Here are some unit templates completed by teachers and that have been used in the classroom. There are some interesting themes, such as 'At the Opticians'. As you will see teachers are using the templates in their own way, there is no prescriptive set way of doing it, just make it work for you.
The context is so important – it makes it creative but it also gives something to hang the maths on and make connections between the maths areas easier to manage. The context isn’t needed in every lesson, but is used over the course of the 2-week unit. It is a good idea to think of a ‘hook’ to grab the class (a story, picture, scene, problem, object…) and a ‘product’ to aim at for the end of the unit – an outcome that could be a poster, model, item… something that solves a problem.
The Ideas and activities section of the template can be completed after mind-mapping ideas on a hand-written A3 sheet of paper, for example, and then copied as an outline on to the sheet. The Y1 and Y3 teachers did this, but mind-mapping doesn’t work for all teachers – simply making a list on the sheet can work well, which is how the Y5 teachers worked. Whichever method is used, having this template completed helps teachers plan the 10 day sequence of maths lessons in their daily plans by having this overview and the relevant details to support children’s learning.
The Ideas and activities section of the template can be completed after mind-mapping ideas on a hand-written A3 sheet of paper, for example, and then copied as an outline on to the sheet. The Y1 and Y3 teachers did this, but mind-mapping doesn’t work for all teachers – simply making a list on the sheet can work well, which is how the Y5 teachers worked. Whichever method is used, having this template completed helps teachers plan the 10 day sequence of maths lessons in their daily plans by having this overview and the relevant details to support children’s learning.
These examples used the old templates. They have been improved recently so make sure you use the latest version within Class Planning.
Year 1:
Two Y1 teachers used the context of 'At the Opticians'. Their topic for the half-term was 'Ourselves' - this fit in with the senses and a narrow focus of the opticians worked brilliantly, with an opticians set up as a role-play area in the class. The focus was on counting but they found that connections with other aspects of maths were easier to make because of the context.
Two Y1 teachers used the context of 'At the Opticians'. Their topic for the half-term was 'Ourselves' - this fit in with the senses and a narrow focus of the opticians worked brilliantly, with an opticians set up as a role-play area in the class. The focus was on counting but they found that connections with other aspects of maths were easier to make because of the context.
Year 3:
The Y3 teachers used ‘At the market’ as a link to a healthy eating topic. They planned a lot of games and activities that didn’t actually link to the context but were great for consolidating the learning. However, the graphs and tables linked nicely to the context and gave purpose to some of the problems set involving place value.
The Y3 teachers used ‘At the market’ as a link to a healthy eating topic. They planned a lot of games and activities that didn’t actually link to the context but were great for consolidating the learning. However, the graphs and tables linked nicely to the context and gave purpose to some of the problems set involving place value.
Year 5:
This came from a 30-minute joint planning session for a unit on decimals and place value. They picked through some useful problem-solving books and websites to gather ideas and adapted the ideas to fit in with a ‘school fete’ context as this was an imminent event. They set the problem around the amount of paper needed to wrap prizes for a stall, with measuring length and weight as the maths link for decimals.
This came from a 30-minute joint planning session for a unit on decimals and place value. They picked through some useful problem-solving books and websites to gather ideas and adapted the ideas to fit in with a ‘school fete’ context as this was an imminent event. They set the problem around the amount of paper needed to wrap prizes for a stall, with measuring length and weight as the maths link for decimals.
