G & T Psrn

[Guest]

Hi all you guys out there....wahoo its the weekend!!!!

 

Just wanted to check with you all, I have a child in my class who certainly is very good with numbers. Has a good understandin of the number system, uses numbers with three digits confidently etc and has exceeded NLC 9 on the scales. I moved onto teaching him about odd and even numbers today, and within 5mins sitting with him 1-1 grasped the concept. Later on he wrote a 3 digit number on the whiteboard ending in a seven and he could tell me it was an odd number. I asked him how he knew that, so underneath he drew 7 dots paired six up and said ' this ones left out so its odd'. I was absolutely amazed. I then obviously tested him with a few other numbers using 3 digits, and aganin, he managed fine. I thought i would catch him out and write 5 numbers, he again knew by looking at the final digit, knew it woud be odd/even. What I'm worried about, will there be a possibilty, that he is missing some vital understanding.

 

Next term, he will be having comletely seperte PSRN lessons, He'l join us as a whole classs because I wouldnt want him to feel excluded, But i will do some 1-1 with him aswell.

 

My question is...what else can i teach him...obviously doubling, counting in 10s, 2s and 5s. But im not sure in which order, i guess multiplication would be a good thing aswell. Anymore suggestions would be great.

 

xxx

[Marion]

Does your school have a calculation policy? Our's sets out what order we teach maths skills.

[Guest]

I've never seen one....that sounds like just what i need. Were will i find one if it doesnt. I'm pretty sure i would kno about it if we had one xx

[Guest]

Can he not go and join some older children for maths at some point during the week? Two years ago I havd a very gifted mathematician in my class and he ended up spending 3 lessons a week with one of the year 2 classes.

[Guest]

Yeah he did on one occasio, the yr1 teacher said he is beter than his majority in the class, and nothing has materialised since. I have suggested it on many occasions, but he doesnt seem very forthcoming. I'm happy to do 1-1 wit hm, and it is rewearding to see how fst he is at cottoning on to things. but i just feel i am not stretchin him enough and think he could go so much further. I'll just look up some calculation policys aswell and see what comes of tat.

 

xxx

[Susan]

You should be accessing the Numeracy Framework with him.

[Guest]

there is a fab folder from BEAM which helps you assess where a child IS and then where they need to go next - called Starting Out.

 

Jenni

[Guest]

I think an important thing to remember is to broaden his skills, not just keep adding to them. He knows odd and even numbers which is great, but can he apply this knowledge to help him solve problems? He can count in 2s, 5s, and 10s, but can he use this to help him solve problems?

 

For example 'can 5 children share 25 sweets equally between them' (obviously presenting the problem to him in a child friendly way). If he can't solve it by counting in 5s then he doesn't truely have that deep understanding of what he is doing.

 

Again 'how many sweets would we need to give 4 children 2 each?' or 'if I share 9 sweets between 2 children will there be any left over? Why?' The latter especially will show if he really understands what he is doing with odd and even numbers. If he can only do it using physical objects to help him find the answer (particularly for the how many sweets question) then although this is still impressive for his age he hasn't actually made the jump to abstract concept of number and you definitely shouldn't keep feeding him new skills without working on this idea first. It does sound as if he might have done already at least in some contexts but it's worth being very very sure before you move him on.

 

If he can't apply these skills to solve problems now then he will eventually hit a full stop in his mathematical development.