School from home: your maths learning resource round up

Schools may be closed, but you’re still working tirelessly to ensure there’s as little disruption as possible to learners’ routines. This means keeping in close communication with parents and caregivers and supporting them from afar.

To help, we searched our back catalogue to bring you a hefty collection of maths teaching resources that you can pass on to learners’ parents. It should help ease this unusual transition to home education.

So let’s get to it. Here’s a resource list to support your learners’ school from home.

1. How to get started with maths mastery

For parents and caregivers who are researching maths mastery for the first time, or who need a refresher — this is the perfect introduction. The following blogs give a high-level view on some of the important maths mastery theories and why they’re important.

• 3 questions parents ask about maths mastery
• How maths mastery fosters intrinsic motivation in learners
• How a growth mindset helps facilitate learning in maths
• How to put Bruner’s key theories into teaching practice
• 4 reasons why you should stretch advanced learners
• The art of effective questioning
• Building maths fluency through problem solving

2. Focus on maths mastery techniques

Parents might know the theory behind maths mastery, but how does that translate into practice? These blogs delve into what an effective maths mastery lesson looks like. They break down essential maths mastery techniques like number sense, number bonds, bar modelling, the CPA approach, journaling, and effective questioning.

• How important is number sense?
• Creating an effective Singapore maths lesson structure
• 3 ways number bonds lead to maths mastery
• How to move from concrete resources to abstract learning
• Making the most of bar modelling
• How to use part–whole bar models in your classroom
• How to use comparison bar models
• 5 types of maths journals and how to use them
• How to evaluate maths journals
• 7 maths mastery strategies to help learners retain knowledge

3. Explore practical maths activities

The next batch of blog posts are a collection of practical tips and activities parents and caregivers can try at home with their children. Topics like angles and measurement are ideal homeschool activities.

• 6 strategies to help pupils develop an early understanding of place value
• Exploring the difference between equal sharing and equal grouping in division
• Tips for teaching angles
• Tips for teaching measure in Key Stage 1
• Real-world maths: helping learners measure and compare
• How many days are there in 2020 years?
• Walking in a winter numberland: activities for Key Stage 1

4. Meet the needs of every learner

Every child is unique and what support they’ll need often depends on their age and subject confidence. After all, success in mathematics relies on how deeply your learners’ understand the concepts being taught. These blogs focus on supporting a few key learner groups.

Learners in Early Years Foundation Stage

• Early years maths mastery: introducing the CPA approach
• Early years maths mastery: boosting number sense
• Early years maths mastery: balancing work and play

Learners in Year 1

• Teaching counting to 20 in Year 1
• Teaching volume and capacity in Year 1
• Addition and Subtraction Year 1

Learners in Year 6

• How creative journaling supports formative assessment
• How to use journaling to teach multiplication in depth
• Word problems in Year 6: challenging learners to take charge of their lesson
• This questioning technique strengthens maths lessons and challenges advanced learners

Struggling Learners

• Struggling Learners: when is ‘struggle’ productive and when is it a waste of time?
• Teaching multiplication to the struggling mathematician

Learners with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

• How to identify specific learning difficulties in maths: a guide for teachers and parents
• Supporting learners with SLCN in the classroom
• SEND inclusion jigsaw: a teaching strategy for all learners
• Overcoming obstacles for maths learners with dyslexia
• Supporting dyslexia in the maths classroom
• Overcoming obstacles for learners with dyscalculia
• Teaching children with dyspraxia

5. Play some fun maths games

Right now, parents and caregivers are in the middle of juggling school from home, figuring out childcare and doing their own work — on top of everything else that needs to be done. Maths games can be a welcome distraction. Here are some fun maths activities your learners can try at home.

• Maths games: addition and subtraction within 20
• Simple, effective, and fun: 4 ways to keep your child’s maths momentum going
• 6 magical maths activities to keep children engaged

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing lots of helpful content to support you and your learners during the Covid-19 pandemic. Keep an eye on our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn accounts for helpful parent content, homeschool support and maths mastery resources.

And if there’s any content you think we’ve missed, drop us a line at: blog@mathsnoproblem.com