Have you checked out the Maths Curriculum Companion yet? It is a great way to help parents get their heads around what key skills students need to know, ways to explain the skills and it has a range of activities that help students achieve the skill being focused on. It is a Victorian Government resource, but don’t worry, the Victorian Curriculum is very similar the Australian Curriculum so everyone can still enjoy this awesome resource!
First up click ‘Start exploring now’. Then select the focus area and year level you are working on, for example ‘Fractions and decimals’ then ‘Level 3’. Now, head to the top of the page and in the right hand corner you will see the ‘Show resources’ button, click this. You will be taken to a page full of activities to help you focus in on this specific skill. You will see that there is a code which is the specific curriculum statement of the Victorian Mathematics Curriculum.
As you move up in grade levels, there are more curriculum statements for each learning area in Maths as students begin to expand their understanding of the topic. This means that there might be multiple skills to be taught for fractions, or any other concept. Find the specific concept that you are focusing on and click the link. You will be taken to a new page. The first part of the page explains to the educator the exact skill that this curriculum statement is focused on. It gives a guide on how to teach the concept and where students might make mistakes or get confused. This is great as most adults were only taught a concept in one way which makes it hard for us to explain it differently.
Then, when you scroll further down you can find a range of online resources that you can work through with your learner or you can let them explore themselves. You could also use this as a warm up game to get them ready for their daily Maths session. Keep scrolling and you will see the ‘Teaching ideas’ section. This has a range of practical activities you can do at home together. These are great because the learner is actively participating in the learning by doing rather than sitting and listening and it also allows them to make connections to their learning through the experience.
Then, at the bottom of the page you will see the skills that come before and after the one you are focusing on. This is really helpful because if your learner is struggling with what you are focusing on, this might mean they have missed the learning building blocks that come beforehand in the sequence which is making this section really tricky. It can also be really useful because your learner might already understand this concept and then you will know where to go next!
Go explore for yourself!
