NUMERACY

Year 5/6 students are beginning their unit of fractions, decimals and percentages this week. We use the deci pipes as a concrete way of showing the various sizes of decimals. Deci pipes are a 1 metre length of pvc to show 1 or the whole, 10 x 10cm pieces of pvc to show tenths, 10x 1cm pvc to show hundredths and metal washers to represent thousandths. This resources made choosing between two decimals and choosing the smallest or largest. Students then began to learn how to add decimals through an activity called colour in decimals. From this we used a decimat to begin to see how we add decimals.

Year 2/3/4 students have been looking at reading large numbers using the number generator. We also got out the poly plugs and looked at an activity called Uncover Counting. We slowly uncover each row of plugs and discuss how many ways we can record the number shown. For example we can record 12 as 6+6, or 3+3+3+3+.

We also chose our favourite number and showed a variety of ways to represent our number.

Kindergarten and year 1 have settled into the routine of learning all about numbers. They are all displaying enthusiasm especially when we use the poly plugs. Their formation of their numbers is developing well. Counting on the 100 chart is a daily routine, we count forwards and backwards by ones, and forwards by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s. Students are also choosing a favourite number and representing it in different ways. For example, draw that many items, dice pattern, tally. 10 frames. Today the year 1 students remembered how to use tally marks to represent their number.