Tes Maths: Cover lesson collection
Detailed lesson ideas to help you prepare valuable cover work
It is always handy to have a stock of cover lessons up your sleeve, in case you're off sick, going on a course or left in the lurch by a colleague. And with the exams on the horizon, I find that this becomes more important than ever.
Good-quality cover work needs to have clear instructions and be plentiful, so that students don't finish it all in five minutes. For the non-maths specialist covering your class, it's also very useful if it comes complete with answers.
With that in mind, here is a selection of the best cover lessons from the Tes Maths community.
Craig Barton, Tes Maths adviser
Resources by topic
Explore exercises for every maths topic you could imagine using these thorough lesson plans and activities. With pages of questions and answers, they are perfect for cover work and are pitched at Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 and GCSE classes.
Student booklets
Although these workbooks were designed as homework activities, they can easily be left for cover lessons. They cater for a range of ages and abilities, from low-ability sheets for Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10 to high-ability booklets for Year 8 and 9. Likewise, I would highly recommend checking out the Brockington homework collection, which has mixed topic homework sheets for every age and ability that are ideal for cover lessons.
Maths Homework booklet for year 8 low
Maths Homework booklet Y9 low ability
Maths Homework booklet Y10 low ability
anyone want to email me some answers for this then please send me a message
Maths Homework booklet Y8/9 higher ability
Brockington College Maths homework booklets
Obviously cannot post answers here, but happy for people to email me for them - a DM on twitter with your email address is the best way to get them.
Note there are a few images borrowed from different places. Apologies for any infringement and please just let me know and I am happy to credit or change as required.
GCSE worksheets
Avoid unproductivity in your Year 10 and 11 cover lessons using this bundle of revision homework sheets. Covering a range of topics, and alternating between calculator and non-calculator exercises, these work well at the end of a year as a revision exercise or at the start of term to see what your students have remembered. Two resource bundles are available; one for students working towards the old grades C and B (now grades 4-6), and one for students aiming for grades B to A* (now grades 7-9).
Y11 Higher (C/B Grade) Homework Sheets
Y11 Homework Sheets (B-A* Grade)
Revision presentation
Challenge your KS3 class with this well-structured resource, which when printed fits neatly onto an A4 piece of paper, complete with a presentation displaying the answers. With over 100 slides, there is plenty of content to keep a class occupied and is a good back-up to have for multiple cover lessons.
Maths investigations
If you are feeling a bit adventurous, then you could always set something a bit different. Engage your students with one of six thought-provoking investigations, including topics such as area and probability. It comes complete with teacher support, as well as guidance for peer assessment
Free Massive Maths Revision Powerpoint KS3 GCSE. Over 100 Slides & 10'000 Questions
Over 100 slides, over 10’000 questions (with answers). I've also created black & white worksheets that can be distributed to your students (answers removed of course).
Topics include; fractions, decimals percentages, transformations, trigonometry, area, angles, construction, equations, quadratics, sequences, graphs, sampling, probability and many more.
Also check out our accompanying KS3 Maths bumper Homework booklet containing a years worth of maths homework.
https://www.tes.co.uk/teaching-resource/ks3-bumper-maths-homework-megapack-1-years-worth-of-homework-11067720
Hope you find this as useful as I did, & if you did please make our day by leaving us a comment or rating.
Much appreciated.
Enjoy
Maths Investigations
Based on the Science tasks produced in East Sussex, these investigation starter sheets give an introduction to a topic for investigation, with levelled guidance for progressing the investigation and to allow self- and peer-assessment. Targetted at Y7, these may be suitable for several year groups in KS2/3 Please note that the levelling guide is a first draft and may change. There are currently six investigations: one based on positive & negative numbers, one on sequences, one on area/perimeter, one on polyominoes, one on handling data, and the sixth on probability. Any suggestions warmly welcomed at tafkam.tes@googlemail.com
Useful extras
You can't always be prepared for a last minute change of plan, but at least with this handy template you can quickly organise your thoughts in a structured way. And if you fancy trying something off-the-wall, how about adapting these English cover work lesson ideas for the maths classroom? With a bit of creative thinking, these could be used to approach topics in a more engaging way.
Cover Work Template
