Fluent in Five

Fluent in five

At Olympus we use Third space learning ‘Fluent in five’

“Fluent in Five provides a daily set of arithmetic practice, 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 children distinguish between written and mental calculations. It provides regular practice of mental and written arithmetic skills to keep calculation skills fresh.”                                        

                                                                                                 Third Space Learning

How is it structured?

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.