Year 5 have been building on their knowledge of place value. They understand that the value of a digit changes according to the column in which it sits. Their understanding has been strengthened by using concrete apparatus, where the children physically move the counters within the place value columns to appreciate why we use exchanges in our written calculations. They have also been developing their mental strategies in addition and subtraction as well as applying all these skills to multi-step word problems, identifying key vocabulary and using bar models to help them visualise the calculations required.
