Ninja Skill Checks
This is our main resource that aims to increase the mental strategies, timestables and key skills fluency of your students to prepare them for 11-16 mathematics study. The emphasis is on this being a regular, short exercise at the beginning of lessons lasting no more than 10 mins. There should be a sense of real pace to a well-conducted Ninja session!
Preparation
Decide how many sessions you will run Numeracy Ninjas each week (1 to 5) and then download the corresponding Ninja Skill Books from your sign up email.
Print/photocopy one copy of the Ninja Skill Books for each student.
Share the Ninjas Answers PDF with all your teachers running Numeracy Ninjas.
If you have purchased an annual subscription, give each student their Achievement Certificate and make sure they keep it safe.
In-Class Delivery
The whole session should be completed within approx 10 mins. The emphasis is on this being regular, quick fluency practice, not on it becoming a whole lesson.
Open the Ninjas Answers PDF and click the link to the relevant week and session. Have this displayed as your students enter the room. They collect their Ninja Skill Book and open it to the relevant page, ready to begin.
When all students are ready, go to the next slide which shows the Target Skills being assessed and tell students they have 5 mins (adjust accordingly) to complete the Ninja Skill Check in silence. Start a timer. Students complete as many questions as they can during this time. The Mental Strategies and Times Tables sections should be done mentally; they may use written calculations in the space provided for the Key Skills questions.
Circulate whilst students are working on the task, gaining some feedback on which questions would be good to briefly discuss when students mark their answers.
When time is up students then get themselves ready to mark their answers.
Click through the next 3 slides on the Ninja Answers PDF reading out the answers whilst the students mark their work. Briefly discuss strategies with the class for particular questions that you picked up from your AFL.
Move to the next slide on the Ninja Answers PDF which will display the Ninja Score-Belt poster. Students add up their scores for each of the 3 sections and calculate their Ninja Score. They look up which colour Ninja Belt they have achieved.
Students should then identify the question numbers of 1 – 3 questions that they got wrong and then turn to the Target Skills page for that week in their Ninja Skill Book, ticking in the ‘Target’ column for those questions to identify skills they need to work on to improve. Doing this after each Ninjas session helps students develop an awareness of the areas they need to work on to improve their Ninja Score.
Collect in the Ninja Skill Books and carry on with teaching the syllabus!
Ongoing
If you have purchased an annual subscription, on a weekly basis allow students to update their Achievement Certificates by giving them the Ninja Belt Stickers relating to upgraded belts (if any). Decide on criteria for Grand Master status. For example, this could be the highest performing and most improved students in each class each term, or it could require 3 black belts in a row etc.
If you are a paid subscriber, consider whether, and if so how often, you intend to collect students’ Ninja Scores in the Ninja Score Record Spreadsheet. Our suggestion is that you collect the scores privately, i.e. not getting students to read them out in front of the class. Instructions for how to use the spreadsheet are included in the first sheet in the spreadsheet
Skill Focus Worksheets
Once you identify students whoose Ninja Scores are plateauing and which Ninja Skills they need to focus on you might like to consider using the Skill Focus Worksheets (included in your subscription) to give them intensive, focused, spaced practice on those selected skills.