Number Sense

Our Math Vocabulary Resources Are guaranteed to help EYFS to Year 6 Students Learn the Language of Maths.  Printables, Posters, Online Games & Resources For Distance Learning.

Learning math is tricky and often feared, and with good reason.  Math is its own language, not only are there symbols, numbers and geometric images but there are words that don’t mean the same thing as they do in everyday life!

Learning the language of Maths is like learning a foreign language so it makes sense that kids need to learn math vocabulary if they are to be successful learners. In addition to this, if students are not explicitly taught Mathematical Language they will often disregard math words in problems and only look at the numbers!

And there’s a stack of research too about the importance of teaching Math vocabulary and the impact it has on students’ Achievement Levels.

But don’t just take my word for it. Did you know that there’s a ton of research to support the importance of good math vocabulary and achievement levels? 

Studies by Swan & Dunstan; Hirsh & Nation have found that spending time on building math vocabulary will have a huge impact on student achievement. Specifically:

• vocabulary is connected with reading comprehension and is a predictor of students’ comprehension
• Students need to know 90-95% of the words in a text before they can comprehend that text
• Vocabulary needs to be explicitly taught first
• Students from low socioeconomic areas need greater support
• Teaching math vocabulary can help raise student achievement levels
• Students with high vocabulary are better at mathematical reasoning

So, the best way to help students learn the Language of Maths is to incorporate Math vocabulary into your mathematics programs and incorporate a set of simple strategies into every maths lesson.

Math Vocabulary Resources

These Math word lists are linked to the Australian Curriculum.

Words have been taken from the strands, sub-strands, content descriptions and elaborations, as well as NAPLAN test materials.

The Math word lists have been organised by year level and sub-strand so they can be introduced alongside new content, but we recommend revisiting previous year levels to ensure there are no gaps in vocabulary, in addition to teaching words at your year level.

Click each image below or use the tags to go to your year level for Online Games, Printables & Google Slides Math Vocabulary Resources.