Portway Infant School
Mathematics at Portway Infant School
At Portway Infant School our aim is to instil a love of maths and encourage children to be confident learners who can tackle the maths they presented with in everyday life. We believe maths should be fun and engaging and teach the children to develop their perseverance and resilience. It is important that children learn in a practical way using objects, pictures and drawing before moving towards a more formal way of recording their learning. We aim to build essential mathematical knowledge, develop key skills and challenge and extend the children’s thinking. We carefully design learning experiences to be enjoyable, motivating and encourage all to achieve their best.
Maths in Year R
In Year R children take part in short adult tasks which develop their concept of number and shape space and measures. This is done through tasks which whenever possible will be set within a real life context or link to the curriculum theme. Alongside this children will have access to mathematical activities throughout the day. Children will be observed and adults will come alongside to further challenge and develop the children’s skills and understanding.
Maths in Year 1
In Year 1 children develop their mathematical learning by building on the foundations established in Year R. We focus on ensuring the children develop confidence and fluency across each mathematical domain. This includes number and place value, addition and subtraction, multiplication and division, fractions, measure, geometry and statistics. Early skills are developed through the use of concrete apparatus then by representing problems using pictorial methods before moving on to more formal representations and mental strategies.
Maths in Year 2
In Year 2 we continue to build on the children’s learning in Year 1 focusing on the same domains deepening the children’s understanding and developing the range of strategies they can use. We extend the children’s use of concrete, pictorial and formal methods ensuring the children understand the appropriateness of different strategies for different concepts and taking into consideration the numbers they are working with. Children have opportunities to investigate and explain their understanding of a range of concepts.
Helping at Home
Attached below are links to various websites that provide games and activities to help reinforce and extend the children’s learning. Some sites like NRICH provide activities the children will have used in school, but others are new and very exciting.
NRich - interactive games and other activities
Hit the Button – beat the timer practising number bonds, times tables and other number facts
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button
White Rose maths – lots of games and activities
https://whiterosemaths.com/homelearning/
BBC bitesize
To support you in talking to the children about their learning and supporting them with their homework we have included a link to a glossary of terms we use and the calculation strategies the children become familiar with in school.