“Arithmetic is where the answer is right and everything is nice and you can look out of the window and see the blue sky – or the answer is wrong and you have to start over and try again and see how it comes out this time.”
Carl Sandberg
A quote which sums up my feelings about arithmetic as a child, when you copied the sums on the blackboard into your book; followed a procedure that had been drummed into you and crossed your fingers hoping against hope that you were correct. If your answer was incorrect, then you had to repeat the procedure with a sinking heart, head low over the desk wondering if this time the right numbers would miraculously proclaim themselves as THE CORRECT ANSWER; against which the teacher would place the much-longed for red tick.
There was no teaching of place value other than knowing that U was for units; T was for tens; H for hundreds and Th for thousands – we never did calculations with more than 4 digits. When it came to subtraction, well the language we were taught is baffling. Let’s look at 142 – 67:
“7 from 2 doesn’t work”
“I need to borrow a 1 from the tens column and write it next to the 2 to make 12”
“12 take away 7 gives me 5 which I write in between the lines in the unit’s column”
“Next I pay back the 1 I borrowed and add it to the 6 to make 7 in the tens column”
“Next I do 4 take away 7 which I can’t do, so I borrow the 1 in the hundreds column”
“Then it’s 14 take away 7 which is 7 which I write in the ten’s column between the lines; but this time I don’t pay back the 1 I borrowed…!”
Confused? It does work, but I had zero understanding of why or, indeed, what I was doing – but I was good at following procedures so, apparently, I was good at Arithmetic!
How things change! Yes, arithmetic skills do need regular practise but, first a secure grasp of place value and basic number facts are embedded before procedures are taught. The language we use now reflects what is happening and why it is happening. The use of apparatus of varying kinds supports the procedure with robust images. Children are able to explain what they are doing and why they are doing it, so are less likely to be crossing their fingers and hoping for the best. But are they better mathematicians because they are fluent in Arithmetic? Not necessarily, but the confidence they gain from their ability to use all 4 operations at the appropriate moment is not to be sniffed at. When children tackle reasoning and problem-solving tasks, they have a bank of tools at their disposal to wield as necessary – no more thinking I need to divide 564 cakes between 24 children and feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of the calculation.
Once calculation skills have been taught, they need frequent revisiting which is where our 4in4 sheets are really helpful.
What is Four in Four?
It really does what it says on the tin – 1 sheet with 4 calculations to be performed in 4 minutes. Four in Four is designed to rehearse written calculation methods at speed to assess children’s fluency of calculation. For each year group, there are resources for the four operations matched to the English National Curriculum; sheets are either 1 operation; 2 operations or all 4. Within each set of sheets there is progression to provide challenge at different levels. For efficient marking, answer sheets are provided for each set on page 11 and 12.
There are FREE samples in our year group packs – click below to get your samples
