Maths

Singing and chanting should form an integral part of the Maths Meeting, accompanied with either a Maths Meeting board or flipcharts as a visual structure for the children to become familiar with. Calendar and place value is included in every Maths Meeting and the rest of the meeting changes regularly according to the topics that wished to be revised and consolidated.  Maths Meetings also allows time to introduce topics and concepts that may be part of the next unit. 

Maths Master lessons follow a 6-part structure.  This keeps the lesson pacy, gives flow and allows more opportunities to teach creatively, give feedback and assess learning.

The purpose of the Do Now task is to consolidate previous learning. This could be recapping on what was learnt the day before or a topic from a previous unit that is necessary for the current lesson. Do Now tasks should be independent work that the children do for about 5 minutes.

Introduces the main learning for the lesson, beginning by sharing the lesson’s key vocabulary with the pupils. This segment will require clear explanations and modelling of tasks to be completed throughout the lesson, especially the Talk task. New learning lasts around 10 to 15 minutes.

The main focus here is on the children working together in pairs or small groups and talking in full sentences about maths. Developing pupils’ language is an important feature of the Mathematics Mastery approach, and taking turns and listening are important to children’s development. An alternative approach to this section is Let's Explore - this is an opportunity for pupils to apply the skills they have learnt previously, by discussing and reasoning mathematically.

This mirrors the New Learning but aims to move the pupils’ learning on further and deepen their understanding. Introducing different resources, adding a problem solving element, or encouraging further good language use following the Talk Task, could develop learning.

Pupils practise their Develop Learning by working independently and demonstrating what they have understood and learnt.

The plenary is used to reflect on learning, gather evidence for assessments and plan for future learning. It should sum up what the children have learnt during the lesson, consolidating all learning, address any common misconceptions, and pose a question for the next lesson.

Pupils will develop a depth of understanding within a concept, rather than moving them on to a new topic. Pupils will investigate carefully planned open questions that get them to sort and compare, seek patterns and look for rules.  Pupils also need to develop as active mathematicians, they will ask questions and create their own problems to explore. This will develop deep understanding and also foster curiosity and creativity in mathematics.

Pupils will use plenty of concrete materials such as bead strings and place value counters so that they have time to fully explore mathematics.

Pupils will use mathematical language and full sentences throughout their maths learning to deepen their understanding of concepts.  Pupils will communicate and develop mathematical language through:

• Sharing essential vocabulary at the beginning of every lesson and insisting on its use throughout
• Modelling clear sentence structures using mathematical language
• Paired language development activities, known as Talk Tasks.
• Plenaries which give a further opportunity to assess understanding through pupil explanations.