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

Using base ten resources for decimal numbers.

How to show 3 and 3 tenths as a decimal with base ten resources

We are always using practical resources in class as by seeing and touching our maths equipment it helps us to understand the mathematical ideas. When we were thinking about decimal numbers and how they link in with fractions we found it very useful to place the base ten resources on a place value grid. It meant we were able to see the digits and how they related to the units and the tenths.
Putting the decimal point in the correct place is very important as 3.3 can soon become 33 or even 0.33 if you are not careful.

Showing 3 and 6 tenths as a decimal with base ten resources

Full minds and empty boxes

Two minds are better than one

Sometimes working out calculations when you are given all of the information you need can be tricky. So imagine how challenged the children of Ganges class are when they are given just part of the details and a series of 'empty boxes'. 
The empty boxes can be all types of different shapes to really make us think hard! We worked in pairs for some questions where we had to set questions for each other so you can imagine how we were wanting to make them as tricky as possible.

Can you think of any other ways these could be solved?

If you begin with the answer there are a number of different possible answers which means that we really have to apply the work we have been doing in class. Puzzling out a number of options helps to develop our ability to mentally manipulate numbers.

A Fraction reflection

In Ganges class we have been understanding fractions.
I have found this work more difficult than easy because I haven't really done a lot about fractions. However, after learning about fractions in Year 4 I feel as though I am ready to face really difficult fractions in Year 5 and Year 6.
I really do feel as though I can face a difficult fraction challenge.
We have also been learning about fractions in real life, such as: You might need two halves because if you wanted to share a cup-cake between the two of you, you might want to split it into two halves.
By Niamh

Questions, Questions ...

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Knowing how to work with fractions is one thing but thinking up challenging questions for other pupils is another. Here is a super fraction question to puzzle over.

There are 32 pupils in the class, 16 pupils are in one writing group. If there are 3 groups, and each other group is equal, what fraction of the class is in each of the other two groups?

By Matthew

If you can work it out post your answer as a comment. Thanks.

Fractions, Fractions, Fractions

Fractions, fractions they're always in life,

Cutting a pizza or cutting a pie,

Fractions, oh fractions,

They're a part of life.

By Antony.

Ganges class have spent the last few days doing a great deal of working and thinking about fractions. Here are some of their thoughts.
Remembering how to say 'numerator' and 'denominator' is one thing, but which is which?

Some great ideas here:-

Numerator and denominator baked a cake. Denominator baked the bottom and numerator baked the top. By Francesca.


I remember denominator by, the denominator was a baby sleeping at the bottom of a bunk bed and the numerator slept at the top because it was older. By Keira.


I remember numerator and denominator by saying there are two friends on a double decker bus. Denominator sits on the bottom and numerator sits on the top. By Aaisha


The denominator and numerator had a wrestle. The numerator came out on top and the denominator lost. By Zac.

Negative learning

In Ganges class we have been learning how to understand positive and negative numbers or in other words minus and plus numbers.

So far we have completed work about temperature. For example if planet Yurg at it's hottest temperature is -27° celsius and Yurg at it's coldest is -163° celsius, we would have to work out the difference in between. Can you work out the answer?

We have also been on the internet researching positive and negative numbers as well as playing fun maths games.

By Coco and Leon.

Counting numbers less than zero

The desk was just long enough

To develop our understanding of negative numbers we have been using our Numicon resources so we can clearly see how a positive and negative number line looks.

When some of us started working on large negative numbers we got creative with some post it notes. One of the main points we understood was that on a large negative number line it is important that the space between -90 to -100 is the same as the space between -120 to -130.

We made equal space between numbers by holding our arms out

Maths in real life

In answering the question 'When did you use maths over the weekend?' Ganges class were absolutely full of bright ideas. Dealing with important issues such as the price of sweets, how many different birds were seen in the garden and even how many seconds before tea, the children used their maths learning. 

'So that's 15 blackbirds, 6 sparrows ...'

Coordinating our thinking

Knowing exactly where things are on a coordinate grid using Numicon resources has been working well in class this week. We have been using the 100 boards with Numicon tiles to help us fully understand which is the X axis and which is the Y axis. 

Recording the coordinates for symmetrically placed tiles has made us think very carefully as the coordinates (8,4) are entirely different to the coordinates (4,8). 

Double checking what we have written down is always a good idea too. We have also been talking about real life examples of when you might need to understand coordinates such as when you are reading a map or when archaeologists are digging a large area. 

What goes in the box?

Solved it ...

Being given the answer and asked to find the question really helps to develop a deep understanding of the mathematics involved in calculation. When faced with empty boxes for three two digit numbers Marcus took the time to carefully read the question which ensured that he did as the question stated and only used the digits 1 and 9. 

 He then went on to give a clear explanation of exactly how he arrived at his correct  answer. Empty box questions are just a challenge to be met head on by this young man.

and can explain how I did it.

Multiplying and Dividing by 10

13 X 10

 Knowing how to multiply by 10 is what we have been working on recently. Using our practical resources along with a place value grid has really been useful so we physically show what is happening when we are thinking about our calculations.

= 130

As division is the inverse of multiplication we have also been working on dividing by 10.

320 ÷ 10

= 32

Who needs a www. address?

The quick way to maths websites

In Ganges class we often use maths resources to help in developing our learning. Now we have tablet computers we can get straight to the websites we need for particular lessons even quicker. Once we are given an OCR (optical character recognition) code all we have to do is use the OCR app on the tablet and then 'Hey presto' we are right were we need to be and are able to get on with our maths work. 

Multiplication Fun

Creative thinking and maths are often a great combination. As we develop our multiplication skills we have been using Cuisinaire rods to help us actually see what certain calculations look like. As you can see some of us were thinking about winter and some others let our mind move to our favourite football team. Let's hope Everton don't try a 151 formation in a match!

The New Year in Numbers

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Ganges class began the term by turning their active minds to coming up with all manner of different facts about the number of this New Year. Did you know the highest number we can make from the digits 2015 is 5210 or even that if we round this year up we leap forward to 2020? We were all very pleased to come up with so many interesting facts based on just one four digit number.