Numeracy

The teaching of core mathematics skills and understandings is an integral part of the teaching program at Kiewa Valley. Our classrooms use a whole-part-whole approach for the teaching of numeracy and classroom teachers use modelling and peer learning approaches to impart key understandings. We have a wide range of hands-on resources that allow our students to make models and visualise their thinking as they seek to make connections between concepts and the world around them. Whilst individual skills are important at the lower levels of a child’s education, the focus quickly shifts to the ability to apply those skills in order to solve problems and think in deeper ways in years 4-6.

Victorian Numeracy Fluency Assessment (VNFA) – A Whole School Strategy

The VNFA is a school wide program which ensures that all students from F-6 are able to focus on their individual areas of need in the core discipline of number. Each term the school has a dedicated focus and students are assessed and then given access to differentiated learning to help them advance on the pathway. Students are given time each week to work with their personalised task and to demonstrate their understanding. The four areas covered by the program include – counting, place value, addition and subtraction as well as multiplication and division. The VNFA is a flexible and rewarding program that allows students to advance through the student pathways at their own pace, from Foundation right through to Grade 6. Feedback is provided to students so they can assess their own progress and a core pillar of the program is that students are self-directed and aware of their own development.

Standards in the Victorian Curriculum Mathematics domain are organised in three dimensions:

• Number and Algebra– includes number fact knowledge, counting, place value, the four operations, fractions and decimals, algebraic equations\thinking and money and financial matters.
• Measurement and Geometry – includes 2D and 3D shapes, units of measurement related to length, time, mass and capacity and other geometric concepts.
• Statistics and Probability – includes concepts such as chance, the likelihood of outcomes and creating and interpreting a wide array of data representations such as graphs, tables and charts.

Interactive Learning: Kiewa Valley Primary School utilises the supportive learning package called Matific. This is a program that engages students in their learning by allowing them to think creatively and apply their skills to mathematical concepts and problems. The program consists of self-paced learning elements and classroom teachers can also set learning tasks for students to support the learning that is taking place in the classroom each week.