Starting a club
Club Ethos
The aim of the maths clubs are:
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To help learners think about mathematics
- To enjoy mathematics
- Talk about mathematics
- Argue about mathematics
- Explain how something was worked out
- Ask questions
- Make mistakes
- Speak their own language
- Cross things out, be untidy
- HAVE FUN
- We listen to each other’s ideas
- No hitting, kicking, biting, bullying
- No laughing when people make mistakes
- No telling tales
Click on the image on the right to download a poster of this ethos.
Productive disposition awards
In order to promote more positive mathematical dispositions in the clubs, we created a collection of award tags or bookmarks that acknowledge the learners when they participate in a mathematical manner. Examples are shown below.
Mentor’s Club Boxes
Each mentor who runs a club receives a plastic box containing a number of resources that allow them to get the club up and running. This typically contains:
- Playing cards
- Dice
- Flip file containing starter resources, worksheets and games
- White boards, pens and cloths
- Name badges for each learner and a club register.
Mentors also receive a starter Brombacher Number Sense book to give to each learner to encourage doing maths at home (a 2nd site of learning). The book they take depends on the grade and level of the learners in the club – some start at book 2, some at 4 and others at 6.
Subsequent Resources
Mentors can subsequently request the following for the maths clubs, by contacting Debbie as the club co-ordinator:
- Workbooks: we use a selection of Brombacher Number Sense Workbooks and other books for the learners
- Resources: games, worksheets, dice, cards etc. We have a number of resources that we have used in clubs which mentors are encouraged to sign out and use.
- EduPeg resources
Funding
All the items that we use in the clubs are provided via funding from the FirstRand Foundation (with the RMB), Anglo American Chairman’s fund, the Department of Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation.
