At Flying Colours Education, our Maths Programs contain each child’s specific needs and group them with other students with similar ability and needs. We put an emphasis on fun. All our maths sessions use hands on experiences and play based learning to ensure children learn in a fun and meaningful way. We have so much fun, the kids don’t even realise they’re learning.
There are many benefits for our students when learning in small groups. Research suggests enormous advantages for students’ self esteem and mental well being as well as relationship building and communication skills when working with each other in small groups. Quite often when our students see other kids are having trouble like them, their aversion to learning decreases and they are more open to accepting help.
Besides, playing games with other kids is WAY more fun than playing on your own!!!
Primary Maths Programs
The Flying Colours Education Numeracy Program focusses on 4 key elements: Number Sense, Discovery, Multi-Sensory Experiences and Curriculum Content. Our program has been uniquely developed to accompany the current NSW Mathematics Syllabus. It has a strong emphasis on Number Sense as foundational for students to be equipped with everything they need to become life long maths learners.
We at Flying Colours understand that students have many different abilities and learning styles. Connecting multisensory practices with discovery based learning experiences, we help students to connect the bridge of learning content with interest and motivation.
We also understand that mathematics can be a complex and abstract concept. We offer a range of experiences and delivery styles to help accommodate for known and unknown mathematical learning difficulties.
We also assess students prior to commencement. This makes a significant difference and impact for our students. It allows us to identify areas of strength and weakness and recommends where we can best place a student for essential learning.
Number Sense
Number Sense is essential for setting a strong foundation for learning mathematics.
Number Sense considers ideas such as:
- Vocabulary
- Subitising
- Estimating
- Counting – Oral counting forwards/backwards
- Counting across the decades
- Step Counting
- Writing and Reading Numbers
Strengthening these core foundations through discovery helps students to create real and meaningful learning.
Once foundations in Number Sense are strengthened, we then move to consider Number Magnitude and Number Relationships.
Number Magnitude – considers ideas such as (numerosity, comparison, quality, vocabulary, sequencing, place value).
Number Relationship – includes all of the concepts that then use our understanding of Numbers to solve and manipulate tasks and problems (number line, times tables, addition, subtraction, counting backwards and forwards, skip counting, clocks, money, bonds, friends of ten, friends of twenty, forward and backwards sequencing, bonds of ten, doubling, strategies, counting on, word problems, algebra, measurement, geometry, chance and data).
Discovery Learning
An essential element for any lasting learning is for the learner to make the discoveries. In teaching, we call and see this as ‘wow moments’.
We foster learning through discovery practices such as ‘seeing, doing and telling’. This approach is quite different to ‘less engaging’ traditional teaching ideas where you would ‘rote’ learn practices, remember rules or just ‘copying from the board’.
We at Flying Colours firmly believe that if the child can make the connections themselves, ‘see’ the maths and ideas before them and then be able to retell their learning in their own words that this will create lasting learning.
A discovery style of learning engages the students and sparks interest to ‘look further’. “What else can you see”.
There will be occasions where rules may be necessary. However, in our program, you will see this connected with practical experiences, lateral approaches of problem solving and sometimes a silly song!
This also connects strongly with many of our learners who may experience other difficulties with number, language, reading, comprehension, physical and spatial needs.
Multi-Sensory Learning
At Flying Colours Learning Centre our philosophy is that to be able to truly understand maths, you need to be able to see how and and why it works. All our maths sessions provide our students with extensive opportunity for hands on learning experiences to help them truly understand maths and apply it in every day life.
All of sessions from preschool, through primary to high school include the use of mult-sensory resources and approaches to learning and teaching.
We use Numicon and “OG” blocks (Orton-Gillingham) to help students discover the majority of mathematical principles. Our teachers are always very creative in developing new ideas and strategies to help students learn mathematics through the use of everyday items. While we still firmly believe that repetition in maths is a key factor to learning, we also feel that there is benefit in singing a song, learning a rhyme and playing a game.
Yes, maths can be hard and difficult. But at Flying Colours we try to make it as fun and accessible as possible.
Curriculum Content
The Flying Colours Education Curriculum follows the outcomes of the Australian Mathematics Curriculum. Through explicit instruction, we assist students in developing the mathematical skills and understanding they need to succeed in life. We offer students relevant meaningful learning experiences that assist our students to truly understand maths. In each session we provide our students with a new tool to add to their tool box that they can use to improve their overall maths knowledge.
We also align our content with the current NSW Mathematics Syllabus as governed by 2023 NSW Education Standards Authority.