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Teacher-Trusted Tutoring

Personalised one to one tutoring that boosts confidence and doubles progress

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FREE daily maths challenges

A new KS2 maths challenge every day. Perfect as lesson starters - no prep required!

Teacher-Trusted Tutoring

Personalised one to one tutoring that boosts confidence and doubles progress

Preview lessons

Share-a-Story Month Maths Activities: Topical Maths [1]

Just before May (and the ever-present SATs) roll around, the end of April gives topical Maths fans a chance to enjoy some Share-a-Story Month Maths activities. Also, it’s another opportunity to emphasise the importance of literacy and numeracy across the curriculum and to let your pupils know how English and Maths are interlinked.

Wider learning in Mathematics

While you can easily say that any topic should not be taught in isolation, this applies especially to mathematics. With Maths it’s easy to forget just how insular the topic can be. Of course, while we all want to teach Maths to primary children as part of something larger and more fulfilling – it is definitely easier said than done.

KS2 Topical Maths Problems for Spring Term 2019

Fun maths investigations linked to calendar dates, designed to develop reasoning and problem solving in your pupils

Topical investigations that link to World Book Day, or National Share-a-Story Month are your chance to do just that, whilst also allowing you to link primary school learning for your Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 pupils to more engaging, ‘real-world problems’.

Literacy and numeracy across the curriculum

The importance of emphasising literacy across the curriculum has never been greater. As tests become steadily more difficult in their wording, pupils are expected to have higher and higher literacy levels in subjects that are numerically grounded to be able to access higher levels, Ultimately, it is becoming more difficult for pupils to reach their potential in Maths without a solid understanding of literacy to work alongside their numerical knowledge.

Do you want to avoid that moment where a pupil is capable of doing the Maths, but just cannot understand the phrasing of the question in order to apply it? Use days like these to bring an element of literacy into your Maths lesson.

Plus, Maths activities like those contained this KS2 Topical Maths Reasoning Investigation resource also give you the opportunity to implement wider and more engaging learning using a variety of topics, like Wesak, Sunscreen Awareness Day, and St George’s Day!

On a lighter note, if you succeed in building your pupils’ literacy and numerical knowledge, you’ll be giving them the best shot at their exams – as well as being better learners for life – and you can always use the great free resources provided by Literacy Shed (as well as the brand new Literacy Shed Plus!) to sate your pupils’ literacy needs.

Finally, what topical Maths blog post would be complete without a topical Maths investigation! So get your pupils cracking on this conceptual Maths activity:

Investigation: Informative illustrations

Create your own book of illustrators to help others understand what tricky mathematical words or concepts mean. You can use the ones below or think of some of your own!

Shareastorymonth bookpicInformative illustrationsShareastorymonth bookpic

Brainteaser!
Create a booklet or a series of illustrations for younger children to help them understand the four operations, telling the time, or fractions.

Check out 20+ more fun topical Maths investigations KS2 in our blog: 5 Ways to Use Topical Maths to Improve Problem Solving and Reasoning.

Primary school tuition targeted to the needs of each child and closely following the National Curriculum.

David Leighton
David Leighton
Third Space Learning
Content Team
A former secondary teacher, David was one of the original content editors to work on the Third Space Learning blog. He also was part of the team who developed the first resources in the online maths hub.
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KS2 Topical Maths Problems for Spring Term 2019

KS2 Topical Maths Problems for Spring Term 2019

Fun maths investigations linked to calendar dates, designed to develop reasoning and problem solving in your pupils

Download Now

KS2 Topical Maths Problems for Spring Term 2019

Downloadable resource

Fun maths investigations linked to calendar dates, designed to develop reasoning and problem solving in your pupils

Download Now
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FREE 12 Maths Club Activities for Primary Schools (Years 1 to 6)

A collection of games and activities to make maths enjoyable in a primary school maths club!

Minimal resources are needed for each activity.

Download free