A week-long unit of Maths work, where children have to work with data, area, perimeter, & number, and use & apply all of those to being creative, designing a zoo with as many different animals as possible (housed in sufficient space to meet varying criteria), with pedestrian access to all enclosures but no wasted space. Based around the 'Zoo Tycoon' video game, but made much more mathematical. I've included a SmartBoard to introduce it, a customisable spreadsheet with the criteria, a linked homework with some word problems based on the zoo, and even a few WAGOLL photos of year 5/6 work (What A Good One Looks Like). This is perfect for the last week of term before Xmas, Easter, or a post-SATs year 6 week of fun maths. Little prizes for the best designs go down well. The unit is ready to use. All you need is some 1cm squared A4 paper.

A series of L-shaped hexagons, drawn in Word, for children to work out the area and perimeter of the shapes. Two sheets, for easier / harder questions.

An activity lasting 2-3 lessons, for year 6 to design, make, play and evaluate board games based on algebraic functions. Includes a teacher-made example that they can play first, a set of instructions, and some photos of children’s work to inspire them.

Find angle types, parallel and perpendicular lines, in pictures. A set of twelve outline pictures, of increasing difficulty / complexity, for students to find and label different types of angle (acute, obtuse, reflex, right) and lines (parallel, perpendicular). Good revision of the vocabulary of angle. Resource is included in ready to print PDF format, and editable Word doc (for those who only want to find angle types, not parallel and perpendicular; or those who want to include a specific image of their own, like a school logo). Simple 2 page resource, ready to use or set as homework; just saving you the time it took me to find 12 suitable images.

Maths - a homework featuring ratio and proportion word problems

A set of four illustrated 3-part questions on “Which deal is the best value?”, so 12 multi-step calculations in all. Answer page included. This resource offers a range of single items, multi-packs, buy x get y free offers, percentage discounts, with unit items and mixed unit liquid measures (litres and ml). In Word .docx and .pdf, with answers included on 2nd page.

For Maths subject leaders, a fully customisable grid for monitoring coverage of the new National Curriculum in Maths, from year R to year 6. All NNC statements listed in year group tabs, with 3 columns to show date of coverage. See the whole year's objectives on one A3 sheet to help to plan a rational sequence of teaching (for example, in year 6, division -> fractions -> ratio & proportion). Get evidence of where in the year the different aspects of maths were taught, or use for long-term planning. This 7-page spreadsheet can be fully customised (for example, change a 3-term to a 6-term year) to your needs, or even adapted into an assessment grid for gap analysis; all the leg-work of turning the NNC into year group pages has been done.

How to get children responding to and acting on marking? Following an review that showed our Maths marking needed to be improved, I (as Maths subject leader) created a system called 'Think Pink' in which teachers highlight part of their marking in pink highlighter (something specific - a question, some corrections, an extension, an explanation) and the child responds when their book is returned in pink pen. We invested in a box of pink pens for each class, and the children love them and are eager to respond. It has been in use for 18 months now, has been extended to English books and other subjects, and taken and used by other schools in our trust (including middle schools and secondary, not just primary). It was praised by Ofsted in a recent inspection as an example of best practice in interactive marking. I've included final pdf files that you can print and use it exactly as they are, or Word versions that you can customise, add your school logo, and distribute exactly as you want it.

Every New National Curriculum statement for Maths for years 1 - 6, sorted into 6 spreadsheet pages, set up to be printed onto A3 or A4 sheets. Each statement can be highlighted left to right to show progress along the line, along a sliding scale through: commencing // developing // secure // advanced // deep [See also my Assessment without levels grids, English]

Two (easier & harder) sheets of questions for year 6 algebra, plus a follow-up homework. Over 40 questions on each sheet. Questions progressing along the lines of: n=4, what is 5n n = 15, what is 3n n-6 = 27, what is n n=12, what is 2n+3 3n-5 = 16, what is n Also includes squaring.

Written for year 6 algebra in the new National Curriculum (but also suitable at KS3), a differentiated question sheet, with a set of linear sequences for children to solve. In each case, they need to find the rule for n, then the 10th, 20th, 50th or other specified term. Example: Q: What is the 20th number in this sequence? 5, 8, 11 A: Rule: 3n+2 20th number is (3x20) + 2 = 62 Differentiated with 6 easier questions, 14 core (increasing in difficulty), then 4 extension questions going into negative number sequences for the more able. Answer sheet provided in same format. Whole document is in Word, so can be edited (tweaked slightly to make it easier or harder, depending on your class) or copy / pasted into Smartboard or other formats. Would also be suitable for a homework / reinforcement.

Fractions of numbers / ratio and proportion / bar models / reasoning / problem solving Two pages of bar model puzzles for upper KS2 or KS3. Each puzzle has three parallel bars, of different lengths, divided in different ways. By starting from the one value given, students need to use a range of strategies to find the answers in the other bar models. Steady progression of questions, gradually becoming more difficult. An ideal homework for year 6, more able year 5, or support in year 7-9. Very visual, minimal words / instructions. A great resource for mathematical reasoning and problem solving. Included in the download: all the questions on pdf (2 pages A4 size) answer sheet, showing all the working / steps the original Word document, so you can customise it, change numbers, change colour shading, or re-position bars to re-use with all new questions.

Resource using Numicon to identify perimeters, & look at relationship between area and perimeter. (Needs a tray of Numicon for best results).

Arithmetic homework to practise the formal column methods of addition and subtraction. 2 difficulty levels.

A shape drawing resource to help children improve the accuracy of their drawing and measuring ... which produces a pretty pattern they can enjoy colouring in afterwards. Suitable for ages 7 - 11.

2 Excel spreadsheets containing grids with written instructions for drawing shapes. Can be printed A3 or A4, and the layout adapted to different requirements. Examples (easier): Draw a pentagon with one line of symmetry. Examples (harder): Draw a pentagon with just one acute angle.

Homework or worksheet on equivalent fractions, fractions of amounts, etc. Easier & harder versions available.