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🔢 Maths: three moments for a game — warm up, drill, and see who hasn't got it

You do not have to change your plan. Three moments: five minutes at the start, ten in the practice, and two at the end that tell you who to sit beside tomorrow.

Maths⏱ 20 minutes

The problem it solves

Twenty exercises: the ones who can do it finish by number ten, and the ones who cannot sit quietly until the bell without anybody noticing.

What you need

  • A screen or projector at the front
  • No learner phones — every game here runs from the one screen

Run it like this

  1. 5min

    Warm up with Number Whack. Set the speed to slow, send two learners up to take turns tapping, and have the room read the numbers out together.

    “Read them out together, no rush — the two at the screen need to hear us.”

  2. 10min

    Drill with whichever matches today: Pizza Fractions for fractions, Make It True for the signs, Write the Maths for word problems. Learners take turns, one question each.

    “If you get up here and get stuck, you may bring one friend up to help.”

  3. 3min

    Split the room in two, open Press First with the Quick Maths set, and play four questions. A wrong answer costs nothing.

  4. 2min

    Finish with one round of Hoop Shot and watch WHICH way each learner adds. This one shows you how they think, not only whether they were right.

    “I'm not watching whether you got it right — I'm watching how you worked it out.”

A way in for the learner who isn't ready

A learner who cannot read the question fast enough becomes the one who reads it aloud for everybody. They get to read it slowly, out loud, several times, and nobody is waiting on their answer.

When it goes sideways

The same two answer everything

Use the rule “whoever hasn't been up yet”, and keep the list on the board — it makes visible who has not had a turn.

It runs over

Say the number of questions before you start. “Four questions” is much easier than stopping halfway.

The internet drops

Put the same questions on the board and keep the rules: two sides, first hand up answers, a wrong answer passes across.

Open these

🔨 Number Moles!Pat the mole holding the target number.🍕 Pizza Fraction Dash!Serve the exact fraction of pizza.🟰 Make It TrueThree numbers, two empty slots. Drag + − × ÷ and the equals in until the row says something true — the equals can go either side.✏️ Write & SolveWork out the multiplication in the grid — write it or type it.⚡ Press FirstOne screen at the front of the room, two sides, two buzzers. Whoever presses first answers — and a wrong answer costs nothing, it just passes the question across.🏀 Hoop ShotThe sum is on the ball, the answers are on three backboards. Learn the trick, then throw.

If the screen fails you

Six numbers on the board, you say the rule, they point at the one that fits — Number Whack with no screen at all.