Top 5 for starters

I wrote a post a while back about my philosophy on starters, so thought I'd supplement it with a post about great websites for no-fuss five-minute activities. Most of the starters on these sites require very little or no preparation, so can be used off the cuff. So, in no particular order, here are my top sites for starters:

1. Transum (Starter of the Day)

I know that Transum's probably one of the oldest sites out there - in fact, I remember one of my teachers using it when I was at school, as it had just come out then! However, it's often easy to forget about or overlook things that have been around for ages.

Using the randomly generated starter as intended can be a little unpredictable, as some are just too easy or difficult, and some are designed to work best if pupils can access computers. Instead, I tend to use the Topics page to search for activities related to that lesson's work.

That said, it's worth looking at the random starter every so often - I discovered the Ice Cream Combinations activity this way, which developed into a whole lesson about listing combinations with Year 8 a couple of years ago.

There's also a load of other useful stuff on there, which is also easy to overlook, but I'm saving those features for a later post.

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2. Flash Maths

I blogged about Flash Maths earlier this year; this site has a growing collection of short activities suitable for display on interactive whiteboards, with pupils working on mini-whiteboards or in exercise books. Check the previous post for a bit more detail, or just go and have a look round the site itself.

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3. Form Time Ideas

Ignore the slightly misleading title - while all of the resources on here are indeed fantastic for use in form time, the numeracy stuff on Form Time Ideas is also highly applicable as a great lesson starter for Year 10s and 11s to keep reminding them of the basics in the run-up to GCSEs.

There's plenty of coverage of basic algebra, percentages (including change), fractions, ratio and negative numbers, with an option to print a blank template for pupils to work on. We're using this with Year 11 during form time next year, but I may also incorporate it into standard maths lessons in the run-up to exams.

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4. Teachit Maths

Teachit Maths is a great general resource site - as it's all quality-checked and formatted nicely, most of the materials on the site can be used directly in the classroom with little preparation. However, I've just found their Starters and Plenaries section, which helpfully lists a load of their short activities by topic. 

Some are worksheet-based, but there are plenty that could be displayed straight away on an interactive board for pupils to attempt in books or on mini-whiteboards. I'll be adding some of these great activities to my Resources section over the next few months!

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5. Maths-Starters.co.uk

I've only recently discovered this site, but some of the content on there looks fantastic for time-saving starters. There are currently twelve Flash apps, with three more in development, and they focus on basic skills practice, such as Tables Torture, a simple multiplication grid generator, and Substitution Store, which generates algebraic substitution problems.

I particularly like the feature which allows you to enter your choice of numbers into the activity - so, for example, you could create a substitution activity using only negative numbers. The app also works out the answers for you, which is incredibly convenient!

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