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Putting addition in a context - why not make it a football maths activity?

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

Practising a key skill in calculation can be so much more effective if it is put into a context that grabs the interest of a class.  This maths activity can be used in almost any theme or a topic from another curriculum area. With the World Cup upon us, try it as a football maths activity.

Alphadet code
This grid shows how much each letter of the alphabet is worth.

France is worth             6 + 18 + 1 + 14 + 3 + 5             =  47

Who would have the greatest total, England or France?

There is a list of winners of the World Cup below. It is useful to have a limited choice of teams  for children to compare.
                   
          •   Using only the teams that have won, which would have the greatest total?

          •   Can you guess which team it might be before you add all the letters?

          •   Can you estimate the total of each team by rounding the letter values?
EngvGer



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For KS1  

This code grid only uses the numbers 1-5 for all the letters of the alphabet.

 
     France is worth             2 + 4 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 1             =  12

Would the total for England be greater or smaller than France?

Using only the teams listed below, that have won the World Cup:

          •  Find the name total for each team?

           • Place the teams in order, starting with the team name with the greates value.








Instead of the name of countries that have won the World Cup, take a look at the names of players. 

Does Gerrard have a greater name total than Rooney?





This activity is easy to change to any context and is a great way of giving regular addition practice. 

  • Favourite colours - link to art.
  • Types of pets 
  • Fruit - part of a healthy eating topic
  • Local place names 
  • Your own name - part of  'All about me'
 
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KS2 Challenge

Use the information above about the teams that have been World Cup winners at least once. 


The World Cup competition has been played every 4 years  since 1930, except 1942 and 1946 when it was not played because of the Second World War.

How many World Cup tournaments have there been in total, including this year in Brazil?



Related articles:

Statistics for KS1 – World Cup winners                          Football maths activities and ideas for the World Cup

This data has small numbers, good for EY/KS1.             Use the many facts and figures around the World Cup
Find the total score for the World Cup teams.                 for measures, rounding ordering and comparing.


Maths football game - for Euro 2012                               Premier League final day - rich with data and stats

There's a football game using logic and                          Using graphs from newspapers in the classroom.
reasoning you can download and use.


 

Pack of 6 Football Maths Games for KS2 availalbe to order
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