Reception
In Reception we explored different types of patterns. We created our own class versions of the popular stories ‘ That’s not my…’. Each child chose a sea creature and thought about the different patterns or texture it could have. We then wrote our own sentences and enjoyed decorating our sea creatures with using pens, glitter, tissue paper, sequins and even bubble wrap, making sure we had created lots of patterns!
Year 1
The children had such a lovely day learning about English and maths. They enjoyed reading books that had stories to do with maths and were able to spot where the maths was incorporated such as with counting, adding and patterns. The children loved being able to create their own maths book and sharing it with the whole school!
Year 2
We started the day by looking at a variety of Maths themed picture books. We tried to spot the different areas of maths in each one.
In Year 2 we had the theme ‘addition’ for the Maths and English enrichment day.
Each class focused on a different habitat, which linked to our Science learning too.
We thought of different animals that lived in these habitats and then thought of a range of verbs to describe how they move.
We then retrieved the different time adverbials that we’ve learnt to sequence our sentences. The children worked in partners to write two sentences which we collated together to make a class book.
We worked as a class and used our maths skills to add up the animals after each new sentence, to reach the final total at the end of the story!
We really enjoyed making our books and particularly enjoyed sharing these with the rest of the infant school children in assembly.
Year 3
Year 3 focussed on subtraction. First of all the children found lots of interesting ways to make 100, here are some of their ideas:
They used many resources around the classroom including coloured pencils, pens and white board squares as well as the maths resources they have available to them (Numicon, multi-link, rulers, metre rules, string, scales, money). Lots of fun learning ensued as they worked through various ways to create 100.
Next, we read ‘Centipede’s 100 Shoes’ by Tony Ross. The children were fascinated by the book and the idea of a subtraction story which inspired them to create their own subtraction comic strip. They planned it carefully on scrap paper and then used some fabulous comic strip designs to create their story of subtracting from 100. Some used money, some weight, some even focused on an African animal losing spots every year on its birthday! It was a very enjoyable and focussed day. The children enjoyed it and continued to talk about ways to make 100 when they came in the following day!
Year 4
For our Maths and English Enrichment day, Year 4 read Alison Hubble by Allan Ahlberg. It is all about Alison Hubble who went to bed single and woke up double! The children loved reading the story and showing off their times table skills by predicting how many Alison’s there would be when she doubled again! We then discussed some ideas for the children to create their own stories and they planned their ideas using a story board. The final books were fantastic! The children put so much effort into them and loved creating a front cover and even a blurb!
Year 5
Year 5 started their enrichment day with the story A Mathematician Just Like Me by Shini Somara. The story tells us about two cousins, Aliyah and Robin, who plan a camping trip. The story takes us on a journey with the children as they plan and prepare for their trip. Along the way, they incorporate lots of Maths, such as 3D shapes, fractions, length, the four operations, angles and time. This book also included many interesting facts about famous people and their connection to Maths, for example Florence Nightingale and Blaise Pascal.
“I liked that the illustrations had a Maths theme, such as a dice for a pillow.” -Harrison
Megan- “I liked that Robin taught Maths to Aliyah”.
“I enjoyed learning lots of facts, including those about Florence Nightingale.” – Morgan
After being inspired by the story the children in Year 5 began to plan the characters for their own story, where the characters would go and which aspects of Maths they would include. After planning, the children started to write and illustrate their stories in their own books.
“My story was called The Stealing Story it involves dividing up pizza into slices”. Alicia
The children across the year group really enjoyed writing their own stories; they created a wide range of books that included many areas of Maths.
Year 6
Year 6 focussed on ‘big numbers’ as part of their enrichment day. We explored what the term ‘big numbers’ means and how and when we use them in real life. The children’s ideas became very creative! We explored the story of ‘Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is?’ by Robert E Wells. We read that a blue whale is big; it’s the biggest animal alive but it isn’t the biggest thing there is. We discovered some big things, some bigger things, and the thing beyond measure–what can truly be called the biggest thing there is!’. The children enjoyed seeing how the numbers were increasing on each page.
The children then created their own mathematical story based on big numbers. Themes ranged from animals to aliens! All of the children enjoyed exploring numbers within stories and seeing the link between maths and English.
