New Class September 2015 Class Blog Now OPEN!

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It all adds up to 2015

With the school year coming to a close the children in Ganges class have spent some time reflecting on their learning over the past year. Here are some of their thoughts on how their maths understanding has developed over that time. Have a great summer everyone.

Summertime maths fun!

Sitting in an area

 The recent good weather has given Ganges class the opportunity to take their learning outside. Thinking about perimeter and area seemed just perfect to get into the playground to draw a range of large shapes to then use as the basis for our calculations. Plus it is much more fun than using our books!

Using column addition

Did you know that the word perimeter can be split into 'peri' and 'meter'. 'Peri' means around and 'meter' means measure - around and measure. That makes it easier to remember if you swap the words around - perimeter means 'measure around'. Easy!

Once we remember that we can then remember that the 'area' is the inside part of the shape and we know that we have to include a tiny number ²  when we are writing the answer.

You can see we have a great deal of fun doing our maths outside

Venn diagrams and times tables

John Venn (1834-1923)

Some might think this is a picture of our teacher, but no, John Venn has a much better head of hair! John Venn was the mathematician who invented the Venn diagram which clearly shows the similarities and differences between two sets in a visual way. Perfect for those in Ganges who are visual learners.

We have recently been using Venn diagrams to show the links between different times tables. They have helped to develop our understanding as we have written some times tables numbers in one circle, some in the other circle and then those numbers which appear in both times tables were written in the middle of the circles known as the intersection.

Strange to think that a Victorian mathematician is helping us with our learning in 2015.

Ganges class use maths in the holidays

Real life maths

Ganges class have been using their maths skills in all manner of different real life situations over the Easter break as this extensive spidergram shows. With everything from using maths on a long car journey to Cardiff, to keeping fit by trying to do thousands of steps, to investigating extraordinary maths facts it is wonderful to see them using their learning when on holiday!
They are ready and raring to go for the busy term ahead.

Not everyone knows their weight in creme eggs!

Athletic Maths and Measuring

Checking a measurement

Doing maths outside is something that everyone in Ganges class enjoys and with a focus on measuring this March a series of athletic based events provided the perfect opportunity to get out and get active.

However, before a single bean bag, javelin or football was measured we had to get our maths heads on and estimate how far they had gone (an estimate is a thoughtful guess).

We had the option of using a range of different measuring equipment outside from metre rulers to tape measures and trundle wheels. The important thing you need top remember when using a trundle wheel is to make sure you start off with it at zero otherwise you will get an incorrect measurement.

100 metres in 9.63 seconds -WOW!

Everyone enjoyed learning about measuring in the sunshine and some of us were very good at estimating. We finished off by trying to correctly estimate 50 metres across the playground. That is half the distance Usain Bolt runs as his main event is the 100 metre race. We all agreed that running that far in 9.63 seconds at the 2012 Olympic final in London is just amazing.

Red Nose Day Maths

Making equivalent calculations

Answering questions in class on Red Nose Day proved to be rather challenging and rather funny at the same time. Why? Well have you ever tried to explain how one side of a calculation is equivalent to the other side with a large red plastic nose attached to your actual nose! Oh, along with showing the calculation with Cuisinaire rods too.

It made us laugh but we kept on working through the laughter.

Cyclops maths

A puzzled looking red nose