Maths: Blog items
Year 1 Our 100th Day in School!
Date: 19th Feb 2024 @ 6:19pm
Today we celebrated our 100th day in Year 1! We began the day with a special assembly with Miss Hooson, who introduced us to a very interesting Maths story! We enjoyed reading the story ‘One is a snail, ten is a crab’ and tried our very best to work out some of the questions in the story! When we went back to class we read and discussed the story again, to deepen our understanding of some of the calculations used in the text. We then used the animals in the story to find ways of making 10 or 20. Some of us began to think about working systematically to find all the possible options. We then chose a number between 2 and 20 and found how many legs could add together to make this number.
Date: 19th Feb 2024 @ 4:50pm
As part of our ‘100th day at School’ celebrations, we completed a problem solving activity based on the book ‘One is a snail, ten is a crab.’ We were given a number and had to find all the different possibilities of making the number. We tried to work systematically starting with the biggest number and changing one part of the calculation each time.
Date: 7th Feb 2024 @ 12:08pm
Today we started to look at arrays and how they can be used to represent multiplication. We used counters to make arrays by putting them into equal rows and columns.
We then wrote multiplication expressions to describe our arrays. We found that one array can be described in two different ways. For example, 3 x 5 and 5 x 3. This is because, like addition, multiplication is commutative. Which means it can be done in any order and you will reach the same total.
School Council- Fundraising and reading book ideas.
Date: 5th Feb 2024 @ 7:43pm
At our latest meeting, the School Council were joined by Miss Moyes, Miss Jones- Boast and Debbie our Cook.
We met to discuss how to calculate the cost and possible profit that could be made when we sell Elmer themed cup cakes to raise money for Brian House.
The cupcakes will be all different bright colours, just like Elmer. They will be sold at hometime on the school gates and also during the day for staff to purchase too.
Miss Moyes also needed to know what type of school reading books the children would enjoy, as she was going to be ordering some more. The school council then went back to their classes to find out.
Another meeting will be held in the last week of this half term to discuss the results.
Nursery Meet Alan and his Big Scary Teeth
Date: 31st Jan 2024 @ 1:01pm
Nursery read a brilliant story called "Alan's Big Scary Teeth" about an Alligator who scares all the jungle animals with his very large teeth! Alan takes really good care of his teeth, so we have been learning about how to take care of our own teeth and have practised brushing some giant teeth! We have also talked about "A" for alligator and thought of other items that begin with "A". To practise out counting, we have have been giving Alan the right number of teeth. To support the children with their social interactions, we played the Crocodile Tooth game. The children had to take it in turns to press down a tooth and hope that they don't get bitten by the crocodile!
Nursery Try to Catch The Gingerbread Man!
Date: 31st Jan 2024 @ 11:21am
Nursery had their work cut out when they read the story "The Gingerbread Man". We ran as fast as we could but we just couldn't catch him! So, instead we explored the ingredients we needed to make gingerbread and then made our own Gingerbread Men. We practised ordering numbers 1 - 5, followed instructions to draw a gingerbread man and used tweezers to add buttons on gingerbread men. We never did catch the Gingerbread man!
Date: 24th Jan 2024 @ 6:56pm
Today we began our DT journey and learnt about different mechanisms.
The first mechanism we created was a slider. We created a slider based around a scene from ‘The Gingerbread Man’, which enabled a character to move forwards and backwards to chase the main character. We learnt how we were going to make the mechanism safely, read through the instructions and took great care to carry out each step.
The next mechanism to master was a lever. For this mechanism we linked our learning to the story Jack and the Beanstalk. Again, we talked through the instructions as a class, following the prototype Miss Kay made and spotting her mistakes! We then had a turn at making the lever mechanism ourselves. We followed each instruction carefully and all successfully made a lever to show Jack and his beanstalk! We accurately measured specific lengths and cut all the parts correctly. We recapped on the importance of safety whilst using scissors and putting split pins through pieces of paper and card. We then discussed the key parts of the mechanism such as the arm and pivot.
Date: 17th Jan 2024 @ 8:06am
Yesterday, we took part in no pen morning. In Reading into Writing, we were starting to look at present and past tense verbs; we did a loop card game to start before we sorted verbs and sentences into past and present tense. In Maths, we started our new unit of money, we counted pence to find different amounts and matched it to the correct price label.
Year 5 - Digital Literacy No Pen Morning
Date: 16th Jan 2024 @ 8:24pm
To develop our digital literacy skills, pupils at Boundary spent the morning completing maths and writing lessons using only digital devices. For reading into writing, pupils used their chromebooks to publish their creation stories from Aboriginal culture. For maths, pupils used the BBC Micro:bits to create a rock, paper, scissors game. This was the first time pupils have used these tiny computers, and they even improved the code to reset after each turn, display a welcome message when the device was turned on, and make sound effects!
Date: 16th Jan 2024 @ 1:28pm
In Year 4, we were introduced to a multiplication competition on a website called Emile first thing this morning and we did lots of times tables to gain points for our school. Then we went on a typing skills website (https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/z3c6tfr#zn9s3qt) where we put on headphones and practised some typing skills. After we learnt typing skills, we learned how to use some of the skills on Google Docs (e.g bold, italic). We then used these skills to highlight some of the features of a Newspaper report like we have been doing in Reading into Writing. In Maths, some children matched 3D and 2D shapes into the correct columns on a worksheet. Everyone else continued their work on multiplying 2 digit numbers by 1 digit numbers.
Date: 11th Jan 2024 @ 6:00pm
Today we focussed on understanding 10. We recapped counting to 20 from different starting points, both forwards and backwards before looking in-depth at the number 10. We used a range of resources such as, base 10, counters, cubes, tens frames and Numicon to investigate 10. We made 10 using either 2 or 3 parts and wrote the corresponding addition sum. Some of us then moved on to investigating 10 further with our number mats. We wrote the number in words, identified the tens and ones, displayed 10 on a part part whole, found one more and one less and identified if the number 10 is odd or even.
Year 6 - Textiles (felt mobile phone cases)
Date: 21st Dec 2023 @ 3:38pm
This week we have carried out a full journey of textiles. We began with discussing what we already knew about sewing and textiles and discussed key vocabulary. We then began looking at felt products that already exist and evaluating them. We then practised a range of stitches using Binca - we practised running stitch, back stitch, over stich and blanket stitch. After that, we planned and designed our own mobile phone cases using an agreed success criteria. To ensure our plan was effective, we created a prototype and then evaulated the product so that changes could be made if needed. Finally, we made our final product.
Date: 21st Dec 2023 @ 11:48am
We really tested our tired Christmas brains this morning! Miss Crystal and Miss Bates were really proud of how well we worked together to solve this NRich problem.
Date: 19th Dec 2023 @ 9:22pm
Today we used Geoboards to create different 2-D shapes. We had to count the vertices and the sides to check that we had made the correct 2-D shape. We could see that, apart from squares, the same 2-D shapes can look very different but they must have shared properties - For example, all hexagons must have 6 vertices and 6 straight sides but these sides do not have to be an equal length.
Year 3- Mastering multiplication !
Date: 11th Dec 2023 @ 10:28am
In Year 3, we have been looking at multiplying a 2-digit number by a 1- digit number (no exchange). The children used place value charts, base ten and counters to visually see the multiplication.
Reception- Christmas Is On It's Way!
Date: 8th Dec 2023 @ 7:49pm
The decorations are up, the tree is dressed and presents are wrapped! it's all happening in Reception this week.
Children have been working together, sharing ideas and using their critical thinking skills to get into the spiirit of Christmas. They have been using their fine motor skills to place baubles, tinsel and beads on the Christmas tree in the home corner and they have been measuring and cutting wrapping paper to wrap Christmas presents for each other.
Date: 8th Dec 2023 @ 3:34pm
Today in Year 3 we looked at enterprise. We looked at what it meant to have a budget, what a profit was and what it meant to have a loss. We then started to think about our own enterprise for the school fair. We calculated what we had spent to buy the stock we needed and then decided on a price so that we could make a profit. Our maths skills came in very handy! Finally, we make our reindeer hot chocolates ready to sell and raise money for school.
Nursery Prepare for the Reindeers
Date: 8th Dec 2023 @ 1:08pm
We have been reading the story "The Christmasaurus" by Tom Fletcher. It's all about a dinosaur who lives at the North Pole with Santa. The Christmasaurus really wants to fly so he can pull Santa's sleigh. Santa say's he will try to help him learn to fly and suggets the Christmasaurus eats some magical reindeer food. We made our own reindeer food for Santa's reindeer and the Christmasarus. The chidren had to count 3 spoonfuls of porridge oats and 2 pinches of magical glitter and then give it a gentle shake! They had to concentrate really hard to make sure each spoonful of porridge and each pinch of glitter went in to the bag!
Date: 7th Dec 2023 @ 9:02am
This week, we learned about what enterprise means. We were then told that we had an enterprise project for the school Christmas Fair. Next, we went into Redcliffes and made reindeer food ready to sell at the Christmas Fair in a few weeks time.
Year 2 - Subtracting two digit numbers
Date: 7th Dec 2023 @ 7:30am
This week we have continued our addition and subtraction unit by looking at subtraction two digit numbers. We begun the week by exploring subtraction when it doesn't cross a ten, remembering the importance of starting with the ones. Throughout the week we have further deepened our understanding to subtracting two digit numbers when it does cross a ten exchanging one ten for 10 ones so we can subtract the ones before subtracting the tens. We explored how our whole is the same, it has just been represented in a different way. For example, 72 can be shown as 7 tens and 2 ones or 6 tens and 12 ones. We have enjoyed using a range of concrete resources which has helped us with more abstract calculations.
Year 2 - Which ship can hold the most weight?
Date: 7th Dec 2023 @ 7:27am
Last week, we conducted an experiment as part of our Everyday Materials unit to test which ship can hold the most weight? We made different sized boats using tin foil and placed counters on the top, counting how many counters it took until the ship sunk. This week, we used our results to use an online program to record our data in a block chart. We thought about the axis and giving the chart a title as well as inputting our own data before we interpreted our results using the chart. We found that the biggest ship could hold the most weight whilst the smallest ship held the least. This is because we can spread the weight.
Date: 6th Dec 2023 @ 7:06pm
This week we have learnt to use our knowledge of number bonds to find parts, and represent them using the subtraction symbol. We focussed on the meaning of the subtraction symbol and used part whole models to support us to write the related subtraction facts and start to build our understanding. We then moved onto answering missing number problems, subtracting by taking away and subtracting using a number line.
Year 2 - Adding two 2-digit numbers
Date: 28th Nov 2023 @ 9:15pm
Today we started adding two 2-digit numbers that do not cross the tens. We used place value counters and mats to help us see what happens when we add two 2-digit numbers. We started by making each 2-digit number with PV counters. We then added the ones before going on to add the tens and then combining them.
Date: 23rd Nov 2023 @ 12:05pm
Nursery have taken to the seas this week and become Pirates! We've made treasure maps, counted golden coins, worked together to a build pirate ship and made special pirate brews! The children have loved playing together to make up their own pirate stories and have even been fishing for their tea!
Date: 21st Nov 2023 @ 5:51pm
Today we began to formalise the idea of addition as bringing two or more parts together to create a whole. We completed three different tasks that encouraged us to explore and focus on bringing two parts together. We used the correct mathematical language to explain, e.g. ‘3 cubes plus 5 cubes is equal to 8 cubes.’ Some of our grow ups joined us for ‘together time’ and we showed them how we use tens frames, counters, part whole models and cubes to support our learning.
