Banger & Maths fun

Kia ora whanau.

The term is racing by and the holidays are nearly upon us. That means our summer is slowly slipping away, so make sure to get out and enjoy it while you can!

This Wednesday we held our maths information evening 'Bangers & Maths' here at school. It was an extremely well attended night with Maungaraki turning on stunning weather. We are always so thankful for the support you offer our students and the school. Over the past two years the school has been involved in a professional development project to explore how to best teach maths in a way that engages and accelerates our learners here at Maungaraki School. Our development during this project, and the results from the children have been extremely positive.

On the night of our information evening, our maths facilitator Julie Roberts spoke to us about how maths looks in schools today. Julie spoke about the similarities and differences in the way maths is taught. She emphasised that lots remains the same as we may remember it, but there are a few key differences which can sometimes cause some confusion at home. 

At school we are encouraging children to share how they solve problems and listen to how we solve problems in different ways. We are specifically looking for efficient ways of working things out and reassuring our learners that it is ok to change their mind if they learn something through their listening. Talking about the way we solve problems openly is key, we want to make the strategies used visible to them. A key in this approach is mathematical discourse, and learning to express and discuss reasoning and working. In class we use phrases such as:

• Discuss your thinking
• Do you agree with that?
• Has your thinking changed?
• Take your time
• Why does that make sense?
• So you are saying...is that right?

Try some of these phrases at home, your child may even try some of them on you.

Julie also stressed the importance of keeping maths positive and reshaping the way we speak about maths in front of our young learners. For many of us maths may have been a challenge when we were young. It is important to give positive messages about maths and to keep positive attitudes to maths, this has a large impact on achievement. When we do meet a challenge in maths, keeping the talk positive is vital to our learners belief in their skills. You are their most important role model in this regard.

The evening then moved into the classrooms where your children became the experts. The focus was around sharing a range of maths games and having fun. This was a special time in our school with lovely interactions and loads of joy on show. A pack of the games and all equipment needed to play them was given out at the end of the night. If you were unable to come along we still have a few packs available at the office. Call by and collect one if you would like, while stocks last.

For more information about maths please do contact your class teacher. We would love to chat to you about maths at our school. Alternatively the website https://nzmaths.co.nz/families-and-whanau has a wide range of information, with excellent ways you can support learning at home.

A huge thank you to Julie Roberts and the Staff for the work they have done here at school around maths. Their commitment to learning and your children is a credit to them. We are proud of our progress and have excellent results to show for it with over 92% of Maungaraki students achieving in mathematics.

No reira kia kaha ra.

Shane Robinson
Principal