Introduction to Maths Plans
New Weekly Maths Plans are currently being written based on the Teaching Sequences, and are now available for the Autumn Term. Those for Spring and Summer will be gradually added during the next two terms. These will be accessible by Friends of Hamilton.
Hamilton Trust provides Maths Teaching Sequences that are compatible with the principles of the primary strategy and old Weekly Plans based on the NNS.
Years 1 to 6 Teaching Sequences for Autumn, Spring & Summer are all available online as adaptable Word documents. Also included is a Medium Term Planning document with advice on how to use the Teaching Sequences (including with mixed age range classes), links to the Renewed Framework Objectives and of course Medium Term Plans. Users are able to cut and paste them to create weekly plans. Some new FREE Foundation Plans written by Ruth Merttens are available from Ginn/Heinemann. Click here to find out more.
We provide Mental and Oral Starters too, which can be found by clicking on the Starters tab.
All necessary Resources are provided alongside the relevant plan, though sometimes we make reference to particular schemes we know and which could be used for extra practice. The answers are found listed as a separate 'plan' document. The resources are mostly provided as PDFs - see Downloading PDFs for tips. The sequences are designed to be freestanding and therefore compatible with other maths materials too. Heinemann have a special offer on Abacus Evolve for Friends of Hamilton. Find out more by clicking here.
Homework (click on Homework tab) - there are 12 activities for Maths for each term, Year 1 to Year 6. Download the Contents for each year first so you can see what's what! Every activity has a note to parents and we also provide an introduction for teachers, a letter to parents to go home at the start of term and a leaflet.
ICT Support - guidance for using Excel and Textease Spreadsheet is available as a separate 'plan' for Years 3 to 6. The support documents are provided as 'resources' linked to the 'plan'.
The old Weekly Maths Plans are based directly on the content outlined in the yearly plans in the Framework for Teaching Mathematics (NNS) and are found by clicking on the Plan Archive tab. They also make reference to the teaching strategies provided by Abacus Teacher Cards, which are downloadable FREE from Abacus if teachers require further ideas or support with the whole class teaching part of the session. FREE Planning Support for using Abacus with the New Primary Framework is also provided at http://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/Primary/GlobalPages/AbacusFramework.aspx. Here we offer plans for single age range classes Y1 to Y6 inclusive, and also for mixed age range classes R/Y1, Y1/Y2, Y2/Y3, Y3/Y4, Y4/Y5, Y5/Y6. FREE Reception weekly Plans written by Ruth Merttens are also available from Abacus.
These Weekly Plans are easily adapted to the New Primary Framework. The New Framework emphasises three basic aspects of maths teaching:
· Review where children are before starting to teach a specific maths topic
· The importance of children talking and collaborating in their mathematics
· Put together, or ‘block’ weeks as appropriate to allow a sustained focus on a set of related topics.
The flexibility of Hamilton plans supports each of these aspects:
· Preview the plans in the ‘at a glance’ overview to enable your own review of children’s entry points to a topic
· Select and combine weekly plans to create your own ‘blocks’ of related topics
· Draw upon the many pupil activities in ALL Hamilton maths plans which develop collaboration and talk in a practical context.
In Autumn for each year group there is an Overview for the year showing how to block our Weekly Plans for the Primary Framework.
We suggest that teachers download and open the Medium Term Plan for the Weekly Plans to get a feel for the half-term’s work. This will enable you to plan around the use of resources - perhaps adjusting weeks within the half-term so that there are enough clocks or scales to go round! Each Weekly Plan can then be downloaded as required. Some weeks do come with resources – these are provided alongside the week, either as Word documents or as PDFs. See the relevant Help pages for tips on how to download.
Each Weekly Plan outlines the strategies, models and practical resources required to teach that week’s content. It also describes the pupil resources needed. The daily section of each plan provides a suggested mental-oral starter, a main teaching activity, a summary of the key points and a plenary.
The mental-oral starter will sometimes practise a pre-requisite skill required for the main teaching activity. On other occasions it will rehearse a set of skills unrelated to this, but which need to be kept ‘on-the-boil’. Sometimes the focus is the memorising of number facts. No new teaching is introduced in this part of the lesson.
- The main teaching activity will provide a lively, imaginative and mathematically sound way of teaching the content of the lesson. It will normally draw upon a piece of role-play, a model or an image, through which an abstract concept or operation can be made both real and comprehensible for the children.
- Pupil activities are provided at three levels of attainment. One of these group activities will require a teacher presence, and (hopefully!) the other two activities will be such that the children can work independently. Where an adult presence is definitely required, this is highlighted.
- The plans outline the key points to be rehearsed during the short plenary. Usually a game or summarising activity is included.
