Mrs Greenwood writes: “This term we have participated in a number of extra-curricular maths events as well as a Cumbria Sumdog contest. These events are a fantastic opportunity for our students to shine, consolidate/sharpen key skills and extend their mathematical thinking. Over to our students to tell us more about these events and how they exercised their learning muscles to become better at Maths…”

G&T Maths Event

On Thursday 23rd June 2017 some ‘gifted and talented’ Year 6 students from Elterwater Maths group went to Hunter Hall School for a maths contest. North Lakes were split into two groups, Team A, which consisted of: Ben E, Niall, Mollie H and Katie M. Team B was: Sonny A, Carly, Ben M and Keelie T.

To start off we had a maths relay, which was very fun, next we had a group challenge, which North Lakes Team A won! We believe we were successful in this round as we exercised our collaboration learning muscle – four brains were better than one! Finally, we had another round of maths relays – here we needed our quick recall of table facts as well as perseverance skills. At the end of the competition, we had brownies and juice before the results were announced, when they announced the results it came to light that North Lakes had done really well, Team B came 4th, Team A came 3rd and Hunter Hall A came 1st . All in all the Maths competition was very fun, I would definitely recommend it to the Year 5s for next year!

By Niall Y6

UCC Maths Challenge Days

I really enjoyed the Maths day – it was fun learning how to measure the height of the buildings using angles! We also participated in some number maths about a prism (not a prison!)  Another challenge we did was, we worked out, that if you pick a 3 digit number, switch the digits round, take the small number away from the big number, switch the digits back again, add the digits together the answer will always be 1089!

Look at the following example…

• Start number 123; Switch the digits around to make 321
• Take the smaller of the two numbers away from the biggest number: 321 – 123 = 198
• Switch the digits around again: 891
• Add your first answer and the switched answer together 198 + 891 = 1089

See if you can exercise your reasoning muscle to explain why this is so!

“I loved the day, I really enjoyed being at UCC and using my learning power”  Tymon

By Amy F and Tymon

UCC Y6 Maths Challenge

Four top mathematicians were selected to go and compete in this annual competition – a challenge of quick mathematical thinking, applying our number operations and exercising our reasoning muscle to justify our answers was required.  The day was action packed and really challenged us – pushing us to our limits at times! Mr Duke, our chair of governors escorted us to the event. Many thanks Mr Duke, we really appreciate your time and brains! Sonny and Ben M received some prize chocolate for coming top of their group.

Well done to all mathematicians who represented us so well.

UCC Y5 G&T Maths

On the 7th of July, eight pupils from North Lakes School took part in a Gifted and Talented Maths workshop at Ullswater Community College (UCC). Schools from all around Eden took part in this event. We were greeted at UCC by Mr Howarth, head of Maths. We split into 2 groups and we worked on Number and Practical maths problems. The challenges were hard and we had to persevere and collaborate to succeed. In Mr Howarth’s lesson we used a measure metre to measure the height of the building. This a new piece of equipment for us and really useful and interesting.  After a tough challenge, we had juice and biscuits – this gave us an energy boost to go into the second round.  It was a great day and gave us a perspective of life at UCC as well as challenging our mathematical thinking. We are both looking forward to new learning in maths as this keeps our fresh and active!

By Katie G and Katie W