Adult Numeracy, Functional Maths, and GCSE Resources

An ESOL lesson embedding numeracy, diversity and British values, centred on the Spring Equinox and three festivals which happen around / on this day - Purim, Holi and Shunbun No Hi. Learners collect unfamiliar words on a vocabulary sheet and ask and answer questions to elicit meaning / explanation. There is a powerpoint to introduce the topic, using acronyms eg 7DIAW  - Seven Days In A Week to elicit key words, and lead to an explanation of what the Vernal Equinox is and when it is.

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.

I wrote this to add to Timings in a Salon by Carrie Bray (see link left) as I needed to encourage my higher level students in the same area.

I started the session by giving students terminology which they had to define, then work out how much it was worth if a=1p b=2p etc. (see PPT).

I used then used tasks to recap on 24 hour and analogue time next then used the attached worksheets alongside Carrie's worksheet.

I then provided a Tarsia puzzle at the end to recap on time.

Editor's notes

This is an adaptation of the excellent http://www.math-aids.com/Multiplication/Times_Tables_Target_Circles.html where learners have to do division and multiplication to complete a ‘target’. The advantage with this file is that it works offline, so you can print table activities, starters or extension activities ready for the class.

This is a MS Excel resource that is designed to be a useful resource for producing sheets for starter activities or homework. This also provides a tutor marking sheet. The sheet can be used to differentiate by choosing larger or smaller numbers, and can be addition or subtraction.

Editor’s note
Creates printable sheets of 20 problems (plus answer sheets). Clever and useful!

This is an Excel file with a basic odd/even activity. I took inspiration from Jean Thomas’ “Reveal the hidden shapes!” activity from 2005.

With this activity, the tutor can design a picture (or one learner can design a picture for another learner) and it produces a printable sheet. The learner then shades all the odd numbers on the sheet in one colour, and all the even numbers in a different colour – revealing a picture or a message.

There are no macros, so cross-compatibility with Excel shouldn’t be a problem.

This carousel of Jubilee tasks was hurriedly put together for a group of 10 E1-E3 Functional Maths and English 16-19 year old learners who had just (very successfully!) finished all their Edexcel Functional Skills assessments.

After a year of hard work from my students, the emphasis was on celebration and fun. However, learning objectives included: measuring, counting, writing an email, spelling, 2D shapes, estimating, rounding and working with money. Rough lesson outline also included.

A detailed lesson plan accompanied by a PPT and a lesson objective checker sheet. The lesson recaps place value and introduces students to decimals and using money in practical situations.