'25 Ways to Use Numicon in Upper Key Stage 2' - I've created a double-page document you might want to print off for your planning files. Most of these are my own - apologies that I can't credit the source of the last few! #mastery #Year5 #Year6 #Numicon https://t.co/iKH1ypNOdc

Oh and one last thing - I no longer work at the school where I taught at the time so the email address I’ve given is no longer active. So should you feel inclined to send me any of your pupils’ writing or if they have any questions for me, just contact me here on X please 🙂

And whilst it’s pitched at Y5 I reckon you could easily make a few tweaks and pitch it to younger year groups.

I created this free resource to go along with the kids’ book I had written. And, yes, the full text is included as a PDF so this is not a sales pitch! Hopefully there’s something in there for you to adopt and adapt if you have the capacity to do something festive in English.

Little did I know when I wrote this article that I would be getting the opportunity to bring the materials to life as fully-resourced content alongside a really lovely team of creators for Oak Academy. What an honour. Lots of units already on the website. Check them out.

Today I began a brand new chapter of my career working for @MEIMaths - and what a marvellous first day it was, meeting an absolutely lovely bunch of new colleagues and learning new skills. Cannot wait to see what the year ahead has in store.

This week after an absolutely wonderful and eventful ten years working for the @FlyingHighTrust (to whom I am indebted) I said goodbye to my school. Exciting new challenges outside the classroom begin in September!

Extended problem solving opportunities are, I believe, the best way to foster a love of maths in the children - and build up mathematical resilience. The fist pumps and beaming smiles when they finally crack a problem with which they've been grappling are always a delight to see.

https://t.co/W2tOUw71K9 Hope I'm okay to share this Crystal Maze Maths game - I'm not the author! An oldie but goodie. Had the most wonderful morning with my Y5s doing it as a problem solving carousel. The activities are rich and engaging and it was wonderful to feel that buzz.

Working with this utterly lovely bunch of people over the course of the year has been a genuine pleasure and delight. I’ve loved all of our Maths sessions. I wish you all the very best with your no doubt glittering teaching careers. You’re amazing @ILSCITT

Not Maths-related but I was a contestant on #Popmaster on BBC Radio 2 today! I didn’t win but I loved the experience. Ken Bruce is an absolute legend. Speaking to him was such a treat.

Merry Christmas to this lovely bunch @ILSCITT. 5 of my favourite working days in 2022 have been the 5 I have spent exploring Maths with them, inc today. So much genuine talent, potential, ingenuity, positivity and perseverance in that room. It’s a huge thrill to be part of it.

I told them they had a week to finish the booklet. Then it will be a new times tables session (same format). Some were excitedly coming up to me by the end of lunch telling me they had already finished! I do think a HUGE part of the MTC is creating a buzz, an energy, a confidence

Phase 4 though is really where it's at! This is the automaticity phase. Here's where we use flashcards for the tricky ones (with the 11s I used 11 x 11 and 12 x 11). Then we use the card 'keypads' - I fire questions at them and they press the 'buttons'. Finally, a booklet.

Phase 3 is looking at commutativity within this week's focus times table. Counters would be a great way to explore this, but the website shown is a good way to illustrate the point quickly and effectively.

Phase 2 is using known facts to derive unknown ones. We use cut-up IKEA mats, folding the strips. Again, we want the children to move towards automaticity rather than deriving facts, but they won't get there without some teaching. It can't just be memorisation. #timestables

We take one times table per week. The first session was 11s.Phase 1 is step counting. We look at the multiples on a number square so that they can see patterns. Then we do a 'Rolling Numbers' YouTube song. Obviously we want to get the chn away from step counting but it's a start.

I've had a couple of questions about my last Tweet so let me elaborate by saying more about what the weekly 30 minute intervention session involves. I've just started taking all of the Y4s who are currently off-track for passing the Multiplication Check. The format is thus...

I recently did a 1:1 MTC practice with all of our Year 4s and it struck me that lots of them were saying the answers out loud within the 5 seconds but not quite managing to press the buttons quickly enough. I had the idea of printing lots of these. ‘Fast Fingers’. It’s working!

@FHALadybrook @FlyingHighTrust

I bumped into @davidwalliams at Disney World a couple of weeks ago and he recorded a lovely video for the kids at my school. Today I arrived to a large, mysterious package in my classroom. This was what was inside. What a nice gesture. My children were absolutely over the moon.