Trying to use variation theory My thinking A question to start Reversing the terms. Does balancing still work? A subtraction. How does this effect our balance. Does reversing the terms still lead us to the same answer Increasing the constant by one. What happens? Also: a decimal answer. We can have a negative answer Divide x, instead of multiplying it. Increasing co-efficient of x by one. What happens to our answer? Doubling co-efficient of x. Not sure about these last two. I think they may be a step back from question 7. This is the problem with presenting these in a linear format. These questions are variations on question 1, not question 7. I might experiment with some kind of spider diagram. Doubling the divisor from 7. Again, maybe the linear way these are written is a bit rubbish. Don’t know how I like the order of these questions, but there’s lots to think about and something to tweak. I have found the transition to asking ‘why have they asked you that question? What are they trying to tell you?’ has been difficult for some students, but I think it’s worth devoting time to it. If students are inspecting questions for things like this, maybe they’re more likely to read the question thoroughly and pick out it’s mathematics. Big hope, I know.

An example problem pairs. Loads of practice. Some more puzzly bits.

An example problem pair, a discussion slide on things like 24.98 to 1 d.p. , some miniwhiteboard work, an exercise with answers and a quick plenary learning check.

Changelog: 2 new sections. Changed some answers to address more misconceptions. Completely redone version of maths pointless. The countdown is now much, much quicker (as requested). New questions will also be coming in an update over the following weeks. Play over numerous rounds and keep score on the board. All credit to Paul Collins.

Not sure how I feel about some of the decisions here. I’ve introduced a bit of index laws towards the end of the sheet. Is this madness? I thought I would add it to reinforce the difference between simplifying powers and simplifying regular expressions. Maybe it’s too much. As usual here’s my little justification for the first 10 questions. A simple one to start If you change the letter, it’s the same process You can have multiples of terms And it doesn’t matter where in the expression they occur You can have 3 terms And it doesn’t matter where in the expression they occur Introducing a negative for the first time. At the end to make it easier But the negative can occur anywhere! Here it actually makes you use negatives unless you collect the terms first Introducing terms like bc. It’s not the same as b + c We can do some division Later questions cover stuff like ab being the same as ba. I quite like the last question

Example problem pair Some exercises Learning check Not massively exciting. Open to suggestions on how to inject a little more zip. NOTE: TES has pretty rubbish versioning. I tend to update my PowerPoints every time I teach with them, adding more stuff or correcting errors in presentation and math. The latest version can always be found here

Inspiration from Mr Mattock (@mrmattock on twitter). Going from using diagrams to doing it without the diagram.

A lesson focusing on learning the names of polygons (with a Quizlet link) and saying if something IS a Polygon or not

Full (couple of) lesson (s). Lots of stuff.

Simple but comprehensive. Goes through dividing integers that make decimal answers all the way up to dividing two decimals. Some example problem pairs, some exercises, a ‘correct the work’ exercise, a little learning check. Use bits you want, chuck out bits you don’t. I wrote the questions to encourage thinking.

PowerPoint using the White Rose place value grids writing place values from both grids and identifying place value in the number. Includes an exercise, some whiteboard work a starter and a plenary.

Powerpoint covers everything. There’s a starter, some pattern spotting, an exercises for both multiplying and dividing (but no mixed exercise) and a plenary. Maybe there’s not enough drill practice here. But you can use mathsbot for that. Enough for two lessons I think. We don’t spend enough time on negatives.

Ungrouped. Starter Example problem pair Two sets of questions, one thinking about symmetry in the data Plenary Does not include using the average to find missing values in the table.

A very simple Powerpoint, with a starter, an example problem pair, some questions (including some rearranging equations practice) and a plenary.

Simple little powerpoint A little prior knowledge starter, an example problem pair, some questions I wrote, some exam questions and a plenary.

Talking about spotting number bonds for addition and grouping your subtrahends for subtraction to make doing a calculation much simpler. A exercise on each.

A lesson on calculating efficiently with multiplication. Things like 5×17×2 (regrouping) 9×2+9×8 (distributive)

A really simple starter that should be the jumping off points for discussion. Loads of numbers with zeroes in. Some needed. Some not. Some COULD be needed (if you’re dealing with currency or bearings etc) A conversation starter.

A lot of different example problem pairs linked to ratio skills. Linked to some Dr Frost key skills and with some exercises.

Simple powerpoint containing some example problem pairs (best to print) and some questions on simple single event probability.