Use one calculation and place value to answer the other questions; these sheets contain 10 answers for 8 questions so that guesses are avoided but students know that if their answers are in the table then they are likely to be heading in the right direction.

Use place value to find how many times larger one digit is from another and then find the difference between them. This idea was floated on Twitter by Dave Taylor (@taylora01) and full credit goes to him for the idea and I hope this does it some justice.

I am going to be teaching Year 7 some surface area of cuboids and cubes but only had one of these involving prisms which might be a step too far at this point. This was what I came up with. The answers are on the sheet (although there are more answers than questions to avoid default answers at the end) which gives students the confidence to keep going if they are getting questions correct allowing the teacher to help those who really need it.

Eight questions with ten possible answers. These allow the students who understand the topic to move on with the confidence of seeing their answers on the sheet (screen for online lessons) whilst the teacher can help those who need it.

Indefinite integrals using the skills learned in Year 1 of the Edexcel A Level course that reveal a lame joke. These are a nice break from ploughing through a text book!

Erica’s met mechanics for the first time and is trying to complete her “Modelling In Mechanics” homework but without much success; can your classes help Erica by correcting her mistakes and explaining why they are mistakes?

Five pairs of graphs; students need to calculate where intersections with each other and axes are. I have produced a PowerPoint so the graphs can be displayed, but if you want a worksheet there is one of those too. The worksheet asks for turning points on the final set of graphs.

There are four “Show that” questions: two linear equations, two quadratics. These are designed to encourage students to write down method and working rather than just reading out an answer at the end.

Five questions and ten possible answers on capture/recapture. These allow students to get on and as the answers are on the sheet they can check that they are doing the right thing.

Another cheesy joke revealed upon differentiating some expressions using the product rule. A nice change from going through exercises in the text book.

Four of these sheets covering: capacity, mass and length plus one true or false activity involving problems with all three which should encourage discussion in class and force students to read the question carefully if nothing else. These have worked well in class and online allowing the teacher to help those who need it whilst other get on, reassured that their answers are on the sheet.

This one does what it says on the tin; designed for AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate but could be used at GCSE level too.

Just one “Crack The Safe” activity on differentiation, involving differentiating, finding gradients and turning points. There are six questions with three possible answers for each. The wrond answers may generate discussion as to what has been done, but ultimately this is a self-checking worksheet that allows the teacher to help those who need it whilst others get on. I use these for starters or plenaries but use them how you wish.

This set of two worksheets is designed to force students to show their workings and not use a calculator when simplifying surds. There are straightforward simplifying, expanding brackets and rationalising the denominator with space to write working etc.

We put on a Stem Day for Year 6 students and decided to do binary as the topic for a 45 minute session. This takes students through converting between binary and decimal numbers, including a couple of codebreakers (we produced a Stem leaflet for them to take away). The PowerPoint moves on to adding and subtracting in binary if you need it. It went well and was delivered by a range of people so if it’s useful to you… There’s even a bonus codebreaker on adding and subtracting in binary.

Four slides each containing four questions with parts missing but an answer to reach meaning that students have to demonstrate their understanding by filling in the blanks. This is designed to create discussion.

Four slides each containing four inequalities questions where students are given the answers but are missing parts of the question; their job is to fill in the blanks. This should allow students to demonstrate their understanding as well as encouraging discussion as some of the blanks could be filled with numerous different values. This involves solving, satisfying (number lines etc), regions etc.

The name of these was born out of a typo (obviously) but it’s the usual format: do some maths (solve equations in this case) to find the punchline to a cheesy joke about fish, hence the “codbreaker”. Good for a starter, main activity or a plenary in my experience and the students enjoy finding the punchline, especially being the first to do so. This involves anything from two-step equations to variables on both sides including fractional parts. Number 2 is more challenging than number 1.

Two fish jokes to figure out; the first codbreaker asks students to find prime factors and the second is on finding HCF or LCM. I use these as starters, plenaries and main tasks as they are self-marking; this means that they have been useful for online learning/lessons too.

Using the “Impossible” game show format where each question has three options: a correct answer, an incorrect answer which would be correct in a different concept and an impossible answer. There are 12 questions tackling transformations, surds, quadratics, inequalities and more. Students need to calculate which is the correct answer, which is impossible and which is incorrect but “partially right” so this should encourage discussion in class and develop a deeper understanding.