Numeracy in the Junior School

In the Junior School we aim to promote enthusiasm and enjoyment when learning and exploring mathematics. We provide a variety of experiences and learning situations to cater for individual learning styles and recognise that students learn at different rates and in different ways.

Building students’ confidence in understanding and using math to explore and know the world around them is vital to the development of deep understanding of concepts and processes.

Students will always benefit from opportunities to investigate, discuss, share strategies, take risks, and to explore multiple solutions and extend their thinking.

Numeracy involves the capability to be able to recognise and use mathematics in daily life. When engaged in authentic, meaningful and relevant problem-solving activities students gain new mathematical ideas and understandings. Being numerate is not just about acquiring a sense of numbers. Numeracy occurs when students develop spatial awareness, recognize patterns and structure,  and make measurements with formal and informal units.  Numeracy is also evidence when students make connections among concepts and acquire mathematical vocabulary. 

One of our favourite activities in Grade 5 has involved making connections with mathematics and the real world through the exercise “Me By the Numbers.” Students think of numbers that have a certain significance in their life.  For example, a student may consider how tall he/she is in centimetres, check and record their shoe size is, and list how many countries they have visited. Mathematical thinking is then extended by creating expressions/equations to represent these numbers.

Susie Caruana
G5 Homeroom & JS Maths Coordinator