Targeting Mental Maths Year 4

Targeting Mental Maths Year 4

The development of a variety of mental strategies helps to make children confident math ematicians.

Students who can perform mathematical computations sw iftly and accurately in their heads are seen as being ¶ºgood at maths¶È. In general, poorer performing students use less efficient strategies an d the development of mental computation through a strategy approach can help them move forwards. Research has shown that ¶ºafter instruction stu dents seem more likely to use strategies that reflected number sense and that this was a long-term change. ¶È (Markovits and Sowder, 1994)

< p>The Year 4 Targeting Mental Maths book has been writt en to complement the NSW Year 4 Targeting Maths Student Bookst rong>. The two-page weekly units run parallel to the contents in the stu dent book. Units are divided into four terms of work and each term ends with a Revision Unit. There are 35 units in total.

A unit consist s of two facing pages. The left-hand page has three groups of quick ment al exercises that constantly practise the necessary maths facts. The rig ht-hand page always starts with an explanation and practice of a mental strategy. This is followed by exercises that include work on space, meas urement, position, number, data, chance etc. The page concludes with a p roblem of the week.

Answer pages are in the centre of the book so that the complete section can be easily pulled out and kept separate if the teacher so wishes.

Targeting Mental Maths f ulfils the need for easily accessible mental warm-ups, constant practice of maths facts, a useful homework book and further revision of a concep t being taught.