How Can Primary School Teachers Make Maths Their Pupils’ Favourite Subject?

Maths is one of the most important subjects in the primary school curriculum. A good knowledge of maths is instrumental in understanding other school subjects, such as science and geography. Primary teachers should do all they can to ensure that students are enjoying and are engaged with their maths lessons.

Making maths your students’ favourite subject is a matter of finding the perfect combination for each pupil. New maths concepts can be tricky to learn, if students have a previous bad experience with maths, they may require more creative teaching to fall in love with the subject. While the content you teach is crucial, the way you teach it is just as important.

Here are a few tips on how to make your maths lessons fun, engaging and effective.

Instil a positive mindset in your students

The first step towards helping your students love their maths lessons is to show them that they can improve and develop their skills. If a primary student regularly struggles with maths problems, it can manifest a negative attitude towards the subject.

Therefore, it’s important to teach your students the power of growth and encourage resilience in your classroom. By instilling a positive mindset and reinforcing the idea that they will solve the problems if they keep trying, students will begin to see maths as the brilliant subject that it is.

Remember to celebrate successes. Remind your students that they couldn’t solve that type of problem a few weeks ago, but now they can. Seeing tangible results and improvements will encourage the pupils and help them to develop a positive attitude towards maths.

Get your students on the move

Learning through movement can help primary students participate more in their maths lessons. Research has shown us that children need opportunities to move during lessons and activities involving movement will allow children to connect maths concepts to actions.

Try to incorporate movement into your lessons using games or situational activities. For example, for younger students, you could create an environment that simulates shopping in the supermarket. Students could pick the items that they want, add up the totals and calculate the change they will get back from the money they hand over. Not only does this improve their maths skills, but it also offers insight into how the subject can be used in real-life situations.

Play games

Playing games is an easy way for teachers to familiarise children with numbers and spark a lifelong enjoyment of maths.

Maths games can make a big difference for children who find maths particularly difficult or lack confidence in their ability. You’ll probably encounter less resistance when you engage a child with a game instead of a worksheet! There are all kinds of maths games that can help children learn and practice a range of skills, including online games, team games and situational games.

Remember to encourage your students to memorise the games and take them home to teach their parents or siblings. This way they can get extra practice at home and continue the fun all day long.

Diversify your lessons

As most teachers will know, each student is different, and teachers must make sure that their lessons are as inclusive as possible. Not every pupil will feel comfortable raising their hand during a lesson. In contrast, more confident students may prefer to have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss maths problems in a group.

Every child learns differently and individually. This is why providing more diverse lesson plans can make a world of difference to pupils’ perceptions of maths. Try to incorporate discussions, small group activities, large group activities, solo worksheets, and hands-on activities into your lesson plans. A plurality of ways to learn will make the experience much more enjoyable for all.

There are plenty of free learning resources out there that might provide some inspiration for your lessons.

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