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Learning from home: iMaths Foundation

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Learning from home: iMaths Foundation

iMaths 11/5/20

“parent-working-with-child-at-home“

Note: iMaths is in its final year and will be discontinued at the end of 2024. If you’re looking for a primary maths resource written for the Australian Curriculum Version 9.0, explore Maths Trek.

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant that teachers are constantly having to adapt to a changing learning environment. To help you navigate this new way of teaching, we’ve put together tips on how you can use your iMaths Foundation resources to facilitate online learning.

Use these ideas in conjunction with your explicit teaching lessons or, where explicit teaching lessons are not possible, you may choose to pass on selected activities and resources to parents.

Remember to:

  • Give students (or parents) their login details, so they can access and print resources from the student site.
  • Update your iPlanner to reflect any changes to the Investigations or Topics you plan to teach during Term 2.
Select appropriate Investigations

Investigations are well-suited for home learning and are something fun and engaging that parents and children can do together. Make adjustments to cater for the change in environment, for example, suggest alternative household materials to be used in Investigations.

The following two iMaths Foundation Investigations can easily be completed at home. Pass on the associated instructions from the Teacher Book to parents so they can assist their child with the Investigation.

Investigation 6: Take Ten

Download the Investigation 6 Teacher Book pages.

Tip: Students can use leaves, stones, pop sticks, straws, blocks or any suitable household items as art materials.

Parents can take students on a virtual tour of a well-known gallery while they work on this Investigation.

Investigation 7: The Wheels on the Bus

Download the Investigation 7 Teacher Book pages.

Tip: Use blocks or even an assortment of plastic lids to help make the ‘shapes bus’.

Parents can find The wheels on the bus song on websites such as Youtube to sing along with their child.

Complete the Topics

Ensure parents are informed about the associated Investigation Topics. Have students complete the Topics in their physical Student Book, or in the printed Student Book pages available at iMaths Kids.

Don’t forget to use the Differentiation Tasks available within each Topic of your teacher access to iMaths Online (these are not available to students, so that you can decide which activity is right for each student). Each Topic includes a Consolidation and Extension task. Distribute the appropriate tasks to students/parents via email or your school’s learning management system.

Provide parents with Daily Number Workouts

The iMaths Foundation Daily Number Workouts are great for parents to conduct with their children.

Inform parents of the purpose of a Daily Number Workout. They:

  • are a short and snappy 5–10 minute number warm up
  • can be repeated on a regular basis over a few weeks
  • provide regular practise and consolidation of number concepts, facts, strategies and problem-solving skills.

Here’s a selection of Daily Number Workouts from the iMaths Foundation Teacher Book.

Cup counting

Label transparent plastic cups with numbers 0–10 and have students place a corresponding number of objects into the correctly labelled cup (counters, blocks, pop sticks, pencils, pegs, etc). Alternatively use snap lock bags, buckets or boxes.

Egg carton counting

Write numbers 1–6 or 1–12 in egg carton spaces. Have students place the corresponding number of small objects into each hole. Use dried peas, counters, beads etc. To further practise and enhance fine motor skills, have students complete this task using plastic tweezers.

Picture counting

Display pictures and posters showing collections of items to 10 (some commercially available calendars have great pictures). Have students count the items and help label them.

Peg Match

Prepare large cards numbered from 0–10. Students attach the corresponding number of coloured pegs, before placing the cards in order. Using pegs enhances students’ fine motor skills.

Match Me

Students roll dice or spin a spinner, then either jump, hop or bounce a ball that number of times.

Daily fitness

Decide on a daily fitness plan and show the activities using simple picture clues. For example: 5 little jumps, 4 hops, 3 twirls.

Use the interactive games

The suite of interactive games at iMaths Kids can be played at anytime during the week. Students can log in to the student site, select the Games button and choose a game to play. Games include 100 Board, Number Charge and Track It. All games include instructions and can be played at a variety of difficulty levels.

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