Keeping children happy, healthy and having fun whilst learning

Rebecca showed us how to create active and energetic lessons to engage and improve concentration - encouraging the school to have an Active Maths lesson each week. The Stomping times tables will be very useful to develop into our focus on times tables.

“Just wanted to say what a fantastic day we had! The performance was pitched exactly right for our pupils - simple, visual, clear, engaging - and even pupils who normally have very poor attention skills were captivated by it. The girls handled the workshops very skilfully too and throughout the day staff kept giving me very positive feedback. And finally the CPD session was just right for our rather exhausted staff! I`ve certainly got lots of ideas for dance lessons with my class, something which I don`t generally feel very confident about. Back in class my children loved trying to make the number shapes with their bodies, and looking for shapes on the playground.”

Children from all year groups, from nursery up to year 6, found the workshops fun, engaging & educational. Their enjoyment throughout the activities and dances was obvious, and they continued to enthuse about their experiences afterwards. The bank of ideas that was left behind, showing a how a range of mathematical concepts can be linked to dance, has been very well-received by staff: many of the activities can be adapted for a wide range of ages, and their simplicity makes for easy and effective teaching!

Great ideas for using in booster and small groups and will mean equations can be matched to abilities more easily – good way of assessing retention. Also a way of bringing maths into PE sessions. Some of the activities will make great warm up or plenary activities / brain gym idea for warming up. Or for creating break out session to help refocus.This will be a fun way for introducing new units of maths. The detailed hand out are perfect for sharing with staff.