In Falkirk we are encouraging arty maths for this 2020 Maths week Scotland.

I cannot wait to see the learning that is going on!

Please tweet any and all quality maths and numeracy activities to showcase the great experiences our young people are having in Falkirk using the following hashtags and tags:

#ArtyMathsFalkirk

#MathsWeekScot

@numbhubchampfalk

There are a lot of fantastic opportunities, resources and material over the course of the week that can all be found here on the Maths Week Scotland website.

Get our selection of resources here including our fantastic STEMpire challenges.

NRICH maths resources linked to Art

STEM learning Maths in Art resources

Artists for whom maths is their muse

Artists who are mathematicians, mathematicians who are artists; look them up:

Hamid Naderi Yeganeh

Hinke Osinga

Robert Longhurst

Simon Beck

STEMpire challenges: 

Early Level

First Level

Second Level

S1 

S2

I had a query from a school last week looking for numeracy diagnostic assessments, intervention programmes, CLPL and any further numeracy support to assist during this term of recovery and beyond.

So I’ve put a few bits and pieces together that I consider to be good practice and good resources.

• Our own Falkirk Council Pressure points can be used to assess children and take the form of flash cards.  The numeracy strategy also gives some ideas for numeracy support.  All of this can be accessed here through glow.
• Education Scotland Numeracy Professional Learning resources can be found here.
• This link takes you to videos for CLPL that the RIC Numeracy lead and PTs created.
• The Maths Factor is offering a free times table check just now which is fun and interactive as well as good.
• If practitioners create an account for knowledgehook.com  (it’s free) there is a section called the toolkit which has a videos and archives part to it.  Within this is a a lot of videos that can be used by practitioners for CLPL on mathematics; you just have to scroll through to find them.
• I’d also suggest looking at youcubed for resources and CLPL.  A lot of this is free also.  Good resources here to challenge students in the “week of inspirational maths” stuff.
• This site (national centre for excellence in teaching mathematics) is also a great source of materials and CLPL.
• I’d also recommend whiterosemaths.com.  Again they have resources and CLPL and some of this if free.
• https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/LTM_Rekenrek.pdf This book is a resource for learning and teaching for young children using a rekenrek and has a series of lessons to follow.  Using this can quickly show what early level children (and indeed first level children) have difficulty with in early number.
• https://www.mathlearningcenter.org/resources/apps/number-rack Using this site gives you the rekenrek digitally (so could use on whiteboard) and if you scroll down on the page you’ll see the books that are free to download that go with it (includes an activity book for the students).
• I see maths has some free resources that helps make learning visible.
• Thinking about blended learning as part of recovery planning and contingency plans then take a look at this webinar from Graham Fletcher.  In it he discusses how he taught maths and engaged with his students during lockdown. Great CLPL.
• Graham Fletcher also has his own web page and is worth a look for other learning and teaching ideas.

Education Scotland have produced a new suite of numeracy and mathematics resources. These have been developed to support practitioners in schools and early learning and childcare settings as they begin to develop planning and support for learners as they return. These resources aim to help practitioners reflect on their own practice in developing and promoting numeracy.

These resources have been published on the National Improvement Hub and also on the  Professional Learning Community .

You will find here a SWAY which also details these resources.

The Maths Week Scotland Small Grants Fund is available for  applications (10^th – 26^th August). The fund is available to help you be part of Maths Week Scotland. It can support individuals, schools, groups or organisations, and funding can be used to host events, work with local communities or advertise more effectively. Obviously this year, as a result of the ongoing impact of the public health challenges, activities may need to focus more on digital/virtual engagement, carefully planned school activities and opportunities for outdoor engagement. More details and the application process can be found here.

I hope that you all enjoyed National Numeracy Day 2020.  If you didn’t manage to catch everything from the virtual festival on the day, then you can get all the sessions and materials here:

Numeracy Day

We are all numbers people.

Here you will find support for numeracy and mathematics that the Numeracy Team within the Forth Valley and West Lothian Improvement Collaborative have produced.

FV&WL RIC Home learning

These videos can be used for professional development:

RIC Numeracy Videos

Numeracy Guides

Here you will find the guides that have been produced for professionals and also parents/carers.

The first is a guide to games and activities that can be completed at home and are found on the Nrich website (all resources are free on this site).

Brochure 1 – Games and activities Nrich

If you missed out on the conference this year or just want the slides from the workshops, then you can get them here.

National Numeracy Day is all about recognising that numbers play a big part in all our lives and helping people sharpen their skills and build their confidence.

Being better with numbers isn’t a special talent, it’s something we can all learn. Join us on the 13th of May to start improving your numeracy.