Resource Sharing - sometimes a bad thing?

It's been a while since I posted, as life has been fairly hectic in recent months.

A new job has kept me busy, and I have enjoyed the challenge of a new school and department fighting their way out of special measures. However, with much of my time spent on behaviour management and familiarising new routines, I have barely had time to consider fresh ideas on teaching strategies and writing new resources.

Thank goodness for Resourceaholic, Don Steward and #mathschat. Barely a week has gone by in the last four months without spending some time on these sites. I raid my extensive pen drive for resources, and then cross check the two blogs above to confirm whether or not there are better resources available.

All of this leads me to ask a serious question about my current attitude to resource sharing. Have I become too lazy to value my own ideas for teaching? I am excited to use well thought out and substantiated resources, without question. I do wonder though, would I be more enthusiastic if I used my own ideas?

One lesson in particular was a parallel lines and angles lesson with a low ability year 9 class. I had a plan ready, but only 9 students turned up to the lesson. So I did something I have rarely done. I ditched the plan and went with an idea in my head.
We put some tables together, sat round it and stuck some coloured tape across the table. We marked some angles, did some measuring, and proved some angle rules. The students were really engaged, they got to write on the table, and they left the lesson with a real positive attitude. It was clear they enjoyed it as much as I did.
This isn't a preach of how good this resource is - and it certainly isn't some revolutionary new resource, but it was my own idea at that time.

Was it the idea, or the fact I was enthusiastic and showing a willingness to do something different?
I have always been commended on my use of interesting ideas (cue trumpet blowing noise) and yet, given the other pressures of teaching and the fantastic blogs and resources out there already, I have turned my back on my own thoughts, and settled for other teacher's fantastic resources.

Perhaps we should always take time to produce a really well thought out resource if, for nothing else, it inspires us to believe in our own work.

Resources - BIDMAS, BODMAS, PEDMAS

I like topics that drip through and affect other areas of the curriculum. If you don't get order of operations, it could haunt you for the next 5 + years.
As oppose to say, circle theorems.


I'll start by directing to Resourceaholic - there is almost everything you need on there. In fact, once you click on this link, I may never see you again.

Resourcaholic Number

I start by playing Family Fortunes with the BIDMAS or BODMAS (whatever the school preference is) and ask the pupils to guess the order, with sound effects. It's not easy to upload this and explain how to set this up, but if you message me I will tutor the process.

I then explain BIDMAS and PEDMAS (American version) too.

We have a discussion about whether it matters about addition and subtraction. I always write

3 - 2 + 1

And explain I can actually get two answers (zero and two).

2 + 1 = 3

3 -  3 = 0

This causes great debate until we conclude that the negative in front of the two is IMPERATIVE.

Then activities, some from the link above, some from: Number Loving and some from Maths Box - which I have linked to here:

I use the order of operations settler as a competition - each person highlights five questions. Then they work out the answers. Then they add them up, and I give a prize to either the highest, lowest or nearest to 20 etc etc.

Round Robin Bidmas is a good activity. The idea here is each person answers a question, but the others do not say anything - they also do not correct anything. Then, when it is done, they check all the answers together, looking for any mistakes. That is when the discussion is great and rewarding.

Also some treasure hunts in the link too.

My activity Crack The Padlock can be used with this Bidmas resource

Finally a puzzle to finish:

All resources are here, or in links above

Data - Averages Resources

Here are some resources I use when teaching Averages.

I find the word 'average' fascinating. Used in everyday language, and as a mathematician, I immediately think, "well... which average?"

I always wonder this when entering an "average speed check" section on the motorway. Which seems to be everywhere in the north west now.

Here is an activity linked to Speed Cameras, and some real life application.

The powerpoint with questions on slides is available here: Law Abiding Drivers
It links well with SDT topics too.


Here are a mixture of questions and projects including some that take longer than others.

Mixing Numeracy and Literacy

Football related averages - could be easily changed to Rugby

Quick question which is certainly seen in real life

Another interesting Football study - prizes for top predictions

This last one I have used for nearly every class I have ever taught. Every time I have done it, boys have outperformed barring the odd outlier. I have also done this with a target Velcro game in class. If a big class, then can be used for mean from a table as well.

Another project I did last year and will do probably every major football tournament is based on Yummy Math's World Cup Draw

I have written up my own task which is available here. Bit dated now but the idea can be used for the future : Fair Draw

Oh and the obligatory averages puzzles: (I think from Don Steward)

Answers via the link - Problem averages

Other useful links for averages worksheets

Maths Sandpit - Splitting The Steps average from table

Resourceaholic - lots of good stuff



Crack the Lock Activity

Here is an activity I use to encourage the students to work through some question in class.

It does require some initial monetary outlay, but it can be used for a very long time.

You will need some sort of locking mechanism, a padlock or safe, that requires a three (or four) digit pass code to unlock.

It should be visible to the class, It works better than a virtual one, although if you could find a digital one professionally done then that might be quite interesting.

Have a prize inside, and sometimes wrap it in an extension activity, in case they crack your code early.

I have a lock which can be reset to different combinations, you can get them for under £4 from Ebay or Amazon. I have also been trying to find a safe deposit box that works with a padlock, but yet to find one, so I bought some chain links from Homebase, for about £2. I then wrapped it round a normal tin and this is what I get:

The worksheets are then designed to give three numbers which relate to the code. I do not check their work until after they have tried the code. If a student tries to guess the code, we can have a discussion on permutations and chance, and the only rule is that you have to wait three minutes before your next guess.

The worksheets cover many misconceptions as they include true or false statements. So some are straightforward, whilst others can encourage debate.

Of course, locking the safe back up so other finishers can guess the code is fairly straightforward.

Those that finish first are asked to note down in their books three key facts that helped them solve the code, and then they can support other teams. So far I have seen relatively little cheating.

Here are the link to some sets of questions, starting with percentages and fractions, I will add more as I do them in lesson. Please feel free to create and share your own.

The worksheets


I actually think you could use a plastic bag as a safe: Put a box in the bag that is big enough so that if the bag handles were locked together, you couldn't get the box out. Sure, you could rip the plastic bag, but if you have nice students I don't think that would matter!

Santa's Route - Lines of Equation

I haven't posted for a while - I will be uploading a resource soon that I use as a way to keep interest in practising and perfecting work.

For now, here is a simple Christmas resource.

Maths is always fun, so doing fun lessons in the last week of term doesn't really change for me. (although I do let my prize winning class from the mistakes chart watch Flatland)

I do like some Christmas themes to my work though. Just like this post from solve my maths.

Here is a simple task on working with and finding equations of lines.

There are two tasks, and the first one is differentiated to allow easy entry.


Basically, Santa needs to plot his 2D Cartesian route between houses (obviously) and does it by plotting equations.

In the harder task: you are required to find the houses, having been given some information about the lines that need to be plotted.

All the documents are available here - including answers for the harder task.

Percentages with Dragons!

I don't have many differing resources for Percentages. It's probably up there with basic operations as the most important part of Mathematics to our learners, but since this is the case, there are bags of resources online to support with this.

I have two resources to add that are a little bit different:

Some higher level thinking and problem solving with percentages:

Next is my Dragon's Den percentages: It is for reviewing / revising percentages and there is a difficult one (with various compound interest calculations) and a more simpler one for practising basic increase and decrease.

Basically - the students invest a portion of their 10k into a choice of three companies. They can choose to invest in two if they like, but not all three.

After everyone has written in their investment choice on the attached sheet, they then work out the money they have made or lost. There is an example on the sheet, but I think it relates only to the higher powerpoint. Also, be warned that I teach to a point where we use multipliers, so if you don't do that you might have to tweak your answer sheet.

The biggest obstacle I have run into when running this activity is that students don't carry over the money correctly into the next round. 

All the companies exist (or have been pitched in the den) - and if I have given them a green, then they have had investment and may have been successful.

I trust my students to check each others work each round, and we take time to go through the workings at the end of each round. They will also never run out of money - as they just lose a percentage of their investment.

The best round is number two - none of the investment opportunities are worthwhile. The students did not need to invest in any if they don't want!

All the bits are available here:

Percentages - Dragon's Den and Other Problems


Finally - I'm sure you all know this clip: but it is a great plenary. The teacher doesn't know - but does anyone in your class?

The video is available via the link above as well.

Prime Numbers, Factors and Prime Factors

Here are some resources and ideas I use when teaching topics involving Primes and Prime Factors.

There are a few ways of spotting prime numbers - including Sieve of Eratosthenes, which I still think is a bit forced.

I like the links to Area (which they may not make straight away, depending on ability). I recommend doing this using multilink cubes: Idea taken from Don Steward

I give 25 cubes and ask the students to record how many ways they could rearrange cubes to represent the numbers from 1 - 25:

Then this leads to discussions about Factors, Square Numbers and what it takes to be a prime number.

If you want to go onto Prime factorisation, then try it a different way - show how powerful prime numbers can be. Set a target - make it a game - after a while allow them to choose one more number to add to the list. Ask them why they wanted that number..

Then comes lots of different activities:

Follow Me Cards - Squares and Primes

Rally Coach for HCF and LCM

Collective Memory - have the students copy the image down from memory and then fill in the numbers when done.

I can't believe I have never heard of Shikaku until this week. It is also referred to as rectangles. It's so perfect to consolidate factors (i.e. knowing that 10 could be one strip of ten or two strips of five) and also help with Area too.

This website allows you to choose loads of different levels of difficulty, meaning differentiation is easy! Also can be done on the website (with timings for extra competition) or printed. There are also a bunch of apps too with the game.

My last resource this post is Factors bingo - if you haven't played this before I will be surprised, but nevertheless here are the rules:

Other places to look for resources on this include, as usual, Don Steward's median blog.

Also check out some good Factor resources on resourceaholic

My last comment is really about selling this topic, particularly primes. There are lots of interesting research and books about prime numbers, and whilst much of it would go over many student's heads, I still think there is value in you discussing that these things are out there. Sound enthused about things you have read, the fact that there are monetary prizes for finding primes, or that internet encryption is based on the idea that no-one has found a quick way to check if a number is a prime number.

Thanks - any other good links then let me know!