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Best Buy!
Like a lot of teachers I spend a fair amount on things to support my teaching. For example, the smelly stickers from PTS are a favourite of mine for using as rewards. However, without a doubt the best buy I’ve made so far is my Hue HD webcam. This may seem expensive at £39.90, but considering I use it every day it has paid for itself time and time again!
It’s basically a webcam, but it has a weighted base and an adjustable arm so it works really well as a visualizer. You install the software (this takes a couple of minutes) and then simply plug in via the USB connector. I use this on a daily basis and it really is brilliant! Here are some ways I use it:
- Pick a student at the end of the lesson and display their work. Get the class to assess it and feedback. This is an instant plenary, it exposes misconceptions, promotes discussion, encourages good presentation and much more!
- As an extension get a student to write an exam question on the topic you’ve been doing. Then just put their question under the webcam and you’ve got your plenary sorted.
- Display an exit ticket from the previous lesson and get students to find the mistake as a starter.
- Display students’ exam responses and get pupils to mark them.
- Use after marking books to showcase really good work or a mistake lots have made.
- Use when teaching constructions (or measuring angles etc.) so pupils can physically see you doing it.
- Use to display a nice question in a book which you only have 1 copy of.
The webcam also has a little button on the top which takes a picture, so you can save their work, tweet it, email it to a parent – whatever you fancy!
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Exam Technique
A quick blog about different strategies and resources to get your class and classroom exam ready!
Displays
Command Word Display
Print this NumberLoving display for your classroom and use it to reinforce the meaning of command words. They can displayed along side the meaning and it also a good activity to remove the command word and ask the pupils to state the command word given the meaning.
Print and laminate this exam countdown display, displaying the most appropriate length of time, whether it be months, weeks or days. Using a whiteboard pen this can easily be updated so the countdown to exams is clear for all.
Exam Practice
Training to Triple read
Encourage pupils not only to read the questions but to triple read the question, each time with a different purpose;
- Highlight the figures in yellow (numbers or words e.g half)
- Highlight command words in green
- Read again “aloud in your head” with emphasise on those words
Do this as part of your teaching, highlighting in two colours, modelling by reading aloud with emphasis on command words. It will soon become part and parcel of pupils’ approach to questions.
Start from the back
Little change with the potential of a big impact on pupils’ resilience and mindset. Starting from the back when pupils are more focused and moving towards the front of the paper and the easier questions. Very relevant if working on papers in class, start from the back so pupils can get support from peers, the teacher etc.
However we are not fans of death by past paper, check out our post “Anything but more past papers” for alternative revision techniques.
Walking Talking Mock
This is large scale modelling; modelling as a teaching strategy is simply put as ‘thinking out loud’. Therefore modelling for pupils the thought processes when approaching problems. Pupils will increasingly take this role of modelling, guided and refined by the teacher. The walking-talking mock is described by the Guardian here as the “new initiative intended to boost students’ exam technique”. In brief it is a large scale version of modelling, highlighting exam technique and key exam words, the lead teacher hints, modelling thought processes related to the mock paper in front of the pupil, question by question in the exam hall. Dragonfly Training give a good description of how they ran a walking-talking mock here or check out Kristian Still’s blog here, this is another good example of how to approach the walking talking mock.
Key Skills Builder
As mentioned in our post some topics keep on coming up so it is important that these skills are embedded in pupils’ practice. We discuss exam warm ups as a way of reinforcing and revising vital topics. Check out the blog here.
Has anyone used these strategies or other strategies? We would love to hear you views! Get in touch @numberloving and follow our Facebook NumberLoving Page
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How do you teach yours? Maths Department CPD
Effective use of department time, this is a daunting task for a newly appointed head of department! So like most when I first took this responsibility I made sharing good practice (SGP) a permanent agenda item as one way of continuous professional development. However, I soon realised that this wasn’t meeting the needs of professional development for the team, all of which were at different stages of their career. The sharing good practice item too often had become one member of the department “sharing a resource” they have used or ‘found’ recently. For many reasons I decided to keep the format of SGP (rota basis throughout the department). So instead of replacing it, I added other activities to department meetings that I felt actually resulted in discussions of good practice in terms of the teaching of Mathematics. In this post I describe three tried and tested strategies for keeping the objective of deeper understanding at the forefront of your departments’ planning and preparation.
First: Why the importance in the Teaching of Mathematics
One of the key message from “Mathematics: made to measure” (read it here) is our responsibility to enable all pupils to develop a conceptual understanding of the mathematics they learn, its structures and relationships and fluent recall of mathematical knowledge and skills in order to equip them to solve familiar problems as well as tackle creatively the more complex and unfamiliar ones that lie ahead. The Ofsted 2012 descriptors found on page 30 of this summary of Mathematics’ reports (another good read) are certainly still relevant when discussing teaching approaches with your department. One element for outstanding quality of teaching is; “Teaching is rooted in the development of all pupils’ conceptual understanding of important concepts and progression within the lesson and over time. It enables pupils to make connections between topics and see the ‘big picture’”.
The Bigger Picture
This is a simple concept in which you ask the department to work in pairs during department time, to consider particular topics/skills on three different levels.
1. Method; what is the method, the skill in its most basic form? Are there any generalisations (known by some as rules grrr)?
2. Understanding; How do you teach for understanding? How do you lead the pupils to make their own generalisations?
3. The bigger picture; What are the applications? Are there any links to other topics?
This really is a great for unpicking your departments’ approaches to individual topics in detail. Often revealing gaps in staff knowledge and understanding (particularly NQT/RQT’s), and can even reveal if staff have been oblivious using and teaching tricks just because they were taught that way. How many of your department now how to conceptually explain the division of a fraction by a fraction. This NumberLoving resource, download for free from here, includes a number of examples such as operating with indices,operating with fractions, standard form and a blank grid (probably the most useful) which you can adapt to suit any topic coming up in your scheme of work.
How do you teach yours?
This second approach requires some forward planning, and forethought from your department members. Prior to the meeting give each member of the department a “How do you teach yours” sheet on the topic you will be discussing. Here is an example of what this might look like for the topics of multiplication and division.
As you can see the department members are asked to complete each indicating how they would teach the pupils, prior to the meeting. Once at the meeting methods, approaches are discussed and debated. This naturally leads to an agreement of what is the best way to teach for understanding. Once agreed on the best approach this can be documented as shown in the example on the right.
This department activity could easily be adapted for any subject area. I have provided three examples of “How do you teach yours” to help get you started. Download it for free here.
Department Reading
This can be done with any text or report which you feel will aid discussion. With a pre-determined focus direct the department towards the book/report, or even better provide a paper copy in their tray. Department should read this in preparation for the meeting.
Nix the tricks
As described on the website this book is “filled with alternatives to the shortcuts so prevalent in mathematics education and explains exactly why the tricks are so bad for understanding math”. I would highly recommend providing each member of your department with this book. This makes for both a great discussion point and a handy resource for alternative methods. I have also found it useful as a point of referral when during work samples I have observed potential teaching of tricks and not of understanding. This book can be purchased online or downloaded as a pdf for free from the Nix the Tricks website here.
I hope this has provided some ideas of how to promote continuous professional development rooted around the effective teaching of mathematics!
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Decorate your door!
A nice, simple display for all the doors in the department!
Download the resource from our store for free now!
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Lessons in Love- Number Love
‘<3’ Is a HEART, composed of two parts.
In Mathematics, this means “less than three”.
Because in real life, LOVE has no space for a third,
Love is only you and me!
It is that time of year and both NumberLoving authors are feeling the love with two weddings to plan, so here are some more math Valentine’s Day activities!
Mathematical Valentine Rhyme Challenge
Challenge your pupils to write a mathematical rhyme including a set number of mathematical terms. This is a great idea I found on Craft Moms share blog here and the example on the left is taken from their blog and includes 7 maths terms. I will be challenging my pupils to come up with their rhymes for homework! Check this one out, not by a pupil but still a great poem!
We have a number of Valentine and love themed mysteries, in which pupils use the clues to solve the question. Mysteries are a thinking skills activity in which pupils use the clues to solve problems. Check out our post Pi Day
Also not to be missed;
Check out these blogs for great valentines maths ideas;
Googol power bring a wide variety of activities, I love this activity finding the area and perimeter of hearts. Pupils estimate and for extra challenge ask them to calculate. Even better get pupils to use Desmos as described in Colleen Young’s blog here to create their own heart, math-o-gram. Then ask pupils to find the area and perimeter.
One of my favourite activities making heart shaped mobius strips and other great ideas in our blog “Valentine’s Day, send Mobius Hearts Our Way” for other valentine maths activities. 
Make Sierpiński sieve pop heart with instructions from 360 (don’t be put off by the dinosaur).
Speed dating with data collection in this blog we describe how to set up a speed dating activity allowing for data collection.
So who will be your math-en-tine?
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AQA Maths Topic Analysis
It’s getting to that time of year where we start to think about year 11 revision, but it’s sometimes hard to know where to start. Obviously you speak to your class and you analyse their mock papers but beyond that it’s impossible to revise everything. So, as a starting point I decided to analyse all the AQA Linear Maths papers from the last 4 years to see which topics were a good bet. Here are the top ten topics from higher.
And the top ten topic from foundation.
These results should make for an interesting discussion with your department, there are certainly things which I have never considered revising in detail (like money) but which should offer a good pay off for students. Obviously these results need to be taken with a good dose of common sense too!
If you are with OCR there is a similar analysis available on TES here shared by m34maths.
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3D Shapes in more than 3-ways
In this post I have pulled together lots of different ways of studying 3D shapes, with my new favourite ‘Pull-Up’ shapes. For each activity I have linked it to my favourite nRich tasks, check out their collection here.
Fold-Up for the Notebook
This great idea from Pinterest, means pupils can have this 3D shape in their class books but it still folds flat! I believe this idea originally came from Hooty’s Homeroom blog, check out their website here for full instructions.
n-Rich Pyramid N-gon
The base of a pyramid has n edges. In terms of n, what is the difference between the number of edges of the pyramid and the number of faces? Check out this nRich task here.
Construct and Hang-Up
Using toothpicks or wooden skewers as edges and midget gems or marshmallows as vertices most 3D shapes can be built. These make great 3D shapes for display but also useful for when exploring trigonometry and Pythagoras’ Theorem in 3D. 
Midget gems will go hard and therefore will withstand the test of time on the classroom windowsill. Check out our blog post Sweets, cocktails sticks and 3D shapes
NRich Cube Paths Puzzle
Use tooth picks and midget gems to construct a skeletal view of a 2 by 2 by 2 cube with one route ‘down’ the cube.
How many routes are there on the surface of the cube from A to B?
(No `backtracking’ allowed, i.e. each move must be away from A towards B.)
Pull-Up
Often the building of 3D solids leads to some not so pretty and poorly constructed shapes, partly due to ‘accidentally’ cutting tabs off and mostly due to poor fine motor skills. I recently read Liz Meenan’s article for the Association of Teachers of Mathematics, who had experienced the same and in her article she talks about pull-up nets.
The nets are constructed pretty much as usual, however there are no tabs but instead small holes in strategically
placed corners. A thread is then looped through these holes in order, pull on the thread to pull-up your 3D shape.
Check out the full ATM article by Liz Meenan here.
Net Profit- add some challenge to the pull-up cube activity with this nRich task.
The diagram shows the net of a cube. Which edge meets the edge X when the net is folded to form the cube? More questions and solutions here.
Pop-Up
I absolutely love making the pop-up Spider for a Halloween activity. The pop-up spider is a dodecahedron painted black. Check out our blog post here for this and other Halloween maths ideas.
Alternatively, get pupils to construct equilateral triangles using a compass, therefore create the net for this pop-up octahedron. Check out our post ‘A lesson off-never’ here for further details.
n-Rich Dodecamagic
Here you see the front and back views of a dodecahedron which is a solid made up of pentagonal faces. Using twenty of the numbers from 1 to 25, each vertex has been numbered so that the numbers around each pentagonal face add up to 65. The number F is the number of faces of the solid. Can you find all the missing numbers?
You might like to make a dodecahedron (pop up or not) and write the numbers at the vertices.
Check out the n-Rich task here.
n-Rich Magic Octahedron
In a Magic Octahedron, the four numbers on the faces that meet at a vertex add up to make the same total for every vertex. If the letters F,G,H,J and K are replaced with the numbers 2,4,6,7 and 8, in some order, to make a Magic octahedron, what is the value of G+J? Click here for the website and access to solutions.
Build-Up (Virtually) with Building Houses
This can be used on the interactive whiteboard to build with ‘virtual’ cubic cubes by pupils or teacher. The shape can be rotated to consider different views (side/front elevation etc). Check out the website here. Colleen Young has a great blog on the use of this app, check it out here.
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Spooktacular Colour by Numbers
Colour by number is a well known childhood activity and in most cases requires no maths other than number recognition. Take for example this Halloween Scarecrow picture, which I have completed online using the Color It by Numbers website here. As you can see each number represents a particular colour and once finished the image is more defined.
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To add difficulty to this activity and make suitable for older children we’ve created our MathArt worksheets. Here is an example solution sheet, taken from our Halloween Maths: Simplifying Expressions Math Art resource.
In this type of activity pupils must answer the questions and then shade all the squares with that answer with the colour indicated, resulting in a Halloween picture. There are two different Halloween MathArt resources available in our Halloween Bundle.
To add further challenge and set a homework task, I use a blank and much simpler template such as this pumpkin picture taken from Coloritbynumber.com here, and ask pupils to create their own question with the correct answers placed in the grid. Pupils will need to group the questions by colour.
You could ask pupils to create a set of questions limited by topic area for example; BIDMAS, solving equations, area, perimeter, evaluating formulae, alternatively pupils could create it based on a number of topics recently studied. Their work (when checked) could then be given an a starter of homework activity for another class. Here is an the example I show the pupils;
Other Halloween Activities we Love
We love relay races as a great team and review activity, check out our blog post here about how to run a relay race. A collection of relay races for all occasions, not just Halloween, can be downloaded from here made by Chris Smith @AAP03102.
Check out our post on making some Halloween decorations using rotational symmetry here.
Check out our blog here.
Thank you for reading NumberLoving!
Sharon
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Volume with Mario and Luigi
One of our most popular blog posts to date has been “Nets to catch Angry Birds” (view here) in which these computer game characters are constructed into 3D shapes using nets. Leading to investigations about area, volume, surface area and scale factors and some great display work.
In our pursuit to continue to “Pimp Our Displays” as described in an earlier post here, I wanted to do something different to Angry Birds. I’ll admit I am not an avid game player at all but even I know Minecraft is big and very ‘blocky’ in its nature, so I went searching and it really didn’t take long, here is what I found. First I came across this TES resource, which includes the net of a Minecraft zombie and creeper, this was uploaded by Daniohara.
Some further research and I found FPS-X-Games.com blog by Steven Bear and his printable resources on his post “Minecraft Mob” here. His post includes nets to build Steve the Minecraft character, shown on the left. Nets to make the Creeper, the Pig, the Zombie and the Spider.
Barking Dog also provides printable nets for the Minecraft materials such as sand, dirt, stone and grass, check it out here. And check out a Minecraft Fan Club page here with more printable nets.
I was still not satisfied, I continued to think about how I could bring the classwork into a great display and bingo I thought Mario! Mario is timeless, everyone knows Mario, Luigi, those blocks and that tune!
Wow check out this site Deviant Art and Taringa.net from here I downloaded the resources ready for the Mario class and display work. So the plan is to print these in full colour, pupils can then construct, consolidating their learning about surface area. I will then make a Mario 3D display, by having at least two separate rows of 3D mystery blocks and 3D versions of Mario, Luigi and the other characters. I will then get the pupils to do the calculations of volume or surface area alongside the display!
Check these out nets;
So what if Mario is not your thing, just image search “Cubecraft Cartoons” and if there is a cartoon character you can think of I bet it is there!
Thanks for reading NumberLoving, we hope you find the ideas useful! Get in touch @numberloving and check out our free and premium resources in our NumberLoving Store.
Pimp Your Displays
Hello Readers!
I want to talk about ‘pimping’ those display! This year one of our focuses is displays, in and out of the classroom. We want to not only update them but reinvigorate them, move away from the dull, nonnegotiable displays that have existed for years, to exciting and movable, easily updated and useful displays!! This year we are rotating department time around the maths classrooms, each teacher hosts; setting up tables, providing a puzzle and putting the kettle! The department then decide on 2 stars and a wish for the room! I got this idea from Mr Jon Colebrook @ColebrookJon at the SSAT London Achievement Show 2015, so simple but effective as everyone takes pride in their classroom and the learning environment they provide!
Celebrating Pupil Work
Great Work Hangs Out Here
Check out my newest display, eagerly awaiting great work! The pegs make this one of the most versatile displays for celebrating pupils work. I’ve used it to peg Y12 A Level maths work up after marking a homework assessment. Also great during the lesson to peg examples of excellent answers!
I also love ‘This work is Incredible’ with Hulk presiding over the work shared by @HeadofEnglish here! Another example using pegs for interchangeable displays!
Variations on this could be an ‘In the Spotlight” display using paper that looks like stage spotlight and a “Wall of Fame”.
How do you measure up?
This display is perfect for the classroom or communal areas to encourage numeracy conversations as well as give pupils more experience of estimating heights. Using a printed ruler (or Ikea paper rulers), pinned at the correct height. Update regularly with the heights and pictures of the latest A-Z list celebrities.
BIDMAS/Countdown Corner
Simple idea, give pupils a target and they have to use the operations to make the target number just like the game show.
Alternatively create a countdown corner, like the program. Both ideas are great for starters, or on-going challenges.
How to Learn Maths
I found this great resource on the TES website here, by Complex_Number.
I agree completely that we have to encourage pupils to recognise mistakes as learning opportunities!
I printed two copies on two different colours to create two displays for different classrooms by mixing up the colours! Here is one of the displays
Door Display
Simply use the classroom door to remind pupils of the difference between area and perimeter.
Use our free door (or a window) display to provide a visual of the key terminology vertical and horizontal. Download from the link below;
Suduko Challenge
Interactive display, I let pupils complete the suduko. By using PVC electrical tape I have created a damage free display on a painted wall. The tape peels away leaving no marks. You can see the black velcro tabs, these are placed on top of the yellow tape, i.e. damage free walls and a great activity.
The pouch at the bottom holds the remaining cards and a book of suduko’s of varying challenge.
This display is total versatile because it is essential a 9 by 9 grid. Therefore it can also be used when teaching place value, multiplying and dividing by powers of ten, translations, enlargements, coordinates and so much more!
Mathematics Around the World
Create a display by asking pupils to create a Facebook profile for famous mathematicians from around the world and use string to show their country. Thank you to Mrs Walters for this awesome display!
Instant Display Work
Post-it notes and window crayons, rolls of back paper, magic whiteboard and any surface can become a display area.
We have blogged about window crayons before, check out our blog here.
Magic whiteboard, wallpaper rolls also great to create instant display of pupils’ work.
Bunting
So many great bunting ideas to choose from JustMaths have blogged here about A-Z keyword bunting here. Or Miss Radders discusses how to make bunting from old maths text books here. Also MissBResource’s has an awesome collection of display resources including shape and formulae (by Mr Collins) bunting here.
Literacy in Maths Displays
Boggle
Pupils have to make words using the letters on display, award double points for mathematical words. Increase the difficulty by adding the rule that the letters must ‘connect’, vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Using sticky back Velcro again allows the alphabet cards to be changed on a daily basis!
Key Action Words
In every maths classroom, all the key action words. These are referred to on a daily basis.
Corridor Displays
Elements of Maths: From the awesome Just Maths team find their elements of maths display and resources here. Great for classroom or department display.
Room Numbers: Pimp your room numbers, instead of 5 use operations that give an answer of 5.
Celebration Wall: Celebrate success in using Wall of Fame, in the spotlight!
NumberLoving’s Display Shopping List
Pegs– essential to make your displays interchangeable.
Pre-cut lettering– Widely available on the internet, or if your DT has a laser cutter get them to cut some out! How have I not known about this until now?!
Velcro tabs– these provide another way of keeping your displays adaptable (Suduko or Boggle). Remember stick these on top of PVC electrical tape to avoid damage to walls.
Velcro Wall- Use felt to create a velcro wall, a great idea shared at the recent school Learning Fair by Miss Austin.
Laminator– Essential, means you can keep display for re-use in a year or two or in another classroom.
String or Ribbon– for bunting or clothes line (see great work hangs out here)
Sticky Back Plastic– reinvigorate old filing cabinets or book shelves!
Window Crayons- instant display as pupils complete questions on glass
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