Fractions can be tricky, especially for older children who have not picked up the basics at an early age, so it is important to spend some time on this.

As well as dividing shapes into half, numbers can also be halved, or divided into two equal parts.

Using practical apparatus is the best way to introduce this: divide a number of counters, sweets, cards etc into two equal parts. This is often done along the lines of ‘one for you, one for me’. These worksheets can act as a backup or reinforcement to make sure that children understand that numbers can also be divided by two.

Note that we only use even numbers at this stage: however, remainders or ‘one left over’ may well occur in real life situations.

These maths worksheets can be found in our Superbrains, Division and Fractions section.

Go to the Finding Halves of Amounts worksheets

We have now sent up Weeks 13 and 14 of our Year 1 programme. These relate to the Primary Framework for Maths schools planning as:

Year 1 Block A Unit 2 Week 1

Year 1 Block A Unit 2 Week 2.

Each week consists of between 15 and 20 pages packed full of maths activities linked directly to what is going on in schools.

Week 13 concentrates on: Counting back from teen numbers, understanding tens and units, adding 10p and 1p coins and subtracting from a teen.

Week 14 looks at: Using more than and less than with teen numbers, finding 10 more or less, adding a small number to a 2-digit number and rounding.

As before there are also practical activities and a weekly challenge as well as 40 mental arithmetic questions.

Look out for more weeks coming soon and we should be bang up to date for when the Summer term begins.

Our Practical Ideas resources are continuing to develop fast. With over 20 great ideas for things to do at home which lead to learning about maths, it is also becoming a popular resource with teachers.

Having a set of plates and some biscuits can be an ideal starting point for introducing sharing equally. Why not have a teddy bears’ picnic? Lay out 4 or 5 plates and put an unequal number of biscuits on each plate.  ((Make sure you put a number which can be shared equally between the plates.) Ask what is wrong. (You are looking for your child to say that there are too many on some plates, or not enough on others.)

Can the biscuits be laid out so that there are the same number on each plate?

This can be developed further by changing the number of plates, or having a number of biscuits which leaves a remainder – a vital concept to understand!

Practical Ideas: Plates and biscuits

Here are two magic squares suitable for young children.

In a magic square all the rows, columns and diagonals add up to the same total. With these two squares all the numbers have been given, the problem is to put them in the correct places!

It’s a good idea to print out the grid and cut out the numbers so that they can be slid around to see what happens. otherwise it can lead to a lot of crossing out!

Addition: Magic squares

It is a good idea to keep reinforcing that multiplication can be seen as ‘lots of’. 3 lots of 2p can be written as 2p x 3, or, as multiplication can be done in any order, just 3 x 2 will get the correct answer.
Our latest set of four worksheets looks at this in terms of the 2x, 5x and 10x tables, using coins to help, and is good practice both at counting on and learning tables.
Some children will use the coins to count up whilst others who have learnt their tables will be able to work out the answers ‘in their heads’ quite quickly.

This set of maths worksheets has been published in our Superbrains category, under Multiplication.

Go to our Multiplication and lots of money worksheets

Resources for visualising and describing the position of objects are rarely found in worksheets. However, it is an important skill to develop and this little game can help enormously, as well as being fun.

You need two sets of interlocking bricks. Each set should have two each of three colours. Then you just sit down with your child and play. Find out more on the worksheet.

This page can be found in our Practical Ideas section within ‘Further Resources’.

We notice from our stats that not so many people go to the Further Resources, but this, in fact, is one of our best areas with some fantastic ideas for you to do, plus a whole lot on reading time. Not to be missed!

Practical ideas: 6 cubes

Here we have another set of 4 pages which look at adding three numbers. This time the numbers add up to 100. Only multiples of ten and five are used.

These are harder than many addition questions as they involve two operations. Firstly the numbers given need to be added and then the total subtracted from 100. (This could well be done by adding on.)

Add 3 numbers to make 100

You may have noticed that we have put up a whole new category in our Year 1 resources. This is called our ‘Weekly Programme.’

Each week we will be collecting the very best of our resources in a pack of between 15 and 20 superb pages containing:

Clear targets
Practical ideas and advice
Sets of Mental Arithmetic questions with answers
A collection of high quality printable pages
Fun challenges

……. all carefully targeted to the maths that is being taught in school, following the guidelines of the Primary Maths Framework.

At the moment we have only published the first 12 weeks of the year 1 programme, but we are working incredibly hard to produce the next set of 12 weeks, which should be on the site withing the next month and then we will be producing the final term at the same time as you will be needing them in the summer term.

This week by week programme follows exactly the Primary Framework Blocks and Units of Study that schools in England use.

This programme makes it easy for you to provide the right material for your child so that they can succeed in all areas of maths, including:

Excelling with Counting and Understanding Number

Being confident with mental methods of Addition and Subtraction

Enjoying practical Shape and Measuring activities

Mastering tricky Handling Data concepts

And what’s more, if you think you need more of any one section, there is our superb Resource Browser containing over 2000 printable pages to back you up, as well as many fun on-line activities and games.

However, there is still nothing better than sitting down with a pencil and paper and concentrating on some practical and written maths for just a few minutes a day. We provide everything you need to start making a real difference.

Bring out the true potential of your child – start today!

A great way to practice the 2x, 5x and 10x tables is with 2p, 5p and 10p coins. If you can gather together a set of ten of each this makes for a really good practical resource with endless questions: e.g. I have six 5p coins, how much do I have? Give me 20p all in 5p coins etc.
As a backup to this kind of work we have four worksheets which use coins as a basis for practising tables. At first children may count up in twos, fives or tens, but encourage them to just count the number of coins and multiply. (Although I admit that when I am in a shop with a pocket full of change I tend to count up!)

Go to our Multiplication and Money resources

We have been adding some excellent resources to the Year 1 section over the last few weeks, especially in our ‘Challenges’ section. These challenges are like the investigations carried out in schools and are often of the ‘how many different ways? style of question. The idea is to encourage logical thinking and working in an ordered, structured way. Do have a look at these as they provide a much ‘meatier’ task than just a single worksheet with set answers.

This particular challenge asks how many different ways 8 cubes can be put in 3 boxes and it would be a good idea to have 3 boxes and 8 cubes available so that this can be done in a real life context. Children can record their results on the table included.

Year 1 Challenge: Boxes and cubes