Mathematics Mathematical Thinkingusually ages 5–6

Making Sense of Problems

Make sense of a problem by identifying what is being asked, choosing concrete objects or pictures to represent the situation, and explaining a pathway to the solution

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

When given a word problem within 10, explain what the problem is asking before attempting to solve
Choose objects, fingers, or drawings to represent a problem situation
After finding an answer, check it makes sense (e.g. re-count objects to verify a total)

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Try this together

When your child gets a maths problem they don't immediately know how to solve, do they stop and think about what the question is asking — maybe drawing a picture — before diving in?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Addition as combining or putting together twoages 4–6Making sense of addition problems requires understanding addition as combining

How Many in Total?ages 4–6Problem sense-making at 5-6 requires cardinality understanding to make sense of 'how many' problems

Checking Your Own Workages 5–6Checking whether a maths answer makes sense applies the universal self-checking habit to a mathematical context

Listening to Texts Read Aloudages 5–10Making sense of word problems requires listening comprehension skills

Persisting When It's Hardages 5–6Mathematical perseverance with problems is the domain-specific application of the universal persistence habit

Making Sense of Problemsthis skill · ages 5–6

Unlocks

Guided Multi-Step Problem Solvingages 6–7Age 6-7 problem-solving builds directly on age 5-6 problem-sense-making

Growth Mindsetages 7–9Growth mindset understanding (SEL) is grounded in the concrete experience of persevering through mathematical problems — the abstract principle is made real through mathematics

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 1 ACARA · 1 NSW · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9M1N06low confidenceYear 1 · Number

use mathematical modelling to solve practical problems involving equal sharing and grouping; represent the situations with diagrams, physical and virtual materials, and use calculation strategies to solve the problem

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

MAO-WM-01medium confidenceMathematics K-10 · Early Stage 1, Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2M1A02low confidenceMathematics · Level 1 · Algebra strand

VC2MFN05low confidenceMathematics · Foundation · Number strand

VC2M2N04low confidenceMathematics · Level 2 · Number strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Early Maths Vocabularyages 5–6 Finding efficient methodsages 5–6 Hands-On Problem Solvingages 5–6 Real-World to Maths Connectionsages 5–6

All Mathematical Thinking skills →