Race To Treasure Island...

I subscribe to a newsletter written by a maths teacher from Scotland named Chris Smith (@aap03102). As part of the newsletter he shares good practice and the issue that I recall (as I don't have them to hand) shared his 'Crack The Code' activity. (Sorry, can't find a link!)

My girlfriend and I hit Amazon and eBay trying to find a box that would look good and give it a proper buzz... We decided on this at £11.50 including postage from Amazon. There were others, but nothing that looked quite as majestic. I then tried to find a combination lock, which didn't go so well... Until yesterday, when we popped into Superdrug and a 3-figure combination lock was thin enough to fit the latch. It now looks like this (as tweeted yesterday):

Rather majestic, huh?

I will fill the bottom with these, and thought I'd introduce the task using these: 1 and 2. Whilst visiting Tesco about a month ago I purchased something like these, too, for group leaders to wear whilst working.

The worksheets will look (something) like this:

There are eight boxes en route from ship to the treasure. Each one has a question (all the same in this mock up) and will give a value for letters A - H. The final box will use the letters A-H to give a three digit value, set as the code to the combination lock. The worksheets will be covered in tea, crumpled and put in the oven to give it an air of authenticity. The path needs to be redone on my Smartboard, too, to be more curved and less jagged.

First group of kids to get the code correct will get the 'treasure' (Creme Eggs, refresher bars, mini bags of Haribo, Freddos, etc.). Group work, ticked off. Practical/Interactive work, ticked off.

Amazing! Thank you Chris...