Area - Counting Squares - Starter

The 'Fluent in Four' revision segment is an engaging mathematical exercise designed for Year 4 students, aimed at enhancing their arithmetic skills and conceptual understanding. It includes a series of subtraction and addition problems that challenge students to apply their knowledge. For instance, the task 4,764 minus 953 requires students to perform multi-digit subtraction, while another problem asks them to subtract using place value terminology, such as 'seventy-four hundreds' and '58 ones'. These exercises not only test the pupils' computational skills but also their understanding of the number system. Additionally, students are prompted to think critically about geometric concepts, such as determining which of five shapes covers the most surface area, encouraging them to visually and logically reason their answers.

In the same set of activities, the use of a bar model is introduced to support students in completing sentences that relate to addition, encouraging the use of estimation to find the answers. For example, they are tasked to estimate the sums of numbers like 297 plus 47, and 891 plus 47. Furthermore, the exercises incorporate fractions, asking students to identify and colour portions of twelfths in different colours, such as blue and yellow, and then to determine the total fraction that is coloured. This hands-on approach to learning fractions helps solidify their understanding of parts of a whole. The activity concludes with a visual representation of addition using near numbers, reinforcing the concept of rounding and estimation to make addition easier and more intuitive.