We are learning to work out and record my division calculations in a variety of different ways. MNU 2-03a

• I can explain mental strategies for answering division questions.
• I can explain and demonstrate written strategies for answering 3 digit by 1 digit division problems with remainders.

Today we  took our mental maths outside. First of all we had to see who could recall and write out their 6 times tables most accurately. We know that accuracy is important with our times tables because we want to be correct and quick.

Then we had our number talks session outside. This week we have starting taking part in Number Talks each day for 15 minutes. During number talks we mentally calculate the answer to three sums which get more difficult across the lesson and week. The most important part of Number Talks is we discuss the different strategies we used to get the answer. Today we wrote down the answer and then explained the strategy we used to our peers. We have only been using Number Talks for 3 days and already we feel:

• ‘Mental Maths is more fun!’
• ‘We feel more confident because we discuss strategies more’.
• ‘We are getting quicker at answering sums’.
• ‘We can use other children’s strategies’.
• ‘It helps us with our number work’.

We moved on to look at how to use written strategies to find the answers to division sums with bigger numbers. Some of us were the teacher and shared our strategies on the whiteboard then we had three activities to complete:

• Sum Dog division and multiplication challenge
• 3 in a row game: We had to pick a 3 digit number, our partner gave us a 2 digit number using a spinner and we had to calculate the answer. If we got it correct we put a counter on the gameboard.
• Division assessment

We now feel more confident about the process of division because of all the different activities we have taken part in this week.

Homework help: You can support your child at home by continually asking them to say their times tables as a sum, for example 6 x 5 = 30 and asking them the related division fact, 30 divided by 6. Also encourage them to take part in the Sum Dog competition online, a different competition is set each week related to the concept they are learning in class.