At Deer Park West Primary School daily mathematics instruction is part of every classroom. Students across the school are introduced to mathematical concepts through the use of manipulatives. This includes the use of dice, cards, counters, icy pole sticks, base 10 blocks, measurement tools, 2D and 3D shape models, clocks, play money and probability tools to model their thinking and understandings. 

Using these materials allows all students to experience success in math and provides a visual way of expressing the math concepts that the children are developing.

How do we know what your child already knows and their next step for their learning?

During the early part of Term 1 every year, students in Foundation are assessed using the Mathematics Online Interview. This is a 1:1 time for the teacher to see and record the kinds of strategies that each student has and make notes of the areas for improvement for each individual student. 

In Years 1-6, teachers implement a knowledge indicator assessment. Teachers then use the analysed data from this assessment to plan for the targeted and individual teaching of each of the students in their care.

What can you do at home to support the learning of your child?

• Play board and card games with your child to practice addition and subtraction, chance and probability.
• Count items when shopping, especially fruit and vegetables.
• Play shop with your younger child – use real or pretend money to buy and sell items in your fridge or cupboard.
• Take your older children shopping and let them estimate how much the shopping is going to come to, based on the prices of the items you are buying.
• Order food items from smallest to largest based on their capacity or weight.
• When cooking from a recipe, have your child do the measuring of ingredients.
• Dice are a great addition to any toy collection. Roll the dice and say, make or write the numbers identified. Roll the dice and add/multiply the numbers together to find the total.
• Try this website: http://www.abc.net.au/countusin/