Raising the profile: whole school maths activities for Primary schools

Open-ended activities carefully chosen can use the skills and knowledge that each child, whether young or old, has already mastered. To have the whole school community working and talking for a while about one mathematical topic has unexpected pay-offs, as older children explain to younger ones and parents share the common theme too. Recent UK initiatives have emphasised the open nature of mathematics and the importance of encouraging children to talk about their own strategies or ways of seeing mathematical solutions.

The challenges in this book are a logical extension of that but with the added freedom to explore, since there is no wrong way of meeting these challenges - only more or less inventive, or sophisticated, or careful. The photocopiable sheets may be adapted for individual school use, and include help for interested grown-ups. Each theme is supplemented with suggestions, for teachers, of introductory activities suitable for use in assemblies, and ideas for extension activities for children across the whole primary age range. The topics range across the whole maths curriculum and are purposely not linked to any levels, attainment targets, learning outcomes or objectives.