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Sum it up
Student A

Ask your partner for clues to complete the crossword.

Example: What’s 1 down?

2 3 4
T H R E E S I X

6
T W O
7 8 9 10
S E V E N T E E N
11 12
F I F T E E N
13
F O U R T E E N
14

15
T H I R T E E N
16
N I N E
17
E L E V E N
18
T E N

Read these clues (across) to your partner.

2. nine minus six
4. nine minus three
6. eleven minus nine
7. fourteen plus three
12. two plus thirteen
13. eleven plus three
15. fifteen minus two
16. three plus six
17. two plus nine
18. thirteen minus three

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Sum it up
Student B

Ask your partner for clues to complete the crossword.

Example: What’s 2 across?

1
O

N
2 3 4
E E S

I E
5
T G V
6
W H E T
7 8 9 10
E N T E N S W
11 12
F N I I I E
13
O T N G X L
14
U Y E H F T V
15
R T T I E E
16
E E V E
17
E E E N
18
N N

Read these clues (down) to your partner.

1. eight minus seven
3. twenty minus twelve
4. twelve minus five
5. eight plus twelve
6. nineteen minus seven
8. eighteen plus one
9. nineteen minus one
10. four plus twelve
11. five minus one
14. twelve minus seven

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Sum it up
Here is a fun crossword activity for beginners to help them practice spelling numbers one to
twenty.

Before class, make one copy of the two worksheets for each pair of students.

Procedure

Begin the activity by writing some simple add and subtract sums on the board. Go through the
sums and elicit the words ‘plus’ and ‘minus’. Then go through the answers with the class.

Tell the students that they are going to practice spelling numbers one to twenty.

Divide the class into pairs (A and B).

Give each student a corresponding Student A or B worksheet.

Have the pairs of students sit face to face and tell them not to show their crosswords to each
other.

Explain that both students have the same crossword, but Student A has the words across and
Student B has the words down.

Their task is to ask their partner for clues and complete sums to work out the missing numbers
on their crossword, and then spell the numbers correctly.

Students take it in turns to ask their partner for a clue to one of the missing words on their
crossword, e.g. What’s 1 down?

Their partner then reads the sum that appears on their half of the crossword.

The other student does the sum to find out the number.

When the student has the answer, they spell the number.

If the spelling is correct, the student writes the number on their crossword. If not, the student
must try to spell the number again until they get it right.

To make it more challenging all the sums use the same numbers that appear on the student’s
own worksheet.

When the students have finished, they compare their answers.

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