Mathematics
Not just for Smarties
Karen Foster, Head of Maths, explains how even fractions can be fun.......
“I’m hopeless....I just never understood it...it’s pointless, isn’t it?” Sound familiar? Sadly such remarks are often made by people of all ages about school Mathematics. But Maths doesn’t have to be dull, dry, or difficult. As Maths teachers at King’s Hall our challenge is to combat negative pre-conceptions by making Maths fun, building pupils’ skills, confidence and self esteem through enjoyable activities that are relevant to their lives. It is really rewarding to see children getting genuinely excited about a problem solved or a challenge completed.
Food for thought
In order to succeed in engaging and enthusing our pupils, we need to come up with some creative strategies, taking into account different learning styles. How do pupils understand fractions? Bake a chocolate cake and divide it into quarters, then eighths. How about pizzas delivered during a lesson to show equivalent fractions? We’ve done that, too! While we’re on the wonderful topic of fractions, why not have chocolate chip cookies arranged in rows to show fractions of quantities? Maths is so much more than numbers or words in a textbook.
We believe it is important to take Maths outside the classroom, for example by organising Maths trails around the school for problem solving. We also go outside for different topics in the curriculum. One of my personal favourites is creating a treasure hunt around the school for scale drawings and bearings. The pupils must be precise or they won’t find the treasure and the teacher gets to keep it! Another exciting activity is ‘human battleship’ as pupils work on their coordinate skills to blast ships out of the water!
The best possible reward for staff in the Maths department is to hear happy and confident pupils saying in an excited voice, ‘We have Maths this afternoon!’ Then we know we must be getting something right.
QUICK LINKS
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- I like sport because it is so much fun and my favourite subject. James
- The drama department is fantastic and there are always lots of plays and performances providing great opportunities for those with acting talent. Felicity
- I love break times when I can go into the classrooms and see all my friends. Amelia
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