A task I designed to make my lesson on the area of a parallelogram a little more interesting! Students are given a variety of parallelograms where the side lengths are algebraic expressions. Students are given 9 possible values for x and have to substitute these values into the parallelograms, and then calculate their areas. Their aim is to create parallelograms with given areas. Solutions are provided.

6 questions I designed to stretch the most able in my Year 11 foundation group. I have provided an editable Powerpoint version of the worksheet, and a pdf which has 2 copies per A4 sheet. Answers are also provided.

A set of questions I designed for my foundation group on determining coefficients in order to produce identities. Answers are provided.

An activity that I designed to make ordering fractions a bit more challenging for the more able in my group. Pupils are given 4 algebraic fractions, and must order them by size for particular values of the unknown. Solutions are provided.

I designed this activity for my top set Year 10 class. It involves adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing numbers in standard form. It is designed to be done without a calculator! Initially, students are given 2 numbers in standard form, a and b, and must calculate other values such as a + b, a x b etc., but progresses onto skills such as, if you’re given b and a ÷ b, can you work out a? Good for a higher-attaining group I think! Solutions are provided.

Students must use their knowledge of triangles and quadrilaterals to form and solve simultaneous equations. Answers are provided.

Some questions on Bearings & right-angled Trigonometry that I designed for my Year 11 students. The worksheet is scaffolded - each question comes in a pair. In the first question, I have drawn the complete diagram for students. In the second question, the diagram has been drawn but not labelled - students must do this for themselves. Solutions are provided.

A simple worksheet - nothing fancy. Students are given 30 linear equations in a grid (all of the form ax + b = c), some of which have integer answers, and some of which have fractional answers. They have to solve the equations and colour in the boxes according to what type of solution the equation has. Like I said, this worksheet is nothing fancy so it doesn’t make a picture when they’ve finished colouring! I’ve provided answers as well.

Students must use their knowledge of similar shapes and linear equations in order to determine the value of an unknown. Solutions are provided.

Students are told the value of the top block in each pyramid. They have to create an equation to determine the value of x, by working their way up the pyramid - each block is the sum of the 2 below it. The first sheet contains only positive terms, but the second sheet introduces negatives. Solutions are provided.

A Tarsia puzzle that covers “simple” Trig. Equations such as 4 sin x = 1. A few of the equations require knowledge of the identity tan x = sin x / cos x. Students solve the equations and match them up to the answers on another piece. When completed, all the pieces join up to make a hexagon. As space on the puzzle pieces was limited, I’ve used a code to tell students the range in which they are looking for solutions. For example, if an equation is followed by (A), they are looking for all solutions between 0 and 360 degrees. You will need to display the code on the board whilst students complete the puzzle. I wasn’t able to upload the Tarsia file, just a pdf copy of the puzzle pieces, so you won’t be able to edit the task, sorry.

I wanted something a little more challenging on the topic of Trapezia that still gave my students plenty of practice calculating areas, so I designed these questions. In each question, students are given a pair of trapezia and are told how their areas are linked (one is a multiple of the other). Students have to determine the area of one trapezium, use that to determine the area of the other one, and then finally use that to determine a missing value. Sheets I and II are very similar, but sheet III is a bit more challenging. Solutions are provided.

A basic worksheet to ensure students are comfortable with the > and < symbols. Students are given 2 calculations to do, and must use the appropriate symbol to show which calculation gives the greater answer. The calculations involve integers at first, but move onto decimal calculations later. Solutions are provided.

4 questions that I created to challenge my more able Year 8 students when we covered solving equations with brackets. Requires knowledge of: how to find the area of a rectangle and triangle, how to divide a quantity in a ratio, and how to calculate the mean and range of a set of numbers. Answers are provided (and they’re fractions to make things a bit trickier!).

A Treasure Hunt on converting decimals to fractions ( which should be in simplest form). Print out the questions and place around the room. Students decide which card they want to start on. Students answer the question by converting the decimal to a fraction, and look for their answer at the top of a different card - this tells them which question to answer next. They then repeat the process, and if they’re correct, they should end up back at their starting point after 20 questions. Solution is provided.

A Treasure Hunt based on finding the input value in a function machine when given the output. Print out the cards and stick them around the classroom. Students pick their own starting point, answer the question, and look for their answer at the top of a different card. This tells them which question to do next, and then they repeat the process. They should end up back at their starting point if they get all the questions correct. Solution provided.

A problem solving task that gives students lots of practice finding the surface area of cuboids. Students are told what the surface area of each cuboid is, but are only given 2 of the 3 lengths needed to calculate the surface area - they must determine what the missing length is. All possible answers are given at the bottom of the page for students to cross off as they go. I designed this for a Year 7 mid-ability group who solved it through trial and error, however it could also be solved algebraically (using linear equations). Solutions are provided.

Students are given the beginning of a sequence and must determine the next 3 terms. They also need to classify the sequence as arithmetic, geometric or quadratic. Solutions are provided.

As there isn’t any new content to learn when studying Surds in Year 12, I wanted to find a way to make my lesson a bit more interesting - hence this relay. I’ll let my students get stuck into this straight away (in teams) so I discover what they can/can’t do - far better than standing at the front teaching them things they already know! Questions are differentiated by difficulty (1, 2 and 3 stars). The questions are in a completely random order, so Question 20 (for example) isn’t necessarily harder than Question 8. I’ve included answers, and I’ve also included the Word version of the relay in case you want to make any changes, e.g. if you disagree with my difficulty rating!

As there isn’t really any new content to learn when studying Indices in Year 12, I wanted to find a way to make my lesson a bit more interesting - hence this relay. I’ll let my students get stuck into this straight away (in teams) so I discover what they can/can’t do - far better than standing at the front teaching them things they already know! Questions are differentiated by difficulty (1, 2 and 3 stars). The questions are in a completely random order, so Question 20 (for example) isn’t necessarily harder than Question 8. I’ve included answers, and I’ve also included the Word version of the relay in case you want to make any changes, e.g. if you disagree with my difficulty rating!