As the children begin to settle into their routines at school, having met their new teachers and shared their holiday news with their friends, many pupils will be embarking upon new learning challenges within their Maths and English subjects this term. A firm favourite to kick-off the Autumn term at school is a review and deep-dive into the maths topic of place value. Place value is such an essential foundation for primary-aged children as it forms the building blocks for your child’s overall understanding of number skills, notwithstanding calculating number bonds up to 100, addition and subtraction up to 4 digits and beyond. When developing a secure knowledge of place value, children can competently complete mental maths challenges whilst approaching a range of mathematical problem-solving questions with enthusiasm and confidence. At Eden Tutors, we strive to consolidate children’s early mathematical skills through engaging, motivating, and interactive teaching strategies. Below are 5 ways to support your child with their place value skills this Autumn term:
Counting Cubes, Dienes, and Tangible Resources
From the Early Years of education to the 11 + exams, children thrive on learning from the environment around them. Explaining the value of a digit becomes a more enjoyable and illuminating experience when coupled with counting cubes and physical resources so that children can begin to associate the numerical representation of a number with its physical quantity. During the early phases of education, children will often learn to associate numbers with their respective amounts, whether this may involve counting conkers on the way to school or counting cubes in the classroom; associating the amount with tangible resources is an integral part of a child’s early understanding of number. As your child progresses through the school years, it is equally as essential to continue this trend of using dienes (hundreds, tens and ones) or equivalent representations of the number so that your child can become confident with differentiating thousands from hundreds, tens and ones. From Lego, to marbles, take a look to see what resources you have lying around the house!
Bingo Boards and Matching the Number
When learning a new skill, introducing well-known games with a mathematical twist can help to inspire young learners to engage with the topic of place value. Bingo boards can be adapted to suit the learner’s needs, whether they are beginning to associate numbers up to 10 with a given amount, or if your child is beginning to match hundreds, tens, and ones with the visual representation of a number, they inspire a positive learning atmosphere as well as injecting a competitive element into a maths learning task. Additionally, matching cards can support your child to accurately pair varying quantities, enabling them to flaunt their mathematical know-how in a fun and engaging way!
10 More, 10 Less, 100 More and 100 Less
In order to stretch your child’s mathematical agility, providing appropriate challenges can support their overall understanding of place value, as well as ignite their problem-solving capabilities. Whether your child is engaging in a maths home learning task or playing a place value game, frequently shifting the goal posts can promote greater consolidation of your child’s mathematical skills. If finding 10 more or 10 less than a given number, it would be wonderful to continue to change the starting points for each number, for example, beginning with an odd number, to provide challenge and demonstrate the effectiveness of having a secure place value knowledge.
Making Mistakes
One way to really ensure that your child has a fortified understanding of the topic could be to highlight misconceptions when going through their maths learning. When presented with an addition or subtraction question, it could be helpful to demonstrate adding from the hundreds column with the underlying ‘knowing’ that your child won’t hesitate to correct you on your errors! Children who have regularly practiced their place value skills are often thrilled to catch their teachers or parents out when presented with the opportunity. This also presents a wonderful learning opportunity so that your child can explain their reasoning and detail why it is important to calculate sums in a particular way, or perhaps say why it is important to refer to the tens digits as ‘20s’ instead of ‘2s’ within an addition or subtraction calculation.
Online Games
Children are increasingly technologically savvy and often relish the opportunity to play competitive games online. By harnessing your child’s enjoyment for online games and quizzes, this can continue to help children to associate learning a new skill with a fun activity. When engaged within an activity, the learning element becomes a part of the overall experience, rather than the focal point, inspiring children to engage further with the topic. By using child-friendly platforms, like ‘Topmarks’, your child can continue to consolidate their place value skills alongside nurturing their love of learning this Autumn term.
Essentially, keeping learning fun and engaging is the key to supporting your child to develop their place value knowledge. Follow us for more tips and fun ideas to support your child with their learning!
