This booklet has 21 different exercises with answers covering a broad range of functional topics inspired by GCSE past papers and the topics that my students have often needed practise on, such as interpreting timetables, working out profit, reading electricity/gas meters, distances and speed, working out pay/salary and so on. There is a self-analysis sheet on the front so students can identify what they may need to practise. I have included both the booklet and answer booklet in PDF and also Microsoft Publisher format so modifications can be made if you like.

Work out the area of the sheep, crocodile, flamingo, snake, jellyfish and fish. They are made of rectangles, squares, parallelograms, triangles and trapezia. There is scaffolding under each picture to help students work out the total area. The worksheet is in both PDF and Microsoft Publisher formats.

Work out the volume of the three robots (one fairly easy, one medium, one quite tricky). The robots are made of cubes, cuboids and cylinders. The students will need to know that the volume of a cylinder can be calculated as the area of the cross-section multiplied by the length/height. This worked really well with both my KS3 and KS4 classes and is a fun way to practice finding volumes of compound solids. The last robot has some tricky metric conversions of length and area also. Tables are provided for each robot to scaffold the calculation of the total volume, and answers are provided. Worksheet provided in both PDF and Publisher versions.

Mr Surd is made from a number of different shapes and his dimensions are given in surd form. The task is to find his total area. This is a fantastic problem solving exercise that really engages the students with a topic that can often be a bit dull. Every class I have tried this with has loved it. It is particularly applicable to the new GCSE spec and its more problem solving approach on many questions.

This took me ages to make! There are 3 sine-osaurs of increasing difficulty - pupils need to work out the area of each using the Sine Rule, Cosine Rule and 1/2absinC. This worked brilliantly well with my higher tier GCSE class. There is a Powerpoint with a class example to start then the worksheet in both PDF and Microsoft Publisher format. The worksheet is scaffolded, with a table under each picture helping students to structure their answer.

Continuing the dinosaur theme I made this for my very bright top set year 8 class, although it has worked very well with higher tier GCSE classes also. Students need to work out the perimeter of the different prehistoric creatures that are made from triangles, rectangles, circles etc. There is a class example Pythagosaurus Rex with a scaffolded printable answer sheet. There is also a spot the mistake task to address any misconceptions with Pythagoras before attempting the main sheet.

I spent an enormous amount of time preparing these for some observed lessons and they are suitable for two to four lessons depending on the ability of the class. They are really well differentiated and really help the students develop a solid understanding of not only the averages and range, but what they mean and all the different ways you could be asked to find them. There are three powerpoints: The mode & median, the mean, the range & making comparisons. There is a corresponding fully differentiated worksheet that goes with each powerpoint, with the level of difficulty increasing as the columns move across the page.

My GCSE higher tier class loved this so it was well worth all the effort put into making it. Really applicable to the new GCSE specification, you need to work out the area of six trees of increasing difficulty, made from triangles, rectangles, parallelograms and trapezia. Included is the worksheet in PDF and also Microsoft Publisher format, and a class example on Microsoft Powerpoint.

For lower ability groups, this has been a life-saver. I have also used it as a starter or a recap activity for higher ability classes also where it has proved to be very effective. The worksheet is differentiated into green, amber, red, challenge, super challenge and builds the confidence of the students by filling in easy gaps first, then increasing the difficulty until they can factorise with no clues at all.

Pupils have to colour in all the true boxes in each grid (there are 6 small grids). The boxes contain simple questions on the mean, mode, median and also a bit of simple mathematical general knowledge. This gives them a 6 letter anagram which they have to unjumble! The anagram is the word cheese. My students love these and its a really good way to liven up the topic. At the back of the sheet is a practise grid also which can be used as an example prior to starting the task. The worksheet is in both PDF and Microsoft Publisher format.

Calculate all the missing angles in the sheep, dog and frog. My class loved this and it was a great way make angles in polygons more interesting and do a bit of problem solving with it too. The worksheet is in both PDF and Microsoft Publisher format.

Rather than just teaching how to round, this presentation and worksheet focuses on using the number line to explain why we round to a particular amount. Its worked really well with classes of all ability as I have found over the years that people forget about the link with the number line and being closer to one amount than another. The worksheet is in both PDF and Microsoft Publisher format. The presentation is on Microsoft Powerpoint.

Suitable for Key Stage 3 or Key Stage 4 Maths classes. Lesson 1 has a powerpoint with examples that start with simple Venn diagrams such as multiples of two different numbers, and common multiples in the intersection. It moves on to more challenging Venn diagrams and working out probabilities from them. The worksheet follows on from this and finishes with questions where the intersection or other area is to be worked out given certain information. Answers are included in a separate file. Lesson 2 works through more complicated examples of constructing and interpreting Venn diagrams. The worksheet follows on from this and has a large number of questions of increasing difficulty and level of problem solving required, finishing with an algebraic question. Answers are also included in a separate file. Both worksheets are in both PDF and Microsoft Publisher formats to enable editing if desired.

These have worked brilliantly with my GCSE Higher Tier class. One of the most common problems is the students not knowing which topics to work on. I have used these as a 10-15 minute starter (although they could be used as a worksheet or as a homework task) and once the questions are completed the students fill in the front of the sheet (which sticks nicely into their exercise book as a small booklet) and use the R/A/G to identify which topics need work. There is also a box on the front for me to write feedback when I mark their books. Each D.I.R.T. sheet covers a range of different topics.

One of the main issues with my foundation GCSE maths group is that although they are keen to prepare for their exams, they don’t know which areas to work on and the specific names of topics. Here are 7 foundation maths D.I.R.T. worksheets with answers that have worked brilliantly for my class. Each worksheet could be used as a good length starter or as a main part of lesson. They cover a variety of topics on each worksheet and once the students have completed the worksheet, and the answers checked, they fill in a table on the front of the worksheet using a RAG analysis to identify which topics they need to work on. Answers are provided on a powerpoint to show to the class.

Number grids - students have to think of at least one number to fill each space in the grid (or explain why there is no number if it can't be filled in). Really good for the new GCSE spec types of questions that combine two number types, eg. circle the number that is both a square number and a cube number, etc.

Students have to spot the numbers that have been correctly rounded. There is a letter with each number, and the correct letters make an anagram - the first answer is whale, the second answer is pony. Task 1 is rounding to the nearest ten, hundred, etc. Task 2 is rounding to one decimal place. This works brilliantly as either a starter/settler or a plenary.

Spot the mistake - a mix of different angles questions, really good as a revision task or as a starter/plenary. Great for addressing common misconceptions!

Really good as a starter/plenary or revision activity. There are loads of different algebraic misconceptions addressed - the students have to spot what the mistake is (there is at least one in each box) and what the correct answer should be. You will need to right click then rotate the sheet into landscape rather than portrait view!

Students colour in the true boxes - this gives a letter per box, which is an anagram of an 8 letter word (triangle!) which the students have to find. Worked really well on what can be a bit of a dull topic. There are some very challenging questions on both metric and imperial conversions, and also a bit of mathematical general knowledge thrown in too!