Alex Green

#mathstoday Y10 were looking at solving equations with variables on both sides, which seemed to go down OK. Y7 are looking at rounding - started with to the nearest 10. Lots of whiteboard practice, and made some numbers very large (with a fun tangent of can they say the number) and they did v well

#mathstoday Different today, as it was day 2 of the Securing Foundations at Year 7 Maths Hub course. Some great ideas to take away and think about, and the opportunity to work alongside colleagues in other schools is something I always enjoy.

#weeklywins #mathstoday Y10 are getting the hang of solving equations, we've made some good progress over the week on 1-step and 2-step equations.
My y9 nurture group has become confident in factorising in 2 lessons, and most mastered expanding double brackets earlier in the week.

#mathstoday Y7 were carrying on with the work on reading scales, including where the scale is less obvious. Y9 were factorising again, using an adapted version of one of @draustinmaths.com worksheets on factorising single brackets. Y10 were doing some independent practice on 2-step equations

#mathstoday y9 started looking at factorising today, while y10 moved onto looking at different types of 2-step equations where division is involved. Year 7 were looking at reading numbers off a scale. All lower band groups, but while progress can be slow at times, they’re all doing really well.

#mathstoday Year 9 nurture group did some more expanding double brackets, including where there is a coefficient, and where you square a bracket - which some of my group could tell me what to do before I showed them! My year 10 class moved on to 2-step (or 2-operation) equations with some success.

#mathstoday y10 did some independent practice on solving 1-step (or single operation) equations.
Y9 started expanding and simplifying double brackets - considering their starting point, they are doing brilliantly. Y7 finished off the measures unit with converting units of mass and capacity

It's great - a great chance for them to practice GCSE questions, as we rarely get time to do them in lessons as progress can be slow with this group.

#weeklywins #mathstoday
- Y9 have done much better with expanding single brackets than initially predicted - the algebra tiles were withdrawn in the first lesson
-Y7 have retained multiplying and dividing by 10/100/1000 very well
- Non-Maths: my Business class have performed well on their trial exam

#mathstoday Year 10 did GCSE Friday (an idea I got from Mathsconf) - practicing GCSE questions based on the content we've done this week.
Year 9 advanced to looking at expanding and simplifying 2 single brackets
Year 7 were looking at converting measurements of length

I’ve just done a similar exercise with them lesson 1 today, and all of them understood where we use km today.

It was v interesting, they weren’t estimating lengths, more what’s the most appropriate measurement - I have a lower band group (all my classes are as that’s my role) so wanted to see who knew about km and who didn’t.They were all secure on mm, cm and m, but some didn’t know how much bigger a km is.

…how many students thought we could measure anything in a classroom in km. Year 9 and 10 both continued yesterday’s work, both doing well. Got dropped into twice by the SENCO and HT (they did apologise for it happening twice) doing an SEN QA exercise in the style of the new framework #mathstoday

That was a day! #mathstoday Y7 started looking at measures, specifically measures of length/distance. Started with seeing what they knew by getting them to list objects in the room and what unit of measurement we would use. I threw in kilometres as a red herring and was interesting to see….(1/2)

#mathstoday Y7 looked at using timelines as part of time calculations, including finding the most efficient method. Y10 were looking at single-operation function machines. The algebra tiles were back with y9 to introduce expanding single brackets, though the tiles were not needed by half way through

#mathstoday #weeklywins for the second lesson in a row, y9 were presented with something that they said looks scary, but smashed it within a lesson. Today we were dividing algebraic expressions, and we got as far as dividing expressions with indices. I have even had a couple say they love algebra!

The idea was simplify it by rewriting it without the multiplication sign, however I agree that can be confusing. The students grasped the concept though. I have drilled it in that we don’t write the multiplication symbol, we rewrite things without the symbol. It’s common on assessments.

#mathstoday 3 lessons today, all algebra! 10s were factorising, 9s were simplifying expressions w/indices, and my EBSA group were collecting like terms.
We also do something called Wordy Wednesday as a starter, where they tackle wordy problems - all groups did well with the questions this week

We often find that new subjects are especially popular. Maybe that’s part of their appeal - I have often wondered how many choose them because they’re genuinely interested in the subject as opposed to just picking it because it’s new.

#mathstoday first 2 days done and am shattered! Year 9 nurture have continued the great algebra work and we've moved onto simplifying expressions with multiplication. Y10 looking at factorising, and Y7 have doing some work on time - some can already tell the time which is not what I'm used to!

Not sure, we have a wide variety of courses (especially for a small 11-16 school) they can choose, including several new courses, and it's very rare that an option course doesn't run, so it doesn't seem to make a big difference. I suspect losing the EBacc will affect some subjects in coming years.

#mathstoday Quiet week with mostly test reviews to finish the term off. Year 9 did some collecting like terms using Dr Austin's practice strips and Year 10 were looking at expanding and simplifying 2 single brackets e.g. 2(x+1) + 3(x-2). Very ready for the Christmas break now!

I've become more aware of it since I took on Business as another subject. It's obviously not a KS3 subject, and we only get 1 taster lesson to sell the subject, so the pressure is on to make it more exciting than realistic, to try and get students to take the subject.

#mathstoday #weeklywins
- Last full week done
- really happy with how my algebra tiles lessons have gone
- some very encouraging assessment scores from my Y7 and y9 classes

#mathstoday y9 were still collecting like terms today, but we removed the algebra tiles half way through, having understood the concept in various examples. Year 7 looked at when given a multiplication equation what other calculations can we do my making the numbers 10/100 times bigger or smaller.

Full on day - 5 lesson day plus Maths Hub and governor meetings. The highlight of #mathstoday was year 9 collecting like terms using the algebra tiles - no worksheets, no powerpoint, just mini whiteboards, the tiles and a visualiser.

We haven’t had them before, so it’s a bit of a learning process for me too, but can absolutely see the benefit, especially as my class are a nurture group with a variety of needs.

#mathstoday assessment week this week, so been a quiet teaching week up to now. Used algebra tiles for the first time today (newly bought by school) with my y9 group to get them used to using them as we work through the algebra unit - already proving popular and we were only forming expressions!

#weeklywins
- Lovely year 11 parents evening for my Business group
- Tried something I saw at Mathsconf, with GCSE Friday , no new content, just getting y10 practising GCSE questions on the parts of algebra we've done so far, went better than expected
- Y7 doing really well with dividing decimals

#mathstoday Yr 7 were dividing decimals today - the hard work put in to multiplying by 10, 100 and 1000 is coming to fruition, as they have taken to converting the decimals to integers really quickly. They also grasped the concept of the integer & decimal divisions giving the same answer as well.