Creative Maths Workshops - Primary Schools in Scotland / Maths Week Scotland

All of As Creatives' maths workshops have been carefully designed to put into context and actively promote the keystones of the Curriculum for Excellence – as well, of course, as supporting the push to Make Maths Count. Tapping into pupils’ own creativity, our unashamedly fun workshops engage, motivate and, crucially, challenge the children and young people we work with, providing them with meaningful experiences and outcomes.

Our workshops have been specifically developed to support the Curriculum for Excellence in the following ways:

• To support the development a secure understanding of the concepts, principles and processes of mathematics and apply these in different contexts.
• To support the development of essential numeracy skills, allowing full participation in society.
• To provide opportunities for pupils to interpret numerical information appropriately and use it to draw conclusions.
• To provide opportunities for pupils to apply skills and understanding creatively and logically to solve problems, within a variety of contexts.

Find out more about our range of workshops by visiting our website www.ascreatives.com. 

The Pirate’s Challenge 

When Captain Richard Morgan arrives at school, he’ll be more than a little confused - because just a few hours beforehand he’ll have been on his pirate vessel, The Good Ship Mathematics, in the middle of the Caribbean! Swept to your school by a Time Tornado, he’ll need the pupils’ help to get back to his own time and place. Are they up to the Challenge? And it’s a Challenge that will test their understanding of number, shape and direction to the max.

CSI: Maths

A series of challenging mysteries to engage your students and get them thinking logically 

CSI: Michaela Maths  (P4 – P7)
If it hadn’t been for the quick thinking of one of her teammates, Michaela Maths, one of Britain’s most promising young athletes, would be dead – slain by an unseen hand! The police are baffled by the dastardly deed – and want the children’s help in solving it. Having been introduced to the crime, the suspects and their possible motives, pupils will work in teams on a carousel probing a range of mathematical skills. Taken together, these lead to the suspects being eliminated, one by one – until, if all the calculations are correct, the criminal is unmasked. 

CSI: Tunes - Maths and the Murky World of Music (P4 – P7) 
Music industry mogul Henry Wilson has made more than a few enemies in his time - and now one of them has succeeded in making life difficult for him! So who was it who hacked into Harvey's precious database, deleting all his business contacts in one fell swoop? Means, motive and opportunity will all have to be factored in as pupils investigate this calculated act of sabotage. Was it Viola de Clerc, the classical violinist? DJ Grime, the garage specialist - or popster Betty B? Boy band Heaven Sent are in the mix as well, as is New Punk exponent Polly Ester - not forgetting Country and Western star Jake Carew!

CSI: Storyland (P1 – P3)
With the help of the elves, the Shoemaker’s fortunes have been restored – and all is well in Storyland. Until, that is, his precious last is stolen! Which of his neighbours could have taken it? After using storytelling techniques to introduce pupils to the crime and the suspects, we'll share with them a range of clues left at the scene. They'll then use their sorting and numeracy skills to reveal the identity of the miscreant! Was it Goldilocks, the Billy Goats Gruff, Little Miss Muffet, the Little Pigs or Red Riding Hood? It’s up to you to find out!

CSI: Bake-Off (P4 – P7)
All is not well in the world of the Bake Off – one of the judges, Saul Pinewood, has had food poisoning – and he knows it wasn’t an accident! He’s narrowed the field down to six suspects – and hopes that pupils can use their understanding of fractions, percentages and measurements to help him take the final step.

CSI: Ancient Greek Maths (P4 – P7)
Mount Olympus is in turmoil – because someone has stolen Zeus’s thunderbolt! We're on the trail of the culprit – but need your help to put all the pieces together as you collate and interpret the data. Mixing maths with mythology, this is definitely one of our more challenging workshops!

CSI: Saxon Maths (Years 4 - 6)
Alfred the Great has burnt the cakes … or has he? Test your understanding of number, shape and time as you help right the wrongs of history – and work out who framed him!

CSI: Olympics (P6 – P7)
This exciting new addition to our CSI: Maths range has been designed to support you in capitalising on the interest in the Rio Olympics and engage your pupils in some undercover maths. The team of Olympians from the tiny country of Berellia is in turmoil. They're all cyclists, you see - and someone has sabotaged each and every one of their bikes! So children will have to delve deep into the murky underworld of the velodrome as they survey the crime scene, examine the evidence and sift through the suspects - all in a bid to crack The Case of the Criminal Cyclists!

Whole-School Maths: The Riddle of the Sphinx (New!) 

Problem-solving in the pyramids - accommodating up to 420 pupils in a day!

Our resident archaeologist, Dr Colorado Smith, has returned from Egypt with some exciting news - he's now collected all the clues required to solve the age old Riddle of the Sphinx - and open the Inner Sanctum in the Valley of the Kings. But as he can't do it by himself, he's on the lookout for schools to help him!

Featuring opening and closing assemblies, workshops and in-class challenges, The Riddle of the Sphinx takes pupils through three stages of mathematical thinking: concrete, pictorial and abstract. And while there's a definite focus on "measurement", the programme covers a whole range of other areas - and can accommodate the whole of a double stream school in a single day!

The Race into Space - Creative maths for up to 420 pupils in a single day!

The search is on for Britain’s next astronaut – and Major Tom wants your pupils help in selecting the best person for the job. He’s found six well-suited candidates, all with different qualifications – but it’s up to you to decide which one will win The Race into Space!  

After meeting the Major at an opening assembly, and being introduced to the would-be astronauts, each class will be issued with a Mission: to use their maths skills to rank the candidates on one of a number of qualities. Each Mission calls on pupils to demonstrate mathematical fluency, reasoning and problem-solving abilities – and is in line with the Curriculum for Excellence objectives for their year group. The Major will be on hand to visit each classroom with some vital, additional information – and the programme ends with a second assembly in which each class reports back its findings and helps whittle the field down to just one: Britain’s next astronaut.

This exciting and engaging workshop provides an ideal platform for single or double stream schools to enjoy a shared maths experience – and learn something about the science of space travel too!

Suitable for: P1 – P7 (one or two-form entry schools)

The Captain’s Conundrum - (perfect for larger primary schools)

Captain Richard Morgan, of the Good Ship Mathematics, has a conundrum … he knows that there’s treasure to be found on Cloud Island, he has a map – and he has a set of clues. But they’re clues he can make neither head nor tail of. He’ll meet all the children at an assembly (or, if space doesn’t allow, two consecutive gatherings) and challenge them to conquer his conundrum. 

During the course of the day, the Captain will give each year group an age-appropriate set of clues to unearth a particular piece of treasure – and warm them up with one of his piratical maths drama games. Then everyone reconvenes in a meeting (or two meetings) at the end of the day to share their findings - and advise the Captain on what to buy for his expedition. Content is in line with the Curriculum for Excellence requirements and will include different age-appropriate activities for each year group. And the programme has been developed to accommodate the whole of up to a three-form entry school in a single day!

Exploring (according to age): both additive and multiplicative reasoning, fractions, number patterns, mental and written calculation, elimination, 2D and 3D shapes, measurement, interpreting data, positional language, co-ordinates. 

Whole School Maths: The Benefactor

Money-based maths fun for up to 420 pupils in a single day!

Eccentric millionaire Benny Factor has amassed a fortune over the last few years – and it’s now time to give something back to a village that’s very close to his heart: Amberton. The trouble is, though, that with so many community groups within the village to choose from, he can’t quite decide how to carve his money up! And that’s where you come in, as your pupils help him draw up a series of budgets …

Featuring opening and closing assemblies, workshops and classroom-based challenges, The Benefactor provides children with a great opportunity to practise their understanding and skills with money in an engaging and entertaining context – and can cater for the whole of up to a double stream primary school in just a single day.

Exploring: values and denominations of British notes and coins, money notation, pricing and concepts of “change”, additive and multiplicative reasoning, patterns and sequences, properties of 2D shapes, fractions, percentages, problem solving - selected for each age group in line with Curriculum for Excellence objectives.

Outdoor Maths

Outdoor spaces provide wonderful opportunities to explore how numbers and shapes create both the built and natural worlds. So our engaging (and very active!) outdoor maths workshops, which feature a range of tried and tested al fresco activities, bring home the relevance of numeracy to our everyday lives – and provide lots of scope for problem-solving too!

We have developed age-appropriate activities for all year groups from P1 to P7 including our specially designed portable Outdoor Maths Trail - allowing us to offer open air workshops over a whole range of timescales.

Get in touch:

To find out more or to book a Creative Maths workshop please contact us on 0151 708 8886, or email info@ascreatives.com or visit our website www.ascreatives.com/maths-primary-scotland/

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