Fluent In 5
Fluent in Five Weeks 1-6 (Years 1-6)
Daily arithmetic questions to build number fluency & confidence in 5 minutes a day
Your Guide to Using Fluent in Five Weekly overview, how to use, and progression documents.
The resource in a nutshell
Fluent in Five provides a daily set of arithmetic practice for Years 1-6, designed to help children develop and maintain fluency in both written and mental calculations. The structure of Fluent in Five is also designed to help Key Stage 2 children distinguish between written and mental calculations. What is included?
• For Years 1 and 2, a weekly powerpoint or pack featuring 3 to 4 daily questions and answers.
• For Years 3 and 4, a weekly powerpoint featuring 4 to 5 daily questions and answers.
• For Years 5 and 6, a weekly pack of 5 to 7 daily questions and answers set out in the style of the KS2 SATs arithmetic test.
• A progression document for each year group to give an overview of the national curriculum objectives that will be covered on each day.
The approach behind Fluent in Five
Regular practice of mental and written arithmetic skills is important in order to keep calculation skills fresh. This is especially important given the way the vast majority of schools are choosing to structure their curriculum – with longer blocks spent on each topic area, and less focus on revisiting topics.
Children and schools also repeatedly report of the strict time limits affecting performance in the Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 Arithmetic Tests, with many children in Key Stage 2 not being able to complete the full test in the time given.
This is often because children are attempting questions which have been designed to be answered mentally using an informal or formal written method, which takes up valuable time. Sometimes, this occurs when children are not familiar with suitable mental approaches to calculations, or because they are simply ‘tricked’ by the appearance of a gridded working out area after each question.
Fluent in Five has been designed to provide both regular practice right from the start of Key Stage 1, along with – in Key Stage 2 – helping children to distinguish between mental and written methods. This ultimately develops a child’s ability to complete all the questions in an arithmetic test in the limited time that they are given.
Ensuring KS2 pupils identify mental questions
In Years 3 and 4, symbols are used initially to help train children to identify questions which require a written method and those which are designed for a mental approach. Throughout the year, these symbols will gradually be reduced so that children are making their own choices about whether a question should be approached mentally or using a written method. By the summer term, there will be no symbols with the questions.
In Years 5 and 6, it is suggested that children spend the first 30 seconds of their Fluent in Five challenge time identifying the mental questions, and marking these with an ‘M’ or other symbol.
In a 30 minute arithmetic test, children should aim to spend the first minute and a half to two minutes on this identification task, before answering the mental questions. Pupils who take this approach are often left with 15 minutes in which to answer between 7 to 10 written questions.
How long should I spend on Fluent in Five a day?
Ideally children should complete the Fluent in Five challenge each day. The resource can be delivered using between 10 and 15 minutes of class time.
• 5 minutes – Children complete the Fluent in Five Challenge (using the printed Challenge Sheets in Year 2, 5 and 6, and the PowerPoints in Year 1, 3 and 4). The teacher and any support staff use this time to look at how children are approaching the questions and begin to identify any misconceptions or common errors.
• 3 minutes – Where possible, children self-mark their challenge sheet. In Year 1 especially, it may be that answers need to be marked by an adult. The teacher takes feedback about the range of answers and identifies any common misconceptions.
• 2 to 5 minutes – The teacher completes any quick teaching/re-caps focusing on any common misconceptions.
How can I differentiate the resource?
You may want to increase the level of challenge for pupils who might complete the daily challenge within the allocated time.
There are a number of ways you could extend these learners. For example, you could reduce the time limit in which they must complete the questions, helping them build up their speed.
Alternatively, you could extend these pupils by asking them to identify the method they used for a certain question and then create an easier and harder question which could be solved using that same approach.
How is it structured? Year 1 and 2
The Fluent in Five progression in objectives document provides a quick overview of the objectives that can be tested using the arithmetic test. This document is adapted from the Key Stage 1 Test Frameworks, which test developers use to set the tests, and from the EYFS statutory framework.
The resource is made up of a series of daily challenges, presented in a PowerPoint presentation in Year 1 and in the format of the Key Stage 1 Arithmetic Test in Year 2. The Year 1 PowerPoint is intended to be displayed on your interactive whiteboard. Each day contains 3 questions, alongside either a pictorial representation or the suggestion of what concrete apparatus the children may wish to use to help them solve the problem. The Year 2 Packs are available to download, and it is suggested that these are printed out double sided for each child. It is important that children complete these printed out, rather than on-screen, as it gives them experience of each question being followed by either a plain or gridded working area.
Year 1
In Year 1, it is important that a wide range of concrete apparatus are available for children to attempt the questions with. This also supports the Concrete, Pictorial and Abstract approach, used by most schools. When pictorial representations are provided, these can, of course, be substituted with concrete representations. At the start of each week the key concrete representations to have available throughout this week for Fluent in Five are listed.
Year 2
In Year 2, children should be given exactly 5 minutes to complete the daily Challenge Sheet. The number of questions provided in each challenge increases as the year progresses, so that children develop their speed and fluency.
• Weeks 1-15 feature 3 questions per day.
• Week 15 onwards features 4 questions per day.
The daily challenges are designed within a clear progression structure, starting with questions that sit entirely within the EYFS framework for Year 1, and the Year 1 objectives for Year 2. The level then increases throughout Autumn and Spring Term to cover all of the objectives in the progression in objectives document for the current year group. By the end of Spring Term, all challenges will sit within the objectives of the current year group. The resource is structured so that certain ‘tricky’ objectives appear in each challenge during a given week, so that these skills can be developed. Each challenge also contains a mix of other questions, so that a full breadth of the objective document is covered.
Each week of daily challenges is also accompanied by a ‘this week in a nutshell’ statement, which helps teachers see at a glance which skills are focused on during this week’s challenges.
How is it structured? Years 3 and 4
The Fluent in Five Progression in Objectives document provides a quick overview of the objectives that can be tested using the arithmetic test. This document is adapted from the KS2 Test Frameworks, which test developers use to set the tests.
The resource itself is made up of a series of daily challenges which are presented in a powerpoint presentation for each week, which is intended to be displayed on your interactive whiteboard.
Each day, children should be given exactly 5 minutes to complete the daily challenge, recording their answers in a maths journal or on a mini-whiteboard. The number of questions provided in each challenge increase as the year progresses, so that children develop their speed and fluency. The number of questions which should be completed using a written method also increases throughout the year.
Year 3
Weeks 1 – 6 4 questions – 3 mental, 1 written
Weeks 7 – 18 4 questions – 2 mental, 2 written
Weeks 19 – 24 5 questions – up to 3 written (number varies each day for variation and to ensure the skill of identification has is being developed).
Year 4
Weeks 1 – 9 4 questions – 3 mental, 2 written
Weeks 9 – 19 5 questions – 3 mental, 2 written
Weeks 20 – 24 5 questions, up to 3 written (number varies each day for variation and to ensure the skill of identification has is being developed).
How is it structured? Years 5 and 6
The Fluent in Five Progression in Objectives document provides a quick overview of the objectives that can be tested using the arithmetic test. This document is adapted from the KS2 Test Frameworks, which test developers use to set the tests.
The resource itself is made up of a series of daily challenges which are presented in the format of the KS2 arithmetic test. These are available to download, and it is suggested that they are printed out doubled sided for each child. It is important that children complete these on paper, rather than on-screen, as it gives the children experience of having each question being followed by a gridded working area.
Each day, children should be given exactly 5 minutes to complete the daily challenge sheet. The number of questions provided in each challenge increases as the year progresses, so that children develop their speed and fluency. The number of questions which should be completed using a written method also increase throughout the year in Year 6. The table below shows the number of questions in the daily challenges.
Year 5
Weeks 1 and 2 4 questions – 2 mental, 2 written
Weeks 3 – 19 5 questions – 3 mental, 2 written
Weeks 20 – 24 5 questions – up to 3 written (number varies each day for variation and to ensure the skill of identification has been developed).
Year 6
Weeks 1 – 8 5 questions – 3 mental, 2 written
Weeks 9 – 14 6 questions – 3 to 4 mental, 2 to 3 written
Weeks 15 – 24 7 questions – 4 mental, 3 written.
For both Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6, the daily challenges are designed within a clear progression structure, starting the year with questions which all sit within the previous year group’s objectives, and progressing throughout Autumn Term to cover all of the objectives in the Progression in Objectives document for the current year group.
By Spring Term, all challenges will sit within the objectives of the current year group. The resource is structured so that certain ‘tricky’ objectives appear in each challenge during a given week, so that these skills can be developed. Each challenge also contains a mix of other questions, so that a full breadth of the objective document is covered.
Each week of daily challenges is also accompanied by a ‘this week in a nutshell’ statement, which helps teachers see at a glance which skills are focused on during this week’s challenges.