The last few weeks of Term 4 are full of reports, carols, excursions and a class that can smell the holidays. Maths lessons get squeezed, and it's tempting to hand out a word search. I'd rather use the time to revise the skills that slip over summer, in a way that still feels like the holidays.
Four skills worth revising before the break
When I looked at which Stage 3 skills my Christmas and Halloween activities didn't cover, four stood out:
- Remainders. Not just finding them, but deciding what to do with them in a word problem.
- Missing numbers. Using inverse operations to solve number sentences like 7 × ☐ = 63 or (☐ − 4) × 3 = 27.
- Rates. If 6 icy poles cost $9, what do 10 cost? Find the cost of 1 first.
- × and ÷ by 10, 100 and 1000, including decimals, like 3.6 × 100 or 45 ÷ 1000.
These come from MA3-MR-01 and MA3-MR-02 in the NSW syllabus, with remainders written as decimals (MA3-RQF-02) for the strongest students. They're all Stage 3, so the activity is genuine revision, not filler.
What to do with the remainder
This is the part students get wrong even when their division is right. 29 ÷ 4 is 7 r 1, but the answer to the word problem depends on the question:
- "How many cars are needed for 29 people, 4 per car?" Round up: 8 cars.
- "How many full boxes of 4 can be packed from 29 eggs?" Ignore the remainder: 7 boxes.
- "How many lollies are left over when 29 are shared between 4?" The remainder is the answer: 1.
I teach the key words and ask students to underline them before they divide. Then, for the Gold level, we write remainders as decimals: 29 ÷ 4 = 7.25.
Three levels, three summer pictures
My Summer Holidays Maths Colour by Number covers all four skills at three levels, each with its own original picture:
- Bronze (12 questions): remainders from known facts, × and ÷ by 10 and 100, one-step missing numbers and simple rates. Picture: a beach day with a sandcastle and a crab.
- Silver (16 questions): 3-digit ÷ 1-digit with remainders, rounding remainders up or down, × and ÷ by 1000, two-step missing numbers and find-1-first rates. Picture: summer things on a beach towel.
- Gold (20 questions): 4-digit ÷ 1-digit, remainders as decimals, missing numbers with brackets, and multistep rates and money. Picture: a sea turtle over the Great Barrier Reef.
It opens on a beach kiosk price board, which gives you rate questions straight away. Fast finishers make their own colour by number for a friend on the create-your-own page.
When to use it
It works in the last two or three weeks of Term 4, and again in the first week back in late January, when you want to see what survived the holidays. Either way, the finished pictures make a bright summer display.
Teach it first
If any of these skills hasn't been taught yet, teach it before the colour by number. I'm adding my lesson packs for each one to the shop, and I'll link them here as they go live: Introduction to Multiplication and Division (remainders), Patterns and Algebra (missing numbers) and Multiply and Divide Decimals Word Problems (× and ÷ by 10, 100 and 1000, and rates).
Resources that go with this post
- Summer Holidays Maths Colour by Number: three levels, three pictures, 48 questions and answer keys.
- Halloween Mass Colour by Number Bundle: the same three-level idea for converting units of mass.