Today in P6, the children worked in groups to play a fast-paced number game.
Each child took turns flipping cards numbered up to 50. Their challenge was to quickly double and halve the number before the next person took their turn.
Through this activity, the children discovered that while some numbers—like 7—are easy to double (14), halving them requires more care, especially when the result is a decimal (3.5).
We explored various strategies for mental doubling, such as breaking numbers into tens and units, or bridging to the nearest whole number and adjusting. For example, when doubling 19, the children changed 19 to 20, doubled 20 to get 40, and then adjusted by subtracting the 2 they had added, resulting in 38.
It was a fun and engaging way to reinforce mental maths skills and build confidence with doubling and halving.
