Level 1 (Foundation)

Level 1 Money management

Best buys  Students work out which are the best buys for items sold in different-sized packs at different prices.    

Invoices  Students check and complete invoices. Students also work with their own data in spreadsheet simulations of invoices.

Mobile phone tariffs  Students use an Excel spreadsheet to calculate mobile phone bills. They compare mobile phone tariffs to see which one is the best for someone to use.

Spot the errors   Students check for errors in a simulated invoice, phone bill and bank statement (several errors on each).

Savings and interest  Students calculate interest for one year, then compound interest using a decimal multiplier.

Simple and compound interest  Students use algebraic and spreadsheet formulae in Excel to calculate simple and compound interest.

Wages and overtime  Students investigate potential jobs and compare the wages. They then use a spreadsheet to calculate overtime rates of pay.

Work out the VAT  Students work out VAT without a calculator, then check their answers using a different method. This check could be done on a calculator or computer.

Bank balance  This game gives learners practice in working with money, entering items onto a bank statement and calculating the balance. 

 

Level 1 Spatial techniques  

What is it?   Recognising and drawing objects from different viewpoints. 

Convert lengths   Practice in converting between different metric units of length, using exercises on a worksheet, a bingo game and a dominoes game. 

Volume  Students find the volume of a variety of cuboids in real life contexts.

Geometrical design  Helping students to recognise geometrical shapes and their properties.

Measure it!  Estimating lengths and measuring objects using both centimetres and millimetres.

Plans  Students measure lengths from scale drawings then use ratio scales to find the actual lengths.

Arranging the furniture  Students design a new layout for the classroom, measuring the furniture, making scaled cut-outs, and placing them on a prepared plan.

How much will it cost?  Students measure dimensions from scale drawings and find the areas of rectangles and triangles. They then calculate the amount of paint needed to paint a house and its cost.

Perimeter and area  How much lawn feed is needed? Students find the perimeter and area of rectangles and shapes made from rectangles.

Drawing shapes in Word  Students learn how to draw and format basic shapes in Word.

 

Level 1 Using data

Matching graphs and scenarios  Students match graphs with descriptions of the real situations they represent.

Fractions decimals and percentages  A variety of activities which can be used to give students practice in converting between fractions, decimals and percentages.

Ratios  Worksheet, bingo cards and matching cards to give learners practice in simplifying ratios.

Outdoor Gig  Students use weather data to consider which month would be the best to hold an outdoor gig. Students practise using either a calculator (version A below) or a spreadsheet (version B) to calculate mean and range values.

Shorter by helicopter  Students plot graphs of real data to compare the straight-line distances between towns with the distance by road

Currency conversion  An introduction to conversion graphs and direct proportionality in the context of currency conversion, reading and plotting graphs and calculating gradients. One question uses the uses a spreadsheet.

House prices  There are two versions of this activity. Both involve large data sets of house prices showing how they have changed in different locations over long and short periods of time. In Version A, students draw and interpret statistical diagrams and calculate statistical measures by hand. In Version B, students use a spreadsheet to create the statistical diagrams and calculate statistical measures, then interpret them.

Plumber's callout  Students complete data tables, then draw, read and interpret linear graphs where the intercept on the y axis is not zero. Interpretation includes finding where two linear graphs meet. The last part requires a spreadsheet – omit if computers not available.