Checklist: Year 4 & 5 Maths Milestones

Is your child keeping up with Year 4 or Year 5 Maths?

This Maths skills summary, from experienced teachers who provide Maths tuition at Kids First Children’s Services in Sydney’s northern beaches, provides an easy guide to the kinds of Maths tasks your child should be mastering this year.

In Years 4 and 5, your child’s maths involves more than just addition and subtraction.

Your child will be using the concepts they have learned in the past as the basis for new and more complex skills.

They will be expected to have a handle on times tables, know how to use large whole numbers, write formal algorithms and confidently manage many other higher order maths skills.

The summary below details the important number and algebra skills that students in Year 4 and 5 are being taught in Australian schools.

Remember, every teacher covers these skills at different times in the year and if your child is in Year 4, there will be some maths skills here that are on the horizon, but not being consolidated in the classroom this year.

Year 4 & 5 Maths Skills: Number and Algebra

In Years 4 and 5, your child should be learning to (or already be able to) add and subtract up to four digit numbers.

Your child should be able to read to 9999 as well as count to this number.

Your child should be able to put four digit numbers into descending (from largest to smallest) and ascending (smallest to largest) order.

Your Year 4 or Year 5 child will be learning to work out when it’s appropriate to estimate an answer and when an accurate calculation is needed.

In Years 4 and 5, your child will be expected to understand the concept of place value and know how to layout their maths algorithms correctly. This will help them to avoid errors as they ‘trade’ between columns.

Your child should be able to use money confidently, be familiar with notes and coins and use both to give change from $100.

Percentages are part of the curriculum at this stage of your child’s learning. Your child will be learning that a percentage represents part of a number and will probably be familiar with working percentages out using number lines and other concrete tools.

Your child will be familiar with terminology like ‘50 one hundredths’ when referring to 50%. You can help at home by using talking to your child about sales advertisements and encouraging them to work out the discounts they see promoted when you go shopping together.

In Year 4 and Year 5, your child’s number work will include decimals. Your child will be expected to compare, add and subtract numbers which include decimals to two places eg 6.35 + 7.45

Your Year 4 or Year 5 child will also be using fractions to compare the value of numbers, For example, your child should be able to explain that three quarters in larger than two thirds.

Year 4 & 5 Maths Skills: Times tables

In Years 4 and Year 5 maths, times tables are a foundation skill used to solve many problems quickly and accurately.

By the end of Year 5, your child will need to be able to confidently manage all of their times tables up to at least their 10 x 10.

Most kids can manage the 2x, 5x and 10x tables with ease – but at home you may want to pay particular attention to trickier one like 6x, 7x, 8x and 9x (check out Kids First’s 5 Tricks to Learn Times Tables here if you need ideas)

Remember

Maths is one of those subjects where your child’s previous knowledge is the foundation for their future skill and success.

By the time Year 4 or 5 rolls around, your child needs to be a confident problem-solver.

Your child should also be able to see the connection between the Maths methods they’ve learnt in Years 2 and 3, and new skills they are being taught.

What to do if your child is struggling with Year 4 or Year 5 Maths

Sometimes, if there is a ‘gap’ in your child’s knowledge, the acquisition of higher order maths skills can become difficult.

Talk to your child about what they don’t understand.
You might need to ‘go back’ to skills that have been taught in previous years to uncover the origins of your child’s confusion.
Talk to your child’s classroom teacher, who should always the first port-of-call
If you feel out of your depth at Maths homework time, get professional tuition before your child’s Maths difficulties start to affect his or her confidence

Get help for your child now

Maths tuition from a qualified teacher who:

understands the curriculum,
is trained to identify how kids learn and
knows how to adapt material to suit your child’s learning style

is, in our experience, much more effective than a computer program or unqualified uni student or ‘tutor’.

Kids First Children’s Services has been offering Maths Mastery tuition groups to students in Years 4 and 5 for more than a decade.

Taught face to face by our trusted and fully qualified teachers, Maths Mastery tuition groups focus on giving children in Years 3-6 the encouragement and support they need to succeed.

Because they’re taught face to face, without computers or rote learning, Maths Mastery tuition groups also give children a chance to ask questions and have complex concepts explained in a way that they understand.

If you live in Sydney’s northern beaches and need caring, professional Maths tutoring for your child, Kids First’s teachers would be happy to help

Contact Kids First on (02) 9938 5419 for more information and to arrange a free 30 minute Maths skills screening,

The Kids First Blog