MathsUniverse.com

Skills grid creator

  • Day 1
  • Day 2
  • Day 3
  • Day 4
Class:
Week:

Printables

Worked solutions to previous day (similar questions) on one side, questions on the other.
Saves paper with 4 grids per page. Don't want worked solutions? Just print the 2nd page.

Worked solutions

Project these while students mark their answers. Then allow time for discussion.

Worked solutions to previous day

Part of the printables. Suggest that students refer to these if they're struggling.

How I use these maths starter grids

I created these as a way to super-charge the start of my maths lessons - what I consider to be the most important part of the lesson.

Often I use the same 6 'skills' all week with a class, with the questions tweaked slightly from day to day. Solutions are gradually faded away as the week progresses, with the stakes lifted for the last lesson of the week, where students are expected to score 5 or 6 correctly.

At the start of the week I choose 6 skills, and bookmark the link. Then before each of the 4 days of lessons I click the tab for the correct day, copy the 3 images to my lesson PowerPoint (previous solutions; current questions; current answers) and print the 'printables'. Because it prints 4 grids per page (with solutions on the back), that's just 8 double-sided sheets of A4 for a class of 32.

Students arrive at class, the projector is off, books stay in bags - just pens and starter grids. Students immediately and in silence work through the questions. After ~5mins the students are encouraged to spend 2mins discussing their solutions on their tables, changing their answers if they can be convinced they're wrong. Sometimes I use 'tracker' books which are distributed and the grids stuck in.

Solutions are read out then projected. Students mark, giving themselves a score out of 6. If using the tracker books, students record their scores on a tracker sheet at the front of these books, which can also be used for exit tickets and reflections in the last 10mins of each lesson.

We often spend a few minutes as a class going over one or two of the questions. For the last lesson of the week, I sometimes collect grids to mark myself instead. I might check and record student's scores on a spreadsheet every week or two, intervening where necessary.

I'm @JakeGMaths for any feedback, suggestions etc