A fun and engaging codebreaker activity in which pupils must evaluate calculations using the order of operations in order to crack the code and reveal the joke. Ideal for consolidating skills, pupils will race to complete this task and delight in telling you how terrible the joke is. Answers are included, as is the original Publisher file to allow for easy editing should you wish to do so. Joke should read once completed: “What did one toilet say to the other? You look a bit flushed!”

Fun and engaging class game based on the old TV show Blockbusters, with questions on using the order of operations. These range from fairly basic ones, to questions including square roots, and cubing. Split the class into two teams, blue and white. The blue team must try to create a connected blue line from left to right, the white team must try to do the same from top to bottom. Click on the letters to link to the questions, if the answering team gets it right then click “Game board” to get back to the start, and click on the appropriate colour for that team to turn the tile blue or white.

Fun and engaging classroom bingo activity based on order of operations questions. Questions include negatives and square roots, so pupils should have a good understanding before playing this game for consolidation in class. Printable grids included for pupils to fill out.

Complete order of operations resource that should last over two lessons (perhaps three), but there is a suitable ending point at about 1 lessons work if you do not want to spend longer on the topic. Starts off with questions to check on misconceptions, followed by an explanation of the order of operations - you can choose to use the BIDMAS acronym if you wish, but it is not explicitly stated if you prefer not to use it. The operations are presented as a pyramid to show clear priority. This is followed by questions for independent work of increasing difficulty and another task where pupils can choose between more calculations to work out or inserting brackets to make equations correct. After this, some examples and questions bring square roots in to increase depth, including some questions where pupils need to correct mistakes that have been made. To round it all off, pupils can attempt the 4 Four’s challenge, where they attempt to make the numbers from 1 to 20 using exactly 4 four’s and any operations they like. The number 19 requires factorials so it has been done for the pupils to avoid needing to teach this - and the number 11 is also completed so they can see that square roots can be used, as well as putting 4’s together to make 44. All answers are provided.

Fun and engaging class game based on the old TV show Blockbusters, with questions on how to add and subtract negative numbers. These range from fairly basic ones, to questions that cross 0, to ones with three numbers to add or subtract. Split the class into two teams, blue and white. The blue team must try to create a connected blue line from left to right, the white team must try to do the same from top to bottom. Click on the letters to link to the questions, if the answering team gets it right then click “Game board” to get back to the start, and click on the appropriate colour for that team to turn the tile blue or white.

Engaging negative number multiplying and dividing activity sheet that is ideal as either independent classwork, consolidation for numeracy skills or as cover work. Pupils must answer the questions and shade out the answers in the grid above. When they have finished they should reveal the number 381

Engaging negative number addition and subtraction activity sheet that is ideal as either independent classwork, consolidation for numeracy skills or as cover work. Pupils must answer the questions and shade out the answers in the grid above. When they have finished they should reveal the number 187.

Fun, engaging and easy to use bingo activity on multiplying and dividing negative numbers. The competitive element (especially with prospect of rewards) really helps to get pupils involved in the game. The answers are on the second slide for the pupils to choose at random, either in their books or using the 3 x 3 empty grids that can be printed from the first slide. The files are in Powerpoint format so they can be used on any system.

A fun and engaging codebreaker activity in which pupils must answer questions involving adding and subtracting negative numbers in order to crack the code and reveal the joke. Ideal for consolidating skills, pupils will race to complete this task and delight in telling you how terrible the joke is. Answers are included, as is the original Publisher file to allow for easy editing should you wish to do so. Joke should read once completed: “How do you get two whales in a car? Start in England and drive west!”

Full lesson in powerpoint for multiplying negatives. This lesson is primarily aimed at pupils who have not seen the topic before or have little memory of it, as it includes full explanations of the rules for multiplying and dividing negatives. It is however easily adjusted for more advanced pupils and includes GCSE style questioning at the end, and reflective questions that make pupils consider what would happen should they need to multiply several negatives together.

Fun, engaging and easy to use bingo activity on addition and subtraction of negative numbers. The competitive element (especially with prospect of rewards) really helps to get pupils involved in the game. The answers are on the second slide for the pupils to choose at random, either in their books or using the 3 x 3 empty grids that can be printed from the first slide. The files are in Powerpoint format so they can be used on any system.

A fun and engaging codebreaker activity in which pupils must answer questions involving adding and subtracting negative numbers in order to crack the code and reveal the joke. Ideal for consolidating skills, pupils will race to complete this task and glory in telling you how terrible the joke is. Answers are included, as is the original Publisher file to allow for easy editing should you wish to do so.

Full lesson plan on how to add and subtract negative numbers. Topic is explained initially through putting in and then removing -1’s from a number to show how the sums decrease then increase. This then moves into the ± and – rules. There are many practice questions for independent work, with some worded extension questions followed by a GCSE style question for everyone to attempt. The lesson is summed up with a “Spot the Mistakes” plenary to help catch out some misconceptions. Pupils must identify where the mistakes are (if there are any) and provide written feedback on how to improve. EDIT: I have added in a second plenary option, an Always Sometimes Never activity to encourage discussion and mastery and help uncover misconceptions.

Engaging bingo activity based on reading scales. Bingo is always popular with pupils and I have regularly used them in my lessons - my students have often requested them, or that we do them again after the first go. Pupils can either draw a 3 x 3 grid in their book, or you can print off some of the blank grids at the start of the powerpoint. They then fill their grid with a selection of the bingo question answers. Can play for both a line and a full house to extend the game or keep pupils interested if their questions aren’t coming up often. Checklist slide also included so that you can check the winning pupils board for mistakes! For replayability, the slide questions can be rearranged so they come up in a different order, but be aware that the checklist will need to be edited if this is done.

Fun and engaging class game based on the old TV show Blockbusters, with questions on how to read values from a scale. Split the class into two teams, blue and white. The blue team must try to create a connected blue line from left to right, the white team must try to do the same from top to bottom. Click on the letters to link to the questions, if the answering team gets it right then click “Game board” to get back to the start, and click on the appropriate colour for that team to turn the tile blue or white.

The worksheet file for my lesson on reading values from a scale, including harder worded questions to challenge the higher end of the class.

NOTE - For some reason the preview for the powerpoint lesson plan seems to show the formatting weirdly (some textboxes look too small etc.), however when I download it and open the file it looks just as it should. Complete lesson on teaching pupils to take readings from scales (including decimals), with both Powerpoint and SMART Notebook versions. Fully differentiated worksheet included, with a slide of extra challenging questions to display on the board and stretch the upper end of the class. Blockbusters game included as an alternative activity. I have broken down the process of reading the scales quite a lot, you may wish to delete that part from the example slides and set it out yourself if you have your own preferred way of teaching it. I would also recommend checking to see if the starter questions need adjusting for your class, though I have tried to keep them quite generalised.

SMART Notebook (and Powerpoint for non SMART users) for dividing decimals. Starter questions practice division, followed by some examples, a quick checkpoint and a differentiated question slide for dividing decimals by whole numbers and then dividing by decimals. For added variety, I have included my Codebreaker and Silhouette activities.

A collection of three Blockbusters games I made to practice negative number operations with my middle ability year 9 intervention group. One focuses on addition and subtraction, another on multiplication and division, while the last has a mix of all four with some BIDMAS questions thrown in for good measure that can really catch them out if they aren't concentrating! Editable to change the numbers and answers if you want to use it with lower or higher ability pupils.

Complete lesson on multiplying decimals. The lesson includes differentiated questions, including some application of knowledge questions. I have also included an exit pass activity for you to assess how well your pupils understood the lesson (though you may wish to do self assessment with it to save time). There are two main versions - the "cover" version includes extra explanation and complete working out of the main examples. The regular version omits this so that you can do the working with your pupils on the board, allowing more questioning and AfL opportunities in class etc. I have uploaded both versions in both Powerpoint and Powerpoint 97-03 formats.