Good morning – a little maths to start the day. You will need to use problem solving strategies to find the mystery number from all of the possible answers in red. The number has two digits. Both of the digits are even. The digit in the tens place is greater that the digit in the ones place. The ones digit is not in the three times table. The tens digit is not double the ones digit. The sum of the two digits is a multiple of five.

The solution….. 64

St. Michael’s Problem Solving Morning Parents information morning Wednesday 1st November 2017

Why do we need to focus on problem solving in maths? The National Curriculum 2014 states ‘we aim to ensure that all pupils can solve problems by applying their mathematics to a variety of routine and non-routine problems with increasing sophistication, including breaking down problems into a series of simpler steps and persevering in seeking solutions’.

Why do we need to focus on problem solving in maths? Pre-2014 only the most able mathematicians ever got to problem solve. A change in thinking has happened which means that all children experience problems in maths and have to use a range of skills to solve them. 

Resources to support problem solving Our Calculation Policy has helped us to develop our use of practical resources so that children can use the resources to help them problem solve. The National Curriculum 2014 states that pupils should use visual resources to support understanding. Our resources help children to unpick problems and are therefore more able to solve them.

All pupils develop their fluency and reasoning within a block of teaching. All pupils then have the foundations to help them problem solve.

Problem solving is an important part of maths assessment 2017 Maths Year 2 problem example 2017 Maths Year 6 problem example

Something to remember… The new mathematics curriculum aims for all pupils to master an area of learning before moving on. If your child says that they are spending a lot of time on a topic this is to ensure that they are secure in their fluency and reasoning. Staff will be pre-teaching / post-teaching children that have struggled with a day’s learning.

How you can help your child… Help them to become fluent with the basics so that they have the mathematical skills to support their problem solving. Continue to talk about numbers with your child so that they can see how maths is used outside of school in the real world.

Thank you… Thank you for taking the time to join us this morning – we hope you have found it useful. The PowerPoint presentation is available on our website. Don’t forget classrooms are now open for you to go and take part in some mathematical problem solving with your children.