Making Maths Reason-able

This product is a worksheet where students cut out equations and number stories and match them. The focus is on the equation as a representation of the story. Students need to match the equation that represents the story, not try to find an equation that works out the answer. Focus is on the START, ACTION (joining equal groups - multiplication or separating a total into equal groups - division) and the END. The unknown therefore can be any of these three.

Students match 2 cards that show the same 1-digit addition represented using ten-frames. One set of cards has 9+ a 1-digit number and the other set of cards has 10 + 1-digit numbers. Students find the pairs of cards e.g. 9+6 will match the picture of 10+5. There are 2x10 cards in the game. Recommendation: Copy each set of cards onto a different colour paper before laminating to help students find the pairs more easily.

This product is a worksheet for students to practise matching number stories to equations. The focus is for them to represent the story as it appears, not to write an equation they will use to solve it. Focus is on the START, ACTION (addition as joining or subtraction as separating) and the END. The unknown can be in any position in the story. Context is the same for each story and the numbers are deliberately small so the focus is on the equation not on the solution.

Students choose two cards, one from each set and match the addition computations based on the Change 2 numbers strategy e.g. 37+19 would match 36+20. Students can match the cards face up, turn them over and play Memory (choose 2 and see if they match or Snap etc. Recommendation: Copy each set of cards onto different colour paper to make the matching pairs easier and more efficient to find.

This set of cards practises breaking 1 number in a multiplication computation and multiplying each part by the 1-digit multiplier. Students initially match the computation and the broken up strategy e.g. 35x4 matches 30x4 + 5x4. Numbers are broken into place value parts e.g. 36x4 as 30x4 +6x4 or compatible parts e.g. 29x4 as 25x4 + 4x4. All multipliers are the same so students don't just match the multiplier. The file also includes a set of cards with the answers which students can match after t