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Year 6 Maths articles

What are odd and even numbers?
What are odd and even numbers?
We explain what odd and even numbers are and how primary-school children are taught about this concept in KS1 and then have to apply this learning in KS2.
What are degrees?
What are degrees?
We explain what degrees are and how children are taught to use protractors to measure angles, as well as reviewing the different knowledge children acquire about angles throughout KS1 and KS2.
What are right, acute, obtuse and reflex angles?
What are right, acute, obtuse and reflex angles?
We explain what right, acute, obtuse and reflex angles are and how children are taught about different angles through KS1 and KS2.
Horizontal
What is horizontal?
We explain how primary-school children are taught to recognise horizontal lines in shapes.
Vertical
What is vertical?
We explain how primary-school children are taught to recognise vertical lines in shapes, and what you can to to support your child's understanding at home.
Parallel lines
What is parallel?
We explain what parallel means and how children are taught about shapes throughout KS1 and KS2.
Perpendicular
What is perpendicular?
We explain what perpendicular means and how children are taught angles throughout KS1 and KS2.
What is diagonal?
What is diagonal?
We explain what diagonal means in geometry and why it is important that children understand this term when learning about 2D shapes in primary school.
What is mass?
What is mass?
We explain what mass means, how mass is usually measured and how children are taught to convert from one unit of mass to another.
What is 'convert into the same units'?
How do you 'convert into the same units'?
We explain what the phrase 'convert into the same units' means, how children are taught to convert units of measurement and techniques that teachers use to help children master this skill.
What is 'the difference between'?
What is 'the difference between'?
We explain what teachers mean when they talk about finding 'the difference between' and give examples of how children are taught to work out the answers to subtraction problems.
What is < and >?
What is < and >?
We explain what the symbols < and > mean and give examples of how the concept is explained to primary-school children.
What is descending order?
What is descending order?
We explain what descending order means and give examples of how the concept might relate to numbers, decimals, fractions or amounts of money.
Ascending order
What is ascending order?
We explain what ascending order means, how children are asked to sort into ascending order in primary school and give examples of how the concept might relate to numbers, dates, decimals or alphabetical lists.
Denominator
What is the denominator?
We explain what the denominator of a fraction is and give examples of how the concept is taught in primary-school maths, as well as explaining fractions equivalence and the relationship between the numerator and denominator.
Numerator
What is the numerator?
We explain what the numerator of a fraction is and give examples of how the concept might be taught in Key Stage 2, as well as explaining fractions equivalence and the relationship between the numerator and denominator.
What is the lowest common denominator?
What is the lowest common denominator?
We explain what the lowest common denominator is and how to find it and use it to compare different fractions, as well as giving examples of how the concept might be taught to your primary-school child.
What is the lowest common multiple?
What is the lowest common multiple?
We explain what the lowest common multiple is and give examples of how the concept might be taught to your primary school child.
What is the highest common factor?
What is the highest common factor?
We explain what the highest common factor is and give examples of how the concept might be taught to your primary school child.
Average
What is the average?
We explain what the term average means in maths, how to find the average of a set of data (and how children are taught to do it in primary school), and what a mean average is.
What are decimals?
What are decimals?
We explain what decimals are and how the concept is explained to primary-school children, as well as how they are taught to relate decimals to money and measurement, the equivalence between fractions and decimals, partitioning, rounding and ordering decimals and adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing decimals.
Repeated addition
What is repeated addition?
We explain what repeated addition means, how it is taught in school as a foundation of multiplication understanding and techniques that teachers use to help children grasp the concept.
Number sentences
What is a number sentence?
We explain what a number sentence is and how primary-school children are taught to write number sentences (or fill in gaps in number sentences) in KS1 and KS2.
Sum
What is a sum?
We explain what a sum is and how children are taught to understand the term when it appears in mental maths tests, word problems or investigations.
Integer
What is an integer?
We explain what an integer is and how to explain the concept to your child, as well as offering some puzzles involving the term 'integer'.
Division facts
What are division facts?
We explain what division facts are, how they are taught in primary school, and share some fun games that you can try at home to make this knowledge stick.
What is a product?
What is a product?
In maths the product of two numbers is the result you get when you multiply them. We explain how children are taught multiplication vocabulary in KS2 and what kind of problems they might be asked to solve,
What is success criteria?
What is a success criteria / WILF?
Find out what success criteria (also known as the 'WILF') are and how your child's teacher will use success criteria to boost learning focus.
What is a Learning Objective / WALT?
What is a Learning Objective / WALT?
Heard your child talk about their LO, or their WALT? Teachers use learning objectives to help children understand what is expected of them in the classroom. Find out what a learning objective (or WALT) is and how learning objectives are used in primary school.
What is a DUMTUM?
What is a DUMTUM?
Find out what a DUMTUM is and how this technique will help your child to set out their work correctly.
What are talk partners?
What are talk partners?
Find out what a talk partner is and why having a talk partner will benefit your child's learning in the classroom.
What is 'scaffolding' learning?
What is 'scaffolding' learning?
Find out what 'scaffolding' learning means and how teachers use this technique in the classroom to help children master different skills.
What are interactive whiteboards?
What are interactive whiteboards?
Find out what interactive whiteboards are and how they enhance learning in the classroom.
What are mini-whiteboards?
What are mini-whiteboards?
Find out what mini-whiteboards are and how they enhance learning in the classroom.
Number puzzles
12 great benefits of maths challenges
Maths activities could give your child’s learning a boost in many ways, and help them engage with numbers (and enjoy it!) from a young age. Lucy Dimbylow offers 12 reasons to give number puzzles a go today.
Teachers' tricks for percentages
Teachers' tricks for percentages
Percentages can seem like a tricky topic to tackle if you're not too sure about your maths skills, but by following our teachers' tips and suggestions you'll feel homework-confident in no time.
Multiplication
Teachers' tricks for multiplication
Can you multiply using the grid method, or draw a multiplication calculation as arrays? Find out more about multiplication and how it’s taught in schools today with our teachers' tips, tricks and methods, explained for primary-school parents.
Subtraction
Teachers' tricks for subtraction
Help your child become subtraction savvy with our teachers' tips on methods, practical resources, vocabulary and more. From subtraction songs and subtraction story problems to column subtraction, Phoebe Doyle offers some practical homework help for 'taking away'.
Fractions
Teachers' tricks for fractions
From halves in quarters in KS1 to equivalent fractions in KS2, primary teacher Phoebe Doyle offers some insiders’ tips to help you help your child at home, plus details of fraction walls, hundred charts and other useful maths resources.
Mother and daughter with clock
Best time-teaching products
Great toys, books and resources to help your child learn to tell the time on analogue and digital timepieces, from clock face recognition to estimating time differences on the 24-hour clock.