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What your child will learn in maths#
Your child is learning to:
- use different methods to solve problems, including word problems and using tables, graphs, and diagrams
- connect their understanding of whole numbers to fractions and decimals
- apply maths skills to understand concepts like angles, perimeter, and area
- explore patterns, shapes, and data.
Good maths skills and a positive view of themselves as maths learners will help your child in the future. Maths is important for solving problems and creative thinking.
Encourage your child to use the maths vocabulary they learn in class.
Number#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- ask your child to round prices to the nearest ten, hundred, or thousand and estimate the total cost when you are doing shopping
- use a thermometer to record daily temperatures and talk about how numbers go below zero when it’s cold
- use coins to make different dollar and cent amounts, then ask your child to write them as decimals and compare which is more or less
- look at sale tags and ask your child to work out how much 10%, 25%, or 50% off would be, and what the full price was
- use a real receipt to add up the total cost, subtract to find change from $10 or $20, and talk about decimal values and percentages.
Your child is learning to:
- work with larger numbers by adding, subtracting, comparing and ordering numbers up to 1,000,000
- round whole numbers up to the nearest hundred thousand, ten thousand, thousand, and round tenths or hundredths to the nearest whole number
- count backwards through 0 to include negative whole numbers
- multiply three and four-digit numbers by single digit numbers and two two-digit numbers, and divide up to four-digit whole numbers by a one-digit whole number, with a remainder – for example, 118 ÷ 4 = 29 remainder 2)
- memorise the 11 and 12-times tables
- use known facts, and mental strategies as well as formal methods like vertical columns to order, compare, add, and subtract numbers with 2 decimal places – for example, 32.55 - 21.21 = 11.34
- read, write and compare tenths and hundredths as decimals and fractions
- use decimal equivalents of ½, ¼ and ¾ and fractional and decimal equivalents of common percentages (10%, 25%, 50%)
- find simple fractions and percentages of whole amounts – for example, ⅔ of 24 or 10% of 32, and find the total amount when they know just one part – for example, if 8 is ⅖ of something, work out the whole
- add, subtract and compare fractions where one denominator is a multiple of the other
- represent money in decimal notation and using coins and notes, such as calculating the total cost of items and the change from the nearest $10.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- change
- divisor, dividend, quotient, remainder
- factor
- hundredth
- multiple
- negative, positive
- non-unit fraction
- product
- proportion
- remainder.
Algebra#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- use real-life examples like comparing prices, distances, or scores to create number sentences and ask your child to check if they are true or false
- create a growing pattern together using objects (e.g., coins, blocks, or drawings) that increase by the same amount each time and ask your child to continue the pattern and explain the rule
- play a pattern game where you start a sequence (e.g., 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5…) and ask your child to describe how it grows, then challenge them to make their own pattern using a different rule.
Your child is learning to:
- use symbols like greater than (>), less than (<), and equals (=) in number sentences, and show these comparisons on a number line
- complete number sentences using addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division, and decide which side is greater or if they are equal (e.g., 2,456 + 203,938 < 3,456 + 231,930)
- check if number sentences are true or false, and fill in missing numbers to make the sentence correct (e.g., 999,999 – ___ = 899,999)
- recognise and describe number patterns that grow by the same amount each time, and continue or create their own patterns (e.g., 3, 4.5, 6, 7.5 …).
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- corresponding element
- equality.
Measurement#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- play mathematics ‘I spy’ – for example, ‘something that is 1⁄2 a km away’, ‘something that is 5cm wide’, ‘something that is 1kg’
- use a ruler, measuring jug, kitchen scales, thermometer, and timer to measure everyday things like the length of a book, the weight of fruit, the temperature outside, or how long it takes to brush teeth. Talk about the units used (cm, grams, °C, minutes)
- measure the sides of a rectangle (like a table or book) and ask your child to calculate the area by multiplying the length and width
- build a box using small cubes or blocks and ask your child to count how many cubes are all together, to explore volume. Would it be another way to find out without counting them all?
Your child is learning to:
- accurately measure length with a ruler, weight with scales, capacity with measuring jugs, temperature with a thermometer, angles with a protractor, and time with a timer, using the correct units (e.g., 2 hours and 30 minutes)
- change between metres and centimetres when measuring length
- estimate the area of irregular shapes by counting full squares, half squares, and parts of squares
- work out the area of rectangles and squares by multiplying the length and width
- measure the volume of boxes (rectangular prisms) by counting how many cubes fit in each layer and multiplying by the number of layers
- work out the perimeter of shapes with straight sides by adding up all the side lengths
- understand that shapes with the same area can have different perimeters, and shapes with the same perimeter can have different areas
- use a protractor to measure and draw angles up to 180 degrees
- describe angles and turns using words like acute, right, obtuse, straight, and reflex
- tell the time using both analogue and digital clocks
- work out how long something takes using a.m., p.m., and 24-hour time
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- attribute
- deci, milli
- kilometre, millimetre
- acute, obtuse, reflex, right and straight angle
- timetable.
Geometry#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- collect boxes – undo them and see if you can make them up again or make them into something else
- draw a shape made out of blocks from different angles, and have the other family members try to build the shape
- find and classify objects around the house as regular or irregular polygons – for example, a cereal box is a rectangular prism, and a stop sign is a regular octagon
- plot their walk from home to school looking at an online map to plot a journey.
Your child is learning to:
- explore prisms, learning about faces (flat surfaces), edges (where 2 faces meet), corners and cross-sections (shapes seen when cut through)
- recognise parallel sides (lines that never meet) and perpendicular sides (lines that meet at a right angle)
- connect 3D shapes to their nets
- describe transformations such as reflections (flipping), rotations (turning) and translations (sliding) of 2D shapes
- read and create grid maps and use coordinates (like A3, B5) to locate objects.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- cross-section
- net
- perpendicular line
- prism.
Statistics#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- ask your child to collect two types of information from family or friends (e.g., favourite fruit and age group), then sort the results into a table or chart
- group measurement data into ranges (e.g., shoe sizes: 20–21.99, 22–23.99) and create a table showing how many people fall into each group
- make a bar graph that shows two categories side by side (e.g., pet type by family member), and talk about which combinations are most or least common
- look at graphs or charts in newspapers, magazines, or online together and ask your child to explain what the data shows and what patterns they notice and discuss whether it makes sense and how they might check its accuracy.
Your child is learning to:
- collect measurements like height, temperature, or time, and round the results using specific rules
- collect and compare two types of information at the same time, like what students do at lunchtime and whether they are Year 5 or Year 6s
- organise measurement data into groups (e.g., 0–0.99, 1–1.99, 2–2.99) and put it into a table
- make bar graphs that show two categories side by side, like favourite sport by age group
- answer questions about how often certain values or groups appear in a table of measurement data
- look at data with two categories and figure out which group appears more often than another
- understand and explain what graphs and charts are showing.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- bivariate data
- paired categorical data
- clustered bar graph.
Probability#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- flip a coin 20 times and record how many times it lands on heads or tails. Talk about which outcome is more likely and whether the results match what they expected.
- make a spinner with different colours or numbers and spin it repeatedly. Ask your child to describe the outcomes using words like “likely,” “unlikely,” or “even chance.”
- play a dice game and keep track of how often each number is rolled. Use the results to talk about which numbers are more or less likely to come up
- watch a weather forecast and ask your child to explain the chance of rain or sunshine using probability words and place it on a number line or talk about the likelihood of a sports team winning based on past games or statistics.
Your child is learning to plan and carry out probability experiments to:
- do experiments that involve chance (like rolling dice or flipping coins), and talk about the different outcomes and how likely they are
- use words like “impossible,” “unlikely,” “even chance,” “likely,” and “certain” to describe how likely everyday events are to happen (e.g., “It’s certain the sun will rise tomorrow”)
- place everyday events on a number line from 0 to 1 to show how likely they are (for example “You’ll eat something today” might be placed close to 1 as very likely)
- create repeated chance games and identify outcomes and differences using likelihood vocabulary
- find the likelihood of everyday events as being impossible, unlikely, even chance, likely or certain, and be able to use a number line from 0 to 1 to show these outcomes.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- chance, uncertainty
- chance-based investigation
- equally likely outcome
- evaluate
- event.
