--- title: "Making a Mess with Maths!" url: "https://www.trawden.lancs.sch.uk/news/2026-09-21-making-a-mess-with-maths" school: "Trawden Forest Primary School" --- # Making a Mess with Maths! ![Image of Making a Mess with Maths!](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/news/IMG_6777.JPG) 21 September 2026 Year 4 have been getting hands-on with their maths this week as they practised **flexible partitioning of 4-digit numbers**. Flexible partitioning means breaking a number into different parts. For example, **3,462** could be partitioned as **3,000 + 400 + 60 + 2**, but it could also be rearranged in other ways, such as **2,000 + 1,400 + 60 + 2**. This helps children develop a deeper understanding of place value and how numbers can be composed in different ways. To make our learning a little more exciting, Year 4 left the comfort of the classroom and headed into the hall armed with whiteboards and pens. Everyone sat beautifully and listened carefully to the instructions... before Mr Loynds and a helpful Year 5 pupil tipped **hundreds of place value counters all over the floor!** The challenge was on! Children were given a 4-digit number and had to search around the hall for the correct counters to build it. Once they had made their number, they worked together to partition it in a range of different ways, recording their ideas on their whiteboards. It was a fantastic hands-on activity that encouraged lots of mathematical discussion, teamwork and problem-solving. The children thoroughly enjoyed searching for counters and experimenting with different ways to make their numbers. Mr Loynds also discovered another benefit to the lesson: a whole class of children enthusiastically cleaning up and sorting hundreds of counters at the end! **Many hands really do make light work!** ### Place Value Game - 18.09.26 [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6770.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6770.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6771.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6771.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6772.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6772.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6773.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6773.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6774.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6774.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6775.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6775.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6777.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6777.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6778.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6778.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6779.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6779.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6780.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6780.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6781.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6781.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6782.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6782.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6783.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6783.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6784.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6784.JPG) [![](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/imagecache/720x720s/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6786.JPG)](https://files.schudio.com/trawden-forest-primary-school-2/images/gallery/place-value-game-18-09-26/IMG_6786.JPG) [Maths](https://www.trawden.lancs.sch.uk/news/tag/maths) [Class of 2029](https://www.trawden.lancs.sch.uk/news/tag/class-of-2029) [ Big Readers, Little Readers](https://www.trawden.lancs.sch.uk/news/2026-09-18-big-readers-little-readers) [Year 2 Forest School - 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