Aunt Sophie at the Post Office

Topics: Starter | Arithmetic | Investigations | Money | Number | Tables

• The Best Maths Class Ever 7cd/m2, King Alfreds, Wantage Oxfordshire
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• At first the starter was challenging but then it started to make sense and that was when everyone started to get the hang of it. All together we got all the answers between us. The people who got the first answer were Danny, Ryan, David, Murran, Molly, Bryony, Alicia and sir. And some others got the rest of the answers.
• N Cox, Ipswich
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• A good starter that can be developed easily into a differentiated lesson. For example, use the minumum number of stamps, pairs of stamp values that work for all postage values (1p stamp not allowed!). What sort of pairs work for the fewest values of postage.
• Set 1 Year 4(Mathematical Whizz Kids! ), Banks Lane Junior School
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• We found three ways to solve this problem by working systematically using multiples of 3 and 8.
  (2x8p)+(19x3p)
  (5x8p)+(11x3p)
  (8x8p)+(3x3p).
• Transum,
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• This is an old idea but still very worthwhile even though the cost of the stamps probably isn't very realistic at today's prices. It lends itself to be extended in a number of ways in addition to those suggested by N Cox above (thanks). Please share any ways of developing this activity that might be useful to other teachers.

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