Tell Me Something About...
Today's maths warm-up couldn't be much simpler... but don't let that fool you. Sometimes the best classroom discussions start with just one question.
How It Works
Choose a maths topic you're about to teach and ask students one simple question:
"Tell me something about..."
That's it!
Give students plenty of thinking time and encourage them to share as many facts or ideas as they can. You might be surprised by what they already know and what misconceptions come to light before you even start teaching.
This activity works brilliantly as a timed whiteboard challenge, where students write as many facts as they can before the timer ends, or as a round robin, with students taking turns adding ideas to a shared class list.
- Tell me something about 17: it's odd, it's a prime number, it's 3 less than 20, it's half of 34
- Tell me something about pyramids: it's a 3D object, it has triangular faces, the base can be any shape
- Tell me something about line graphs: they show change over time, the horizontal axis usually shows time, you can use them to make predictions, the steeper the line the faster the change
• Activates prior knowledge before introducing a new topic.
• Helps uncover misconceptions early.
• Every student can contribute, regardless of ability.
• Easy to adapt for any maths topic or year level.
• Perfect as a 5–10 minute maths warm-up with no preparation.
Whatever maths topic you're exploring this week, give "Tell Me Something About..." a go. If you try it with your class, I'd love to hear how it went and what your students came up with!
