year 4 maths mental-oral starters – free

children estimate where to place 4- and 5-digit numbers on a landmarked number line, applying their understanding of 3-digit place value. they also locate 1-place decimals on a line, using understanding to compare and order numbers. children round numbers to the nearest whole number, 10 or 100.

three starters with a mix of counting forwards and back in same-sized steps. early counts begin at zero or lower multiples of 5, 50 or 100. counts in latter examples don’t begin at any exact multiples, so draw out skills of digit pattern-spotting.

in autumn, children apply learned number facts to add to make the next multiple of 10 and 100. they apply new learning on decimals to add to the next whole number. occasional ‘tricky’ questions will challenge understanding. in spring, rehearsal is extended to find complements to 1000.

children work towards fluent addition/ subtraction of any pair of 2-digit numbers. they use their knowledge of number and place value to decide on an efficient addition strategy. they also rehearse mental strategies to find a difference, counting up from the smaller to the larger number. they add and subtract 1s, 10s, 100s or 1000s to/from 3- and 4-digit numbers and extend this to add/subtract 1ps, 10ps and £s to/from amounts of money.

introduced in the spring term, children rehearse moving digits across pv columns to multiply 1- and 2-digit numbers by 10 and 100. multiplication by 1000 is introduced in summer. they apply learning on decimals when dividing numbers by 10 or 1000.

in autumn, each starter takes a particular times table as its focus, either for multiplication or division; later in the year, some tables are rehearsed alongside one another. in spring and summer, multiplication and division facts are revised together. the trickier skills of multiplying by teens numbers and multiples of 10 are also introduced in spring. by mid-summer term, fluency with all tables to the 12th multiple is expected.

children look carefully at sets of fractions and identify those which belong to the same ‘fraction-family’, to include halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, sixths, eighths, tenths and twelfths. as the year progresses, children also consolidate understanding of expressing a fraction in its simplest form.

children identify the correct time on analogue clocks, then find digital time displays to match. through the year, they tell time with increasing accuracy, from 5-minute intervals in autumn to 1 minute in spring and summer.
in spring, activities to practise conversion between some common ‘si’ units for measuring length, weight and capacity are introduced.

the tests each have ten questions and are fun to do as children compete not against each other, but against their pb (personal best). each week, they see where they have got to on the fun-fair height chart – which rides will they be able to do?
choose a test to fit the starters you have done this week. download the tests overview to make your choice.