Y1 maths blog
Date: 27th Feb 2025 @ 3:10pm
Thursday 27th February 2025
I thought it was a good time to write a blog solely dedicated to our fab maths in Year 1 (affectionately known as the Squabbits!).
This term is all about place value (what does each numeral mean within a number eg How many tens? How many units ones?) and addition and subtraction and LOTS of vocab. We have spent the term focused on 11-20 and understanding that the '1' in 13 is not a 'one' but a ten. We've likened this to our phonics when those tricky words write it with an 'a' but we say it as an 'oa' (eg whAt); but with maths- we write it with a '1' but we mean that it is a '10' with the zero hiding behind the ones number. This is essential knowledge for all future place value work from hundreds and thousands to fractions and decimals.
We have also done a lot of work on addition and subtraction techniques and recording. We have found patterns in our work but also focused on what the pattern actually means (it's all very well memorising 1+9/2+8 but if you don't really get that there are a total of 10 and 2 parts...). We continue to use PartWhole method in our recording and now we are also transferring to bar models. (Get them to show you!) We constantly use the rekenreks, our ten frames and our cubes because evidence shows that using concrete resources before visual before written creates long term mathematical understanding. So we play around with 3+ 14 14 +3 17-3 17-14 with 'stuff' before we see a diagram and before we do any writing.
Presentation of our work is also something we are working on.This week in particular we have spent a whole lesson on how we can use the squares in our book more efficiently and neatly. I was thrilled to have 5 'teaching assistants' helping around the class as their work was immaculately presented so they helped their peers to follow my instructions. Taking care of our work is important and as an ex-examiner, I can tell you that presentation is a factor when marking test papers- rightly or wrongly -but something to be aware of now and not create engrained untidiness. So encourage an awareness of the reader in every aspect of their written work - in any capacity or topic. I will be! #PraiseAndPraiseSomeMore
Below are some ideas of what you can replicate at home to develop and consolidate their maths progress:
- Use 'stuff' to count. Encourage counting in 2s and 5s. Make them create tally charts and they count in 5s for the total. (We use these for house points so is not new to them.)
- Play memory games to aid number bonds and doubles. Write out the number bonds on pieces of paper for them to have to turn over and find a match or turn it into snap with playing cards but focus on number bonds. We have done all the number bonds from 5-10 and also 20. Can they see a pattern between number bonds to 8 and 18?
- I wish I had shares in it but I still love Shut the Box game. You can buy one or do what we do and use scrap paper. They will tell you what to do. It is an AMAZING way of getting really confident about number bonds to 10 and seeing different ways of making a number.
- Wipe out. Another game they can tell you how to play. Use it for doubles or number bonds.
- counting stick has gone down really well this week. See below pic (apologies for the orientation). We counted and looked and then took off a stickie and counted again. We kept doing this until all the stickies were off. The very visual children could 'see' the invisible number by looking at the stick (isn't our brain clever!), some closed their eyes and said they imagined the full counting stick; others I imagine would prefer touching the stick or jumping on the paper. Whatever works! By May I want to see that they can all count to AND back in 2s, 5s and 10s confidently without looking at a number line or 100 square.
- Practise writing equations such as : 5 + 15 =20 15 +5 = 20 20 - 15 =5 20 - 5 = 15. We use cubes to move the quantities around so they see the pattern.
- create your own number lines. We haven't used rulers yet to draw them yet as we have great lined maths books but at home drawing lines with a ruler is indeed a skill to be mastered. They know to draw on the sticks and write in the numbers and that a number line does not have to start with 0. They will be expected to estimate a number from a blank number line and then reason why they think that (eg I think it's 16 because half way from 10 to 20 is 15 and this is a little more.)
Vocab we're using these days (bracketed is the word that is still ok but is being used a lot less frequently):
equations (number sentence)
plus (add)
minus/subtract (take away)
estimate (guess)
number bonds /facts /pairs
I am very generous with house points/sticker book stickers when children bring me any maths work they do at home and I frequently suggest homework at the end of the lesson that they could do. They often seem very motivated to challenge me (!) which I accept willingly.
Coming up is the foundations of multiplication, division, fractions... Maybe if this blog is popular, I'll do another one early in the summer term about those skills. In the meantime, keeeeeeeeep learning those number bonds!
Mrs H
