Fractions

In this unit, children will learn to add and subtract two or more fractions with the same denominator, answering questions in more than one way and comparing the efficiency of each method. They will develop their understanding of solving fraction problems and will learn to solve problems involving fractions of an amount. They will use bar models and other representations to help them to find a unit fraction of an amount and then to find any fraction of an amount. Children will be able to use this knowledge to reason and problem solve – for example, finding the whole if they know a part.

Money

In this unit, children convert between pounds and pence for the first time. Although children know from Year 2 that there are 100 pence in one pound, they have not converted between them. Children will move on to converting amounts such as 720p into pounds and pence and vice versa. Notation with the decimal point is not used until Year 4, so children will continue to use the structure of x pounds and y pence or £x and yp. This will help them unitise 100 pence as £1. Next, children solve addition and subtraction problems relating to money. They add the units separately and convert for amounts crossing a pound. Working with money in context is an important skill and questions are asked in money contexts throughout Power Maths. This unit will give children the confidence to deal with problems that arise in future units, and it is vital that they understand the key concepts, particularly around conversion between pounds and pence.

Time

This unit is important because it will help to develop children’s understanding of the length of a day, and their awareness of times of day, of which they may have little real-life experience. These concepts will be used for reading, estimating and measuring time, and in problem-solving contexts. Children will build on their knowledge of reading clocks, including those that feature Roman numerals. They will tell the time to the nearest minute, using ‘past’ and ‘to’ language. They will read times from digital clocks and understand when a time is am and when a time is pm. Finally children will find durations of events, including those that cross the hour.