It’s that time of year again, revision is truly under way in preparation for the summer 2017 exam series. We have blogged before about revision techniques such as; revision relays, treasure hunts, and thoughts & crosses activities (Anything but more past papers…, Exam Warm Ups, Exam Technique, Maths Party and Intervention Evening). In this blog we look at other revision games;

Revision Pong
Those that are regular party goers have probably played this game in a social yet competitive environment and adapting it for the classroom is quite easy and flexible in the way it’s played. You just need a set of plastic cups (numbered), a ping pong ball and a set of questions (also numbered).

It can be played as a team game (I recommend no more than 3 per team to avoid down time). If team gets the ball in a cup say number 4, they then answer question 4 to gain points, I give 10 points for correctly answered questions. In order to keep the other team, team B, involved they can also be calculating the answer to “steal the points” if team A get it wrong or alternatively gain bonus points (I award 5). Team B would have to prove to Team A they got it correct by showing their calculations (I provide each team with mini whiteboards).

Revision Hexagons

These great resources from @JR-Maths-Resources are not only beautifully presented and  cover a range of topics, they are differentiated from fluency in the centre to reasoning and finally problem solving as the outside layer. I use these either daily as quick starters (they take around 10 minutes) or as short homework task.

It is definitely worth checking out JR-Maths-Resources here and this set of revision skills starter checks give you a taste of the quality of his resources.

Jenga Game

Again some experimentation has led me to believe the best option here is to number the jenga pieces and use with a corresponding set of questions.You can see in the picture on the left that I do have a set of jenga pieces now dedicated to solving equations, but since numbering the pieces I’ve got a lot more use out of them! The game is played in the same way as the Jenna game, the only addition is that pupils must answer that question before they can remove that piece (if numbered, version on the left pupils would answer after removing it, if they get it wrong they go again). This can be differentiated, identifying the level of difficulty on the question card.

I use quiz, quiz, trade cards such as these on rounding, estimating and bounds as the question cards are numbered or relay cards such as these 9-1 Revision Relay Question cards shared by Simply Effective Resources.

Revision Carousel

I create a revision carousel using a variety of different tasks, one at each of the stations for the topics in the carousel. The timer is set for 7 minutes at each station and pupils rotate through the stations in groups of 3-4. At each station they either answer the questions or taking part in the activity for example Fan & Pick. Therefore a verbal but brief explanation of each station is needed, and reminder notes on how it is played at each station also helps the carousel run smoothly.

Here is an example of a carousel I ran with 6 minutes at each station.

1. Sequences Fan & Pick
2. Sequencees Spot the Mistake (Pupils completed this for homework)
3. Sequences Fortune Teller
4. Sequences Exam questions (collated from ExamPro)
5. Jenga game (shorter stack) I use any task cards or relay questions such as this free set from Simply Effective Resources.
6. Bill and Statement Task Cards (One of each laminated, pupils are allowed calculators)
7. Properties of Numbers Learning Grid (roll the dice)
8. Number Exam questions (collated from ExamPro)
9. Revision Pong (Mixed exam questions from ExamPro)

One of our favourite ways to revise, which we love is to use our revision foldables, check out our blog post Fold it to download it Revision Resources and click on the image below for our premium bundle of revision foldables.

Which revision activities have you found most effective? Get in touch via @numberloving or NumberLoving’s Facebook page!

You might also be interested in visiting Store for both free and premium resources.

Thank you for reading

NumberLoving Sharon