• Maths 4 life Number (pdf)

This booklet provides a useful guide to understanding the relationships between numbers and the structure of our number system. It is aimed at teachers working with adult learners but many of the activities are adaptable for children.

Activity A(i)

Activities related to space will provide opportunities for children to work with large numbers, ordering and rounding. Try these:

• model of the solar system
• alternative way to model the solar system

Activity A(ii)

Activities in the context of space and the solar system also provide excellent opportunities for working with positive and negative integers. There are a number of interactive and relevant activities.

Activity B - Tug Harder

This two player game from Nrich requires the children to use their knowledge of both positive and negative numbers, and the effect they have on each other. Some useful question prompts are included too – to really get them thinking!

It is important that children become familiar with both ordinal and cardinal aspects of number so although moving along a number line is the most common way to teach negative numbers, it is also important for them to see negative numbers as the absence of something – teachers often dig (concretely or pictorially) holes to represent a negative value. You could have a lot of fun with moles and holes that will help children develop a robust concept of negative numbers.

The videos ‘Negative Numbers 1’ and ‘Negative Numbers 2’ show Josie Clark helping her class develop their understanding of the concept of negative numbers and how to do calculations with negative numbers. She takes particular care to get the children to use precise mathematical language.

The interactive spreadsheet ‘Positive and Negative Numbers - Brick Walls’ is a resource that can be used with children to discuss calculations involving negative numbers.

Activity C - Sometimes we lose things

This intriguing activity introduced children to working in base 9, with a real focus on understanding our number system more deeply.

Useful Resources

Number lines, thermometer

Examples of what children should be able to do, in relation to each (boxed) Programme of Study statement

read, write, order and compare numbers up to 10 000 000 and determine the value of each digit

Children should be able to determine the steps used in different scales, and so complete activities such as;

round any whole number to a required degree of accuracy

Children should be able to circle the best estimate of the answer to questions such as;

72.34 ÷ 8.91

When given

6 7 8 9 10 11 as possible answers

Children should estimate the position of numbers on a number line. They should suggest which number lies about two-fifths of the way along a line from 0 to 1000, or a line from 0 to 1. They should be able to justify their decisions.

use negative numbers in context, and calculate intervals across zero

Children should be able to work with negative numbers in a similar way, determining values on a scale and estimating.

solve number and practical problems that involve all of the above

Children should be able to use rounding and inverse operations to estimate and check calculations such as;

The temperature inside an aeroplane is 20°C The temperatures outside the aeroplane is -30°C. What is the difference between these temperatures?

Children developing understanding of fluency with number

This suite of videos demonstrates children developing understanding and fluency with number. Children from across the primary school can be seen developing confidence in understanding and applying key concepts, such as inverse relationships and place value.