Ideas for Numeracy 'Working Walls'

Some notes from our meeting on using 'working walls in Maths:

· NUMBER LINE: Display a large number line either horizontally or vertically. This could be either numbered (all numbers displayed) or partly numbered (e.g. intervals of 10, intervals of 0.1). There should be a progression in the lines used throughout the school. The line should be at a level that can be reached by the children (so they are able to draw on the jumps). You could encourage the children to refer to the line regularly by displaying an activity next to it (e.g. Fibonacci the frog likes jumping along the line. Which number is he resting on? He started on number 20 and jumped to number 40. Each jump was exactly the same size. What size could his jumps have been? Fibonacci and his friend are each sitting on a number. What is the same about their two numbers?).

· NUMBER SQUARE: Display a large number square (e.g. 1 to 100 counting in ones, 0.01 to 1.0 counting in hundredths). Again it is useful if the children can reach the square. Encourage the children to become familiar with the square by displaying regularly changing questions next to it (e.g. Which numbers are covered up? Can you explain the pattern of green numbers? If you had to colour a pattern on the square, which numbers would you choose to colour? Numbers 7 and 12 are in the number sequence. What could it be?).

· NUMBER FACTS: Display facts that the children are working on. It is important that these are not on the wall too long as children can quickly become reliant on looking at them. Encourage children to interact with the display by posing different questions (e.g. Can you find pairs of numbers totalling 20? Can you sort the equations into ‘fact families’? If you know this fact, what else do you know? Can you draw a picture to model this number fact?). You could also have a ‘fact of the week’ for children to focus and comment on.

· VOCABULARY: Vocabulary should relate to the unit of work being covered. Again it is important that words are changed regularly and do not just become ‘wallpaper’. You could provide children with a ‘challenge’ at the end of the unit to focus them on the vocabulary (e.g. How many words do you know to describe ‘length’? How many different ways can you read ‘13+7=20’? Choose 3 words from the vocab board and give a definition of them to your partner.)

· CHALLENGE BOARD: Display a number or shape. The children write facts or questions about the number or shape on post-it notes and add these to the board over the week. The challenge board could also be a problem that the children have to try to solve.

· TARGETS: Class and group targets should be displayed, maybe with questions, prompts, resources and examples of work.

· PROMPT POSTERS: These should support children with the current unit of work. They could include ‘points to remember’, helpful diagrams, sentence starters, a problem solving flow chart or advice on what to do if you are stuck on a problem.

· CHILDREN’S WORK: This should include jottings as well as neat, finished work. Ensure there are displays of all maths strands over time as well as examples of maths across the curriculum. Displays could also include photos of children engaged in mathematical activities.