Making the most of timely practice - below 15th percentile

• most low prior attainment learners have ingrained “I can’t do this” beliefs about learning integer skills - so the very learners we want to prepare for learning other topics are the learners who are least likely to learn - if we teach these skills first

• integer is the most shaming topic theme not to be able to learn - so most learners will prefer not to compare what integer skills they have with their peers - this is easier if pre assess of integer is staggered

• once learners have begin to trust that maths teaching is very likely to become embedded maths learning, then teaching integer skills is most likely to be effective

• the lowest attainers will finish pre assess first (perhaps within 3 weeks) because the less learners know the quicker the pre assess process is. These learners they can learn a second topic each lesson, whilst the other learners are doing longer assignments, meaning the teacher will be able to give more teaching time to “fix misconceptions”. Once the whole class is learning integer through timely practice for the first time, the lowest attaining learners may already on their second spiral of learning integer.

Before lesson: The teacher will make the best use of their time in the first two lessons, by doing assessment during this lesson, since no new teaching is taking place. Hence create 3 assignments per learner, ready for the first lesson (and we have no idea of the learners pace of learning).

1. Add learners First and Family Names but used anonymised Known as Name e.g. randomly give letter A to Z (we want to share the process, but not personal data)+ give best estimate of Level for Learner

2. Add the SOL for the first curriculum cycle see below

3. Create all of the class a 8Q (today’s date) then a 10Q (Saturday’s date) and then a 10Q assignment (Sunday’s date)

4. Gather some extra time filler worksheets - just in case any learners - despite our best efforts, finish all 3 assignments.

   1. https://timelypractice.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CKB/pages/2971959297/begin+x+facts?preview=/2971959297/2971631630/beginXfactsTL4.pdf begin X facts (4)

   2. https://timelypractice.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CKB/pages/2971959297/begin+x+facts?preview=/2971959297/2971631630/beginXfactsTL4.pdf begin X facts (14)

   3. https://timelypractice.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CKB/pages/2970779670/improve+x+facts?preview=/2970779670/2971336725/improveXfacts3w.pdf improve X facts (3w)

   4. https://timelypractice.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/CKB/pages/2970779670/improve+x+facts?preview=/2970779670/3090251781/improveXfactsTL11.pdf improve X facts (11)

5. Prepare your pep talk re difference between tests/exams versus assessment with timely practice

In the lesson

You will need your android device.

Pep talk - see above and

• What to do when you can’t answer a question - Learner may try or may cross it out or write a ? in the answer space.

• What to do when learner has finished their assignment -> hand up and ask for next assignment. Teacher will collect completed assignments, give learner another to do (and do some assessment in the lesson).

• Why not copy? Learners will have different questions (so can’t copy) + learner will make it harder for themselves to learn in future lessons + there is no point, because there is no score.

Give out the 8Q assignment (today’s date) and sort the Saturday and Sunday assessments by first name (to make it easier to find them). Keep a list of all the Saturday assignments you give out. TOP TIP keep 3 piles of assignments today’s/Saturday/Sunday (with the assessed assignments at the back).

Once learners ask for a second assignment, the teacher can begin to assess these assignments (on the android device, remember tap with your non-writing hand and tick/bell with your writing hand).

Some topics won’t be added to the SOL until most of the first cycle of the curriculum has been taught

FDPR

1. decimalFraction

2. decimalXdiv

3. fractionADDsub

4. fractionINTRO

5. fractionOF

6. numberDIV10etc

7. orderFDP

8. ratio

Algebra

1. algebraGraph

2. inequality

3. sequenceArithmetic

4. sequenceOther

5. simplifyPQ (product/quotient i.e. x or ÷)

6. simplifySD (sum/difference i.e. + or -)

7. solvingReady

Geometry/Measure

1. 2D

2. 3D

3. area

4. changeUnits

5. coordinate

6. enlarge

7. reflect

8. rotate

9. scaleInterpret

10. translateANDvector

11. volume

Integer

1. 10bond

2. base10add

3. base10skills

4. correctTOnearest

5. factor

6. givenADDsign

7. givenDIVsign

8. givenSUBsign

9. givenXsign

10. multiple

11. negative

12. numberX10etc

13. orderInteger

14. place100value9999

15. prime

16. sequenceMultiple

Probability/Statistics

1. discreteGraph

2. frequencyTable

3. MMMRQseparate

4. probabilitySingle

5. proportionalGraph

6. stemLeaf

7. Venn

Before lesson: Time spent getting the learners pace for practice (P4P)approximately correct is worthwhile and making sure learners complete a recently created assignment every lesson, will make planning easier and teaching more efficient.

1. Create a spreadsheet (see below) and if not already in 3 piles by date sort them.

2. Write the names of any absent learners in the correct row of the L1 8Q (lesson 1, 8 question assignment column).

3. Assess all remaining L1 8Q assignments - if any learners (were really slow working/late) and did have time to complete this assignment: assess all missed questions with reset symbol (3rd assessment choice) and write the number of missed out for lack of time questions in the correct row of the L1 8Q (lesson 1, 8 question assignment column).

4. Check that there is a paper assignment for each of the L1 8Q remaining assignments shown in the P&P session and no others - keep these in one pile.

5. Cross out the names of all the assessed assignments from Saturday and Sunday in the table.

6. Look at each un-assessed Saturday assignment

   • If the assignment is complete, assess it and cross out the learners name in the Saturday column of the table.

   • If there are only 1/2/3 (missed out for lack of time) questions left in the assignment, assess these with reset, cross out the name and write in the number of missed out for lack of time questions in the correct row of the Saturday 10Q column, assess the rest of the questions. Write these learners names in the L2 8Q column (they will do the new 8Q assignment and the Sunday assignment next lesson).

   • If the are 4 or more questions still to do, do NOT assess but write their name in the L2 8Q column (they will do the new 8Q assignment first and then complete this Saturday assignment).

7. Look at the Sunday assignments: are there any that learners have

   1. finished? - assess the assignment and write the learners name in the L2 25Q column and the L2 8Q column (they will do the 25Q assignment first),

   2. less than half finished? - write their name in the L2 20Q column (they will do the 20Q assignment first and then finish the Sunday assignment),

   3. more than half finished? - write their name in the L2 25Q column (they will do the 25Q assignment first and then finish the Sunday assignment).

8. Create the new assignments - first the 25Q assignment, then the 20Q assignment and finally the 8Q assignment. NB whenever possible learners will start with the assignment dated for next lesson (except learners absent last lesson, they will have o assignment dated for L2, they will do the L1 8Q assignment).

9. Gather some extra time filler worksheets - just in case any learners finish early - see lesson 1 - or use your own.

10. Screen shot the topic dashboard for decimalFraction, decimalXdiv and fractionINTRO and prepare to display these on the whiteboard.

In the lesson

Explaining the purpose of the second lesson - finding more about what learners know in the topic theme FDPR (fraction, decimal, percentage ratio) + doing revision - so that the teacher can teach on firm learning foundations and the timely practice app can ensure that learners retain their learning. Ask some questions, “hands up if you…”

• found some questions too easy?

• found some questions too hard?

• couldn’t answer some questions that you’ve learned before?

Reassure this is what you expect. Continue to explain: “If you answered a question correctly last lesson, you will get a similar question to answer this lesson (or next), which will help the timely practice app be sure of what skills you already know of on a topic. Next lesson I (your teacher) will start using this data to make teaching and learning easier”

Show the decimalFraction dashboard, explain that the learners are anonymised and you won’t be saying who is which letter, but they can see what the app has found out so far about the class' learning on the topics (low number = easier, high number = harder; white = needs to learn, grey = might need to learn). Explain that next lesson, when you look again, there may be some blue squares = the app has found out all the skills the learner has already learned and remembered on the topic.

Learners should start with the assignment dated today (except absent learners, who will start with the L1 8Q assignment).

The teacher may want to cross out from the table, assignments that they assess during the lesson.

Before lesson:

1. Some assignments will have been assessed in the lesson, assess any complete but un-assessed assignments, cross these out from the table (see lesson 2).

2. Begin Old Assignments list

   • Write lesson 1 date as a subheading: write below a list of any learners who were absent lesson 1 and 2 - put these assignments to one side and shade out the 2 appropriate squares in the L3 column of the table.

3. Assess any complete/partially complete assignments

   • assess any assignments dated lesson 1 - unless they are on the Old Assignments list - if there are any questions not completed because the learner ran out of time: assess with reset - third option - and write the number of missed out for lack of time questions in the correct row of the L1 8Q (lesson 1, 8 question assignment column).

   • assess Saturday/L2 8Q/L2 25Q/L2 20Q assignments - if there are any questions not completed because the learner ran out of time: assess with reset - third option - and write the number of missed out for lack of time questions in the correct place in the table

   • look at the Sunday assignments:

     • if they have not been begun - write 10 beside the learners name in the Sunday column of the table,

     • assess them if they are complete - and cross out the learners name in the Sunday column of the table,

     • if they are mainly incomplete, write the number of questions still to do in the Sunday column of the table,

     • if they are almost complete, assess the last few questions with reset, and write this number beside the learners name in the Sunday column of the table and cross out the learners name.

   • if there were any learners absent for only lesson 2 - write in the Old Assignments list under the appropriate subheadings L2 8Q/L2 25Q/L2 20Q, the learner's name - put these assignments to one side and shade out the 2 appropriate squares in the L3 column of the table.

4. Now, for learners who have been present for both lessons, calculate their 2 lesson total number of questions.

   • Remember the number inside each column is the number of questions NOT completed

   • Adjust the learners P4P (Pace for Practice - found in the learners tab), using the table below

5. For learners who have been present for one lesson, if they have completed 14 or fewer or more than 24 questions, adjust their P4P (Pace for Practice).

5. Prepare teaching of decimalFraction by taking a new snapshot of decimalFraction dashboard (see Plan Teaching).

• Look on the decimalFraction dashboard for learners who will learn layer 1 or 2 from decimalFraction

  • if decimalFraction layer 1 is blue, then teach layer 2 (download Teach-Learn questions print out Practise-Learn worksheets) - add by tapping the blue (2) and Teach button

  • if decimalFraction layer 1 is white, then teach layer 1 (download Teach-Learn questions print out Practise-Learn worksheets) - add by tapping the blue (1) and Teach button

  • if decimalFraction layer 1 is grey - learners are not sufficiently assessed, so they will continue with pre assess, so …

If there are any learners who won’t be learning decimalFraction layer 1 or 2

• make a seat plan so they are are sitting further away from the whiteboard/flip chart

• have their assignments ready to give out at the start of the lesson.

6. If the learner

• is to learn decimalFraction and has a Sunday assignment left: shade out the L3 12Q square in the table (so will get 8Q assignment and still has Sunday’s assignment to do)

• is to learn decimalFraction and has NO Sunday assignment left: shade out the L3 8Q square in the table (so will get 12Q assignment)

• is not to learn decimalFraction but has a Sunday assignment left: shade out the L3 8Q square in the table (so will get 12Q assignment and still has Sunday’s assignment to do)

• is not to learn decimalFraction and has NO Sunday assignment left: do no shading (so will get 8Q and 12Q assignments).

7. Create the assignments

• a 12Q assignment dated for L3 - for all the learners not shaded out in the L3 12Q column

• an 8Q assignment dated for L3 - for all the learners not shaded out in the L3 8Q column

In the lesson

Show the snapshot of decimalFraction dashboard to the class - explain what it shows (as above if layer 1 is: white - learn layer 1, blue learn layer 2, grey do more pre assess). Explain that the app is continuing to build up information for other topics every time the teacher assesses the assignments and that the class is likely to learn this topic three times during the year, so learners who were absents for a pre assess lesson, or who need to do more pre assess will learn more on this topic next term if not before.

Give out assignments to those who won’t be learning layer 1 or 2 and mini-white boards and pens to those that will. Encourage learners with assignments to ignore the teaching, if they can.

Teach layer 1 and give out the practise-learn worksheet for layer 1 (to the appropriate learners) and continue to teach layer 2 to those who are to learn layer 2. Encourage imagining shading in a 100 square to help them if they get stuck - perhaps cut up some 2cm graph paper which they can use as an aid memoire.

Ask learners to ask for the answers when they have finished their worksheet, self-assess and then continue with their assignments as before. During the second part of the lesson, the teacher is likely to have time to assess some completed assignments, remember to cross them off from the table.

Before lesson

1. In the Planning and Preparation Session for lesson 3, tap to deselect any learners who were absent/late to the lesson and didn’t learn layer 1 or 2, then tap Taught Edited.

2. If there were any learners absent for lesson 3 - write in the Old Assignments list under the appropriate subheadings L3 8Q/L3 12Q the learner's name - put these assignments to one side.

3. Assess all completed assignments and cross them off from the table or the Old Assignments list.

4. Assess all partially complete Sunday/L3 8Q/L3 12Q - for any questions not completed because the learner ran out of time: assess with reset - third option.

5. Edit the Old Assignments list

   • Look in the Saturday’s P&P (if the date still shows, there are some un assessed assignments) - tick the appropriate box in the Spare Assignments table + check the PDF copy still exists (if not: reset each question)

   • Look in the Sunday’s P&P (if the date still shows, there are some un assessed assignments) - tick the appropriate box in the Spare Assignments table + check the PDF copy still exists (if not: reset each question)

   • Look at the remaining P&P sessions, one by one - check that the learner’s names are written on the Old Assignment list (if not: add the name) and check that a PDF copy still exists (if not: either print the assignment again, use the last 4 digits of the title to verify its the correct one, it will be in downloads/files or reset each question and cross it off from the list).

6. Make up the Extra Assignments list - which will be used during the pre assess process, to try and ensure the learner doesn’t run out of questions.

7. If the learner doesn’t have a Spare Assignment, make up a nominal 10Q length assignment for next Saturday’s date.

8. Take snapshots of the decimalFraction and decimalXdiv dashboards.

9. Plan Teaching for the decimalXdiv topic as follows:

   • If layer 7 and layer 8 are light grey - the app thought that these layers might be too hard - so consider not teaching (but for many learners its OK to “give layer 7 a go”, so tap (7) and tap Teach)

   • If layer 7 is white - teach this layer - tap (7) and tap Teach

   • If layer 7 is blue - then look to layers 8, 9, 10 etc. - the layer to teach is the first white layer - tap (the appropriate layer number) and tap Teach

   • If layer 7 is dark grey and layer 8 is white - the app is still being assessing layer 7 (the learner probably already knows layer 7) so teach layer 8 but NB tapping (8 ) and Teach won’t work as the app hasn’t finished assessing, so this layer won’t be added into the next assignment’s retrieval practice section. After assessing this lesson’s assignment, the teacher may be able to add this layer in Plan teaching the next lesson. Teaching therefore may be forgotten, but there is no harm in “having a go”.

10. Download the necessary Teach-Learn questions and Practise-Learn worksheets

11. In Create t.p. uncheck learners whose name is on the Old Assignments list, change the number of questions to 18 questions and tap Create.

In the lesson

Show the snapshot of decimalXdiv dashboard to the class - explain what it shows (as above if layer 7 is: white - learn layer 7, blue: learn layer 8 (or harder), dark grey: do more pre assess). Explain that the app is continuing to build up information for other topics every time the teacher assesses the assignments and that the class is likely to learn this topic 2 to 3 times during the year, so learners who were absents for a pre assess lesson, or who need to do more pre assess will learn more on this topic this year.

Give out assignments to those who won’t be learning decimalXdiv and mini-white boards and pens to those that will. Encourage learners with assignments to ignore the teaching, if they can.

Teach layer 7 and give out the practise-learn worksheet for layer 7 (to the appropriate learners) and continue to teach layer 8 or higher to those who are to learn layer 8 or higher. Encourage writing out all steps e.g. 7 x 6 = 42; 0.7 x 6 = 4.2; 0.07 x 6 = 0.42 etc

Ask learners to ask for the answers when they have finished their worksheet, self-assess and then continue with their assignments as before. During the second part of the lesson, the teacher is likely to have time to assess some completed assignments, remember to cross them off from the table.

Before the lesson:

Look at the last page of each weekday assignment, did the learner

• complete their assignment? - assess it

• leave out the last few questions (because the learner seemed to run out of time)? - assess these last few “run out of time” questions using reset and make a note to decrease the learner’s Pace for Practice by 10 to 20%

• was the learner absent? - if this was the first day of absence write their name under last lesson’s date on the Old Assignments list - if this was a continuation of absence, check their name is already on the list under the correct date on the Old Assignments list

Did any learners do some work on their (weekend dated) Spare Assignment?

• Look at the last page or two - did the learner complete or almost complete this assignment? - if so assess (using reset where appropriate) - shade out the appropriate square in the Spare Assignments list - make a note of who needs a new spare assignment.

• Create a nominal 10Q new Spare Assignment (for the next weekend date if available).

Decide on the lesson focus:

This lesson and lesson 6 can be tricky: ideally the teacher will continue to teach some new learning, but sometimes, especially if poor attendance is an issue, allocating lesson 5 to completing assignments and doing no new teaching will make

• planning easier for the teacher,

• sure most learners get the benefits from retrieval practice as soon as possible.

The best topic to teach this lesson is the topic with the highest proportion of blue/white/very light grey showing and the lowest proportion of darker grey/swirling blue circle showing.

FDPR topics likely to be ready to teach to the class are:

• ratio

• orderFDP

• fractionINTRO

• fractionADDsub

Also why not look at these algebra topics which might be ready (because most learners may not know much/anything, so pre assess can be very quick)

• simplifyPQ

• algebraGraph

• inequality

If the teacher is going to

• allocate most of the lesson to pre assess create a nominal 20Q assignment,

• teach (almost) the whole class from a topic, then create a nominal 15Q assignment (any learner who isn’t ready to learn from the topic can be made an extra 5Q assignment).

In the lesson with no new teaching:

Start with a timely practice assignment, as learners enter welcome them, indicate their assignment and say that a timer will go off half way through the lesson.

When the timer goes off, ask learners to put down their pens, they will be able to continue in a little while. Engage the class in questions about pre assess e.g. hands up if you had (or point on a page to)

• a question in the retrieval practice section? (discuss what this means, next lesson they might get feedback if they need it)

• a question with algebra (letters or shapes that stand for numbers)?

• a question with a decimal point?

• a question with a graph?

• a question with a fraction?

• a similar question to a question you had last lesson?

• a question with a shape?

• a question with a ruler?

Ask if learners are finding their questions

• “more goldilocks” (not too easy, not too hard) or “less goldilocks” than the first lesson?

Then ask learners to see how many of the remaining questions in their assignment they can finish before the end of the lesson.

In the lesson with new teaching:

It is helpful to split the lesson into a sandwich: start with timely practice, do the teaching, continue with timely practice.

If the topic you will teach has a large spread of attainment, you may like to make the lesson into a club sandwich: timely practice, teach some learners, timely practice, teach other learners, timely practice/practise-learn worksheets.

Learners are likely to be either ready to learn layer 1 or 2. Teach these simultaneously, but emphasise that some learners won’t get an example as the first part of the question.

Layer 3 is the most critical layer - do learners know how to write a fraction, from a diagram? Learners who don’t know how to do this, should probably be taught in a small group (but there is no reason, why they can’t “watch” the teaching of layer 4 or higher layers). Some learners can answer questions on harder layers, but not layer 3 (because they confuse the standard fraction notation, with e.g. a “bookies way of describing fractions e.g. writing 2/3 instead of 2/5”), learning layer 3 is, in these cases, even more important.

Many learners can answer layer 3 questions, without knowing why, but this can be addressed through think aloud or asking probing questions when teaching other layers.

In the very unlikely event that a learner has mastered layers 1 to 7 (this is unlikely for learners below the 15th percentile) there is a problem because simplestForm has not been pre assessed, its easiest to not teach this topic to this/these learner(s).

Focus on correctly repeating “we say nought point four three, which is forty three hundredths” when a learner says “nought point forty three”, but otherwise don’t be worried about place value for this topic, it will be dealt with in decimalFraction and numberDIV10etc

With timely practice this is “just as hard to teach a spread of attainment” as with traditional maths teaching, but with timely practice the learning will stick, so each cycle of the curriculum this will get easier. The teacher might like to teach

• learners who are learning layers 1 and 2 separately from their peers,

• the layers where the question is given a place value grid to all learners, (that’s layers 3 and 5) then ask the learners of layers 3 and 5 to begin their worksheet

• and then move on to only teach the group of learners for whom their layer is questions without a place value grid.

With timely practice this is “just as hard to teach a spread of attainment” as with traditional maths teaching, but with timely practice the learning will stick, so in each cycle of the curriculum this will get easier. The teacher might like to teach fractionOF which is halfOF in one lesson and fractionOF layers 10, 11 and 16 in a different lesson. There are likely to be some learners who have several “firm learning foundations, so it might be sensible to avoid teaching 10, 11 and 16 for the first curriculum spiral.

Learners below the 15 percentile often haven’t retained learning on this topic, so it can be really quick to pre assess, hence its suggested as lesson 1.

Layer 1 is easy to learn, and learners are often engaged by the concept that “mathematicians are so lazy they can’t be bothered to write 2 x p so they miss out the times sign”

This is deliberately made simple in layer 1 - learners don’t need to plot coordinates, nor continue tables of values - they merely need to draw a line segment through the given points across the full width of the graph paper. So don’t discount this topic as “too hard”.

For layer 2, the learner doesn’t need to be able to plot coordinates, better that they use “go right one square and up (or down) … squares”. This helps the learner to get a natural sense of gradient, and find errors in their plotting of graphs later.

This helps learners get a sense of negative number, so is valuable to teach this topic.

With timely practice this is “just as hard to teach a spread of attainment” as with traditional maths teaching, but often there isn’t a wide spread of attainment, in the below 15th percentile classes.

The teacher might like to teach layer 1 to the whole class (or all the class that haven’t yet mastered layer 4) as

• it gets the sense of why inverse operations can be useful, and avoids all poor numeracy skills. Model the function diagram as well as the block diagram, if any learners have mastered layer 3 or above, and encourage learners to solve the questions if they can BUT they must write the 3 possible equations.

• it makes teaching the topic easier in the first curriculum spiral.

This topic may take some time to pre assess completely, hence teacher will probably want to leave this topic until most other algebra topics are taught.

Teaching simplifySD may muddle some learners with their recently learned simplifyPQ skill - if this happens - its best to remove the simplifySD layer, as simplifyPQ has many more layers than simplifySD.

This topic may take some time to pre assess completely, hence teacher will probably want to leave this topic until most other algebra topics are taught.

With timely practice this is “just as hard to teach a spread of attainment” as with traditional maths teaching, but often there isn’t a wide spread of attainment. (The teacher can remember that with timely practice the learning will stick, so each cycle of the curriculum, teaching this topic will get easier). If there is a wide spread of attainment, it may be easier to teach to groups at their table or clustered around a flip chart, rather than teaching to the whole class.

FYI If learners have mastered layer 2 and layer 4, no need to teach layer 3.

If everyone is still doing pre asses, select a teaching order which maximises topics where most learners are pre assessed

For low attaining learners its worth taking a screenshot of the numberX10etc dashboard - to see what learners already know - although learners may be able to learn without the skills listed below:

layer 1: no need to multiply by 10

layer 2: will find easier if numberX10etc layer 4 is mastered

layer 3 and 4: will find easier if numberX10etc layer 10 is mastered

There may be quite a bit of shame attached to not being able to do these skills. The first 3 layers, avoid the learner having to place the ruler accurately, so make good scaffold to layer 5.

Have tracing paper ready + be ready to show how to use it (using a flip chart rather than a whiteboard may help).

Share strategies on how to tell left from right?

The common misconception is counting the squares between the two shapes.

Have tracing paper ready + be ready to show how to use it (using a flip chart rather than a whiteboard may help).

Encourage slowly turning the page to check if diagrams are correct

Perhaps start with practise-learn layer 1 worksheet as a warm up?

Make sure you pronounce the shape names, and then get learners to parrot them back.

It is quite helpful if only the lowest attaining learners are learning volume together, as far more learners than one expects don’t know how to visualise in 3D from an isometric drawing. Having multlink available and colouring the cubes in the diagram to match might help.

FYI perimeter is saved for next term.

There are a number of layers building up to “area of rectangle = width** times height”, this is partly because low attaining learners don’t know many times table facts, but also IMHO one can’t remain a low attaining learner if one can use the power of multiply (and v.v.)

** FYI I find that using the length times width adds unnecessary confusion for many learners, as it muddles with width, depth and height measurements of furniture and the generic us of length.

It is quite helpful if only the lowest attaining learners are learning layer 1 and 2 without teaching harder layers - using scale factor has a high working memory load, so encourage learners to show their workings out.

“oh, here we go, along the xylophone and up or down the yoyo” is useful - whereas - “along the corridor and up the stairs” has many misconceptions waiting to trap the unwary!

Make sure you pronounce the solid names, and then get learners to parrot them back.

Have tracing paper ready + be ready to show how to use it (using a flip chart rather than a whiteboard may help).

NB those still doing pre assess will NOT be taught a second topic

Primary schools are excellent at teaching this, so if there are problems with this skill - the small bite approach will hopefully help fix them.

Sorry this topic isn’t well developed, but the 2 layers that currently exist are really helpful for improving place value skills.

Please do request extra layers from this topic, or the easier topic place1value99 and the harder topic place10000valueUP

There are many layers which lead the learner gently towards traditional prime questions.

For learners with poor division skills, gently learning these skills helps with learning so many harder topics, so do give this topic a go - check out how easy layer 1 is.

Imagine how hard learning maths would be without these skills. Usually this needs to be paired with another skill, as many find this topic easy.

These questions tend to engender a lot of shame, as learners may have been failing at these for many years. The small bite approach really helps fix this.

This is really helpful for improving accuracy and checking.

Helps fix ordering accuracy.

Accessible even to learners who can’t write a fraction correctly yet

Important grounding in proportion

Excellent for fixing place value issues which counting hasn’t resolved

Good for logic, checking accuracy and possibly easy marks in GCSE - so do teach this topic

If a class has a wide spread of ability in the second and subsequent years of teaching with timely practice, a bespoke curriculum which balances the key topics that the higher attaining learners should learn with the needs of low attaining learners might mean that e.g. integer and algebra topic themes are taught together in a block and this block is taught more frequently than the other topic themes. Here is an example of such a SOL

• algebra and integer

• geometry/measure

• probability/statistics

• algebra and integer

• FDPR

• reduced geometry/measure

• algebra and integer

• reduced FDPR

• reduced probability/statistics