I'm a secondary school maths teacher with a passion for creating high quality resources. All of my complete lesson resources come as single powerpoint files, so everything you need is in one place. Slides have a clean, unfussy layout and I'm not big on plastering learning objectives or acronyms everywhere. My aim is to incorporate interesting, purposeful activities that really make pupils think.
I have a website coming soon!
I'm a secondary school maths teacher with a passion for creating high quality resources. All of my complete lesson resources come as single powerpoint files, so everything you need is in one place. Slides have a clean, unfussy layout and I'm not big on plastering learning objectives or acronyms everywhere. My aim is to incorporate interesting, purposeful activities that really make pupils think.
I have a website coming soon!
A complete lesson (or maybe two) on finding an original amount, given a sale price or the value of something after it has been increased. Looks at both calculator and non-calculator methods.
Activities included:
Starter:
A set of four puzzles where pupils work their way back to 100%, given another percentage.
Main:
Examples, quick questions for pupils to try and a worksheet on calculator methods for reversing a percentage problem.
Examples, quick questions for pupils to try and a worksheet on non- calculator methods for reversing a percentage problem.
Both worksheets have been scaffolded to help pupils with this tricky topic.
A challenging extension task where pupils form and solve equations involving connected amounts.
Plenary:
A final question to address the classic misconception for this topic.
Printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on introducing 3-figure bearings.
Activities included:
Starter:
A quick set of questions to remind pupils of supplementary angles.
Main:
A quick puzzle to get pupils thinking about compass points.
Slides to introduce compass points, the compass and 3-figure bearings.
Examples and questions for pupils to try on finding bearings fro m diagrams.
A set of worksheets with a progression in difficulty, from correctly measuring bearings and scale drawings to using angle rules to find bearings. Includes some challenging questions involving three points, that should promote discussion about different approaches to obtaining an answer.
Plenary:
A prompt to discuss how the bearings of A from B and B from A are connected.
Printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson for first teaching what mixed numbers and improper fractions are, and how to switch between the two forms.
Activities included:
Starter:
Some quick questions to test if pupils can find remainders when dividing.
Main:
Some examples and a worksheet on identifying mixed numbers and improper fractions from a pictorial representation.
Examples and quick questions for pupils to try, on how to convert a mixed number into an improper fraction.
A set of straight forward questions for pupils to work on, with an extension task for those who finish.
Examples and quick questions for pupils to try, on how to simplify an improper fraction.
A set of straight forward questions for pupils to work on, with a challenging extension task for those who finish.
Plenary:
A final question looking at the options when simplifying improper fractions with common factors.
Worksheets and answers included.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on the interior angle sum of a quadrilateral. Requires pupils to know the interior angle sum of a triangle, and also know the angle properties of different quadrilaterals.
Activities included:
Starter:
A few simple questions checking pupils can find missing angles in triangles.
Main:
A nice animation showing a smiley moving around the perimeter of a quadrilateral, turning through the interior angles until it gets back to where it started. It completes a full turn and so demonstrates the rule. This is followed up by instructions for pupils to try the same on a quadrilateral that they draw.
Instructions for pupils to use their quadrilateral to do the more common method of marking the corners, cutting them out and arranging them to form a full turn. This is also animated nicely.
Three example-problem pairs where pupils find missing angles.
Three worksheets, with a progression in difficulty, for pupils to work through. The first has standard ‘find the missing angle’ questions. The second asks pupils to find missing angles, but then identify the quadrilateral according to its angle properties. The third is on a similar theme, but slightly harder (eg having been told a shape is a kite, work out the remaining angles given two of the angles).
A nice extension task, where pupils are given two angles each in three quadrilateral and work out what shapes they could possibly be.
Plenary:
A look at a proof of the rule, by splitting quadrilaterals into two triangles.
A prompt to consider what the sum of interior angles of a pentagon might be.
Printable worksheets and answers included throughout.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson for introducing mean, median and mode for a list of data.
Activities included:
Mini whiteboard questions to check pupil understanding of the basic methods.
A worksheet of straight forward questions.
Mini whiteboard questions with a progression in difficulty, to build up the skills required to do some problem solving...
A worksheet of more challenging questions, where pupils are given some of the averages of a set of data, and they have to work out what the raw data is.
Some final questions to stimulate discussion about the relative merits of each average.
Printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review it if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on sharing an amount in a ratio. Assumes pupils have already learned how to use ratio notation and can interpret ratios as fractions - see my other resources for lessons on these topics.
Activities included:
Starter:
A set of questions to recap ratio notation, equivalent ratios, simplifying ratios and interpreting ratios as fractions.
Main:
A quick activity where pupils shade grids in a given ratio( eg shading a 3 x 4 grid in the ratio shaded:unshaded of 1:2). The intention is that they are repeatedly shading the ratio at this stage, rather than directly dividing the 12 squares in the ratio 1:2. By the last question, with an intentionally large grid, hopefully pupils are thinking of a more efficient way to do this…
Examples and quick questions using a bar modelling approach to sharing an amount in a a given ratio.
A set of questions on sharing in a ratio, with a progression in difficulty. Includes the trickier variations of this topic that sometimes appear on exams (eg Jo and Bob share some money in the ratio 1:2, Jo gets £30 more than Bob, how much did they share?)
A nice puzzle where pupils move matchsticks(well, paper images of them) to divide a grid in different ratios.
Plenary:
A final spot-the-mistake question, again on the theme of the trickier variations of this topic that pupils often fail to spot.
Printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on solving equations of the form sinx = a, asinx = b and asinx+b=0 (or with cos or tan) in the range 0 to 360 degrees. Designed to come after pupils have spent time looking at the functions of sine, cosine and tangent, so that they are familiar with the symmetry properties of these functions. See my other resources for lessons on these precursors.
I made this to use with my further maths gcse group, but could be used with A-level classes too.
Activities included:
Starter:
A set of four questions, effectively equations but presented as visual graph problems, to remind pupils of the symmetry properties of sine and cosine and the fact that tangent repeats every 180 degrees.
Main:
An example to transition from a visual problem to a formal, worded problem, and a reminder of the symmetry properties of sine and cosine.
Five examples of solving trigonometric equations of increasing difficulty, including graphical representations to help pupils understand.
A set of similar questions for pupils to do independently. I’ve made this into a worksheet where the graphs are included, to scaffold the work. Includes an extension task where pupils create equations with a required number of solutions.
Plenary:
A “spot the mistake” that addresses a few common misconceptions.
Printable worksheets and answers provided.
Please review f you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on drawing nets and visualising how they fold. The content has some overlap with a resource I have freely shared on the TES website for years, but has now been augmented and significantly upgraded,as well as being presented in a full, three-part lesson format.
Activities included:
Starter:
A matching activity, where pupils match up names of solids, 3D sketches and nets.
Main:
A link to an online gogebra file (no software required) that allows you to fold and unfold various nets, to help pupils visualise.
A question with an accurate, visual worked answer, where pupils make an accurate drawing of a cuboid’s net. Rather than answer lots of similar questions, pupils are then asked to compare answers with others and discuss whether their answers are different and/or correct.
The same process with a triangular prism.
A brief look at other prisms and a tetrahedron (the latter has the potential to be used to revise constructions if pupils have done them before, or could be briefly discussed as a future task, or left out)
Then two activities with a different focus - the first looking at whether some given sketches are valid nets of cubes, the second about visualising which vertices of a net of a cube would meet when folded.
Plenary:
A brief look at some more elaborate nets, a link to a silly but fun net related video and a link to a second video, which describes a potential follow up or homework task.
Printable worksheets and answers included where appropriate.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on prime factors, but not the usual questions. Intended as a challenging task to come after pupils are familiar with the process of expressing a number as a product of prime factors (see my other resources for a lesson on this).
Activities included:
Starter:
A nice ‘puzzle’ where pupils work out three seemingly unrelated multiplication sums (a good chance to practice another non-calculator skill), only to find they give the same answer. Intended to stimulate some discussion about prime factors.
Main:
Four mini-activities, where pupils use one number’s prime factor form to obtain the prime factor form of some related numbers.
An opportunity for pupils to be creative and come up with their own puzzles.
Plenary:
A final puzzle to check pupils’ understanding of the key idea of the lesson.
Printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review it if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson for first teaching how to find a fraction of an amount.
Activities included:
Starter:
A matching activity, where pupils pair up shapes with the same fraction shaded.
Main:
Some highly visual examples of finding a fraction of an amount, using bar modelling.
Some examples and quick questions for pupils to try (these don’t use bar modelling, but I guess weaker pupils could draw diagrams to help).
A set of questions with a progression in difficulty, from integer answers to decimal answers to some sneaky questions where the pupils need to spot that the fraction can be simplified.
An extension task where pupils arrange digits (with some thought) in order to make statements true.
Plenary:
A nice visual odd-one-out puzzle to finish, that may well expose a few misconceptions too.
Optional, printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on using knowledge of gradient and y-intercept to find the equation of a line. Progresses from positive integer gradients to fractional and/or negative gradients. Examples, printable worksheets and answers included. Please review it if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on bearings problems with an element of trigonometry or Pythagoras’ theorem.
Activities included:
Starter:
Two sets of questions, one to remind pupils of basic bearings, the other a matching activity to remind pupils of basic trigonometry and Pythagoras’ thoerem.
Main:
Three worked examples to show the kind of things required.
A set of eight problems for pupils to work through.
Plenary:
A prompt for pupils to reflect on the skills used during the lesson.
Printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on finding an angle in a right-angled triangle using trig ratios. Designed to come after pupils have been introduced to the ratios sin, cos and tan, and have investigated how the ratios vary. Please see my other resources for complete lessons on these topics.
Activities included:
Starter:
Provided with the graph of y=sinx, pupils estimate sinx for different values of x and vice-versa.
Main:
Slides to introduce use of scientific calculators to find accurate values for angles or ratios.
Examples of the basic method of finding an angle given two sides. Includes graphs to reinforce what is happening.
Quick questions for pupils to try and provided feedback.
A worksheet of questions with a progression in difficulty. Starts with standard questions, then moves on to more challenging ones (eg finding the smallest angle in a non-right-angled, isosceles triangle).
Plenary:
A final question to check pupils’ understanding, but also with a combinations/logic element.
Printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on the interior angle sum of a triangle.
Activities included:
Starter:
Some simple recap questions on angles on a line, as this rule will used to ‘show’ why the interior angle sum for a triangle is 180.
Main:
A nice animation showing a smiley moving around the perimeter of a triangle, turning through the interior angles until it gets back to where it started. It completes a half turn and so demonstrates the rule. This is followed up by instructions for the more common method of pupils drawing a triangle, marking the corners, cutting them out and arranging them to form a straight line. This is also animated nicely.
A few basic questions for pupils to try, a quick reminder of the meaning of scalene, isosceles and equilateral (I would do a lesson on triangle types before doing interior angle sum), then pupils do more basic calculations (two angles are directly given), but also have to identify what type of triangles they get.
An extended set of examples and non-examples with trickier isosceles triangle questions, followed by two sets of questions. The first are standard questions with one angle and side facts given, the second where pupils discuss whether triangles are possible, based on the information given.
A possible extension task is also described, that has a lot of scope for further exploration.
Plenary
A link to an online geogebra file (no software needed, just click on the hyperlink).
This shows a triangle whose points can be moved dynamically, whilst showing the exact size of each angle and a nice graphic of the angles forming a straight line. I’ve listed some probing questions that could be used at this point, depending on the class.
I’ve included key questions and ideas in the notes box.
Optional, printable worksheets and answers included.
Please do review if you buy as any feedback is helpful and appreciated!
A complete lesson on introducing quadratic equations. The lesson looks at what quadratic equations are, solving quadratic equations when there isn’t a term in x, and ends with a more open ended, challenging task.
Activities included:
Starter:
Two questions to get pupils thinking about the fact that positive numbers have two (real) square roots, whereas negative numbers have none.
Main:
A discussion activity to help pupils understand what a quadratic equation is. They are presented with equations spit into 3 columns - linear, quadratic and something else, and have to discuss what features distinguish each.
Examples, quick questions and two sets of questions for pupils to try. These include fraction, decimal and surd answers, but are designed to be done without a calculator, assuming pupils can square root simple numbers like 4/9 or 0.64. Could be done with a calculator if necessary.
Some questions in a geometric context, culminating in some more challenging problems where pupils look for tetromino-type shapes where area = perimeter. There is scope here for pupils to design their own, similar puzzles.
I haven’t included a plenary, as I felt that the end point would vary, depending on the group.
Slides could be printed as worksheets, although everything has been designed to be projected.
Answers included.
Please review if you buy, as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on defining, recognising and extending linear sequences.
Activities included:
Starter:
Pupils discuss whether six sets of numbers are sequences, and if so, what the rules are.
Main:
Slides to define linear sequences, followed by mini whiteboard questions and a worksheet of extending linear sequences.
A fun puzzle a bit like a word search (but where you try to find linear sequences).
Plenary:
Another nice puzzle where pupils try to form as many linear sequences as they can from a set of numbers.
Printable worksheets and answers included.
Please review it if you buy as any feedback is appreciated!
A complete lesson on solving equations of the form sinx = a, asinx = b and asinx + b = 0 (or using cos or tan) for any range.
Designed to come after pupils have spent time solving equations in the range 0 to 360 degrees, and are also familiar with the cyclic nature of the trigonometric functions. See my other resources for lessons on these topics.
I made this to use with my further maths gcse group, but could also be used with an A-level class.
Activities included:
Stater:
A set of 4 questions to test if pupils can solve trigonometric equations in the range 0 to 360 degrees.
Main:
A visual prompt to consider solutions beyond 360 degrees. followed by a second example (see cover image) that will lead to a “dead-end” for pupils.
Slides to define principal values for sine, cosine and tangent, followed by a summary of how to solve equations for any range.
Three example problem pairs to model methods and then get pupils trying. Includes graphical representations to help pupils understand.
A worksheet with a progression in difficulty and a challenging extension to create equations with a required number of solutions.
Plenary:
A prompt to discuss solutions to the extension task.
A powerpoint with a series of lessons on GCSE vectors, with examples, activities and finally exam questions. Includes a few resources adapted from TES user payphone and another from jensilvermath.com.
A powerpoint including examples, worksheets and solutions on probability of one or more events using lists, tables and tree diagrams. Also covers expectation, experimental probability and misconceptions relating to probability. Also includes some classics probability games, puzzles and surprising facts. Worksheets at bottom of presentation for printing.
A powerpoint with explanations and worksheets covering rounding to decimal places and significant figures, estimation, upper & lower bounds and error intervals.