Sharing digital Abacus resources with your class
Did you know you can send Abacus resources for children to access via their own logins? This might be invaluable when children miss lessons through illness or having to isolate at home, but it could also help you with setting homework or providing access to digital resources on devices in school.
This blog takes a quick look at the resources you might want to share and how to do it.
Which resources can you share digitally?
All of the following can be shared to pupil logins via the resources page in ActiveLearn. (Use the ‘Year’ and ‘Category’ dropdowns on the left hand side of the page to find the ones you want.)
The above image shows what children can see in their Pupil World on ActiveLearn once you have allocated some resources. Children can collect coins as they open resources and they can use the coins they have earned in the My Rewards area of the pupil world.
Homework sheets and pupil book worksheets
Abacus has 840 homework sheets in total for Year 1-6. You can choose a homework sheet that links into the maths topic for the week and allocate it for children to do at home. Children won’t be able to write directly onto the sheet but they can view it online and write their answers on a piece of paper or submit online through Google Classroom or other platforms used in your school. Furthermore, homework answers can be allocated so children can self-mark their own work or check their answers once the teacher has viewed the homework.
Assessment
Each year has 4 maths assessments per term. Spring term for Year 6 has tests for arithmetic, problem solving and reasoning. These tests can be allocated for homework for say year 6 as children get ready for the Key Stage 2 tests.
Interactive games
Abacus has a range of digital interactive games for children. These games can be allocated to children’s pupil world and children can play them on a device at home with their parents, siblings or by themselves. Each game has three levels (bronze, silver and gold) so children can start with bronze and move up as their confidence builds.
Mastery checkpoints
Mastery checkpoints can be used in a variety of ways. They can be used at the beginning of a lesson to support learners as formative assessment. They could instead be used at the end of the lesson to check whether the children have a strong grasp of the maths area being taught. All mastery checkpoints can be allocated to pupils.
Pupil videos
Have you seen these?! For selected lessons there is a video for children that explains how to use a maths method (e.g., long division or using a number line to count up). You can use these videos however you like: e.g., for children who miss the lesson; for all children to watch after the lesson as recap; for pre-teaching or same day intervention; or to watch as a class and discuss, for a bit of a change.
How do you allocate the resources to pupil logins?
There is a checkbox for each item in the resources list in ActiveLearn. If you tick this, you can then click ‘Allocate’ at the top of the page, and then select the children to send it to.
To see how children can log into the Pupil World and find the resources you’ve shared.
Watch this video to see how children can login and find resources
You will need to have set up the pupils in your class on Active Learn to do this, using the ‘Admin’ area at the top right of the page.
Watch this video for more info on importing pupil info seamlessly
There is also a support video that walks through the process of allocating resources.
You can keep track of the resources you’ve shared with children by clicking the Current Allocations tile (available on the Abacus homepage when you log in).
Can you share resources using Microsoft Teams or Google Classroom?
Yes, you can. Go to Current Allocations via the homepage and click the Share button.