This is part five (Year 4 / LKS2) of a seven part series detailing what your child should be learning in each year group in primary school. We receive numerous questions from parents wondering what their child should know based on their age or year group. So, we decided to start a blog series detailing some of the core maths curriculum elements for each year group covering Reception – Year 6. Find our earlier blogs for reception here, year 1 here, year 2 here and year 3 here. We also provide you with some useful activities you can be doing at home with your child. This series will try to pull together information from numerous different sources in a concise, easy to understand way.
As always, it’s important to note that teachers are happy to help parents who want to be involved in their child’s education. Your first point of contact if you have any questions, worries or concerns should be the teacher. They will also have a huge amount of resources that they will be more than happy to share with you! One of the most important maths resources you should ask for is the ‘Calculation Policy’ of the school. This will outline and give you a better understanding of the calculation strategies taught in each year group.
Year 4 / LKS2 Maths Curriculum Goals
By Year 4, your child should have a solid understanding of the basic maths skills. These involve but are not limited to times tables to ten, understanding of 2D and 3D shapes, estimating and measuring. In Year 4, the difficulty of some topics will increase specifically fractions, decimals, mental arithmetic, and geometry. It is also important to remember that times tables will be formally tested in the “Multiplication Tables Check” during the summer term. This has been newly introduced this year, so you may find your child is focused on their multiplications near the end of the year. At this stage, your child will developing their own ideas of how to solve maths problems, and ways to check that their calculations are correct.
Statistics
- Interpreting bar charts and line graphs
- Using information presented in bar charts and tables to help solve comparison, sum and difference problems
Geometry
- Classifying different types of triangles, quadrilaterals and angles
- Plotting coordinates in the first quadrant
- Identifying lines of symmetry
Measuring
- Converting between units of measurements
- Calculating with amounts of money
- Telling and writing the time using the 12 and 24 hr clock and solving problems involving converting between units of time
Fractions and decimals
- Finding fractions of quantities (for example: 2/6 of 48)
- Understanding equivalence between fractions and decimals
- Multiplying and dividing numbers by 10, 100 and 1000
- Rounding decimals with one decimal place to the nearest whole number
Calculating
- Adding and subtracting with numbers up to four digits using column addition and subtraction
- Knowing multiplication facts for all times tables up to 12 x 12
- Multiplying three-digit numbers by one-digit numbers
Number and place value
- Counting in steps of 6, 7, 9, 25 and 1000
- Recognising place value of each digit in a four-digit number
- Counting backwards through zero to include negative numbers
- Rounding any number to the nearest 10, 100 or 1000
Home activities:
Continue to try to link your child’s maths activities to real-life practical tasks involving maths. For example, if the topic at school is measuring, try and bring this into some activity at home- measuring and comparing heights. Working through recipes in the kitchen- weighing and measuring capacity is a valuable activity.
Keep practicing times tables – automatic recall really does help at school and with homework. Practice in the car or on the way to school, set your child a challenge etc.
Continue to create opportunities for your child to handle money and work within a budget. If your child has weekly pocket money, encourage them to save and work out how much they will have in two, three or four weeks.
Resources:
This is a really useful blog with numerous games for KS2 maths.
The schoolrun.com is a great source for other information.
Some really fun and interactive games for year 4 pupils and best of all they are free!
If you are a parent of a Year 4 / LKS2 child and need some advice or you are worried about your child’s current progress, feel free to reach out to us at Primary Tutor Project! We will be adding to this series each week! If there is any topic in particular you require advice for contact us here.
