Canterbury Cross Primary School

These resources have been generously donated by Canterbury Cross Primary School. All the activities have been created by Phil Thorneycroft, one of their teachers.

All the resources are individual, stand alone programs. To open a program, click on the title and then either select 'Open' to start the activity straight away or 'Save' to make a copy of the program to your local drive for use later. Because all the files are classed as 'executable', for security purposes they may not work on some classroom machines. If this is the case then refer this page to your ICT Coordinator or technician who will be able to download the files for you.

Click here to see the notes relating to sound.

2D Shapes Naming the most common 2D shapes is just the start. Sorting the shapes into two groups; those that have a specified feature and the rest that don't. You can opt to sort by: number of sides (circle has one side for simplicity); whether the shapes have any right-angles, acute angles, obtuse or reflex angles; are they symmetrical or have a certain number of lines of symmetry; all of the above and rotational symmetry. To offer a challenge to more advanced children you can also opt to have two sort criteria to form complex questions with AND or OR, for example: Which shapes have 4 or more sides AND have an acute angle? (For Year 3 and above)
Abacus Use a four stick abacus with colour coded beads to read numbers from it, make numbers on it, add and subtract with various number limits. (For Year 2 and above)
Area Find the area and perimeter of rectangles and triangles. Includes higher level finding hypotenuse using Pythagoras' theorem (with a calculator built in). (For Year 4 and above)
Colours (MS clip art) Match and name colours and simple shapes. (For Foundation to Year 1)
Conversion Convert between different units of length, weight, money e.g. pounds to pence. Also, multiply and divide by 10 and 100. (For Year 4 and above)
Count An introduction to counting objects from 5 to 20. Improved June 04. (For Foundation to Year 1)
Dice Investigate probability of dice totals. Choose the number of dice to roll, number of faces on each die and how many throws to perform. You can see the results as a car race using one or two standard dice. The game does not explain how the probabilities occur. (For Year 4 and above)
Division A formal method of long division. Select the number limit and the divisor. (For Year 5 and above)
Estimation Estimate points on a number line where only the ends are labeled. The end numbers can be set up to a million, positive and negative. Correct answers are within 10%. Other estimates are also marked onto the number line to improve subsequent estimates. Three chances are allowed before moving on. (For Year 2 and above)
Flower A science simulation on the growing of plants. The variables are water, temperature, light intensity, plant food, salt and soil depth. Children practise trial and improvement and that altering one variable at a time is the best method for discovering optimum growing conditions for each of the four plants on test (they are not real-life values!). (For Year 3 and above)
Fractions Colouring fractions of grids, identifying fractions of grids. Like wise with percentages. Also, finding fractions of numbers and percentages of amounts of money. (For Year 4 and above)
Function Machine A function machine that can use only addition and subtraction, all four operations (+ - x /) or all four with two steps! (For Year 3 and above)
Grid Multiplication Help children to use the grid multiplication method for larger numbers. One fault with the program is the numbers don't align to the right in the text boxes. Users need to be aware when adding up! (For Year 5 and above)
Guess (MS Clip Art) Children in pairs see a set of pictures. One secretly chooses a picture. The other asks questions that have a yes or no answer (Is it alive? Does it have wheels? Can you eat it?). By removing pictures that cannot be the answer, the secret picture is eventually the only one left. Both players have then succeeded and swap roles on the next game. (For Foundation and above)
Key Words (sound files needed) Learn to match visually and aurally the key literacy words for reception (45) and Year 1 & 2 (158). Also practise spelling them to help Incy Wincy spider climb the spout. Listen for the phonics that begin and end those words (not the same as the initial and final letters very often - based on Jolly Phonics and National Literacy).
Length Simulate measuring using a school rule. Options for accuracy include nearest whole cm, nearest half cm and mm. (For Year 2 and above)
Letters (sound files needed) Learn the letter sounds and names and find them on the screen or keyboard. (For Foundation and above)
Logic Work out the colours and sequence of the hidden pegs using trial, improvement and logical reasoning. Can be addictive! A large range of levels can be set. (For Year 3 and above)
Money Using limits from 10p to £20, use the coins and notes to count money, pay the correct amount and give the correct change.
Multiply Aids the learning of multiplication tables from zero to ten. Pictures illustrating the repeated additions can be turned on or off depending on whether the children need to see what multiplication means or to count the sets of dots to find some answers.
Number Bonds Mental addition and subtraction with a range of limits to meet NC levels 2 to 6.
Numbers (sound files advisable) Write numbers in numerals or words having seen them, heard them or both in the other form.(For Year 2 and above)
Ordering Numbers Arrange five numbers in numerical order. Number limits, negatives and decimals are all options.
Clock Tell the analogue and digital times shown on the clock face. Time intervals can be set to hours, half hours, quarter hours, five minutes and 1 minute. The hour or minute hand can be hidden to concentrate on reading either on their own. The seconds hand can also be shown. Digital and analogue clocks can be viewed at the same time and set to show the 'real' time (check your computer's time first!)
Decomposition A formal step by step method of subtraction for numbers up to a hundred or thousand. Not really in line with the National Numeracy Strategy. (For Year 5 and above)
Round It Rounding to the neatest 10, 100 and 1000.
Scales Weighing with bathroom scales up to 100kg.
Sea Rescue Rescue drowning people in the sea using a variety of rescue vehicles. They must be sent to the right 4 or 6 figure grid references in all four quadrants. Officially level 5 this but Year 4 pupils cope well enough.
Time Read the bus timetable and work out the journey times to get the bus from one stop to the next. Five levels of difficulty. (For Year 4 and above)
Volume Finding the volume of cuboids in cubic cm. Cm cubes can be placed inside the cuboid to aid visualisation and understanding. Also includes measuring and making amounts of water (ml) in calibrated cylinders. (For Year 4 and above)
Weight A balance is simulated that weighs in grams at various limits up to 5000g. Because the number of each type of weight is limited to five, children have to use a variety. Hopefully this leads to an understanding of why it is best to start with larger weights and work down to smaller ones for fine balance. (For Year 3 and above)
Fish What might it be like to make your living catching fish? This is a sophisticated simulation which can be used to explore probability, risk taking, making money, investing in the future, making choices and of course mental calculations. There are help screens to explain it all. (For Year 5 and above)
Paint Mix Satisfy the customer by mixing the colour they want from red, blue and yellow dyes - as they do in shops except you only have your eyes and experience to guide your own efforts. Also try creating colours with red, green and blue light as your computer screen does. (For Year 3 and above)