Count on Us in School
The Count on Us Challenge materials are all directly linked to the key stage 3 curriculum, so they can all be used in normal lesson by your whole department.
They are also perfect for maths clubs and other out of class situations. We except your team will emerge from club-based activity.
Make sure that the whole department is involved by presenting the activities to a department meeting or just informally, after your training session.
We have set you a target to ensure that across key stage 3, at least 300 students work on at least some of the COU activities in class and 30 get the full experience of all of the activities in a club or out of class situation.
Resource Kits
Resource kits will be given directly to teachers who attend in-person training and will be sent out to schools where teachers attend online training. Your resource kit will include:
- A printed teacher handbook
- 20 x small dice
- Two 2-player Count on Us Shut-the-Box wooden play sets.
- 5 x GridLines geometry card game sets
- 5 x Target Maths sets (packs of single digits, double digits, fractions and decimals, integers and algebra)
Make sure to download the Target Maths and the GridLines Geometry software to complement the card sets.
In Class
- The Target maths cards make an ideal starter. Show your class one or more cards at the start of a lesson. But do not ask for answers. Let students tell you later when they have all had plenty of time to think.
- Show a GridLines Geometry puzzle card. Ask students to think of any solution that fits. Then another. Then another. Then find a rule to generate all such solutions. Choose puzzle cards to suit the topic you are teaching.
- Give students in groups a set of Data Chart Analysis cards to match. Discuss how the analysis is drawn from the chart. Discuss how the dataset is known from the chart.
- Play 2 dice Hedgehog at the start of a sequence on probability. Discuss the probability of different events. Discuss how strategies change at different game positions.
- Play COU Shut-the-Box. Make additional sets using the template in the Student Guide. Discuss strategies.
- Do an algebra round in class, with groups competing, as the end point of a sequence on Algebra.
In Clubs
- Play Target Maths in timed rounds. Play collaboratively, with pairs aiming to complete the most cards in a 5-minutes round. Also, play competitively. Use all of the different card sets.
- Play GridLines Geometry in the full game format using the puzzle cards and number cards.
- Use all of the available Data Chart Analysis sets and compare the different ways data is presented.
- Play 2-dice HedgeHog and develop sophisticated strategies.
- Play COU Shut-the-Box using the back to back sets provided. Play with one against one. Then with teams of 5 following the tournament rules for turn taking.
- Set up different Algebra rounds from the available materials and play in teams.