Maths

Across Years 1 and 2, the children will be taught a range of strategies to ensure they are fluent in their recall of addition and subtraction facts. By our children becoming fluent in the following facts this will allow the children to tackle more complex maths more effectively.

Year 1 we teach strategies for facts within 10 (steps 1 – 7) and in Year 2 we teach the bridging ten facts (steps 8 – 11).

• Adding 1 (e.g. 7 + 1 and 1 + 7)
• Doubles and near double of numbers to 5 (e.g. 3 + 3, 4 + 5, 5 + 4)
• Adding 2 (e.g. 4 + 2 and 2 + 4)
• Number bonds to 10 (e.g. 8 + 2 and 2 + 8)
• Adding 0 to a number (e.g. 3 + 0 and 0 + 3)
• Adding 10 to a number (e.g. 5 + 10 and 10 + 5)
• The ones without a family 5 + 3, 3 + 5, 6 + 3, 3 + 6 (these pairs of facts are the only ones which don’t fit in any of the other families, though the last two can be related to counting in 3s)
• Doubles of numbers to 10 (e.g. 7 + 7)
• Near doubles (e.g. 5 + 6 and 6 + 5)
• Bridging (e.g. 8 + 4 and 4 + 8)
• Compensating

Once children have been taught the strategies, they need to move on to practising their recall of these facts. For many facts, the aim is memorisation, while for others is to recall with speed and fluency in the applied strategy.

In Years 1 and 2, our children have access to NumBots, which is an online resource which allows our children to practise their fluency with addition and subtraction facts.

Read the following for more information about how the website works. There are two modes – Story Mode for Understanding and Challenge Mode for Recall.

Mode 1: Story Mode for Understanding

In Story Mode, the emphasis is on mathematical concepts and is underpinned by a mastery approach to teaching. Story Mode features visual representations, procedural variation, exposure to different calculation strategies and interleaved material all in very carefully sequenced order.

Unlocking Levels

Story Mode is set out as a series of Stages (Rust, Tin, Iron, etc) containing levels, a bit like Angry Birds. Rust is the first Stage and level 1 is unlocked, so this is the place for everyone to start. To unlock the next level, players need to earn two stars by showing sufficient proficiency. The levels in Story Mode follow a natural mathematical progression and move the pupil through the game automatically.

Get In The Habit

Aim for the children to play in Story Mode for three minutes four to five times a week, to get the best out of NumBots. Little and often is key (spaced practice is more effective than blocked practice).

Mode 2: Challenge Mode for Recall

In Challenge Mode, the emphasis is on rapid responses to essential facts and simple sums, against the clock.

Unlocking Challenges

Challenge Mode is locked for new users and is unlocked once players reach a certain level on Story Mode. It’s currently set to unlock part way through Tin stage. There are 20 Challenge levels and only the first is unlocked to begin with. To unlock the next Challenge, players must correctly answer 12 questions in a minute.

Key Skills

Each Challenge focuses on a different key skill:

Key Skill:	Example:
1. Adding and subtracting 1 or 2 within 10	1 + 3, 8 – 2
2. Number bonds to 5	3 + ? = 5
3. Doubles within 10 (i.e. up to 5+5)	4 + 4
4. Adding and subtracting 1 and 2 within 20	17 + 2, 11 – 1
5. Number bonds to 10	3 + ? = 10
6. Adding and subtracting 10 within 20	3 + 10, 16 – 10
7. Doubles within 20 (i.e. up to 10+10)	8 + 8
8. Adding two 1-digit numbers	5 + 7
9. Number Bonds to 20	8 + ? = 20
10. Subtracting 1-digit numbers within 20	14 – 6
11. Adding and subtracting 1, 2 and 10 within 100	1 + 74, 51 – 2, 38 + 10
12. Adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers to/from multiples of 10	20 + 64, 83 – 20
13. Addition by bridging a multiple of 10	25 + 6, 47 + 5
14. Subtraction by bridging a multiple of 10	25 – 6, 42 – 5
15. Number bonds to 100	52 + ? = 100
16. Using compensation to add and subtract within 100	35 + 19, 35 – 19
17. Adding by partitioning two 2-digit numbers	64 + 25, 10 + 64
18. Subtracting by partitioning two 2-digit numbers	64 – 23, 47 – 31
19. Adding any two 2-digit numbers	63 + 56, 63 + 58
20. Subtracting any two 2-digit numbers	76 – 43, 76 – 47

Information from: 

https://static.numbots.com/data/pdf/NumBotsGettingStartedGuideforschools.pdf

Welcome to NumBots! Rusty's Scrapheap

Meet Rusty and his friends in this introduction to NumBots Story Mode.

What is Times Table Rock Stars?

To be a Times Table Rock Star you need to answer any multiplication fact up to 12×12 in less than 3 seconds! In either paper form or online. Times Tables Rock Stars is a carefully sequenced programme of daily times tables practice. Teachers set times tables that each child is learning. These are practised within the classroom, as well as at home.

Why are times tables important?

When it comes to times tables, speed AND accuracy are important – the more facts your child remembers, the easier it is for them to do harder calculations.  Times Table Rock Stars is a fun and challenging programme designed to help students master the times tables! To be a Times Table Rock Star you need to answer any multiplication fact up to 12×12 in less than 3 seconds! When it comes to times tables, speed AND accuracy are important – the more facts your child remembers, the easier it is for them to do harder calculations.

Monthly Battle of the Bands

Every month, the children participate in a 'battle' against their year group classes. This is an opportunity for the children to consolidate the times tables that they have learnt and to get quicker at recalling all times table facts. The children enjoy the competition against their year group.

TT Rockstar Game Types

Single Player

Garage - the questions will only come from the times tables the teacher has set for the week. It will include multiplication and division questions.

As pupils start to answer questions, TT Rock Stars works out which facts they take longer on and will give them more of these questions to answer. The Garage is best for getting quicker at a few facts. Players get 10 coins per question.

Studio - the questions in the Studio can be anything from 1×1 up to 12×12.

TT Rock Stars calculates the mean response time from their last 10 games in the Studio and translates that time into a Rock Status.

≤ 1 sec/qu = Rock Hero	≤ 7 secs/qu = Unsigned Act
≤ 2 secs/qu = Rock Legend	≤ 8 secs/qu = Gigger
≤ 3 secs/qu = Rock Star	≤ 9 secs/qu = Busker
≤ 4 secs = Headliner	≤ 10 secs/qu = Garage Rocker
≤ 5 secs/qu = Support Act	> 10 secs/qu = Wannabe
≤ 6 secs/qu = Breakthrough Artist

If you don’t play in the Studio, you don’t get a Rock Status.

Players earn 1 coin per question and the Studio is the place for them to set their best time across all the tables.

Soundcheck – When you play Soundcheck, you get 20 questions each with a 5-second time limit. The questions are multiplication only and evenly weighted in terms of difficulty each time you play. Players earn 5 coins per correct answer.

Multiplayer

Rock Arena - The Arena allows players to compete against all other members of their Band (their Bandmates would need to join the same game in order to compete together).
A new Arena game starts every 15 seconds and once the clock starts they race to answer more questions than the others. In the Arena, questions will only come from the times tables the teacher has set for the week, similar to the Garage.  They earn 1 coin per correct answer.

Rock Festival - The Rock Festival games are open to players from around the world. Like the Arena, there is no limit to the number of players who can join a game; however, unlike the Arena, questions are selected at random from 1×1 to 12×12.
Pupils might choose the Rock Festival if they were playing at home (and therefore couldn't easily synchronise playing against a classmate) or wanted to compete against others not in their Band. They earn 1 coin per correct answer.

Top Times Tables Tips

It may seem a daunting task to learn so many multiplication facts, but because of the commutative property of multiplication, there are fewer facts than you may think. For example, 3 x 4 and 4 x 3 give the same answer so you need to only learn this once.

Zero Times Table

Anything multiplied by zero will always equal zero. Multiplication is repeated addition so 3 x 0 is 0 + 0 + 0, which equals 0.

One Times Table

Any number multiplied by one is itself.

Two Times Table

Any number multiplied by two is double the number. 7 x 2 =14 7 + 7 = 14 double 7 is 14.

Three Times Table

Digits within this times table add up to multiples of 3. For example: 3, 6, 9, 12 (1+2=3), 15 (1+5=6), 18 (1+8=9) 21 (2+1=3), 24 (2+4=6) etc. The numbers also follow the pattern of: odd, even, odd, even (3,6,9,12).

Four Times Table

The four times table is double the two times table. 4 x 2 = 8, 4 x 4 = 16, 16 is double 8. Alternatively the fours can be thought of as double double. So double 3 (6) and double again (12) is the same as 3 x 4 = 12.

Five Times Table

All multiples of 5 end in five or zero. For even numbers (e.g. 8 x 5) you can halve the number (4) and then put a zero after it (40). For odd numbers (e.g. 7 x 5) you can subtract one from the number (6), halve it (3) and then put a 5 after it (35). Any odd number times 5 ends in a 5. Any even number times 5 ends in 0.

Six Times Table

The six times table is double the three times table. So 5 x 3 = 15, 5 x 6 = 30, 30 is double 15.

Seven Times Table

Combine the 5 and the 2 times table: 7 x 4 = 28 or (5x4) + (2x4) = 28.

Eight Times Table

The eight times table is double the four times table. So 7 x 4 = 28, 7 x 8 = 56, 56 is double 28. The units in the multiples of eight also go down in twos. 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, 64, 72, 80 (8, 6, 4, 2, 0, 8, 6, 4, 2, 0).

Nine Times Tables

Fingers can be used to work out the nine times table up to 10 x 9. The first finger is put down for 1 x 9 and the remaining fingers show 9 units (1 x 9 =9). Then the second finer is put down for 2 x 9 and the remaining fingers show 1 ten (to the left) and 8 units (to the right) which equals 18, and so on.

The digits found in the multiples of nine when added together also equal nine. For example: 9 = 9, 18 (1 + 8) = 9, 27 (2 + 7) = 9, 36 (3 + 6) = 9, 45 (4 + 5) = 9 etc.

Ten Times Table

All the digits in the ten times table end in zero.

Eleven Times Table

Most of the multiples in the eleven times table are recalled by putting two of the number side by side. 7 x 11 = 77, 8 x 11 =88.

Twelve Times Table

The units in the twelve times table go up in twos. 12, 24, 36, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108, 120, 132, 144 (2, 4, 6, 8, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 0). The multiples of 12 are also the multiples of 10 and the multiples of 2 combined.

A Parent's Guide to Learning Times Tables

Supporting Learning at Home

Komodo's Kickstart maths quizzes give parents instant and private feedback on how well your child is progressing at mastering Key Stage 1 & 2 numeracy skills. Visit our site to take a quiz here: https://komodomath.com/kickstart

https://play.ttrockstars.com/auth/school/student/10463

https://play.numbots.com/?#/account/school-login/10463

https://www.stickandsplit.com/schoolaccess 

https://www.timestables.co.uk/multiplication-tables-check/

https://hegartymaths.com/login/learner  (Year 6 only)