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DT4 4FP
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Planning and assessment using MathSphere products
Get the Planning and assessment resources
These extensive digital planning documents have been written by Mr Lee Madderson, Headteacher of Acomb School. He has been using MathSphere products for some years and has spent a great deal of time linking the activities on MathSphere Calculations 3 and 4 as well as the Numbers 4 CDs to the latest Block Plans.
If you have the above CDs we hope that these plans will help you incorporate the activities more easily into your teaching and assessment. They have certainly been successful for his school as children as young as 6 and 7 have proved more than capable of taking a major role in assessment for themselves.
Below is a little more detail from Mr Madderson about the digital planners.
The digital planners were originally designed for use by a mixed-age class – hence some sheets are intended for use (according to ability) across the 2 year groups and some specifically for either year 3 or Year 4.
For ease of use the objectives and “I can statements” are pulled from all five blocks and all three units/terms. As each child has access within the class to a computer the sheets were originally designed to be made use of individually. After the introduction of a section or sub-section of work the children set off and progress through the activities. At the end of each sub-section/activity (possibly repeated several times or perhaps worked through just once dependant upon the need) the pupil – with support from a teacher or teaching assistant, dates the appropriate box in the pupil column or marks it to be revisited. The teacher annotates their column either during the lesson or later.
To cater for differing rates of progress made by pupils, in addition to each child having to hand the digital planner relating to the focus of the lesson, pupils also have another digital planner with them – possibly the self-test ones or the sheet focusing on times tables. This allows further independent calculation work to be carried out during the lesson.
Working in this way encourages each child to tackle the calculations on their own and to work at their own pace.
The sheets are easily adaptable according to context or need, for example for use by small groups rather than individuals.
The digital planners help maintain high levels of concentration and motivation encourage self-assessment and facilitate “next steps” planning.