Angles & Lines Maths Trail for Senior Classes

As part of Maths week, I carried out a maths trail with my class on the topic of Angles and lines.  

What is a maths trail? 

"A Maths Trail is an organised walk through an area close to school where pupils can experience maths in the real world. A trail will help to highlight for them the huge use we make of number in our everyday life and how Maths surrounds us in even the most unusual areas" (PDST, 2014)

  

The trail I used offered the children the opportunity to explore the use of angles and lines in the environment around them.   Before starting I set out some ground rules. 

·      Children formed groups of three and four. 

·      I then assigned one piece of equipment to each child as follows:

o   Chalk

o   A large protractor

o   A metre tape

·      All children were given the task sheet and set out in their groups to complete each task.

TIP! Before setting out on the trail.  Make sure to discuss what is required on the trail prior to leaving the classroom!

The children absolutely loved the activity and for many helped increase their understanding of lines and angles. 

I have attached a free copy of the maths trail I used here! Google Docs Maths Trail File

Feel free to download and try it out with your class. (Please note: Share the file to your own account before editing! :))  Let me know how you get on!

Don’t forget to discuss your findings when you return to the classroom!

If you're thinking of creating your own trails, PDST have some great advice here and prompt questions: 

Maths Trails Overview & Prompts PDF

There are also some other examples of trails you can use here: 

Maths Trails Documents

Yvonne 

Free Maths Websites Suitable for Homework

The interest in maths websites which allow teachers to 'assign' a game or topic to be completed as homework or in class has grown considerably in the past year or two.  

The purpose of this post is to name some maths websites where teachers can 'add their class' and monitor their students progress as they play fun, free, educational games! 

• Prodigy Games A GUARANTEED hit with the class! This is a fantastic maths website where the children can play mathematical games against their classmates and other pupils around the globe.  FREE and very simple for teachers to use and generate a class. Teachers can assign homework tasks based on different areas of the curriculum and decide on the number of questions. Give it a go! 

• Khan Academy  Another fantastic free resource. This is slightly different to other maths websites such as prodigy maths (above), mangahigh, mathletics etc.  Children are assigned a mission to complete with a variety of maths problems and questions to complete.  The beauty of this website is that there are online videos which the children can watch to help them solve a problem if they get stuck.  The children can also work at their own pace, therefore catering for differentiation needs within the classroom.  A detailed break down of the children's success rates is available to the teacher, as well as the amount of time the child spends online and the areas in which they are struggling.  
• This is fantastic as it allows the teacher  an opportunity to pinpoint an area the child is having difficulty with and the chance to work on this.  This website is a little more fiddley to navigate and set up the class. However, bare with it! It is a wonderful tool when put in place.  

Why not give a some or all of these a go! I will keep the list updated as I make more discoveries.  Feel free to comment with others you may have found, or indeed your experience of the following examples.

Yvonne