| MENTAL MATHS STARTERS "Mental Maths Starters is a collection of twenty different activities aimed at making the oral and mental start to the daily numeracy lesson fun, interactive and interesting for both teacher and child. As a teacher with a particular interest in Thinking Skills, the book had an immediate impact on me - I find it so valuable being exposed to new and interesting ways to tackle the mental starter session. The activities are mostly open-ended and very easy to differentiate, thus making it a very attractive resource across the primary range. This book is very well structured and extremely easy to use. Each activity is presented attractively, with simple, clear instructions. All activities are accompanied by a very clear and imaginatively constructed Teacher’s Page containing details of the aims, materials, various tips and, very importantly, suggestions for extensions. Also, where applicable, the activities are accompanied by excellent photocopiable resource sheets. The ideas within the book could also be adapted to form the basis of more extended Maths Investigation sessions. This book is excellently priced and considering all the activities have already been tried and tested, and rely on minimum resources and preparation, it is an ideal companion to enrich any teacher’s repertoire. If you are looking for variety, entertainment and non-threatening alternatives to introduce numeracy lessons, I would recommend this book highly. It seems to be an ideal tool to encourage children with mental gymnastics, showing them that they can learn an enormous amount just by playing with numbers." Reviewed in Primary Mathematics (Autumn, 2002) |