Using Checkpoints in the Year 7 classroom

The new NCETM Checkpoints resources are designed to support Year 7 teachers in formatively assessing what mathematical understanding their students have brought from primary school. Four PowerPoint decks are already published, full of activities and supported by teacher guidance. The rest will be published over the course of the year. This podcast episode discusses Checkpoints with Becky Donaldson, one of the authors, and Steph Kirk, a teacher using them with her Year 7 classes. Show notes Taking part in the discussion are: Steph Kirk, Year 7 teacher and Curriculum Lead from Trinity Academy St. Edward’s in Barnsley Becky Donaldson, NCETM Assistant Director for Secondary Gwen Tresidder, NCETM Communications Manager Episode chapters 00:42 – What is a Checkpoint? 02:50 – Steph Kirk – intro to her and her school 06:25 – Becky Donaldson – intro 07:52 – Steph: using Checkpoints in her classroom 12:30 – Becky: writing the Checkpoints activities 15:20 – What ‘algebra’ looks like in primary 16:20 – Checkpoints for CPD 17:53 – Steph: mapping Checkpoints to her own SoW 19:03 – ‘Dots’ Checkpoint 4, from Arithmetic procedures with integers and decimals (see below) 24:15 – ‘Arithmequick’ Checkpoint 15 from Expressions and equations 25:05 – The distributive law (The distributive law is addressed in Core Concept 1.4 of the NCETM Secondary Mastery Professional Development Materials) 27:07 – Unitising (Read more about unitising here: What is unitising, and why is it important? | NCETM) 34:58 – Shape balance, Checkpoint 2 from Expressions and equations 40:33 – Join a professional discussion about Checkpoints Useful links Becky tweets as @donaldson_maths and Steph tweets as @steph_mathsive Checkpoints webpage, where you can download the PowerPoints and sign up for the seminars Teachers can join a professional discussion about using the Checkpoints activities in our Basecamp community NCETM Secondary Mastery Professional Development Materials NCETM Primary Mastery Professional Development Materials NCETM Departmental Workshops Steph mentions using double-sided counters and algebra tiles. Using mathematical representations at KS3 | NCETM offers more guidance with using these resources and others.