Boost reading and grow core literacy skills with First News First News Education
Welcome to the world of inspiring physical science hands-on learning! LEGO Education
Beano brings laughter back to the classroom with search for Britain’s Funniest Class Beano for Schools
Make telling the time easy – EasyRead Time Teacher clocks and resources EasyRead Time Teacher
Out now from Firefly Press – Walker: The Mystery of the Missing Millions Firefly Press
Oxford University Press Courses
It is thought that around 6% of the population have dyscalculia, a similar percentage to that for dyslexia.
Given that this is roughly 1 in 20 people, you are likely to find at least one learner with dyscalculia in every classroom, with boys and girls being affected equally.
The following games are some of the best I’ve found for engaging, developing and supporting these students – and can also benefit learners who struggle with maths for other reasons, including dyslexia:
To develop an understanding of the sequence of numbers from 1 to 10.
Cuisenaire rods 1-10, one of each colour; a 1-10 die.
Two players take it in turn to roll the dice and place the corresponding Cuisenaire rod on the table to create the 1-10 number sequence.
If your number is repeated when the die is thrown you miss your turn.
So, if player one throws a 2 they will place the red rod on the table. If player two throws a 7, they have to decide how far to the right of the 2 to place the rod in order to make a Cuisenaire Staircase.
To develop instant recall of number bonds to ten. This game is useful at the beginning of a lesson as a warm-up activity, or at the end for revision or consolidation.
Four sets of digit cards from 1 to 9.
Shuffle the cards and place them face up on the table in three rows of four.
Players take it in turns to pick up pairs of cards that add up to 10.
The gaps that are left are then filled with cards from the remaining pack.
The idea is to take it in turns and spot the pairs that make 10 as quickly as possible.
Dyscalculic learners find it hard to appreciate and compare magnitude in number and this is a motivating and multi-sensory way to help them do it. It requires visualisation, too; another key skill for them to develop.
10 dried beans/buttons/ glass nuggets; a box to use as a shaker.
Without letting the pupil see, place a small number of the beans/buttons/glass nuggets in an opaque box with a lid.
Shake the box and ask the pupil to guess how many items are in it.
Then empty the contents onto the table and count the items to see how close the guess was.
Encourage the child to place the items in a line.
Repeat with smaller and larger numbers of items.
To develop conservation of number through reorganising number formation on a ten-frame. The game builds a strong visual image of numbers and helps visualise bonds to ten by showing both spaces and filled squares in each arrangement of dots.
Ten ten-frames with each dot arrangement from 1-10; a blank ten-frame; counters to place on the ten-frame.
Pick a ten-frame card at random and show it to the pupil for five seconds.
Then remove it and ask them to reproduce the image on their blank ten-frame using the counters.
Can they tell you how many counters there are? Can they tell you how many spaces there are? Can they make a number story linking the two?
To develop an understanding of place value. To make the largest four-digit number from rolling a 0-9 dice four times.
A thousands/hundreds/tens/units grid for each player, and a 0-9 die.
This game is for two players. They take it in turns to roll the die and write the number in their opponent’s grid until each player has generated a four-digit number.
The ‘nasty’ element is that because you are completing your opponent’s grid and not your own, the focus is on getting your opponent to lose.
So, if you throw a 1 you would place it in your opponent’s thousands column, whereas a 9 would go in their units column.
To develop estimation and mental arithmetic skills. This makes a good starter activity, requiring visualisation, prediction, estimation and mental calculation.
One Cuisenaire rod of each length between 1 and 10.
This is a game for two players. Decide who goes first and choose a ‘distance’ between 11 and 55.
Let’s use 25 as an example. The aim is to make a ‘train’ that is exactly 25 long.
Each player in turn puts down a Cuisenaire rod, laying them end to end to create a single train.
The person who puts down the last rod to make 25 exactly, wins.
If a player puts down a rod that makes the train longer than 25, the opponent wins.
Judy Hornigold is an independent educational consultant specialising in dyscalculia and dyslexia. She is the author of The Dyscalculia Pocketbook (one of 40 titles in the Teachers’ Pocketbooks series, available at £9.99 each from teacherspocketbooks.co.uk), from which this feature has been adapted, with permission.
Everything you need for every subject across Key Stages 1 and 2.
