Curriculum Blog

Number Day (7th May) and National Numeracy Day (19th May) 2021

Written by Laura Smith | Apr 30, 2021 10:53:55 AM

Number Day is taking place on Friday 7 May 2021. The NSPCC know that Number Day 2021 might be enjoyed by children in small groups or class bubbles, so they have thought of ways to help support you in ensuring your event can be enjoyed by everyone in school.  After you register, they will provide you with everything you need on our Number Day resources site to make your event a success.

You'll get:

  • resources you can use in class including new games, activities and updated quizzes for 2021
  • ideas you can do in class bubbles and small groups
  • fundraising tips and ideas to help pupils raise money
  • resources to help you promote your event across the school
  • access to teacher resources to keep children safe from harm, supporting your school's safeguarding including a class lesson plan and online safety quizzes for all ages.

Please note: Schools who register after 19 April may not receive their welcome letter and posters before Number Day on 7 May, but you can access everything online. If you have previously registered for Number Day 2021, which was due to take place in February but rescheduled for May, you do not need to register again. 

National Numeracy Day is all about recognising that numbers play a big part in all our lives and helping people sharpen their skills and build their confidence. They want to prove that being better with numbers isn't a special talent, it's something we can all learn! Why not join them, this year for National Numeracy Day on 19th May 2021?

Last year - despite the pandemic - thousands of people took steps to improve their confidence and competence with numbers with them. Here are a few highlights from National Numeracy Day 2020.

[embed]https://youtu.be/rnU4ID846Ys[/embed]

Become a National Numeracy Day Champion

Sign up here to be a National Numeracy Day Champion and help your school, organisation or community get number confident! You will receive free, fun materials and resources to use and share and join over 1,300 others Champions helping the nation get on with numbers!

LGfL Resources to Use

BusyThings have a wealth of resources to support number at home, from flashcards, to games, printables and interactive worksheets there are over 200 activities that can be used for extend numeracy skills from EYFS to KS2. If you have an LGfL teacher log in, you can search via the "Special Events" tab. You will see that "National Numeracy Day" is listed as shown below; there are many maths resources highlighted for use:

If you are new to BusyThings do also explore the Maths Resource Maker Area: "Number and Place Value" and "Addition, Subtraction and Multiplication".  You can create your own number cards, counting and number bonds worksheets and much more.

We also have the home learning resource "Busy at Home" - suggested activities targetted to different age groups and topics. These can be still be found on the LGfL Coronavirus site (some are pictured below):

j2e Toolsuite has a range of maths tools that can be used for National Numeracy Day. Why not get your pupils to use Tt Blast to see who can complete the most games and earn the most points on that day? Or you could set up j2vote and then set some analysis questions based on the data collected. The pupils could also be asked to collect data araound a topic with family and friends and then decide which graph is best to represent the data collected.

Maths in the Real World  activities include: Nutrition, Arena and Events and Round the World - perfect to use on National Numeracy day for the children to apply their mathematical knowledge to real life problems. Parents could use one or all of the topics to get children to budget for a meal, event or travelling round the world (when the travel ban is lifted and social distancing is relaxed).

Maths at Home is a fantastic resource to share with parents if you haven't already. The resource is designed to provide support for parents to help their child with their mathematical development at home.  A video has been made for every single NC descriptor for the whole of KS1 and 2. Each video is a snapshot of how many schools may teach the particular strand, and also provides examples of how parents could support their child at home.  Where appropriate, video content is reinforced with a selection of downloadable resources.

Maths at Home videos are designed to feel like they are taking place on a table at home, encouraging communication, conversation and lots of fun while working on them.  The video resources are designed to bring maths to life, highlighting learning opportunities within cookery, play, decorating and gardening.  Most importantly, they are designed to ignite conversations between children and parents, and to make maths a positive and enjoyable experience outside of school.

Using Other LGfL Subject Resources

Last year the NND site featured Lauren Child talking about her book 'One Thing - Featuring Charlie and Lola'. Lauren Child is one amongst many authors featured on LGfL's ReadingZone Live resource. Perhaps you could promote reading for pleasure alongside National Numeracy Day with a look at some of the suthor interviews?

The NND video is below:

[embed]https://youtu.be/iV5MLlCxiRY[/embed]

Many authors include mathematical concepts in their narratives. The Books for Topics website has some suggested texts they have picked that open opportunities to explore a range of mathemetical concepts. One Is a Snail, Ten Is a Crab: A Counting by Feet Book by April Pulley, Jeff Sayre and Randy Cecil is a great book for pupils to then think of their own animals to represent the numbers. One is a snail, two is a human, three is a snail and a human … The classroom possibilities are endless for this book, from simple counting activities all the way up to algebraic equations.

Other Free Resources:

BBC Bitesize - a range of different lessons in maths (and other subjects are available)

Oak National Academy - a bank of high-quality, sequenced video lessons and resources

Gareth Metcalfe's iseemaths - information, resources and links for the daily home maths lessons hosted by Gareth Metcalfe during the UK school closures for Covid-19

Graham Andre's Mathematics Shed - The Shed is a collection of videos and resources to help you teach maths in an engaging way, there are a huge number of 'sheds' including the warm up shed, addition shed and a maths topic shed to name a few.

Date for your Diary:

We are delighted to be supporting Maths Week London, taking place 28 June - 2 July 2021. Maths Week London’s mission is to ignite a love of maths in children across the capital. Numeracy is a vital skill and we believe it can and should be enjoyable, relatable and accessible. Working with schools and families, Maths Week London aims to:

  • improve children’s confidence in mathematics and encourage a positive attitude
  • demonstrate to children the value of maths as a lifelong skill by linking it to the wider world around them
  • encourage all children to develop their maths skills and become confident mathematicians

Visit the website to:

  • apply for funding to support your school take part in Maths Week London (deadline 12th May)
  • download a range of free resources
  • register to attend free events
  • take part in one of the Maths Week London contests and competitions

Join in the celebration #MathsWeekLDN @mathsweekldn and register your school today. Link: https://bit.ly/3vs3DBR

If you do use any LGfL content in your school to inspire your students do let us know by posting them on LGfL’s Twitter or Facebook.