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. 

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.

20 literacy and numeracy questions to warm up the new term! All based on the words HAPPY NEW YEAR (can easily be adapted for other festivals such a Diwali, New Year’s Eve or Ramadan). Covers vowels, consonants, number, ratios, simple substitution, range, mode and more!
Ideal for mixed ability groups (E1-L2). Also provides very good practice in reading instructions carefully.
For higher level groups it could be completed in teams as a speed test.

A seasonal themed maths quiz I created for my E3 students using Carrie Bray’s excellent “45 Christmas Questions” resource as a base. It was designed to provide a fun informal assessment on some of the topics covered in the half-term leading to Christmas.

A Level 1 version is also available.

Editor’s note
You can find Carrie’s original resource (which covered E3-L2) under See also below.

A seasonal themed maths quiz I created using Carrie Bray’s excellent “45 Christmas Questions” resource as a base. It was designed to provide a fun informal assessment on some of the topics covered in the half-term leading to Christmas.

An E3 version is also available

Editor’s note
You can find Carrie’s original resource (which covered E3-L2) under See also below.

This is great as a warm-up activity or a bit of end-of-term fun. It is suitable for a mixed ability group of numeracy learners, or indeed literacy or ESOL learners. This quiz tests learners’ knowledge of how old someone has to be in order to do certain things legally, e.g. be a blood donor. It can be used in small group or pair work (which worked well for me) as well as individually.

A 12-question test, designed for an Adult Numeracy class consisting largely of ESOL speakers.
Covers the terms “import” and “export”, since these often crop up in exams. Also mean, mode, median and range, and the meanings of “discount”, “under”, “approximately”, “difference” and “enlarged”. A little fraction revision, too: students have to identify 1/3 as “one-third”.

Students design a board game to demonstrate their learning. This can incorporate IT skills (Word template provided below) or can be done with paper, card and pens.

I originally did this with an E2E group and it proved popular. It’s an alternative to the “design a poster” task to review learning. The instructions are set out as a board game. it can be used for literacy, numeracy, ICT or ESOL.

Page 1: 8 maths questions relating to olympic torch
Page 2: Picture quiz: who is carrying the torch?
Page 3: Picture quiz: famous UK landmarks.
Page 4: UK cities – anagrams
Page 5: Answers

• Quizzes on pages 2 and 3 make good ice breakers and can also be used for SL&C discussion prompts.