Numeracy Teaching & Learning
Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.
At Newport Lakes Primary School there is an expectation that each grade will complete five hours of mathematics per week. The content of these lessons is based on the Victorian Curriculum for each year level and changes are often made to ensure students are supported or extended depending on their individual needs.
There is also an emphasis placed on:
- Providing students with a clear understanding of the purpose and focus of the lesson through Learning Intentions and Success Criteria
- Following a set Instructional Model for each lesson
- Setting individual goals within units of work through the use of Proficiency Scales
- Teaching and using multiple strategies to solve open-ended and real-life problems
- Exposing students to and building their mathematical vocabulary
Mathematics at Newport Lakes Primary School is further celebrated with the community bi-annually through our Family Maths Nights. These nights have changed in format over the years but generally are a celebration of the work completed by the students and provides them with an opportunity to solve open-ended maths problems and play fun and hands-on maths games with their parents.
Maths incursions also make up part of our curriculum. Neve F from Grade 5/6 wrote:
‘This week we did an incursion called World of Maths. It was fun and enjoyable. We learned new things and we dealt with difficult puzzles. The positivity was in the air. The session went for a good 2 hours of non-stop maths puzzles.
Some of our favourite puzzles were the balancing beam where we had a balancing bar and had to balance out different sized weights evenly so it floated by itself.
In the activity, ‘Trains’ we had to find out a way to get one train to the other station and switch it all around. In ‘Music’ we had to play the correct notes on metal to make up the Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars song. This activity also involved measurement.
In ‘Mirrors’ we used reflections to make different shapes. A big thank you to Robbie the maths guy for helping us and hosting the maths incursion.’