Year 8 Term 1 Week 1 - Ratio Basics
- Sallyann Clark
- 5 days ago
- 5 min read
Welcome to Year 8 Maths!
This year, you will revise and build on the material covered in Year 7. The work is organised in such a way that you should be able to work through it independently. Each week, you will be told precisely what you will be learning and why. You will also be told what skills you already need to know to complete the work, use the resources given to revise these skills if needed. Every day, you will be given a game to play. Try not to spend more than 10-15 minutes playing! You will be given links to videos and webpages to learn new skills and to tasks you need to complete. If a link does not work, review the link description and attempt to locate the resource yourself. Please message me if you find a dead link. Day five will always be a maths project day. You will need to print out the materials, and you will also require a maths journal, general writing and maths equipment. Good luck this year!
Introduction
This week we begin our work on proportional reasoning by exploring ratios. You will learn how to simplify ratios, find equivalent ratios, share amounts in a given ratio, and link ratios with fractions.
What should I already know?
To complete this unit of work, you will need to know:
Times tables and division facts.
How to simplify fractions.
How to find factors of numbers.
If you need to revise any of these, then:
Practice times tables and print out a times table square.
Watch Maths with Mr J: Simplifying Fractions part 1 and 2.
Watch Khan Academy: Finding Factors of a Number.
Real-World Application – Why This Maths Matters
Ratios are everywhere in daily life. Recipes use ratios to compare ingredients, maps use ratios to show scale, and sports teams often rely on ratios when dividing players into groups. Understanding ratios helps us to compare, share, and scale quantities quickly and accurately.
Day 1 – Simplifying Ratios
What am I learning Today?
I will be learning to simplify ratios by dividing by common factors.
Revision reminder
You should already know how to find the highest common factor (HCF) of two numbers. If you need a recap, watch The Maths Guy!: How to find the HCF.
Game
Play Monster Multiplication on MathPlayground.
Learn
Today, you will learn to simplify ratios.
Watch The Maths Guy!: Simplifying Ratios.
Task
In your journal:
Write the Title - Ratios
Write a Heading - Simplifying Ratios
Explain in your own words how to simplify a ratio.
Simplify these ratios:
24:36
45:60
84:126
Conclusion
Today, you learned how to simplify ratios by dividing both parts by the highest common factor. This makes ratios easier to compare. Tomorrow we will be looking at equivalent ratios.
Day 2 – Equivalent Ratios
What am I learning Today?
I will be learning to find and use equivalent ratios.
Revision reminder
You will have already worked with equivalent ratios in Year 7.
Game
Play BBC Divided Island: Stones Game.
Learn
Work through BBC Bitesize KS3: Equivalent Ratios and Simplifying Ratios. Do not play the games you will get a chance to play them during the week.
Task
In your journal:
On the ratios page, write the heading equivalent ratios.
Write three equivalent ratios for each
2:3
5:8
7:4
Complete MEP Unit 7 Ratios and Proportions exercise 7.1.
Conclusion
You can now create equivalent ratios by multiplying or dividing both parts by the same number.
Day 3 – Sharing in a Ratio
What am I Learning Today?
I will be learning to recognise when quantities are in direct proportion and use multiplication or division to solve direct proportion problems.
Revision reminder
You should already know how to simplify ratios and how to multiply/divide to find equivalent ratios from day 1 and 2.
What is Direct Proportion?
Direct proportion describes a relationship between two quantities where, as one increases, the other increases at a constant rate.
Example:
If 5 pencils cost £2.50, then 10 pencils cost £5 and 15 pencils cost £7.50. The price is directly proportional to the number of pencils.
Two values are in direct proportion if their ratio stays the same.
Game
Play BBC Divided Island: Crane
Learn
Work through BBC Bitesize KS3: Direct Proportion
Watch Math Antics: Proportions.
Task
In your journal:
on the ratio page write the heading direct proportion and write a definition with at least three examples.
Complete MEP Unit 7 Ratios and Proportions exercise 7.2.
Conclusion
Today you’ve learned that direct proportion is all about quantities increasing or decreasing at the same constant rate. You’ve practised solving problems using multiplication and division, which is a key skill for scaling in real-world contexts.
Day 4 - Proportional Division
What am I Learning Today?
I will be learning to share an amount in direct proportion to given values, using ratios to solve proportional division problems.
What is Proportional Division?
Proportional division means splitting an amount into parts that are in the same ratio as other quantities.
For example:
Alice and Ben are working and are paid in proportion to the hours they work.
If Alice works 6 hours and Ben works 4 hours, their pay should be divided in the ratio 6:4 (or 3:2).
So if the total pay is £50, Alice gets £30 and Ben gets £20.
Revision reminder
You should already know how to:
Simplify ratios.
Share an amount into a simple ratio (like 2:3).
Game
BBC Divided Island - Stones
Learn
Work through BBC Bitesize KS3: Division into a given ratio.
Watch tecmath:Dividing into a given ratio.
Task
Complete MEP Unit 7 Ratios and Proportions exercise 7.2.
Conclusion
Today, you have learned to divide an amount into parts that are proportional to given values. This is useful in real life for sharing money, costs, or resources fairly when contributions are unequal.
Day 5 – Project: Recipe Scaling and Sharing
What am I learning Today?
I will learn to apply ratios to scale recipes up and down, utilising direct proportion to adjust serving sizes, and to share quantities fairly through proportional division.
Introduction
Recipes are perfect examples of ratio and proportion. If you change the number of people, you must scale all the ingredients in direct proportion. If you share out food, it must be divided in proportion to the number of portions. Today’s project combines all the skills from Week 1 and gets you ready for Week 2.
Task – Recipe Scaling and Sharing
Scaling Up
A recipe for 4 people needs:
200 g flour
100 g sugar
2 eggs
a) Write the ratio of flour : sugar : eggs.
b) Scale the recipe for 8 people.
c) Scale the recipe for 10 people (this is direct proportion in action!).
Scaling Down
The same recipe is needed for 2 people. Write the new amounts.
Sharing (Proportional Division)
You bake 20 brownies. They are shared between three friends in proportion to the hours they helped: 2 hours, 3 hours, and 5 hours.
How many brownies does each friend get?
Challenge – Combined Scaling and Sharing
You triple the recipe (so it makes 12 eggs’ worth). The brownies are shared among 4 families in the ratio 2:3:5:6.
How many brownies does each family receive?
Conclusion
Today, you’ve used ratios to scale recipes and started to explore direct proportion and proportional division. These skills connect closely to next week’s lessons, where we’ll dive deeper into proportion and learn how to apply it in even more real-life situations.
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