Year 3 focus on column addition and subtraction

This week, Year 3 have moved on from their shape work in Maths and have returned to addition and subtraction work. The children have worked hard to consolidate their understanding of written methods, focusing on column addition and subtraction in particular.

Last term, the children enjoyed filming tutorials on how to complete sums using the column method. Many of these youtube style videos were incredibly effective in teaching others, so the children are very keen to use technology once again to showcase their maths learning. This time, the children will use the ‘show me app’ to ‘be the teacher’ and talk through how to tackle addition and subtraction word problems.

To round off the week, Year 3 put their problem solving skills to the test. They were given four consecutive numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 and were asked to find all the possible number sentences that could be made, using + and - .

The children then calculated the answers and reflected on what they noticed. ‘I notice that if there is more subtraction, the answer will be a negative number’ (Ellson). ‘I noticed that all of the answers are even numbers’ (Kaspar) ‘I noticed that it is easier to spot a pattern if you work systematically’ (Dexter)

Why not investigate further at home? What do you notice when different sets of negative numbers are used?