Download Guide to Numeracy Years 3 and 4

A guide to
‘Helping your child
with written
methods in
Numeracy’
at home
Years 3 & 4
Addition
sum
altogether
addition
add
=
+
total
make
plus
To begin in year 3, children will be using blank number
lines to work out given sums, e.g. 23 + 12 = 35
+10
23
+2
33
35
They will move on to the expanded column method,
e.g. 183 + 142 = 325
100 80 3
100 40 2
200 120 5 = 325
By the end of year 3 and throughout year 4, children will be
using the compact method of column
addition, in year 4 up
to 2 decimal places.
These are the carried
numbers.
Subtraction
difference between
minus
take away
subtract
=
more
than
<>
fewer
-
less
than will be using a blank number line to ‘find the
In year 3, children
difference’ between two numbers, e.g.84 – 56 = 28
+ 20
+4
56
60
+4
80
84
By the end of year 3 and throughout year 4 children will
move on to the expanded column subtraction method,
e.g. 345 – 124 = 221
300 40 5
- 100 20
4
200 20 1 = 221
Children in year 4 will be expected to subtract to two
decimal places (this is most likely to be money related)
Multiplication
multiply
share
array
sets of
times
multiple
In year 3 the grid method is introduced for multiplication.
Children partition the number and multiply in parts.
x
3
30
90
2
6
And moving on to…
x
30
8
70
2
2100 60
560 16
In year 4, children will begin to use a vertical written
method of multiplication.
452
X
4
8
(2x4)
200
(50x4)
1600
(400x4)
1808
Children in year 4 will be expected to know their times
tables up to 12 x 12 mentally.
Division
In year 3 children will begin by continuing methods
from year 2.
E.g.
6 ÷ 2 can be modelled as:
  
  
So 6 ÷ 2 =3
By the end of year 3 and throughout year 4
children will use the ‘bus stop’ method of division.
2 1
5 105
How you can help your child at home
 It is most important that you talk & listen to your child
about their work in maths. It will help your child if they
have to explain to you,
 Share the maths activity with your child and discuss it
with them,
 Be positive about maths, even if you don’t feel
confident about it yourself,
 Remember, you are not expected to teach your child
maths, but please share, talk and listen to your child,
 A lot of maths can be done using everyday situations
and will not need pencil and paper methods,
 Play games and have fun with maths!