Mathematics: Years 3 & 4 (Ages 7 & 8)
What sorts of things can a parent teach their child at home?
Number & Algebra
Practice counting to 1000 forwards and backwards – obviously it’s a bit painful to listen to your darling do this all the way from zero, so instead just do bits and pieces e.g lets see if you can count from 760 to 820.
See if your child can name the number ‘one more than’ and ‘one less than’ numbers that are between 0 and 1000.
Work on counting in groups of ten and a hundred e.g. 347, 447, 547... or 26, 36, 46, ...
Try adding and subtracting in groups of ten or a hundred e.g. 346 – 10 = 336 and 346 – 100 = 246
Revise basic addition facts from 0 + 0 = 0 up to 9 + 9 = 18 (i.e. 4 + 1 = 5 and 8 + 6 = 14 and 9 + 3 = 12 are all basic addition facts). This can be made fun by timing them and giving short quizzes. Boys especially often love a bit of competition! These are the 36 Addition Basic Facts - aim for them to be able to instantly recall these facts when asked by the end of Year 4.
2+2=4 3+3=6 4+4=8 5+5=25 6+6=12 7+7=14 8+8=16 9+9=18
2+3=5 3+4=7 4+5=9 5+6=11 6+7=13 7+8=15 8+9=17
2+4=6 3+5=8 4+6=10 5+7=12 6+8=14 7+9=16
2+5=7 3+6=9 4+7=11 5+8=13 6+9=15
2+6=8 3+7=10 4+8=12 5+9=14
2+7=9 3+8=11 4+9=13
2+8=10 3+9=12
2+9=11
Show them that when you add numbers you can swap them around and get the same answer, e.g. 2 + 3 = 5 and so does 3 + 2. Show them the inverse nature of adding and subtracting – e.g, if 6 + 7 = 13 then 13 – 7 = 6.
Fill the gaps – eg. 13 - ? = 8. Again you can do short quizzes.
Place value – teach them how many ones, tens and hundreds are in whole numbers up to 1000 e.g 345 is 3 hundreds, 4 tens and 5 ones.
Fractions – they need to know that the top number is the count and the bottom number is the size of the parts eg. 4/3 has 4 bits and each bit is made by breaking a whole into 3. Teach them that whole numbers can be written as fractions e.g 5 can be written as 5 over 1. You can start on some adding of fractions when they have the same bottom number – e.g. 1/8 + 2/8 = 3/8.
Practice writing an equation using correct symbols – get them familiar with symbols like + and =
· The professional advice is not to teach the formal algorithims (writing out and solving sums the way we used to – in columns, carrying numbers etc) until children have a good understanding of place value.
Show them how numbers can be partitioned and practice doing this to solve a variety of problems : 8 + 6 = 8 + 2 + 4 = 10 + 4 = 14. Practice strategies for solving mathematical problems - see the numeracy strategies at the bottom of the page for some guidance on this.
Challenge them to continue on a pattern such as: 3, 5, 7...
And 5, 10, 15...What would 7th one be?
Measurement & Geometry
Use devices and units to measure length, area, volume, mass, angle, temperature and time – do a bit of home baking and DIY!
Geometric language: describe shapes and have them describe shapes using terms like: side, corner, face, centre, edge, larger, smaller.
Making 3D shapes from nets – build a cube!
Compass directions, co-ordinates – you could get really keen and head off orienteering otherwise this is a good car topic – which way are we heading etc. See if they can understand a map grid.
How many mirror lines a shape has – eg a square has 4, what a shape will look like if turned a half turn around its centre?
Statistics
Knowing the difference between “Category” (grouping) and “Whole number” data – e.g recording how many cars drive by of each colour is grouping so it is category data. Recording exactly how long each class member’s pencil is would be whole number data.
Get familiar with graphs –e.g. Pie graphs and bar graphs, pictographs. Discuss what they tell you – e.g. a big piece of the pie is shaded in for white cars so this tells me more people drive white cars than the other colours.
Probability – is something likely – what is the chance of rolling a 6? “equally likely” to throw an even or odd number and “not very likely” to throw a 6 and “no chance” of throwing a 7.
Number & Algebra
Practice counting to 1000 forwards and backwards – obviously it’s a bit painful to listen to your darling do this all the way from zero, so instead just do bits and pieces e.g lets see if you can count from 760 to 820.
See if your child can name the number ‘one more than’ and ‘one less than’ numbers that are between 0 and 1000.
Work on counting in groups of ten and a hundred e.g. 347, 447, 547... or 26, 36, 46, ...
Try adding and subtracting in groups of ten or a hundred e.g. 346 – 10 = 336 and 346 – 100 = 246
Revise basic addition facts from 0 + 0 = 0 up to 9 + 9 = 18 (i.e. 4 + 1 = 5 and 8 + 6 = 14 and 9 + 3 = 12 are all basic addition facts). This can be made fun by timing them and giving short quizzes. Boys especially often love a bit of competition! These are the 36 Addition Basic Facts - aim for them to be able to instantly recall these facts when asked by the end of Year 4.
2+2=4 3+3=6 4+4=8 5+5=25 6+6=12 7+7=14 8+8=16 9+9=18
2+3=5 3+4=7 4+5=9 5+6=11 6+7=13 7+8=15 8+9=17
2+4=6 3+5=8 4+6=10 5+7=12 6+8=14 7+9=16
2+5=7 3+6=9 4+7=11 5+8=13 6+9=15
2+6=8 3+7=10 4+8=12 5+9=14
2+7=9 3+8=11 4+9=13
2+8=10 3+9=12
2+9=11
Show them that when you add numbers you can swap them around and get the same answer, e.g. 2 + 3 = 5 and so does 3 + 2. Show them the inverse nature of adding and subtracting – e.g, if 6 + 7 = 13 then 13 – 7 = 6.
Fill the gaps – eg. 13 - ? = 8. Again you can do short quizzes.
Place value – teach them how many ones, tens and hundreds are in whole numbers up to 1000 e.g 345 is 3 hundreds, 4 tens and 5 ones.
Fractions – they need to know that the top number is the count and the bottom number is the size of the parts eg. 4/3 has 4 bits and each bit is made by breaking a whole into 3. Teach them that whole numbers can be written as fractions e.g 5 can be written as 5 over 1. You can start on some adding of fractions when they have the same bottom number – e.g. 1/8 + 2/8 = 3/8.
Practice writing an equation using correct symbols – get them familiar with symbols like + and =
· The professional advice is not to teach the formal algorithims (writing out and solving sums the way we used to – in columns, carrying numbers etc) until children have a good understanding of place value.
Show them how numbers can be partitioned and practice doing this to solve a variety of problems : 8 + 6 = 8 + 2 + 4 = 10 + 4 = 14. Practice strategies for solving mathematical problems - see the numeracy strategies at the bottom of the page for some guidance on this.
Challenge them to continue on a pattern such as: 3, 5, 7...
And 5, 10, 15...What would 7th one be?
Measurement & Geometry
Use devices and units to measure length, area, volume, mass, angle, temperature and time – do a bit of home baking and DIY!
Geometric language: describe shapes and have them describe shapes using terms like: side, corner, face, centre, edge, larger, smaller.
Making 3D shapes from nets – build a cube!
Compass directions, co-ordinates – you could get really keen and head off orienteering otherwise this is a good car topic – which way are we heading etc. See if they can understand a map grid.
How many mirror lines a shape has – eg a square has 4, what a shape will look like if turned a half turn around its centre?
Statistics
Knowing the difference between “Category” (grouping) and “Whole number” data – e.g recording how many cars drive by of each colour is grouping so it is category data. Recording exactly how long each class member’s pencil is would be whole number data.
Get familiar with graphs –e.g. Pie graphs and bar graphs, pictographs. Discuss what they tell you – e.g. a big piece of the pie is shaded in for white cars so this tells me more people drive white cars than the other colours.
Probability – is something likely – what is the chance of rolling a 6? “equally likely” to throw an even or odd number and “not very likely” to throw a 6 and “no chance” of throwing a 7.
