Think Mentals

Teach mental computation the friendly way

Think Mentals is the friendly approach to quick and efficient mental computation, with explicitly taught strategies and plenty of scaffolded practice.

Teacher and whiteboard

Strategies

Friendly mental computation strategies for students

Think Mentals teaches students how to break maths problems into friendly, manageable chunks. Once they can do this, students will develop the skills and confidence to perform mental computations efficiently.


View the Strategy Overview Guide to get a snapshot of when strategies are introduced and revised within each year level. View the Strategy Alignment Guide to see how the strategies align across year levels.

Practice and assessment

Structure and consistency across the week

The easy-to-follow weekly structure includes worked examples of strategies and carefully graded practice activities to help students achieve fluency in maths.

Day 1: Strategy

Each week begins with a new strategy. A friendly explanation is followed by worked examples and practice questions.

Days 2–4: Practice

The focus strategy is consolidated with more practice questions. Previous strategies are reinforced with revision questions. Students then tackle a variety of general fluency questions from across the ACARA content strands.


Day 5: Assessment

The weekly test combines focus, revision and general fluency questions.

Student writing

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More than just mental maths

From scaffolded questions to extra challenges

The general fluency questions contain targeted concepts that are repeated throughout the week, and the level of difficulty of these concepts increases as the week progresses. This gives students a scaffolded approach to improve their maths skills.

Students who are looking for a little extra can complete the Think Box activities. Available within the revision units, these engaging problem-solving exercises are great brain training and can be solved individually or in groups.

Books or digital

Choose the format that suits your classroom

Student Workbooks Years 1–6

Enjoy the convenience of a workbook, with each year level carefully sequenced into weekly units of work. Don’t forget to also sign up for the free projectable answers.

Digital Years 2–6

Enjoy the benefits of a digital platform, with the planning, marking and reporting done for you. To top it off, teachers and students get access to all year levels of content.

Think Mentals Student Workbook and Digital Classroom

Think Mentals Digital gives you even more!

Watch the Think Mentals Digital video to find out how the digital platform enhances the teaching and learning experience.

Play button Use the captivating teaching resources Chevron

Engage students with easy-to-understand videos and stepped-out slideshows to explicitly teach and consolidate the application of each strategy.

Watch a sample strategy video: Year 4: Addition Strategy Friendly Balance

Strategy video playing on whiteboard
Checkmark Save time with automatic marking Chevron

Enjoy the convenience of automatic marking for every activity. Not only does this save valuable time for teachers, it also provides students with instant feedback on their answers. A win-win for everyone!

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Magnifier Glass Track students’ performance in real time Chevron

Monitor student performance with the Activity Tracker. Students’ results populate in real time, allowing for prompt and effective intervention when they need a helping hand.

Class of students on ipads
Graph View collated results in student and class portfolios Chevron

Activity and assessment results are collated in student and class portfolios so everything you need for reporting and data analysis is ready when you want it.

Student portfolio on laptop

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Teacher support

Workshops, articles, videos and more

We believe in supporting teachers.

So, register for a free workshop delivered by one of our experts, browse our professional learning articles and videos, or find technical support and answers to frequently asked questions.

It’s all there, all year round! Explore now.

Take the next step in your Think Mentals journey

Explore Think Mentals Digital
See inside the Student Workbooks
Speak with an education consultant