TIP 1 – DRESS UP!

TIP 2 – HOLD AN EPIC ASSEMBLY!

TIP 3 – ACTIVATE ACTIVITIES MODE!

If you’re looking for time away from the screen, we have a number of activities for you to enjoy with your class.

1. Bot Trumps – Our very own addition and subtraction card game.
2. Colour by Numbers –
3. Enter the Scrapheap – Subitise your way across the 
4. Move Like a Robot – Get active with 

TIP 4 – DASHING DISPLAYS!

Dazzle your classroom with an all-singing and all-dancing classroom display! If you manage to find 10 minutes to vamp up the classroom walls then head over to Downloads, click Displays, and you will find yourself in a whole new electric, immersive world of classroom display resources.

How to Access:
Display Pack – Downloads > Displays

TIP 5 – REWARDS AND AWARDS!

Celebrating successes is always important, but receiving your Stage Completion Certificate whilst dressed as Megatron? There is no greater honour.

The generic certificates can be used however you like! Here are some ways we’ve seen them used:

1. Most Improved.
2. Consecutive Daily Logins.
3. Most Coins.
4. Best Dressed.

So you there you have it. Time to fish out those old cardboard boxes; it’s time for launch off.

So here are our 3 top tips to boost NumBots engagement over the school break:

1. Set an (achievable) Activity Goal

By equipping children with a platform like NumBots – which makes it easy and enjoyable to do maths at home – even homework averse families should keep on track with regular maths practice.

Use “Activity Goals” to set how long you expect pupils to play for. We suggest 12 minutes per week, as families are more likely to engage if the time set sounds achievable.

2. Encourage families to install the mobile app on all their devices

Whether staying at home, visiting family, or going to the beach, pupils can play NumBots anywhere in the world, via the mobile app – which is free to install on as many devices as you like.

As well as downloading it onto their children’s tablet, encourage parents to install the NumBots app on their own smartphones, so their children can play whenever the mood strikes!

Simply download the NumBots app from the device’s app store.

3. Show pupils how to download their own stage certificates

During term time, pupils are motivated by the certificates you reward for completing stages in Story Mode.

Make sure your pupils know how to download the stage certificates themselves, at home, so they can keep collecting them over the school break:

1. 1. Go to “Badges”.
   2. Click on the completed stage’s badge.
   3. Click “Download Certificate”.

BONUS IDEA:

Tell your pupils to set their sights on earning a bronze, silver or gold trophy in Challenge Mode. For example, “earn a silver trophy on all the subitising Challenges” or “a bronze trophy on the Number Bonds to 10 Challenge”.

Motivated by the trophies, they will then explore the rest of the platform.

(Maybe even promise a prize for those who achieve a trophy when they return to school!?)

Playing the Game: Story Mode
The game starts in ‘Story Mode’. Here there are 18 stages which each contain multiple levels. Children’s NumBots journey will start on Stage 1 (Rust): Level 1. To unlock the next level, they are required to pass each level with at least 2 out of 3 stars. Once they’ve completed all the levels in Rust Stage, they will be taken to Stage 2 (Iron). As they progress through the levels, they will collect new parts to upgrade Rusty, with the ultimate goal of completing the eighteenth stage: Diamond.

In order to earn the 2 or 3 stars required to pass the level, children must demonstrate a level of fluency when answering the questions. This means they must be accurate and timely with their answers; if children get 0 or 1 stars they need to answer more quickly. We will not move a child onto the next level until we are sure they are prepared for it – which is why they must prove they’ve mastered the previous skill.

Story Mode starts with very basic maths: subitising numbers. As the levels have been meticulously planned with a “teaching for mastery” approach, each level gradually develops in complexity, with one skill building upon the next.

Playing the Game: Challenge Mode
When children complete Stage 3 (Tin): Level 35 in Story Mode, they will unlock Challenge Mode. Here children can race the clock to test themselves on how many questions they can answer correctly in one minute. Children have 20 different challenges to choose from; each challenge testing a different skill, for example number bonds to 10. This means that they can select the particular skill that they wish to improve their time on and as a result, progress up the class (or family) leaderboard.

The Custom Shack
For every maths question answered correctly, the child will receive coins to spend in the Custom Shack. Here, they are able to purchase new parts to upgrade and personalise their own robot character. As well as earning coins, children are kept motivated throughout their NumBots journey by collecting badges and winning trophies to reward their achievements.

Support
You as a parent/teacher/tutor can also monitor your child or pupils’ progression using the Stats section. If a child is stuck on a level, it will be highlighted so that you can see where you may need to intervene and support the child in helping them to improve a particular skill. Following this, you can download certificates to celebrate children’s achievements, or just to present to your child as a reward for their hard work!

With the focus on addition and subtraction, NumBots is well aligned with the White Rose Maths Objectives, which emphasise the importance of learning addition and subtraction in Year 1 to Year 4 programmes. For this reason, we would recommend that a child begins their NumBots adventure between the ages of 5 and 7. Extending this to the national curriculum, an aim of NumBots is to help children reach a level of fluency in their mathematical problem solving skills – something that is heavily endorsed by the aims of the Key Stage 1 programme. 

NumBots provides children with access to regular practise both at home and in the classroom. With approximately 1300 levels in ‘Story Mode’, the game also has longevity; on average children take approximately 2 years to complete the game. By the time a child has completed the game, they should have transitioned from using their fingers to count, to fluently adding and subtracting two-digit numbers in their head. This will provide them with the confident and can-do attitude required for excelling at maths.