Emma W

The field of maths has always had remarkable women. History has just been quieter about them.

A few years ago I wrote about Mary Somerville in my Roots column for @chalkdustmag.bsky.social - a mathematician who followed her curiosity despite the expectations placed on women at the time. 🧵

Oooh! Need to remember to have a look through these at a later date - a bit of window into an amazing brain 🤓

Walking outside definitely helps - the combination of fresh air & endorphins but without the barrier of it feeling like a monumental effort.

Gigs help me - let me switch my brain off & quieten some of those negative thoughts for a bit.

Also spending quality time with anyone where I can just *be*

Is there a good source of homework style questions somewhere for mechanics and statistics that are split into year 1 and year 2? #AlevelMaths I have been using Jethwa maths a lot for homework for pure, wondered if there is something similar available for mechanics and statistics. #MathsToday

Shape nerds ASSEMBLE!

(In an icosahedral symmetry formation)

So for once I *didn’t* wake up at 5:30, but since I didn’t get to sleep until at least half 1 it’s kind of a moot point 😩

Getting a cleaner was the best decision I ever made. There’s no way I could keep on top of things at the moment anyway, but no longer having cleaning jobs that I never get round to on my to do list (along with the associated guilt) is such a relief.

I think a binge watch of both seasons of Don’t Trust the Bitch in Apartment 23 is the best way to honour his memory.

a cat is sitting on a couch next to a laptop computer . Alt: a cat is sitting on a couch next to a laptop computer typing furiously

My mum thought days I was working from home were days off (and made the mistake of saying “you’re not working on x day, are you?”), until I spent a day working “from home” at her house. She no longer makes that error…

This is sort of what my brain was doing, but without me going so far as putting the whole structure in.

Worksheets containing six questions involving finding volume and surface area of compound shapes. This worksheet includes cubes, cuboids and prisms with parts of cylinders.

Worksheet containing six questions involving finding volume and surface area of compound shapes. This worksheet includes cubes, cuboids and prisms.

✨NEW✨ resources added this morning - challenging volume and surface area questions involving all sorts of compound shapes. Find them at www.draustinmaths.com/volume-and-surface-area
#MathsToday #UKMathsChat

Never asked for so many letters before! Do feel like I’m building up a better understanding of a wider variety of clue types though. My main issue is that I don’t feel I can leave it to mull over and come back later because I’d forget!

This was a relief after yesterday’s!

What?!!! 😭

Or having an A5 booklet for hybrid approach. My preference is for examples to be used in MWB My Turn, Your Turn phase - I want pupils to spend their time tackling the maths rather than copying down.

Sorry, totally missed this reply! Different approaches in different schools, but most successful versions I’ve seen are a hybrid of exercise book and booklet, e.g. most work done in ex book using booklet like a textbook but printing off things like tables or diagrams

Our maths curriculum has a booklet for each unit. maths.ormistonacademiestrust.co.uk
I’ve seen this used in various ways across different schools in our Trust. Happy to have a chat about it if that would be helpful.

Really liked today’s clue (although slightly annoyed with myself for taking a hint)

Merry Christmas everyone.
Found this on FaceAche:

Women’s Super League: Chelsea 0 - Everton 1

Premier League: Everton 3 - Nottingham Forest 0

What’s this?! A weekend where *both* Everton teams win?! Unprecedented! 💙💙💙💙
Now if they wouldn’t mind both doing the same again next weekend too…

New blog post for maths teachers: "Things I assumed you knew"

www.resourceaholic.com/2025/12/thin...

Comments welcome!

#ukmathschat

I was so angry from the safety car onwards! Absolutely baffling non-strategy. A mess entirely of their own making

Really don’t understand why McLaren didn’t at least split the strategy there. Hope I’m wrong but if I was Norris I’d be absolutely fuming. #Formula1

TEN MEN, TEAMMATES FIGHTING, WHO CARES? THIS IS EVERTON 💙

I quite frequently manage to figure out the word and then realise another aspect of the clue afterwards. I sometimes wonder how much of it was ticking away in my brain in the background helping me work it out.

Did you get it?

Absolutely love today’s clue. Really clever.

🤢 You can just tell that whoever wrote that was really pleased with themselves for writing it too 🤦🏻‍♀️

5 histograms. Each one shows the mock exam score of a group of past students who went on to get a particular grade, from grade 9 down to grade 5.

In lieu of grade boundaries, I showed them these histograms, of previous students grouped by the grade they ended up with. Took a bit of explaining, but I hope it helped them see what they were on track for, without me having to give them an explicit grade. #MathsToday

I second Dorian Gray. A friend recommended it to me when I was in 6th form and I’ve been recommending it to others ever since (in fact it’s probably high time I read my quite falling apart copy again!)