Having been asked to help some students (Years 9 and 10) who lacked confidence in class I decided to write these four sheets that we will go through together; the questions are designed to get increasingly difficult and to encourage questions and discussion. There are also various answers for some of the questions, another chance for a mathematical discussion. Topics covered include simplifying expressions, indices, expanding brackets (and therefore factorising) and basic algebraic fractions. The questions are varied in the hope of not allowing students to get into a rut and answer without thinking carefully. I have also introduced the word and symbol “identity”. I hope it is useful.

On a trip around my local record and charity shops I found the 7 inch single of the Fraggle Rock (a popular 1980s children’s TV show featuring muppet-like creatures) theme tune. Having posted a picture of my find on social media it was suggested that I should write a maths resource involving them and this is what occurred. It is essentially fractions, decimals and percentages (you probably guessed that from the title) and involves finding the fraction of an amount, comparing fractions, equivalent fractions, decimals, percentages, percentage of a number and repeated percentage change. The presentation includes links to the theme tune and uses the characters from the show. The last video link now updated.

Four “Crack The Safe” activities on fractions: adding/subtracting, multiplying/dividing, mixed numbers and fraction of an amount. Each contains six questions and ten possible answers. The reason behind this is to allow students to check their own answers whilst the teacher can spend time with anyone who requires more help. I find these work nicely as starters or plenaries but obviously you can use them however you like.

Four sets of four problems where students have the answer but there are blanks in the questions which require filling in. This is designed to create discussion in class and hopefully provides natural differentiation (stretch the “top end” by finding the general solution where possible compared to finding a single solution). It focuses on the more “challenging” aspects of indices including negative and fractional. I will be using these as starters or plenaries as I believe they will develop deeper understanding of topics, but feel free to use them as you like.

Four screens each with four questions that have the same answer but the question is missing information; can your class work out what information is missing? This is designed to create discussion (some questions have multiple answers possible) and I intend to use these as starters. Topics include ratio, probability, solving equations, indices, angles and many more.

Four “Crack The Safe” activities on ratio and proportion: three on ratio and one on proportion, although the ratio problems sheet has a couple of inverse proportion problems. These contain six questions but ten possible answers meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you. The emphasis in the ratio sheets is upon worded questions so discussion may be generated here.

Mick Carter, landlord of the Queen Vic in Eastenders, requires help with some fractions that he’s trying to shift. Can your class help him? This involves converting between mixed and improper fractions as well as calculating with them. Eastenders theme tune is optional…

Four “Crack The Safe” activities on percentages. They work their way up from percentage of a number, through multipliers, percentage change and repeated percentage change. These contain six questions but ten possible answers meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you.

Two “Crack The Safe” activities on types of numbers and HCF/LCM. The two sheets are split into types of number and HCF/LCM problems. These contain six questions but ten possible answers meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you.

This idea is from Craig Barton and is an excellent one (check them out his at website); essentially it is four questions based on the same information. There are four here which use volume, surface area, expressions, Pythagoras, trigonometry and angles in parallel lines as well as other topics. This really should create discussion and a deeper understanding of the topics covered on top of ensuring that students actually read the question. I hope these are worthy! I will be using these as starters or plenaries.

Three “Crack The Safe” activities on decimals (stuff related to decimals). There is one on calculating with decimals, one on equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages and one on recurring decimals. These contain six questions but ten possible answers (bar the equivalence worksheet) meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you.

Two “Crack The Safe” activities on rounding, estimation and bounds; the first one is simple decimal places and significant figures and the second involves bounds. These contain six questions but ten possible answers meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you.

Two “Crack The Safe” activities on indices: one on index laws and one on fractional and negative indices. These contain six questions but ten possible answers meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you.

Four sets of four probability problems where parts of the question are missing but you have the answer. This is designed to get students thinking more deeply about topics and some questions allow for various answers which leads to differentiation as students can be asked to give the possible range of answers. This should lead to discussion in class.

Four sets of “Crack The Safe” worksheets that get increasingly difficult regarding probability. These allow students to self-check rather than rely on the teacher as possible solutions are given, but more than required to prevent guessing. These work nicely as starters or plenaries for me.

Four sets of four problems where students have the answer but there are blanks in the questions which require filling in. This is designed to create discussion in class and hopefully provides natural differentiation (stretch the “top end” by finding the general solution where possible compared to finding a single solution). Whilst some of the questions can be answered without using algebra, this could be a way of convincing that the letters in algebra are just numbers! I will be using these as starters or plenaries as I believe they will develop deeper understanding of topics, but feel free to use them as you like.

Three “Crack The Safe” activities on time problems, converting metric units and compound measures (speed and density). These contain six questions but ten possible answers meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you.

Three “Crack The Safe” activities on standard form and surds (one on simplifying and one on expanding brackets and rationalising the denominator). These contain six questions but six possible answers for each question meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you.

Four screens each with four questions that have the same answer but the question is missing information; can your class work out what information is missing? This is designed to create discussion (some questions have multiple answers possible and can be extended by asking students to find general solutions) and I intend to use these as starters. All these are number based questions involving fractions, percentages, ratio, directed numbers and more. I use these as starters; I put them on the board and students can get straight on with them upon their arrival.

Three “Crack The Safe” activities on expressions: expanding and factorising, including quadratics and expanding three brackets. These contain six questions (four on the three brackets) but three possible answers for each question meaning that students can self-check their answers (are they in the list of possible answers?) whilst the teacher can help those who require it. I use these as starters and plenaries but that is obviously up to you.