Blog | Natural Maths

New from Ann and Johnny

Posted by:John Baker

Yes, it has been a long time between blogs but we got sidetracked. We were invited to write four books…

Posted by:John Baker

In keeping with the Problem of the Year for 2020 and 2021, we have again focused on fluency and flexibility…

Posted by:Ann Baker

June already and most of you are in report writing mode. Best of luck with that. The following cartoon is…

Posted by:Ann Baker

It was very exciting working with teachers at Madison Park Primary School last week. After three days of demonstration lessons,…

Posted by:Ann Baker

We have just completed a substantial rewrite of our Place Value to a Million and it is now available from…

Posted by:John Baker

Our Numbered Eggs in the Easter Rings is a series of problems that share the same context and problem. Each…

Posted by:Ann Baker

What are we judging maths ability by? Have you thought about problematized situations as a form of assessment? I ask,…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Helping students understand multiplication: your must have list! In the last three blogs, I unpacked ways of using multiplication picture…

Posted by:John Baker

Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream I’ve chosen Amanda Bean’s Amazing Dream as the third book in our multiplicative thinking blog because…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Book 2 in our Multiplicative Thinking Series focusses on doubling, repeated doubling, halving and repeated halving, all of which are…

Posted by:John Baker

Collective Nouns, Factors and Division Over the last 12 months we have had a major focus on multiplicative thinking. As…

Posted by:John Baker

Last week we looked at the vocabulary in Round and Round and Square. This week we are going to look…

Posted by:Ann Baker

How many mathematical words and concepts might be embedded in a simple picture book such as Round and Round and…

Posted by:John Baker

Ideas of quantity and magnitude need to be in place before we move into formal place value activities with young…

Posted by:John Baker

Many teachers seem to have been working straight through the holiday if my inbox is anything to go by. Jayne…

Posted by:John Baker

Helping Students Understand Measure Of Time: your must have list! In the last three blogs, I unpacked ways of using…

Posted by:John Baker

Helping Students Understand Measure Of Time: book three In our series of short blogs aimed at helping students understand what…

Posted by:John Baker

Helping Students Understand Measure Of Time: book two In our series of short blogs aimed at helping students understand what…

Posted by:John Baker

Helping Students Understand Measure Of Time The ending of FLASH programs at the start of 2021 gave us an opportunity…

Posted by:John Baker

Last year, we introduced our problem of the year with: “Fluency with the four operations is important but without flexibility…

Posted by:John Baker

Our Special Numbers unit of work is now online. Initial feedback is very positive and as ever, very interesting. We included work…

Posted by:John Baker

And What It Means For You.... I spoke to a teacher yesterday who has been working her way through Preventing the…

Posted by:Ann Baker

The Problematized Situation "My friend, the Kindy teacher is planning lots of Christmas crafts for her children. She found this…

Posted by:Ann Baker

We have recently finalized our Special Numbers Unit of Work that is focused on Year 6 ACMNAI22. We ended up…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I have been making Halloween cards for my friends. First, I had to teach myself how to draw monsters. I…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Over the years we have amassed a huge amount of paper. Yes, in the old days, hard copy was the…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I have a complete set of Pathfinder Arithmetic Books from the dark ages (1958) and can't help but look back…

Posted by:Ann Baker

When we have taught students about rainbow facts (pairs that make to 10), it is time to have some fun.…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Fractions, proportional and multiplicative thinking can grow out of linear measurement activities if we plan accordingly. There are three types…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I have never been a fan of streaming or of fixed ability grouping, however flexible grouping can be very beneficial.…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Oﬀ task at Aldi again It is so easy to become distracted from the task at hand (food shopping) when…

Posted by:Ann Baker

With the best will and planning, there will still be some odd minutes during the day that could have been…

Posted by:Ann Baker

We are currently working on a new mental routines product for Year 6, matched to the content descriptors in the…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I’ve been digging deeper into making sense of the answers I got from a simple money-sharing problem. Why do some…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Rote counting of skip-counting patterns is just the beginning. Counting needs to be purposeful and contextualized. Give students a quick…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Last year I was in a year one classroom where the students were working on a problematized situation. Two little…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Where do fraction misconceptions come from? Part of the answer is worksheets and or limited experiences with creating fractions. We…

Posted by:Ann Baker

... the picture and the maths, that is! Proportional reasoning is more than abstract ratios on a page and certainly…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I was browsing polymer clay beads on Pinterest when I came across this display and ding, my head went to…

Posted by:Ann Baker

This quote sent to us by Kelly Davis of Madison Park Primary School made our day. When I grow up…

Posted by:John Baker

The Natural Maths Mystery box contains the mathematical ingredients for today’s challenge. Under the bench you will find the mathematical…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I.Q., It's Time is one of my favourite time concept books. It is hard to find quality picture books about…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I found this image on Pinterest a year or so ago and filed it away. I am using it today…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Key number-skill problems from our Hands-on with Dominoes series. For the Early Years, we have chosen a problem that involves…

Posted by:Ann Baker

More problems from our Hands-on with Dominoes series. For the Early Years, we have chosen a problem that involves searching for…

Posted by:Ann Baker

In Black-and-White Land there are no colours, and everything is made of squares, rectangles or triangles. Design the setting for…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Are you sure? This is a typical word problem We have to back track and ask what experiences the students…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Our Wednesday Workout is about estimation, counting and comparing. As with our other blog activities this can be made accessible…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Today we are exploring polygons. Polygon is derived from the Greek where poly means many and gon means angle, so…

Posted by:Ann Baker

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Posted by:Ann Baker

This is a completely open-ended task that can be differentiated by the students themselves to make it as easy or…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Hey! You got to the end of what must have been the most testing Term 1 ever. Well done! We…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Stuck at home, we've been self-isolating for 2 weeks now and, yes, we are entertaining ourselves with a 1000-piece jigsaw…

Posted by:Ann Baker

More problems from our Hands-on with Dominoes series. For the Early Years, we have chosen a problem that involves doubles…

Posted by:Ann Baker

A barrier game involves two or more players. One player secretly draws a picture/diagram and hides it from the other…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Are you sure your child has had sufficient hands-on practical activities at home to develop key ideas about capacity? At…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Four more problems from our Hands-on with Dominoes series. For the Early Years, we have chosen a problem that involves…

Posted by:Ann Baker

These are diﬃcult times for all of us, so we need to work together wherever we can. We have begun…

Posted by:Ann Baker

More problems from our Hands-on with Dominoes series for you to enjoy with your child! For the Early Years, we…

Posted by:Ann Baker

For the Early Years, we have chosen finding dominoes with 8, 9 or 10 dots. Counting on features again and…

Posted by:Ann Baker

For the Early Years, we have chosen counting on 1 or 2 with dominoes, as the ability to count on…

Posted by:Ann Baker

This is the first is a series of blogs for parents and others at home with children. Dominoes are usually…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Have you been to a supermarket recently? While there may be shortages of essentials, they still have substantial stocks of…

Posted by:Ann Baker

We are thinking of the uncertainties facing schools in these extraordinary times and, in particular, are hoping that you are…

Posted by:Ann Baker

A friend just introduced me to this lovely story book about a special little boy who loves to count. Everybody…

Posted by:Ann Baker

"We did subitizing for the first three weeks of term and now we've moved on." I was told recently as…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Differentiation and Place Value for Years 5 - 7 Recently a teacher showed me a page from her booklet on…

Posted by:Ann Baker

To: Ann Baker [email protected] Subject: For your blog (if you want) Hi Ann! A recount of my lesson in R/1.…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I had a great week working with the dedicated teachers in Ernabella last week. It was hot and the sticky…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Its early in the year and no doubt your focus is on number sense, trusting the count and place value.…

Posted by:Ann Baker

It is never too late or the wrong time to think proportionally about Place Value As you know at the…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Week zero was a whirlwind of excitement, teachers: catching up after the holiday,talking excitedly about their new classes and new…

Posted by:Ann Baker

It is all about Fluency and Flexibility Fluency with the four operations is important but without flexibility is often simply…

Posted by:Ann Baker

It’s taken eight months to create but at last we have published our Early Place Value (EPV) series – as…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Students need to be immersed in incidental calendar work daily if they are to gain fluency with days of the…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I am kind of on holiday, that is I am not going out to schools, but I am working at…

Posted by:John Baker

Included in this blog post are some Rudolph's Red-nose solutions from a reception class. We so love to receive student…

Posted by:John Baker

Waiting for a plane in Alice Springs and reflecting on the week at Ernabella in the APY Lands. First, congratulations…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Tidying Up I seem to accumulate so much paper stuff and file it away for later and then end up…

Posted by:Ann Baker

It has been nearly a term since I was last in Ernabella in the beautiful APY lands. I worked with…

Posted by:Ann Baker

The photos in this blog were sent to me by a very clever teacher friend, Marlise Gersch. Marlise’s friend Jayne…

Posted by:Ann Baker

We have regularly receive queries about which Natural Maths resources match the Big Ideas in Number so we thought we…

Posted by:Ann Baker

When working with students on measurement topics it soon becomes evident that many students have no real understanding of what…

Posted by:Ann Baker

It has been two years since we packed up our Queensland house and moved to SA and there are still…

Posted by:Ann Baker

So, like some of you I am at home on holiday and relaxing. Don't ask me why, but I am…

Posted by:Ann Baker

It was great to work on a 2D shape unit with the teachers at Morphett Vale East Primary School this…

Posted by:Ann Baker

At Morphett Vale East Primary school this week, I was helping teachers plan a 2D and 3D shape unit. One…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Teachers are beginning to use brain breaks, energizers and number talks to enhance their maths lessons. Students seem to engage…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I really enjoyed working with the fabulous teachers at Parafield Gardens Primary School on Monday last week. During the day…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Thanks, Jessica Tiver, for reading my last blog post on subtraction - Subtraction Gobbledygook - and asking a question about the links…

Posted by:Ann Baker

We often say things in the Maths class without fully thinking them through. Having just finished the Early Years Subtraction package I…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Last week a temporary contract teacher asked me to look at the scope and sequence she had been left for…

Posted by:Ann Baker

The following problematized situation is taken from our online course, Problematized Situations. A comment from one of the course participants brought this problem…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Earlier in the year we created a blog about place value and some schools have run the assessment activity across the whole…

Posted by:Ann Baker

NOTE: This went out as a newsletter to subscribers last week, and I have had SO much positive feedback that…

Posted by:Ann Baker

I was in Mt Gambier this week with teachers from three schools working on collaborative action research projects. It was…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Teachers often tell me that they find it hard to cater for the diverse learners in their classes and that…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Okay so I've been to Aldi again! They just happened to have a perfect pre-Easter or post-Easter Spot book. I…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Mouth-watering smells of hot cross buns and shelves laden with Easter eggs of all sizes. Isn’t that what the next…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Anno’s Mysterious Multiplying Jar is another Anno picture book for older students, but one with plenty of stretch potential. While…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Anno’s Magic Seeds is a multiplicative picture book that can be used with older students. An oldie but a goodie…

Posted by:Ann Baker

Whatever happened to a bit of good old-fashioned letter and number formation? Increasingly as I go into classrooms, I find…

Posted by:Ann Baker

We are all kids at heart and never too old to enjoy a good maths picture book — well I'm…

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