These books have been designed to:

• provide children with the opportunity to apply their mathematical reasoning skills to problem solving
• cover all of the appropriate objectives of the Maths Curriculum for Years 1 to 6
• include one-step, two-step, and multi-step problems
• include ‘Mastering‘ sections to develop a deeper understanding
• feature a multi-objective extended investigation

The Problem Solving resources have been written in line with the objectives from the Mathematics Curriculum. Questions have been written to match all appropriate objectives from each content domain of the curriculum.

Solving problems and mathematical reasoning in context are difficult skills for children to master; a real-life, written problem is an abstract concept and children need opportunities to practise and consolidate their problem solving techniques.

As each content domain is taught, the skills learnt can be applied to the relevant problems. This means that a particular objective can be reinforced and problem solving and reasoning skills further developed. The first section of each content domain is intended to provide opportunities for children to practise and consolidate their problem solving skills. Each page has an identified objective from the National Curriculum; the difficulty level of the questions increases towards the bottom of each page, this providing built-in differentiation.

Mastering a skill involves obtaining a greater level of understanding of the skill, the ability to transfer and apply knowledge in different contexts and explaining understanding to others. It is NOT working on content from the next year group or practising the skill or concept using bigger numbers.

The MASTERING and INVESTIGATION sections provide extra challenges as children’s problem solving skills and confidence increase. The problems in the MASTERING sections encompass several objectives from the relevant curriculum domain. The INVESTIGATION covers objectives from across the whole curriculum.

Since a structured approach to problem solving supports learning, developing a whole-school approach is highly recommended.