Each tree has three or four questions that get progressively more challenging as you work your way to the top. The idea is for a student to start where they think they’ll be challenged and then move up from that point, but ultimately it can be used however.

Solve some quadratic inequalities, reveal a cheesy joke about fish. A simple but effective concept that always seems popular in my classroom, plus the answers are on the sheet so students know whether they are right or wrong as the answer will reveal itself. Typos corrected…

This is a version of the codebreaker with a fish/aquatic joke. Each of the 40+ comes with answers and provides students with a fun challenge that’s slightly different to working through exercises. These have worked well in online lessons. Topics include algebraic fractions, indices, compound measures, area and perimeter, ratio and proportion, equations of lines, inequalities, measures, volume, expressions and many more. Each of these is available individually for free.

Six trees to climb on percentages, covering equivalence, of an amount, change and repeated change. Each tree gets increasingly challenging as the tree is scaled so these might be useful for a plenary or starter to inform you of where they feel comfortable/challenged.

Six trees taking students through simplifying, fractions of an amount, add/subtracting, multiplying/dividing, mixed numbers. Four questions on each getting progressively harder so students can choose the level they start (and finish). Good for starters or plenaries(?).

Find an expression in terms of x for y using circle theorems and discover the punchline to a cheesy joke. Designed for AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate but could be used as an extension at GCSE. Typo corrected!

This is designed for students sitting AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate (it could be a basic A Level one too), but it is the usual thing: answer question, laugh at joke.

Three codebreakers covering area using trig, the sine rule and cosine rule respectively. Make sure that students do not round any answers until right at the end (it does state on each to round you “final answer”) and reveal the three cheesy jokes. These work well in my classes as starters, plenaries or main tasks. Each one is an anagram so that students are not tempted to guess letters. The final question on each is more of a problem solving question.

Written for the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate but could be used at A Level too. This is the usual “answer the questions, reveal the anagram of the punchline” thing, being an anagram so that student don’t guess the order/answers. I like this joke but others may not…

A sheet in four parts regarding functions: substitution, domain/range, inverses and composite. I have tried to cover as many different aspects of each part; each part contains eight questions and I have done it this way so you can use each part separately if you wish, or all together, whatever you like. The idea is to work forwards and backwards using the information given. Hopefully it is fairly self-explanatory but no doubt we will find out!

Casey is now on the final chapter of the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate: matrices, including multiplying and transformations. Casey requires help because mistakes are being made; can your classes help and explain what Casey has done wrong? These work well as discussion activities in class in my experience, but use them (or not) how you wish,

Casey is doing the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate and struggling; Casey requires you class’ help to explain where they have gone wrong and then correct it. This chapter deals with trigonometry and Pythagoras including £D and non-right-angled triangles.

For those who have used these before it is the usual format where students answer questions to reveal a punchline to a cheesy joke. Student seem to like them as they offer a competitive edge and are different from answering questions out of a text book. I use these as starters/plenaries but occasionally as a main task. Topics here include inequalities, linear and quadratic graphs, simultaneous equations, transformations, expanding brackets, factorising expressions (including quadratics), rearranging formulae amongst others. Some of these are already available for free on TES.

Over 35 homework sheets aimed at the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate course, each with a tutorial video QR code link for those who require help to complete the questions.

Around 25 codebreakers (answer the questions, reveal the punchline to a joke) in this bundle. There are a number aimed at covering parts of the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate but also ones covering topics on the GCSE curriculum too. Each of these is individually available for free but if you want all of them they are available here.

Some of the first four terms, the nth term, the term-to-term rule, the 20th term and the 50th term are missing and you have to fill in the blanks (it does what it says on the tin). Should get them thinking…

This does what it says on the tin; some using coordinates, some using sketches, some working forwards, some backwards. Hopefully it will get students thinking carefully about transforming functions.

Answer the Maths questions and reveal the punchline to a fish-related joke. These ahve gone down really well in online lessons but went down well in “normal” lessons before. Topics include angles, area, bearings, simultaneous equation, Venn diagrams, quadratic equations, Pythagoras, trigonometry and many many more on the 45+ tasks, each with answers.

This looks at basic statistical diagrams: pictograms, bar charts and pie charts. There are four pages, one for each of the above and the final one being the same data represented by all three charts mentioned, but with bits missing on each. For each there are blanks to be filled, plus a question on the data. The idea is to get the students working forwards and backwards, not just getting stuck in a rut of doing the same thing repeatedly.

Looking at shapes like rectangles, squares, triangles, cuboids and cylinders, fill in the missing parts of the table. This is designed to get students thinking rather than going into algorithm mode. I plan to make a second one with more complex shapes eventually.