Adult Numeracy, Functional Maths, and GCSE Resources

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

8 May 2023 7pm improvements to page 4 extension question (upside down tear-off hints, scaffolding, etc.)  and other minor adjustments).
he first in a new series of Cost of Living resources. Use research on the increasing costs of homemade sandwiches to calculate original costs from the previous year. Plus a challenging extension question about misleading statistics in a related newspaper article.

Best buy and proportion questions - loosely based on setting up a nursery.

I have used this with my Functional Skills Maths and Employability group. We carried out a few examples as a group, left them on the board and I then gave them this worksheet to complete. I sat with the lower attainers and hand wrote in scaffolded examples whilst talking to them about it. 

I have also used the same lesson plan for my GCSE resits as a revision task.

Editor's note

Challenging set of  questions based on an infographic from a recent TV Licensing annual review.  Aimed at L1-2 but a few questions are Entry 2/3 - there are also  a couple of  "stretch questions" making a bridge to GCSE. Two main topics are covered: working with very large numbers and percentages. Extracting data, equivalents and ordering decimals are also touched upon.

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.

Devised for L1 as a first lesson for ratio utilising practical applications for ratio understanding. Please print the last slide as a worksheet to accompany the PPT.

Editor's notes

Introductory example using a KitKat bar, followed by other everyday applications including screen wash, hair tint and paints.  Also (very nicely) covers equality & diversity with discussion about the proportion of White British players in the 2018 England squad.

This revision aid for L1/L2 (mainly L2) Pearson Edexcel Functional Skills maths gives a side-by-side comparison of perimeter, area and volume, the sort of units that would be involved with each and a worked Functional Skills example of each with a PAV mnemonic for remembering which is which. I have also looked through the last few years of Pearson Edexcel FS for the sorts of questions that require each one. 
Note: All images from Pixabay, so do not need crediting.

Editor's note

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).

This is a handout for Functional Skills L1/L2 which talks about formulas, substitution and BODMAS (BIDMAS).

“Editor’s note*
It includes worked examples from past papers and useful tips and hints. Fully mapped to L2 FM and GCSE Maths 1-5