Free Maths Starters for the Classroom Screen: A Board of Questions in Seconds

A starter has two jobs. It gives the class something to do while they settle, and it tells you who still remembers last week's method before you build on it. The trouble is that writing a decent one, at the right level, with the answers worked out, can take longer than the starter itself.

The free Maths Skills Lab gives you a set of questions and the answers in a few seconds. Here is how I would use it for starters, for re-teaching a method the starter shows the class has forgotten, and for a short retrieval quiz at the end of the week.

Keep a starter to one skill

If a starter jumps between five topics, it is hard to tell which skill caused the wrong answers. With one skill at one level, you can see who needs more help before you move on.

The first question should be one most of the class can do without asking for help, so nobody is sitting waiting while you take the register. Make the later questions harder, so the pupils who finish early move on to something harder.

Then leave a couple of minutes to go through the answers before the main lesson. That is when you find the mistake that several pupils have made, while it is still fresh.

Using Board for a starter

Open the Skills Lab, choose the skill, then choose Board. In the board setup, tick the levels you want, choose One column per level, and pick 8, 16 or 24 questions. Each level then gets its own column. I would tick a level the class is secure on and the next one up, so the easier questions sit on the left and the harder ones on the right.

If you would rather have the levels mixed together, choose Mixed in the setup instead.

With a mixed class, tell everyone to start on the left. Rather than letting pupils decide when to move across, walk round and send the ones who have got the left column right over to the harder column.

The controls I would use most in a lesson:

• the five-minute countdown in the top bar, started once books are open and the date is written
• New set, for a fresh board on the same skill and levels when you come back to it next week
• the refresh icon next to each question, to swap one that comes out too easy
• Print questions, with or without answers, for a pupil who needs a paper copy

When time is up, press Show answers. The answers appear beside each question, and pupils mark their own work in a different coloured pen while you walk round and pick out the mistake several pupils have made.

There are 47 skills in the Lab at the moment, from times tables and place value up to completing the square and simultaneous equations, so the same routine works with a Year 5 group or a Year 11 Higher tier set. Only the skill and the level change.

When the starter shows a gap

If several pupils are stuck on the same step, switch to Teach. It works through one question in stages, with a short note on each line, and each step stays on screen until you move to the next. Before each step, ask the class what they would write next and take a few answers on mini whiteboards. Then show the step.

For example, if several pupils write 4 − (−3) = 1, I would put that question back on the board and ask them to describe the two signs out loud before anyone calculates. Then show it in Teach and set a new column at that level.

The same approach works in a one to one tutoring lesson online. Share your screen, stop before each new line and let the pupil say it first, then give them a similar question to try on their own.

Three starters that work well

These are three I would use with a Year 8 class.

Times tables, missing factor. Questions like □ × 7 = 56 ask pupils to use a fact backwards. It quickly shows who can recall the fact and who is still counting up in sevens.

Negative numbers. Tick Level 3 (adding a negative) and Level 4 (subtracting a negative, such as 5 − (−4)). That second type usually causes more wrong answers.

Expanding brackets. Tick Level 1 (a number outside, like 3(x + 4)) and Level 3 (a letter outside, like x(x + 4)). Doing both in one starter makes the difference between them obvious, and it is the board in the pictures above.

For a Friday retrieval quiz, use Speed instead of Board. It shows one question at a time with a timer running. Pupils write each answer on a mini whiteboard and hold it up, so you can see who is ready before you show the answer.

Mock marking for schools

A starter tells you about one skill in one lesson. A mock shows patterns across every topic and the whole year group, and marking a full year group's papers can take a department several days. If your school wants GCSE maths mocks marked externally, with question level analysis available as an add-on, see our mock marking service for schools.

Questions teachers ask

Is the Skills Lab free to use in school?

Yes, it is free with no login, so pupils can also use it at home without an account.

Does it work on an interactive whiteboard?

Board and Teach are made to be shown to a class. The full screen button in the top bar hides everything else, and light and dark mode let you pick whichever reads better in your room.

Can I share a board with a colleague?

The link button copies a link to the skill and levels you have on screen. The questions are generated fresh, so your colleague gets the same setup with a new set of questions rather than identical ones.

Which year groups is it for?

Key Stage 2 to GCSE. Times tables, place value and the written methods suit Years 4 to 6, and the number and algebra skills cover what is taught in Key Stage 3 and at GCSE, up to Higher tier.