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. 

A two-sided A3 'place mat' that has the following

Practise using reordering strategies with these extra E2 (E1 questions are in a separate Wordwall activity) questions for our recently updated E1-E2 Mental addition strategies (reordering) PDF worksheet (Maggie Harnew, 2005, updated Feb 2022). Match the correct answer to each addition problem. (Reordering involves adding up large numbers first and/or looking for pairs of numbers that add up to 10, 20, 30, etc.). Can be used independently of the original resource.

Practise using reordering strategies with these extra E1 (E2 questions are in a separate Wordwall activity) questions for our recently updated E1-E2 Mental addition strategies (reordering) PDF worksheet (Maggie Harnew, 2005, updated Feb 2022). Match the correct answer to each addition problem. (Reordering involves adding up large numbers first and/or looking for pairs of numbers that add up to ten. Can be used independently of the original resource.

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 set of cards where learners have to find fractions of money. I use this as a paired game where the learners share the cards between them, then both turn over one cardeach. They work out how much their card is worth then the “winner” or person whose card is worth more keeps both cards. Play continues until 1 player has all the cards.

A quick-to-prepare game that is easily differentiated for any E1-E3 group. Example games include addition and times tables – or make up your own. If you don’t have Monopoly a link is provided so you can print your own Monopoly money!

A great warm-up or starter activity – covers many aspects of the numeracy curriculum (E3 upwards) plus general knowledge. Originally written when the author was bemused to find that many people did not know how many weeks there are in a year!

Times tables matching cards. All the tables from 2 to 10 ( 9 sets of 22 cards) for individual, paired or small group work. With teaching ideas.