Number, money and measurement

A Curriculum for Excellence asks teachers to think about their educational aims and values and their classroom practice. It will give teachers more responsibility to use their professional judgement and creativity within broad parameters.

Although the 5-14 curriculum will be with us for the immediate future, use this short Reflection Guide to help you think about adapting your classroom practice in accordance with the principles and purposes of A Curriculum for Excellence.

Thumbnail image of jungle game with elephant

Families make a numeracy game

Inspired by a trip to the zoo, parents worked with their nursery-age children to produce a board game which helps teach basic numeracy skills.

Photo of a girl using scales to weigh ingredients for a magic spell

Practical Applications of Contextualised Teaching

Find out how primary schools in Angus are using purposeful play to develop numeracy.

Active learning at Minishant

Discover how this Ayrshire primary school used active learning to engage and develop the numeracy skills of their pupils.

Close-up photograph of a child's hands weeding and a trowel

Building an outdoor classroom

The 'Our School Grounds' project at Inveraray Primary School began with a pond; by 2007 their work has progressed into an outdoor classroom where they learn about maths.

an image of four young girls lying on the grass head-to-head

Questioning techniques in Sunnyside Primary School

Two teachers videoed each other's Primary 3 maths lessons to review their teaching and assessment approaches, and to try and improve their questioning techniques including 'wait time'.

Photograph of two primary-age pupils working together at a desk on solving a problem.

Dividing sweets to learn about fractions

Mmmmm....The problem for these Primary 4 to Primary 7 pupils is how to divide five chewy bars between three children.

Cost problems solved and shared

Primary 4 pupils work in threes to solve a problem about the cost of ice creams. They take in turns to record their solutions and report back to the rest of the class.

Calculating the costs of a class party

The Primary 5 pupils work in groups to plan a party with entertainment and food on a limited budget. They work out the costs using a calculator and play money.

Problems from FunMaths boxes

Working either as individuals or in groups, Primary 7 pupils select problems from FunMaths boxes. They record how they went about solving the problems and how hard they found them.

A photograph of a child counting on her fingers

Assessing maths by voting

Using a voting system in Primary 7 maths at Davidson Mains primary school has improved the pupils' concentration and participation as well as helping with assessment.

Photograph of primary-age boy working at a laptop, which shows a pie chart on the screen

The fractions, percentages and decimals challenge

Using Maths Toolkit software, the Primary 7 pupils challenge one another to represent a fraction, percentage or decimal on the interactive whiteboard.

Photograph of a child's hand on a Pixie robot over a map with grid lines

Programming a robot with map directions

Primary 4 and Primary 5 pupils learn about coordinates, grid references, directions and compass points when they program 'Pixie', a small square robot, to go from one town to another over a map of Britain.

An image of 3 young boys standing back-to-back

Raising confidence in maths in Barrhead ASG

The primary and secondary schools in this group explored ways of encouraging pupils who needed some additional support in maths, but who were reticent to ask for help due to lack of self-confidence and high sensitivity to failure.

Sharing learning intentions and success criteria in St David's cluster

This secondary and its cluster primary schools set shared learning intentions and success criteria across the transition in maths and English, with the use of learning logs and self-assessment.

A photo of a teacher with two secondary students

Sharing learning intentions in maths in Douglas Ewart High School cluster

The project involved a secondary school and its 12 associated primary schools exploring how learning intentions could be shared effectively in mathematics and in talking and listening.

Tackling maths through environmental issues

Secondary pupils at Crispin Comprehensive School investigate and discuss environmental issues such as oil spills and population growth using ICT and spreadsheets.