Maths this week is all about comparing quantities x

Parent tips 

Key words to use are ... more, less, more than, less than, fewer, fewer than, one, many, lots, lots of  Potential and common difficulties for the children ... 

1. Can refer to any number of objects more than 1 as "lots"
2. Assumes that the amount of space taken up by a group of objects relates to the overall quantity EG thinks that a row of 5 large blocks is more than a row of 8 small objects
3. Does not recognise that a group of 4 apples is the same amount as a group of 4 peas 

Tuesday Maths 

Greedy Puppet ... you need a hand puppet and a snack eg raisens or sweets ( as a treat !! ) 

Say that you are going to share out the snacks between you, your child and the puppet but it must " be fair" ask what fair means ? How can you make it fair ? EG We could all have the same , one each. Begin to share out the snacks but the puppet takes lots !! Model using correct Mathematical vocabulary , "He has taken more than one , he has more than us, we have less than him so its not fair we done have the same amount" " What can do to make put it right ?" 

Practice sharing out different things making sure that the quantities received are the same. 

Wednesday Maths 

One Bear All Alone 

You will need plastic cups or bowls, and some small objects , in this example we are using Compare Bears ...

Place 3 or 4 bowls upside down,put 1 bear under 1 and different quatities under the others. Tell your child. that they have to try to find the bear that is "all on its own" . Take it in turns to turn over the bowls ask .. " what have you found?" "Have you found 1 bear or more than 1 bear?" "How do you know?" "How can we check?" Use the 5 frame to model how to count the bears. 

Discuss which groups are more and which are less. 

Thursday Maths 

Friday Maths 

Watch the clip about comparing quantities x