Numbots

Date: 15th Sep 2022 @ 8:28pm

This week homework is login onto Numbots and practising number bonds. 

A number bond is just a pair of numbers that add up to another number. For example, the number bonds for 8 are:

0 + 8, 1 + 7, 2 + 6, 3 + 5, 4 + 4

A child who learns these sums add up to 8 will quickly see that if you reverse them to 8 + 0, 7 + 1, 6 + 2, 5 + 3, 4 + 4 they also make 8. Number bonds provide a mental picture of the relationship between two numbers. These mental pictures are key to enabling a child to complete mental arithmetic. Knowing addition number bonds means that a child will understand subtraction with ease. If a child knows that 2 + 6 = 8 they will quickly realise that when they see 8 – 6 =? the answer is 2 because by process of elimination 2 is the missing number in this number bond. It helps children to see that subtraction is the inverse to addition. They begin to see the patterns in numbers and to learn the mathematical principles rather than having to memorise each individual sum. 

By the end of Year 2 children need to be able to work out number bonds to 100. They also need to be confident with the corresponding subtraction facts (for example: 13 + 7 = 20 and 20 - 13 = 7).

Learning number bonds is key to a child’s future maths success. The children that do best at learning number bonds have the support of their parents at home. The best way for parents to support their child to learn number bonds at home is through games. 

NumBots is an online game and playing little and often will significantly improve your child’s recall and understanding of number bonds and addition and subtraction facts. Children have used Numbots in Year 1 and have been shown how to login. They all have brought home a username label with them tonight. They might need some help navigating to the website and entering the details but once they’re in, they just need some quiet space to get on with the games for 5 minutes.

In order to get the best out of NumBots children should regularly play for short bursts so we would ask you to give them 5 minutes every day. 

Game Types
1. Story Mode – the emphasis is on learning the ideas and concepts behind addition and subtraction so it features more diagrams, shapes and question styles.
2. Challenge Mode – the emphasis is more on speed of recall of key facts, like number bonds to 10, doubling small numbers or adding & taking away in your head.

Thank you for your support.