On Monday 1st April, Northgate welcomed Year 5 pupils from Toftwood Junior School, Beetley, Yaxham, North Elmham and Garvestone to an Easter Maths activity day. Organised by Mrs Smith from the Maths department and supported by Miss Theobald, pupils arrived at 9am and went over to the Learning Hub. They were met with a set of problem solving questions to answer in their groups which involved a number of different Maths skills.
Introductions were given and an outline for the day. Each team was assigned a Year 7 buddy to support them throughout the activities. The main Maths skills being covered throughout the day were factors, multiples, primes and squares – knowing what they are and recognising them. The first activity outlined the properties of these types of numbers and students had to identify a particular number given clues about it.
Next up was a factors and multiples game. Pupils had some heading cards eg odd numbers, prime numbers, square numbers, multiples of 5, factors of 60 and so on along with 25 different Easter egg numbers. They had to arrange the heading cards on sides of a grid and the Easter egg numbers in the grid so that they satisfied the headings. This was a tough challenge and really relied on pupils’ logical thinking and team work. After 15 minutes, hints were given as to where the heading cards needed to go so it was then time to see who could place the numbers correctly first. Throughout the first two activities teams were competing to win hour glass timers which would contribute to the last activity.
Time for a quick break and to sample the tasty Café North biscuits!
Next up was a chance for pupils to use the iPads to scan QR codes – this took them to a standard question worth 1 point and bonus question worth 2 points. It was a race against time to answer as many questions correctly in the time given. It was great to see everyone using their knowledge and skills to confidently answer the questions.
Lunchtime gave pupils a chance for a quick break and also to contribute to Northgate’s new recycling scheme – lots of crisp packets collect!
After lunch Mrs Smith asked teams to think about the maths involved with looking after guinea pigs. They came up with lots of ideas and were given various problems related to the purchase of guinea pigs, the cost of food, calculating how much food they would need etc. They had to think about the Maths skills to apply in order to answer these. It gave everyone the chance to see Maths used in real life situations, such a valuable learning experience.
The final activity was a chance to head down to the ELF. Throughout the ELF there were 16 eggs hidden with questions inside them. After building up extra time during the morning activities, Garvestone accumulated the most time and so set of first. Toftwood B Team followed a minute later and then Toftwood A Team. Beetley, Yaxham and North Elmham were not far behind. Pupils were in pairs, had to find the eggs and then answer the questions inside, hiding them again when complete. This was certainly a competitive activity and saw lots of discussing and excellent methods being used. The time was up and there was now the opportunity to not only meet the animals including goats, pigs, chickens and rabbits but also to meet the guinea pigs which the previous activity was based on. Mr MacDonald spoke to everyone for a short time to give them a bit of background about the ELF.
At the end of the day the results were revealed – in joint 2nd place was Beetley and Toftwood B Team, and in 1st place was Garvestone. All students were presented with certificates and some Easter chocolate for their hard work with the winning team receiving some extra chocolates. A big thank you to Mrs Smith and Miss Theobald for organising such a fun and interactive day, to the Year 7 buddies who did a great job supporting their teams and obviously well done to all the pupils involved. We look forward to next time!
Click below to see some of the pictures for the day.[us_image_slider ids=”7270,7271,7269,7272,7273,7274,7275,7276,7259,7258,7260,7261,7262,7263,7264,7265,7266,7267,7268″ img_size=”tnail-masonry”]
