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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
- understand how whole numbers relate to fractions and decimals
- 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:
- talk about large numbers in your environment – for example, computer game scores, distances or data storage
- plan and make dinner at home, at camp or on a marae – look at how much is needed for the people eating (potatoes, bok choy, carrots, sausages), and talk about multiplying ingredients for more people and calculating cooking times
- co-operate at the supermarket, and look for the best buy between different brands of the same item and different sizes of the same item – for example, toilet paper, cans of spaghetti, bottles of milk
- play times-table games.
Your child is learning about numbers, including to:
- work confidently with numbers up to 1,000,000, including rounding, ordering, and comparing, and recognising square and cube numbers
- use place value understanding to estimate, round, and calculate with whole numbers and decimals (to three places)
- multiply and divide larger numbers using known facts and formal written methods, like 542 x 12 or 1283 ÷ 5 and solve expressions using the order of operations
- recall and apply multiplication facts, including 11 and 12-times tables
- understand and count negative numbers
- add, subtract, compare, and convert related fractions, and decimals
- find common fractions, decimals, and percentages of quantities and use them to solve problems, like 2/3 of 240 or 75% of $224
- calculate with money using real-life contexts.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- brackets
- efficient
- percentage
- simplest form
- square number, cube number
- systematically
- thousandth.
Algebra#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could play a mystery number game, where you think of a number and give your child clues using equations – for example, "I am thinking of a number. When I double it and add 3, I get 11. What is my number?"
Your child is learning to:
- answer true or false statements and find missing numbers in equations
- find rules for patterns in words and predict what other elements might be
- use the rule or a growing pattern to make a table and plot the points on a coordinate plane.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- constant
- coordinate plane, XY graph, x-axis, y-axis
- inequality
- ordered pairs.
Measurement#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- measure and estimate length, weight, capacity, temperature, and time using the right tools and units, and convert metric units like grams to kilograms, and time units, like hours to minutes
- find the area of rectangles and right-angled triangles including units in, and the volume of cubes and rectangular prisms including cube units
- measure and draw angles with a protractor up to 360 degrees,
- and find unknown angles at a point, angles on a straight line and vertically opposite angles
- interpret bus and train timetables, use 12- and 24-hour time, and solve problems about duration.
Your child is learning to:
- measure and estimate length, weight, capacity, temperature, and time using the right tools and units, and convert metric units like grams to kilograms, and time units, like hours to minutes
- find the area of rectangles and right-angled triangles including units in, and the volume of cubes and rectangular prisms including cube units
- measure and draw angles with a protractor up to 360 degrees
- and find unknown angles at a point, angles on a straight line and vertically opposite angles
- interpret bus and train timetables, use 12- and 24-hour time, and solve problems about duration.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- cubic centimetre, cubic metre
- milli-, centi-, kilo-
- protractor
- square centimetre, square metre.
Geometry#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- search for real-life examples of different geometric shapes and take photos or draw what they find, unfold different shaped boxes and notice the shapes
- follow origami instructions to create shapes while learning about angles, symmetry, and geometric properties
- create a map with coordinates and geometric clues leading to a hidden treasure in your home or backyard.
Your child is learning to:
- understand shapes by describing and comparing 2D shapes (like different triangles) and 3D shapes (like prisms and pyramids) look at the angles inside shapes, and identify their rotational symmetry
- transform shapes by creating and describing patterns that rotate (turn), reflect (flip), tessellate, and translate (slide) shapes
- read and create maps using grid references, simple scales on maps and compass points, measuring distances (in metres and kilometres) and turns (in degrees).
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- angles at a point, on a straight line, vertically opposite angles
- interior angle
- kite, parallelogram, rhombus, trapezium
- map scale
- right-angled triangle
- rotational symmetry
- tessellation.
Statistics#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- count different types of vehicles passing your home during different time periods and then discuss patterns
- watch a sports game together and track simple statistics (shots taken, passes completed) and then compare that to official statistics online
- ask your child to track the family's device usage for a week and then create charts showing patterns and discuss findings.
Your child is learning to:
- collect data that changes over time (like the growth of a bean plant over 10 days) and representing this using time series graphs
- calculate and understand mean and range
- create and describe graphs and charts to find patterns and trends
- interpret graphs, for example from current events and media.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- mean
- range
- time-series data.
Probability#
Ideas to help at home
With your child, you could:
- predict patterns in coin flips – for example, “how often will you get 3 heads in a row in 20 flips?” – and then test your predictions
- before playing a card game, discuss the chances of drawing specific cards, then track results during play.
Your child is learning to:
- list all the outcomes for an event such spinning a spinner and calculate probabilities of individual outcomes occurring
- calculate probabilities as fractions
- list all the outcomes for an event such spinning a spinner and calculate probabilities of individual outcomes occurring
- calculate probabilities as fractions
- answer questions about the probability of combinations of outcomes, such as flipping a coin and rolling a die.
Words your child will be learning
Words include:
- experiment
- impossible, unlikely, evenly likely, likely, certain
- outcome
- sample space.
