Tag Archives: number

Learn about 100 and Celebrate 100 Days of School – #readilearn

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The Australian school year consists of approximately 200 days. Depending on the length of terms and number of public holidays in each, the 100th day often falls towards the beginning of the third term in July. Knowing that many of you will be preparing to celebrate the 100th day with lessons investigating 100, I thought I’d share our readilearn resources that support you with that. It’s always exciting to count the 100th day, because once it’s reached, it’s time to start counting down to the end of the school year, which get closer with every day.

Celebrating 100 days of school

Although Busy Bees celebrate 100 days of school suggests ways of counting the days from day one, it also suggests ways of celebrating when the 100th day arrives. Suggestions include: count and collage 100 items and decorate a cake with 100 candles. There are party suggestions and an original game to play. (Also included with purchase of the Busy Bees 100 chart.)

The explanatory Celebrating 100 days of school – Letter to parents suggests items that may be suitable for children to bring in and count as part of the 100 days celebration. It is a Word document that can be personalised with your name and class before printing and distributing. (Also included with purchase of the Busy Bees 100 chart.)

Teaching numbers up to 100

Continue reading: Learn about 100 and Celebrate 100 Days of School – readilearn

Lessons to teach 3-digit numbers – #readilearn

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The recent audit of readilearn resources for teaching number showed that, while there were many lessons for teaching understanding of number and place value to 100, lessons for teaching numbers above 100 were scant. This is somewhat understandable as confidence with numbers relies upon a firm foundation in understanding the basics of our decimal system. However, it was a situation I needed to remedy.

Last week I added 1000 Pancakes to the collection, a lesson to help children visualise 1000 objects by counting in 1s to 10, 10s to 100 and 100s to 1000.

This week, I added Let’s Count Pancakes — 3-digit numbers, a lesson that helps children recognise and represent 3-digit numbers and understand the value of each numeral in its place. The interactive lesson ready to teach on the interactive whiteboard consists of ten different slides ready to discuss with the children.

On each slide, children count the pancakes and write the number of hundreds, tens and ones they count.

Continue reading: Lessons to teach 3-digit numbers – readilearn

Let’s count 1000 pancakes for Pancake Day! – #readilearn

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Next week sees us here in Australia bid farewell to summer and welcome in the cooler (we — or I — hope) days of Autumn. Next Tuesday is not only 1 March, but also Pancake Day, which means it’s only six weeks until Easter and, for many of us, school holidays.

When I completed the recent audit of readilearn lessons in teaching number by mapping them to the Australian Curriculum, I realised that we were missing lessons in numbers over one hundred. As children in Year Two learn about numbers up to one thousand, I realised there was a gap to fill. I started by making a lesson called 1000 Pancakes.

I chose pancakes for three reasons:

  1. Pancake Day is next week. However, the lesson can be used at any time of the year; it makes no reference to Pancake Day.
  2. Pancakes are popular with children as well as adults.
  3. Pancakes in stacks are easy to visualise.

The lesson 1000 Pancakes gives children the opportunity to visualise 1000 pancakes by comparing the quantity to 10 and 100. It is a lesson ready-to-teach on the interactive whiteboard, a readilearn readilesson.

In the lesson, children count pancakes

  • in 1s to 10
  • in 10s to 100
  • and in 100s to 1000.

One thousand is a lot of pancakes.

Continue reading: Let’s count 1000 pancakes for Pancake Day! – readilearn

Matching readilearn Maths Resources to the Australian Curriculum – #readilearn

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For the past little while, I’ve been doing an audit of the readilearn maths resources that focus on number and matching them to the Australian Curriculum Number and Algebra Content Descriptions. Before making new resources, I wanted to see what concepts and content I’d already included and where the gaps, if any, were. I presented my findings in a table that I have made available as a free resource in the Maths Number collection. The table will make it easier for you to find resources to teach particular concepts.

It didn’t surprise me that the majority of resources target the basic understanding of numbers to ten and then to 100. After all, if children understand these numbers, they have a firm foundation on which to build an understanding of larger numbers.

In this post, I share where some of the readilearn maths resources can be used when teaching the Australian Curriculum. No doubt, maths concepts to be taught are the same worldwide.

These are only a few of the resources that match each of the codes and only a few of the codes. For further information, please refer to the list ACARA and readilearn lessons in number which can be downloaded free. Note that some of the resources support your teaching of more than one content description.

Counting and naming numbers in sequence to and from 20

(ACARA Code: ACMNA001)

Busy Bee Number lines and dice

Busy Bees 100 chart

Collect the eggs — a game for maths groups

Continue reading: Matching readilearn Maths Resources to the Australian Curriculum – readilearn

maths lessons and activities for 5 - 7 year-olds

Maths Lessons and Activities for 5–7 year olds – #readilearn

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Maths is fun in the early childhood classroom as we count, measure and problem solve our way through the day. With the International Day of Mathematics coming up soon on 14 March, there’s no better time to think about ways of incorporating a little more maths into the daily program. While there are some suggestions on the International Day of Mathematics website, most of them are more suited to older children.

Here at readilearn we have over 100 mathematics lessons and activities ready to support your teaching and children’s learning. Many of the resources are digital lessons ready for you to teach on the interactive whiteboard. Some are printable activities to follow up and extend children’s learning, while others provide instructions and explanations for mathematical explorations.

Plan a party to celebrate

There’s nothing like a party to instigate some mathematical thinking.

If you decide to have a party to celebrate the day, you could start ahead with the interactive problem solving story Little Koala’s Party. In the story, children help Little Koala work out the number of guests as well as food and other items required for the party. They can use the same strategies to plan a party of their own. Other resources, like invitation notepaper and a paper hat template, help to extend the learning across curriculum areas.

While you might ask children to bring food from home to share at the party, following recipes together at school involves children in using mathematics in real and purposeful ways. They may need to count, and measure quantities as well as time. Recipes can be found in the Cooking section.

Continue reading: Maths Lessons and Activities for 5–7 year olds – readilearn

developing understanding of number with three new resources

Developing understanding of number with three new resources – #readilearn

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An understanding of number is crucial to navigating our complex world. It is something we use everyday whether we are aware of it or not. From things as seemingly simple as matching the number of socks to our number of feet, to scheduling our day, through to more complex activities like balancing our budget, an understanding of number and mathematics is involved.

It always saddens me when people say, ‘Oh I can’t do maths’, especially when those people are young people. I think a lot of the inability and fear was learned. I know it was for me. Perhaps that is why I am on a mission to make learning in maths enjoyable and meaningful. It doesn’t have to be fearfully abstract and complex if we build strong foundations in the early years.

There are already well over one hundred mathematics resources in the readilearn collection, and this week I have added three more. Two of the resources are interactive lessons ready to teach on the interactive whiteboard in the classroom or, for those still teaching online, via screen sharing software. The third is a printable resource. All support your teaching and are open-ended and adaptable to the needs of you and your learners.

Repeating Patterns

Let’s Make Patterns is designed for teaching and reviewing repeating patterns on the interactive whiteboard. Patterns are an important part of mathematics. Learning about patterns with objects helps children understand the patterns upon which our decimal number system is based.

Continue reading: Developing understanding of number with three new resources – readilearn

leap into learning with leap year fun

Leap into learning with leap year fun – #readilearn

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Next Saturday 29 February is a leap day. A leap day is an extra day added to every fourth year to keep the calendar in line with the solar year. Since we only have one 29 February every four years, it is a day worthy of celebration. Here are some ideas to get you started.

20 Fun facts about leap years

  1. A leap year occurs once every four years.
  2. A leap year has 366 days instead of the 365 days of other years.
  3. The extra day added to a leap year is 29 February.
  4. The extra day is added to keep the calendar year in line with the seasons and astronomical calendar.
  5. The number of leap years are all divisible by 4; for example, 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020, 2024, 2028.
  6. However, although all hundred years are divisible by 4, not all hundred years are leap years. Hundred years are only leap years if they are divisible by 400. So, while 2000 was a leap year, the next hundred year to be a leap year will be 2400.
  7. Leap years were first introduced by Julius Caesar over 2000 years ago with the Julian calendar. His rule was to add a leap day to every year that was divisible by 4.
  8. The leap year as we now know it, with the hundred year rule, was introduced by Pope Gregory VIII in 1582. In that year, Pope Gregory had to remove ten days from calendar to keep it in sync with the solar year. The calendar we still use, the Gregorian Calendar, is named after him.

Continue reading: Leap into learning with leap year fun – readilearn

Getting active with maths – Readilearn

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Many games involve children in practising maths skills, and playing games is a great way of incorporating fun into the maths program. With the additional benefit of supporting the development of social skills and, oftentimes, literacy skills, there is no reason to not include games. A daily dose of fun with maths contributes much to an enjoyable classroom experience, developing positive attitudes to maths, in addition to providing opportunities for consolidation and practice of maths learning.

Adding a little physical activity to the game increases the benefits, and there are many simple games that can be played with the whole class, indoors or out; some that require equipment and some that don’t; some that take just a few minutes, and some that take several. Many games can be invented on the spot to suit current learning.

Continue reading: Getting active with maths – Readilearn

Thinking mathematically – Readilearn

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Mathematical thinking involves more than just being able to count and recite number facts. The ability to solve mathematical problems requires us to think flexibly and creatively with numbers. We need to see that there are multiple ways of interpreting a situation and reaching a solution. It is never too early to get children thinking.

An easy way to get started is to give children a variety of objects to count. Rather than always counting groups of similar objects; for example, counters, bottle caps, or teddy bears, it is important for children to realise that collections for counting

Continue reading: Thinking mathematically – Readilearn

Delivery – just in time for Easter! – Readilearn

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Many children around the world eagerly await the arrival of the Easter Bunny and his delivery of coloured, candy, or chocolate eggs or toys. The Easter Bunny has been delivering his gifts for more than three hundred years.

When Europeans arrived in Australia a little over two hundred years ago, they not only brought the Easter Bunny tradition, they brought real rabbits as a food source and for hunting. Cute little rabbits, you may say, but the rabbits were quick to breed. Without any natural predators, they soon became widespread, and created an enormous environmental problem. They contributed to the destruction of habitats and the loss of native animals and plants. They also became a serious problem for farmers.

One of the animals that suffered as a result of the introduced species is the bilby, a now vulnerable marsupial, native to the deserts of Central Australia. The cute bilby with its long rabbit-like ears and cute face is considered a possible native substitute for the Easter Bunny in Australia.  Chocolate makers and other organisations used the idea of an Easter Bilby to draw attention to its plight and to the Save the Bilby Fund, established to help its survival. (Check out the Save the Bilby Fund’s free education resources.)

This week I have uploaded some new Easter resources featuring bilbies. I hope you and your children enjoy them.

Continue reading: Delivery – just in time for Easter! – Readilearn