Progress with Oxford: Number Problems Age 4-5 - Practise for School with Essential Maths Skills

Great value and fast delivery just what a young child needs

brilliant practice book for little ones, keep them interested in learning new things!

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Lovely’s

The blurb for this book says that ‘Progress with Oxford has been created with busy families in mind. Picture clues show your child how to do each activity, helping them work independently ….’ The last two words are in bold type.Poor child!This is NOT a book to give a child while mum and dad (or teacher) get on with their own thing.It’s for Key Stage 1 (ages 4-5). Left to themselves, what are they to make of, ‘If you have a mirror, place it on the line and look at the reflection’?Or, ‘Place some spoons on one side of the table. Place the same number on the other side of the table. How many spoons is that? Repeat for different numbers of spoons’?Those examples look to me as if they require a reading age (and level of understanding) of at least seven.That being said, as you will already have gathered from the examples I quote, there are some good ideas here. My point is only that fairly close adult supervision is required at all times.Some additional teaching is likely to be required too. Numbers up to 10 (and an appreciation of the ‘ten-ness’ of ten are required as early as page three; and numbers up to 20 from page six. (It’s a 32 page book.)Parents/teachers will also need to do some preparation beforehand; laying on the small rectangular mirror needed for the exercise quoted above, a set of dominoes and a dice (or spinner), not to mention writing and colouring necessities.By the time you finish page 30, your child will be able not only to halve even numbers, but to divide 19 into four groups of four and decide how many (in that case little cars) are left over. Earlier on, they will also have learnt to double numbers up to ten (but not triple, quadruple, etc.).Meanwhile, they will have used up a whole double-spread of (mostly) colourful stickers as teaching aids and rewards.

This book is aimed at 4-5 year olds and says supports the National Curriculum. (4-5 is Foundation and pre-national curriculm and 5-6 is Year 1 national curriculum).The book covers doubles in a range of ways with nice tips about using a mirror if you're stuck and rewarding progress with a sticker every few pages (stickers are included). It moves onto doubling with a number line which I would say is definitely more Year 1 than Foundation.The book then moves onto halving and also has an activity to help children see the relationship between the double and half. The book then moves onto sharing equally between 2 and then 4, 3, then 5. It then moves onto remainders.I would say this book is for children in Summer term of Foundation if they are confident with numbers and they may still need adult support or resources to allow them to solve the problems practically before trying to do some of these problems on paper or more likely for a Year 1 child 5-6 years old (they may still need support.)The activities in this book are all lovely with extra ideas and encouragement stickers I just feel the age suggested is too young.

Number Problems from Progress with Oxford supports the national curriculum and develops core number skills as taught in schools. It follows the same format as other books from the range. The inside front cover tells you how to use the book and has tips on how to help your children solve number problems. The answers to the problems are on the inside back cover. Activities are coded with different symbols - write, count, draw, etc. - to help your child work more independently and they also get encouragement from the character of Harv throughout the book.It does say Includes stickers! on the front cover. There are three different activities which involve the use of stickers, the other stickers are rewards for when your child completes an activitity and four Harv character stickers.The number problems are focused on three things - doubling (pages 2 - 11), halving (pages 12 - 19) and sharing (pages 20 - 31). The activities tackle the problems in different ways but I think there is a risk your child will end up saying "I've already done this!". So maybe best to alternate with activities from another book to stop "doubling / halving" fatigue.We particular liked the doubling (page 10) and halving (page 19) games, they come at the end of the sections and made it fun and more interactive. It does tie in well with what my daughter is currently learning at school in reception.Overall - good for learning doubling, halving and sharing but a little repetitive.

I ordered this for my son to help with his maths. I had to sit with him to help him through the book as he would have never have done it on his own but he's worked hard and working through this book has improved his maths. A progress chart and some stickers made it more fun.