Maths
By the end of year 2, children are expected to know the 2, 5 and 10 times tables and their corresponding division facts. They should also be fairly confident with the 3 times table. We will continue to build on this in year 3.
In year 3 the children are expected to work on their key number skills at home. In particular, it is very important that they practise their times tables. Even 5-10 minutes a day can make a massive difference.
Games such as 'Maths Shed' can be helpful when practising these skills at home, but there are other strategies that can be used away from the computer or tablet too. Rolling a dice or using a pack of playing cards and choosing a number from 1-10 to multiply with the children's focus times table can work well for example. Please also see the "maths homework grid" document below for more ideas.
Mathletes
Usually by the Spring term in year 3 the children will also start our 'Mathletes' program where they will have a go at a timed test relating to their current maths target. They will have a go at answering 25 questions within 4 minutes. Once the children have had full marks in their target times table test 3 times, they will move on to the next times table target. The targets are as follows:
x2
x5
x10
x2,5,10
x3
x4
x8
x11
x6
x9
x12
x7
Once each child's personal maths target has been established, they will be stapled into the back of their reading record books.
Mathletes are used regularly in KS2 to help to support times tables knowledge. They are a good way to learn times tables quickly. It is also important that the children are able to use these number facts to do the inverse division calculations too. These skills are vital in many maths activities and quick recall of these facts can really improve your child's maths in general. Mathletes is a way to support the development of these skills.
Mathletes Sheets are randomly generated in KS2 by this website so that each time the challenge is slightly different. You could generate some of your own to practise or you could use some of the sheets already generated below.
