Maths Warm-Up: The Brainstorming Key ⭐️ The Sydney Teacher

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Maths Warm-Up: The Brainstorming Key

Kick off the week with Monday Morning Maths Club!

Every Monday, you will enjoy a free, ready-to-go maths activity that is designed to get students engaged from the very start. Today’s highlight is The Brainstorming Key, perfect for sparking thinking and participation.

Maths Warm-Up: Number Toss Reading Maths Warm-Up: The Brainstorming Key 2 minutes

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The Brainstorming Key

The Brainstorming Key is a free, low-prep maths warm-up that encourages students to think creatively and explore multiple solutions to a problem. It’s perfect for building problem-solving skills, reasoning, and collaboration in just a few minutes.

How It Works

The teacher presents an open-ended problem or question, and students brainstorm as many possible answers or strategies as they can, either individually, in pairs, or in small groups. They then share their ideas with the class, discussing different approaches and reasoning behind each solution.

For Example:

Make 24

Problem: Use addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division to make 24. How many ways can you do it?

Example answers: 6 × 4, 20 + 4, 30 − 6, (8 × 3) ÷ 1

Fractions Fun

Problem: Find as many ways as possible to make 1 using fractions.

Example answers: ½ + ½, ¼ + ¾, ⅓ + ⅓ + ⅓

Money Challenge

Problem: Using coins of 1, 5, and 10, how many ways can you make 20 cents?

Example answers: 10 + 10, 5 + 5 + 5 + 5, 10 + 5 + 5

Why It's So Good

• Quick and low-prep, ready to use in minutes

• Encourages creative thinking and multiple problem-solving strategies

• Engages all students, including those who enjoy exploring different solutions

• Promotes discussion, reasoning, and collaboration in the classroom

• Flexible and adaptable for any year level or maths topic

Bring the Brainstorming Key to your classroom and let your students experiment, explore different strategies, and enjoy maths in an exciting way. Let me know what creative ideas they come up with!

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