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Get to know your new class: lesson activities for primary teachers

30 Aug 2024

By Lizzie Green, Communications Officer

September is here again, which of course means one thing: it's time to go back to school!

Thumbnails of activities with text saying "Free classroom activities!"

To help you get to know your class, and set up a maths-positive environment for the year ahead, we've picked out some activities from our Family Maths Toolkit for you to use in the classroom – as well as making the whole toolkit free to access!

Download the worksheets below and use them to break the ice with your new class, while getting a feel for individuals’ current learning levels.

Each activity uses maths from the previous year’s curriculum, to ease your students into the new year and let them get settled with techniques that should feel familiar, rather than being thrown in at the deep end.

Having good associations with maths helps to keep pupils engaged and learning. Research has shown that children as young as six can experience maths anxiety – so it’s vital to support pupils from the very beginning.

For more activities, check out the rest of the Family Maths Toolkit. There are over 200 activities that can be used by schools or families, which all support the national curriculum in England and the curriculum for excellence in Scotland. They also link to cultural events and things around the home, helping children to see how maths connects to real life. And they're all free!

Get the Family Maths Toolkit

For Year 1: Play Beetle

Play the game of ‘Beetle’ by taking turns to throw a die. Different numbers on the die allow you to draw different parts of the beetle. First one to finish is the winner.

Curriculum link: Subitising – recognising dot patterns on a die which represent a number, counting reliably to 6.

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For Year 2: Using Money Challenge

Children can gather some items to sell, and take turns being a shopkeeper and customer. Which is the most expensive thing for sale? Are there any special offers?

Curriculum link: Recognise and know the value of coins.

Using money challenge thumbnail

For Year 3: Chinese Tangrams

A tangram is a type of puzzle that's popular in China. What shapes are the tangram pieces?

Curriculum link: Handle and name a variety of 2D shapes and identify them on the basis of their properties.

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For Year 4: Triangle Test

How many triangles can you see in the picture?

Curriculum link: To visualise and describe properties of 2D shapes and use mathematical vocabulary to describe positions and orientation.

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For Year 5: Time Challenge

Talk about which activities, tasks and time periods take longest and put them in order.

Curriculum link: Solve problems involving converting from hours to minutes, minutes to seconds, years to months, weeks to days.

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For Year 6: Countdown Style Game

Each player draws four cards. In a minute, try to make the largest number you can using all your cards. The player with the largest number wins!

Curriculum link: Read, order and compare numbers to at least 1,000,000 and determine the value of each digit.

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Family Maths Toolkit

All of our 230+ Family Maths Toolkit resources are now available for free!

To help us understand who is using them and how many children we're helping all you have to do is provide a few details, then you can access them all at your leisure.

Family Maths Toolkit activities