Year 1 articles

These games and toys consolidate early reading skills, help with simple maths calculations, boost strategic thinking and even introduce your KS1 child to engineering and geology! For literacy and numeracy fun in toy form, these are the games to try.

We explain what the column method is, how it is set out and why it is an efficient method for working out addition and subtraction.

With all Year 6 children required to take a spelling, punctuation and grammar test and more emphasis on the technical side of English in the primary curriculum, we asked the experts for their top tips and practical activities to help your child engage with – and enjoy – grammar.

Not everything your child needs to get on in life can be learned in the classroom. From typing and DIY skills to cooking and lifesaving, here are seven vital skills that will stand them in good stead in the primary-school years and beyond. By Lucy Dimbylow

We explain what the four operations are and how children learn about addition, subtraction, multiplication and division over KS1 and KS2, working towards solving problems involving all four operations.

We explain what the properties of 2D and 3D shapes are, what faces, edges and vertices are and how children will describe 2D and 3D shapes in KS1 and KS2.

We explain what expanded notation means, how it is taught in primary school and how it can help children with addition and multiplication calculations.

We explain what analogue and digital are and how and when children are taught to read clock faces and convert between analogue and digital times in primary school.

We explain how primary-school children are taught to use the 12-hour and 24-hour clock to tell the time on analogue and digital clocks, and how you can support their learning at home.

We explain what arrays are and give examples of how they can help children with their times tables learning and to explain the relationship between multiplication and division.

We explain what clockwise and anti-clockwise means and give examples of typical exercises your primary-school child might be presented with to test their understanding of rotation.

We explain what odd and even numbers are and how primary-school children are taught about this concept in KS1 and then have to apply this learning in KS2.

We explain what right, acute, obtuse and reflex angles are and how children are taught about different angles through KS1 and KS2.

We explain how primary-school children are taught to recognise vertical lines in shapes, and what you can to to support your child's understanding at home.

We explain what perpendicular means and how children are taught angles throughout KS1 and KS2.

We explain what mass means, how mass is usually measured and how children are taught to convert from one unit of mass to another.

We explain what teachers mean when they talk about finding 'the difference between' and give examples of how children are taught to work out the answers to subtraction problems.

We explain what descending order means and give examples of how the concept might relate to numbers, decimals, fractions or amounts of money.

We explain what repeated addition means, how it is taught in school as a foundation of multiplication understanding and techniques that teachers use to help children grasp the concept.