Fractions, Decimals and Percentages

As part of the series Primary Lesson Starters, this Teachers TV video consists of six mathematical problems for use in class with an interactive whiteboard. A suitable year group is suggested at the beginning of each starter. The scenarios focus on incorporating mathematics into real-life situations and include: • Agatha and her sisters is a puzzle aimed at students in Year Four or Five. Students are asked what fraction of a group of sisters and their dogs can travel in a mini at one time. • Pizza party allows Year Three and Four students to practice using fractions to share a pizza out equally. • Running on empty is a puzzle which involves calculating how often a high-speed train needs to stop and re-fuel and is aimed at students in Year Five or Six. • Muddy ears is a puzzle for students in Year Three or Four. They are asked to work out how many lettuces will be left for the gardener after the slugs and birds have eaten some. • Fabulous fabrics is aimed at students in Year Five or Six and involves adding decimals to calculate the amount of material needed to make clothes. • Sleepy gibbon is aimed at students in Year Five or Six and involves calculating the amount of time a gibbon has spent sleeping.