Adult Numeracy, Functional Maths, and GCSE Resources

A quick but very useful match-up activity that makes a good starter activity for financial literacy or employment skills courses - and it's bound to prompt discussion.

Editor's note

Written for an Australian audience but I have added a UK version on page 2.  Learners can draw lines to match the items or, for a reusable resource, the page could be laminated and/or cut into 12 cards. 

An Australian version (i.e. uses A$, Australian vocabulary and minimum wage details, etc.) of the popular Stash the Cash written by Andy Morrell in 2010. In addition to currency changes this version also includes an extra version of the calculations table and other changes. For example,  the table on page 3 has extra columns to make the mathematical operations explicit and to allow students to practise writing mathematical “sentences”.

Whilst I designed this resource for Adult Numeracy learners, it has found much use over the years across the maths cohorts I've worked with from pre-GCSE to ESOL, and with GCSE learners.

It is in Excel format - 3 tabs for different activities and the second Excel file is the solution sheet.

The sheets are formatted to print off as A4 landscape to allow learners to have their own copies to work on.

This has always worked well as a starter activity with learners in small groups (or teams) and having a competitive edge.

A colourful card matching task in which students interpret practical scenarios involving proportional relationships in terms of ratios and the total numbers of equal parts involved in them.

In pairs, they move the cards/ paper slips around and discuss how to match four ratios (white) with the four statements about parts (blue) and the four practical situations and actual amounts which correspond with them (yellow).

A game for 2 players to help with multiplying decimals with or without a calculator.
Learners take turns to choose 2 numbers to multiply, then cover up the answer on the grid. This continues until a player has 4 counters/initials in a row(diagonally, horizontally or vertically).
Prompts can be used for learners to pick a target answer and to try to work out which 2 decimals are going to give that answer.
Editor’s note
Laminate for re-use. A great game.

A simple but effective dice game to help students become familiar with, and practise, calculating percentages of amounts. You will need to customise 2 dice by writing amounts on one and percentages on the other.
I usually play this game with low ability students after teaching them a fail-safe calculator method for working out percentages of amounts, but it can be adapted for higher level learners.
It also helps to reinforce that 0% of a number is nothing and 100% of a number is all of it.

Very useful set of follow me cards for checking learners’ knowledge of adding and subtracting negative numbers in a practical context. With instructions.
Please see Judith’s other resources for further sets of follow-me cards that use negative numbers.

Very useful set of follow me cards for checking learners’ knowledge of adding and subtracting negative numbers. With instructions.

Very useful set of follow me cards based on everyday scenarios such as car repair bills, lottery wins, and finding money down the back of the sofa! With instructions.