Friday, October 11, 2019

Year Vii Maths Activities

Craig Barton has but released his podcast Slice of Advice: First Lessons. It's packed total of adept advice together with thus create get got a listen. In my contribution to this podcast, I promised that I would portion around activities for get-go lessons (or indeed, whatever lesson) alongside Year 7. Here nosotros are looking at activities that are accessible without existence patronising, together with plough over students the chance to demo us what they tin create (mathematically speaking) every bit nosotros circulate together with come across them for the get-go time. There are hundreds of cracking activities that would function well. This postal service features but 8 examples. The pictures shown are alone extracts - delight click on the links for the total resource.

1. In-Betweens from Colin Foster
This is an enjoyable together with highly accessible activity alongside a adept stretch task. It volition start to plough over y'all a adept thought of how much your novel Year 7s know well-nigh house value.
2. Gems 84 I wrote well-nigh the fourth dimension I saw this classic activity inwards an interview lesson. It's actually uncomplicated together with engaging. It looks similar it may get got been based on this Nrich task.
Read this post to consider a similar chore inwards action.

4.  Consecutive Chains from MathsPad
I honey this - it's fun for everyone! Children get-go come across foursquare together with cube number inwards Year v together with should hold upward familiar alongside primes, factors together with multiples. I mean value this chore volition hold upward accessible to around Year 7s (perhaps later on a reminder of number properties) but non all.
5. Shape Time Shape yesteryear Nrich
In this lovely chore the coloured shapes represent 11 of the numbers from 0 to 12. Each shape is a dissimilar number. Students get got to function out which is which. This is an accessible together with enjoyable chore that gets students noticing together with reasoning.
6. Loops yesteryear Colin Foster
This designing spotting chore is slightly more challenging, but all the same accessible. This is adept if y'all desire your students to start secondary schoolhouse alongside maths that looks quite dissimilar to anything they've done before.

There are loads to a greater extent than lesson activities inwards this set of numeracy activities from Colin Foster. I specially similar 'Musical Composers' together with 'Number Triangles'.

7. Number Properties Challenge from Stephen Bodman
Give students iii or iv random digits together with they get got to generate numbers alongside specific properties - such every bit 'biggest number', 'smallest strange number', 'number closest to 3000' together with and thus on. You tin download the resources from TES together with it could choke a regular characteristic of your Year seven maths lessons.

8. Number Mazes by Erich Friedman
Start alongside the number on the left. By moving through the maze together with doing whatever arithmetics operations on the number that y'all encounter, learn out the maze alongside the number on the right. You may transcend through an functioning several times, but y'all tin non brand a U-turn. The results of all operations volition hold upward positive whole numbers. Each maze has several solutions, but has a unique shortest solution.


There are xvi puzzles hither together with they speedily learn to a greater extent than difficult. The maths is accessible to all though, making it a cracking activity for the get-go lesson alongside Year 7.

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After the get-go lesson, I'd learn lead on alongside pedagogy the content of the scheme of work. We must of course of report hold upward mindful of what maths our students get got been taught at primary school, but get got into trouble organisation human relationship that they are probable to hold upward a fighting rusty later on the long summertime interruption (this applies to every yr group!). If y'all get got ane principal feeder schoolhouse it's worth finding out if at that topographic point are whatever item methods (eg bar modelling) that your students volition hold upward familiar with.

All secondary teachers, but specially Year seven teachers, should know the content of the primary maths curriculum. This summary yesteryear Michael Tidd is rattling helpful, together with mayhap worth looking at during a maths subdivision coming together at the start of the novel schoolhouse year. It's also a adept thought to expression through the SATs papers that your novel Year 7s took at the terminate of Year 6. To assistance y'all interpret their SATs scaled score information - inwards 2018, a score of 61 out of 110 (ie 55%) translated to a scaled score of 100, which is the Government's 'expected standard' transcend mark. Of course of report the numbers don't state us much, together with thus hopefully our students volition start to demo us much of their mathematical cognition together with agreement over the get-go few weeks of Year 7. We must plough over them the chance to create so!