Mathematics at N.K.P.S.

 
The Western Australian Curriculum: Mathematics provides students with essential mathematical skills and knowledge in Number and Algebra, Measurement and Geometry, and Statistics and Probability. It develops the numeracy capabilities that all students need in their personal, work and civic life, and provides the fundamentals on which mathematical specialties and professional applications of mathematics are built.

 Teachers at N.K.P.S. devise and deliver a rich Mathematical learning program designed to engage and challenge students on all academic levels. Teachers differentiate their teaching to ensure all students progress at their own rate in the area of Mathematics. Our teachers have participated in a great deal of professional learning on developing Learning Intentions and Success Criteria in Mathematics lessons to ensure learning is made visible to all students. 

​At N.K.P.S. teachers use the I.S.T.A.R. approach to teach Mathematics. This approach is used in Math lessons taught daily throughout the week during Math Blocks. 

I.S.T.A.R. Design

Warm Up/Tuning In
Occurs at the beginning of the Math lesson. The focus is on Math fluency such as mental math strategies.

1. Inform/Inspire

This stage is where the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are shared and made visible to the students to enable them to access the learning at their own level. This stage focuses on the skill or concept explicitly being taught in the lesson.  

2. Show/Share

This is where the intentional teaching of the Mathematical concept is taught. The teacher models a strategy and teaches skills and concepts with the whole class. In this stage, the students move from Concrete to Representational to Abstract learning. 

3. Try/Transfer

Students have a try at the activity in groups, pairs or individually whilst the teacher supports and scaffolds their learning. 

4. Act/Apply

Students work on the activity and apply their learning independently. 

5. Review/Reflect

At key teaching points during the lesson and at the end of the lesson, the learning will be reviewed and reflected upon. Teachers focus on the Success Criteria with students recognising and reflecting on what they have learnt during the lesson. 

Room 21 Year 5 - Word Problems

The students in Room 21 are learning to correctly answer multiplication and division word problems. They first completed a quick fire activity to identify signal or clue words to recognise if the word problem was multiplication or division. The whole class was presented with the Math literacy and the students then wrote on a personal whiteboard if the word meant multiplication or division, and then they held up their whiteboard to reveal their response. This quick fire activity was also the closure to the lesson, where the students consolidated their knowledge of the Math literacy needed to be successful in the lesson. 

Work samples - photos taken midway through the lesson. The work samples highlight the students understanding of the Math literacy needed to be successful in the lesson. The work samples also highlight marking by Mrs Dorotich. This marking was intentionally done throughout the lesson as this allowed for the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria to be highlighted to the students, to ensure they were given the best possible chances of being successful in their learning. 

Room 11 Year 2/3 - 2D Shapes

Room 11 have been learning about 2D shapes. The students need to identify a 2D shape by counting the sides and corners of the shape. The Learning Intentions and Success Criteria are outlined clearly to the students, made visible throughout the lesson on the board.

The students are able to explain that 2D shapes are flat and do not have depth. They can count the sides and corners of the 2D shapes to identify what the shape is. 

In this lesson, the students had identified 2D shapes in the school playground and taken photos of them. The students then used Pic Collage to identify and name each 2D shape. 

Mental Math Challenge

In Term 2, the whole school Mental Math Challenge commenced. Each fortnight, the students from Years 1-6 complete a 5 minute mental math written challenge. Each class has their results tallied to find out who is in the running to win one of the math prize boxes for the fortnight. The math prize boxes are a collection of fun math games and activities, such as Dominoes and Connect Four, that the students get to use in their classroom over the fortnight. The winners of the prize boxes are not necessarily always the classes with the highest overall percentage. The prize boxes are also awarded to classes who have  improved their score overall. Math prize boxes are awarded to Junior, Middle and Upper winning classes. Winners are announced at assemblies each fortnight.   

Room 19 Mental Math Challenge Winners - Most Improved - Year 4

Year 6 Room 10 - Data 

In Room 10, the Year Six students have been working on Data and interpreting primary and secondary data presented in digital media. For this lesson, the students were presented with a range of different data from the media and they were to identify any potentially misleading data representations.   

To ensure student academic success, the Learning Intentions and Success Criteria were displayed in three separate places for all students to access as needed throughout the lesson. The three places where they were displayed included: the Interactive Whiteboard, the blackboard, and each students worksheet. The Learning Intention was continually referred to throughout the lesson to ensure all students remained on track and worked to the Success Criteria.  

Finished Work Samples
The finished work samples indicate if the students were successful in meeting the Learning Intention of the lesson. Highlighted Success Criteria at the bottom of each students worksheet allows the students to reflect on how they went in the lesson and what areas they may need to focus on during the next lesson on Data. 

Room 16 Year 1/2 Math - Fractions: Whole and Half

In Room 16, the Year 1 and 2 students are working on fractions. They are working on identifying a whole and half of a shape or a collection. As outlined in the Learning Intention, the Year 1 and 2 are learning the same concept for this lesson. For the Year 1, this is new learning, and for the Year 2, this is revision to ensure they have the understanding before moving onto quarters and eights. 

Halving a Shape

The students worked in small groups to sort shapes into equal or unequal fractions. The students then identified that a half  needed to be two equal parts of the shape. 

Halving a Collection

The students worked in small groups using the Halving Mat to halve a collection of counters. The students identified that half of a collection needed to be divided into two equal groups. The students learnt how to make two equal groups through one-to-one sharing of the counters. 

Finished Work Samples

At the end of the lesson, the students were asked to explain their reasoning as to if they were successful in meeting the Learning Intention. They provided a reason as to if they were successful, or a reason as to why they were not successful yet. Highlighted Success Criteria show if the students were successful, or require further teaching and learning of the concept of whole and half of a shape or collection.  

​Room 17 Math - Months of the Year and Seasons

In Room 17, the students have been working on naming and ordering the months of the year. They have also looked at identifying what seasons occur in which month of the year.