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Two year 5 girls and they are now doing addition of fractions (without common denominators). I am so embarrassed that I had completely forgotten how to do them and had to resort to their 'Learn Maths with Carol Vorderman' book to help me remember.
I certainly don't remember doing such tough maths when I was at primary school – god help me when they go to secondary school :-O
Aha - that is great thank you. I think I will be referring to that over the next nine years...
they are now doing addition of fractions (without common denominators)
You can't add fractions without common denominators (it's a clue not a complaint)
Feel your pain Mike, we're in the same position (year 5, year 4 and reception). I'm happy to say I don't struggle with the reception homework, but the Y4 & 5 stuff has been getting steadily harder (though I've been pleasantly surprised at what I HAVE remembered!) Teachers forget that most parents haven't been at school for decades (40 years nearly since I was in Y5!) 🙂
You can’t add fractions without common denominators
I know that (well now I do LOL), what I meant was they have been given sums that don't start with them and they have to work out what the common denominator is - and I had forgotten how to do it (ie, 3/4 + 4/8 =)
symbolab for when they get into harder stuff!
A good excuse to buy a book full of Carol Vorderman!!!
Helping with maths is ok, the current curriculum on English Grammar is ridiculous😣
the current curriculum on English Grammar is ridiculous
You are probably like me, from the generation where grammar was out of fashion and wasn't really taught beyond noun/verb/adjective.
I find the current curriculum mind-boggling. The school even laid on a Parents Education evening to try and get us all up to speed. It didn't work!
https://www.theschoolrun.com/primary-grammar-glossary-for-parents
the current curriculum on English Grammar is ridiculous
As they are still only year 5 I am just about coping with that - nouns, common nouns, adjectives etc and (in general) I am keeping up with it. But again I fear for when they get to secondary school - I struggled with all my core subjects (more through lack of interest and crap teaching than anything) and most of my learning (well understanding) has been self-taught since leaving. Give me a piece of creative homework to help them with and I love it!
they are still only year 5
I got lost back in KS1 when they had homework to categorise sentences into "statement, question, command and exclamation".
I did get confused when I first started looking at it and had this to work out (it would be interesting to see what answers people here get as the only instruction was to work out the below sum using common denominators).
1/2 + 2/8 = []/8 + 2/8 =
Does anyone, anywhere know what the hell diacritical marking is all about?
Don't Panic. Last year my then 5yo in Year 1 came home talking about Split Digraphs when learning to read using Phonics... I had absolutely no idea and had to watch some Mr Thorne videos (google it) with her to get up to speed.
...WITH A 5 YEAR OLD!!!
I went to my eldest review evening for her mock results, she did really well in physics they showed me her work. I just stared blankly at the page.
I did get confused when I first started looking at it and had this to work out (it would be interesting to see what answers people here get as the only instruction was to work out the below sum using common denominators).
1/2 + 2/8 = []/8 + 2/8 =
Surely 4 is the common denominator, not 8? I suppose 8 could be, but 4 is the lowest common denominator?
johndoh
Member
I did get confused when I first started looking at it and had this to work out (it would be interesting to see what answers people here get as the only instruction was to work out the below sum using common denominators).1/2 + 2/8 = []/8 + 2/8 =
Surely it's just 4/8? Giving 1/2 + 2/8 = 4/8 + 2/8 = 6/8 or 3/4 or 0.75 😉
All you need to do is multiply to get your denominator, in this case because the denominator you're trying to achieve is '8' (x/8), and you're given 1/2, just multiply the 2 by 4 to get 8, or divide the 8 by 2 if you find it easier. For example, 2/5 + 3/10 = x/10 + 3/10. You'd multiply 2/5 by 2, to get a denominator of 10. This giving 2/5 + 3/10 = 4/10 + 3/10 = 7/10
Bit more awkward if the denominators aren't even or don't divide by each other, then you find the lowest common multiple or multiply the 2 denominators together to get a common denominator, although depending on the numbers, this can get quite big!
Surely 4 is the common denominator, not 8? I suppose 8 could be, but 4 is the lowest common denominator?
Sorry, I wrote the question incorrectly - the correct question was:
1/2 + 1/8 = []/8 + 1/8 =
Any one want to try answering it...
Year 6 and 3 here and I think it's the coolest thing when your kids tell you something you dont know yourself.... so that happens a lot with grammar in our house.
At some point (open to suggestions of when ?) I'm going to do GSCE maths again. ... Being careful that it will help the dust bins lids rather than be a competition.
It's 4 still.
1/2 + 1/8 = []/8 + 1/8 =
Any one want to try answering it…
1/2 + 1/8 = 4/8 + 1/8 = 5/8
1/2 + 1/8 = []/8 + 1/8
1/2 = [4]/8
[4] + 1 = 5
I don't find it at all hard but (like being Jedi'ed) different people understand differently. I had no probs explaining this to Daughter 1, but when D2 got to the same age it was like I was speaking Greek. And so D1 stepped in with the (as it turned out genius) idea that if you think of it like pizzas, you need the slices to all be the same size. So if the second pizza is cut into 8, the first one also needs to be, so how many 1/8 slices are there in half a pizza?
D2 got it instantly despite both her and me being at loggerheads over it 5 minutes earlier.
if you think of it like pizzas
Or...
I think both puppies might be male.
1/2 + 1/8 = 4/8 + 1/8 = 5/8
One daughter worked it out as 6/8: 1/2 + 1/8 = 5/8 + 1/8 = 6/8 and I can see why she did it like that. Still, after some considerable time we managed to make her understand that it was the same equation displayed in such a way to make her understand what the numerator would be when 1/2 was displayed using 8 as the common denominator.
I am seriously %^&*ed when they come home with algebra.
if you think of it like pizzas
The school used a diagram of tortilla actually 😉
Whatever you do to the denominator, you do to the numerator. In this case, multiply by 4.
The pizza analogy is great, fair play. Make your cuts on a whole pizza, then how many cuts are there in half a pizza?
Make your cuts on a whole pizza, then how many cuts are there in half a pizza?
3 cuts. 4 slices.
Split Digraphs ... they were a revelation to me
I watched the Alphablocks .... episode magic e .... lol
It's fantastic how education/teaching technique has advanced for reading. My lad is 8 1/2 and can't get enough of reading Roald Dahl. Now I'm sure he's nothing special but I wouldn't have been reading them until first or even second year senior and I went to grammar school !!
1/2 + 1/8 = []/8 + 1/8
1/2 = [4]/8
[4] + 1 = 5
AFAIK it's not actually treated as an equation at this point, they won't solve it that way. (ie they don't do "delete from both sides" or "multiply both sides by X"). You need to find the LCD and work it out that way.
My top tip: as a parent who's gone through this, make sure you learn how to solve it they way they're being taught it, which might be completely different to the way you learned it 30 years ago...
My top tip: as a parent who’s gone through this, make sure you learn how to solve it they way they’re being taught it, which might be completely different to the way you learned it 30 years ago…
Yes we did try asking them to show us how they had been taught it but they couldn't explain it.
The pizza analogy is great, fair play. Make your cuts on a whole pizza, then how many cuts are there in half a pizza?
Yep - the point (not well made) is that some people understand the numbers, others need a visual cue at least to start with.
3 cuts. 4 slices.
Mia culpa, that's what I meant. Nice catch.
and I had forgotten how to do it (ie, 3/4 + 4/8 =)
0.75/1 + 0.5/1 = 1.25/1! 😆
My eldest's in year 6 (SATs year) and we're all really challenged by his English homework! As someone mentioned above, the extent of grammar I remember learning even at GCSE level was limited to nouns, adjectives and verbs (and I got an A by the way!)
My son's being taught some REALLY technical grammar concepts - which I can genuinely only assume is to put lots of technical learning in for the sake of it.
I'd love it if someone could convince me how understanding things like subordinate clauses is helpful in real life, because as things stand I feel it's really a waste of effort.
I am of the opinion that at age 10, getting a really sound grasp of the fundamentals that are enablers for the other curriculum subjects is key. Learning grammatical technicalities at this level of detail is surely of more value later on - at GCSE or beyond?
His school is so focussed on achieving well in the SATs, that they're doing 'intervention' lessons for loads of the kids in school time. Great in theory, but it means he's missed 50% of his science lessons in his first term of year 6 and has only had a single ICT lesson so far this school year.
So much for the push for STEM subjects!
3 cuts. 4 slices.
2.5 cuts. 4 slices.
Unless you cut your puzzas weird.
I think both puppies might be male.
LOL.
Also, how do you do half a cut?
The pizza was divided using 4cuts.
One complete cut represent the straight edge. The other three lines are half cuts. Its maffs.
In the context of the problem we’re taking a pre-existing Half pizza and converting it into eighths.
3 cuts
I'm a chartered accountant, and I remember having to re-learn algebra when my son really struggled with it. I eventually 'got it again', and my son then got the hang of it.
I remember using algebra in my accountancy exams and saying - no-body uses this stuff - they still don't 25 years post qualifying, but by heck it's still taught. It's quite handy for understanding formulae in spreadsheets though !
Mia culpa
Mea culpa, it's the ablative, my daughter is year 7, they seem to be taking maths a lot slower than when I was at school.
In the context of the problem we’re taking a pre-existing Half pizza and converting it into eighths.
3 cuts
Pre existing half pizza?!
I'm taking a pizza and converting it into
One overate.
Pre existing half pizza?!
Available in any Glas Vegas chip shop. Deep fried and battered.
As well you know 😉
And as you well know sir what you have described is a pizza crunch.