As per your request... the Maths Plan for the rest of the year...

Hi everyone,

And thanks to those who filled in the 'Parents Maths Survey' the school sent out last week. Much appreciated.

I've read through all your answers. And I've made myself a To-Do List based on them. On the list is one of your requests... to know in advance what will be taught. And so I'm doing that in this post...

Below is the remainder of my Maths Plan for the year. Each number represents a week's work. Generally they tie in very closely with similarly/identically-titled chapters in your child's main Maths book.

The following should take us up to the end of May, at which time we'll be doing the Standardised Tests again. These results will go forward to your child's secondary school. In June we'll be revising where the need is greatest.

(The full national curriculum for Maths in Primary Schools in Ireland is here in a pdf.)

Week by Week

The ‘Strand’ of Maths we’re covering

The ‘Strand Unit’ (the specific part of the strand we’re covering)(This is also the chapter title in your child's Maths book)

Our Aims for the Week, along with some examples

19	Algebra	Rules and Properties	know simple properties and rules about brackets and priority of operation use the calculator in exercises to find missing numerals and missing operator e.g. 37 ? 21 ? 23 = 800 27 ? (36 ? 11) = 675 identify relationships and record symbolic rules for number patterns deduce and record rules for given number patterns 2, 6, 12, 20, 30 ... 4:1, 8:2, 16:4 ...
20	Algebra	Variables	explore the concept of a variable in the context of simple patterns, tables and simple formulae and substitute values for variables identify and discuss simple formulae from other strands e.g. d = 2 x r; a = l x w substitute values into formulae and into symbolic rules developed from number patterns.
21	Measures	Area	recognise that the length of the perimeter of a rectangular shape does not determine the area of the shape construct rectangles of constant perimeter with varying areas calculate the area of regular and irregular 2-D shapes estimate and calculate area of shapes, and check by measuring with square centimetre units circles: calculate by counting squares only measure the surface area of specified 3-D shapes measure 3-D surfaces by measuring individual 2-D faces or by extending into nets calculate area using acres and hectares fields, large playgrounds, car parks identify the relationship between square metres and square centimetres explore and compare areas of one, four, twenty-five and one hundred square centimetres to establish relationships find the area of a room from a scale plan measure and calculate area of rectangular shapes by partitioning into rectangles and combining individual areas extend to finding area of room plans (rectangular) extend to using scale to find area of rooms from plans.
22	Measures	Weight	select and use appropriate instruments of measurement rename measures of weight rename measurements of appropriate metric units express results as fractions or decimals of appropriate metric units 750 g = 0.75 kg 4 kg 45 g = 4.045 kg.
23	Shape and Space	Lines and Angles	recognise, classify and describe angles and relate angles to shape identify types of angles in the environment recognise angles in terms of a rotation estimate, measure and construct angles in degrees explore the sum of the angles in a quadrilateral cut off the four corners of a paper quadrilateral and put them together to make 360 degrees measure the angles in a variety of quadrilaterals and calculate their sums.
24	Number	Multiplication	(Revision of what we've covered)
25	Number	Division	(Revision of what we've covered)
26	Shape and Space	2D Shapes	make informal deductions about 2-D shapes and their properties use angle and line properties to classify and describe triangles and quadrilaterals construct triangles from given sides or angles complete the construction of triangles, given two sides and the angle between them or given two angles and the line between them identify the properties of the circle relate the diameter of a circle to its circumference by measurement measure the circumference of a circle or object such as a rolling-pin or wheel e.g. use a piece of string construct a circle of given radius or diameter tessellate combinations of 2-D shapes construct a circle of given radius or diameter classify 2-D shapes according to their lines of symmetry plot simple co-ordinates and apply where appropriate use geoboards and squared paper use 2-D shapes and properties to solve problems.
27	All Strands	Revision
28	Number	Number Theory	identify simple prime and composite numbers identify and explore square numbers 16 = 4 x 4 = 4 to the power of 2 explore and identify simple square roots construct diagrams record and relate to square numbers identify common factors and multiples explore and record factors and multiples to identify common factors and multiples write whole numbers in exponential form 1000 = 10 x 10 x 10 = 10 to the power of 3 8 = 2 x 2 x 2 = 2 to the power of 3 .
29	Measures	Capacity	select and use appropriate instruments of measurement rename measures of capacity rename measurements of appropriate metric units express results as fractions or decimals of appropriate metric unit 625 ml = 5 eighths of a litre = 0.625 l 8 l 253 ml = 8.253 l find the volume of a cuboid experimentally fill a cuboid container with water and measure capacity in litres fill a cuboid container with unit cubes and count.
30	Measures	Money	explore value for money calculate sale prices, e.g. 10% discount, 20% VAT added convert other currencies to euro and vice versa identify and discuss exchange rates from newspaper calculate major currency equivalents for basic sums of euro convert sums of money in other currencies to euro equivalents.
31	Revision	Revision
32	Data	Chance	identify and list all possible outcomes of simple random processes discuss and list all possible outcomes of: rolling two dice and calculating the total (2, 3, 4 ... 12) selecting two numbers at random from the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (ten possibilities) estimate the likelihood of occurrence of events; order on a scale from 0 to 100%, 0 to 1 when tossing a coin, a head has 1 chance in 2 of occurring; thus the likelihood of a head is 1 in 2, or 1-2 or 50%, similarly for a tail when rolling a die, each outcome has a 1 in 6 chance of occurring -- therefore the likelihood is 1-6 when drawing a cube from a bag containing 3 red and 6 blue cubes, a blue cube has 6 chances in 9 of occurring and thus has a probability of 6-9 or 2-3 ; the probability of drawing a red cube is 3-9 or 1-3 what if the bag contains 5 red, 5 blue and 5 green cubes? or 3 red, 6 blue and 6 green? construct and use frequency charts and tables perform the experiment (toss two coins, draw a cube from a bag containing a number of different-coloured cubes) a large number of times; larger numbers of throws can be achieved by using group work record the outcomes and use to construct a frequency table; for example, when tossing two coins, the table might look as follows: outcome frequency 2 heads 20 2 tails 28 1 head, 1 tail 52 we estimate the chance of 2 heads to be 20/100, that of 2 tails to be 28/100, that of one head and one tail to be 52/100: discuss, is this what we expected? using two coins of different colours may help examine a table of school attendance for the class what is the chance of full attendance on any one day? what is the chance of more than 20% of the class being absent on any one day? pupils are given a bag and told it contains 10 cubes in 3 different colours; by drawing a cube repeatedly, say 50 times, and constructing a frequency table, they must estimate how many cubes of each colour there are in the bag.
33	Algebra	Equations	translate word problems with a variable into number sentences Peter cut a length of ribbon into five equal parts; each part was 30 cm long. How long was the ribbon before it was cut? x / 5 - 30 solve one-step number sentences and equations -3 + +6 - _ -4 + _ -+1 10 x _ - 8 x 5.
34	Shape and Space	3D Shapes	identify and examine 3-D shapes and explore relationships, including octahedron (faces, edges and vertices) draw the nets of simple 3-D shapes and construct the shapes.