Mini Starting Points for Mathematical Themes in the Primary School - Part One

These resources from Shropshire Centre for Mathematics Education contain a selection of ideas, pertinent to a specific theme, designed to develop mathematical thinking skills.

10

10 squares - implements collective memory
10....and ???? - combine rods to measure objects
Making an orange - use rods to discover number pairs
Pattern block tens - find different ways of filling a shape
Towers of ten - build equal and staircase towers
Join and separate - use a dice and rods to build number bond skills
Lotsa dots - calculate dots in shapes made from isometric paper
Number ladders - use cards and a dice to generate and arrange one and two digit numbers
100 squares - partitioning of 100 into tens and units
Happy families - make designated numbers by asking questions
The answer's 10, what's the question? - combine operations to give an answer of 10
Digital numbers - use sticks to produce calculator digits

Area

Boxes - surfaces of nets
Pentominoes - length and area when transforming shapes
Twos and threes - a game of strategy to cover a surface
Pattern block shapes - uses the triangle as a measure of area
Tangrams - equivalence of area when shapes are transformed
Comparing areas - fitting unit shapes together
Geoboards - calculate area of non square shapes
Grids - used to find area of irregular shapes
Rectangles - dice game to calculate area of rectangles
Dotty grids - a game to partition irregular shapes
Triangles - establishes half the area of rectangles

Circles

Consecutive numbers - reassemble individual segments correctly
Jigsaws - uses circles cut into pieces
Straight lines - create circles using a ruler
Clock face - explore patterns from numbers
Layers - create spirals and predict drops
Compass - create patterns and colour them according to rules
Rolls - uses coins to estimate and predict
Cylinders - make a set where circumference is half the height
Patterns - pass a ball and record the path created by different rules
Fences - enclose circles to investigate perimeters
Regions - use different relative positions to explore regions created
Cones - make different sized cones and order according to criteria

Holes and Gaps

Posting - explore 3D solids which will pass through shapes
Weave - explore gaps from woven paper strips
Time - use shape box to collect data
Paper folding - explore folds and cuts to produce shapes
Multilink - different holes using 36 cubes
Gaps -explore gaps from 2D tessellations
Hexomino - establish the smallest rectangular holes required
Routes - bridge a gap of three tiles
Paper hole - use A5 paper to make a hole and crawl through it
Pattern blocks - use squares, triangles and hexagons to explore shapes
Pegboard - investigate holes and perimeter
Partition box - use to predict and explore combinations
Frames - multilink cubes to explore perimeter and area