Adult Numeracy, Functional Maths, and GCSE Resources

An activity to explore money management and negative numbers. Be prepared to signpost students if need be.

The activity starts with discussing who is most likely to get into debt and then by recognising that anyone can if they don’t have good money skills.

A topical investigation that can be used as a group or individual task. Learners imagine they have won tickets in the ballot and must plan their trip to Buckingham Palace.
Ideal for E3-L1 Functional maths, English and ICT but could be easily adapted for higher or lower levels.

A Functional Maths and numeracy task sheet written for a mixed group of entry level learners to collect, represent and analyse data on favourite biscuits. The topic is introduced with a news article about Britain’s favourite biscuits. Learners must create a tally chart/frequency table, a pictogram and a bar chart. Pre-drawn grids and squared paper is included.

Inspired by Jane Russell’s place value slider (see below), this slider allows for easy conversion of metric units. I printed the sliders on A3 paper so there would be enough to pull from both sides. I used different colours for weight, distance and capacity.

An illustrated example shows how to use the sliders. Sets of 4 sliders are on different pages to make it easier to print on different colour paper. A photograph of the finsihed slider i salso availalbe below

This resource uses the 2012 Olympics cycling road race as a theme and focuses on dates and time. Learners use a calendar to find a day and date, extract information from a table, add times to blank clock faces and carry out simple calculations. There is also a road map of the race with questions to answer.
Fully mapped to E2-E3 Functional Maths

Place value starter based on an Open University course activity.

Useful as a carousel activity at the start of a lesson. Could be adapted for E2 by using 2 boxes rather than three. You may want to laminate the second page.

A simplified worksheet which covers labelling fractions, writing the words and a practical exercise in estimating eg: Mark 1/2 cup etc. Uses fractions commonly found in recipes and other practical situations. Ideal for, and mapped to, Functional Maths.

A worksheet which gives students practice in naming and calculating the fractions most often seen in recipes. 1/2, 1/3 cup etc.
This worksheet can be accompanied with a ‘hands on’ exercise. eg: measuring 1/2, 3/4 cup of rice etc. You need: a tray, a marked measuring cup, a cup and a jar of rice or other suitable medium.
Ideal for, and mapped to, Entry 2 and 3 Adult numeracy and Functional Maths.

Adapted from old BBC Skillswise worksheets, this PPT presents different ways of adding and subtracting (numberlines, rounding and splitting).

This resource was written as a seasonal end-of-term numeracy practice for my students. It includes questions on shape and space (room plan), money, fractions and directions.

Fully mapped to the Functional Maths E1-3 criteria.