Skip to main content

Ks1 Maths articles

Multiplication
Teachers' tricks for multiplication
Can you multiply using the grid method, or draw a multiplication calculation as arrays? Find out more about multiplication and how it’s taught in schools today with our teachers' tips, tricks and methods, explained for primary-school parents.
Subtraction
Teachers' tricks for subtraction
Help your child become subtraction savvy with our teachers' tips on methods, practical resources, vocabulary and more. From subtraction songs and subtraction story problems to column subtraction, Phoebe Doyle offers some practical homework help for 'taking away'.
Fractions
Teachers' tricks for fractions
From halves in quarters in KS1 to equivalent fractions in KS2, primary teacher Phoebe Doyle offers some insiders’ tips to help you help your child at home, plus details of fraction walls, hundred charts and other useful maths resources.
Mother and daughter with clock
Best time-teaching products
Great toys, books and resources to help your child learn to tell the time on analogue and digital timepieces, from clock face recognition to estimating time differences on the 24-hour clock.
Teachers' tricks for division
Teachers' tricks for division
Primary school teacher Phoebe Doyle has some tips and tricks to help your child with division work at home, offering an explanation of strategies using in school today as well as some useful practical exercises to try.
Illustrated numbers
5 number and counting skills primary-school children need
Numbers are all around us, almost from birth! Teacher Phoebe Doyle looks at counting, a fundamental aspect of mathematical understanding, to help your child grab the basics (without confusion!) from day one.
Shape, space and primary geometry
Teachers' tricks for shape, space and geometry
Throughout primary school children learn about the properties of the shapes in the world around them (primary geometry, in other words). Phoebe Doyle offers some insiders’ tips on helping them master shape and space maths targets.
Money maths
Teachers' tricks for money maths
Money is the ultimate ‘real-life’ maths resource. Here's how to make the most of this tool to improve your child's maths learning at home.
Tape measures
Teachers' tricks for weights and measures
Weights and measures can be a really fun area of maths to teach in school – but one that can leave parents unsure of how to help at home. Teacher Phoebe Doyle has some hints and suggestions.
Number bonds
What are number bonds?
If your child is in Key Stage 1, chances are they'll have told you they're learning 'number bonds'... but what are they? Teacher Alice Hart explains why children are taught these number pairs, and how you can help your child practise them at home.
Venn diagram
What is a Venn diagram?
Venn diagrams are often used to sort data in primary school. Find out what parents need to know about how to complete and read a Venn diagram correctly, plus how they're used in the classroom in KS1 and KS2.
Place value
What is place value?
A good understanding of place value (the value of each digit in a number) is vital in primary-school maths. Our parents' guide explains how your child will be taught about units, tens, hundreds and thousands with number lines, arrow cards and more, as well as outlining how place value is used to help children visualise calculations.
Jump strategy
What is subtraction on a number line?
Also known as the jump strategy or complementary addition, subtraction on a number line is a common technique in KS1 and KS2 maths, useful for helping children visualise that subtraction is finding the difference between two numbers. Teacher Alice Hart explains the method and how it's taught in primary school maths.
Teachers' tricks for addition
Teachers' tricks for addition
Help your child with their addition work, from the basics in Reception to calculations in KS1 and KS2, with some teachers' tricks to help the learning stick.
Maths learning
Does my child have dyscalculia?
What are the signs to look out for if you think your child might have dyscalculia or 'number blindness', and what can be done to help?
Child completing maths paper
7 strategies to help defeat children’s fear of maths
What does it mean if your child has a fear of maths, and what can you do to help them get over it? TheSchoolRun offers a step-by-step plan to help you boost your child's confidence – and your own.
Pictograms explained
What is a pictogram?
Pictograms are introduced in Year 2 as a simple and engaging introduction to bar charts. We explain what your child needs to know about pictograms and how to read and create them, as well as explaining when and how they're taught.
Inverse operations: addition and subtraction, multiplication and division
What are inverse operations?
Inverse operations are opposite operations – one reverses the effect of the other. In primary maths we talk about the inverse to explain how addition and subtraction are linked and how multiplication and division are linked. Teacher Alice Hart offers examples of how and when your child will be asked to use the inverse operation in school, and practical ways to help them understand the concept.
Summer holiday learning
Your child's new school year preparation plan
Each year group brings fresh challenges in literacy and numeracy. Want to give your child a head start? Primary teacher Phoebe Doyle offers some easy-to-action advice on tackling an objective from the year group your child is about to enter during the summer break.
Reading and Numeracy tests
National Reading and Numeracy Tests explained for parents
All children in Wales from Y2 to Y9 take tests in reading and numeracy at the end of each school year. Find out what these tests involve, and how you can help your child prepare for them.
Child with money in hands
6 steps to a money-savvy child
We all want our kids to have the very best future, and ensuring they’ve got money sense is crucial to help make it happen. Mum-of-two and financial whizz Emily Richards shares a few down-to-earth strategies to equip your child with money management skills for life.
Learning Journey reward chart
The Learning Journey reward chart and certificates
Support your child's Learning Journey with these fantastic motivational resources – a colourful reward chart where you can set your own challenges and choose rewards together, and printable certificates to celebrate success.
Learning Journey
How the Learning Journey works
Find out how our fantastic primary school learning programme – The Learning Journey – could benefit you and your child as well as full details of how to use the reward charts and certificates!
Mental Maths stopwatch
What is mental maths?
The ability to work sums in your head is an important skill that primary students must develop throughout the key stages. We explain what mental maths means in National Curriculum terms, and how you can help your child become a quick calculations whizz!
Student and teacher
Teachers’ top 10 classroom discipline tricks
Does every homework session end in tears and tantrums? Or are you losing sleep over getting your child to learn their spellings? Lucy Dimbylow asked the people who manage 30 children at a time (gulp!) – teachers and teaching assistants – to share their tried and tested tricks.
Times tables
Times tables: 10 things every parent needs to know
If you're a KS2 parent, chances are you'll spend more time than you ever thought possible looking for ways to help your child learn their times tables. Here are the ten things you should know before you get started.
Primary school students
11 things parents need to know about the National Curriculum
It’s the basis for what your child learns every day, but what exactly is the National Curriculum and what does it teach? Education writer and primary teacher Phoebe Doyle offers some clarity.
Student in Year 2
What your child learns in Year 2 maths, English and science
Year 2 is when your child will take their Key Stage 1 SATs exams, but what does that mean? What will they learn? And how can you help? Find out in our parents’ guide.
Children in a year 1 classroom
What your child learns in Year 1 maths, English and science
Be prepared for what your child will learn in Year 1 with our quick reference guide to the key concepts and skills they’ll cover in class – find out how you can help them at home, too!
Girl doing times tables homework
Teachers’ tricks for learning times tables
Do you dread times table practice as much as your child does? Primary school teacher Alice Hart uses these effective learning strategies in her classroom – give them a try to liven up today's homework time.
Aramazu image
Teaching time the 21st century way
Are you struggling to teach your child to tell the time? Elena Dalrymple reviews a new story-based learning method.
Digital clock
Telling the time: how to help your child learn
Learning to tell the time is not an easy process, so to help you help your child we have broken it down into separate learning stages.
Geometric shapes
Help your child learn about shapes
Learning about shapes and geometry plays a major part in your child's numeracy education across the Key Stages. Here are some tips to help them get a head start.
Boy holding blocks spelling 'play'
3 steps to success in reading, writing and arithmetic
The 3Rs may not conjure up happy memories for you, but bestselling author and educational expert, Bernadette Tynan, explains how you can make sure they do for your child.
Child playing cards
Everyday ways to make maths fun
Want to instil a love and appreciation of maths in your primary school child? You can with our practical suggestions to help make numbers fun.
Little girl doing sums
Teachers' tricks for KS1 maths
Some young children just can’t get their head around adding numbers together. Education writer Phoebe Doyle explains some helpful strategies that are most often used in primary teaching today.
Boy playing with clock
Teach your child to read a clock
Reading an analogue clock is a tricky skill to master. Help your child get to grips with it with our teaching-time guide.
Boy puzzling over book
A maths homework help guide for KS1 and KS2
Maths is not always a popular subject with children. But with these handy tips and downloadable worksheets, it can become a lot more fun.
Abacus
Top times tables games
Help your children enjoy learning their times tables with a few easy games. Education writer Phoebe Doyle suggests five ideas for you to try.
Little girl writing out numbers
What your child learns in Key Stage 1 maths
Unsure about what your child will be learning in maths in years 1 and 2? Find out here.