Maths language

This morning we talked a lot about maths language, or words we use in maths. 

These words can sometimes be confusing, and sometimes when we do a test, we don't know what the words mean so we don't know what strategy to use.

Miss Ashley gave us a bunch of pieces of paper that had maths words on them. 

Here are some examples

count on

add

combined

take away

times

same as

share

split

total

In groups, we had to organise them into groups that were similar. The groups were 

+ - x ÷ = 

Here are some photos of us organising them -

Next, we talked about which maths words we put into each category and why we put them there.

For example, one group explained that they put 'count on' into the + category because counting on is one strategy to add numbers together. If we all agreed that a math word belonged in that category, we put it on the wall next to its flower. Some of them were questions from tests that we had to put into a category as well.

Here are our math garden flowers.

Plus                                                             Minus 

Divide                                                            Equals

Multiplication

We can use these to help us find the right strategy to use whenever we get stuck on a maths problem. 

Throughout the year we can add to these with new maths words we learn and new questions we solve, so that our knowledge of maths language is always growing, just like a garden.