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'Spelling Circle' printed from https://nrich.maths.org/
Why do this
problem?
This problem links English and mathematics, and will help
children become familiar with numbers that are, and are not,
factors of $12$. You can also focus on learners' justifications and
explanations of why certain arrangements of letters work. You may
find
this sheet of
'blanks' useful.
Key questions
How many spaces for letters do you have?
Where do you find the first letter?
What could the next letter be? And the next?
When you're using your own word, what happens if you put the
letters in every second space ... every third space ... every
fourth space?
Can you explain why?
Possible extension
Learners can be encouraged to find all the possible ways of
arranging one word. How do they know they have them all? They could
also try using words with a different number of letters, and
changing the number of sections in the circle. Can they move the
letters by any number of spaces?
Possible support
Some children will find it helpful to start by writing the word
continuously round the circle.