I’ve decided that on Fridays I will try and share websites, blogs or Twitter bods that I enjoy reading. This week it’s Ilovemathsgames
Enjoy!
105. Website of the day
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104. Percentages shout out
I used a great resource from Whidds at TES resources this week:
It’s a differentiated percentages trail. You or your students can set the level of difficulty using a neat traffic light system. The resource includes a powerpoint and two different activities.
Download it here.
Thank you to Whidds for sharing this great idea.
103. Gadget of the Day 3
102. Can you stay out of the Boardroom?
The Apprentice regularly features its contestants failing to listen to what people want, often with disastrous results.
- They carry out market research with the wrong people or not enough people.
- They assume the people they are asking are brilliant or thick. Seriously, you won’t find a world class wine expert working in the local supermarket!
- They don’t change their product to meet the needs of the people.
- Worse than that – they ignore the brief!
It all of this leads to one place: The Boardroom
Can your pupils avoid being fired?
I’ve been using ‘The Apprentice’ as an inspiration for a data handling project for years and I’ve finally typed up a resource to go with it.
Download Would Lord Sugar invest in you? worksheet
101. Stick ’em up
I get just a tad frustrated when I spend time in lessons discussing targets and getting pupils to write them somewhere safe, only for the same pupils to tell SLT, when they drop in, that they don’t know what their targets are!
So I’ve re-found these stickers which we had in school a couple of years ago, but lapsed in using.
I bought these ‘GCSE Assessment stickers’ and ‘KS3 Assessment stickers’ from School Stickers on Amazon UK for £1.96 per pack. I’ve already started using them and my classes seem receptive to brightly coloured targets.
100. Factor Venn
In the last post I discussed Prime Factor Decomposition, using factor trees. I also use this method for Highest Common Factor (HCF) and Lowest Common Multiple (LCM). The difference is you need two different coloured pens and a Venn diagram:
Factorise your first number
Factorise your second number
Draw and label an empty Venn diagram in appropriate colours
Fill in the common factors
Fill in the rest
HCF: Multiply the overlapping area
LCM: Multiply everything
Review
This method is great for visual learners who want to see where the numbers come from. You can also quickly spot where they have made a mistake in a calculation.
Challenge
This method also works for three numbers – just use three colours and three circles!
99. Factor Races
I rather like teaching prime factor decomposition as you can assess lots of numerical skills within the topic. I can easily cover:
*Division
*Tests of divisibility
*Multiplication
*Quick recall of multiplication facts
*Prime numbers
*Factor/Multiple misconceptions
*Powers & Index notation
*Venn diagrams*
*Products
*HCF & LCM¤
*Vocabulary related to all the above
Many people already use prime factor trees to teach this topic, but if you are unfamilar with them here is a quick summary:
Find two numbers that multiply to give the top number.
Repeat for each branch, circling the prime numbers. These are like the fruit on the end of the branch.
Repeat until every branch has ‘fruit’ at the end.
Write out the factors, in numerical order, as a multiplication.
Collect like factors into index notation.
And that’s how to make a prime factor decomposition tree.
The Race
You will need as many pupils as you can standing at your board, all equipped with a whiteboard pen. Depending on which room I am in, I get about 10 pupils out.
Their team mates sit near them – it is up to you as to whether calculators are allowed. Only the person at the board can write.
You call out a number and every team must work out the prime factor decomposition on the board. The winning team is the first to write the number as a product of prime factors.
Teaching Point
Once everyone has completed the task, leave the calculations on the board. You can now ask for comments and corrections. The class should notice that even though the number was split up differently, they all got the same answer. If they didn’t, the class can check for errors.
I like to use this as a plenary or a recap starter. It effectively demonstrates that even though your brain chose to breakdown the calculation differently, you are still correct. This can be a confidence boost to those pupils who think there is only one possible method and don’t ‘get’ that method. Maths is about the strategies and skills to solve problems, not just one approved technique.
¤ To be covered in the next blog post