Adult Numeracy, Functional Maths, and GCSE Resources

Print and cut in to 3 sets of cards. Can be used in a number of ways – match the underlined digit with the corresponding card for it’s place value OR match the words with numbers OR use for ordering numbers. Can be differentiated with size of numbers.

This PowerPoint was used to introduce Pythagoras’ Theorem to Functional Skills college students whose main course work is to do with the Building Trades (Carpenters, Electricians). The last 4 slides therefore deal with using Pythagoras’ theorem to calculate the length of roof rafters.

Editor’s note
I realise that using Pythagoras’ theorem is beyond the scope of L2 Functional Maths Exams but this is a very useful PPT due to the vocational questions. Would also be useful for GCSE Maths.

Using a video from YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6eTr4ldDYg) about the miniature earth I have created this PowerPoint on percentages. It will work well with John Thompson’s easy percentage worker-outer and Margaret Adams’ Calculating percentages as quantities (links below under “See also”).

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.

Place value game involving dice and calculators. Helps build confidence with place value.
Can be used with all ability levels and easy to adapt.
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The classic example of a tally is keeping track of how many cars of each colour go past in the street, but that is rather awkward to do in practice.

Use this presentation to save having to leave the comfort of the classroom! It is a PowerPoint slideshow of cars of various colours, to be projected onto the board. Tell learners to keep a tally of how many cars of each colour appear. Where a car has more than one colour, they should put it under the predominant colour.

E1 learners could focus on simply counting (for instance) all the red cars.

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.

An animated PowerPoint presentation (86 slides) that covers several topics: Fractions & Percentages;Units of Measure; Charts & Graphs; Ratio, Scale & Proportion; Perimeter, Area & Volume; Averages and Range. There are also some links for a planned inclusion of other topics at a later date (Time & Money, Tables and Formulae).

This presentation can be used in class, driven by the teacher, but it is also ideal as a guide for self-study.

Not really suitable for handouts, as there are many animated sequences that would overlap on the printed page.

Powerpoint for practising numbers to 20, not necessarily all at once.

Used as a starter with all ESOL maths groups to check the spelling of numbers. I created it for E1 / E2 and it could be used for ESOL, Literacy or Numeracy classes.

A selection of smileys are shown on each slide. Clicking reveals the number (as a digit) and a further click reveals the number spelt out as a word. Good used with small individual whiteboards.