A problem solving task that gives students lots of practice finding the surface area of cuboids. Students are told what the surface area of each cuboid is, but are only given 2 of the 3 lengths needed to calculate the surface area - they must determine what the missing length is. All possible answers are given at the bottom of the page for students to cross off as they go. I designed this for a Year 7 mid-ability group who solved it through trial and error, however it could also be solved algebraically (using linear equations). Solutions are provided.

A puzzle to make the topic of dividing in ratio a little bit more interesting, inspired by a similar Don Steward task: https://donsteward.blogspot.com/2014/11/mobile-moments.html The numbers along the top of the bars tell student what ratio to divide the top number in. For example, on question 4, you should split 42 into the ratio 3:4 and put the answers in the bubbles. They should then split their answer of 24 in the ratio 1:2. Solutions are provided.

A task I designed to make my lesson on the area of a parallelogram a little more interesting! Students are given a variety of parallelograms where the side lengths are algebraic expressions. Students are given 9 possible values for x and have to substitute these values into the parallelograms, and then calculate their areas. Their aim is to create parallelograms with given areas. Solutions are provided.

I wanted something a little more challenging on the topic of Trapezia that still gave my students plenty of practice calculating areas, so I designed these questions. In each question, students are given a pair of trapezia and are told how their areas are linked (one is a multiple of the other). Students have to determine the area of one trapezium, use that to determine the area of the other one, and then finally use that to determine a missing value. Sheets I and II are very similar, but sheet III is a bit more challenging. Solutions are provided.

Students must use their knowledge of triangles and quadrilaterals to form and solve simultaneous equations. Answers are provided.

Some questions on Bearings & right-angled Trigonometry that I designed for my Year 11 students. The worksheet is scaffolded - each question comes in a pair. In the first question, I have drawn the complete diagram for students. In the second question, the diagram has been drawn but not labelled - students must do this for themselves. Solutions are provided.

A simple worksheet - nothing fancy. Students are given 30 linear equations in a grid (all of the form ax + b = c), some of which have integer answers, and some of which have fractional answers. They have to solve the equations and colour in the boxes according to what type of solution the equation has. Like I said, this worksheet is nothing fancy so it doesn’t make a picture when they’ve finished colouring! I’ve provided answers as well.

Students are given the beginning of a sequence and must determine the next 3 terms. They also need to classify the sequence as arithmetic, geometric or quadratic. Solutions are provided.

A simple, basic worksheet on plotting quadratics for weaker students. The variable appears in one place only, which makes filling in the table of values through substitution easier. I’ve included a co-ordinate grid and solutions to the task.

I designed this activity for my top set Year 10 class. It involves adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers in standard form. It is designed to be done without a calculator! Initially, students are given 2 numbers in standard form, a and b, and must calculate other values such as a + b, a x b etc., but progresses onto skills such as, if you’re given b and a ÷ b, can you work out a? Good for a higher-attaining group I think! Solutions are provided.

4 questions that I created to challenge my more able Year 8 students when we covered solving equations with brackets. Requires knowledge of: how to find the area of a rectangle and triangle, how to divide a quantity in a ratio, and how to calculate the mean and range of a set of numbers. Answers are provided (and they’re fractions to make things a bit trickier!).

This activity is inspired by something I saw on the Mathspad website, but I wanted a simpler version to use in a first lesson with Year 7 on expanding double brackets. There are therefore no negatives in this activity, and the leading coefficient in the quadratics you obtain is always 1. The students are given a table of algebraic expressions and 15 quadratics they are trying to create. They pick 2 expressions from the table, multiply them together and see if they’ve created one of the quadratics. If not, they try again! Each expression can only be used once, although most expressions appear multiple times in the table. I’ve used this with a mixed ability Year 7 group, and it worked well. Weaker students can pick expressions at random and see what they get, whereas stronger students may start with the quadratic and ask themselves how they can create it - essentially factorising quadratics! Solutions are provided.

A Treasure Hunt on ratio questions of the form: Hugh and Kristian share some money in the ratio 3:4. Hugh gets £18. How much does Kristian get? Stick the questions up on the wall around the room. Students pick their own starting point, answer the question, and look for their answer on the top of a different card. This tells them which question to answer next. They end up back at the starting point if they complete all 20 questions correctly. Solution provided.

Students are given a grid of one-step equations to solve. They’ll need 2 colouring pencils (any colours will do!) - one colour for even answers, and one colour for odd answers. I’ve included a file showing what the final image should look like! A nice activity for Friday Period 5!

A task I used with more able Year 8 students. Students are given decreasing arithmetic sequences - but most of the terms are missing. They must first determine the missing terms, and then work out the nth term. Solutions are provided.

A short matching task on the Area of a Circle in terms of Pi. Students calculate the area of each circle, and cross off the answer in the grid at the bottom. It will probably take your students only 5 minutes to complete! Task is available as a pdf or as a powerpoint, in case you want to make any changes.

Students must use their knowledge of similar shapes and linear equations in order to determine the value of an unknown. Solutions are provided.

In each block of the maze, students are given a value and a percentage they should increase it by. An answer is given (the large number in each block). Students try to find a way through the maze, left to right, that only goes through correct answers (moving diagonally is not allowed!). Solutions provided.

This was inspired by an excellent resource on TES by MrMawson (https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/prime-factor-decomposition-logical-puzzle-11367345). I’ve used it with higher-attaining students, but wanted to adapt it to make it a bit more accessible to lower-attaining students. In each question, students are given 2 numbers. They should draw prime factor trees for each number and look for common prime factors. The common prime factors go in the middle boxes, and the remaining prime factors go in the boxes around the outside. Solutions are provided.

Students solve quadratic equations by completing the square, giving their answers in both surd form and as decimals. The answers are all jumbled up, and students must match the answers to the correct quadratic equation. There are a couple of quadratics where the coefficient of x is odd, and some knowledge of simplifying surds will be required. Solutions are provided.