. I believe it's because we often relate math to our daily lives so they act like natural word problems.

How are they if you ask the same sort of question verbally? If they can do it verbally, it might be managing the reading and the maths at the same time that they are struggling with.

And how are they if you give them easier word problems, say addition/subtraction?

It's really common for kids who are strong on the pure maths side (times tables, number bonds) to struggle with word problems, because those are actually testing reading comprehension as much as maths. It's a different skill and it doesn't mean your DC is weak at maths at all, it just means the application side needs more practice. Our DS was similar, could do calculations fine but word problems threw him completely because he'd get confused about what the question was actually asking.
What helped was lots of short, low-pressure practice where the format felt more like a game than homework, anything with a gamification element took the stress out of it because getting one wrong wasn't a big deal. The CGP books are good but they can feel like a slog, especially for a Year 2 who'd probably rather be doing literally anything else.
Mixing in something more game-like alongside the books might help keep the motivation up. this helped our DS https://Mathstutor.me

Depending on your relationship with screen, perhaps try some apps? there are many different ones out there that keep them engaged. Could be a nice oprion to to try different types of math tasks and broadening what he enjoyes

Someone recommended brilliant.org. You could also try stemigo.org/game - variety of puzzle types there